Annotation:Bonaparte Crossing the Alps

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BONAPARTE CROSSING THE ALPS. AKA and see AKA and see "Battle of Waterloo (The)," "Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine (2)" (Irish), "Bonaparte Crossing the Rockies," "Bonaparte's March (3)," "Bonaparte's Retreat (5)" (Pa.), "Napoleon Crossing the Alps (1)," "Óró Welcome Home," "Diamond (2)," "Peter Gray (2)" (Pa.). Irish (originally), Canadian, American; March. Canada, Prince Edward Island. A Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB.

The wide diffusion, extensive ramification and probable great age of this Irish air have been discussed already in the notes to other versions in this collection (see notes for 'Bonaparte's Retreat'). The present version must also represent a fairly antique development of the tune; it has a strongly impressed character of its own, and may readily be traced in Irish tradition. Though some of its variants serve for songs or dances, most of them have the same strong, martial swing as the one given here. Petrie unhesitatingly calls it 'an ancient clan march' (see Petrie, pp. 251, 356), although he does not assign it to any particular Irish sept. Joyce, on the other hand, declares it to be a wedding march, or 'hauling-home' song-tune, since it was used in his boyhood in County Limerick to accompany the progress of a newly-married couple home from church (see Joyce 1909, pp. 130, 131). Its frequently occurring Irish name, "Oro, 'Sé do bheatha a'bhaile!" (Oro, Welcome Home), and two or three lines of verse quoted by Joyce, would be convincing were we not aware by this time of its protean variety of form and multiplicity of functions in the tradition. As a matter of fact, this version, like the ones already cited, goes under other names in Ireland beside 'Welcome Home'; while these words also begin the refrain to a Gaelic Jacobite song sometimes sung to it. We can only conclude that the statements of Petrie and Joyce were both partially correct: the tune, like other old and well known ones in our tradition, has been used for a number of purposes. In south western Pennsylvania this version is definitely a marching tune. Another local set is Bayard Coll. No. 352, from Greene County. When the volunteers from the communities of Pine Bank and Jollytown, in that county, went to camp at the time of the Civil War, they marched to the stately music of this tune as played by a 'martial band' (drums and fifes) made up of local folk musicians. Although this 'Welcome Home' form of the air is strongly individualized, it cannot be separated from the other sets, discussed under our Nos. 44–48, to which its variants continually show resemblance and relation. Intermediate or transitional forms have been recorded, some of which were listed under Nos. 44–48; others are referred below. ... A still more specialized march form of the 'Welcome Home' version goes in Irish tradition by the name of '(Fare Thee Well) Sweet Killaloe'. Variants are found in Joyce 1909, No. 824 and O'Neill's Irish Music, No. 100. A greatly simplified dance-tune form of this 'Killaloe' version is also current in western Pennsylvania under ('floating') titles of 'Jennie Put the Kettle On' and 'Nigger in the Woodpile'. Sets are in Bayard Coll., Nos. 21, 64. The American Veteran Fifer also has a variant, No. 122." [Bayard, Hill Country Tunes, 1944]

Bayard (1981) cites it as a member of the "Lazarus" tune family (identified in part by a subtonic cadence in the 1st and 3rd tune lines, with a tonic cadence in the 2nd and 4th tune lines; which is a feature of medieval music, he says). See also the similarly-structured (and covering some of the same melodic material) "Jerry Daly's Hornpipe (2)," "Loch Leven Castle," and "Tomgraney Castle."

Perlman (1996) remarks that the tune was played by the regionally famous PEI fiddler Lem Jay on New Years' Eve over Charlottetown (PEI) radio during the 1930's.

Source for notated version: Johnny Morrissey (1913-1994, Newtown Cross and Vernon River, Queens County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman].

Printed sources: Bayard (Hill Country Tunes), 1944; No. 89. Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 63 (appears as "The Diamond"). Feis Ceóil Collection of Irish Airs, No. 67 (equals JIFSS, No. 15, p. 18). Hannagan and Clandillon, 'Londubh and Chairn, No. 57 (Welcome Home Jacobite Song; and note mention ibid., p. 28, of a Tyrone version of the tune to the same piece). Hardings All-Round Collection, No. 32. Henebry (A Handbook of Irish Music), 1928; Nos. 24–26, p. 147–148 (three sets); Hogg (Jacobite Relics), I, 3, II, 138. JIFSS, No. 2, p. 35; No. 12, p. 17; No. 15, pp. 18 (see above). Johnson (Scots Musical Museum, vol. 2), 1853; No. 298. Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Songs), 1909, Nos. 275, 281, 729. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune-Book, vol. 2); p. 7. Kennedy-Fraser (From the Hebrides); pp. 96-98. Linscott (Folk Songs of Old New England), 1939; p. 69. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 1); p. 11. O'Neill's Irish Music, Nos. 178, 205. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), Nos. 58, 1809 (same set as in O'Neill's Irish Music), and 1824. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; p. 99. Petrie, Nos. 926, 983, 1056 (to Welcome Home Jacobite Song), 1425. Roche (Collection of Traditional Irish Music, vol. 2), 1927; No. 231, p. 17 (as "Bonaparte's March"). Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. Scanlon, p. 63, 'Battle Call of the Fianna' (close to Petrie 983, 1425). C.J. Sharp (English Folk-Chanteys), No. 7. Smith (Scottish Minstrel, vol. 1), c. 1821; pp. 106–107 (as "On the Restoration of the Forfeited Estates 1784"). Smith (Scottish Minstrel, vol. 4), c. 1821; pp. 58–59 (as "The Haws of Cromdale"). Stokoe & Bruce (Northumbrian Minstrelsy), 1886; p. 183 (appears as "Cuckold Come Out o' the Amrey").

Recorded sources: Green Linnett GLCD 1155, Martin Hayes – "Under the Moon" (1995).

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