Annotation:Londonderry Hornpipe (The)

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LONDONDERRY HORNPIPE, THE (Crannciuil Doire-Calgaic). AKA and see "Cash's Hornpipe," "Delaney's Clog," "Delaney's Favorite," "Derry Hornpipe (The)," "Ladies Hornpipe (1)," "Londonderry Clog," "Showman's Clog." Irish (originally), Canadian; Hornpipe. Canada, Ontario. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Allan, Perlman, Phillips): AACC (Perlman): AABBCC (Kerr): AA'BBCC'DD (Moylan): AABBCCDDEEFF (O'Neill). The town of Derry was renamed Londonderry as a result of its being granted to the Corporation of London after the confiscation of the O'Neill estates in 1609. It was 'planted' as a colony by the twelve City Corporations (Matthews, 1972). The title of the tune has reverted to "Derry Hornpipe (The)" in the history of sound recordings. Francis O'Neill states:

Chicago piper Bernard Delaney

No. 1753 has a history. Bernard Delaney introduced the tune consisting of the 1st and 2nd parts on the Irish pipes in a masterly manner, being a great favourite with dancers. Turlough McSwiney, the Donegal piper, added the 3rd part which was improved by Miss Gillan. Later Delaney added the fourth part. In a MS collection I discovered the 5th and 6th parts. It was an old strain closely resembling the others so its two parts were joined to the former making altogether a hornpipe of great style and variety.

Delaney was originally from Tullamore, County Offaly, and emigrated to the United States in 1880. He learned the basics of playing from a local Tullamore piper, Jack Foraghan, but thereafter his piping was mostly self-taught. He worked for several years in a locomotive plant in Philadelphia (where he purchases a set of superb Taylor pipes), and moved on to Chicago. O'Neill hired him for the Chicago police force, and Delaney eventually became his brother-in-law. The tune was recorded by another piper, Tom Ennis, in 1917, and again in a duet with James "The Professor" Morrison in 1923, for Columbia Records.

Breathnach states (in Ennis, 1977) that O'Neill's six-part setting was played by Leo Rowsome, Willie Clancy and most other pipers. The tune was a favorite, records O'Neill (1913), of County Wexford piper Johnny Cash (1832–1909), known as 'Cash the Piper'; in fact, so much that it was locally known as "Cash's Hornpipe." Ken Perlman (1996) states that while this is a three part tune in McDermott's Allan's Irish Fiddler (c. 1920's), on Prince Edward Island the tune is in two strains, although sometimes the second part is the regular 'B' part of O'Neill's melody, and sometimes the 'C' part. The tune was picked up by Ontario fiddlers, having been popularized by radio fiddler Ward Allen. Researcher Conor Ward points out that the first and last strains (i.e. parts 1 and 6) of O'Neill's "Londonderry Hornpipe" are the first and second strains of "Elk's Festival (The)" printed by both Glasgow publisher James S. Kerr in Merry Melodies vol. 2 and Boston-based William Bradbury Ryan in Ryan's Mammoth Collection around the same time, c. 1883.

Sources for notated versions: Clem Myers (Vt.) [Phillips]; accordion player Johnny O'Leary (Sliabh Luachra region of the Cork-Kerry border) [Moylan]; George MacPhee (b. 1941, Monticello, North-East Kings County) and Eddy Arsenault (b. 1921, Chrysostom, East Prince County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman].

Printed sources: Giblin (Collection of Traditional Irish Dance Music), 1928; 62 (appears as untitled hornpipe). Jarman (Old Time Fiddlin' Tunes); No. or p. 21. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 3), c. 1880's; No. 340, p. 36. McDermott (Allan's Irish Fiddler), c. 1920's; No. 96, p. 24 (appears as "The Londonderry"). Moylan (Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra), 1994; No. 227, pp. 130–131. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 210. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 1753, p. 326. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 925, p. 158. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; p. 79. Phillips (Fiddle Case Tunebook: British Isles), 1989; p. 35. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 2), 1995; p. 206.

Recorded sources: Columbia 33043-F (78 RPM), Tom Ennis & James Morrison (1923). Condor 977-1489, "Graham & Eleanor Townsend Live at Barre, Vermont." GRT Records 9230-1031, "The Best of Ward Allen" (1973). Sparton Records SP 210, "Ward Allen Presents Maple Leaf Hoedown, vol. 2." Victor 18366 (78 RPM), Tom Ennis (1917).

See also listing at:
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recordings Index [1]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [2]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [3]
Hear Tom Ennis' and James Morrison's 1923 recording at the Internet Archive [4] [5]
Hear Tom Ennis's 1917 Victor recording at the Internet Archive [6] [7]

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