Annotation:Durang's Hornpipe (1): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 12:56, 15 April 2012

DURANG'S HORNPIPE [1] (Crannciuil Ui Deorain). AKA and see "Wobble Gears." See also "Little Hornpipe." British Isles, American, Texas Style, Old-Time; Hornpipe, Reel or Breakdown. USA, Widely known. D Major. Standard or ADae tunings (fiddle). AABB (most versions): AABB' (Emmerson, Kerr): AA'BB' (Moylan). The melody is thoroughly ensconced in American traditional repertoire. Versions of the tune are (collectively) "a Missouri standard," according to Missouri fiddler Howard Marshall. "An old stand-by" remarked Arizona fiddler Kenner C. Kartchner (in the early twentieth century). It was commonly played at country dances in Orange County, New York in the 1930's (Lettie Osborn, New York Folk Life Quarterly, pp. 211-215) and was part of the older fiddle repertory in Patrick County, southwestern Va., before such tunes were superceded in popularity by clawhammer banjo/fiddle tunes (Tom Carter & Blanton Owen, 1976). The title appears in the repertory list of Henry Ford's champion fiddler of the late 1920's, Maine fiddler Mellie Dunham, who was quite elderly at the time. The tune was recorded in the early 1940's from Ozark Mountain fiddlers for the Library of Congress by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph and was one of the relatively few recordings by legendary Galax, Virginia, fiddler Emmett Lundy. Interestingly, given the usual variation in fiddle tune titles due to faulty memory, "folk process" or other such 'drift', it is nearly always found going by the title "Durang's Hornpipe." "Little Hornpipe" and "Liverpool Hornpipe" are related melodies.

Marion Thede speculates the piece was named for Ferdinand Durang, an actor, who first sang the "Star Spangled Banner" in a tavern near Baltimore's Holiday Street Theatre, but in this she is mistaken, at least in part, for Sam Bayard (1981), George Emmerson (1972) and others researched the tune and definitively conclude that it was named after actor and dancer John Durang (b. Lancaster, Pa., 1768--d. Philadelphia, 1821), styled as "the first American dancer." Durang (who was born of German parents) stated in his memoirs that it was composed for him by one "Mr. Hoffmaster, a German Dwarf, in New York, 1785." The thespian had taken violin lessons from Hoffmaster (who, with his wife, was only 3 feet tall "with a large head, hands and feet"), who wrote the hornpipe "expressly for me, which is become well known in America, for I have since heard it play'd the other side of the Blue Mountains (of Pennsylvania) as well as in the cities" (p. 344, quoted from Downer's "The Memoir of John Durang, American Actor 1785-1816," {1966}). Bayard finds the original a much more banal piece than it is today, and that it has been much improved by the aforementioned "folk process," which has given it character and distinction in his opinion.

The dwarf's composition came a year after Durang's debut with the company of Lewis Hallam in 1784, who had just returned from a long period in England which encompassed the Revolutionary War (Emmerson, 1972). Later in his career, around 1790, he records he danced "a Hornpipe on thirteen eggs blindfolded without breaking one," which feat points to the dancer's main claim to fame (beside the tune associated with his name), that of poularizing the nautical-style hornpipe dance the Sailor's Hornpipe. In fact, from Durang's time on the nautical theme became intimately associated with the hornpipe dance and the tune "College Hornpipe," to which it was predominantly performed. Durang went on to dance in comic ballets, "pantomimic dances" and other entertainments, and in 1796 was engaged to direct pantomimes for the circus of John B. Ricketts, a Scottish immigrant, until the enterprise was destroyed in a fire at year's end, 1799.

"Durang's Hornpipe" starts to appear in American musician (and dancers) manuscript collections starting at the very beginning of the 19th century. It was included in the copybooks of fifer Ebenezer Bevens (Middletown, Conn., 1825), Gurden Trumbull (Stonington, Conn., 1801), Josiah Adams (Framingham, Mass., 1808), and fifer Seth Johnson (Woburn, Mass., 1807), for example. In print, it was included in The New and Complete Preceptor for the Fife by Daniel Steele (Albany, N.Y. c. 1815), Riley's Flute Melodies, vol. 1, by Edward Riley (New York, 1814), Merrimack Collection of Instrumental and Martial Musick vol. 1 by Henry Moore (Concord, New Hampshire, 1833), and the contemporaneous dance step collections published by Saltator, the Phinney's, J. Cunningham, and others in New York state and New England (for which see EASMES [1]). Given the fact that it was included in fifer's copybooks and collections that included martial music, one can assume "Durang's" was employed as a march as well as a dance tune. Burchenal gives the tune under the title "Lady of the Lake (3) (The)," taken from the New England contra dance of that name (which she also prints), for which "Durang's" was an accompaniment.

In the Irish Sliabh Luachra region of the Cork-Kerry border the tune seems have been considered, and used, as a reel according to Terry Moylan (1994).

Guthrie Meade (Country Music Sources, 2002, p. 744), gives nine early sound recordings of "Durang's Hornpipe," the earliest by fiddler Don Richardson [2] in 1916, followed by John Baltzell (1924), Clayton McMichen (1927), and the Kessinger Brothers (1927).

Source for notated version: Marion Unger (Oklahoma County, Oklahoma) [Thede]; black fiddler Bill Driver (Miller County, Missouri) [Christeson]; Franklin George (W.Va) [Krassen]; John Baltzell, 1923 (Ohio) [Bronner]; Jehile Kirkhuff, 1976 (Pennsylvania) [Bronner]; 6 southwestern Pennsylvania fiddlers [Bayard]; James Marr (elderly fiddler from Missouri, 1949) [Bayard]; New Hampshire Fiddler's Union [Phillips]; accordion player Johnny O'Leary (Sliabh Luachra region of the Cork-Kerry border) [Moylan]; fiddler Dawson Girdwood (Perth, Ottawa Valley, Ontario) [Begin]; Byron Berline [Silberberg].

Printed sources: Adam, 1938; No. 19. Bayard (Dance the the Fiddle), 1981; No. 349A-F, pp. 341-344 and Appendix No.22, p. 581. Begin (Fiddle Music in the Ottawa Valley: Dawson Girdwood), 1985; No. 23, p. 36. Brody (Fiddlers Fakebook), 1983; p. 94. Bronner (Old Time Music Makers of New York State), 1987; No. 6, p. 34 and No. 11, p. 68. Burchenal (American Country Dances, vol. 1), 1918; p. 34 (appears as "The Lady of the Lake" [2]). Cazden, p. 12 or 42. Christeson (Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, vol. 1), 1973; p. 63. Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 94. DeVille, No. 4. Emmerson (Rantin' Pipe and Tremblin' String), 1971; No. 87, p. 163. Ford (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 53. Jarman (Old Time Fiddlin' Tunes); No. 30, p. 77. Johnson (A Further Collection of Dances, Marches, Minuetts and Duetts of the Latter 18th Century), 1998; p. 1. Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 2; No. 341, p. 38. Krassen (Appalachian Fiddle), 1973; p. 82. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddlers Repertoire), 1983; No. 121. Moylan (Johnny O'Leary), 1994; No. 191, p. 111. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 215. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Meloldies), 1979; No. 1772, pg. 330. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1986; No. 936, p. 160. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 2, 1995; p. 192. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 163. Robbins, No. 156. Ruth (Pioneer Western Folk Tunes), 1948; No. 42, p. 16. Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 128. Shaw (Cowboy Dances), 1943; p. 387. Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; p. 38. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; p. 67. Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; p. 116. Tolman (Nelson Music Collection), 1969; p. 17 (includes a harmony part). White's Excelsior Collection, p. 50. White's Unique Collection, 1896; No. 93, p. 17.

Recorded sources: American Heritage 515, Junior Daugherty- "You Be the Judge." Briar 0798, Earl Collins- "That's Earl." County 707, Major Franklin- "Texas Fiddle Favorites." County 747, Clark Kessinger- "Sweet Bunch of Daisies." County 769, U.S. Senator Robert Byrd- "Mountian Fiddler." Edison 50900 (78 RPM), Joseph Samuels, 1920 (appears as 1st tune of "Miss Johnson's Party Medley"). Edison 51236 (78 RPM), 1923, John Baltzell (appears as 1st tune of "Durang Hornpipe Medley"). Elektra EKS 7285, The Dillards with Byron Berline- "Pickin' and Fiddlin.'" F&W Records 2, "F&W String Band 2." Folkways FA 2337, Clark Kessinger- "Live at Union Grove." Gambier Folklore Society GFS 901, Alan Jabbour, ed.- "Seems Like Romance to Me: American Fiddle Tunes From Ohio" (1985). Heritage 060, Art Galbraith - "Music of the Ozarks" (Brandywine, 1984). Jonathan Edwards Memorial Foundation JEMF-105, Wes Dickinson - "New England Traditional Fiddling" (1978). Missouri State Old Time Fiddlers' Association, Kelly Jones (b. 1947) - "Authentic Old-Time Fiddle Tunes." Rounder 0194, John W. Summers- "Indiana Fiddler" (1984). Rounder 0436, Ruth Hawkins Rachel - "Traditional Fiddle Music of the Ozarks, vol. 2: On the Springfield Plain." Smithsonian Folkways SFW CD 40126, Bob McQuillen & Old New England - "Choose Your Partners!: Contra Dance & Square Dance Music of New Hampshire" (1999). Topic 12T312, Billy Clifford. Voyager 312-S, Grant Lamb- "Tunes From Home." Voyager 340, Jim Herd - "Old Time Ozark Fiddling." 78 RPM, Dan Massey and Family.

See also listings at:
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [3]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [4]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [5]

Tune properties and standard notation