Annotation:Humors of Glynn (1)

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X:1 T:Humours of Glynn [1], The M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Jig Q:"Allegro Vivace" B:P.M. Haverty – One Hundred Irish Airs vol. 1 (1858, No. 40, p. 17) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:D A|(Bd/c/B/A/) .B(FG)|.d.d.d .d(FG)|(Bd/c/B/A/) .G(FG)|DFA B2 A| (Bd/c/B/A/) .B(FA)|.d.d.d .d(FA)|(GBG) (FAF)|D(FA) B2:| |:B|(Add) .d.d.d |(dfd) (ecA)|g(a/g/f/e/) (.fdB)|(AFA) B2c| (dfa) b3|a(b/a/g/f/) a3|(ga/g/)f/e/ f(dB)|(AFA) B2:|]

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HUMORS OF GLYNN/GLIN [1] (Sugra/Plearaca na Gleanna). AKA and see "Cullen Jig (The)," "Good Morrow to Your Night-Cap (1)," "Humor of Glen," "Humors of Glen (2)," "Jackson's Hornpipe (1)," "Pádraig O’Keeffe’s Jig (1)," "Sligo Rambler (2)," "Tho' Lexlip is Proud," "Thomas Leixlip the Proud," "Virgin Wife and Widow (A)." Irish, Air (6/8 time, "cheerfully"). B Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Mitchell, O'Farrell, O'Neill): AABB (Tolman): AABCCDDEEF (Roche).

A version of the melody was printed by piper O'Farrell in his Pocket Companion for the Irish or Union Pipes, vol. 1 (London, c. 1805), with a twelve-bar second strain. John O'Daly (Poets and Poetry of Munster, 1850) and Francis O'Neill (Irish Minstrels and Musicians, 1913), however, credit composition of the entire piece to Power, who is identified as a "gentleman piper" from Glynn, and who composed the piece in the first quarter of the 18th century. Glynn, explains O'Neill (citing information supplied by O'Daly), was at one time a small romantic country village that straddled the border between Counties Waterford and Tipperary on either side of the Suir, not far from Clonmel. It was anciently the seat of the influential Power(s) family. O'Daly himself remarked:

Having, from our infancy, heard this air traditionally ascribed by the peasantry of the district, to a celebrated piper named Power, a native of the locality, we, some time ago, wrote to John R. O'Mahony, Esq., of Mullough, for information on the subject, and the following extract from his letter will probably satisfy our readers.

"Glynn", says Mr. O'Mahony, "was more than a century ago [i.e., pre-1750] the residence of a branch of the Powers, to which family it still belongs. One of them, Pierse Power, called Mac an Bharuin (the Baron's son, for his father was the 'Barun', or Baron, of an annual fair held here), was celebrated as a poet and musician; and there is a tradition among his descendants, that he was the author of the popular air of 'The Humours of Glyn'."

"Humors of Glen" appears in R.A. Smith's The Irish Minstrel (Edinburgh, 1825) and McGoun's Repository of Scots and Irish Airs (Glasgow, 1803); in the latter publication it is published with eight sets of variations. Flood (1906) notes that O'Keefe, previous to this, had also set this air to a song he called "Tho' [i.e. Though] Leixlip is proud" (corrupted or misread by O'Neill into "Thomas Leixlip the Proud"). Under the Leixlip title it appeared in William Sheild and John O'Keeffe's opera Poor Soldier (1783). O'Neill included his "Thomas Leixlip the Proud" in his section of O'Carolan melodies, although there is now considerable doubt that it was a work of the bard's.

The melody exists in both air and jig versions: famous early 20th century piper Patsy Tuohey recorded the tune set as a jig under the title "The Sligo Rambler," while Miltown Mabay piper Willie Clancy played it as an elaborate set piece. "Humors of Glynn" is known as a piping "piece," a showcase tune for the uilleann piper (see also "Nora Criona/Wise Nora"). O'Neill (1913) records it was played by piper Peter Cunningham (who lived in the 19th century in County Kildare) on his deathbed, and Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin says the tune is associated with the West Clare piper Garret Barry (1847-1899). Cork piper Daniel O'Leary, known as the Duhallow Piper, famously played the tune, which at one hearing so impressed a correspondent for the Dublin Penny Journal of October 1834, that he declared O'Leary's rendering in his estimation the ne plus ultra of bagpipe music (Breathnach, 1997). "Humours of Glynn" was entered into the mid-19th century music manuscript collection of County Cork cleric, uilleann piper and collector James Goodman.