Annotation:Salamanca (1)

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X:1 T:Salamanca Reel [1] M:2/4 L:1/8 R:Reel and Hornpipe B:R.M. Levey – First Collection of the Dance Music of Ireland (1858, No. 54, p. 22) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:D d/>B/|A/D/ (3F/E/D/ A/D/ (3F/E/D/| A/d/c/d/ f/e/d/c/|B/E/ (3G/F/E/ B/E/ (3G/F/E/|(B/e/)e/d/ (c/e/)e/g/| f/B/ (3d/c/B/ b/B/ (3d/c/B/|f/e/d/c/ d/b/a/g/|f/(g/e/)(c/ d/)(A/B/)(G/|F/)(G/E/)(F/ D):| |:(f/g/)|a/(f/d/)(f/ b/)(g/e/)(g/|f/)(g/e/)(c/ d/)(c/B/)(A/|B/)(d/c/)(e/ d/)(f/e/)(g/|f/)(a/^g/)b/ a(3A/B/c/| d/(e/f/)(g/ a/)(f/b/)(g/|f/)(e/d/)(c/ d/)(b/a/)(g/|f/)(e/d/)(c/ d/)(A/B/)(G/|F/)(G/E/)(F/ D):|]

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SALAMANCA {REEL} [1] (Seisd/Cor Salamanca). AKA - "Salamanco." AKA and see "Boyle's Reel," "Coronation Reel,” "Maigue's Tide," "Salamander," "Tartan Plaid (The)," "Wild Salamanca (The)." Irish, Scottish, English; Reel or Hornpipe (cut time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Breathnach CRÉ 2, O'Connor, O'Neill (all versions). AABB (most versions): AABBCCDD (Breathnach, CRÉ 1). Bayard (1981) says it is "probably no older" than the early 19th century, and, though apparently once-popular (inferred from the number of printings) it is of unknown origin. The reel (as "The Salamnche Reel") was entered into the mid-19th century Sliabh Luachra music manuscript collection in the possession of D. Curtin of Stagmount, Rockchapel, Co Cork (No. 66, p. 26 [1]).

Brendan Breathnach (1976) gives that the tune is named after Wellington’s victory of the Peninsular Campaign in Spain in 1812 and not for the Irish college (or, for that matter, the famous 19th century racehorse of the same name), however, there is a Catholic seminary in Salamanca, Spain, The Royal Scots College, where Irish priests trained during the penal years. Salamanca lies 107 miles northwest of Madrid, and there Wellington won a spectacular victory over the imperial French forces, commanded by one of Napoleon’s Marshalls, Auguste Marmont, who was wounded in the battle. Wellington promptly marched for Madrid and forced the French puppet King Joseph Bonaparte (the older brother of Napoleon) to flee with his government. It is a popular reel in County Donegal, although the 19th century Munster collector and Anglican cleric James Goodman (1828-1896) claimed it was a Connacht reel. Brendan Breathnach (1963) says that he heard that it is played as a hornpipe, although he himself never heard it being played so ‘sluggishly’. The tune was collected, with parts reversed, by Samuel Bayard in southwestern Pa. under the title "Boyle's Reel."

The piece has long been a particular favorite of uilleann pipers. The title appears in a list of tunes in his repertoire brought by Philip Goodman, the last professional and traditional piper in Farney, Louth, to the Feis Ceoil in Belfast in 1898 (Breathnach, 1997). It was recorded early in the 78 RPM era by pipers Michael Gallagher and Liam Walsh. Dublin Piper Tommy Reck recorded the tune as a pipe solo on his first commercial effort, for the Copley label, paired with “Scholar (The)” and “Tom Steele.”

It was a performance piece of fiddler Micky Mór Doherty, influential County Donegal fiddler John Doherty's (1900-1980) father. The younger Doherty admired his father's playing and tried to emulate it:

My father, the, was called up to be the king fiddler of all. My father, when he would be playing a reel with a cheer and in good spirits, you could feel the top of the bow whistling, and that's no lie. […] But there was one evening I was after coming in [from some place […] and he] was in great spirits […] he took down the fiddle and he begin to play a reel that's called The Salamanca, The Salamanca Reel. Well, now the performance that evening I thought was something more than I ever heard or ever saw him doing before. And of course at the time he was getting to be an old man. But the performance now was […] his action with the bow was more than I ever knew that could be done with the bow.

Improbably, Boston music publisher Elias Howe credited the composition of his version (called "Salamanco") to one T.G. Scott in his Musician's Omnibus Nos. 6 & 7 (1880-1882).

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