Annotation:Molly on the Shore (1)
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MOLLY ON THE SHORE [1]. AKA and see "Mossy Banks (2) (The)." Irish, Reel. Ireland, County Cork. E minor/dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABC. Violinist Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962) once recorded a setting of this popular tune, probably based on a 1911 setting of Petrie's tune by Australian pianist, composer and folk music collector Percy Grainger (1882-1961) printed in an early 20th century edition of the Journal of the Folk Song Society. [Muses Joel Shimberg: "I've never heard another fiddler other than a young Brendan Mulvihill, play it...I'm pretty sure {his was} the Grainger version"]. Grainger's "Molly on the Shore" is based on two reels he found in Charles Stanford Villiers's The Complete Petrie Collection of Irish Music, found next to each other on the page, called "Temple Hill" and "Molly on the Shore." Grainger combined "Molly on the Shore" with another reel from the Petrie collection, "Temple Hill" (a pairing duplicated by Mulvhill on his band The Irish Tradition's album "The Corner House"). Grainger made the first setting of the melodies an arrangement for string quartet in 1907 as a birthday gift for his mother, but re-arranged it for orchestra in 1914 and later for piano and band. Violinist Kreisler was an acquantance of Sligo fiddle master Michael Coleman and Donegal fiddler Hugh Gillespie. Notes in the album booklet "Michael Coleman 1891-1945" record that Gillespie recounted an impromptu session that Kreisler did with the two Irish fiddlers in a rehersal room at WHOM, a New York City radio station. Kreisler accompanied the melody playing of the two with double stops on the lower strings, which Gillespie thought was far better than the pianos or guitars that were their usual accompaniment. Fiddler Séamus Connolly (2002) remarks that the "Molly on the Shore" in his book is actually a composite of two reels from County Cork. The first reel, in three parts, comes from the playing of piper Leo Rowsome, whose own version included a two part tune called "Temple Hill" with a third part taken from "Molly on the Shore."
Sources for notated versions: "A Cork reel. From P. Carew's MSS" (Patrick Carew was an early 19th century uilleann piper from County Cork) [Stanford/Petrie]; banjo player Tommy Finn (b. 1964, Barlow, Ballymote) [Flaherty]; piper Leo Rowsome [Connolly & Martin].
Printed sources: Connolly & Martin (Forget Me Not), 2002; pp. 74-75. Flaherty (Trip to Sligo), 1990; p. 47 (appears as "Unknown"). Stanford/Petrie (Complete Collection), 1905; No. 902, p. 228.
Recorded sources: Green Linnet SIF 1016, Irish Tradition - "Corner House" (1978). Richard Greene - "Molly on the Shore."
See also listing at:
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [1]