Annotation:Father Fielding's Favorite
Tune properties and standard notation
FATHER FIELDING'S FAVORITE (Roga an {t-}Atar Fielding/Fitceallaig). AKA and see "Ella Rosenberg," "I'll Tell My Mammy," "Katie's Donkey." Irish, Double Jig. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Harker/Rafferty, O'Neill): AA'BB' (Connolly & Martin). Named in honor of Fr. James K. Fielding of Kilkenny, a friend of compiler Captain Francis O'Neill's in Chicago, who, like O'Neill, played the flute and was interested in preserving traditional Irish music. Fielding was also a Gaelic League activist and believed in 'Ireland for the Irish.' The original title of the tune was "Ella Rosenberg," found in Mooney's History of Ireland-this title is the name of a melodrama in two acts by William Kenney, written in 1807. O'Neill (1910) says that Fielding was so taken by the tune, and promoted it so enthusiastically, that it became known as "Father Fielding's Favorite." O'Neill says: "His Reverence induced the good sisters of the parish to teach it to their most promising music pupils, while he cheerfully accompanied them on the flute." The title "Katie's Donkey" comes from flute player Mike Rafferty, who identified it as an old Ballinakill (County Galway) tune, but who couldn't find a title for it and so named it after a woman who owned a donkey near Loughrea (Harker, 2005). Fiddler Seán Maguire (accompanied by pianist Eileen Lane) recorded the melody on a 78 RPM in the late 1950's.
Source for notated version: New Jersey flute player Mike Rafferty, born in Ballinakill, Co. Galway, in 1926 [Harker].
Printed sources: Connolly & Martin (Forget Me Not), 2002; pp. 32-33. Harker (300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty), 2005; No. 221, p. 68 (appears as "Katie's Donkey"). O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 52. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 1004, p. 187. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 219, p. 50.
Recorded sources: Larraga MMR112000, Mike & Mary Rafferty - "The Road from Ballinakill" (2001).
See also listings at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [2]