Annotation:Templehouse Reel (The)

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X:1 T:Temple House M:C L:1/8 R:Reel S:James Goodman (1828─1896) music manuscript collection, S:vol. 3, p. 134. Mid-19th century, County Cork Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Edor E2 (3GFE BEGE|D2 (3FED ADFD|E2 (3GFE BEGE|(3Bcd AF BE E2:| g2 ef g2 ef|afdf afdf|g2 ef g2 ed|BdAF BE E2| g2 ef g2 efg|afdf afdf|ge af gedc|Bd AF BE E2||

TEMPLEHOUSE (REEL), THE (Teac An Teampuill). AKA- “Temple House Reel.” AKA and see "Evergreen (The)," “Evergreen Lasses,” “Fowling Piece (The),” "Monongahela College" (Pa.), "Mother Carey's," "Old Temple House Reel,” “Pretty Maids of Bulgaden,” “Pretty Girls of Bulgaden,” "Reel à Zellus," “Rising of the Lark,” “Tipsy House (The)." Irish, Reel. E Minor (most versions): E Dorian (Feldman & O’Doherty]. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Allan's, Flaherty, Tubridy): AAB (Harker/Rafferty, Kennedy, O'Neill/1001, O’Neill/Waifs): AABB' (O'Neill/Krassen). Templehouse is the name of a lake in County Sligo. The melody is current in both jig and a reel forms, but both appear to be derived from a Scottish strathspey, “Struan Robertson's Rant (1),” published by Robert Bremner in 1757. The reel appears under the title "Temple House" in the large mid-19th century music manuscript collection of County Cork cleric and uilleann piper Canon biography:James Goodman. As Chief O’Neill (Irish Minstrels and Musicians, 1913) remarks: “Each in its class is a tune of distinct merit, though identical in tonality.” 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), and can also be found from the same region in the music manuscript collection in the possession of fiddler and curate biography:Rev. Luke Donnellan^[1] (1878-1952). The melody was recorded in 1931 by Galway’s Ballinakill Ceili Band (paired with “Knocknagow Reel”) under the title “Fowling Piece (The).” The band’s pianist Anna Rafferty, as pointed out by guitarist Paul de Grae, unusually centered her accompaniment on C major chords.

Chief O’Neill (1922) remarks: “Altho the ‘Templehouse Reel’ first appeared in print in the O'Neill Collections, a more fluent setting of it memorized from the playing of ‘Jimmy’ O'Brien may be permissible. The latter, dealt with at considerable length in Irish Minstrels and Musicians (1910) hailed from the County Mayo, and was a very tasty performer on the Irish or Union pipes. He died at Chicago in 1885.” O'Brien's version, points out de Grae, is similar to the the versions O'Neill published earlier (in Music of Ireland and Dance Music of Ireland), "but with D naturals instead of the unidiomatic D#s in the second part." See also the Shetland tune “Up and Doon da Harbour.”

See also the Quebec version of "Templehouse" from the playing of Azelus Cantin, called "Reel à Zellus."

Additional notes
Source for notated version : - conical ("Clark's") whistle player Jim Donoghue, 1910-1990 (Drimacoo, Monasteraden, County Sligo) [Flaherty]; fiddler Simon Doherty (County Donegal) [Feldman & O’Doherty]; piper Jimmy O’Brien (Chicago) [O’Neill/Waifs]; New Jersey flute player Mike Rafferty, born in Ballinakill, Co. Galway, in 1926 [Harker]; Rev. Luke Donnellan music manuscript (Oriel region, south Ulster) [O'Connor].

Printed sources : - Rev. Luke Donnellan, “Oriel Songs and Dances” (Journal of the County Louth Archeological Society, vol. II), No. 2, 1909; No. 81. Feldman & O’Doherty (The Northern Fiddler), 1979; pp. 105 & 244b (appears as untitled reel). Flaherty (Trip to Sligo), 1990; p. 178. Harker (300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty), 2005; No. 120, p. 36. Kennedy (Traditional Dance Music of Britain and Ireland: Reels and Rants'), 1997; No. 190, p. 44. McDermott (Allan's Irish Fiddler), v. 1920's; No. 65, p. 16. O’Connor (The Rose in the Gap), 2018; No. 85, p. 61. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 1230, p. 232. O'Neill (Krassen), 1986; p. 101. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 505, p. 96. O’Neill (Irish Misnstrels and Musicians), 1913; p. 134. O’Neill (Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody), 1922; No. 269. Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, Book Two), 1999; p. 19.

Recorded sources : - Columbia Records A3679 (78 RPM), Tom Ennis & James Morrison (1922. Medley- "Bag of Potatoes/Templhouse Reel/Pigeon on the Gate). Copely Records 9-119 (78 RPM), Paddy Cronin (195?). Gael-Linn CEF 114, Noel Hill & Tony MacMahon - "I gCnoc na Graí." Library of Congress, 1938, Patrick Bonner, St. James, Beaver Island, Michigan. Columbia Co 33316-F/Regal G9385 (78 RPM), Frank Quinn (1928).

See also listing at :
Jane Keefer’s Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Alan Ng’s Irishtune.info [2]
Hear Frank Quinn's 1928 recording at the Comhaltas Archive [3]

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↑ Donnellan researcher Gerry O'Connor came to believe the ms. is not the work of the curate but rather was originally compiled by an unknown but able fiddler over the course of a playing lifetime, probably in the late 19th century. The ms. later came into the possession of Donnellan, who was also a fiddler.

[1] Donnellan researcher Gerry O'Connor came to believe the ms. is not the work of the curate but rather was originally compiled by an unknown but able fiddler over the course of a playing lifetime, probably in the late 19th century. The ms. later came into the possession of Donnellan, who was also a fiddler.

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