Annotation:Ladies' Pantalettes (1) (The)

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X:1 T:Untitled Reel M:4/4 L:1/8 R:Reel B:Stanford/Petrie (1905, No. 906) N:"County of Clare Reel." S:"From Frank Keane, Mar.10.1856." Q:"Allegro" N:See also the close G minor setting in Ryan's Mammoth N:Collection as "Ladies Pantalettes". Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G BdcA G2 GB|A=FcF dBcA|BdcA G=feg|=fdcA BGGA| BdcA G2 GB|A=FcF dBcA|BdcA G=feg|=fdcA BG G2|| g2 gf d2 de|fgag fdde|fgaf g2 ag|=fdcA BG G2| fgaf g2 ag|fgag fdde|=fede fgag|=fdcA BG G2||

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LADIES' PANTALETTES [1], THE ("Bristide na M-Ban" or "Drairini na Mna Uaisle"). AKA and see "Bill Maher," "Blue Pantaloons (2) (The)," "Boatman's Reel (The)," "Crooked Road to Dublin (The)," "Duke of Leinster's Wife (The)," "Gardner's Favorite," "Gardiner's Favorite," "Good Morning to Your Night Cap (2)," "Green Pantaloons (The)," "Grey Frieze Breeches (The)," "Johnny Sally's Reel," "Leonard's Reel," "Ladies Pantaloos," "Ladys Pantaloons," "McKeon's," "Pat the Fowler," "Smash the Floor." Irish, Reel. G Major/Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Mitchell, O'Connor, O'Neill/1001): AAB (Breathnach, Kennedy, O'Neill/Krassen). Pantalettes were a type of calf-length ruffled undergarment worn by 19th century women underneath their voluminous skirts. O'Neill's titles are "Ladies' Pantalettes" and "Pat the Fowler." Mid-19th century County Cork cleric and uilleann piper James Goodman gave it as "Green Pantaloons (The)" in his manuscript collection, while Gortletteragh, County Leitrim, fiddler Stephen Grier entered it as "Blue Pantaloons (2) (The)" in his c. 1883 manuscript. It appears as an untitled reel from County Clare in Stanford/Petrie (Complete Collection, 1905; No. 906) in the key of 'G' mixolydian, very close in contour to the minor-mode setting printed in Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883, for which see "Ladies' Pantalettes (2)). Versions differ in tonality from major to minor; in 'sessions' this causes some confusion unless specifically stated before commencing play.

Researcher Conor Ward points out the close relationship of the Irish reel "Ladies' Pantalettes (1) (The)," and the Scottish country dance tune and reel "Good Morning to Your Night Cap (2)", printed at the end of the 18th century in Edinburgh by the Gows. Compare, for example, Alexander's later version of "Good Morning to Your Night Cap (2)" and the untitled 'Pantalette' family reel collected by artist and antiquarian George Petrie (antiquarian) (1790-1866) in County Clare from the playing of Frank Keane in 1856, and the cognate relationship between the tune families becomes apparent.

The alternate title "Duke of Leinster's Wife (The)" came from its pairing in a medley with the tune "Duke of Leinster (The)" by the great County Sligo-born New York fiddler Michael Coleman. Perhaps the original title was not remembered, or perhaps, as one story goes, naming a tune after women's underwear was thought in some circles to be indelicate or otherwise unacceptable, so the "Wife" title was devised so as to emphasize the routine pairing of the two melodies (while retaining the gender of the original title). The "McKeon's" title comes from a 78 RPM recording by Frank Quinn, and "Gardner's Favorite" is from a 1928 recording by flute player Sean McKenna and fiddler James Morrison.

An explanation of the "Ladies Pantalettes" title comes from the Irish linguistic scholar Diarmuid O'Muir. It seems that in the days of wooden sailing ships that occasionally great effort would be made to get the very best performance the vessel was capable of. This usually meant 'putting on' as much sail as was possible, and every scrap of available canvas was utilized to that end. The very last tiny sail, situated above the top gallants and the skyscraper at the top of the mast was known as 'the ladies pantalettes'; this not only denoted the size of the sail, but perhaps became motivation for a speedy return to port.

O'Neill (Irish Folk Music, 1910) relates that he first heard this tune while on duty as Desk Sergeant at the Deering Street police station:

The strains of a slashing but unfamiliar reel floating out on the night air from the lowered windows of Finucane's Hall caught my eager ear one Saturday night, when Tommy Owens was playing for a party...as the police station was just across the street, I had little difficulty in memorizing the tune. Although it had never been printed it soon gained wide circulation among experts, and it had become such a favorite with Inspector John D. Shea (the Chief of Detectives), that it has since been identified with his name.

The tune was the first reel learned by Willie Clancy, taught to him by his flute playing father, Gilbert Clancy. One of the earliest recordings of the tune under this title was by piper Eddie Mullaney and fiddler Patrick Stack in Chicago, 1926. Stack was originally from County Kerry, while Mullaney was born in Chicago, although his family moved back to County Mayo before returning to Chicago.

Researcher Jean Duval, in his definitive work on Montreal fiddler Isidore Soucy (1899-1963), finds that a version of "Ladies' Pantalettes [1]" was used in Soucy's very first recording, "Gigue irlandaises (2)", the third and last reel in a medley.

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Frank Keane and the Petrie Collection

A brief entry in a manuscript in the Royal Irish Academy identifies Frank Keane who contributed two airs, a double jig and a caoine to the 1855 volume. Pronsias O’Cathain, alias Francis Keane of Clare, married and living in Dublin (1868-’76) was a lawyer’s clerk and, I believe, mostly self-educated. The manuscript in question is a translation of Paradise Lost, made by Keane himself.[5] Keane submitted two entries in a competition organised by the Royal Irish Academy for a report on the state of the Irish language. He was awarded first prize for his essay on Munster; his account on Ulster was really a second essay on Munster.

The address on the first essay is 29, North Frederick Street, Dublin, and that on the other essay is 20, Newcomen Avenue, North Strand, Dublin. Since he was lawyer’s clerk the first address was most likely that of the office where he worked. In a manuscript collection of literary stories and poems, which he began compiling in the Autumn of 1844, Keane signs himself Francis Keane of Kilfenora, County Clare; otherwise Prionsias O’Cathain ó Baile Atha Cliath anois, acht, roimhe seo, ó Chill-iarrach, Cill-Chaoi, Contae an Chlair, Eirinn.

It is interesting to see that the request for remembrance which Irish scribes were wont to append to their transcriptions is, in Keane’s formula as follows:

“Guidhgidhe lucht, eistighthe, trocaire ó Dia don sgriobhnoir, agus don leithoir leis (pray, listeners, for God’s mercy for the writer and for the reader also). The person capable of reading such manuscripts was designated an “Irishian”, a word still current in the speech of the county to describe a person regarded as good at Irish. These manuscripts were not compiled for their private enjoyment by literary scribes but for the use of the whole community, and a comment by Keane in his essay on the language of Munster, concerning the practice of reading stories from them at gatherings of the people, is worth recording;

“They find great pleasure and amusement in reading those manuscripts, especially on winter nights, on which occasions the neighbours of the surrounding districts flock together for the purpose of hearing them read, the reader being often obliged to perform his task with no other light than that of what people commonly called “a sgiolpog of bogdeal” or the light of a bogrush dipped in oil extracted from fish livers. The reader concluded his reading by speaking the prayer quoted above and his listeners responded with “Amen, a Thiarna.”

Frank Keane contributed a Munster double jig to the 1855 Volume, a tune he had learned from his brother, one of the best professional fiddlers in the south of Ireland. Elsewhere Petrie mentions Keane’s music book as the source of other tunes and Keane is credited with over eighty airs in the complete Petrie collection. His contribution is particularly valuable for the dialogue songs formerly sung by women at comhar for spinning, knitting, sewing or other such co-operative work. It may be said that the versions in the complete collection betray Petrie’s uncontrollable itch for amending airs he received, transposing from sharp to flat keys, effecting rhythmical and even melodic changes.