Annotation:Delaware Hornpipe

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DELAWARE HORNPIPE. American, Hornpipe. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The name 'Delaware' derives from Thomas, Lord de la Warr, the first Governor of Virginia, a courtier and soldier who as a young man had been knighted by Queen Elizabeth. At first the bay was named for him, then a river emptying into it was discovered and also given the same name, and finally the region was named for the river (Matthews, 1972).

The hornpipe is a member of the "Boys from Scart (The)" tune family, but "Delaware Hornpipe" has little of Irish character in the meldoy. It was one of the tunes cited by Lettie Osborn (New York Folklore Quarterly) as having commonly been played for dances in Orange County, New York, in the 1930's.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 86. Oliver Ditson (The Boston Collection of Instrumental Music), c. 1850; p. 58. Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 119.

Recorded sources:

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