Annotation:Kate Kearney Waltz

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KATE KEARNEY WALTZ. AKA and see "Beardless Boy (The)," "Disipated Youth (The)." Irish, Waltz or Air. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Roche, O'Neill): AABC (Ford). O'Neill writes in Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody (1922):

Long before Lady Morgan wrote the words of "Kate Kearney", the melody was known. As "The Beardless Boy" it was printed in Bunting's General Collection of the Ancient Irish Music (1796) and again as "The Disipated Youth" in A General Collection of the Ancient Music of Ireland published in 1809. In the latter year it appeared also as "Kate Martin" in Murphy's Irish Airs and Jigs. As a waltz tune Kate Kearney lacked a sufficiently distinct second part, which some orchestra leader eventually supplied. This though serviceable for the purpose intended is devoid of any trace of Irish feeling.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; p. 138. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 263, p. 46. Roche (Collection of Traditional Irish Music, vol. 3), 1927; No. 166, p. 58.

Recorded sources:

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