Annotation:Star of Bethlehem (The)
X: 1 T: Star of Bethlehem T: Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine C: %R: march, hornpipe B: Elias Howe "The Musician's Companion" Part 1 1842 p.17 #2 S: http://imslp.org/wiki/The_Musician's_Companion_(Howe,_Elias) Z: 2015 John Chambers <jc:trillian.mit.edu> M: C L: 1/8 F:http://www.john-chambers.us/~jc/music/book/EliasHowe/MusiciansCompanionP1-1842-V2.abc K: D % - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - F>G |\ A>BA>F A2d>e | f>ef>g f2ed | B>cd>B AFEF | A2A>A A2F>G | A>BA>F A2de | f>ef>a gfed | B>cd>B AFEF | D2D>D D2 :| |: f>g |\ a>gf>g a2A2 | d>cd>e f2F2 | G>FG>A B>cd>B | AFE>E E2F>G | A>BA>F A2de | f>ef>a gfed | B>cd>B AFEF | D2D>D D2 :| % - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
STAR OF BETHLEHEM, THE. AKA and see "Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine (1)," "Boneparte's Retreat [5]," "Bruce's March" (Pa.), "Caledonian March" (Pa.), "Dirge of the Berlin Band" (Pa.), "Freemason's March (The)," "Loch Na Gar (1)," "Ranahan's March (1)." American, March (2/4 or 4/4 time). USA, southwestern Pa. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Silberberg): AA'BBC (Phillips). Not a Christmas tune, the word ‘star’ in the title is used in the Irish sense, i.e. a beautiful woman. Bayard (1981) believes the tune to be Scottish, though he finds it a "little hard" to trace. Irish versions he found are Breathnach 1963, No. 210, "Comhra Donn (An)" (The Brown Casket), and an untitled set in Miller & Perron (Irish Traditional Fiddle Music, Vol. 1), No. 46. Forms of the tune appear as the air for hymns in shapenote hymnals.
