Annotation:Johnnie's Made a Wedding O't
Tune properties and standard notation
JOHNNIE'S MADE A WADDIN'/WEDDING O'T. AKA - "Jackie's Made a Wedding On't," "Jockey's Wedding," "Johnny Made a Wedding O't." Scottish, Canadian; Reel. Canada, Cape Breton. G Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Surenne): AAB (Athole, McGlashan, Skye): AABB' (Kerr). The tonality cleverly shifts between major, modal and minor within many versions of the tune, and, between genres and versions within genres, settings run the gamut between major and minor (often with a mixture). The original provenance seems to be Scots, and John Glen (1891) finds the tune earliest in print in Joshua Campbell's 1778 collection (p. 6), although J. Murdoch Henderson (1935) cites the tune in Neil Stewart's 1762 collection.
The reel is a popular one in Cape Breton repertoire and has been frequently recorded.
The melody (as "Jackie's Made a Wedding On't") appears in the 1770 music manuscript collection of Northumbrian musician William Vickers (about whom very little is known, unfortunately). As "Jockie's Wedding" it appears in the music manuscript collection of William Hall Lister and Robert Lister (1840-1860, East Bolden, Northumberland).
Variants in Irish repertoire are several: "Johnny's Wedding," "Colonel McBain's," "Seán Frank," "Smoky House (1) (The)," and "Sporting Molly" appear in the repertoire. See also "Devonshire Reel (1) (The)" and "Duke of Clarence Reel (The)."
Source for notated version: : an 1845-47 music manuscript by Ellis Knowles, a musician from Radcliffe, Lancashire, England [Plain Brown].
Printed sources: Doyle (Plain Brown Tune Book), 1997; p. 19 (appears as "Johnny Make a Wedding"). Henderson (Flowers of Scottish Melody), 1935. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 4, 1817; p. 30. Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 3; No. 42, p. 7. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; p. 131. McGlashan (A Collection of Reels), c. 1786; p. 18 (appears as "Johnny's made a Wadding O'it"). Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; p. 190. Surenne (Dance Music of Scotland), 1852; p. 136.
Recorded sources: Joe and J.P. Cormier - "Velvet Arm, Golden Hand." Donald MacLellan - "The Dusky Meadow."
See also listings at:
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [1]