Annotation:Christmas Eve (2)
Tune properties and standard notation
CHRISTMAS EVE [2]. AKA and see "Tommy Coen's Reel." Irish, Reel. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB: AABBCC (Harker/Rafferty, Mallinson, Taylor, Tubridy). A popular session tune composed by Urrachree, Aughrim, East County Galway, fiddler Tommy Coen (1910-1974). Coen, who later lived in Salthill, was a conductor for Connemara buses during the day. A story about the title that has been circulating is that Coen's tune was called "Christmas Eve" by the leader of a ceilidh band from Coen's area who had been having a fight or dispute with the fiddler. He was invited with his band to play for a radio show in Dublin just before the Yule, and when introducing the tune names they were to play he choose not to mention Coen, but said the name of the reel was "Christmas Eve" because of the proximity of the holiday and to irk Coen. No one seems to know if the composer himself had a title for it.
Source for notated version: New Jersey flute player Mike Rafferty, born in Ballinakill, Co. Galway, in 1926 [Harker].
Printed sources: Breathnach (CRÉ II), 1976; No. 140. Bulmer & Sharpley (Music from Ireland), vol. 2, No. 10. Harker (300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty), 2005; No. 163, p. 50. Mallinson (Essential), 1995; No. 52, p. 23. Taylor (Traditional Irish Music: Karen Tweed's Irish Choice), 1994; p. 32. Taylor (Music for the Sets: Blue Book), 1995; p. 14. Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, vol. 1), 1999; p. 24.
Recorded sources: Flying Fish FF-409, Robin Williamson - "Winter's Turning" (1986). See also listings at: Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recordings [1], Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [2].