Acrobat's Hornpipe (1)

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Theme code Index	3L136 4477
Also known as	The Acrobat, Acrobat's Clog, The Nightingale
Composer/Core Source
Region	Ireland, United States
Genre/Style	Contra, Irish
Meter/Rhythm	Hornpipe/Clog
Key/Tonic of	B
Accidental	2 flats
Mode	Ionian (Major)
Time signature	4/4
History
Structure	AABB
Editor/Compiler	Biography:William Bradbury Ryan
Book/Manuscript title	Book:Ryan's Mammoth Collection
Tune and/or Page number	p. 133
Year of publication/Date of MS	1883
Artist
Title of recording
Record label/Catalogue nr.
Year recorded
Media
Score ()

This tune was called "The Nightengale" until P.T. Barnum began using an adapted version as a theme for his circus acrobats. The attribution "As performed by G.L.Tracy" appears in Ryan's/Cole's. George Lowell Tracy (1855-1921) was a young man who later composed light opera and composition books, according to musicologist Charles Wolfe. Evidently Tracy arranged music as well, for one publication from the 1880's indicates a Sir Arthur Sullivan (of Gilbert and Sullivan fame) work was arranged by him.
"The Acrobat" appears in Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883) and its direct successor, Cole's 1000 Fiddle Tunes" (1940, from the same printing plates as Ryan's), wherein it is noted that it "Can be used as (the vehicle for) a Clog." Perhaps the earliest recording is from 1905 by violinist Charles D'Alamaine, born in 1871 in England, who died in 1943.
D'Alamaine emmigrated to the United States in 1888, and by 1890 had established himself as "instructor on violin" in Evanston, Illinois; by 1910 he had removed to Yonkers, and in 1920 was a chiropractor in New York City (info. from Paul Gifford). Cape Breton musicians learned the tune from the Ryan's/Cole's books, and it was played by the influential fiddler Winston "Scotty" Fitzgerald.

Print Sources: Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 97. Cranford (Winston Fitzgerald), 1997; pg. 4. McNulty (Dance Music of Ireland), 1965; pg. 23. Mulvihill (1st Collection), 1986; No. 35, pg. 99 (appears as "The Acrobat"). Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; pg. 133.

X:1
T:The Acrobat [1]
R:Hornpipe
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:Bb
F>E|D>FB>c d>Bg>f|(3ecA (3ecA a2a>g|f>=e_e>c A>ag>f|=e>fg>f d>BF>E|
D>FB>c d>Bg>f|(3ecA (3ecA a2a>g|f>=e_e>c A>ag>A|B2b2B2:|
c>B|A>cd>c a>f=e>f|d>Bd>g b>g^f>g|=e>c=B>c ^c>d=ef|(3gf=e (3f=ed c2c>B|
A>cd>c a>f=e>f|d>Bd>g b>g^f>g|=e>c=B>c ^c>d=ef|f2a2f2:||