Annotation:Julia Delaney (1)
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JULIA DELANEY [1] ("Sigile Ní Delainaig" or "Siuban Ni Dublainge"). AKA and see "Glenloe," "Reel de la sorciere (La)," "Maude Millar's Highland." Irish, Reel. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'B. Capatin Francis O'Neill named the tune in honor of his sister-in-law, wife of uilleann piper Bernard ("Barney") Delaney. Julia was the sister of O'Neill's wife Anna, both hailing from Feakle, County Clare. The Delaneys received much assistance over the years from O'Neill, who may even have introduced the couple to each other. Barney had a job on the Chicago police force, courtesy of the Captain, and was guided in profitable real estate investments by him. Barney and Julia retired to Ocean Springs, Maryland, however Julia died a few years later. The piper subsequently moved to Havana, Cuba, but eventually feel ill and returned to Chicago where he died in July, 1923. O'Neill greatly admired Bernard Delaney's music, but considered him ungrateful for all the help he had given him; the piper would not, for example, teach students or record cylinders for O'Neill on demand. Delaney is buried alone in Mt. Olivet cemetery about 100 yards from the O'Neill mausoleum.
The O'Neill version is in the major mode, but seldom heard today. Instead, a dorian mode "Julia Delaney (2)" is the one played in modern sessions. It was popularized by The Bothy Band, who recorded it on their album "1975"; a cut on which the playing of fiddler Tommy Peoples is featured. P.W. Joyce (1909) prints a version of the tune as "Glenloe," in the dorian mode with a different turn. Indeed, O'Neill's version seems hardly playable in either major (as written) or dorian modes, and has been significantly reworded over the years. O'Neill himself printed another version in his Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody under the title "Groves of Mount Talbot (The)" (No. 324) collected from a John Kelly of San Francisco. A minor key version of the reel may be "Sporting Molly." Donegal fiddler Con Cassidy played a version of the tune as "Maude Millar's Highland."
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Bulmer & Sharpley (Music from Ireland), 1976, vol. 4, No. 4. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 132. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 1401, p. 260. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 643, p. 116.
Recorded sources: