Annotation:Portsmouth Hornpipe (1)

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PORTSMOUTH HORNPIPE. AKA and see "Off/Going to California [1]," "Fireman's Reel." Irish, English?, American; Hornpipe. USA, New England. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. likely have been named for the harbor city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The tune was included in the 1859 music manuscript collection of American musician M.E. Eames, who was perhaps from Philadelphia. An early 78 RPM era recording of the tune was made by Mellie Dunham (Norway, Maine), who was billed as Henry Ford's Champion Fiddler, although the label lists "Lady of the Lake" as the name of the piece--Lady of the Lake was the dance for which Dunham played "Portsmouth Hornpipe" as an accompaniment.

Mellie Dunham. Photograph courtesy of David Sanderson, Maine

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 86. Ryan’s Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 120.

Recorded sources: Edison 34339-2 (78 RPM), Mellie Dunham (Maine), 1926 (appears as "Lady of the Lake"). John Edwards Memorial Foundation JEMF-105, Neal Converse - "New England Traditional Fiddling" (1978).

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