Annotation:Recluse Hornpipe

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RECLUSE HORNPIPE. Scottish, Hornpipe. E Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. Composed by early 20th century composer J.D. Michie (1884-1960), a musician, inventor, composer, teacher, poet and craftsman, who resided and kept a music shop in Brechin. He composed a hornpipe suite in the key of Eb (published in 1933) that consisted of "Autocrat (The)," "Jester (The)," and "Optimist (The)." A second hornpipe suite was preceded by a slow air ("Dying Year (The)" (dedicated to fiddler Angus Fitchet, who responded with a march, "Mr. Michie"), followed by "Cynic (The)," "Desclaimer (The)," and "Recluse (The)." The source for Tom Doucet's version of the tune, British fiddler Hiram Hosey, played in the J. Scott Skinner mode, according to Paul Cranford, with “…lots of bow work and flourishes.”

Source for notated version: Tom Doucet (Nova Scotia/eastern Mass., who learned it from a c. 1930’s Beltone 78 RPM of Scottish fiddler Hiram Hosie/Hosey) [Phillips].

Printed sources: Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 2), 1995; p. 218.

Recorded sources: Fiddler FRLP001, Tom Doucet - “The Down East Star.” Rounder CD 11661-7033-2, Natalie MacMaster – “My Roots are Showing” (2000).

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