Annotation:Kilkenny Girl (The)

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KILKENNY GIRL, THE (An Cailin Ua Cill-Cainnig). AKA - "Kilkenny Girls." AKA and see "Vento's Farewell," "Woman's Dance," "Women's dance in the Ombres Chinoises." Irish, Jig (6/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune was first printed in The Hibernia Collection, edited by Patrick O'Flannagan and published in Boston by Elias Howe. O'Flannagan's title as "Kilkenny Girls." O'Neill, no stranger to O'Flannigan's collection for source material, reprinted it in his Music of Ireland (1903) with a slightly altered title. However, despite the Irish connections with O'Flannagan and O'Neill's publications, the jig was first published as an English country dance in London in the latter 18th century by Charles and Samuel Thompson, and associated with Italian composer and harpsichordist Mattio Vento (see note for "annotation:Vento's Farewell" for more). The jig was entered into the large 1840 music manuscript collection of Waverton (near Wigton), Cumbria, multi-instrumentalist John Rook as "Woman's Dance."

Paul de Grae finds that "Kilkenny Girl" is that name of a song that could be sung to this tune. The chorus goes:

She's the darling holds my heart,
And never gave it cause to smart;
Tho' she's not worth a penny o,
I'll marry her in Kilkenny, o!

Kilkenny takes its name from Saint Kenneth, a companion of St. Columba.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: O'Flannagan (The Hibernia Collection), Boston, 1860; p. 18. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 752, p. 140.

Recorded sources:

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