Annotation:Lady Dillon

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LADY DILLON. AKA - "Miss Dillon and Jigg," "Young Lady Dillon," "Rose Dillon." Irish, Air or Planxty (cut or whole time). F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABCD. An air with and attached jig as the last part, composed by Irish harper Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738). Despite Edward Bunting's calling the melody's dedicatee, Lady Dillon, by the christian name of Rose, she has been identified as Lady Frances Dillon, the daughter and heiress of Lord and Lady Dillon of Mannin. Her predecessor as Lady Dillon was Lady Bridget Burke, second daughter of the 9th Earl of Clanricard. Carolan composed tunes for members of both families. See also Carolan's composition for Lady Dillon's husband, Richard, "Lord Dillon."

Further research [see O'Sullivan, 1958; Appendix to the 2001 edition, p. 347] finds an expanded version of the whole piece (i.e. an extra sixteen bars in the jig section) in the MacLean-Clephane manuscript. This is a harper's manuscript noted by a student of harper Cornelius Lyons, who knew O'Carolan personally. The title of the piece in the manuscript is "Miss Dillon of Loch Glen, Roscommon," which seems to confirm Carolan's dedicatee was Lord and Lady Dillon's daughter. Francis wed young and, unfortunately, died young, at the age of eighteen.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Clinton (Gems of Ireland: 200 Airs), 1841; No. 167, p. 85 (as "Rose Dillon"). Thompson (The Hibernian Muse; a Collection of Irish Airds, including the Most Favourite Compositions of O'Carolan, the Celebrated Irish Bard), 1786. O'Sullivan (Carolan: The Life, Times, and Music of an Irish Harper), 1958; No. 35, p. 121.

Recorded sources: