Annotation:O'Connell's Welcome to Parliament (1)
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O'CONNELL'S WELCOME {TO PARLIAMENT} [1]. AKA and see "Daniel O'Connell's Welcome to Parliament." Irish, Jig; American, Jig or March. G Major (most versions): D Major (Bayard). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune that usually goes by the "O'Connell" title in modern sessions is "O'Connell's Welcome to Parliament (2)," a different melody. Samuel Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle, 1981) regards "O'Connell's Trip to Pariliament (1)" as a major-key form of the Irish melody "Slan agus Beannacht le Buaidhreamh an tSaoghail" (Farewell to the Troubles of the World), usually played in the Dorian or Mixolydian mode. The jig "Maid on the Green (The)" is also derived from the original tune, he believes. Boston publisher Elias Howe (1000 Jigs and Reels, c. 1867) includes the tune in a section of tunes ascribed to the playing of Jimmy Norton, the "Boss Jig Player," who was a mid-19th stage fiddler and entertainer, treading the footlights from an early age. The first strain shows some melodic contour similarities with the family of tunes represented by "Billy Patterson('s Favorite)," "Blackthorn Stick (1)," "Boys of Bockhill/Rockhill," "Humors of Bantry (The)," "Catholic Boys (3) (The)," "Coachroad to Sligo (1)," "Eagle's Nest (The)," "Fire on the Mountain(2)," "Fire/Hare on the Mountain (The)," "Fire in the Valley," "Maiden on the Green," "Night of the Fun (1)," "Rose on the Mountain (The)," "Welcome Home Royal Charlie."
Source for notated version: Hiram Horner (fifer from Westmoreland and Fayette Counties, Pa., 1944, 1960; who plays it "as always heard from fifers and bagpipers") [Bayard].
Printed sources: Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 623, p. 548. Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 68. Howe (Diamond School for the Violin), 1861; p. 66. Howe (1000 Jigs and Reels), c. 1867; p. 32 (appears as "Daniel O'Connell's Welcome to Parliament). Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 99.
Recorded sources: Jonathan Edwards Memorial Foundation JEMF-105, L.O. Weeks - "New England Traditional Fiddling" (1978).