Annotation:General Monroe's Lamentation
Tune properties and standard notation
GENERAL MONROE'S LAMENTATION (Marbna Ceannairt Munroe). Irish, Slow Air (3/4 time). G Minor (O'Neill): A Dorian (Ó Canainn). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (O'Neill): AA'B (Ó Canainn). Henry Monroe was chosen to lead the rebels from County Down in the rising of 1798. After an initial success at Saintfield he was defeated in the Battle of Ballynahinch and was forced to flee to a farmhouse for refuge. He was betrayed, arrested, brought to Lisburn, County Antrim, and subsequently hanged there in front of his own home (and then beheaded, according to O'Neill), just three days after his defeat (Ó Boyle, 1976).
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Ó Canainn (Traditional Slow Airs of Ireland), 1995; No. 74, p. 65. O'Neill (O'Neill's Irish Music), 1915; No. 6, g. 13. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 37, p. 7.
Recorded sources: