Annotation:Liverpool Hornpipe (1)

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LIVERPOOL HORNPIPE [1], THE (Crannciuil Liberpuil). AKA and see "Gigue du vieux fermier," "Grove (1) (The)," "London Hornpipe (5)," "Louisville Hornpipe," "Brilliancy" (Christeson), "Processional Morris (1)" (Mellor), "Reel des régates." English, Scottish, Irish, Canadian, American; Hornpipe. USA; Maine, New York, southwestern Pa., Texas, Arkansas, Missouri. Ireland; Sliabh Luachra region of the Cork-Kerry border. England; Shropshire, Lincolnshire. Canada; Cape Breton. D Major (most versions): G Major (Lees). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Hardie): AABB (most versions): AA'BB' (Moylan): AABBCC (O'Neill/1915, 1001 & 1850). The Irish musicologist Father Henebry criticized this piece for its "purposeless vapidity," although it has been printed endlessly in collections since the mid-19th century and has been quite popular with fiddlers and fifers. Caoimhin Mac Aoidh also says it is generally considered a fiddler's tune in Ireland and points to the many versions recorded by both Sligo and Donegal masters. The title appears in a list of tunes in his repertoire brought by Philip Goodman, the last professional and traditional piper in Farney, Louth, to the Feis Ceoil in Belfast in 1898 (Breathnach, 1997). "Liverpool Hornpipe" was entered into the mid-19th century music manuscript collection of County Cork uillean piper and Church of Ireland cleric James Goodman, and also entered into Book 3 of the large c. 1883 music manuscript collection of County Leitrim musician and piper biography:Stephen Grier.

A minor-key variant collected in Wales appears as "Processional Morris (1)." The earliest version I have yet to find is in the 1823–26 music manuscript collection of Joshua Gibbons, a papermaker and musician from the village of Tealby, near Market Rasen, in the Lincolnshire Wolds, where it appears under the title "London Hornpipe (5)." In the north west of England, multi-instrumentalist John Rook (Waverton, Cumbria) included it in his large 1840 music manuscript collection (as "Liverpool Hornpipe"). Scottish dancers perform a step-dance to the melody, also called the Liverpool Hornpipe. In America the piece was cited as having been commonly played at Orange County, New York, country dances in the 1930's (Lettie Osborn, New York Folklore Quarterly). The title also appears in a list of traditional Ozarks Mountains fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954, and in a list of the repertoire of elderly Maine musician Mellie Dunham, Henry Ford's champion fiddler in the mid-1920's. For more on this tune in the Missouri tradition (in which it was popular) see note for "Annotation:Thunder Hornpipe." See also the south west Pennsylvania collected "Tiddle Took Tidfish," whose first part is a variant of "Liverpool Hornpipe's" second part.

The tune is mentioned in mid-19th century journalist Henry Mayhew's remarkable and sympathetic series of interviews with the poor in Victorian England, contained in his book London Labour and the London Poor. Street organ players were common in London, eking out a living playing selections for a few coins:

There is two ‘Liverpool Hornpipe’. I know one these twenty years. Then com ‘The Ratcatcher’s Daughter’; he is a English song. It’s get a little old; but when it’s first come out the poor people do like it, but the gentlemens they like more the opera, you know. After that is what you call ‘Minnie’, another English song. He is middling popular. He is not one of the new tune, but they do like it. The next one is a Scotch contre-danse. It is good tunes, but I don’t know the name of it. The next one is, I think, a polka; but I think he’s made from part of ‘Scotische’. There is two or three tunes belongs to the ‘Scotische’. The next one is, I think, a valtz of Vienna. I don’t know which one, but I say to the organman, ‘I want a valtz of Vienna’; and he say, ‘Which one? Because there is plenty of valtz of Vienna’. Of course, there is nine of them. After the opera music, the valtz and the polka is the best music in the organ…It won’t do to have all opera music in my organ. You must have some opera tunes for the gentlemen, and some for the poor people, and they like the dancing tune. Dere is some for the gentlemens and some for the poor peoples.^[1]

See also Montreal fiddler Jospeh Allard's "Reel des régates" and "Gigue du vieux fermier," both versions of "Liverpool Hornpipe (1)" and both recorded (at different time) for Victor records in the year 1933.

Additional notes

Printed sources : - Alexander (Alexander's Fifty New Scotch and Irish Reels and Hornpipes), c. 1826; No. 26, p. 13. American Veteran Fifer, 1905; No. 54. Ashman (The Ironbridge Hornpipe), 1991; No. 20, p. 4. Bain (50 Fiddle Solos), 1989; p. 26. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 280A-B, p. 234. Bohrer (Vic Kibler: Adirondack Fiddler), 1992; No. 31, p. 31. Christeson (Old Time Fiddler's Repertory, vol. 2), 1984; No. 76, p. 51. Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 89. Craig (The Empire Collection of Hornpipes), c. 1890's; p. 2. DeVille & Gold (Universal Album), 1912; No. 12. Dunham (Mellie Dunham's 50 Fiddlin' Dance Tunes), 1926; No. 19, p. 10. Hardie (Caledonian Companion), 1992; p. 34. Harding Collection (1915) and Harding Original Collection (1928), No. 35. Honeyman (Strathspey, Reel and Hornpipe Tutor), 1898; p. 44. Howe (Diamond School for the Violin), 1861; p. 43. Jarman (Old Time Fiddlin' Tunes), 1951; No. or p. 23. Jigs and Reels, vol. 1, 1908; p. 31. Kennedy (Fiddler's Tune-Book, vol. 1), 1951; No. 11, p. 6. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 1), c. 1880; No. 5, p. 42. J. Kenyon Lees (Balmoral Reel Book), 1910; p. 32. MacDermott (Allan's Irish Fiddler), c. 1920's, No. 87, p. 22. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; p. 172. Moylan (Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra), 1994; No. 29, p. 18. O'Malley & Atwood (Seventy Good Old Dances), 1919; p. 18. O'Neill (O'Neill's Irish Music), 1915; No. 333, p. 164. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 166. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 1565. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 816, p. 141. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 2), 1995; p. 205. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 173. Robbins (Collection of 200 Jigs, Reels, and Country Dances), 1933; No. 79. Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 123. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; p. 297. Taylor (Music for the Sets: Yellow Book), 1995; p. 38. Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, vol. 2), 1999; p. 12. White's Unique Collection, 1896; No. 127, p. 23.

Recorded sources : - Alia Vox AVSA 9878, Jordi Savall - "The Celtic Viol, vol. II" (2010). Columbia A1977 (78 RPM) (78 RPM), John J. Kimmel (1915). IRC Records, Michael Coleman – "The Musical Glory of Old Sligo" (1967). Voyager 309, Benny & Jerry Thomasson – "The Weiser Reunion" (1993). Fife Strathspey and Reel Society – "The Fiddle Sounds of Fife" (1980). Rounder CD 1087, Peter Guinan – "From Galway to Dublin" (1992. Reissue of 1937 original). Shanachie 79093, Paddy Glackin and Robbie Hannon – "Whirlwind" (1995. Learned from piper Séamus Ennis).

See also listing at :
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recordings Index [1]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [2]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [3]
Hear Donegal fiddler John Doherty's recording of the tune at the Comhaltas Archive [4]
Hear fiddler Packie Dolan's recording at the Comhaltas Archive [5]
Hear a ceili band version by Joe & George Derrane and Jerry O'Brien at the Comhaltas Archive [6]
Hear fiddler Patrick Kelly's version at the Comhaltas Archive [7]

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↑ Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, London, 1861, p. 176.

[1] Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, London, 1861, p. 176.

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