Annotation:Doctor Peter's
X:1 T:Dr Peter's Hornpipe S:Ted Hastings <ted@HASTINGS.NU> irtrad-l 2001-6-12 M:C| L:1/8 R:Hornpipe B:Northern Fiddler, p. 194 F:http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/abc/mirror/irtrad-l/GlengeshHornpipeThe_1.abc K:D {cd}cB \ | A<D [FA]A BG (3Bcd | A<D [FA]Ad2 cd | e<A [ce]e fd (3fga | edcB AGFG | A<D [FA]A BG (3Bcd | A<D [FA]Ad2 cd | e<A [ce]e faec | d2 f2 d2 :| |: cd \ | e<A [ce]e fd (3fga | e<A ce f2 f=f | ea^gf edcB | (3ABA =GB A2 G2 | {FG}FEFA dfaf | g2 b2 b2 ag | (3faf df (3efe ce | dfec d2 :|
DOCTOR PETER'S. AKA and see "Comet (2) (The)," "Glengesh (The)," "Peter Carr's Hornpipe." Irish, Hornpipe. Ireland, County Donegal. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The melody appears as "The Comet" in one of the White-Smith collections, as "Minnie Foster's Clog" in Ryan's Mammoth Collection, and "Down the Glen" in Allen's Irish Fiddler. Sean McGuire recorded it under the title "Black Swan (The)." According to Caoimhin MacAoidh, one local Donegal name for the tune honors a stepdancer from Killybegs, Donegal, by the name of Dr. Peter Carr who had a stong liking for it and who loved to dance a solo hornpipe more to this tune than any other. Dr. Peter was well known to the South Donegal music community, not only for his dancing but for a bit of skill on the fiddle and his love of the music. MacAoidh also says he was a friend and something of a mentor to another medical professional who loved traditional music, Dr. Malachy McCloskey, who, like Dr. Carr, was a fiddler.
In other parts of Donegal it is known as "Down the Glen" (the title it appears in Allen's Irish Fiddler) and it is also commonly called 'The Glengesh Hornpipe' a name which Danny O'Donnell gave to Jimmy Lyons of Teelin who subsequently recorded it under that title for Seamus Ennis. According to Mac Aoidh, when he was a young man O'Donnell played in a hall in Carrick at the invitation of fiddler Frank Cassidy of Teelin. O'Donnell journeyed to the gig on a bicycle, an overnight trip of over 100 miles with plenty of time to mull over his setlist. One of the geographic features on his journey was Glengesh, a steep and very beautiful U-shaped glacial valley, the side of which O'Donnell had to push his bike up in the course of his journey. At the gig he played the tune in question, although he had no name for it, and spontaneously told Jimmy Lyons (who had asked him) that it was the "Glengesh (The) Hornpipe," based on his day's experience. Soon after, O'Donnell played the tune under that name over a broadcast from Dublin, and again Lyon's heard it and remembered it, perhaps due to O'Donnell's sweet playing, distinct from the local versions Lyons heard.
