Annotation:Battle (1) (The)
X:1 T:Battle [1], The M:2/4 L:1/8 R:Air B:Aird – Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 4 (1796, No. 42, p. 16) N:”from Oscar & Malvina.” Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:D D<DF>D|E2B2|D<DF>D|A2f2|af d>F|E2 TB2|a<f d>F|A2d2:| |:D<AF<A|E<BG<B|D<AF<d|A2f2|A<fd>A|B>AB>A|a<fd>A|A2d2:|]
BATTLE, THE. English, Air (2/4 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The piece was composed by organist and theater composer William Reeve [1] (1757–1815) and published in London, England in 1791, scored for harp and uilleann pipes. It was part of his "pantomime" opera Oscar and Malvina, or the Hall of Fingal, a long-running pantomime staged several times in London in the last decade of the 18th century into the early years of the next. It featured for a few years the playing of uilleann piper O’Farrell (whose first name is not known, but may have been Patrick), whose tutor and collections of music are important snapshots of the historical repertoire of the times. See note for "Annotation:Oscar and Malvina" for more.
