Annotation:Edward Dodwell

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EDWARD DODWELL (Eamonn Dodbhall). AKA - "Emon Dodwell," "Ned Dodwel," "Planxty Edmond Dodwell." Irish, Air (cut time). D Minor (S. Johnson): D Dorian (O'Neill, O'Sullivan). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Composition of the tune was credited by Edward Bunting (1773-1843) to the blind Irish harper Turlough O'Carolan. Donal O'Sullivan (1958) uses the melody as set down in Bunting's c. 1800 manuscript papers (held at the Library of Queen's University, Belfast) rather than the one he printed in his 1840 collection (p. 77), as the printed version he deems inferior. Words to the tune are printed in Thaddeus Connellan's An Duaniare (Fonne Seanma){1829}. Connellan identified the Edward Dodwell of the title as being from County Sligo and the lyrics note the individual lived by the shore. O'Sullivan finds Dodwells of Mount Dodwell in County Sligo, though this area is not situated near any body of water. The family did own another estate in Portumna, County Galway, on the shore of Lough Derg (the 2nd largest lake in Ireland) and he thinks the subject of the piece may have belonged to that branch of the family. All that can be discerned from the song text is that he was a bachelor.

Source for notated version: the Irish collector Edward Bunting (1773-1843) noted the melody from elderly Charles Byrne the harper in 1792 [Bunting]

Printed sources: Bunting (Ancient Music of Ireland), 1840; No. 104, p. 77. Complete Collection of Carolan's Irish Tunes, 1985; No. 40, p. 46. S. Johnson (The Kitchen Musician No. 3: Carolan), 1983 (revised 1991, 2001); p. 15. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 245. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 698, p. 129. O'Sullivan (Carolan: The Life, Times and Music of an Irish Harper), 1958; No. 40. O'Sullivan/Bunting, 1983; No. 104, pp. 150-152.

Recorded sources:

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