Annotation:Emile Arsenault's
X:1 T:Emile Arsenault's S:Devon Leger (Tune of the Day 62) N:The tune is sourced originally to fiddler Oscar Melanson (N.B.), N:Melanson, who learned the tune from Rogersville, N.B., fiddler Arsenault in the N:1930's when the latter visited the family. Melanson in turn taught it to N:Gerry Robichaud. M:4/4 L:1/8 N:'f/F' notes are sharp unless otherwise indicated. B:Corfield - "Tunes from New Brunswick" (2024, p. 39) D: D:https://www.patreon.com/posts/tune-of-day-62-108196340 Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G B-|d2Bc de=fd|(c/d/c) Ac =FcAc|dABc de=fd|c-BAc BGGB| d2Bc de=fd|(c/d/c) Ac =FcAc|dABc de=fd|c-BAc BGG2|| (g/a/g/f/) g-.a zgde|=fd-cc- Ac=Fc|gfga {a}gede|=fcAc BGGB| (g/a/g/f/) g-.a zgde|=fd-cc- Ac=Fc|gfga _bgae|=fc-Ac BGG||
EMILE ARSENAULT'S. Canadian, Reel (cut time). Canada, New Brunswick. G Major/Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. An older mixed mode (major and mixolydian) tune from the repertory of Rogersville, New Brunswick, Acadian fiddler Emile Arsenault, via St-Paul fiddler Gerry Robichaud. The tune is quite possibly a distanced version of "Reel du cordonnier (Le)," as played, for example, by Jean Carignan [1]. According to fiddler Frank Ferrel and Mark Wilson, who produced Robichaud's 1996 recording, the tunes in Gerry's repertory attributed to Emile Arsenault were remembered by a neighbor and fiddler named Oscar Melanson. Oscar was a skilled musician, however, by the time Gerry knew him he was suffering from progressive infantile paralysis and was bedridden and no longer able to play. Oscar well-remembered the one winter week around 1930 when Emile Arsenault came to St-Paul to visit, and his visit was remembered in the community:
Gerry wasn’t yet born, but his older brother Fred recalls Emile’s visit vividly. They had no piano in the house, but a portable organ was borrowed from the village for a cousin, Heni Robichaud, and they had the most wonderful all night soirees. Oscar retained a perfect memory for Emile’s tunes and was able to pass these along to Gerry years later. These wonderful melodies, it seems to us, rank among the Robichauds’ most priceless heirlooms.[1]
- ↑ Frank Ferrel & Mark Wilson, liner notes to Rounder CD 7016, The Robichaud Brothers, "The Slippery Stick: Traditional Fiddling from New Brunswick" (1996).