X:1
T:Killarney
M:C
L:1/8
R:Air
B:Stephen Grier music manuscript collection (1883, Book 1, No. 65)
N:Grier (c. 1824-1894) was a fiddler and uilleann piper originally
N:from north Longford, but who moved around 1852 to Newpark,
N:Bohey, Gortletteragh, south Leitrim.
K:G
d2- d>B A2 (3GED|G2 G2 {A}G4|d2- d>c B2 (3ABc|e2 A {B}A4|
d2- d>BA2 (3GED|G2G2 G4|B3c dG2-c|B<A G/ G2 z2||
G2- G>G A2E2|G2G2 B,d3|B3 B (dc)(BA)|(GE)(EG) !fermata!A4|
e2A2d2G2|c2F2 B2Gz|F3G A2 (3Bcd|F2 {F}E>D !fermata!D4||
G3E D2E2|G2G2A4|c2- c>c B2A2|(dB){A}(AG) E4|
G3E D2E2|(G2 (3GBd) !fermata!e4|G3A B/!fermata!g3B/|A4 G2z2||
KILLARNEY (Cill-Airne). Irish, Slow Air (4/4 time). D Major (Roche): G Major (O'Neill). Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Roche): AB (O'Neill). A composition by Irish singer and composer wikipedia:Michael_William_Balfe (1808-1870). O'Neill was criticized in some traditional circles for his inclusion of several of Balfe's compositions in his Music of Ireland (1903) on the grounds that "Balfe's music...was not Irish, even if he was," though it is evident O'Neill thought highly of this particular melody (O'Neill, 1913). The air was included in the c. 1883 music manuscript collection of County Leitrim fiddler and uilleann piper biography:Stephen Grier. The Irish-American uilleann piper Patsy Touhey, regarded by O'Neill as the best piper of his day (the turn of the twentieth century) recorded the melody on an Ediphone cylinder.
The town of Killarney can be found in west Kerry, southern Ireland, and its name means 'the cell among the sloe trees' (referring to a monastary or other religious site).
Additional notes
Printed sources : - A.S. Bowman (J.W. Pepper Collection of Five Hundred Reels, Jigs, etc.), Phila., 1908; No. 289, p. 59 (set as a "Sand Jig"). O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 498, p. 87. Roche (Collection of Traditional Irish Musci, vol. 1), 1912; No. 26, p. 14.
