Annotation:Ledder Breeches
X:1 T:Ledder Breeches M:2/4 L:1/8 R:Air and Reel Q:”Andante” B:Keith’s Flute Instruction Book (Boston, 1847, p. 30) N:Published by Keith’s Music Publishing House. B:Dan Emmett – “Second Series Old Dan Emmit’s Original Banjo Melodies “ (Boston, c. 1844) F:https://www.google.com/books/edition/Keith_s_Flute_Instruction_Book/owtKAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22ledder+breeches%22+%22dan+emmit%22&pg=PA30&printsec=frontcove Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Gmin d/>c/|BGGG|DG GA/B/|c/B/A/G/ ^F/G/A/B/|c2 d>c|BGGG|DG GA/B/|c/B/A/G/ ^F/G/A/B/| c2d z/ c/|dgg^f |gddc|dgg^f|g2 d>c|dgg^f|gd dd/e/|=fF F/G/A/B/| c2 d>c|BGGG|DG GA/B/|c/B/A/G/ ^F/G/A/B/|c2 d>c|BGGG|DGGg|g>d d>c|B>A G||
LEDDER BREECHES. American, Minstrel Air and Tune (2/4 time). G Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. "Ledder Breeches" was composed by American songwriter and variety performer Daniel Decatur Emmett (1815-1904), who is often associated with blackface minstrelsy, and who wrote prolifically for the minstrel stage. His song "Ledder Breeches" (the title a dialect version of the name of the well-known American Old-Time reel "Leather Britches") was a parody on "wikipedia:Brother_Jonathan." The c. 1844 sheet music, published in Second Series, Old Dan Emmit's Original Banjo Melodies[1] (Boston), gives that it was composed by "Old Dan Emmit" and dedicated with respect to Alexander Elliott Esq. of Mountvernon Ohio"[1].
Emmett's "Ledder Breeches", however, is not musically related to "Leather Britches" or is sion, "Lord MacDonald (4)." Rather, as Fr. John Quinn, points out, "Ledder Breeches" is a derivative of the Scottish "Alasdair MacAlister."
- ↑ Mount Vernon, Ohio, was Emmett's home town, where he returned after a lifetime of performing.