Annotation:Matrimony
X:1 T:Matrimony C:James Barry M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel B: James Barry music manuscript collection N: Barry (1819-1905) was a miller and fiddler who lived at N:Six Mile Brook, Pictou County, Nova Scotia. F: https://jamesbarrymusic.ca K:D d|D2 (FA) BABd|d2 FD EB,B,E|D2 FA BABc|dBAF D/D/D D:| A|d2 fd A2 FD|defd B/B/B B2|d2 fd A2 FD|BGAF D/D/D Dc| "*"d2 fd A2 FD|gefd B/B/B Bc|defa efdA|BdAF D/D/D D|| P:Substitution "*" gefd B/B/B Bg|afge fdec|dABG D/D/D D||
MATRIMONY. Canadian, Reel (cut time). Canada, Nova Scotia. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. "Matrimony" was composed by dairy farmer, miller, sometime printer and bookbinder, and fiddler James Barry (1819-1906) of Six Mile Brook, Pictou County, Nova Scotia. If the title refers to his own marriage, it would seem to date the composition to around 1859, when he married Isabella "Bell" MacLennan, of the nearby community of Rogers Hill. While the marriage seems to have started well (and produced two children), by 1860 they had become estranged with Bell returning to her parents' home. Barry, as revealed in his extensive diary, became a bitter and angry individual, often disparaging of the opposite sex.
