Annotation:Star of Bethlehem (The)
X: 1 T: Star of Bethlehem T: Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine C: %R: march, hornpipe B: Elias Howe "The Musician's Companion" Part 1 1842 p.17 #2 S: http://imslp.org/wiki/The_Musician's_Companion_(Howe,_Elias) Z: 2015 John Chambers <jc:trillian.mit.edu> M: C L: 1/8 F:http://www.john-chambers.us/~jc/music/book/EliasHowe/MusiciansCompanionP1-1842-V2.abc K: D % - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - F>G |\ A>BA>F A2d>e | f>ef>g f2ed | B>cd>B AFEF | A2A>A A2F>G | A>BA>F A2de | f>ef>a gfed | B>cd>B AFEF | D2D>D D2 :| |: f>g |\ a>gf>g a2A2 | d>cd>e f2F2 | G>FG>A B>cd>B | AFE>E E2F>G | A>BA>F A2de | f>ef>a gfed | B>cd>B AFEF | D2D>D D2 :| % - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
STAR OF BETHLEHEM, THE. AKA and see "Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine (1)," "Bonaparte's Retreat (5)," "Bruce's March" (Pa.), "Caledonian March" (Pa.), "Dirge of the Berlin Band" (Pa.), "Freemason's March (1)," "Loch na Gar (1)," "Ranahan's March (1)." American, March (2/4 or 4/4 time). USA, southwestern Pa. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Silberberg): AA'BBC (Phillips). Not a Christmas tune, the word ‘star’ in the title is used in the Irish sense, i.e. a beautiful woman. Bayard (1981) believes the tune to be Scottish, though he finds it a "little hard" to trace. Irish versions he found are Breathnach 1963, No. 210, "Comhra Donn (An)" (The Brown Casket), and an untitled set in Miller & Perron (Irish Traditional Fiddle Music, Vol. 1), No. 46. Forms of the tune appear as the air for hymns in shapenote hymnals.
