Annotation:Flying Dutchman

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FLYING DUTCHMAN. English, Hornpipe. England, Northumberland. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The "Flying Dutchman" is credited in Köhlers’ Violin Repository, Book 2 (Edinburgh 1881-1885) to the great 19th century hornpipe composer and fiddler James Hill. Hill was born in Dundonia, near Dundee, Scotland, between 1813 and 1819 but lived most of his adult life in Tyneside, Newcastle, England. He died in 1853. The Flying Dutchman was the name of a famous Yorkshire racehorse owned by Archibald William Montomerie, the 13th Earl of Eglinton. The horse won title after title in the late 1840's and early 1850's, until finally beaten by Voltigeur in York in 1851. Hill apparently liked horse racing and/or horses, for several of his tunes are named for them (see also "Beeswing," "XYZ," "Underhand Hornpipe (The)"). The Flying Dutchman sired one of Beeswing's foals.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Köhlers’ Violin Repository, Book 2, 1881-1885; p. 116. Northumbrian Pipers' Society (The Fiddle Music of James Hill), 2005.

Recorded sources:

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