Annotation:Hush the Cat

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X:1 T:Huish the Cat M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Jig S:O'Neill - Music of Ireland (1903), No. 909 Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G G>AG c2e | d<dA c2e | G>AG c2d | ecA A2c | G>AG c2e | d<dA c2e | g>fe f2d | ecA A2 {B/A/}G :| |: gfe f2d | edc f2d | gfe f2d | ecA A2 G | gfe f2d | edc f2d | G>AG f2d | ecA A2 {B/A/}G :||

HUSH THE CAT. AKA and see: "Bímíd ag Ól (1)," "Huish the Cat," "Dance Light for My Heart Lies Under Your Feet," "Drive the Cat from Under the Table," "Jackson's Humours of Panteen," "Whip the cat from under the table," "Humors of Parteen (The)", "Humors of Panteen (The)," "Humors of Purteen (The)," "Peas on the Hearth." Irish, Jig (6/8 time) or Slide (12/8 time). G Mixolydian (O'Neill): D Major (Donnellan). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (O'Neill): AABBCCDD (Donnellan). "Hush the Cat" would seem to be an older tune with several variants. As usual, the first strains are more or less cognate with each other, but the second strains show more variation and less correspondence.

The tune was entered as a duple-time reel in the c. 1909 music manuscript collection in the possession of Rev. Luke Donnellan (1878-1952), a fiddler and curate in the Oriel region of south Ulster^[1]. Gerry O'Connor (2018) remarks that the tune has the character of a Highland, and suggested it had been obtained from a piper. However, it also may be a miss-transcription or mishearing of the jig setting, or it may be an attempt to transcribe a slide (12/8 time).

See also the related "Cat's Bagpipes (The)" from the Pigot Collection (printed by P.W. Joyce).

Additional notes
Source for notated version : - Rev. Luke Donnellan (Oriel region, south Ulster) [O'Connor].

Printed sources : - Donnellan (Journal of the County Louth Archaeological Society, vol. II, No. 2), 1909; No. 105. O'Connor (The Rose in the Gap), 2018; No. 73, p. 54. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 909, p. 169.

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↑ Donnellan researcher Gerry O'Connor came to believe the ms. is not the work of the curate but rather was originally compiled by an unknown but able fiddler over the course of a playing lifetime, probably in the late 19th century. The ms. later came into the possession of Donnellan, who was also a fiddler.

[1] Donnellan researcher Gerry O'Connor came to believe the ms. is not the work of the curate but rather was originally compiled by an unknown but able fiddler over the course of a playing lifetime, probably in the late 19th century. The ms. later came into the possession of Donnellan, who was also a fiddler.

[1]