Six comments
This tune comes from the New England Fiddler’s Repertoire.
Has the Rory O’More of this tune any connection with the Rory O’Moore mentioned in the comments to the tune March Of The Kings Of Laois?
trevor
It was also in the repertoire of Clare concertina player Mrs. Crotty. It is not part of the traditional Clare repertoire, and she is thought to have learnt it either from a record or from a visiting musician.
Rory O’More
Here is another version of the tune in Fmaj, used by morris dancers, and known as "Haste to the Wedding"
M:6/8
L:1/8
K:Fmaj
d|cAF AFF|AFF F2d|cAF AGF|EGG G2d|cAF AGF|ABc d2c/B/|ABc cde|fFF F2||
f|fed dcA|BAG F2E|DEF FGA|Bdc c2f|fed dcA|Bcd d2c|ABc cde|fFF F2||
Trevor
“Rory O’ More” a link to history and more ~
http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/ROD_ROR.htm
"Composed by Samuel Lover, this melody was the "hit tune" of 1837. Although initially a dance tune (a popular Scottish country dance is called "Rory O’More"), it was absorbed as a common march in the Victorian era British army and can be found in martial manuscript books dating from the 1850’s (Winscott). “Rory O’More” also appears in English fiddler’s manuscripts from the same era (see Ellis Knowles). The melody was picked up by morris dancers from the village of Adderbury, Oxfordshire, in England’s Cotswolds and used as a rural dance vehicle. Overseas, in America it also caught popular fancy and appeared in Elias Howe’s 1858 collection, surviving and achieving some longevity in its initial genre, a country dance tune, which was, for example, commonly played for country dances in Orange County, New York, as late as the 1930’s (Lettie Osborn, New York Folklore Quarterly). Later, Howe (c. 1867) included it with dance instructions in his section of Contra Dances."
As lifted from “The New England Fiddler’s Repertoire”
Randy Miller & Jack Perron:
http://www.randymillerprints.com/
http://www.randymillerprints.com/fiddletunebooks.htm
But for added distraction, here it is in another key, also played at times in good ol’ New England, with some other differences and a second ending for part-B ~
K: G Major
|: e |
dGG BGG | dGG G2 e | dcB BAG | FAA AA/B/c |
dGG BGG | dGG edc | BB/c/d def | gGG G2 :|
|: f |
gfe edB | cBA G2 F | EFG GAB | Bed def |
g2 f edB | cBA GAF |1 E2 F GAB | ed^c de :|
2 EGG GG/A/B | ed^c d2 ||
Appears in the Gunn Book of Fermanagh (1865) as Rory O’Moore.
Many thanks Ceolachan for the information about Samuel Lover being the composer. I suspect he wrote quite a few tunes now in the traditional repertoire..