Leslie’s hornpipe

This is one of set of three tunes which form the ceili dance known unsurprisingly as "The Three Tunes" … the others in the set are "The German Beau" and "Haste To The Wedding".

This is the tune known originally (and still in Britain) as Astley’s Ride. "Leslie" looks like a corruption of Astley. It’s obviously not a hornpipe of any kind), but an excellent example of the multitude of ubiquitous common-time tunes (chief characteristic: that formidable 123 - or "om pom pom" - at the start of the 1st bar) now often referred to, for the sake of typonomy, as a (Scotch) measure, which seem both to have spawned the hornpipe proper and paved the way for the acceptance of the polka by traditional musicians in the Bristish Isles. Said Astley did have a (formerly very popular) hornpipe named after him, which is now generally know as "Ashley’s" Hornpipe - under which name it is reproduced elsewhere on this site. The splendid McCusker brothers here cited recorded both, as well as a lot of other tunes of English origin associated with the old northern (Irish) dancing tradition.

very interesting, phil

Aidan’s Three Tunes are (the ‘measure’, the ‘polka’(?) and the jig):
Leslie’s Hornpipe (here)
The German Beau https://thesession.org/tunes/1545
Haste to the Wedding https://thesession.org/tunes/582

nb: there seems to be some disagreement as to which order the dancers danced them in, according to the thread at https://thesession.org/tunes/1545/comments (could it be that they followed a different pattern in different parts?)

The A part bears a striking resemblance to the B part of Vincent Broderick’s barndance, Around the Fairy Fort. The B part starts off like the A part of Around the Fairy Fort, but an octave up, but changes in the second measure.