The Fairy’s Queen mazurka

This tune is a totally different tune to the tunes on the data base. This tune came from the playing of Liam O’Flynn on one of his early solo albums. It’s a lovely tune and deserves to be heard more.

Again, not a mazurka…

This is attributed to Turlough O‘Carolan. There are several versions around, but I particularly like the four-part version in O’Neill’s, cut and pasted below. The third and fourth parts would sound less distinct in the same octave, which may be why the posted piping version only has three.

X: 1
T:The Fairy Queen
C:O’Carolan
B:O’Neill’s 637
Z: 1997 by John Chambers <jc@trillian.mit.edu>
N:“Moderate”
N:Trailing grace notes in bar 32 not standard in abc (yet).
N:O’Neill has single bar at start of 4th section.
M:3/4
L:1/8
F:http://jc.tzo.net/~jc/music/book/oneills/1850/X/0637_jc.abc K:G
G4 D2 | F4 D2 | G4 D2 | {A}G>F G>A B>A \
| G3 F ED | {C}B,4 (A,/B,/D) | E4 ~F2 | G4 {c}B>A |
| “>”G4 (G//B//d3/2) | “>”F4 (F//A//d3/2) | E3 F ED | {C}B,4 D2 \
| {F}E>D (EF) (GE) | DB ~A3 (G/A/) | G6- | G4 Z2 ||
|| (BABcBc) | (BABc)(BG) | A4 A2 | A2 B2 d2 \
| “>”G3 ~G dG | “>”F3 ~F dF | (EDEF)(ED) | {C}B,4 (D/E/F) |
| (GFED)B,A, | G,4 (FG) | A3 (G FE) | D4 (GA) \
| B4 E2 | A4 D2 | ~G6 (F/G/) | G4 z2 ||
|| “ff”.G2 .G2 .F2 | .E2 .D2 .C2 | (B,DGB,) A,G | G,4 z2 \
| “p”G2 G2 D2 | (E2 F2 G2) | (A>BAG)(FE) | .D.G,.B,.D.G.A |
| [B4G4] zB | [A4F4] zA | “f”G2 G2 ED | {C}B,4 (GF) \
| (E>DE)(FED) | ({C}B,A,G,A,)(B,D) | {D}E6 | z2 z2 (d/e/f) ||
| g2 g2 f2 | e2 d2 c2 | (BdgB)(Ag) | G4 (~FE/F/) \
| (GFEDEF) | (GFEFGA) | [B6G6] | z2 zBcd |
| (edef)(ef) | ({a}gfga)(gf) | (edef)(ed) | HB4 (gf) \
| (edef) g>d | (e<B) A4 | G2 G4- | G6 |]

Michelle O’Brien plays a version of this on her album with Aogan Lynch- it’s the last track.

To get the above abc to work, you may need to drop the K:G down to the next line. Also, I see the posted version has four parts too . . .

Sorry, also meant to say that the album isn’t in the recordings database on this site and it is self-titled.

The album is here:
https://thesession.org/recordings/330
It’s a pity it’s not re-released on CD.

“Tedium’s” setting is based on Bunting’s.

I’ve written Bunting’s setting in full in Sibelius. You can have the .pdf here:

https://app.box.com/s/0tnjddwupr0u8cw1q9bp

It says “harp”, but it’s obviously for keyboard (I was testing it with concert harp samples).

You can hear the Sibelius transcription played through a sampler with early “fortepiano” here (thanks to Dennis at Bolder Sounds for samples):

https://app.box.com/s/nbl53tga0sd6t5cbeux4

Lastly, for those who want it, a midi from the Sibelius transcription (no preview, needs to be downloaded):

https://app.box.com/s/ewkq743g9po6xmj9s5wu

Too much work to put it in abc, and it wouldn’t display properly in many abc apps.

It’s one of those namby-pamby tunes that can grow on you. Not one for Bunting’s arrangements, ussually, but, every now and then, I realise he was a talented dude.

Or a harp:
https://app.box.com/s/mvsi0ygqssqmhr5jbruo