Leslie’s March (jig) on The Session

Also known as Dirty James, General Leslie’s March To Longmarston Moor, Highland March From Oscar & Malvina, The Highland March From The Pantomine Oscar & Malvina, Highland March In Oscar & Malvinia, Lesley’s March, March Of Oscar And Malvina, Oscar & Malvina, Oscar And Lucinda’s Wedding, Seamus An Chaca.

A tune by this name has been recorded together with Joe Derrane’s (a few times).

Twenty comments

A Great March

I know this number is on a Solas CD but I believe you can find it on a Chieftans CD somewhere.

In the B part - I was going to mark the Quarter notes up. I’ll leave them up to you but I recommend anything other than just the plain note. Split them in half if you would.

In the C part - I find that I do my best job when I single bow the majority of it. Give it a shot.

Enjoy folks. Hope you like it as much as I.

Mark

I think I’ve seen or heard this tune attributed to Turlough O’Carolan. Can anyone confirm this?

Interesting

It certainly doesn’t sound like an O’Carolan tune to me. That would genuinely surprise me. I would love to find out.

Leslie’s March

The Chieftains call this "March of Oscar and Malvina" on Chieftains 9, as far as I remember. I can’t recall the historical details of the tune.

Johannes

…it’s also on Catherine McEvoys lovely CD "Traditional Irish Flute Music in Sligo-Roscommon Style" as "March from Oscar and Malvina"

Isn’t ‘Oscar and Malvina’ a pantomime?

Mark, I was surprised too. It does seem unlikely - maybe I dreamt it.

The March Of Oscar And Malvina

I’ve just got Chieftains 9. The liner notes says:

This hiland march is part of the ballet "Oscar and Malvina" written by Maria de Caro and produced before 1793. It Is believed that "Oscar and Malvina" came from the largely spurious Ossianic literature created by James MacPherson in the late 18th century. Oscar was one of his characters as in our "Tales of Fionn MacCumhail."

It’s not O’Carolan’s, but as old as his compositions.

The March Of Oscar And Malvina

From the Fiddler’s Companion:

MARCH FROM OSCAR AND MALVINA. AKA and see "Leslie’s/Lesley’s March [1]," "Duplin House," "Blue Bonnets [2]." Irish (?), March (6/8 time). D Major. Standard. AABBCC. Composed (as part of a Rondo) by William Reeve and published in London, England in 1791, scored for harp and uilleann pipes. The opera Oscar and Malvina, or the Hall of Fingal, was a long-running pantomime staged several times in London in the last decade of the 18th century into the early years of the next. It featured for a few years the playing of uilleann piper O’Farrell (whose first name is not known, but may have been Patrick), whose tutor and collections of music are important snapshots of the historical repertoire of the times. O’Farrell (Pocket Companion, vol. 1), c. 1805; pgs. 46 (appears as “Highland March in Oscar and Malvina”). Claddagh CC30, The Chieftains ‑ "Boil the Breakfast Early" (1979). Shanachie 78002, “Solas” (1996).

X:1
T:Highland March in Oscar & Malvina

M:6/8

L:1/8

R:March

S:O’Farrell – Pocket Companion, vol. 1 (c. 1805)

Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion

K:D

d3d3 | dcB ABc | dcB AGF | F/G/AF E2D | e3e3 | fed eag | fed dAB |

d>ef/g/ e2d :: fdd eAA | fed eAA | gee fBB | ga/g/f/e/ fBB | fdd eAA |

fg/f/e/d/ ebg | fed dAB | d>ef/g/ e2d :: dfa dfa | dfa agf | egb egb | egb bge |

dfa dfa | dfa a2g | fed dAB | d>ef/g/ e2d :|

Leslie’s March

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH3r_rCKYks&feature=rec-fresh+div

play video

Last tune here by Four Men and a Dog

Leslie’s March

Great to find this here - I’ve heard this once or twice in sessions and badly wanted it!

It reminds me a bit of Atholl Highlanders, but I like it far more.

Appears in Oswald’s Pocket Companion, Vol 2, as "Lasley’s March", well before the above examples. A while earlier, Allan Ramsay published a set of words (General Leslie’s March to Longmarston Moor). This seems to have inspried Walter Scott, who used the melody as a base for "Blue Bonnets O’er The Border". The tune evolved separately through that tangent.
http://petrucci.mus.auth.gr/imglnks/usimg/7/7d/IMSLP325264-PMLP201592-caledonianpocket00oswa_2.pdf
https://thesession.org/tunes/2402
"General Leslie’s March to Longmarston Moor" is an apparent reference to General David Leslie, who was second in command at the Battle of Marston Moor (Long Marston is nearby) near York - he was fighting on the side of the Covenanters, allied with Cromwell. A few years later, Leslie and his ilk switched allegience. However, once the names Allan Ramsay and Walter Scott are mentioned, a pinch of salt is needed regarding origin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Leslie,_1st_Lord_Newark

Leslie’s March, X:4

That’s the one Solas play on their first album (1996), track 10.

John Doyle and Liz Carrol

I have a three camera shoot of Liz Carrol and John Doyle playing this at the Acadia Trad School Concert Series, will post as soon as I get it edited. It really drives

Bunting collection.

It was also collected and published by Bunting, though I don’t recall which of his three volumes has it.

Re: Leslie’s March

What an awesome tune this is, heard it at the session yesterday, makes you want to get up and dance immediately

Re: Leslie’s March

It’s in the 1840 Bunting book, tune 70. The tune is has minor differences, but is still clearly the same melody. He also uses a different title, Dirty James, which was his demure way of translating the Irish title of Seamus an Chaca, which is more literally Shitty James or James the Shit, the Irish nickname for James the Second after his defeat at the Battle of the Boyne. The Scottish title is referenced in the mid 1600s, so it’s definitely a Scottish tune. I’ve never been clear on how it made its way to Ireland. My guess would be that the Scottish folk melody was introduced to Ireland with the Jacobite troops who were fighting in Ireland in the 1690s, which would explain its title in Bunting. However, it also might have gone from being a Scottish folk tune to its use in the ballad-opera Oscar & Malvina, which became known in Ireland and was reincorporated in the folk tradition through that route.

Re: Leslie’s March

The Chieftains arrangement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLGAceGBIDM

play video

And a picture of the piper O’Farrell performing at Oscar & Malvina
http://billhaneman.ie/IMM/IMM-XIX_html_66ad8e8c.png

Re: Leslie’s March

The tune appears as ‘Lasly’s March’ in James Oswald’s ‘A Curious Collection of Scots Tunes’ Book 2 (ca. 1743), which predates its issue in the Caledonian Pocket Companion by at least seven years. No authorship is directly listed or implied in that volume.