Lord Inchiquin waltz

I think this is another O’Carolan composition - it would fit well with tunes like South Wind, Fanny Power, S

You’re right, this i s an O’ Carolan tune.

“Lord Inchiquin” was one of the first Carolan tunes I heard and learned, and is still one of my favorites.

I looked “Lord Inchiquin” up in Donal O’Sullivan’s book (“Carolan: The Life Times and Music of an Irish Harper” Cork, Ireland: Ossian Publications Ltd., 2001 ISBN 1-900428-71-7 for the paperback edition) and found nothing to indicate how Carolan himself intended it to be played. It’s played much faster than a waltz on the recordings I’ve heard, so that’s probably why I think of this as a “fast” Carolan tune.

As has been noted on several other Carolan tunes in 3/4 time, Carolan technically didn’t compose any waltzes because the waltz hadn’t been invented yet. Many of his 3/4 tunes work well as waltzes, but try speeding this one up. I love the ascending scale runs in the B part.

Sarah

Nice tune. I learned it off a Dubliners album yonks ago 🙂🙂🙂

Has anyone ever tried writing out Cormac Breathnach’s improvisations on this tune?

The Chieftains play a g in the first part: A2|d2 de fe|d2 ed cB|A2 F2 A2|g3 f e2|

While I appreciate Sarah’s suggestion to speed this up, as a fingerstyle guitar player, I play this one in an altered tuning (CGCGCD) and I slow it down considerably to about 116 per quarter note. It works out really well this way and, if playing with others, I can capo at 2nd fret to keep it in D.

Bob MacLean

It is a good tune. At a charity concert in Kirkwall some years ago, 2 young fiddlers played “Lord Inchiquin” very nicely. Concert didn’t make a lot of money. A man from N. Ireland gave a wee talk about Carolan, though he did go off the point at times! The fiddlers were pupils at Kirkwall Grammar School where they were lucky enough to be members of Hadhirgaan, Douglas Montgomery’s fine band - which of course changes personnel as pupils leave or start at the school.

“Chieftains” :
https://youtu.be/uOy-2ZZwKDk

play video

“Deiseal” :
https://youtu.be/_5UtxP4R2Oc

play video

Same as 1st setting here, but with high G instead of F in bar 12. Revised line breaks for easier one-page printing. A stately dance tune, with nice ebb and flow to the melody.