Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#130 (Return from Fingal)
about these two barsThese two bars were transcribed by me from how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording Ch 4 (details in the Discography below).
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| March | 32 | AABB | E Dorian |
Return from Fingal, The / Fingal March / The Battle of Aughrim / The March to the Battle (2nd in set The Battle of Clontarf on OTPR; 2nd in set The Battle of Aughrim on Ch 4; 2nd in set The Lament for the Battle of Aughrim on ST KCF) (also in A)
Discography
Here are all recordings of this tune considering only the indexed recordings. I have discovered by careful listening that these sources are in fact musically the same tune, regardless of the tune titles they use, key changes, retuning, etc.
Click 
to hear the first 12 seconds.
to hear the first 12 seconds.| Year Recorded |
Track #Tune? |
[Album code] Artist. Title. Performers (instruments). |
|---|---|---|
| 1931 | 10#2 | [OTPR] Oldtime Records. Vol. 3. Piping Rarities. The Fingal Trio: James Ennis (pipes), Frank O'Higgins (fiddle), John "Jake" Cawley (flute). |
| 1948 | 13#1 | [SE 6] Séamus Ennis. The Return from Fingal. Séamus Ennis (pipes, vocals). For this tune: (pipes). |
| ~1973 | 5#2 (2:00) | [Ch 4] The Chieftains. 4. Michael Tubridy (flute, concertina, whistle), Seán Potts (whistle), Paddy Moloney (pipes, whistle), Martin Fay (fiddle), Seán Keane (fiddle), Peadar Mercier (bodhrán, bones). |
| ~1973 | 11#1 | [SE 2] Seamus Ennis. The Pure Drop. Seamus Ennis (pipes). For this tune: (C# pipes). |
| ~1976 | 6#2 | [ST KCF] Séamus Tansey. King of the Concert Flute. Remastered. Séamus Tansey (flute). |
| ~1993 | 11#2 | [JKn 2] James Keane. That's the Spirit. James Keane (accordion). |
| ~2001 | 10#1 | [Lu 3] Lúnasa. The Merry Sisters of Fate. Kevin Crawford (flute, whistle), Seán Smyth (fiddle, whistle), Cillian Vallely (pipes, whistle), Donogh Hennessy (guitar, whistle), Trevor Hutchinson (double bass). |
Bibliography
Here are all transcriptions of this tune considering only the indexed books, listed in chronological order. I have discovered by careful comparison that these are very similar to this tune as played on the recordings listed above.
| As tune #1816 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. |
| As tune #216 in volume 3 of [R] Francis Roche. The Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music. 3 vols. |
| As tune #80 in volume 2 of [B&S] D[avid] Bulmer and N[eil] Sharpley. Music from Ireland. 4 vols. |
| As tune #18 in [LPF] Eithne and Brian Vallely. Learn to Play the Fiddle with Armagh Pipers Club. |
| On page 37 of [FF] David Brody. The Fiddler's Fakebook. |
| As misc #8 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. |
If you are considering using the above transcriptions to help you learn this tune, I invite you to check these practical Tips for Learning Irish Traditional Music. See also: So why do you bother indexing books and abc?
Year of the oldest source for this tune, considering the recordings and transcriptions listed above (note that I concentrate on sources after 1900): 1903