Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#1484 (O'Sullivan the Great)
| Rhythm ? | Mode ? |
|---|---|
| March | G Major |
about these two bars
These two bars are the start of my transcription of how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording LR 1 (details in the Discography below).
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
O'Sullivan the Great / The Officer on Guard / I Won't Be a Nun / I Wont Be a Nun / Won't Be a Nun (also with a 3rd part) (compare Irish Freedom March #3104) (also as songs I'll Marry and I'll Never Be a Nun / The Better that He Longed for Never Came according to SE 2; Jimmy O'Brien Moran, however, says the latter song title is actually The Letter That He Longed for Never Came, in an e-mail to me 8 Sept. 2009)
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.
| Year Recorded |
Track #Tune? |
[Album code] Artist. Title. Primary musicians (instruments). |
|---|---|---|
| ~1948 | 22#2 | [LR 1] Leo Rowsome. Classics of Irish Piping. Leo Rowsome (pipes). |
| ~1973 | 4#1 | [SE 2] Seamus Ennis. The Pure Drop. Seamus Ennis (pipes). |
| ~1997 | 6#1 | [KCB 5] The Kilfenora Céili Band. Set on Stone. Aidan McMahon (fiddle), Anne Marie McCormack (fiddle), Anne Rynne (fiddle), Garry Shannon (flute), Anthony Quigney (flute), Conor McCarthy (accordion), John Lynch (banjo), Tim Collins (concertina), Fintan McMahon (piano), Sean Griffin (drums), Paul O'Driscoll (double bass). |
| ~2000 | 4#2 | [EOR] Eoin Ó Riabhaigh. Tiomnacht. Handed On. Eoin Ó Riabhaigh (pipes). |
Bibliography
Here are all transcriptions of this tune under any title whatsoever – 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 #1813 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. |
| As tune #341 in volume 2 of [R] Francis Roche. The Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music. 3 vols. |
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