Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#1835 (Stirling Castle)
about these two barsThese two bars were transcribed by me from how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording JDJO (details in the Discography below).
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fling | 16 | AB | D Major |
Stirling Castle / Sterling Castle / The Grey Daylight (also doubled, also as strathspey; in O'Neill books as reel)
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 | 7#2 | [IDM 2] Past Masters of Irish Dance Music. Patrick Killoran and His Pride of Erin Orchestra. |
| ~1953 | 21#2 | [JDJO] Joe Derrane and Jerry O'Brien. Irish Accordion Masters. Joe Derrane (accordion), Jerry O'Brien (accordion). For this tune: O'Brien, Derrane. |
| 1974 | 28#1 | [JD 3] John Doherty. The Celebrated Recordings. John Doherty (fiddle, vocals). |
| ~1976 | 10#2 | [AMPR] Andy McGann and Paddy Reynolds. Andy McGann and Paddy Reynolds. Andy McGann (fiddle), Paddy Reynolds (fiddle). |
| 1991 | 2#1 | [FS] Fiddle Sticks. Irish Traditional Music from Donegal. Ciaran Tourish, Dermot McLaughlin, Séamus Glackin, Kevin Glackin. |
| ~1998 | 3#1 | [BG 5] Bobby Gardiner. The Clare Shout. Bobby Gardiner (melodeon, lilting). For this tune: (D melodeon). |
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 #1372 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. |
| As tune #22 in [Sc] Scottish Fiddle Tunes. |
| On page 127 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. |
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