Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#3692 (Madame Bonaparte)
about these two barsThese two bars were transcribed by me from how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording LR 2 (details in the Discography below).
| Rhythm ? | Mode ? |
|---|---|
| Set dance | G Major |
Madame Bonaparte / Madam Bonaparte / Madame Boneparte / Bonaparte's Advance (appears in collage Bonaparte's Retreat on Ch 6) (also in A, also as reel on JD 5) (compare 1st part with 1st part of Tom Billy's #3639)
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). |
|---|---|---|
| ~1959 | 6#1 | [LR 2] Leo Rowsome. The King of the Pipers. Leo Rowsome (pipes). |
| ~1969 | 4#1 | [FFurey] Finbar Furey. Traditional Irish Pipe Music. Finbar Furey (pipes, whistle). For this tune: (pipes). |
| ~1974 | 1#2 | [JD 5] John Doherty. The Floating Bow. John Doherty (fiddle). |
| ~1976 | 3#1 (4:55) | [Ch 6] The Chieftains. 6. Bonaparte's Retreat. Paddy Moloney [misspelled as:] Maloney (pipes, whistle, bodhrán), Seán Potts (whistle, bodhrán), Martin Fay (fiddle), Michael Tubridy (flute, concertina, whistle), Derek Bell (harp, oboe, tiompán), Seán Keane (fiddle). |
| ~2010 | 5#3 | [GMrphy] Gráinne Murphy. Short Stories. Gráinne Murphy (fiddle). |
| ~2011 | 4#1 | [FlgMem] Andrew Mac Namara, Orla Harrington, Jim Higgins. Flagstone Memories. Orla Harrington (fiddle), Andrew Mac Namara (accordion), Jim Higgins (piano, percussion). For this tune: Orla Harrington (fiddle). |
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 #1788 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. |
| As tune #962 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. |
| As tune #22 in [JOL] Terry Moylan. Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra. Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border. |
| On page 221 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. |
| As setd #5 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music. |
| As tune #93 in [Cr] Matt Cranitch. The Irish Fiddle Book. |
| In [FMH] Tom Hastings. The Feis Musicians Handbook [sic]. |
| As setd #20 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. |
| As tune #86 in [DM 4] Dave Mallinson. 100 Vital Irish Session Tunes. |
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