Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 55 (Alexander's)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Hornpipe32AABBD Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Alexander's
 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 GD (details in the Discography below).

Where do you get the tune titles?
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Alexander's / Alexander's Hornpipe / Alexander's Favourite / Cornphíopa Alasdair / Byrne's Hornpipe / Byrnes / Kelly's Hornpipe / The Jolly Butchers / Ballymanus Fair / The Sandlark Hornpipe / The Sandlark
What do the "track#tune" codes mean?

cd 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. They are listed in order of when they were recorded.

Year
Recorded		 Track
#Tune		 [Album code] Artist. Title. Primary musicians (instruments). Album details
and contents
19407#2[SE 6] Séamus Ennis. The Return from Fingal. Séamus Ennis (pipes, vocals).View album details
~195022#1[GD] various. From Galway to Dublin. Early Recordings of Traditional Irish Music. View album details
200122#2[PHCB] Public House Ceili Band. Go Figure. Dan Cobb (banjo), Dave Delgado (whistle), Alan Ng (fiddle), Bob Newton (octave mandolin).View album details
~20071.10#1[CLnn 2] Charlie Lennon. Turning the Tune. Charlie Lennon (fiddle, viola, piano, harpsichord, bass, keyboards).View album details
~20084#2[TDeM] Tony DeMarco. The Sligo Indians. Tony DeMarco (fiddle).View album details
~99992.A.4#1[1] various. Alan's personal session tapes.

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 #1683 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #84 in [D&M] Arthur Warren Darley and Patrick Joseph McCall. The Darley and McCall Collection of Traditional Irish Music. [available]
As tune #82 in [A] Hugh McDermott. Allan's "Irish Fiddler." [available]
On page 193 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. [available]
As tune #85 in [Cr] Matt Cranitch. The Irish Fiddle Book. [available]
As tune #344 in [JOL] Terry Moylan. Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra. Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border. [available]
As tune #98 in [DM 3] Dave Mallinson. 100 Evergreen Irish Session Tunes. [available]
On page 197 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition.
As hp #1 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. [available]

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
Please cite your source when you use information from this document.
© 2000–2008 Alan Ng, agng@facstaff.wisc.edu. Questions? Comments? Please use the easy Feedback Form. Thank you!
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