Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#596 (Fairy Queen)
about these two barsThese two bars were transcribed by me from how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording TF (details in the Discography below).
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hornpipe | 32 | AABB | D Major |
Fairy Queen, The / Fairy Queen Hornpipe / The Cuckoo's Nest (1st in set Tommy's Selection on MV; mislabeled on TF as The Cuil Aodha)
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). |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 12#2 | [COG] Conal O Gráda. The Top of Coom. Conal Ó Gráda (flute). |
| ~1991 | 12#1 | [MV] Maiden Voyage. Live Traditional Irish Music Session from Pepper's Bar, Feakle, Co. Clare. Tommy Peoples (fiddle). |
| ~1993 | 8#2 | [PS 4] Patrick Street. All in Good Time. Kevin Burke (fiddle), Jackie Daly (accordion), Andy Irvine (vocals, bouzouki, mandolin, harmonica), Arty McGlynn (guitar), Bill Whelan (keyboards, vocals). |
| ~1994 | 5#1 | [JCt 1] John Carty and Brian McGrath. The Cat that Ate the Candle. John Carty (banjo, fiddle), Brian McGrath (piano, banjo). |
| 1996 | 10#2 | [TF] Martin Dowling, Christine Dowling, Daithi Sproule. A Thousand Farewells. Martin Dowling (fiddle), Christine Dowling (flute, vocals), Daithi Sproule (guitar). |
| ~2005 | 5#1 | [CTL 11] Cherish the Ladies. Woman of the House. Joanie Madden (flute, whistle, harmony vocals), Mary Coogan (guitar, mandolin, banjo, banjitar, octave mandolin), Heidi Talbot (vocals), Roisin Dillon (fiddle), Mirella Murray (accordion). For this tune: with Sharon Shannon (accordion). |
| 2010 | 7#2 | [SHtn 1] Shannon Heaton. The Blue Dress. Shannon Heaton (flute). |
| ~2012 | 3#2 | [In2M] Len Graham and Brían Ó hAirt. In Two Minds. Len Graham (vocals, spoons), Brían Ó hAirt (vocals, whistle, dance). For this tune: Brían Ó hAirt (whistle). |
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 hp #40 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music. |
| On page 110 of [Cr] Matt Cranitch. The Irish Fiddle Book. |
| On page 39 of [SK] Sean Keane. Fifty Fiddle Solos. |
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): 1986