Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 610 (Farewell to Leitrim)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel16ABD Mixolydian
Transcription of first 2 bars of Farewell to Leitrim
 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 HG (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):
Farewell to Leitrim / Lawson's Favorite / Molloy's Favourite / Reidy Johnson's (2nd in set Donovan's Reel on WW 1; mislabeled as Jenny Picking Cockles on A B) (also doubled)
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
19211.12#2[MC] Michael Coleman. Michael Coleman 1891-1945. Michael Coleman (fiddle).View album details
19276#2[WW 1] various. The Wheels of the World. Early Irish-American Music. Classic Recordings from the 1920s and 1930s. Vol. 1. View album details
19389#1[HG] Hugh Gillespie. Classic Recordings of Irish Traditional Fiddle Music. Hugh Gillespie (fiddle).View album details
~19968#1[A B] Altan. Blackwater. Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh (fiddle, vocals), Ciaran Tourish (fiddle, whistle, vocals), Dermot Byrne (accordion), Ciaran Curran (bouzouki, guitar-bouzouki), Mark Kelly (guitar, vocals), Dáithi Sproule (guitar, vocals).View album details

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 #1307 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #570 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. [available]
As tune #64 in [A] Hugh McDermott. Allan's "Irish Fiddler." [available]
As tune #279 in [CRE 2] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 2.
On page 115 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. [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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