Are there many Irish waltzes?

[Percy]

I was another forum a few days ago, and someone there said that there are very many Irish waltzes -- that waltzes never really caught on in Ireland. So most of the tunes we know as Irish waltzes really come from Scotland or elsewhere. Is this true? I disagreed with the person, but then I got to thinking, maybe I'm wrong (could it be????)... So I'm asking any of our experts here -- are there many truly Irish waltzes out there? I was sure there was...

[Jason Busniewski]

LOL

Maybe it doesn't matter that much. You could introduce some of them as planxties, or something like that.

[Jim McAuley]

Many Irish Waltzes where wrote by the Irish In America
I think its Call Home sick -- Some may be among these
Irish Waltz Titles =

Paddy riley
Slievnamon
The green glens of antrim
When irish eyes are smileing
The boys from the County Armagh
THE OLD BOG ROAD
NOREEN BAWN
Lovely Leitrim
The Mountains of Mourne
The castle of dromore
Marino Waltz
Old Claddagh Ring

All I can remember ... jim,,,,

[Mary Margaret]

There was a chat on the Sesson on the question about "why no airs"? in the tunes search tab. Answer - because the Session is for dance tunes of Ireland but that airs can be found as "waltzes"with the search facility.
-MM

[Jason Busniewski]

The tunes I am referring to are not slow airs, they are definitely metrical, but 3/4 time signatures do not waltzes make. Is Tabhair Dom Do Lámh for example, a waltz if it was written over a century and a half before the waltz (the dance) came to that part of the world? This doesn't mean that waltzes are not played or composed by Irish musicians, but that a number of the tunes we often think of as waltzes are probably better thought of in other ways.

Another way of framing this might be that while you could consider a Carolan planxty, like Planxty Fanny Power, a waltz from the perspective of current social practice, because it can be and is played for waltzing, in a historical sense, to say that it's a waltz is an anachronism and probably doesn't give adequate attention to the social and musical world that these older harp tunes come out of.

[George Fowler]

Ah, the familiar strains of the Tennessee Waltz with uilleann pipes, etc. The presence of dobro makes me think that Frankie Laine had something to do with this. He's an Irishman consumed by American country-western music & has roped a number of otherwise sane trad Irish musicians into recording with him. "I was waltzin' with my darlin' to the Tennessee Waltz, when an old friend I happened to meet....." The Chieftains & Tom Jones also covered this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlJL1h5MHHk on "Long Black Veil". A good tune travels a long way. Composed in 1947 by Redd Stewart & Pee Wee King, it's the official Tennessee state song.

Best
George

[George Fowler]

Same 3/4 time but ....
Waltz = accent on the 1st beat
Mazurka = accent is on the second or, sometimes, third beat depending on who's playing and where they are being played. In Ireland it's the second beat that's stressed.

[George Fowler]

You can play almost any 3/4 tune (by whatever name) OM-pa-pa, and call it a waltz, I suppose. If it walks like a duck & quacks like a duck, it must be a duck, eh? ;-)

[Sharon Goldwasser]

There are definitely some recently composed Irish waltzes- The Beautiful Goldfinch is one that comes to mind, on an album by PJ and Marcus Hernon, and I think there's one on a recording I have by Manus Maguire. Some of my Irish (born) friends here refer to old-time waltzes, often some of the songs mentioned earlier in this thread, and love to dance to them at ceilis and other events--- and like them played very fast.

I agree that some of the O'Carolan tunes do lend themselves to waltzing even though they weren't composed for that- Hewlitt, Fanny Power etc.

[Tobin Eckian]

i am working on memorizing two O'Carolan pieces - finally (Draught and Concerto). is Fairy queen on line anywhere like the session.org or ? :) happy fiddling! tobin

Aisha said:

there are lots of beautiful O'Carolan waltz's. I love Fairy Queen.