Thomas Leixlip the Proud

[michael sam wild]

On The Session Tunes , and Mudcat I put a piece up on this tune. It is often attributed to Carolan but it's not O'Sullivan's book. My mate Mike Lydiat and I play it and looked up some information. We found an on line song manuscript in the National Library of Ireland and the first lines of the song from the opera Poor Soldier by William Shield an English composer (originally a boat builder from the NE and later a composer fror Drury Lane) is Tho' Leixlip is proud of its close shady bowers.' The tune is about the same as the one O'Neill put in his book and it could be that he interpreted Tho' Leixlip as Thomas Leixlip . The opera was set in Ireland and the singer is Pat, the Poor Soldier whi singing in Praise of his beloved Norah,dear Norah.

 

 

 

The tune is also similar to The Humours of Glynn or The Sligo Rambler so it could have original traditional links. It was played by Willie Clancy and Paddy Tuohy the pipers and can be a jig or nice air.

 

 

 

I reckon a lot of Baroque influenced tunes were around in Britain and Ireland which were socially and economically linked at the time and may often have been attributed to Carolan. Tunes travel and were lifted and adapted freely. Burns has a song linked to it.

 

Any info welcome

Edited December 17, 2012 by michael sam wild