Hector The Hero

[McCarthy]

 

[Jody Kruskal]

Nicely played! Heartfelt and deliberate like a song, and lengthy too, like a song.

 

Wow. Good Stuff. I had to check my Youtube tools/playback speed setting to see if I had left it on .75 -  but no, I hadn't.

 

I applaud you sir, for your brave tempo and for a tune well squeezed.

 

So, who was this Hector to make you sound so sad and patriotic? 

 

 

Edited October 22, 2024 by Jody Kruskal

[Paul Draper]

Hector was the Trojan prince killed by Achilles in single combat at the siege of Troy.

[Peter Laban]

6 hours ago, Paul Draper said:

Hector was the Trojan prince killed by Achilles in single combat at the siege of Troy.

 

Scott Skinner, however, had a different Hector in mind when he composed the tune :

 

From wiki:

 

"Hector the Hero" is a classic lament penned by Scottish composer and fiddler James Scott Skinner in 1903.^[1] It was written as a tribute to Major-General Hector MacDonald, a distinguished Scottish general around the turn of the century. MacDonald, a friend of Skinner's, had not long before committed suicide after false accusations and charges against him.

Edited October 22, 2024 by Peter Laban

[vpo]

I remembered reading this on ‘The Session’ when I learnt the tune…..

 

T:Hector the Hero
R:waltz
C:J.S.Skinner
H:Chronology from Nigel Gatherer 
H:Major-General Hector A. MacDonald
H:1857 - Born in the Black Ilse
H:1870 - Enlisted in 92nd Gordon Highlanders
H:1879 - Served as a colour-sergeant in the Afghan War
H:1880 - Promoted to 2nd Lieutenant at end of Afghan War
H:1881 - Mentioned in despatches in 1st Boer Ware, South Africa
H:1885 - Led military expedition up Nile (Sudan)
H:1888 - Took part in Battle of Sunkin (Sudan)
H:1889 - Won Distinguished Service Order (DSO) medal (Sudan service)
H:1891 - Took part in Battle of Tokar (Sudan)
H:1896 - Led 2nd Infantry Brigade - the Dunglen Expeditionary Force (Sudan).
H: Was now a Brigadier-General. May have been promoted about this time.
H:1897/98 - Khartoum - Battle of Omdurman
H:1898 - ADC (Ade de Camp) to the Queen (Victoria)
H:1899 - Served as a Brigadier-General in Sirhind area of India
H:1900 - Served as a Major-General with Highland Brigade in South Africa
H:1901 - Knighted
H:1902 - Served as a Major-General with forces in Ceylon
H:1903 - Accused of being a homosexual. Committed suicide.
H:Sources: Campbell, David, “Major-Gneral Hector A. MacDonald”, Douglas Howard, London, 1903.
H: Chambers Biographical Dictionary.

Edited October 22, 2024 by vpo

[Alex West]

And the Major General was the "poster boy" for Camp Coffee, referring to the military rather than any other sort of camp

Alex West

[Jody Kruskal]

Oh vpo... such lurid and juicy details. He got outed and did himself in. That such a heroic fighter, should be brought down by love... well, it's really quite tragic, don't you think?

[Peter Laban]

4 hours ago, Jody Kruskal said:

Oh vpo... such lurid and juicy details. He got outed and did himself in.

 

Juicy? You may want to read up on that, the wiki for Hector MacDonald would be a start.  It is generally accepted now that   rumours and accusations made against him were false. But true or false,  driving someone to take their own life is tragic, to say the least.

Edited October 24, 2024 by Peter Laban

[chris rowe]

It was a different time Jody, Hector wasn't  outed, he was falsely accused of being a pedophile !

 

[Roger Hare]

On 10/24/2024 at 9:26 AM, chris rowe said:

...Hector wasn't  outed, he was falsely accused of being a pedophile !

Purely by chance while grubbing about for information about 'Ryan's Mammoth Collection of Fiddle Tunes', I came across this article, whose first section deals with the life and death of Major-General Hector MacDonald:

 

http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/air.htm

 

It's from the old Fiddler's Companion web site...

 

[Roger Hare]

I've already a couple of transcriptions of this tune in my tune book, but never one to let well enough alone, I grabbed the ABC code at the end of the article I referenced in my earlier post, and re-worked it a little to suit myself and came up with the following.

 

X:8377
%%MIDI gchord off
%%MIDI program 23
T:Hector the Hero
%A lightly edited tune from Fiddler's Companion: http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/air.htm
%Rudimentary accompaniment chords generated by ABCMus, setting 0.
C:James Scott Skinner (1843-1927)
O:Scotland
%a lament for Major-General Hector MacDonald see: http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/air.htm
Z:Juergen Gier
M:3/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=120
K:Amaj
%in the original transcription, bar 28 appeared to be overfull. Fixd by combining the two quavers as a 
%chord (multi-headed note). I *think* it's OK now. I think JSS wrote the tune in 6/8 but it seems to
%play back better for learning purposes if it's 6/8? RJH
A,2 | "A" {B,2}C3- C/B,/ A,2 | "F#m" {E2}F3- F/E/ C2 | "A" {D2}E6 | "A" ~E4 A,2 | "A" {A,2B,2}C3- C/B,/ A,2 | "F#m" {E2}F3- F/E/ C2 | \
"E" {A,2}B,6 | "E" ~B,4 A,<B, | "A" {B,2}C3- C/B,/ A,2 | "F#m" {E2}F3- F/E/ C2 | "A" {D2}E4 A,2 | "A" {A,2}[A,A]4 {A2B2}AF | \
"A" E3- E/A,/ {B,2}C2 | "Em" {D2}B,4 =G,<A, | "A" A,6 | "A" ~A,4 || A2 | "A" {A2B2}c3- c/B/ A2 | "F#m" {A2}f3- f/e/ c2 | "A" e6 | "A" e4 A2 | \
"A" {A2B2}c3- c/B/ A2 | "F#m" {A2}f3- f/e/ c2 | "E" {A2}B6 | "E" ~B4 A<B | "A" c3- c/B/ A2 | "F#m" {A2}f3- f/e/ c2 | "A" {c2}e4 A2 | \
"A" {A2B2c2d2e2f2g2}a4 {a2b2}[af]2 | "A" e3- e/A/ {B2}c2 | "E" {B2d2}[EB]4 {B2d2}[EB][EA] | "A" [EA]6 | \
"A" [EA]4 c<[ce] || [df]4 [~d2f2] | "A" [ca]4 g<f | "A" [Ae]6 | "A" [Ae]4 c<[ce] | \
"D" [df]4 {f2g2}e<c | "A" e3- e/A/ B<c | "A" [EB]6 | [EB]4 c<[ce] | "D" [df]4 f{g2f2e2f2}>g | \
"A" [ca]4 a{b2a2g2}>f | "E" e3- e/A/ B2 | "A" c3- c/a/ {a2b2}af | "A" e3- e/A/ B<c | \
"E" {B2d2}[EB]4 {B2d2}[EB][DA] | "A" [EA]6 | [EA]4 |]

 

What a beautiful tune this is!

hth.abc hth.mid

[McCarthy]

Everyone, thank you for the kind words and comments. Hector the Hero is a wonderful tune and it really captured my mind and soul while I recorded this video. I truly appreciate all the discussion and comments. Most of the information posted on this thread about this song was unknown to me so I'm glad to have been able to share it and have learned some new things in the process. I simply picked it because it sounded so lovely!

 

It was difficult to get the hang of it with my new Wheatstone, 50 buttons is quite a bit to keep straight while playing. It makes me proud to finally have some semblence of a tempo down as my rhythm was the biggest challenge when I started.

 

Appreciate all the love and support! Hope to post more frequently!