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Origins: The Three Sea Captains
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Origins: The Three Sea Captains |
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Subject: History &c of 'The Three Sea Captains'? From: Mad Maudlin Date: 04 Sep 02 - 11:22 AM Hi all, For some reason the tune "The Three Sea Captains" has been haunting me for the last few weeks. I would like to know its history, for example when it was written, and for what occasion (if there was a special occasion at all) and so on. And wasn't there an 18th century painting of that name, too? I remember seeing one, but that was about ten years ago, and I don't remember where I saw it. Thanks in advance! Nathali |
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Subject: RE: Help: History &c of 'The Three Sea Captains'? From: Joe Offer Date: 04 Sep 02 - 11:33 AM Hi, Nathali - I searched Mudcat and Google for the song, and didn't come up with the song. What lyrics do you have for it, and what do you know of it so far? -Joe Offer- |
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Subject: RE: Help: History &c of 'The Three Sea Captains'? From: masato sakurai Date: 04 Sep 02 - 11:34 AM The Fiddler's Companion: Result of search for "Three Sea Captains". ~Masato Search the Fiddler's Companion by typing a partial title in the box below. Perl regular expressions can be used if you're into such arcania.
Result of search for "Three Sea Captains":
THREE CAPTAINS, THE (Na Tri Taoisaig/Taoiseaca). AKA and see "Clark's Favorite," "William Clark's Favorite," "Three Sea Captains." Irish, Long or Set Dance (cut time). G Major. Standard. ABB (Roche): AABB (O'Neill). "From O'Neill, slightly altered" (Roche). O'Neill (1915 ed.), 1987; No. 389, pg. 186. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; pg. 220. O'Neill (1850), 1903/1979; No. 1787, pg. 334. O'Neill (1001 Gems), 1907/1986; No. 961, pg. 165. Roche Collection, 1982, Vol. 3; No. 189, pg. 67. Eugene O'Donnell.
THREE SEA CAPTAINS, THE. AKA and see "The Three Captains." Irish, English; Set Dance, Morris Dance (6/8 time), or Jig. G Major. Standard. O'Neill records that he found the earliest printed setting in McGoun's Repository of Scots and Irish Airs (1799). The tune is used for either a single or polka step in the North-West (England) morris dance tradition. In Ireland the tune is called "The Three Captains," and a set dance is performed to it. AABB (Allan's): AB (Kennedy, Raven, Wade). Allan's Irish Fiddler, No. 115, pg. 29. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book), Vol. 2, 1954; pg. 44. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 107. Wade (Mally's North West Morris Book), 1988; pg. 6. Front Hall FHR-010, Bill Spence and Fennig's All Stars - "The Hammered Dulcimer Strikes Again" (1977).
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Subject: RE: Help: History &c of 'The Three Sea Captains'? From: MMario Date: 04 Sep 02 - 11:38 AM Through Google I did find mention of a SATB piece from 1956 with the same title |
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Subject: RE: Help: History &c of 'The Three Sea Captains'? From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 04 Sep 02 - 11:38 AM You beat me to it. I'd just add that there are no lyrics that I've ever heard of; just a dance tune, and quite commonly used in Northern English morris as well as for the set dance in Ireland. |
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Subject: RE: Help: History &c of 'The Three Sea Captains'? From: masato sakurai Date: 04 Sep 02 - 12:03 PM According to Aloys Fleischman, ed., Sources of Irish Traditional Music c.1600-1855, 2 vols. (Garland, 1998; all the tunes are notated in this book), "The Three Captains" (vol.1, no. 3062) was included in John Lee's Collection of Country Dances for the Present Year 1791 (Dublin, 1791). This record, which The Fiddler's Companion doesn't mention, seems to be the earliest. The tune (6/8) is similar to the one (2/2) in O'Neill's Music of Ireland, though there're diferences. ~Masato |
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Subject: RE: Help: History &c of 'The Three Sea Captains'? From: GUEST,Ard Mhacha. Date: 04 Sep 02 - 01:39 PM I have an LP Claddagh Records 1971, Sean O`Riada plays this tune on the Harpsichord. Information on the sleeve, a set dance, No 961 in O`Neill`s Dance music of Ireland. I have never known this to be anything other than a Set dance. Ard Mhacha. |
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Subject: RE: Help: History &c of 'The Three Sea Captains'? From: Mad Maudlin Date: 04 Sep 02 - 01:53 PM Hi friends, Thank you all for your help! The link to "The Fiddler's Companion" should be very helpful, since all my search yielded were mentions of recordings of that tune. (The recording I have of it is by the Dubliners, incidentally.) I found the sheet music for the Three Sea Captains through the ABC Tunefinder, but no additional information. One more "stupid question": What exactly is a set dance? Cheers, Nathali |
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Subject: RE: Help: History &c of 'The Three Sea Captains'? From: Dicho (Frank Staplin) Date: 04 Sep 02 - 01:55 PM Here is a story from the Lee County, Illinois history. "Woosung, Illinois, was founded in June, 1855, by the three sea captains. They were said to have made their fortunes in the China trade and came to this spot to retire. Because the rolling prairies reminded them of the country surrounding Woosung, China, on a branch of the Yangtse River, they named their new home Woosung, meaning 'Haven of Rest'." The captains were William Brindlecom, Roundy, and J. N. Griswold. They paid $20,000 for some 2000 acres. A Captain Anderson arrived in 1856. Woosung |
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Subject: RE: Help: History &c of 'The Three Sea Captains'? From: Dicho (Frank Staplin) Date: 04 Sep 02 - 01:59 PM Set dances- follow a prescribed pattern. See Set dances Competitions, competitions! |
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Subject: RE: Help: History &c of 'The Three Sea Captains'? From: Mad Maudlin Date: 04 Sep 02 - 02:13 PM Nice story, Dicho! And thank you for the information on set dances! |
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Subject: RE: Help: History &c of 'The Three Sea Captains'? From: GUEST,Don Date: 05 Sep 02 - 01:16 PM I once attended a workshop where Joe O'Donovan, the old time step dancer and teacher from County Cork in Ireland (I believe), taught an old time version of this set dance. He indicated that the title referred to three sea captains under Admiral Nelson (possibly at the Battle of the Nile, I can't recall for sure.) There was at least one place in the dance where the dancer struck the floor with her/his toe (wearing hard dance shoes with fiberglass tips), indicating the firing of cannon. Some of the earlier postings, citing older sources for the tune, may call this explanation into question. In Irish dance music a set dance is a tune of non-standard structure, standard structure being 1) each tune part consists of 8 bars of music, and 2) all parts are in the same time signature. In the case of The Three Sea Captains (at least as it is played in Irish music) the "A" part of the tune is 8 bars long (standard), but the "B" part is 20 bars long (non-standard.) Perhaps this 20 bar "B" part consists of several 8 bar parts, or fractions thereof, that have been melded together - I cannot say. Alternatively, "set dance" may refer to a prescribed series of steps that have been "set" to such a non-standard tune. Since the tune is non-standard, the dancer cannot use her/his garden variety steps, and so must have special steps prepared. I apologize if I have merely repeated information contained in Dicho's web reference above. |
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Subject: RE: Help: History &c of 'The Three Sea Captains'? From: GUEST,Brían Date: 05 Sep 02 - 03:23 PM I recall seeing Joannie Madden playing this tune on the whistle while a young dancer whose name I don't recall danced to it at an Irish Children's Benefit in Portland, Maine. He finished the dance by tapping his pointed toe out in front of himself and then touching his knee to his forehead, a seemingly impossible feat which stunned and amazed the audience as well as bringing down the house. There is a French-Canadian song that has many versions LES TROIS CAPITAINES that I wonder might be related in some way. Brían |
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