Monday 28 December 2015
Tune of the Day: Bonaparte's Grand March
Traditional march tune
This march appears in Chicago police officer Francis O'Neill's collection Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody, published in 1922. O'Neill notes:
In the heyday of Bonaparte's renown, early in the nineteenth century, many songs, marches, hornpipes, etc. were named in his honor in Ireland. Most of the tunes, being traditional, retain their popularity. It is not claimed that “Bonaparte's Grand March” is an Irish composition. In fact we have no information concerning its history or origin, but there can be no question as to its circulation and popularity in Ireland in former times. Its rescue from the oblivion of faded manuscript to the publicity of the printed page may endow this spirited march with renewed vitality.