Wednesday 6 January 2021
Tune of the Day: Gladly Would I Go
Traditional Scottish/Irish tune
This march tune is taken from Francis O'Neill's collection Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody, published in Chicago in 1922. He writes:
This fine old march was memorized from the playing of William McLean, a famous Highland piper much admired in Chicago some fifty years ago. The tune in almost identical setting was included in a book of pipe music, published at Glasgow about 1825 under two names: “The Duke of Athol's March” and a long Gaelic title expressive of romance and chivalry. Its spirited swing and characteristic cadences, no less than its Gaelic title indicate an Irish origin.
The tune is practically identical to the Irish jig “Move Up to Me”.