Irish Mazurkas: Titles, Tunebooks, and Recordings

Mazurkas are basically 3/4 time dance tunes (originally Polish), typically with an emphasis on the second beat and at any rate played with a rhythmic swing, and sometimes with a "Scotch snap" (as in strathspeys). According to Caoimhín Mac Aoidh they made their way to Donegal by "travelling with various military regiments" (liner notes to The Fiddle Music of Donegal). I could just as easily have written pages about highlands and barndances, which I love as well. But given that there is a relatively small number of Irish mazurkas (that I know of -- 13 at last count, depending on how you count them) this page seemed much more manageable! (Page newly updated, September 4, 1998.)

Below I have three lists: (1) Irish mazurkas, (2) tunebooks containing Irish mazurkas, and (3) recordings of Irish mazurkas.

A List of Irish Mazurkas

An Ceol.

"Sonny Brogan's." Source: Sullivan's Session Tunes Book 1. Very common tune.
"The Irish Mazurka" (Hugh Gillespie) or "The Old Donegal Mazurka" (John Doherty). Source: the CD collection of Gillespie's fiddling, or Johnny Doherty's self-titled Comhaltas recording. There is a tune called "Charlie Lennon's" (see Sullivan's Session Tunes Book 2) that is close enough to these performances to count as a (quite different) version of the same tune. In any case there are lots of versions of this tune. Another one is from Vincent Campbell on The Brass Fiddle -- the first of the two mazurkas he plays. Though it sounds to me that he has added a third part, or a variation, that borrows from "Kitty's Fancy."
"The Meenbannad Mazurka." Source: An Ceol Vol. 3; from the playing of Danny O'Donnell. The first three listed here have very similar A parts and are thus easy to mix up. This fourth one has a very distinctive B part, however, which must be played in third position on the fiddle. A very nice tune.
"Kitty's Fancy." Source: Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and Frankie Kennedy, Ceol Aduaidh. The name the tune has in Sullivan's Book 3 is "Donegal Mazurka." John Doherty calls it "Kitty's Fancy" (on The Star of Donegal). It is called "James Byrne's" (for lack of a standard name I suspect) on The Brass Fiddle.
"Francie Mooney's." Source: Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and Frankie Kennedy, Ceol Aduaidh. There are many versions of this tune. Another one can be heard from Vincent Campbell (and for lack of an agreed-upon name, I guess, is called "Vincent Campbell's" there), on The Brass Fiddle. Called (erroneously, I think) "Verse of Vienna" (see "Shoe the Donkey" below) in Sullivan's Book 3.
"The Kilcar Mazurka." Source: The Brass Fiddle played by Francie Byrne. Rumored to be similar to a Swedish mazurka; details to follow, maybe.
"Shoe the Donkey." Source: An Ceol vol. 1 -- listed there as a mazurka. It does have a nice mazurka rhythm. Also called "Varsovienne," or "Versavanna," etc., or even bastardized to "The Reverse of Vienna" and "The Waltz of Vienna" (and "Shave the Donkey"); a varsovienna is a distinct kind of dance, I understand, but closely related to the mazurka. The version on Ceol Aduaidh (itself sourced from John Doherty) is very different from the more common version (to be found e.g. on Hugh Gillespie's CD as "Versevanna") -- enough to be considered a completely different (but complementary) tune. Versions of this tune are played all over Ireland and Europe.
"Mazurka." Source: Altan's Island Angel. But their source is John Doherty's playing, a performance of which can be found on Bundle and Go (which performance is transcribed in The Northern Fiddler).
"Tommy Peoples' Mazurka." Can be found on Peoples' "Master Irish Fiddle Player" (Ovation). Was also just recorded by Altan on Runaway Sunday. (Beautifully played in both cases.) Transcribed in An Ceol Vol. 3. An unusual four-part tune.
"Jackie Donnan's." I know of three mazurkas that are sourced from Jackie Donnan. One is from Bernie Stock's ABC collection. A second is at Henrik Norbeck's site; that second one and a third were played by Diane and Nigel Boullier on the television show "From Glen to Glen."

Can anyone add to the list? I'm not too proud to accept and disperse more accurate and complete information if what I have here is insufficient. For some ABCs of (versions of) most of these tunes, see Henrik Norbeck's mazurka page. In my limited (but probably not unrepresentative) experience in American sessions, "Sonny Brogan's," "Donegal Mazurka," and "Charlie Lennon's" are played most commonly. There are also some non-Irish mazurkas to be found in one of the online session tunebooks at Ceolas. Some of those non-Irish mazurkas are beautiful. And as classical musicians will know, some beautiful piano music can be found in Chopin's book of mazurkas. Back when I played piano they were just about my favorite kind of piece to play. But I haven't found an easy way to adapt them to fiddle (most of them are in non-fiddle keys, for one thing).

Some Tunebooks Containing Irish Mazurkas

An Ceol: As you might expect, an excellent source of mazurkas. Two in Vol. 1, three in Vol. 2, and four in Vol. 3.
The Northern Fiddler": Actually has only two -- the one that John Doherty and Altan play as simply "Mazurka," and "The Kilcar Mazurka."
Peter Cooper's Mel Bay's Complete Irish Fiddle Player: Cooper's influences are Tommy Peoples and Paddy Glackin he says, and it shows -- with a whole section devoted to mazurkas, and another devoted to highlands -- he has "Sonny Brogan's," "Charlie Lennon's," "Vincent Campbell's" aka "Francie Mooney's," "Donegal Mazurkas" #1a&b aka "Kilcar Mazurka," and #2 or "Kitty's Fancy."
Sullivan's Session Tunes, 3 vols.: Books 1 and 2 each have one, and Book 3 has two.
Bulmer & Sharply, Music from Ireland, Vol. 4, has "Sonny's."
Tommy Peoples' 50 Irish Fiddle Tunes has "John Doherty's" aka "Kitty's Fancy."

An Incomplete List of Mazurka Recordings

The Brass Fiddle: An excellent recording with four mazurkas: "Vincent Campbell's" (aka "The Old Donegal Mazurka"/"Francie Mooney's"), "The Kilcar Mazurka" (a wonderful tune transcribed in The Northern Fiddler) and "James Byrne's" aka "Kitty's Fancy."
An Ceol Tutor Tapes: These have quite a few common mazurkas like "Kitty's Fancy" and "Francie Mooney's" -- a few of them played several times (by different players).
The Fiddle Music of Donegal: Two mazurkas on this new recording, played by Jimmy Campbell (Vincent's brother): "The Old Donegal Mazurka" and "Francie Mooney's."
Johnny Doherty (self-titled, CCE): "An Old Donegal Mazurka"
John Doherty, Bundle and Go: "Mazurka" (the only one in the JD section of The Northern Fiddler)
John Doherty, Star of Donegal: Gives a name, "Kitty's Fancy," to what is otherwise generally known as either "Donegal Mazurka" or "Francie Mooney's."
Hugh Gillespie, Classic Recordings of Irish Traditional Fiddle Music: He was Donegal man and moved to New York, where he developed his style under the tutelage of Michael Coleman. He shows his Donegal roots when he plays "Versavanna," and his version of the mazurka he calls "The Irish Mazurka" is very similar to John Doherty's "Old Mazurka."
Altan, Island Angel: "Mazurka" (same as the tune in Bundle and Go)
Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh & Frankie Kennedy, Ceol Aduaidh: "Kitty's Fancy" and "Francie Mooney's."
Fiddlesticks: Has Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and her father Francie playing "Kitty's Fancy" and "Francie Mooney's" again.
Stockton's Wing (self-titled): They do "Sonny Brogan's" and "Charlie Lennon's" very nicely. I recommend this recording.

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