Gigg (Lowlands of Holland)

This jig appears in James Oswald's Caledonian Companion (various editions in the mid-eighteenth century), just below The Lowlands of Holland, a slow and rather sad air. The folks over at the Traditional Tune Archive believe that the two tunes are connected - well, they know their stuff, but I'm not convinced. Anyway, it's a great jig, and the catbirds though so too.

[@TheIrishMandolin]

The tune shares a lot of DNA with the air to the song "Lowlands Of Holland" with which I'm familiar, i.e. in a classic rendition ua-cam.com/video/NgHzc7q0bMg/v-deo.htmlsi=J-AeXMfZ9WA9mFQ2

[@richardcarver6849]

I'm genuinely not sure, Aidan. However, there is perhaps more similarity with the up-tempo Dubliners version than with James Oswald's own slow lament. It's possible that Oswald himself composed it as a variation on the original - someone out there must know this stuff.

[@TheIrishMandolin]

@@richardcarver6849 I've had a look at the TTA source, Richard, and it's pretty clear that this is the second part of an "air-into-jig" piece. A reasonably common trope, even in Irish music, to relieve the tension of the slow air. Clearly arranged for piano - or some other keyboard instrument - given the trills in particular but also some of the gracing which is more suited to keyboards than to blown, plucked or bowed yokes. I'm pretty confident that it's "arranged" rather than "collected" . I detect a whiff of the drawing room rather than the farmyard. I've had a go at stripping out the trills and gracing and adjusting one or two phrases to make them more GDAE-friendly. After all that, this is how *I* hear it ua-cam.com/video/37BZQByUP7I/v-deo.html

[@richardcarver6849]

@@TheIrishMandolin It's certainly drawing room - that's who would buy the book - and certainly arranged. The many tune books published in Edinburgh during that period endlessly recycled more or less the same repertoire. Oswald was a composer of some note and while I find some of his treatments just fine, including this one, I think many are over-elaborate. This book is for the German flute (no bass line for the keyboard). My guess, which is worth nothing, is still that the jig is Oswald's own creation, but it's a good tune and your treatment works well on the mandolin.

[@TheIrishMandolin]

@@richardcarver6849 Ah, flute. That explains the trills, then. Mind you, I’d argue that such trills are a classical flute technique rather than something which trad players would generally use. Mind you, it’s often the case that written tune settings (e.g. at thesession) are instrument-specific and require a degree of tweaking to suit another.