Sporting Pitchfork: A Song History

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"The Sporting Pitchfork" is a traditional Irish double jig in 6/8 time, built from two eight-bar strains, each played twice.[1][2] It is usually written in G major, though the Tune Archive notes that opinions on the key differ, since the opening can be heard as D Mixolydian and the melody starts on a D chord; irishtune.info also records a variant in G Mixolydian.[1][2] The Traditional Tune Archive reads "pitchfork" as a name for a wandering farmhand, known by his tool, and links the jig to the uilleann pipe repertoire; the sources consulted here name no composer or place of origin.[1][3][2]

Etching of a young farm couple walking across a field, the man carrying a pitchfork over his shoulder

Jean-François Millet, Going to Work, etching, 1863. A farm worker with a pitchfork over his shoulder, shown for the title; the etching has no connection to the tune.

Printed settings listed in both tune indexes include the third volume of Bulmer and Sharpley's Music from Ireland, dated 1976 by the Tune Archive, and Cranitch's The Irish Fiddle Book.[1][2] Paddy Glackin and Paddy Keenan recorded it on their 1978 album Doublin', following it with "The Rambling Pitchfork," a jig that, according to the Tune Archive, first appeared in print under that title in R.M. Levey's 1858 collection; the pair of tunes has since been called "The Pitchforks."[4][1][3] Later recordings include those of Alan and John Kelly, Tommy Peoples, Mícheál Ó Raghallaigh, and Ronan Browne with Peter O'Loughlin.[2] Mountain dulcimer players can find it in DAD tuning among the jigs, reels and polkas of Aaron O'Rourke's Irish Session Tunes, Volume 2, a Fingers Of Steel book that comes with downloadable audio recordings of its tunes.[5]

Our book that contains the song "Sporting Pitchfork"

Sources

  1. The Traditional Tune Archive: "Sporting Pitchfork".
  2. Irish Traditional Music Tune Index (Alan Ng): "Sporting Pitchfork, The".
  3. The Traditional Tune Archive: "Rambling Pitchfork (The)".
  4. Irish Traditional Music Tune Index (Alan Ng): "Doublin'" (Paddy Glackin and Paddy Keenan).
  5. Fingers Of Steel: "Aaron O'Rourke, Irish Session Tunes, Volume 2".
  6. Image: Jean-François Millet, Going to Work, etching, 1863. The Cleveland Museum of Art.

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