Bonaparte's Retreat
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"Bonaparte's Retreat", also known as "Napoleon's Retreat" is an Irish air, march or reel in<br> 2/4 or 4/4 time and D major.<br> It is also wide spread in America.<br> One folklore anecdote regarding this melody has it that the original<br> "Bonaparte's Retreat" was improvised on the bagpipe by a member of a<br> Scots regiment that fought at Waterloo, in remembrance of the occasion.<br> Samuel Bayard (1944) concurs with assigning Irish origins for<br> "Bonaparte's Retreat" and notes that it is an ancient Irish march<br> tune with quite a varied traditional history. The 'ancient march'<br> is called<br> "The Eagle's Whistle"<br> or "The Eagle's Tune" which<br> P.W. Joyce (1909) said was formerly the marching tune of the once<br> powerful O'Donovan family. Still, states Bayard, the evidence of<br> Irish collections indicates that it has long been common property<br> of traditional fiddlers and pipers and has undergone considerable<br> alteration at various hands.<br> In Southwestern Pennsylvania the march origins were lost and instead<br> "sets of the tune have been recast into the form, and given title, of<br> 'Old Man and Old Woman a-Quarreling'".<br> This version was recorded by Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham on The Ruby.<br> I learned a different version for cross-tuned fiddle from a Mike Seeger<br> recording but I haven't written it out yet.<br> The banjo tablature is by John Letscher. His comments:<br> This is from John Herrman, Dirk Powell and Tim O'Brien on their "Songs From The Mountain" CD.<br> The B part here is closer to Salyer's than the one on the CD.<br> This tune is not related to tune such as "Bonaparte's Advance", "Bonaparte's Grand March",<br> "Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine" and "Bonaparte Over the Alps" except for the title.<br> It was printed in Bayard's Hill Country Tunes (1944) and<br> Dance to the Fiddle (1981),<br> Beisswenger & McCann's Ozark Fiddle Music (2008),<br> Brody's Fiddler's Fakebook (1983),<br> Fiddler Magazine, vol. 8, No. 1,<br> Ford's Traditional Music in America (1940),<br> Lomax's Our Singing Country (1941) (appears as "Bonyparte") and<br> Thede's The Fiddle Book (1967).<br> It was recorded by many performers.<br>
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