The Bee's Wing Hornpipe
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"The Bee's Wing Hornpipe", also known as "The Bee's Wing" is an English<br> (originally), Scottish, Canadian and Irish hornpipe or clog in B Flat Major.<br> The parts are played AABB (Brody, Cole, Cranford/Holland, McNulty), AABBCCDD'<br> (Hunter). It was composed by the 19th century Gateshead (near Newcastle),<br> northern England, composer James Hill, originally born in Dundonia, Scotland<br> (nicknamed the "Newcastle Paganini"). The "Bee's Wing" has become in modern<br> times one of the most popular Scottish fiddle hornpipes. It is attributed to<br> Hill in Köhlers’ Violin Repository (Book 2) and was named after a famous<br> Newcastle racehorse, a mare. Bee's Wing was foaled in 1833, sired by Dr. Syntax<br> (1811-1838), a champion in his own right and was bred by William Orde, a former<br> Member of Parliament who had inherited an estate at Nunnykirk, near Morpeth,<br> Northumberland. Bee's Wing won the Newcastle Gold Cup six times, the Doncaster<br> Gold Cup four times and the Ascot Gold Cup in 1842-in her career she started 64<br> times and won an astounding 51 races. So great was her fame that when she<br> retired in 1842, to be put to pasture as a broodmare at Nunnykirk,<br> Northumberland, the whole town of Morpeth turned out to greet her on her return.<br> A local pub was renamed in her honor. It is possible the tune was named with<br> the pub in mind, as well as the racehorse, for Hill was both an aficionado<br> of horseracing (composing several tunes in honor of race horses and owners) and<br> a sometime publican who also played in pubs. <br> A note in Ryan's/Cole's indicates the tune "can be used as a clog".<br> "The Bee's Wing" is one of the tunes sometimes requested of Shetland fiddlers<br> because "anything composed in a flat key is considered to be a real test of a<br> fiddler's ability" (Cooke, 1986).<br> It was printed in Brody's Fiddler's Fakebook (1983),<br> Cole's 1000 Fiddle Tunes (1940),<br> Cranford's Jerry Holland: The Second Collection (2000),<br> Hunter's Fiddle Music of Scotland (1988),<br> Köhlers’ Violin Repository, Book 2 (Edinburgh) (1881-1885),<br> McNulty's Dance Music of Ireland (1965) and<br> Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883). <br> It was recorded by Arthur Robertson on Scottish Traditional Fiddle Music (1978),<br> Carl Mackenzie on Welcome To Your Feet Again,<br> Natalie MacMaster on No Boundaries (1996),<br> Sean Mcguire on Irish Jigs and Reels (c. 1960's) and<br> Frank Ferrel on Fiddle Tunes. <br>
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