Ireland's most famous harper and composer, Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738), wrote hundreds of tunes, some 300 of which have survived. Most were composed for and named after his patrons, though a few, such as this one, came down with no name and were subsequently titled by the collectors who transcribed them. This tune was first taken down by William C. Forde (1795-1850), an early Irish musicologist who collected tunes from counties Munster, Sligo, Leitrim, Galway, Roscommon and Mayo. Forde was unable to gather the funds to publish his collection during his lifetime and so this tune remained unprinted until P.W. Joyce included in it his Old Irish Folk Music and Songs in 1909. This tune has no particular connections to Christmas or the winter season. We included it just because we like it so much.
