The Durham Rangers
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"The Durham Rangers" also known as "An Comhra Donn", "Duran Ranger", "Sherwood Rangers",<br> "Lord Middleton's Hornpipe", "Merry Sherwood Rangers" or "Ranger's Hornpipe" is a<br> Scottish and English Schottische, Reel or Hornpipe in D Major. <br> 'The Durham Rangers' was a nickname for the Durham Fencible Cavalry, raised in 1794 and<br> composed of volunteers under regular officers. As fencibles--for home defense--they<br> could not be sent out of the country, but they could be sent to Ireland, where they were<br> posted in June, 1798 (after having served some years in Scotland). This was just in time<br> for the Irish rebellion of that year, and the 250 man strong Durham fencible unit (which<br> had changed its name to Princess of Wales's Fencible Cavalry) operated against the Irish<br> rebels on the River Boyne. It was disbanded at Clonmel in September, 1800. <br> The melody is in the "Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine" tune family. The structure is<br> :(AA):|:(BA):. The A phrase is almost exactly "Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine" at double<br> speed and the B phrase is very similar to "Bonaparte's Retreat".<br> The melody is played in County Donegal, Ireland, where some versions are rendered in the<br> form of a 'German' (i.e. schottische), while other Irish versions are to be found in the<br> "An Comhra Donn" ("The Brown Chest") family of tunes. <br> The name "Durham Ranger" is shared with a salmon fishing fly, also called a 'duran ranger'<br> (a corruption of 'durham'). <br> The first appearance of the tune in print appears to be in Kerr's Merry Melodies, vol. 1 (c. 1880)<br> albeit under the title "The Sherwood Rangers".<br> It was printed in Dixon's Remember Me (1995), Kennedyn's Fiddlers Tune Book (1951),<br> Köhlers’ Violin Repository (1881-1885), Lerwickn's Kilted Fiddler (1985) and<br> Raven's English Country Dance Tunes (1984). <br>
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