I seem to remember hearing that when this tune was introduced into
Northumberland from Quebec the title was mistranslated as The Grand
Chain and this is what it has gone by for many years (no translation was
given in the first edition of The Third Tune Book). Later someone
discovered the original French title was Le Grand Chien not La Grande
Chaîne so I think that the new book is showing the correct title as well
the adopted Northumbrian title.
"A grand chain" is a common figure in English country dance and I
suspect that the original mistranslation assumed that this was being
referenced in the tune title.
Ian
cal...@aol.com wrote:
I've just gotten my copy of the Northumbrian Pipers' Third Tune Book,
2nd edition. There's a tune whose title is given as "THE GRAND CHAIN
(Le Grand Chien)." Now, since this is a second edition, I'm assuming
that it wasn't just a typo, so I'm curious about this title. Was it
just translated by somebody who was more interested in daydreaming
about pipe tunes than paying attention during French class, or does the
mistranslation actually have some interesting history behind it? I'm
not meaning to be arch, but I do find this interesting.
Alec MacLean
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