DE ZIAH & DATE

This piece is based on the ancient Irish air Casadh an Tsúgáin. A woman and her daughter live together and both fancy a man. One day he visits to ask the mother about marrying her daughter. He enters, to her initial joy, but then tells her how he feels and asks about the dowry. The mother is not very happy and has an idea; she asks him to help her twist a rope which is needed to stop the thatched roof blowing off. She makes the rope and he adds the straw. It’s not polite to kick him out but as the rope gets longer and longer he has to go out the door. When he is far enough out she cuts the rope and locks him out. The slow air is followed by a ‘twisting of the rope’ section and ends with a mighty horn blast of a ship leaving, played on the cello.