"Bonaparte's Retreat" ~ William H. Stepp, 1937

[Magasta666]

i first heard this song in my music appreciation class. i like how aaron copland took w.h. stepp's song and composed it into hoe down from rodeo.

[GottaGoFishin2]

Beef... it's what's for dinner

[paint4dave]

thank you for this piece of history.

[17Hongo]

love playing this - as folk music it has an amazing style

[SaraKuro]

lol I had to play this for school, everybody always overlooks fiddle music. but anybody who can play as well as you, has some true skill :)

[ichbineintoober]

now, look, that's the boney part heheh

i love this tune and i picture frenchmen jumping for their lives, but i hate how it got used by that whassisface jew and he made money off it. This is a folk tune. FOLK. Not you, jew.

Same goes for that Deliverance movie that made the jews rich. They sold the soundtrack and still are. Duelling banjos has nothing to do with sodomy, except in a jew's diseased mind.

[bkahler419]

I wish people would spell Aaron Copland's name correctly.

[apopcollapse]

Thanks for the tip. Fixed it and apologies.

[bkahler419]

No worries...I didn't mean to come across so rude there.

[Ricepatch1]

Does anyone know how this fiddle is tuned?

[Simrose88]

It's DDAD - hence the low D drone underpinning it all.

[Ricepatch1]

I had my E tuned down to the D and it doesn't sound right? could it be another note?

[Simrose88]

OK, but a top D works for me.. and seems to fit with the originial. When the second part of the tune moves to the high octave, the A drone is continous, so the D note in the tune must be open top D string - which means the other notes have to move up a place for fingering (i.e. F# is played as a 2nd finger - where the G# would normally be on the neck). Good Luck!

[HellbillyCuntryMusic]

Whooooo!

[Albacore49]

Is this the same guy that does Silver Strand instrumental?

[apopcollapse]

yes.

[Ricepatch1]

Could you please tell me how this fiddle is tuned, or is it a five string?

[terrywildman]

T.Shine: No it is not standard; is is Ddad (G string tuned to D an octave below the D strting), otherwise known as Dead Man's Tuning (I dont know where the name came from). Very tricky to get that low D to play in tune, but makes your hair stand up when it works.

[terrywildman]

Also works well in Adad; not quite Dead Man's,so I call it Sick Man's Tuning.

[bobthrollop]

Do they sell strings that will go lower than a standard G string?

(Hope this discussion doesn't get flagged as NSFW!)

[Robobagpiper]

You could always try a viola's C-string.

[arttoegemann]

There are several versions of BR. Copeland chose well.

[KentuckyHoundsman]

If you like old time Kentucky fiddle songs then get Bruce Greene's CD called Five Miles of Ellum Wood (Old Time Kentucky Fiddle Solos)

[vader6972]

F*ing sweet

[TennesseeShine]

Does anyone know what tuning he's using? It doesn't sound like standard GDAE. Thanks!

[pleadingsmovie]

D1Dad

[TennesseeShine]

The absolute definitive version of Bonaparte's Retreat! None better ANYWHERE by ANYBODY!

[Beshimi]

i don't know, i really enjoy Aly Bain's rendition as well.

[majik89d]

Mark O'Connor's recording of Midnight on the Water/Bonaparte's Retreat on the Essential Mark O'Connor Album.

[calebolin]

THose versions are good but they came about 50 years after this one, so they could hardly be considered definitive.

[TennesseeShine]

Got to agree with that! W.H. Stepp is so definitive that it was incorporated into the Western opera and still much later into the full-orchestral version used by the Beef Industry for their well-known commercial.

[danielkeeton]

Aaron Copeland ripped this off a Kentucky Fiddler. I study Kentucky Traditional Music. Kentucky fiddlers can't be beat. End of story.

[WoodwindGirl79]

LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT! You can't help but sit there and move to the beat. I really love Copeland's song - but this gives you the taste with out the ballet flavor. I didn't know that this was his basis, thanks for passing that along.

[arttoegemann]

This rendition is every bit as thrilling as the symphonic.

Stepp is cool at myspace too.

[mediatorstage]

Ah, the old "Hamburger Hornpipe"

[BiancaAlexisBritt]

LOL , are you thinking about that commercial .

[phononut]

Henry Reed's version is better.

[arttoegemann]

Not the one I heard.

[TennesseeShine]

Henry Reed was a very fine fiddler but unfortunately all we get to hear is a shadow of his original talent. Reed had lost much of his dexerity and sense of timing by the time Alan Jabbour begin preserving his music. However, you can still grasp his genius by listening to those reel-to-reel recordings at the American Experience section on the Library of Congress website and learn a LOTS of great old tunes!

[OldAndBlue]

Simply beautiful.

[orerockon]

Stepp called the tune "Bonypart". He even says it at the beginning of the recording. It is based on a piano transcription of an interpretation of "Bonaparte's Retreat" in the ballet "Rodeo" composed by Aaron Copeland.

[apopcollapse]

See above response. The transcription is of this recording, not the other way around. This information is well documented and easily publicly available.

[a101060]

@apopcollapse Rodeo copland's ballet is 1942....william h. stepp 1937...music originates always from common people, the basic stuff is popular, a sort of genius of the crowd

[reliablebow]

Grand tune!

[About2Rain]

This is AWESOME! Thanks for sharing it with me. Love that Bonaparte's Retreat. This is a very fine version of it.

[vmostuart]

this rocks hardcore

[ottlakerambler]

Wow, I had no idea Stepp influeced Copland. Thanks!

[orerockon]

You have it backwards. Stepp adapted Aaron Copeland's composition to the fiddle. From Wiki: "In 1942 Copland composed the ballet Rodeo (which) contains many recognizable folk tunes...W. M. Stepp's version..."Bonypart" ("Bonapart's Retreat") (was) based on the piano transcription by Ruth Crawford Seeger. (it has) been used numerous times in movies and on television, including commercials for the American beef industry."

[ottlakerambler]

Now I'm quite confused. The above says Stepp playing in 1937. Wiki that you quote says Copland composed Rodeo in 1942. So how can it be that Copland influenced Stepp?

[apopcollapse]

You should read the article more carefully, the syntax is slightly confusing. It says (correctly) that Copeland adapted Stepp's version on the basis of Ruth Seeger's transcription for piano of that performance. Seeger had been working closely with Alan Lomax at the library of congress, and it was through that work that she came in contact with the field recordings made by Alan Lomax of Kentucky fiddlers, includ. Stepp. Please check your sources more carefully before spreading disinformation.