Give Me Your Hand - Later References To The Tune

Later References To The Tune

The Fiddler's Companion says

The Latin title first appears in the Wemyss manuscript of 1644 and in the Balcarres manuscript of 1692

and then

The melody's popularity was long-lived, as attested by its appearance in many collections throughout the 18th century, including Wright's Aria di Camera (1730), Neal's Celebrated Irish Tunes (c. 1742—a revised date from the oft-given 1721 or 1726, this based on watermark research—see the appendix to the 2001 edition of O’Sullivan’s Carolan), Burk Thumoth's Twelve English and Irish Airs (c. 1745-50), Thompson's Hibernian Muse (c. 1786), Brysson's Curious Selection of Favourite Tunes (c. 1790, and Mulholland's Ancient Irish Airs (1810).

English and Irish titles first seem to have appeared in 'A Collection of Ancient Irish Airs', by John Mulholland, 2 vols. Belfast, 1810.

Seán Ó Riada is attributed with reviving the tune in the late 1960s. The Wolfetones also contributed to the tune's development by adding words of reconciliation at a time of violence in Northern Ireland during the The Troubles.