Bonaparte’s Retreat

A traditional Old Time breakdown and march in D major (also played in G and A), likely of Irish origin — traceable to “The Eagle’s Whistle,” the marching tune of the O’Donovan clan — that spread across the British Isles before taking root throughout the American South as a slow dance and march with programmatic associations with Napoleon’s 1812 retreat. William Hamilton Stepp’s 1937 recording for Alan and Elizabeth Lomax in Salyersville, Kentucky became the source for Aaron Copland’s orchestral setting in the “Hoe-Down” from Rodeo (1942); Stepp’s recording entered the Library of Congress National Recording Registry in 2016. Among the earliest commercial recordings are A. Gray (Okeh 40110, 1924), Gid Tanner and Riley Puckett (1924), and Allen Sisson (Edison 51690, 1925).