“Bonaparte’s Retreat,” music by Steve Miller

Posted on October 13, 2019 by Flannery James

Steve Miller, musician and longtime member of the Maintenance Department, performs “Bonaparte’s Retreat” on his fiddle against the backdrop of the school auditorium under repair. See below for a description of the tune’s historical context, provided by Mr. Miller. Find more of Mr. Miller’s work, including original lyrics and music, in the WAM archives.

“Bonaparte’s Retreat is mostly known as an upbeat dance tune celebrating the defeat of Napoleon. That is mostly due to the library of Congress recordings by William Stepp and other early fiddlers. The French hired the Irish to help fight the British. That did not work out so well. This tune was originally a pipe tune from the battle of Waterloo period to provide comfort in defeat. The fiddle is tuned in what is known as dead man’s tuning – strings tuned DEAD. The low D simulates the drone of bagpipes.”
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