Key signature: Dmajor
Submitted on November 8th 2004 by Gard.
This tune has been added to 56 tunebooks.
Also known as The Heights Of Casino, Heights Of Cassino, The Heights Of Monte-Cassino March.
Recordings of a tune by this name:
X: 1
T: Heights Of Cassino, The
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Dmaj
|: f|A>AA (B<de)|(f2a) f>ed|e>fe (e2d)|(e<fe) d>BG|
A>AA (B<de)|(f2a) f>ed|f>AA (e<fe)|d3 d2 :|
|: (f/>g/)|a>fd f3|(f2a) f>ed|e>fe e2 d|(e<fe) d>BG|
a>fd f3|(f2a) f>ed|f>AA (e<fe)|d3 d2 :|
|: f|A2 A B>AG|A>AA f3|(f2a) f>ed|(e<fe) d>BG|
A2 A B>AG|A>AA f3|f>AA (e<fe)|d3 d2 :|
|: (f/>g/)|a>fe d>ef|A>AA f3|(f2a) f>ed|(e<fe) d>BG|
[1 a>fe d>ef|A>AA f3|f>AA (e<fe)|d3 d2 :|
[2 (A2 A) B>AG|A>AA f3|f>AA (e<fe)|d3 d2 ||
This is a Scottish jig by D. MacRae.
It works very good together with Kirkhill.
# Posted on November 8th 2004 by Gard
Casino
The title is The Heights of Casino with one "s". It's a great tune and has been recorded by Blazing Fiddles. Very popular at Scottish sessions.
# Posted on November 8th 2004 by Back for a while
The Heights Of Casino
Does this tune refer to the Allied campaign at Monte Casino during the Second World War?
# Posted on March 1st 2003 by dafydd
The MONTECASSINO Monastery was founded by St. Benedict about 529 of the Christian Era on the remnants of a preexisting Roman fortification of the municipium Casinum. The heathen cult was still practised on this mountain site in the temple of Apollo and in a nearby holy grove to which a sacrifice area was adjoining.
# Posted on November 9th 2004 by gian marco
Monte Cassino, Battle of
February-May 1944
Protracted battle for the town of Cassino and the Benedictine monastery known as Monte Cassino, fought by the Fifth Army of US, British and French troops, and later also by troops of the British Eighth Army and some Polish troops, against the German forces under von Kesselring, in the course of the Allied invasion of Italy during the Second World War.
Following the initial breach of the Gustav line the Allies came to the town of Cassino, dominated by Monte Cassino and its Abbey. The initial attack between 29 January and 4 February failed and the decision was taken to bomb the Abbey. This was a tactical error as the Germans could see it was an obvious bombtrap and the hill itself provided sufficient observation positions. Nonetheless, two massive air and artillery assaults were launched on 15 February and 15 March. Each time the following infantry assault broke down, the ruins of the Abbey providing better cover for the Germans than the original building. This error was to be repeated later in the war, and, indeed, was the identical mistake made at the battle of Passchendale in 1917 when artillery so cut up the ground that troops could not advance. Monte Cassino finally fell on 18 May after it was outflanked by a successful attack through the Gustav line to the south-west.
# Posted on November 9th 2004 by gian marco
6/8 march
Not a jig - a 6/8 march, and I've never seen it spelt "Casino".
# Posted on November 9th 2004 by Kenny
You're right, Kenny. It's actually "Cassino" on the Blazing Fiddles CD too, although it had been submitted as "Casino" in the recordings section here. For some reason, I had it in my head that was correct. Sorry.
# Posted on November 9th 2004 by Back for a while
This is from the BBC's history website.
"The first phase of the operation (the First Battle of Cassino) comprised an attack across the Gari south of Cassino by the US 36th Division, which was savagely repulsed. Then a longer thrust into the mountains north of Cassino by the US 34th Division, and a heroic attack by the North African troops of the French Expeditionary Corps on the high ground further north.
With German reserves duly drawn south, on 22 January 1944 Major General John Lucas's US VI Corps landed at Anzio and Nettuno. There was almost no resistance. However, Lucas was warned by Clark not to 'stick your neck out' in a dash for Rome. Instead, Lucas chose to hold a narrow beachhead in which to laboriously build up men and material."
So it does appear to be Cassino.
# Posted on March 1st 2003 by dafydd
Thanks, Jocklet. Very interesting. My father was at Monte Cassino, but he never spoke about his war experiences.
# Posted on November 10th 2004 by murfbox
P.S. Thanks to Gian marco as well !
# Posted on November 10th 2004 by murfbox
The Heights Of Cassino
I read about the campaign in Spike Milligan's war diaries.
# Posted on March 1st 2003 by dafydd
Heights of Monte Cassino
Does anyone have chords for this tune?
# Posted on March 31st 2008 by James1314
Heights of Casino
This is not a Scottish Jig. As a Scottish musician whose best accomplishment (though not the only instrument) is the pipes, I get fed up with people calling these great 6/8 marches jigs.
The two roots of the problem is the 6/8 time signature and the fact that Scottish Country Dance bands pick these up, play them only slightly up from march tempo, round them off and call them jigs. There are two problems with this. Firstly, the sheer power of a scottish four parted pipe jig played at the proper tempo and with the proper phrasing, remains undiscovered and unrecognised. Secondly, the grace and dignity of the "heavy" 6/8 marches is completely comprised. So two great Scottish musical idioms are completely ruined. This tune and many like it e.g. 10th HLI, Doctor Ross etc. are not Jigs they are marches. We have many great jigs and they are different animals(literally) altogether,
# Posted on November 20th 2008 by Davy B
Eh.... we know.....
Several of us have pointed this out for these tunes in "Comments". The problem is there is no category for 6/8 marches here on this website, but since this website was set up to promote the transmission of Irish traditional music, and 6/8 marches are an insignificant part of that tradition [ 2/4s even less so ], it could be argued that there is no need. I've stopped complaining about it, but really, why people insist on posting Scottish bagpipe tunes here - except on the very rare occasions when they have been incorporated into the Irish tradition, - is beyond me. Who has ever heard this tune played at an Irish session? And that is by no means denigrating the tune itself. The "Heights", and the other tunes mentioned by "Celtic Minstrel" are indeed classics, but in a different tradition.
# Posted on November 20th 2008 by Kenny