Also known as The Stilly Night.
There are 7 recordings of this tune.
Oft In The Stilly Night appears in 1 other tune collection.
Oft In The Stilly Night has been added to 3 tunebooks.
From “Flowers of Irish Melody”, Belfast 1848.
Oft in the stilly night,
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me,
Fond mem’ry brings the light
Of other days around me:
The smiles, the tears,
Of boyhood years,
The words of love then spoken;
The eyes that shone,
Now dimm’d and gone;
The cheerful hearts now broken!
Thus in the stilly night,
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me,
Sad mem’ry brings the light
of other days around me
When I remember all
The friends so link’d together
I’ve seen around me fall,
Like leaves in wint’ry weather;
I feel like one who treads alone
Some banquet-hall deserted;
Whose lights are fled,
whose garland’s dead,
And all but he departed!
Thus in the stilly night &c.
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The lyrics were written by Thomas Moore (1779-1852) and have a subtitle, “Scotch Air”. The tune was popular in the late 18th/early 19th centuries in Scotland (under the names “Oft in the Stilly Night” and “The Stilly Night”) and, I assume, in Ireland too.
I am a ‘learning’ violinist and my comments are just my feelings and observations regarding this melody. It is a poem from the Irish poet/writer Thomas Moore. It is very melancholy and reflective of a life in its autumn. This melody is presented as a reel. I will post a link to a violin recording by Geraldine O’Grady, an Irish violinist. Her rendition is the epitome of what Thomas Moore meant. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytsuS9iKaDc&list=PLACbTCaHmc5tNdsNnAH67BEZz10EGQ6-0&index=4. Please enjoy.
