Farewell To Fiunary waltz

A lovely melody, sometimes notated in 6/8 with the warning to play it as if it were a waltz… At jig tempo it just isn’t so nice… 😏 It is also listed as an ‘air’ ~ are there lyrics?

I’m hoping Kenny or someone else ‘in-the-know’ will add more relevant comment here, as I only know this one from ear… I am sure, with the emotion it evokes in me, there’s a story behind it, maybe even a composer?

This appears as a song on the Tola Custy CD Settin’ Free where Cyril O Donoghue does a nice version of it.

https://thesession.org/recordings/448

How about a transcription Conán…

If I can find the recording I can at least post the lyrics…

Oh well; at the risk of being dubbed lazy, here’s a useful link:

http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=27351

Also, I believe there are different verions of the chorus, e.g.

We must up and haste away,
We must up and haste away,
We must up and haste away,
Farewell, farewell to Fiunary

Conán, it was me being lazy. Your link is a treasure trove, and a site I am familiar with. It has been a mad week… I am also worried, my anonymity is about to be broken ~ Dow / Mark is coming for a visit… He speaks well and fondly of you. Maybe if I just throw sheets over everything and confine him to the kitchen?

Find the Isle of Mull, just across the Sound of Mull on the mainland, roughly midway, you’ll find Fiunary and Fiunary Forest…

Maps:
http://www.maplandia.com/united-kingdom/scotland/scotland/highland/fiunary/

http://www.fallingrain.com/world/UK/0/Fiunary.html

http://uk.autold.com/map-f433.html

http://www.fiunary-cottage.co.uk/map.html

Other dots & midi, courtesy of Nigel: http://www.nigelgatherer.com/tunes/tab/tab8/ffiun.html

http://www.folkinfo.org/songs/displaysong.php?songid=490

The wind is fair, the day is fine and swiftly, swiftly runs the time;
The boat is floating on the tide that wafts me off from Fiunary.

Chorus:
We must up and haste away, We must up and haste away,
We must up and haste away, Farewell, farewell tae Fiunary.

A thousand, thousand tender ties, awake this day my plaintive sighs;
My heart within me almost dies at thought of leaving Fiunary.

CHORUS

But I must leave those happy vales, See, see they spread the flapping sails!
Adieu, adieu my native dales! Farewell, farewell tae Fiunary.

CHORUS

The following can be used with the English lyrics as alternate words for the Chorus, Scots Gaelic first:

Eirigh agus tingainn O! Eirigh agus tingainn O!
Eirigh agus tingainn O! Farewell, farewell to Fiunaryl

& another in English, already listed previously:

Rise and follow, oh! Rise and follow, oh!
Rise and follow, oh! My fond farewell to Fiunary

CHORUS (Some few transcriptions and recordings start with the Chorus…)

The day is fine and the sea is calm time is passing and our time is close
the boat waits for me, her sails aloft to take me over to Fiunary

CHORUS

Many thousands emotional ties are like arrows peircing me
My heart is almost bursting because I’m leaving Fiunary

CHORUS

Oft I would take a walk alone about the palace of brave Fingal
And I heard tales of the Fingalians given meaning in Fiunary

CHORUS

Must I leave you without delay? The sails are hoisted on the boat
Farewell to the land I love and farewell forever to Fiunary.

CHORUS

http://www.sundown.pair.com/ ~ Lyra Celtica Notes
http://www.sundown.pair.com/Sharp/Lyra%20Celtica/Notes_3.htm

NORMAN MACLEOD - PAGE 266:

“There is no Highlander held in more affectionate remembrance and admiration than the late Dr Norman Macleod: and with justice; for no one worked more arduously, understandingly, and sympathetically for the cause of the Gaelic language, Gaelic literature, and the Gaelic people than the famous poet-minister, who, to this day, is commonly spoken of as ”The Great Norman.“ It was, however, Dr Norman the elder who wrote ”Fiunary,“--and not, as commonly stated, the late Dr Norman. His ”Farewell to Fiunary“ is probably the most universally-known modern poem in the West Highlands. (For critical remarks as to the authenticity of this poem, see Dr Nigel M’Neil’s Literature of the Highlanders, pp. 283-286.)”

“Farewell to Fiunary”

The wind is fair, the day is fine, and swiftly, swiftly runs the time,
The boat is floating on the tide that wafts me off from Fiunary.

CHORUS (This version used the Scots Gaelic words given previously.)

A thousand, thousand tender ties awake this day my plaintive sighs,
My heart within me almost dies to think of leaving Fiunary.

CHORUS

With pensive steps I often strolled where Fingal’s castle stood of old,
And listened while the shepherd told the legend tales of Fiunary.

CHORUS

I’ll often pause at close of day where Ossian sang his martial lay,
And viewed the sun’s departing ray wandering o’er Dun Fiunary.

CHORUS

Edited by Elizabeth Sharp, notes by William Sharp
Patrick Geddes and Colleagues, Edinburgh, 1896

sèist:
Èirich agus tiugainn, ò! Èirich agus tiugainn, ò!
Èirich agus tiugainn, ò! Mo shoraidh slàn le Fionnairigh

Tha an latha math, is an soirbheas ciùin, tha an ùin‘ ’na ruith, is an t-àm dhuinn dlùth
Tha am bàt‘ gam fheitheamh fo siùil gu m’ thoirt a-nall o Fionnairigh

sèist ~

Tha ionadh mìle ceangal blàth mar shaighdean annam fèin an sàs
Mo chridhe an impis a bhith sgàint’ a chionn bhith fàgail Fhonnairigh

sèist ~

Bu tric a ghabh mi sgrìobh leam fhèin mun cuairt air lùchairt Fhinn an treun
‘S a dh’èist mi sgeulachdan na Fèinn’ gan cur an cèill am Fionnairigh

sèist ~

Bu tric a sheall mi feasgar Màirt far am biodh Oisean ’seinn a dhàin;
A‘ coimhead grè aig ioma tràth ’dol seach gach là ‘s mi ’m Fionnairigh

sèist ~

Beannachd le beanntaibh mo ghaoil far am faigh mi ‘m fiadh le ’ laogh, -
Gu ma fad‘ an coileach-fraoich a’ glaodhaich ann am Fionnairigh.

sèist ~

Ach cha ‘n iad glinn ’us beanntan àrd‘ a lot mo chrìdh’ ’s a rinn mo chràdh
Ach an-diugh na tha fo phràmh an teach mo ghràidh am Fionnairigh

sèist ~

Beannachd le athair mo ghràidh; bidh mi ’ cuimhneach ort gu bràth;
Ghuidhinn sonas agus àgh do’n t-sean fhear bhàn am Fionnairigh.

sèist ~

Am feum mi siubhal uat gun dàil? Na siùil tha togte ris a‘ bhàt’ -
Soraidh slàn le tìr mo ghràidh is slàn gu bràth le Fionnairigh

sèist ~

Whew! ~ The rest is for others… Kenny, are you out there. I don’t doubt I confused some things in the process? Little did I realize all that was attached to this lovely little tune / air / waltz… 😏

As I understand it, the English lyrics, with the Scots Gaelic Chorus, came first, and later someone did a full translation into Scots Gaelic ~ and added aditional verses?

I should have treble checked my typing in the spelling, that mistake of two vowels, ‘ui’ / ‘iu’…that is classic for me…

Having checked my recordings, it seems I’m not the only one that gets that wrong… 😉

Kris Drever sings this on ‘Fine Friday’ Album:
http://www.footstompin.com/music/fiddle_music/gone_dancing

For the Fine Friday info on this site:
https://thesession.org/recordings/1602

This one makes me think of a very simple Scottish tune called Lamachree and Megrum, that the Cunningham brothers played. I can’t quite be sure how they played it, but their version was more attractive than those I’ve seen ABC’d on the net.

X: 1
T: Farewell To Fiunary
M: 3/4
L: 1/8
R: waltz
K: Gmaj
|: D2 |\
G4 B2 & [D6 G,6] | d4 B2 & [D6 G,6] | A4 G2 & [A,6 D6] | F4 A2 & [A,6 D6] |\
B4 E2 & [B,6 E6] | E4 F2 & [B,4 E4] [B,2 D2] | E4 D2 & [B,6] | B,4 D2 & [G,4] [B,2] |
E4 F2 & [B,4 E4] [B,2 D2]| G4 A2 & [G,4 D4] [A,2 D2] | B6 & [G,6 D6] | d4 d2 & [B,6 G6] |\
e4 e2 & [G,6 G6] | d4 B2 & [B,6 G6] | A6 & [A,6 F6]| G4 & [G,4 G4] :|

There is a version of this tune in Kerr’s Caledonian Collection for piano and accordion. It is in 4/4 time, ‘A’ and has a very nice bass harmony. It is described as a Highland Air. I first heard it on a Tannahill Weavers LP as a song. It is a lovely tune.

Agree that most versions seem to be in 3/4 (or 6/8 if you like), and don’t think I’ve ever heard it sung in 4/4, though I do have that same book, Kerr’s Caledonian Collection, which Ken mentions above.
However…….it is also in Songs of the North Vol 1 (“Dedicated by gracious permission to Her Majesty the Queen” - that would have been Victoria!) And it is in 2/4, so notes are half the length of those in the Kerr’s 4/4 version. Credits: Words by Rev. Norman Macleod, D.D. senior. Traditional melody arranged by Malcolm Lawson. Lyrics almost identical to ceolachan’s post of 12 years ago. (This was my mother’s copy.)
The whole volume is “edited by A.C. Macleod and Harold Boulton”, " music arranged by Malcom Lawson.
And yes, lovely tune!
I have also vol 2, bought from a second-hand bookshop, where it says on the inside cover, “Birthday 1898”!
There us also a Vol 3, but rare as hen’s teeth: if anyone has one they want to sell (UK) just send me a private message!

Very, very roughly as sung and harmonised by Kris Drever.
See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-tXIzqinWs

play video

Kris has slightly altered the melody, whereas his Dad, Ivan Drever, recorded it earlier. Also pronunciation: it’s not Fyuneray, but more like Fyunerie.