Annotation:Yellow Bittern (The): Difference between revisions
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''Your soul would have stirred and waked anew.''<br> | ''Your soul would have stirred and waked anew.''<br> | ||
</blockquote> | </blockquote> | ||
|f_sources_for_notated_versions=the index to Bunting's 1840 collection reveals he noted the tune from a "blind man at Westport in 1802;" collector William Forde noted the melody from piper<ref>P.W. Joyce concluded that O'Beirne had been a fiddler in his '''Old Irish Folk Music and Songs''' (1909, p. 296). However, William Forde, the only collector who had direct contact with O'Beirne, wrote in a letter to John Windele of Cork, dated Sept. 21, 1846, that he had obtained over 150 airs from a piper, Huge Beirne. Forde was seeking to supplement his collection with music from Connaught and the north, and was glad to make the musician's acquaintance, staying on in Ballinamore longer than he originally planned. He also found O'Beirne in poor health in the time of Great Famine, writing "Stirabout and bad potatoes were working fatally on a sinking frame," and aided the piper by improving his diet ("but a mutton chap twice a day has changed Hugh's face wonderfully").</ref><ref>P.W. Joyce concluded that O'Beirne had been a fiddler in his '''Old Irish Folk Music and Songs''' (1909, p. 296). However, William Forde, the only collector who had direct contact with O'Beirne, wrote in a letter to John Windele of Cork, dated Sept. 21, 1846, that he had obtained over 150 airs from a piper, Huge Beirne. Forde was seeking to supplement his collection with music from Connaught and the north, and was glad to make the musician's acquaintance, staying on in Ballinamore longer than he originally planned. He also found O'Beirne in poor health in the time of Great Famine, writing "Stirabout and bad potatoes were working fatally on a sinking frame," and aided the piper by improving his diet ("but a mutton | |f_sources_for_notated_versions=the index to Bunting's 1840 collection reveals he noted the tune from a "blind man at Westport in 1802;" collector William Forde noted the melody from piper<ref>P.W. Joyce concluded that O'Beirne had been a fiddler in his '''Old Irish Folk Music and Songs''' (1909, p. 296). However, William Forde, the only collector who had direct contact with O'Beirne, wrote in a letter to John Windele of Cork, dated Sept. 21, 1846, that he had obtained over 150 airs from a piper, Huge Beirne. Forde was seeking to supplement his collection with music from Connaught and the north, and was glad to make the musician's acquaintance, staying on in Ballinamore longer than he originally planned. He also found O'Beirne in poor health in the time of Great Famine, writing "Stirabout and bad potatoes were working fatally on a sinking frame," and aided the piper by improving his diet ("but a mutton chap twice a day has changed Hugh's face wonderfully").</ref><ref>P.W. Joyce concluded that O'Beirne had been a fiddler in his '''Old Irish Folk Music and Songs''' (1909, p. 296). However, William Forde, the only collector who had direct contact with O'Beirne, wrote in a letter to John Windele of Cork, dated Sept. 21, 1846, that he had obtained over 150 airs from a piper, Huge Beirne. Forde was seeking to supplement his collection with music from Connaught and the north, and was glad to make the musician's acquaintance, staying on in Ballinamore longer than he originally planned. He also found O'Beirne in poor health in the time of Great Famine, writing "Stirabout and bad potatoes were working fatally on a sinking frame," and aided the piper by improving his diet ("but a mutton chop twice a day has changed Hugh's face wonderfully").</ref> Hugh O'Beirne (Co. Limerick) [Joyce]. | ||
|f_printed_sources=Bunting ('''Ancient Music of Ireland'''), 1840; No. 77, p. 56. | |f_printed_sources=Bunting ('''Ancient Music of Ireland'''), 1840; No. 77, p. 56. | ||
Joyce ('''Old Irish Folk Music and Songs'''), 1909; No. 609, p. 314. | Joyce ('''Old Irish Folk Music and Songs'''), 1909; No. 609, p. 314. | ||
Latest revision as of 14:50, 28 September 2020
X:1 T:Yellow Bittern, The M:3/4 L:1/8 R:Air N:”Very ancient, author and date unknown.” Q:"Moderately Quick" B:Bunting – Ancient Music of Ireland (1840, No. 77, p. 56) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Bb .G .F{G}(F/>D/)|E2 .D(D/E/) .F(F/G/)|(_A2 .G).G .B/(G/F/E/)| .D/>(E/D/C/) .B,/(D/E/B,/) T(C>B,)|.B, {A,}.B,2 G F{G}F/D/|[C2E2] .D(D/>E/) .F(F/>G/)| [B,2D2F2_A2] GG B/G/F/E/|.D(D>C) .B,(B,/>D/) T(C>B,)|(.B,.B,.B,)|| .FF(G/A/)|[D2F2B2] .B.c.d.e|[F2B2d2][F2A2c2] (d/c/d/B/)|[F2A2] (A/c/B/A/) T(G>F)| F [C2F2] (D/>E/) .F(F/>D/)|.E.E .D(D/>E/) .F(F/>G/)|[B,2D2F2_A2] GG .B/(G/F/E/)| .D>(E/D/C/) .B,/(C/E/B,/) {D}.C/(B,/C/D/)|(.B,.B,.B,)||.f .fg/a/| .b2 (.b.c'.d'.e')|.d'2 (.c'.c') (d'/c'/d'/b/)|a2 .a/(c'/b/a/) T(g>f)|.f [A2c2f2] D/>E/ FF/D/| [E2B2] [DB]D/>E/ [FB]F/>G/|([D2F2_A2B2][EGB])G .B/(G/F/E/)|.D>(E/D/C/) .B,/(C/D/B,/) {E}C/(B,/C/D/)|(.B,.B,.B,)||
YELLOW BITTERN, THE (“An Bunnán Buí” or “An Bonnán Buidhe”). Irish, Slow Air (4/4 time). Ireland, Ulster. C Major (Joyce, O’Sullivan/Bunting): D Major (Ó Canainn). Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Ó Canainn): AB (Joyce, O’Sullivan/Bunting). O'Sullivan (1983) and Ó Canainn (1978) both note the song is still sung today by traditional musicians, to a variety of melodies. O’Sullivan edited the Irish collector Edward Bunting's works but uses the tune as given by the Cork collector William Forde (c. 1846) because it is a closer variant of the modern version than the one in Bunting's 1840 collection. "In Bunting's third collection (1840), p. 56, is given a fine air, The Yellow Bittern: in 3/4 time...(, however, Forde's tune) is in common time and is at least as good as that of Bunting: besides being simpler and more vocal. Compare with 'Maire Aroon'" (Joyce).
The song "The Yellow Bittern" was written in the 18th century by an Ulster poet, Cathal Buí Mac Giolla Ghunna (1690–1756). It seems that Buí Mac Giolla Gunna, or in English ‘yellow Charlie Gunn’, went walking one wintry day near his home by the shores of Lough MacNean. He came upon a yellow bittern lying frozen on the icy lake, and Gunn, identifying with the creature, suspected that the death was brought about because the bird could not drink from the iced-over water. His suspicion was the product of his own fears, for one of his greatest was the absence of convivial drink. The song was translated by Thomas MacDonagh, who was ultimately executed for his role in the Easter Rising of 1916, and goes, in part:
It's not for the common birds that I'd mourn,
The blackbird, the corncrake or the crane,
But for the bittern that's shy and apart
And drinks in the marsh from the lone bog-drain.
Oh! If I had known you were near your death,
While my breath held out I'd have run to you,
Till a splash from the Lake of the Son of the Bird
Your soul would have stirred and waked anew.
