Annotation:Miss Forbes' Farewell to Banff

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MISS FORBES' FAREWELL TO BANFF. AKA and see “Bill Hall’s No. 2,” "Miss Forbes' Farewell." AKA - "Miss Herries Forbes Farewell to Banff." Scottish (originally), English; Scottish Measure, March (2/4 time) or Country Dance (cut time). G Major (most versions): A Major (Morison): D Major (Howe): E Flat Major (Gow): E Major (Johnson/Cooper). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Morison): AAB (Gow, Lerwick): AA’B (Howe): AABB (Athole, Kerr): AABB' (Skye): AABBA’A’BB (Johnson/Cooper). The most famous composition of Biography:Isaac Cooper (c. 1754-1810/1811 or 1820), a talented musician, music teacher and dancing master of the coastal town of Banff in the Northeast (Scotland) who published several collections. It is considered "a good tune" by Collinson (1966), and cited by Glen (1895) as one of Cooper's best compositions. The melody first appears in Cooper’s Collection of Strathspeys, Reels and Irish Jigs for the Piano-Forte & Violin to which are added Scots, Irish & Welch Airs Composed and Selected by I. Cooper at Banff (London, Edinburgh, c. 1806). However, the tune was included one Perth manuscript collection dated earlier, from 1799 (see John Miller, below). The tune has been paired with Robert Burn's song "Lass o' Ballochmyle (The)," though he had no part in choosing it. Bruce Olsen finds “Miss Forbes Farewell to Banff,” song and (a version of the) tune, is in Johnson's The Scots Musical Museum under the title "Farewell, ye fields &c." According to John Glen the song was written by an Edinburgh music seller named John Hamilton to Cooper’s melody.

The melody appears in a number of British musicians’ manuscript collections from the late 18 and early 19th centuries. It appears in the music manuscript of Perth fifer John Miller (1799, as “The 42nd Regmt. Farewell”), William Winter (West Bagborough, Somerset), Lionel Winship (1833, Wark Northumberland), Rev. Robert Harrison (1820, Brombton, Cumbria), and the Senhouse manuscript (Mayport, Cumbria). In America, it was entered into the c. 1790-1830 music copybook of Cherry Valley, New York, fiddler George White. Yorkshire fiddler and concertina player Bill Hall, from an isolated Pennine community, had a version of the melody, now known as “Bill Hall’s No. 2.”

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Aird (Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 4), 1796; p. 1. Howe (1000 Jigs and Reels), c. 1867; p. 125. Johnson (A Twenty Year Anniversary Collection), 2003; p. 8. Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 3; No. 409, p. 45. Lerwick (Kilted Fiddler), 1985; p. 65. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; p. 185. Morison (Highland Airs and Quicksteps, vol. 1), c. 1880; No. 22, p. 11. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; p. 147.

Recorded sources: Beltona 1670 (78 RPM), David Hutchison ().

See also listing at:
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recordings Index [1]
Hear accordion player David Hutchison's recording at the Internet Archive [2] (2nd tune in medley, paired with "Drunken Piper (1)" and "De'il in the Kitchen").

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