Annotation:Life Let Us Cherish
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LIFE LET US CHERISH. AKA and see "Butterfly Waltz." Scottish, English, American; Air and Waltz. Standard tuning (fiddler). G Major (Ashman, Colclough, Kerr): C Major (Howe): D Major (Silberberg). Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Silberberg): AAB. The melody was originally a song air called "Freut Euch des Lebens" (Come Let Us be Joyful), composed in Switzerland in 1795 by Hans Georg Nageli with words by poet Johann Martin Usteri (1763-1827). It was adapted in English as "Life Let Us Cherish" and became an enormously popular air in Britain and America, where it served as a waltz (see "Butterfly Waltz") as well as an air.
Life let us cherish while yet the taper glows,
And the fresh flower pluck ere it close;
Why are ye fond of toil and care,
Why choose the rankling torn to wear,
And heedless by the lily stray,
Which blossoms in our way.
Source for notated version: a c. 1837-1840 MS by Shropshire musician John Moore [Ashman].
Printed sources: Ashman (The Ironbridge Hornpipe), 1991; No. 111b, p. 46. Colclough (Tutor for the Irish Union Pipes), c. 1830; p. 12. Howe (Complete Preceptor for the Accordeon), 1843; p. 6. Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 3; No. 291, p. 32. Silberberg (93 Fiddle Tunes I Didn't Learn at the Tractor Tavern), 2004; p. 26.
Recorded sources: Voyager BRCD 358, New Columbia Fiddlers - "Fiddle Tunes of the Lewis and Clark Era" (2002. Appears as "Freut Euch des Lebens").
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