Annotation:Hallow E'en
X:1 T:Why hangs that cloud T:"To the Tune of Hallow E’en" M:C L:1/8 R:Air B:William Thomson - Orpheus Caledonius, vol. II (1733, No. 33, p. 133) B: https://digital.nls.uk/special-collections-of-printed-music/archive/91482038 N:Thomson (c. 1695-1753) was a Scottish singer and folk song collector N:who lived in London for most of his adult career. Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion P:Vocal K:F cB|A2 GF F2 fg|a2 gf d3f|A3f cA GF|E2 G>A G2 cB| A2 GF F2 fg|a2 gf d3f|ABc E FD EC|D2 F>G F2|| fe|dcd e fg fe|dcd e f2 FG|A3f cA GF|E2 G>A G2 cB| AGA F cBc A|ga gf e3c|ba gf ede c|d2 f>g f2|| P:”For the German Flute” K:G dc|B2 AG G2 ga|b2 ag e3g|B3g dB AG|F2 A>B A2 dc| B2 AG G2 ga|b2 ag e3g|BcdF GEFD|E2 G>A G2|| gf|edef gagf|edef g2 GA|B3g dB AG|F2 AB A2 dc| BABG dcdB|abag f3d|c'bag fefd|e2 g>a g2||
HALLOW E'EN. AKA - "Why hangs that cloud." Scottish, Air and Scots Measure (whole time). F Major (Stuart): G Major (Thomson). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Thomson): AABB. The tune also appears in the c. 1724 publication Musick for the Scots Songs in Tea Table Miscellany, a companion to Allan Ramsay's Tea Table Miscellany (1724-7). It is the vehicle for Ramsay's song "To Mrs. S.H. on her taking something ill I said"[1] which begins:
Why hangs that cloud upon thy brow,
That beauteous heav'n e're while serene!
Whence do these storms and tempests flow,
Or what this gust of passion mean?
And must then mankind lose that light,
Which in thine eyes was wont to shine,
And ly obscur'd in endless night,
For each poor silly speech of mine?
Musicologist John Glen (Early Scottish Melodies, 1900), finds that this 'good old melody' was originally a Scots measure. In addition to Ramsay's Tea-Table Miscellany, versions can be found in Henry Playford's Original Scotch Tunes (1700), Margaret Sinkler's Manuscript Music Book (1710) and possibly in the Leyden Manuscript (1692).
