Annotation:Dear Black Maid (The)
X:1 T:Dear Black Maid, The M:3/4 L:1/8 R:Air Q:"Andante affetuoso" B:Bunting - Ancient Irish Music (1796, No. 40, p. 22) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G G|B2d2 de|d2 (B/A/G) G2|B2d2 d/e/=f|(e>d B2) d/e/f| g3a g2|=f2 e2 ed|B2 BA G2|A2 {A}G/E/D !fermata!DD/E/| G2 GABG|{B}AGABcA|{A}TG>FGABG|(cA)(BG)(AE)| G2 GA~BG|~B2 d2 !fermata!g>f|ed~cB~AG|{B}TA2 G2 !fermata![B,DG]:|]
DEAR BLACK MAID, THE. AKA and see "Banshee's Cry (The)." Irish, Air (3/4 time). B Flat Major (Clinton): G Major (Bunting, Haverty). Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. The melody was first published by collector Edward Bunting in his A General Collection of the Ancient Irish Music [1] (1796, No. 40, p. 22). Thomas Moore used the air as the vehicle for his song "How oft has the benshee cried," published in his Irish Melodies (1807), and R.A. Smith employed it for "Why weeps yon Highland maid?" in his Vocal Melodies of Ireland, Ancient and Modern [2] (p. 77). See also O'Neill's version, printed as "Banshee's Cry (The)."
A 'Temperance Band' (a ten-piece woodwind band, with horns) arrangement of the melody by James Barton was printed in the Dublin Magazine of January, 1843 [3] (No. 10).
