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/ Notes. 361 |
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conceive any kind or quantity of evidence that would make this statement credible. Are there any other compositions extant attributed to this maestro, of the same, or even of later, date? cxcv. There is considerable variety in the published copies of this tune. Choice in this case is only to be guided by internal evidence. cxcviii. No tune in existence has been presented in so many and such very various shapes as this. There is more than one Scottish or Anglo-Scottish version, another by Moore, besides the above, which Bunting believed to be the original. It is unfortunate that one of the first and worst of these varieties should have been adopted as the motif of an opera likely to enjoy a long term of popular favour, Boieldieu's Dame Blanche. cci. There is much dignity, as well as grace, especially in
the opening of this tune, ecu. The 9th and 10th bars are "an insertion" by Moore. By omitting these bodily, the reader will be able to compare the original tune with the interpolated version, printed above for the sake of the words, which are well worthy of a greater sacrifice to historical accuracy, cciv. Moore has slightly altered this tune—why, it would be hard to say. The same remark might often be made, and the same question as often asked, ccv. Mr. Chappell has called attention to the resemblance which this tune, and even its original words, bear to the celebrated English canon, Sinner is y-comin in. (See Pop. Mus. of the Olden Times, v. i. p. 23.). ccvn. The tither Morn, in the Scottish Minstrel, is nearly
identical with this, ccix. There is a song, based on the old one, which has given its name to this tune, by Burns (See Thomson's Collection, vol. i. p. 21), which contains two of his best lines—
"The wan moon is setting behind the white wave, And time is setting with me, oh !" The tune is, however, probably Irish, and is never likely again to be sung to other words than Moore's, ccxn. Altered in the Irish Melodies by the repetition of
several phrases—as "echoes." ccx«n. Moore has written a song, They came from a Land beyond the Sea, to this tune—of which he has altered the first phrase, not at all for the better, cexv. No tune has suffered from Moore's handling more
severely and unaccountably than this, ccxvi. Moore has altered almost every phrase of this tune,
and added four bars to it. ccxvn. Intact—even in the Irish Melodies] But a single touch would have annihilated a thing so delicate, so coherent, so refined. |
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