The Highlander's Farewell to Ireland
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"The Highlander's Farewell to Ireland", also known as "The Highland Watch's Farewell to Ireland"<br> is a Scottish strathspey in A Dorian. The parts are played AAB (Gow, Skye), AABB (Glen,<br> S. Johnson), AA'BB (Phillips), ABCCDD (Athole), AABBCCDD (Kerr), AABBCCDDEE (Johnson) or<br> AABBCCDEEFGGHH (McGlashan, Ross).<br> This is a strathspey composed for the fiddle in imitation of bagpipe style. John Glen (1891)<br> finds the earliest printing of the tune in Neil Stewart's 1761 collection, although it<br> also appears in the 1768 Gillespie Manuscript of Perth. It was also entered into the 1770<br> music manuscript collection of Peeblesshire musician James Ballantine. Originally published<br> with two parts, it was a favorite piece for variation sets. For example, it appears in the<br> 1780 Robert Ross collection in 6 parts — a similar version was recorded by Cape Breton fiddler<br> Bill Lamey in the 1950's. It is similar to Galax, Va., fiddler Emmett Lundy's (1864–1953)<br> old-time version known as "Highlander's Farewell".<br> It was printed in<br> Glen's Collection of Scottish Dance Music, vol. 1 (1891),<br> Gow's Complete Repository, Part 2 (1802),<br> Johnson's Scottish Fiddle Music in the 18th Century (1984),<br> S. Johnson's Kitchen Musician No. 20: A Twenty Year Anniversary Collection (2003),<br> Kerr's Merry Melodies, vol. 1 (c. 1880),<br> MacDonald's The Skye Collection (1887),<br> McGlashan's Collection of Reels (c. 1786),<br> Phillips' Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1 (1994),<br> Robert Ross's Choice Collection of Scots Reels (1780) (as "The Highlander's Farewell") and<br> Stewart-Robertson's The Athole Collection (1884).<br> It was recorded by Tommy Peoples on Tommy Peoples (1976),<br> Buddy MacMaster on The Cape Breton Tradition (2003) and<br> Wendy MacIsaac on The 'Reel' Thing (1994).<br>
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