The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #12972   Message #4138363
Posted By: Jim Dixon
04-Mar-22 - 12:50 PM
Thread Name: Lyr ADD: A La Claire Fontaine
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: A La Claire Fontaine (sung by McGarrigles
The New-York Mirror: A Weekly Journal, Devoted to Literature and the Fine Arts. Vol.14, No. 25, (New York: Dec. 17, 1836), page 200.

--where it is called “Original Canadian Boat Song.” It has musical notation for a melody line plus a simple piano accompaniment, and a rather bad English translation of the lyrics, followed by a long text that mainly describes the lives of the voyageurs, ending with the ascription “—Scottish Magazine.”

I don’t know what to make of this. I have been unable to identify a magazine of the right time period with a title similar to “Scottish Magazine” so maybe they meant it in a generic sense. In any case, I have been unable to find a source of the song older than 1836, but I did find another from the same year:
- - -
Valentine: ou la Nina Canadienne. Comédie en un acte. Hyacinthe Leblanc de Marconnay (Montreal: de l’imprimerie de l’ami du peuple, 1836), page 52.

The text of the song is part of the playscript.