Lyr/tune Add: Hill of Lochiel

Subject: Lyr Add: Hill of Lochiel
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 26 Oct 09 - 02:02 PM

Hill of Lochiel
From "The Jacobite Relics...," 1821

Long have I pined for thee,
Land of my infancy,
Now will I kneel on thee,
Hill of Lochiel!

Hill of the sturdy steer,
Hill of the roe and deer
Hill of the streamlet clear,
I love thee well!

When in my youthful prime
Correi or crag to climb,
Or tow'ring cliff sublime
Was my delight;

Scaling the eagle's nest,
Wounding the raven's breast,
Skimming the mountain's crest,
Gladsome and light.

When, at the break of morn
Proud o'er thy temples borne,
Kythed the red-deer's horn,
How my heart beat!

Then, when with stunned leap,
Roll'd he adown the steep,
Never did hero reap
Conquest so great.

Then rose a bolder game,-
Young Charlie Stuart came;
Cameron, that loyal name,
Foremost must be!

Hard then our warrior meed,
Glorious our warrior deed,
Till we were doom'd to bleed
By treachery!

Then did the blood stream;
Then was the broadsword's gleam
Quench'd, in fair freedom's beam
No more to shine;

Then was the morning's brow
Red with the fiery glow;
Fell hall and hamlet low,
All that were mine.

Then was our maiden young,
First aye in battle strong,
Fir'd at her prince's wrong,
Forc'd to give way;

Broke was the golden cup,
Gone Caledonia's hope;
Faithful and true men drop
Fast in the clay.

Far in a hostile land,
Stretch'd on a foreign strand,
Oft has the tear-drop bland
Scorch's as it fell.

Once was I spurn'd from thee,
Long have I mourn'd for thee,
Now I'm return'd to thee,
Hill of Lochiel.

The tune given (also used in other songs) is very close to "The Streets of Laredo." Whether coincidence, or a relationship, I am not sure.

I have separated into four-line stanzas, although probably the omposer did it differently.
I hope Joe can insert a midi here; I will send the score to him and perhaps he will be able to do it.

James Hogg, 1821, "The Jacobite Relics of Scotland, being the Songs, Airs and Legends of the Adherents to the House of Stuart."

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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hill of Lochiel
From: Jack Campin
Date: 26 Oct 09 - 02:47 PM

Does Hogg name the tune?

The "Streets of Laredo" tune was generally known as "Banks of the Devon" at that time. But there was also "The Braes of Lochiel", or "Braighe Lochiall", which is like this in Simon Fraser's 1816 collection:

  X:1
  T:Braighe Lochiall
  T:The Braes of Lochiel
  S:Simon Fraser
  B:Airs and Melodies of the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles, 1816
  N:sharps on the Gs are marked in parens
  M:3/4
  L:1/8
  Q:1/4=100 "Very Slow and Soft"
  K:AMin
  A2 |:  E4   ^G2 |A4     c>d|({c}e4)   c2|        d2 e2 g2 |
     ({f}e4)   G2 |A4     c2 |    A4    c2|[1 ({Bc}d4)   cB:|\
                                           [2 ({Bc}d4)   c2 |B2 e2||
   B>c|  G E3 ^G2 |A4    (ce)|    a3 e  g2|        d4    f2 |
  [1 ({f}e4)   d>c|B2 e2  A2 |    G E3 ^G2|        A4      :|
  [2     e4    d>c|c2 e2 Ha2 |    B e3 ^G2|    ({B}A4)     |]

Fraser's note goes:


No. 44 reports the intention of an individual, seemingly long absent, to return to the braes of Lochiel, where he could enjoy the pleasures of the chase in perfection. The circumstances of the times banished so many from their native country, that it is difficult to trace the allusion.

That might just about fit something related to that text, at a stretch. The modern song of the same name is almost unrelated in both tune and text - it's in Anne Lorne Gillies's Songs of Gaelic Scotland.

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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hill of Lochiel
From: Jim McLean
Date: 26 Oct 09 - 05:25 PM

Hogg doesn't name the tune, merely saying 'From the Gaelic'.
Both Fraser's melody and that in Hogg are different melodically although they have similar bar structures, 3/4 time but dotted first note in the bars. I can't hear anything to suggest the Streets of Laredo except this bar structure. I don't have Anne's book to hand.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hill of Lochiel
From: Jim McLean
Date: 26 Oct 09 - 05:32 PM

PS Hogg's tune is the same as Burns used for the Banks of Devon. Is the Streets of Laredo the same melody used for Bold Robert Emmet?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hill of Lochiel
From: Jim McLean
Date: 26 Oct 09 - 05:45 PM

PPS Sorry for this fragmented post. According to William Stenhouse,"..... Burns wrote the Banks of Devon to a Gaelic melody entitled "Banarach Donnach Ruidh" or "The Brown Hairded Dairy Maid" ....... The author of Albyn's Trilogy and the late Collection of Highland Airs (Simon Fraser's) have each obliged us with a set of this tune, as if it had never been before published. These airs differ considerably from one another; but the set in Johnson's Museum, which Burns obtained from the lady in Inverness, is by far the best of the three".

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hill of Lochiel
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 02:46 AM

Q sent me a scan of the notation on October 26, and it's taken me all this time to get it posted. My excuse is that my Internet was down until I rewired our phones yesterday.
Thanks, Q. Sorry for the delay.
-Joe-

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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hill of Lochiel
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 03:57 PM

Well, nothing like the "Streets of Laredo" that I know. Very Scottish.