Tune Origin: Ffarwel i Marian

Subject: Origins: Ffarwel i Marian
From: Mo the caller
Date: 01 May 17 - 04:27 AM

The title should really be tune origin but that wasn't in the menu.

I was discussing the Welsh Dance Farewell Marian on the ECeilidh list.
I knew that it was by Gwyn Williams but learnt that Pat Shaw also published a verion. http://ottawaenglishdance.org/playford/doku.php?id=ins_farewell_marian.
And I had also heard that it meant Farewell to the Shore. So was that a tune or song before the dance? Indeed, was it a dance before Gwyn and Pat published versions of it?

Subject: RE: Origins: Ffarwel i Marian
From: Mo the caller
Date: 01 May 17 - 04:29 AM

Lets try the link again
Neither of these versions is quite how I learnt it.

Preview this time!

Subject: RE: Tune Origin: Ffarwel i Marian
From: leeneia
Date: 01 May 17 - 04:58 PM

I have a little booklet named 'Blodau'r Grug - 32 Traditional Welsh Airs for Dancing Vol. 1' It has a dated format (clearly pre-computer) and was published by The Welsh Folk Dance Society. No date.

#8 is Ffarwel I'r Marian. I think we can assume that this is an old dance tune, and it's in the public domain.

Me, I don't believe it means Farewell to the Shore. Nobody wrote that beautiful, yearning tune to a cold, wet, gray stretch of water.

Subject: RE: Tune Origin: Ffarwel i Marian
From: terrier
Date: 04 May 17 - 10:00 PM

Snip from thesession...the correct translation of the Welsh title is "Farewell to the Shore" - "marian" means "shore" or "stony ground" in Welsh, and apparently isn't a personal name in this context.

As P.S.S. often was moved to play games with words, maybe we could call this tune "Ffarwel I'r Shaw", I'm (shaw) he would approve.

Subject: RE: Tune Origin: Ffarwel i Marian
From: Mo the caller
Date: 05 May 17 - 03:08 AM

leenia, I thought it was a sailor looking at land, not a landsman looking at "a cold, wet, gray stretch of water".

Yes Pat's dance titles and alternative titles are full of puns.
BTW, no-one on Mudcat seems to have noticed his Centenary.

Subject: RE: Tune Origin: Ffarwel i Marian
From: GUEST,ottery
Date: 05 May 17 - 09:31 AM

My Welsh dictionary (Cysgeir) says that 'marian' means "shingle" or "moraine" though I suppose the former could be understood to represent "shore".

Subject: RE: Tune Origin: Ffarwel i Marian
From: leeneia
Date: 06 May 17 - 10:55 AM

I learned this tune at a workshop given by two Welsh musicians, Mike Lease and Jane Ridout. They called it "Farewell Marian", as if Marian was a person. The accent is on the AN in Marian.

But what the title means is not that important. What is important is the beauty of the melody, which starts in Dm harmonic, moves to F, then returns to Dm harmonic. It is one of my favorite waltzes.

Subject: RE: Tune Origin: Ffarwel i Marian
From: Helen
Date: 06 May 17 - 05:14 PM

Hi all,

One of our session members brought this tune along so now it is on our playlist. We have discussed the title a bit. I also looked at the discussion on The Session about it: Ffarwèl i'r Marian

From what I can gather, "Ffarwèl i'r Marian" is "farewell to the shore" and is a tune but "Ffarwèl i Marian" is "farewell to Marion" and it is a dance.

I might be wrong, but I have made the assumption that Marian meaning shore may be somehow derived from the word marine, i.e. related to the sea.

Many versions on YouTube:

Ffarwèl i'r Marian - mandolin quartet


Ffarwèl i'r Marian - Dominig Bouchaud on Celtic harp

Helen

Subject: RE: Tune Origin: Ffarwel i Marian
From: meself
Date: 07 May 17 - 01:58 AM

Didn't Leonard Cohen write that one?

Subject: RE: Tune Origin: Ffarwel i Marian
From: Helen
Date: 07 May 17 - 05:09 AM

Slightly different spelling!

So long, farewell, goodbye! :-)