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Tune Origin: Ffarwel i Marian

01 May 17 - 04:27 AM (#3853199)
Subject: Origins: Ffarwel i Marian
From: Mo the caller

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?


01 May 17 - 04:29 AM (#3853201)
Subject: RE: Origins: Ffarwel i Marian
From: Mo the caller

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

Preview this time!


01 May 17 - 04:58 PM (#3853303)
Subject: RE: Tune Origin: Ffarwel i Marian
From: leeneia

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.


04 May 17 - 10:00 PM (#3853329)
Subject: RE: Tune Origin: Ffarwel i Marian
From: terrier

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.


05 May 17 - 03:08 AM (#3853368)
Subject: RE: Tune Origin: Ffarwel i Marian
From: Mo the caller

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.


05 May 17 - 09:31 AM (#3853395)
Subject: RE: Tune Origin: Ffarwel i Marian
From: GUEST,ottery

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


06 May 17 - 10:55 AM (#3853539)
Subject: RE: Tune Origin: Ffarwel i Marian
From: leeneia

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.


06 May 17 - 05:14 PM (#3853579)
Subject: RE: Tune Origin: Ffarwel i Marian
From: Helen

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


07 May 17 - 01:58 AM (#3853611)
Subject: RE: Tune Origin: Ffarwel i Marian
From: meself

Didn't Leonard Cohen write that one?


07 May 17 - 05:09 AM (#3853630)
Subject: RE: Tune Origin: Ffarwel i Marian
From: Helen

Slightly different spelling!

So long, farewell, goodbye! :-)