The Skye Boat Song and Scarborough Fair

Ross Winters Recorder Anthology

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*Two Folk Song arrangements* for recorder quartet.

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1. The Skye Boat Song
2. Scarborough Fair

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Description:

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• “The Skye Boat Song” is a late 19th-century Scottish songadaptation of a Gaelic song composed c.1782 by William Ross, entitledCuachag nan Craobh(“Cuckoo of the Tree”).In the original song, the composer laments to a cuckoo that his unrequited love, Lady Marion Ross, is rejecting him. The 19th century English lyrics instead evoked the journey of Prince Charles Edward Stuart(“Bonnie Prince Charlie”) from Benbeculato the Isle of Skyeas he evaded capture by government soldiers after his defeat at the Battle of Cullodenin 1746.

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• Scarborough Fair” is a traditional English ballad.The song lists a number of impossible tasksgiven to a former lover who lives in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. The “Scarborough/Whittingham Fair” variant was most common in Yorkshireand Northumbria, where it was sung to various melodies, often using Dorian modewith refrains resembling “parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme” and “Then she’ll be a true love of mine.”It appears inTraditional Tunes(1891) by Frank Kidson, who claims to have collected it from Whitby.

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_Score 7 pp. Parts 2 pp._

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NB: Cover colour may vary.