Key signature: Adorian
Submitted on August 22nd 2001 by glauber.
This tune has been added to 138 tunebooks.
Also known as Carolan's Farewell, Farewell To Music, O'Carolan's Farewell To Music, O'Carolans Farewell, Slán Don Cheol.
Recordings of a tune by this name:
X: 1
T: Carolan's Farewell To Music
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Ador
E | A2 AB c2 (3cBA | G>A B/2d/2e/2f/2 g>a b/2a/2g/2e/2 |
e>d B/d/e/f/ g>e e/d/B | e>d Bc Ac B/A/G/E/ | A2 AB c2 c/B/A |
AA (3BAG {A}a>g (3abc' | e2 eg d2 de | cB B/A/B/c/ A3 ||
e | a2 ab ag ab | ag ab ac' b/a/g/e/ | g2 ga ge ga |
ba gb ac' b/a/g/e/ | a3 g ag ab | (3abc' (3abc' ba ge |
gf ga b/c'/a/b/ g/a/f/g/ | e/f/d/e/ c/d/B/c/ A>c B/A/G/E/ | A2 AB c2 c/B/A |
B2 (3BAG a>b (3abc' | e2 eg d2 de | cB B/A/B/c/ A3 |]
Farewell To Music
This is another piece by Turlough Carolan, who many consider Ireland's national composer. Tradition says this is the very last song he played.
This is to be played VERY slowly (say, 40 beats per minute).
The first time i heard this, it was played on the flute, and it works very well there, as well as on whistle. The octave shifts (in measure 7, for example) express so much emotion, it's easy to get carried away and overdo it. This is a truly beautiful tune.
I transcribed this from a low-resolution gif i found somewhere, and transposed down 1 step so i could play it on my keyless flute.
# Posted on August 22nd 2001 by glauber
I love this song. I've tried playing it on my lyre, and my clarinet. I find it works well on either of these instruments.
# Posted on January 21st 2003 by The Whistler
I have long know this as O'Carolans Farewell, and a different tune as O'Carolans Farewell to Music (which I think is in the Big Yellow O'Niells under that name).
This is great tune when played well. It is poignant and moving. The tune I know as O'Carolans Farewell to Music is also a great tune, but altogether more tragic and desolate - joyless perhaps. (A bit like Brahms Tragic Overture if you know it - a great slab of music with none of the beauty of melancholy, but all of the pain.)
# Posted on October 28th 2003 by showaddydadito
I've seen a documental about irish music. It started with a harpist playing "O' Carolan's farewell". She told that O'Carolan was going die soon, and he knew it. He played this tune and then he died. In this tune, O'Carolan left the baroque influences and composed it in a really irish and melancholic style.
# Posted on October 22nd 2005 by MBAC
Farewell
I think this is one of the most unique pieces of Irish music, there is nothing else like it in the world, making me think this tune was a gift from the sidhe. It is an exquisite hauntingly beautiful tune and remains my favourite Carolan piece. To me the first part of the tune is a reflection on a wonderful life, in the second part you can actually feel the life slipping away with the cascading notes. The tune returns to a reflection mode indicating the life has moved on. I don't think there will ever be a better written tune.
# Posted on February 27th 2007 by JACKB
Carolan's Farewell to Music
Listen to East Galway flute player Sean Moloney play this gorgeous piece on the silver flute: http://www.seanmoloney.com/musicfile/farewelltomusic.mp3
That was found on a page of his website: http://www.seanmoloney.com/music.htm
# Posted on June 20th 2007 by slainte