Key signature: Gminor
Submitted on June 12th 2007 by benhall.1.
This tune has been added to 4 tunebooks.
Recordings of a tune by this name:
X: 1
T: Morfa Rhuddlan
M: 3/4
L: 1/8
R: waltz
K: Gmin
D2 | G2G2Bd | c2c2B2 | A2ABAG | d2D2D2 |
G2GABd | c2edcB | A2G2^F2 |1 G4 :|2 G6 ||
|: d2defd | c2cdec | B2B2A2 | A2B4 |
d2defd | c2cdec | BedcBA | A2B4 |
d2BcdB | c2ABcA | B2GBAG | ^F2D2D2 |
G2GABd | c2edcB | A2G2^F2 |1 G6 :|2 G4 ||
Brings back memories ...
This is the version I heard when I was growing up in South Wales. Later, I found it in manuscript form when I did a fairly exhausting piece of work researching manuscripts of old Welsh harp music in the National Folk Museum in St Fagans near Cardiff.
You had to write and tell them you were coming, wait for them to write back, and then be ushered into a private room where you could get your hands on one manuscript at a time. You couldn't take them away, but you were allowed to make notes from them, and even photocopy some of them, which slightly surprises me now ...
I'm desperately short of time these days, but, when I have some, I will post the other part of my 'two-part harmony' which I play on fiddle, and which is based (loosely) on those harp manuscripts and on the triple harp playing of Nansi Richards.
I think this may have words somewhere ...
# Posted on June 12th 2007 by benhall.1
& no ink allowed, only pencils...
With all those precautions they still have suffered vandalism and theft...
# Posted on June 13th 2007 by ceolachan
'They' meaning the greater whole, the Welsh National Library inclusive, including Aberystwyth & St. Fagan's...
# Posted on June 13th 2007 by ceolachan
"Morfa Rhuddlan"
http://www.indigogroup.co.uk/edge/Boudica5.htm
"Rhuddlan Plain is otherwise known as Morfa Rhuddlan, the now mostly-drained great sea-marsh (morfa) around Rhuddlan, at the mouth of the River Clwyd. It was the scene of a great battle which has lingered in the local folk memory (the lament of 'Morfa Rhuddlan' is one of the oldest surviving pieces of native music) but this took place in 796 CE when the forces of Offa crushed the Welsh. Wat's and Offa's Dyes both cross this area."
More dots, K: g minor ~
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/gwenynen.gwent/morfa-rhuddlan.htm
"Musical and Poetical Relicks of the Welsh Bards"
Edward Jones, 1784
"Morfa Rhuddlan, or the Red Marsh, on the banks of the Clwyd in Flintshire, was the scene of many Battles of the Welsh with the Saxons. At the memorable conflict in 795, the Welsh were unsuccessful and their Monarch, Caradog slain. It is unknown whether this celebrated tune took its name from this or some later occasion ... This plaintive style, so predominant in Welsh music, is well adapted to melancholy subjects. Our Music probably received a Pathetic tincture from our distresses under the oppression of the Saxons."
# Posted on June 13th 2007 by ceolachan
"Morfa Rhuddlan" ~ a minor ~ more dots, ABCs & Midi
http://www.welshtraditionalmusic.com/node/41
Submitted by Dafydd on Tue, 2006-08-29 23:05 ~ also a member here. Hey Dafydd, did you forget this one?
# Posted on June 13th 2007 by ceolachan
"Cyflafan Morfa Rhuddlan" the song / lyrics
by Ieuan Glan Geirionydd / Evan Evans
http://www.testunau.org/testunau/evan_evans/cyflafan_morfa_rhuddlan_dw1.htm
# Posted on June 13th 2007 by ceolachan
"Morfa Rhuddlan" ~ & more lyrics, with midi
http://carolink.tripod.com/marsh.html
http://www.rootsweb.com/~swlmcc/maerdy/music/marsh.html
# Posted on June 13th 2007 by ceolachan
We have family living there...
# Posted on June 13th 2007 by ceolachan
"Dawns Morfa Rhuddlan" ~ and a dance too
"Dawnsiau Ffair Nantgarw" / "Nantgarw Fair Dances"
Compiled and edited by John Mosedale & Eddie Jones
~ six traditional fair dances from around Nantgarw and Caerffili, South Cymru/Wales, as remembered by Catherine Margretta Thomas to her daughter Dr. Ceinwen Thomas, including "Dawns Morfa Rhuddlan"...
# Posted on June 13th 2007 by ceolachan
... the harmony ... (not that I know the rules)
I said when I had a moment I'd post the fiddle harmony I play. It's really simple - well, it has to be, 'cos ye'r playing it at the same time as the melody. Try it, it's fun. Honest. And it is based on traditional harp playing - interesting isn't it, that of all the harp traditions, the Welsh one never *quite* died before being resurrected.
Yer 'tis:
X:1
T:Morfa Rhuddlan (fiddle harmony)
M:3/4
R:
K:Gmin
D2 | G,2 z2 D2 | E2 z2 D2 | C2 z2 z2 | D2 DCB,A, |
G,2 z2 D2 | E2 z2 z2 | E2 D4 |1 G,4 :|2 G,6 |
|: F2 z2 d2 | F2 z2 z2 | F2 z2 z2 | F2 D4 |
F2 z2 d2 | F2 z2 z2 | F2 z2 z2 | F2 D4 |
D2 z2 D2 | D2 z2 D2 | D2 z2 D2 | A2 DCB,A, |
G,2 z2 D2 | E2 z2 z2 | E2 D4 |1 G,6 :|2 G,4 ||
# Posted on June 13th 2007 by benhall.1
Dots ~ more harmony, repeated from previous, a harp arrangement
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/gwenynen.gwent/morfa-rhuddlan.htm
Repeated down here for a possible comparison with your arrangement Ben...
# Posted on June 13th 2007 by ceolachan