Bonnie Doon

Parts

(PDF) Cello

(PDF) Cello duet

(PDF) Viola

(PDF) Viola duet

(PDF) Violin

(PDF) Violin duet

(PDF) Voice

Audio

(MIDI) Bonnie Doon

Source

(Sibelius) Bonnie Doon - Scorch

Comments

This tune is also listed at The Session.

Lyrics:

Ye banks and braes o' bonnie Doon,
How can ye bloom sae fresh and fair?
How can ye chant, ye little birds,
And I sae weary fu' o' care!

Thou'll break my heart, thou warbling bird,
That wantons thro' the flowering thorn!
Thou minds me o' departed joys,
Departed never to return.


Aft hae I rov'd by bonnie Doon,
To see the rose and woodbine twine,
And ilka bird sang o' its Luve,
And fondly sae did I o' mine;

Wi' lightsome heart I pu'd a rose,
Fu' sweet upon its thorny tree!
And may fause Luver staw my rose,
But ah! he left the thorn wi' me.

The subject of this song is believed to be one Peggy Kennedy, niece of Robert Burns' friend Gavin Hamilton. According to The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns, Volume 1 (Burns, 1876), page 310:

No song that Burns ever composed enjoys a greater range a popularity than this. A portion of its success must, in fairness, be attributed to its beautiful air, which was produced by an amateur musician in Edinburgh - Mr. James Miller - with a few helping touches from Stephen Clarke the organist.

However, it goes on to suggest that an earlier draft of the poem was superior, before Burns adapted it to the 'beautiful air', 'The Caledonian Hunt's Delight'. Burns later wrote to Gavin Hamilton:

My two songs on Miss Alexander and Miss Peggy Kennedy were tried yesterday by a jury of literati, and found defamatory libels against the fastidious powers of Poesy and Taste, and the author forbidden to print them under pain of forfeiture of character. I cannot help shedding a tear to the memory of two songs that had cost me some pains, and that I valued a good deal; but I must submit. [Deleted] the pedant, frigid soul of criticism for ever and ever!

Burns also mentioned the 'amateur' origins of the tune to George Thomson, who was preparing a collection of the best Scottish Airs. From The Letters of Robert Burns (Burns, 1887), pages 344-345:

Do you know the history of the air? It is curious enough. A good many years ago, Mr James Miller, writer in your good town, a gentleman whom possibly you know, was in company with our friend [Stephen] Clarke; and talking of Scottish music, Miller expressed an ardent ambition to be able to compose a Scots air. Mr Clarke, partly by way of joke, told him to keep to the black keys of the harpsichord, and preserve some kind of rhythm, and he would infallibly compose a Scots air. Certain it is, that in a few days, Mr. Miller produced the rudiments of an air, which Mr Clarke, with some touches and corrections, fashioned into the tune in question.

[…]

Now, to shew you how difficult it is to trace the origin of our airs, I have heard it repeatedly asserted that this was an Irish air; nay, I met with an Irish gentleman who affirmed he had heard it in Ireland among the old women; while, on the other hand, a countess informed me, that the first person who introduced the air into this country was a baronet's lady of her acquaintance, who took down the notes from an itinerant piper in the Isle of Man. How difficult then to ascertain the truth respecting our poesy and music! I, myself, have lately seen a couple of ballads sung through the streets of Dumfries, with my name at the head of them as the author, though it was the first time I had ever seen them.

James Miller's contribution is questioned by Popular Music of the Olden Time, Volume 2 (Chappell, 1859), pages 794-795:

I have alluded to the alteration of tunes by collectors of Scottish music, to make them upon what they call the Scottish scale. The following is a case in point; for, although Burns thought the tune of 'Ye banks and braes o' bonny Doon' to have been made by an amateur, in trying over the black keys of the pianofore, with the aid of Stephen Clarke, the English editor of Johnson's 'Scots' Musical Museum', it is clear that nothing more was effected than the alteration of a note or two, and the transposition of an older song. The following [a tune similar to 'The Caledonian Hunt's Delight'] was printed upon half-sheets, and included in Dale's Collection of English Songs. Dale commenced printing in 1780, but I cannot give the date of this publication, because, the collection consisting entirely of old songs, he made no entry at Atationers' Hall, as in other cases. It is, unquestionably, anterior to 'Ye banks and braes o' bonny Doon'.

While Chappell correctly states that the English song he quotes predates 'Ye Banks and Braes O'Bonnie Doon', Burns' letter (written around 1794) says that the tune 'The Caledonian Hunt's Delight' had also been written much earlier. With no clear date on either tune, this will join the many folk music precedence questions with no definitive answer.

If Burns' story is true, the tune was originally written in F sharp major. Over-enthusiastic musicians are hereby invited to play it in that key.