Í IM BÓ 'GUS Ú UM BÓ
Hampsey's Set
Bunting's published editions can often show a degree of melodic and rhythmic
alterations from his original notations. It cannot therefore be assumed that the
published setting of Burns' March is an accurately detailed representation of what
Bunting originally heard from the harpers.
His intial notations of Hampsey's version of this tune are found in MS29 pp30-31
(ff14v-15r) and they clearly show Bunting taking down five refrains and four verses'
worth of melody. The titles here are given as
Burnss March very old or Aimbo agus umbo in Irish steal a cow & eat a cow
huggad de gadda Freed I mony
Take care of the rogue coming thro the marsh
As we know from Dow, MacDonald, and Bunting's published version, each chorus
comprises a repeated section of one bar's length, and each verse contains a repeated
section of two bar's length. However, the original melodic and rhythmic form of the
repeated sections of verse material in MS29 can be doubted because of Bunting's
abbreviation of the melody in notation.
The abbreviation is evident in verse two in p30, in the last three of the five choruses
(the third being left unnoted) of p30, and again in verse two in p31. The musical
material for the verses is contained within the space of one bar in p31 but previous
knowledge of the march from Dow and MacDonald, together with attention to the
melodic movement in the right hand, indicate that Bunting is notating a two bar section
of melody each time.
Burns' March
Hampsey's set