Analysis of the 1840 version
The pre-dominance of magadising in this version is so overwhelming that even chords are
magadised in the second section and octave doubling in the bass is very prominent. The
tendency of the 3rd to appear between the two hands when the melody note is the third
note of a hypothetical triad is clearly evident here as bass and treble parts perhaps disjunct on
p158 of MS29 become conjunct here.
The occasional chords here are, for treble hand perhaps:-
4th in the treble (glas: 1,3)
3rd in the treble (boilsgean: 1,2)
4th & 3rd in the treble (arpeggio)
The first two also seem to appear in rhythmic gracenote form (eg., the possible barrluth fosgailte in
the treble in the 'leading sinews'). For the bass hand, we might have:-
4th in the bass
3rd in the bass (ladhar láir: 1,2)
5th in the bass
8ve in the bass (glas: +,3 or ladhar: 1,3)
4th and 5th in the bass (perhaps seen at the beginning of section 2 of Port Priest)
3rd, 4th & 5th in the bass (lán chrobh: +,1,2,3 arpeggio)
There is occasional use of a melody note alternating between bass and treble over two
beats. However, the characteristic staggering of octaves in we find in the MS29 notation, where the
melody note in the bass is repeated as the top note of a chord in the treble, has virtually
ceased to exist. There only one instance of anything close to this at the end of fourth system
(notably where there is a rising melody and without a chord). The rest of the time the note is
first struck up the octave and then down the octave, a feature which appears in line two of
the notation.
The testimony of bass arpeggio chords at the end of phrases or sections raises an important
question concerning how the Fairy Queen and Port Priest might have been performed on the
Gaelic harp, as they arise very naturally out of the bass style and are well attested to in Bunting's
introduction. Bunting's choices of chords are noteworthy because they conform to my theoretical
prediction of what the fundamental harmonies should be both in Scott's Lamentation and in Cumha
na Damh-inse.
1840 analysis
Cumha Bharúin Loch Mór