Fiddle DDs
In Fuath nam Fìdhleirean both parts end on the tonic note D, which is not a feature of
the second part of the lute versions. It is not possible to say whether it is an original
feature as the Féachain Gléis ends in the same way on the tonic G. The original tune
may therefore have begun and ended on the tonic (as in the fiddle set and in the
harp arrangement) or on the dominant (like Port Ballangowne), or used both, as in
the lute versions.
In the fiddle arrangement, there is also a very mathematically balanced number of
bars: eight for the first part and sixteen for the second part. Many surviving
instrumental harp tunes show this balance of scale between first and second part and
it is likely that most of those, including Cumha Iarla Wigton, originally possessed the
same standard thirty two bar structure, usually containing a repeated eight bar first
part coupled with a sixteen bar second part, as exemplified in Fàilte Mhic Càidh (Port
4th. in the Torloisk MS).
Port Priest and Port Robart seem to have ten bars for the first part (two bars over the
putative standard) and sixteen for the second part. The Féachain Gléis has fourteen
bars (two bars under the putative standard for the second part).
Féachain Gléis