PS 190 – The Daughter’s Lament

      Cumha Chlàibhears

      Cumha na h-ighinn

Primary Sources

Daughter’s Lament, The A.17: 53
Cumh Chlavers Graeme / The Lament for Graham of Chlaverhouse R.6: 7r
D2 Cumhadh Chleibhair / a Lament for… General Cleaver D2.50: 277
K1 Cumha na h-ighean / The Daughter’s Lament K1.54: 123
KK Cumha na h-Ithean / The Daughter’s Lament KK.76: 147
JK Cumha na h ithin…or Chumha Chlaibhers JK.14: 37

Notes on Gaelic Titles

Cumha Chlàibhears Cumh Chlavers Graeme / The Lament for Graham of Chlaverhouse R; Cumhadh Chleibhair / a Lament for… General Cleaver D2; Cumha na h ithin or Cumha Chlaibhers JK. Lament for [Graham of] Claverhouse. In fact there is no traditional rendering in English, as the tune is better known under a different name, Cumha na h-ighinn (see below). Donald MacDonald’s note on the death of ‘General Cleaver’ at Killiecrankie, and the English name given by his pupil Peter Reid (R) confirms the reference to Claverhouse. Presumably the spelling in only two syllables Chleibhar links to a traditional pronunciation Claver’se, rhyming the first syllable with ‘clay’. Cf. Walter Scott’s Claverse (no apostrophe), as noted in his Journal for 22 December 1825, referring to his song ‘Bonnie Dundee’ – see D. Hewitt, ‘The development of “The Bonnets of Bonny Dundee”,’ The Scott Newsletter, No. 1 (1982), pp. 7-9.

Cumha na h-ighinn Cumha na h-ighean / The Daughter’s Lament K1; Cumha na h-Ithean / The Daughter’s Lament KK; Cumha na h ithin JK; Cumha na i thinn JKA. The Daughter’s Lament (see remark on Cumha na Peathar, PS 23).

Roderick Cannon (2009)

Archive Recording

1966 Pipe Major/Captain John A. MacLellan MBE

Other Material

William Donaldson’s Set Tunes Notes (2004)

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