Primary Sources
C1 Fhagail Cheantiare C1.67: 143
R Mac Dougal of Lorn’s March R.29: 22v
K1 Failte Chlann Dughaill / The MacDougalls Salute K1.43: 96
K2 Fagail Chintire K2.30: 69
K3, Fàgail Ceann-tire / Leaving Kintyre K3.31: 114
Notes on Gaelic Titles
Fàgail Cheann-Tìre Fhagail Cheantiare C1. Leaving Kintyre.
Fàilte Chlann Dùghaill Failte Chlann Dughaill / The MacDougalls Salute K1. The MacDougalls’ Salute.
Notes on Music
In C1, the last cycle (Crulive Gear D) has equal and opposite halves:
1O1O11 O1OO 1O11
O1O1OO 1O11 O1OO
In this schema, 1 = hindre and O = hiodre, except that the final dre is omitted. In PS Book 15, page 515, Archie Kenneth amended this cycle, adding the final dre and repeating the first two units of each half. This turns an unusual cycle with 14 ‘Fingers’ (or bars) into a standard cycle with 16 Fingers:
1O1O 1O11 O1OO 1O11
O1O1 O1OO 1O11 O1OO
I suggest that Campbell’s last cycle reflects a more confident musical craftsmanship, one capable of intentionally reducing phrase lengths in order to rev up the intensity. Examples of this compositional technique can be found in all the primary sources, but they have generally been viewed in negative light on account of 19th-century musical thinking, or a greater readiness to impose order than to accommodate creative invention.
Barnaby Brown, 25 June 2014, revised 9 December 2014