Annotation:Open the Door Softly
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OPEN THE DOOR SOFTLY (Fuasgail an doras). AKA and see "O open the door some pity to shew," "Osgail an dorus go ciuin ó," "Swift Fly the Hours." Irish, Air (6/8 time, "tenderly"). D Major/Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. The Chieftains version of the tune is characterized by Paddy Moloney as "a soft harp lullaby...as played by the harper Arthur O'Neill." biography:Arthur O'Neill was a blind harper who took several prizes for his playing at the end of the 18th century at harpers' gatherings in Ireland; he was one of the last trained in the ancient harping tradition. Thomas Moore employed the melody for his song "She is far from the land where her young hero sleeps," written for Sarah Curran, the former lover of Robert Emmett, executed for his part in the uprising of 1798.
The air was known in Scotland as well. Robert Burns used it for his adaptation of "O, open the door some pity to shew" (Scottish Airs, 1793, i. 21), the original of which was published in Corri's Scots Songs (1783, ii., 30); in the Perth Musical Miscellany (1796, 101); and in Calliope (1788, 23). It is described as an "Irish Air" by Corri, who gives these verses:
It's open the door some pity to shew,
It's open the to me, oh!
Chorus:
Tho' you have been false, I'll always prove true,
So open the door to me, oh!
Cold is the blast upon my pale cheek,
But colder your love unto me, oh!
She's open'd the door, she's open'd it wide,
She sees his pale corpse on the ground, oh!
My true love, she cry'd, then fell down by his side,
Never, never to shut again, oh!
See also Frank Roche's version as "Osgail an dorus go ciuin ó." Edinburgh publisher Thompson made alterations in the air for the Scots Musical Museum (1803), where it is the vehicle for Song No. 584, "O turn away those cruel eyes."
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Bunting (A General Collection of the Ancient Music of Ireland), 1796; No. 15, p. 8. P.M. Haverty (One Hundred Irish Airs vol. 1), 1858; No. 59, pp. 24-25. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 334, p. 58.
Recorded sources: RCA 09026-61490-2, The Chieftains - "The Celtic Harp" (1993).