Annotation:Valley of Silence (The)

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VALLEY OF SILENCE. Scottish, Slow Air (4/4 time). E Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. Composed as an “Elegy” by Biography:J. Scott Skinner [1], and printed in his Harp and Claymore Collection (1904), arranged for violin and piano by F. Efckmann. The music was composed to go with a poem by James Mackintosh, entitled “Napoleon, or The Valley of Silence.” The melody was not meant to be sung to the words, but was rather an atmospheric accompaniment.

J. Scott Skinner



Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 65. Skinner (Harp and Claymore Collection), 1904; pp. 8-9. Skinner (The Scottish Violinist), p. 39.

Recorded sources: Olympic 6151, William MacPherson "Scottish Traditional Fiddle Music" (1978). Tartan Tapes CDTT1004, Paul Anderson – “Heat the Hoose” (1998).




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