AE FOND KISS. AKA and see "Rory Dall's Port." Scottish, Air (3/4 time). G Major. Standard. One part. The melody was originally "Rory Dall's Port," a triple time tune taken from Oswald (and which some say was Oswald's own) and used by Robert Burns for his song of the above name. Rory Dall was an ancient harper, originally from Ulster, who composed and played primarily in Scotland. Emmerson (1971) notes the tune is of the character of the ancient 'ports' of the harp, a slow Gaelic air, rather than the vulgarly termed 'Scottish Waltz.' Burns composed the heartfelt words, which he set to the tune, in 1791, just after the departure of the young and beautiful Calrinda, Mrs. M'Lehose, who was journeying to Jamaica to meet her husband. Clarinda and the poet were warm friends who had met soon after Burns' poems were first published, and the two were "obviously attracted to one another."
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Glad we never love sae kindly
Had we never loved sae blindly
Never met--or never parted
We had ne'er been broken-hearted.
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Burns' words were in fact an adaptation or remolding of the poem "One Kind Kiss before we Part" by Robert Dodsley, and English butler who had risen to be a poet, playwright and major literary publisher, and whose lines were set to music by James Oswald (1710-1769). Neil (The Scots Fiddle), 1991; No. 175, pg. 229.
RORY DALL'S PORT [1]. Scottish, Air (6/8 time). G Major (Johnson): E Major (Emmerson): F Major (Purser). Standard. One part (Emmerson): AB (Purser): AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLL (Johnson). The title may refer to Rory dall O'Cahan, a famous Irish harper who lived primarily in Scotland in the 17th century, or perhaps to Rory Dall Morison, a blind Scottish harper who worked the Highlands in the early 18th century. Johnson (1984) states the tune was, however, composed by James Oswald (in his London period), who published several of his compositions under pseudonyms and who originally titled the c. 1756 piece "A Highland Port (tune) by Rory Dall." (See "Port). Purser (1992) attributes the melody to Rory dall O'Cahan (who visited the court of James VI), and observes that the tune appears a decade or two later than this period in the lute book of Robert Straloch of Gordon, evidencing the fact that some harp (clarsach) tunes were translated to early lute manuscripts. "Rory Dall's Port" appears in the Skene Manuscript under the title "Port Ballangowne." In 1790 Robert Burns wrote his song "Ae fond kiss and then we sever" to this tune, and directed it be played "slow and tender." It appears in the Straloch Manuscript (1627-29), Walsh's Country Dances of 1750, and Johnson's Scots Musical Museum (No. 347) of 1792. Source for notated version: Oswald's Collection of Scots Tunes with Variations, pg. 30. Emmerson (Rantin' Pipe and Tremblin' String), 1971; No. 72, pg. 156. Johnson (Scottish Fiddle Music of the 18th Century), 1984; No. 22, pgs. 53-55. Purser (Scotland's Music), 1992; Example 7, pg. 117.