After the poet Robert Burns’ untimely death in 1796 his former Edinburgh publisher, George Thompson held the publishing rights to much of the Scots Bard’s work.
Thompson, in an effort to generate more interest for his catalogue in general and cash for his business had commissioned the composer Haydn to create musical settings for select works of Scottish poetry and song. His idea being that he would market and sell them as European versions of classic Scots songs set to music by a famous composer of the day. However, Mr. Haydn died before he could complete the project and Thompson sought the services of another famous composer, Ludwig van Beethoven. Beethoven agreed and composed settings for 25 new musical works for the publisher’s project.
The songs, each one a gem in this writer’s humble opinion, were not that well received by Thompson who complained to Beethoven that they were “too complex” for what he had in mind. Consequently they languished, forgotten somewhat in comparison to the great maestro’s illustrious catalogue of symphonies and popular hits.
One of the songs, “Farewell Bliss, Farewell Nancy”, had lyrics which were taken from the work of two different Scottish writers and blended in the following way; the 1st two verses were by Mrs Grant of Laggan, a prominent literary figure in Edinburgh at the time, and the 3rd verse was an extract from Robert Burns’ “Ae Fond Kiss”. As was the practice of the day the song’s title was the first line of its first verse – “Farewell bliss, farewell Nancy”. In this way the potential of a musical setting penned by the great Ludwig van Beethoven for “Ae Fond Kiss”, one of Burns’ most beautiful love poems, had never been fully explored. Until now; because Scots musician Mike Ogletree (ex-Simple Minds drummer) is preparing a new release for Burns Day 2014. It is an 18th/21st century mash-up, so to speak, of Robert Burns’ words set to Beethoven’s music with a rock-reggae-soul beat. The only words are Burns’ from “Ae Fond Kiss” sung by Mike to the music that Beethoven originally composed for the song “Farewell Bliss, Farewell Nancy”.
And so we have “Ae Fond Kiss” - words by Robert Burns, music by Ludwig van Beethoven, beats and performance by Anacoustic Mind aka Mike Ogletree.
(Find Anacoustic Mind at www.immortalmemory.com)
lyrics
Ae fond kiss, and then we sever;
Ae fareweel, alas, for ever!
Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,
Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee!
Who shall say that Fortune grieves him
While the star of hope she leaves him?
Me, nae cheerfu' twinkle lights me,
Dark despair around benights me.
I'll ne'er blame my partial fancy;
Naething could resist my Nancy;
But to see her was to love her,
Love but her, and love for ever.
Fare thee weel, thou first and fairest!
Fare thee weel, thou best and dearest!
Thine be ilka joy and treasure,
Peace, enjoyment, love, and pleasure!
Had we never loved sae kindly,
Had we never loved sae blindly,
Never met—or never parted,
We had ne'er been broken-hearted.
Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee!
Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,
Ae fond kiss, and then we sever!
Ae fareweel, alas, for ever!
credits
released January 9, 2014
Music: Ludwig van Beethoven; Words: Robert Burns; Production, arrangement and performance: Anacoustic Mind aka Mike Ogletree.
The Blaxcotsman aka Mike Ogletree has been around, from drumming duties with 80's Scottish music legends Simple Minds and
Fiction Factory to session work in Italy, then working as a sound engineer in L.A. In New York he created Anacoustic Mind, an exciting mixture of his Afro/Scottish soul and the pulsating energy of the planet's most culturally rich city....more
Slack falsetto melodies, lush dub arrangements, and feel-good lyrics come together for a memorable pop-reggae getaway. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 14, 2022
