| This tune was transcribed by Bunting from the playing of the harper Cody, of whom he wrote 'If Cody had played this truly it would have been exactly the same as the other as it is it bears strong resemblance.' Two similarly named tunes, no. 47 'Song of Clan Usineach in the Poem of Deirdre' and no.51 'Nuail Duaghadh Dheirdre', are transcribed in close proximity to each other in MS 4.5. Despite his annotation to the latter, it is not easy to see what musical resemblance Bunting would have seen between these items. In his 1840 publication, Bunting publishes the former under the title of the latter, giving his version of the Gaelic tale, in which Deirdre, the daughter of Fedlimid, is prophesied to grow into a beautiful woman over whom kings and lords would make war. She elopes to Scotland with Naoise, son of Uisneach, escaping from her betrothal to Conchobar Mac Nessa, the high king. Eventually Mac Nessa tricks Fedlimid into returning home, where he has him and his brothers slain, and marries a distraught Deirdre who lives out her days in despair. The words of the poem represent her grief at the death of Naoise and his brothers. |
