This edition was prepared by David Anderson — free to download, print, rehearse and perform.
Alister McAlpines lament
Staff Notation • Secular, Partsongs, Folk songs
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Alister McAlpines lament by Ralph Vaughan Williams — Lyrics
The lowlands o’ Scotland will ne’er be my hame,
Tho’ fresh and fair is the gowany lea,
The lowlands o’ Scotland will ne’er be my hame,
It will ne’er be like my ain countrie.
In the lowlands o’ Scotland nae hills are seen
Rising wi’ snawwhite taps sae hie,
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About Alister McAlpines lament
Ralph Vaughan Williams' Alister McAlpines lament is a poignant four-part setting for mixed choir of a Scots text expressing deep homesickness. The composer draws on the tradition of folk song arrangement, giving voice to a profound sense of displacement. The lyrics articulate a longing for the singer's native land, contrasting the perceived barrenness and lack of grandeur in the Lowlands with the cherished memories of home. The lament conveys a profound sense of loss and isolation, the broken clans and solitary state of the singer emphasizing his alienation and unyielding desire to return to his 'ain countrie'.
