The Ash Grove

About this arrangement

A Welsh harp tune, written here in C major. It is in three sections, A A B A, and we have written all four out so the words fit. The right hand sits with the thumb on the C above middle C and reaches up to A, and down to G for the pickups and to F in bars 6, 14 and 30; the B section (bars 17 to 24) sits a step higher and has the one accidental, the F sharp in bar 23. Many words are sung over a pair of quavers (“how”, “ly”, “’tis”), which gives the tune its flow. The left hand plays a waltz bass on C, F, D minor, G, G7 and A minor.

Practice tip: Learn the A section well; it comes three times, and only its last bar changes. Then look for the F sharp in bar 23, the only black key in the piece.

The words

The ash grove, how graceful, how plainly 'tis speaking, the harp through it playing has language for me. Whenever the light through its branches is breaking, a host of kind faces is gazing on me. The friends of my childhood again are before me Each step wakes a memory as freely I roam. With soft whispers laden its leaves rustle o'er me, the ash grove, the ash grove alone is my home.

A short history

“The Ash Grove” (Llwyn Onn in Welsh) is a Welsh harp air. It was first printed by the harpist Edward Jones in The Bardic Museum in 1802, and Welsh words about a sailor’s love for Gwen of Llwyn appeared a few years later. A similar tune had been used in John Gay’s Beggar’s Opera in 1728 as “Cease Your Funning”, which Beethoven later arranged, and the folk-song scholar Frank Kidson thought both came from the old morris tune “Constant Billy”.

The English words sung here are by Thomas Oliphant, written for John Thomas’s Welsh Melodies of 1862, where they sat beside Welsh verses by John Jones (Talhaiarn).

The tune has been borrowed for hymns, including Katherine K. Davis’s “Let All Things Now Living” (1939); Benjamin Britten (1943) and Roger Quilter (1950) both arranged it, and it is one of the first Welsh melodies learnt on the harp.

Quick facts

Tune

Traditional (Welsh, first printed 1802)

Words

Thomas Oliphant, 1862

Key

C major

Time signature

3/4

Length

32 bars and a pickup

Tempo

Gracefully, crotchet = 120

Difficulty

Level 6: Moving on (piece 188 of 201)

Type

Folk song

Hands

Both: melody in the right hand, chords in the left

Copyright

Public domain tune; arrangement by Digital Greenhouse, free for personal and classroom use

Questions and answers