Ffarwel i Aberystwyth

I have been given a wonderful opportunity to join a Welsh folk group that meet up once a month at Tŷ Tawe in Swansea. So I have taken out my tarnished silver flute, cleaned it it up and attempt to familiarise and memorise many Welsh folk tunes.
I have access to many tunes but one I cannot find is the written music for Ffarwel i Aberystwyth. I have a couple of books of Welsh tunes and great online resources such as -
sesiwn.org
and - alawoncymru.com
but not this particular pretty tune. So if anybody knows how I could get hold of the music for Ffarwel i Aberystwyth it would be much appreciated!

Well my search is over! I found the tune in one of my books- Welsh Tradional Music by Phyllis Kinney

I forgot I had such a good resource!

Helo Tricia

Diolch yn fawr for your posts. I hadn’t come across this song before and, having just listened to it on You Tube, was captivated. It’s beautiful. A certain resonance, too, as my son will be leaving Aber in September after four very happy years of study there on his part and, on ours, many wonderful visits. Enjoy the folk group!

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Stunningly beautiful song. Thank you for sharing :slight_smile:

Thanks for your responses! I first heard it last Friday in my first sesiwn werin. The guy next to me played it beautifully on his recorder and I had to ask; beth yw taw alaw? And frustratingly the only tune I couldn’t find from all the tunes we played.
Well this sesiwn werin is a challenge for me, having hardly played my flute for 15 years and then only as a classical music. So it is a bit different, with no sheet music to speak of and no direction. Someone starts playing something and off we go. Though it is somewhat liberating trying out a different genre too!

Hello Tricia,

I’m looking for the lyrics of this wonderful song. Could you post them here? As it’s a traditional song, that shouldn’t be a problem in my opinion.

Thank you very much!

With pleasure! though i only copied and paste it from another web site as I only had the first verse in my book!

Ffarwel i Aberystwyth
Ffarwel i Ben Maesglas.
Ffarwel i dw^r y Castell,
Ffarwel i’r Morfa glas.

Ffarwel fo i Ben y Parciau,
Ffarwel i Figure Four.
Ffarwel fo i’r ferch fach lana’
Erioed fu’n agor do^r.

Ffarwel fo i Lanrhystud,
Lle bu^m i lawer gwaith
Yn caru’n o^l fy ffansi -
Ond ofer fu y gwaith.

Mi fuais i’n ei charu
Am bedwar mis ar ddeg;
Cawn weithiau dywydd garw,
Pryd arall dywydd teg.

Ac weithiau cawn hi’n fodlon
I wrando’m cwyn a’m cri -
Ond rhodd ei llaw i arall
A’m calon dorrodd hi

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So beautiful it hurts although I don’t understand the lyrics.

Ok, being very lazy and not trying to translate it myself, I found this translation which I copied and pasted!

1
Ffarwel I Aberystwyth
FAREWELL TO ABERYSTWYTH

Farewell to Aberystwyth
farewell to Pen Maesglas
farewell to the castle tower
And also to Morfa Glâs

Farewell to Penparcau
Farewell to Figure Four
Farewell to the purest young woman
Ever to open a door

Farewell to Llanrhystud
Where I many times
Loved what I fancied
But the attempts were useless

I loved her
For fourteen months
Sometimes we had rough weather
Other times fair weather

And sometimes I’d find her willing
To listen to my blues
But she gave her hand to another
And she broke my heart

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Ah, ja … I knew it’s something about broken hearts … music speaks for itself …

Thank you for sharing this all with us.

Diolch yn fawr am dy help!!!