Saturday 16 June 2018
Tune of the Day: I See Them On Their Winding Way
arranged for two flutes
This melody was composed in the 1820s by an Englishman named B. Hime, about whom very little is known. It sets to music the words of an unpublished poem by Bishop Reginald Heber.
I see them on their winding way,
About their ranks the moonbeams play,
Their lofty deed and daring high,
Blend with the notes of victory.
And waving arms and banners bright
Are glancing in the mellow light.
They're lost and gone, the moon is past
The woods dark shade is o'er them cast;
And fainter fainter fainter still,
The march is rising o'er the hill.
The present arrangement for two flutes appeared in Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in 1833.
The first two measures of the melody are reminiscent of the traditional Scottish tune “Bonnie Dundee”.