Thursday 20 May 2021
Tune of the Day: Isle of Beauty, Fare Thee Well
arranged for two flutes
This romantic ballad was composed by English poet, dramatist and songwriter Thomas Haynes Bayly. It has been published in hymnals and also appears to have been used as a military march.
Shades of ev'ning close not o'er us,
Leave our lonely bark awhile,
Morn, alas! will not restore us,
Yonder dim and distant isle;
Still my fancy can discover,
Sunny spots where friends may dwell,
Darker shadows round us hover,
Isle of beauty, fare thee well.
The present arrangement for two flutes appeared in Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine, published in Philadelphia in 1833.