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Posted: 11/2/2011
'Ashokan Farewell' was composed by Jay Ungar in 1982 and later used as the title theme of the 1990 PBS television miniseries, The Civil War.
'Ashokan Farewell' is a waltz in D Major which Unger said resulted from his desire to write a 'Scottish lament'. Unger himself was moved to tears by the plaintive melody. The piece typically begins with a violin solo later joined by the guitar.
Before its use in the PBS Series, 'The Civil War', it was included in the album, 'Waltz of the Wind.' The musicians included Ungar and his wife, Molly Mason, who gave the tune its name. It has served as a goodnight or farewell waltz at the annual Ashokan Fiddle & Dance Camps that Ungar and Mason run at the lakefront Ashokan Field Campus of the State University of New York at New Paltz.
The Civil War is a documentary film by Ken Burns about the American Civil War. PBS aired the series for five consecutive nights in September 27, 1990. At the time, some forty million viewers watched. It remains one of the most popular programs ever broadcast on PBS.
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As a documentary of 11 hours, 'The Civil War' drew heavily upon more than 16,000 archival photographs, paintings, and newspaper images of the period. The narration by David McCullogh was enhanced with anecdotes and insights from historians Shelby Foote, Barbara J. Fields, Ed Bears, and Stephen B. Oates. Gifted actors provided voice characterizations: Sam Waterston as Abraham Lincoln, Jason Robards as Ulysses S. Grant, Garrison Keillor as Walt Whitman, and Morgan Freeman as Frederick Douglass. A re-mastered film was released on its twelfth anniversary of its release.
Filmmaker Ken Burns heard 'Ashokan Farewell' in 1984 and 'was moved by it'. He used it in two films, most prominently 'The Civil War' and his 1985 documentary --Huey Long. But it was certainly 'The Civil War' which brought the tune national attention. It was played 25 times