Lament for the Children ( Cumha na Cloinne) is a pibroch/ piobaireachd written in the 17^th century by Padraig Mor MacCrimmon, one of the hereditary pipers of the Clan McLeod in on the Isle of Skye/ Eilean a’ Cheò. Pàdraig Mòr MacCrimmon became the hereditary piper on the death of his father in 1640.

Cumha na Cloinne is one of the most ‘melodic’ pibrochs in the canon and regarded by Sorley McLean as ‘the greatest of all Scottish works of art’. 

The pibroch was composed in response to the death of 7 out of 8 of the piper’s sons. The children died of smallpox, allegedly brought to the island by a seafarer returning home to the island.  Its basic motif involves a pattern of beats of the form:

ABAB

*ABA

The haunting reflection that that 5^th beat – left blank – represents the piper’s one remaining son, Padraig Og.

Ironically, the smallpox epidemic broke out during a unusually mild period in Scotland during the 17^th century with reports of strawberries in January and excessively hot summers.

As in many traditional pibrochs, Cumhna na Cloinne develops in 4 stages:

Urlar : Ground – establishing the basic mofif.

Dithis : A Doubling

Suibhal: A Journey

Taorluth: Free Movement

Each movement progressively embellishes and elaborates on the basic mofit as if, in this instance, exploring the nuance of Padraig Mor’s grief.

Unsurprisingly, for a piece of traditional music passed on, generally, by singing/ canntaireachd and by ear, many variants of the pibroch have been transcribed over the last 2 centuries, as if reflecting the many variations of tragedy which still result in our individual and specific losses.

This model of Ground and development has been used to structure the Pibroch Collection.