Performed Locally - Ashokan Farewell

By Bradley Towle

ASHOKAN — Jay Ungar's 1982 composition "Ashokan Farewell" fits Ken Burns' The Civil War documentary so well one would think it had been written specifically for the 1990 five-part PBS documentary. Ungar's instrumental waltz in D-major, with its melancholy fiddle over an acoustic guitar and upright bass, conjures images of a 19th-century trio of musicians and has arguably become as synonymous with the Civil War in our cultural memory since its use in the Burns documentary as actual songs from the era. But Ungar composed "Ashokan Farewell" in response to a feeling of "longing and loss" following the conclusion of the 1982 Ashokan Music & Dance Camp at SUNY New Paltz. Ungar recorded the song with his group Fiddle Fever for its 1984 album Waltz of The Wind. After hearing the recording, Ken Burns was moved by the music and included it in the soundtrack for his 1985 documentary about early 20th-century populist Louisiana governor and United States Senator Huey Long. Production on The Civil War began that same year, with Ungar's song still fresh in Burns' mind.

That "Ashokan Farewell" has become so associated with The Civil War rather than Huey Long may have quite a bit to do with the viewership that Burns' 1990 series garnered: more than 14 million tuned in each night, with some episodes capturing the eyeballs of close to 40 million viewers (that is not taking into account subsequent rebroadcasts of the series and numerous DVD and streaming viewership). "Ashokan Farewell" plays twenty-five times across nine episodes and is the only song included in the series and accompanying soundtrack not from the era. Since the first airing of The Civil War, roughly forty other musicians have recorded Ungar's tune. Artists around the world, including Jerry Garcia and David Grisman, the British band Blake, Nova Scotian fiddler Amelia Parker, and New York City-based band The Ebony Hillbillies, have recorded versions of "Ashokan Farewell." Whatever the song conjures for each artist, whether it's the heavy emotion and tragedy of America's Civil War or something more personal, each can bring something of themselves to the piece, which is perhaps the true magic of the composition.

Ungar described the Ashokan Music and Dance Camp as having a "magical quality during those weeks when music and dance fanatics make the woods ring with their joyful sounds." He recalled the difficulty many felt in leaving. "At the program's end each year, many find it hard to leave this real world and return to a world of cars, phones, and apathy." Anyone fortunate enough to experience a unique but temporary moment in their lives might identify with the bittersweet feeling that Ungar describes. Aside from conjuring images of America at a violent crossroads in the 1860s, it is likely what makes "Ashokan Farewell" continue to resonate with musicians and listeners. It captures a human emotion, a simultaneous sense of loss and gratitude, that most of us know. Whether that feeling is brought on by dropping your child off at school for the first time, by the end of a two-week music camp, or by the country you call home descending into division and war may all depend on your moment in time.