This is a hell of a tune. It is one of my personal favorites and a very common inclusion in pickin circles in these parts and, I suspect, in others areas as well. Elzic’s Farewell is one of those groovy tunes that can go on forever and still be fun to be play the next time around. It goes over especially well with audiences as it has a unique and engaging character, haunting but lively. It also works very well for circle dances and really gets the dancers goin.
I learned it from friend and local fiddler, Russell McCumber. His band recently recorded it with a “new time” kinda feel as part of their latest album: http://thecorduroyroad.bandcamp.com/track/elzics-farewell .
There are a good many permutations of Elzic’s Farewell but the melody is generally very similar across versions. They vary mainly in the inclusion, order, and repetition of the parts. It is usually a 3 part tune but some folks square it off into 2 parts and others play the parts in various orders. Here is an excellent and representative full band version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92L1m2ktHKE . Notice they play the standard 3 parts but mix them around a bit. AABBCC is the most common order, I believe.
Heres a 10 year old fiddling it with some nice banjo as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghzD-zLPXI8&feature=related . If theres a better inducement to get your kids a fiddle I don’t what it might be!
As far as origin goes, there are two competing stories. Fiddler’s Companion sheds some light:
ELZIC'S FAREWELL [1]. Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA, W.Va. A Dorian (Am). AEae or Standard tunings. ABB (Phillips, Reiner & Anick): AABB (Phillips). AABBCC (Brody, Songer): ABCBABC (Krassen). This tune has been described as “an old bagpipe tune” from the repertoire of W.Va. fiddler French Carpenter who stated his ancestor (the Elzic or Elzick of the title) played the melody as a farewell before marching off to fight in the Civil War. Elzic went missing in the conflict and never returned, but the tune survived and entered local tradition as "Elzic's Farewell." Wilson Douglas, a younger fiddler distantly related to his mentor French Carpenter (his grandfather and Carpenter’s father Saul were half-brothers), thought that Elzic was from Wood County, W.Va. In fact, this is a bit of fanciful embroidery on the part of Douglas and/or Carpenter. The tune’s origins have been researched by Jim Comstock of Richwood, W.Va., and were published by him in the West Virginia Songbag (1974). The tune was actually written by one Harvey G. Elswick who was born in Pike County, Kentucky in 1838, and who did serve in a unit from that state during the Civil War. After that conflict Elswick returned to Pike County, but in 1875 he and his family removed to Kanawha County, West Virginia, to live on 80 acres in Malden and Elk districts, and it was there that he wrote the melody now known as “Elsic’s Farewell” in April, 1889. Harvey lived on until 1915 and was buried at the Elswick Cemetary at Quick, Kanawha County. Comstock cites the researches of a descendent, the Rev. Albert Elswick of Wallkill, New York, into the Elswick family and finds that Harvey Elswick played the tune at the request of his mother, who was on her deathbed. Complying with her request to "play his fiddle for her once more before she died," Elswick was inspired to play the tune as his farewell. Wilson Douglas plays the tune in standard tuning.
So either a civil war soldier’s final farewell to home or a civil war veteran’s eulogy to his mother, it’s a good story either way.
Theres a tab in the BHO archive: http://www.banjohangout.org/tab/browse.asp?m=detail&v=15709 but this is a pretty easy tune to get the gist of by ear. Its probably best learned by ear anyhow since you will encounter so much variety when playing it with different people.
A search of the BHO music files nets more than a few examples; I hope some will get posted by TOTW participants.
Lastly, here is my rendering of Elzic’s Farewell in aEADE on my Romero: