BANKS OF SPEY, THE. Scottish, Strathspey. A Minor. Standard. AB (Hardie, Marshall): AAB (Gow): AABB (Gatherer). Composed by William Marshall (1748-1833). The Spey is the swiftest-flowing river in Scotland, famous for its firshng and salmon runs. Marshall himself was not only a composer, mathematician and fiddler, but also a keen angler who fashioned beautiful flies (Moyra Cowie, The Life and Times of William Marshall, 1999). Hardie (1992) reminds us that the strathspey form is commonly believed to have originated in the valley of the Spey in north-eastern Scotland. Poet Robert Tannahill wrote verses which fit Marshall's tune:
***
The Banks of Spey
***
Scenes of my childhood, your wanderer hails you,
Wing'd with rude storm, though the winter assails you,
Bleak and dreary as ye are, ye yet hae charms to cheer me,
For here, amidst my native hills, my bonnie lassie's near me.
***
'Tis sad to see the wither'd lea, the drumly flooded fountain,
The angry storm in awful form, that sweeps the moor and mountain;
But frae the surly swelling blast, dear lassie, I'll defend her,
And frae the bonnie banks o' Spey I never more shall wander.
***
Gatherer (Gatherer's Musical Museum), 1987; pg. 38. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 4, 1817; pg. 27. Hardie (Caledonian Companion), 1992; pg. 88. Marshall, Fiddlecase Edition, 1978; 1822 Collection, pg. 48. McGlashan (A Collection of Reels), c. 1786; pg. 3. Oswald (Caledonian Companion), Book 2.
T:Banks of Spey
L:1/8
M:C
S:McGlashan - Reels
K:A Minor
A2 A>B A>Bc>e|d<c B>A G2 G2|A2 A>B A>B c>d|e>cde g2 g2|
a>ge>c d<ega|e<gg>B G2 GB|A<E A>B c>de>g|e<d c>B A2A:|
|:c|A<E A>c A<E A>c|B>cdB G2 GB|A<E A>c A<E c>d|e>cde g2g2|
a>g e<c d<eg<a|e<g g>B G2 GB|A<E A>B c>d e<g|e<d c>B A2 A2:|
KINRARA (STRATHSPEY) [1]. AKA and see "Countess of Dalkeith." Scottish, Strathspey. B Flat Major. Standard. AB (Marshall): AAB (Athole, Hunter). Kinrara was the summer residence "where the Duchess of Gordon resided in Badenoch" (Marshall). The strathspey was composed by William Marshall (1748-1833) on short notice, at the request of Jane, Duchess of Gordon, wife of his patron and employer, Alexander, the fourth Duke of Gordon. Moyra Cowie (1999) writes that Jane had become estranged from Alexander because of his liason with Jean Christie, the daughter of the housekeeper at Gordon Castle, and since she would not abide long in the same house, she had Kinrara built on the banks of the Spey in Badenoch, below the hill of Tor Alvie. The tune was first published in 1800 by Pietro Urbani and Liston (Edinburgh), alongside a piece by the Duke (who was an amateur fiddler) called "Brodie House." It was republished by the Gows in their Fourth Collection (1800) under the title "The Countess of Dalkeieth," althought without crediting Marshall. Jane Gordon died in 1812 and is buried on the Kinrara estate, overlooking a broad curve in the Spey.
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Elizabeth Grant of Rothiemurches describes her experiences of Kinrara:
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We are often over at Kinrara, the Duchess having perpetual dances, either in
the drawing room or the servants hall and my father returning these entertainments
in the same style. A few candles lighted up bare walls, at short warnings fiddles
and whisky punch were always at hand and then gentles and simples reeled
away in company till the ladies thought the scene becoming more boisterous
that they liked remaining in; nothing more however, a highlander never forgets his
place, never loses his native inborn politeness, never presumes upon on favour.
***
Hunter (The Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 170. Marshall, Fiddlecase Edition, 1978; 1822 Collection, pg. 2 and the Kinrara Collection (1800), pg. 25. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 293.
T:Kinrara
L:1/8
M:C
R:Strathspey
B:The Athole Collection
K:B_
F|B>cB>d F<B G/F/E/D/|B<F B>d c<C C>A|B>cB>d F<B G/F/E/D/|
E<g f>e d<BB:|
f|d>f e/d/c/B/ b>Be>g|f>g e/d/c/B/ d<c cd/e/|f>Bd>B g>Be>g|
F>B cB/c/ d<B ~B>d|fg/a/ b>B g>Bf>B|e>cd>B A>cc>d|
B<F G<BF<B G/F/E/D/|E<g f>e d<B~B||
STRATHSPEY (THE NATIVE COUNTRY OF THE SPRIGHTLY DANCE). AKA - "Strath-Spe." Scottish, Slow Strathspey. E Minor. Standard. AAB. "In passing through the district of Strathspey, the traveller may be apt to forget, that among the long ranges of firwood and heath on each side, originated that sprightly style of performing and dancing the music which bears its name, now in universal request from the Spey to the Ganges. If the poets now take up the subject of some of the airs produced on its banks, it may become as renowned as a classic stream, as it is famous for giving birth to so much of our national and captivating amusement" (Fraser). Fraser (The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles), 1874; No. 155, pg. 63.
T:Stathspey (The Native Country of the Sprightly Dance)
T:Srath-Spè
L:1/8
M:C
S:Fraser Collection
K:G
B,|EE E>F E>D B,2|G,<G, B,>C D2 D>F/G/|EE E>F E>F B, z/d/|
B<GA<F [G,2E2] E)F|EE E>F E>D B,2|G,G, B,>C D2 D>F/G/|
EE E>F (G/A/)B^c d>=c|B<GA>F [G2E2] E||
B|e>B e<f e>^d e<f|d<A f>e d2 d>f|e>^de>f (g/a/)b/^c'/ d'>c'|
b/^c'/d a>f e2 eg/a/|[gb][gb] [bg](a/g/) [fa][fa] [fa](f/e/)|
[df][df] (g/f/a/f/) d2 d(e/f/)|(g/e/f/d/ e/^c/d/)F/ (G/A/)B/^c/ d>=c|
B<G A>G [G,2E2][G,E]||