ARTHUR'S SEAT [2]. Scottish, Reel. E Major. Standard. AABBCCDD. Composed by William Marshall (1748-1833), first published in his 1781 Collection. Susan Cowie, in her book The Life and Times of William Marshall (1999), writes that Marshall, in his position of House Steward for Gordon Castle, accompanied the Duke of Gordon and his family on their frequent trips to Edinburgh. It was the Duke's custom to climb Arthur's Seat on the first of May with his old friend, Professor Andrew Duncan, a habit they continued into Duncan's eightieth year. Marshall, Fiddlecase Edition, 1978; pg. 2 of 1781 Collection and pg. 38 of 1822 Collection.
T:Arthur's Seat [2]
L:1/8
M:C|
S:Marshall - 1822 Collection
K:E
EGBe gfeg|fgag f/f/f f2|EGBe gfed|ecBG E/E/E E2:|
|:cBeB cBAG|AcBG F/F/F F2|cBeB cBAG|AcBG E/E/E E:|
|:egBg faBa|g>abg f/f/f f2|egBg faBa|g>abg e/e/e e2:|
|:edcB cBAG|AcBG F/F/F F2|edcB cBAG|A>c B<G E/E/E E2:|
ATHOL(L) HOUSE. AKA - "Athole House." Scottish, Reel. F Major. Standard. AAB. One of the most famous compositions of Edingburgh music teacher Daniel (or perhaps Donald) Dow (c. 1783). Little is known about Dow, who was born in Kirkmichael, Perthshire, but "his compositions were highly esteemed in their time and still live" (Emmerson, 1971). The tune was originally published as a country dance in the Edinburgh Magazine and Review in 1773. Originally printed without dotted rhythms, the Gows later added them in places to change the tune to a strathspey (Alburger says this may illustrate Niel Gow's up-driven bowing style). The piece first appears published by Dow (pg. 1) in his c. 1775 collection.
***
Athole (or Atholl) House was the seat of the Duke of Atholl, who in the mid-18th century was the first patron of the famous Scots fiddler and composer Niel Gow, who besides his noted skill on his instrument, also possessed an earthy frankness and who was not intimidated by social standing. On one occasion when he was playing for dancing at Atholl, a portion of the invited party lingered in the ballroom, loath to forsake the dancing. Gow, not impressed with the fashionable indifference to the waiting supper, soon became exasperated and called out to the remaining crowd: "Gang doun to your supper, ye daft limmers, and dinna hand me reelin' here, as if hunger and drouth were unkent i' the land--a'body can naethin' done for you!" The name Athole (or Atholl) derives from the Gaelic ath Fodla, generally translated as New Ireland, and stems from the first invasion of the northern land by the Irish tribe the Scots in the 7th century (Matthews, 1972).
***
Alburger (Scottish Fiddlers and Their Music), 1983; Ex. 60, pg. 97. Glen (The Glen Collection of Scottish Dance Music), Vol. II, 1895; pg. 25. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 1, 1799; pg. 31. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; pg. 151. McGlashan (A Collection of Reels), c. 1786; pg. 27. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 211.
T:Athole House
L:1/8
M:C|
R:Reel
B:The Athole Collection
K:F
f|cFAF cF d/c/B/A/|cFAF EGGf|cFAF cAfc|d/c/B/A/ cC DFF:|
c|~f2 a/g/f/e/ fcAc|Fc d/c/B/A/ BGGc|~f2 a/g/f/e/ fcAc|d/e/f e/f/g cf~fc|
fcaf ecbg|afcf eggb|afcf dBGB|AFcC DF~F||
AULD LANG SYNE. Scottish, Air (2/4 time) or Strathsepy. F Major (Neil): A Major (Stewart-Robertson). Standard. AABB. Robert Burns (1759-1796) had the air to which he wrote his famous lyrics from an old man's singing, and immediately wrote it down upon hearing as he thought it "exceedingly expressive" and which he later remarked "has often thrilled through my soul." The song was sent by him to Johnson for inclusion in the Scots Musical Museum with a note that it was an old song with additions and alterations (Neil, 1991). Fuld (1966) states that the extent of Burns' responsibility for the words and tune has always been controversial, and states that it is "generally agreed that he was not the author of the words of the first verse," which he points out is the only one everyone knows. According to Robert Chambers [Scottish Songs Prior to Burns, 1890], the earliest printing of a song called "Old-Long-Syne" [sic] with the famous opening line is in James Watson's Scots Poems, Part III, pg. 71 (Edingburgh, 1711). Chambers wrote that he song appears "as early as the reign of Chas. I, its associations conveyed in a song of many (10) stanzas", finally "brought together (in Watson's book) in a song of many stanzas." In fact, there were ten stanzas given in Scots Poems. These early printings, including Burns' version, were to melodies other than the air famous in modern times (interestingly, Burns wrote another song to the "Auld Lang Syne" melody that is substantially the one we know today, which he called "O Can Ye Labor Lea, Young Man," also known as "I Fee'd a Man at Martinmas," found in the Scots Musical Museum [Edinburgh, 1792-1793]).
***
Fuld finds identifying motifs for the modern melody for "Auld Lang Syne" in Playford's "The Duke of Bucclugh's Tune" in Appolo's Banquet (1687), and subsequently and more elaborately as "The Miller's Wedding" (in Bremner's Scots Reels, c. 1765), "The Miller's Daughter," "The Lasses of the Ferry," "Sir Alexander Don's Strathspey," "Roger's Farewell," and the "Overture" to William Shield's opera Rosina (London, 1783). The words and the present melody were first printed together in 1799 in George Thompson's A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs (London), but, Fuld states, "it is not clear whether Thomson or Burns brought the words and melody together," and it is not clear exactly which air Burns heard the aforementioned old man singing.
***
Stewart-Robertson prints a strathspey version of the tune arranged by John MacAlpin of Killin, for dancing. Ludwig van Beethoven arranged a setting of "Auld Lang Syne" early in the 19th century.
***
As a young man Mark Twain thought to learn music and tried first one instrument, then another, before finally settling down with an accordion. After determining its rudiments, he learned the popular air "Auld Land Syne," and for about a week he continued to torture his unwilling listeners with the melody, when he, being of an ingenious turn of mind, endeavored to improve upon the original melody by adding some variations of his own device. Just as he finished the tune with a suitable flourish, his landlady stepped into his room and said, "Do you know any other tune but that, Mr. Twain?" He told her meekly he did not. "Well then," said she, "stick to it just as it is; don't put any variations on it; because it is rough enough on the boarders the way it is now." As it happened, half the boarders left anyway, while the other half would have had not the landlady discharged Twain first. The aspiring musician went from house to house, but none would undertake to keep him after one night's music, so, at least, in sheer desperation he went to board with an Italian lady--Mrs. Murphy, by name. He says:
***
The first time I stuck up the variations, a haggard care-worn,
cadaverous old man walked into my room and stood beaming
upon me a smile of ineffable happiness. Then he placed his hand
upon my head, and looking devoutly aloft, he said with feeling
unction: "God bless you, young man! God bless you! for you
have done that for me which is beyond all praise. For year I
have suffered from an incurable disease, and knowing my doom
was sealed, and that I must die, I have striven with all my power
to resign myself to my fate, but in vain--the love of life was too
strong within me. But heaven bless you, my benefactor! For since
I heard you play that tune and those variations, I do not want to
live any longer--I am willing to die--in fact, I am anxious to die."
And then the old man fell upon my neck and wept a flood of happy
tears. I was surprised at these things, but I could not help giving the
old gentleman a parting blast, in the way of some peculiarly lacerating
variations, as he went out of the door. They doubled him up like a
jackknife, and the next time he left his bed of pain and suffering he
was all right, in a metallic coffin.
***
At last Twain gave up the instrument, and from then on gave amateur musicians a wide berth. Ashman (The Ironbridge Hornpipe), 1991; No. 72b, pg. 30. Neil (The Scots Fiddle), 1991; No. 189, pg. 244. Stewart-Robertson (Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 1.
T:Auld Lang Syne
L:1/8
M:C
N:"As arranged by John McAlpin, Killen"
B:The Athole Collection
S:Strathspey
K:A
E|A2A>c B>AB>c|AAA>a f2f>a|e<cc>A B>AB>c|A>FE>F A2A:|
|:a|e<cc>A B>AB>c|e<cc>e f>ga>f|e>cc>A B>AB>c|A>FE>F A2A:|
BRAES OF BALQUHITHER/BLAQYHEDER/BALQUHIDDER/BALQUIDDER, THE. Scottish; Air, Strathspey and Country Dance Tune (4/4 time). G Major (Kerr): F Major (Athole). Standard. AABCC (Gow, Kerr): ABCD (McGlashan): AABCCD (Athole). No matter which spelling is used the name 'Balquhither' is pronounced 'Balwhither'. The tune appears in both air and dance versions. Glen (1891) finds the piece frist published in Bremner's 1757 collection (pg. 37), however, the tune (and dance instructions) appear in The Bodleian Manuscript (1740), inscribed "A Collection of the Newest Country Dances Performed in Scotland at Edinburgh by D.A. Young, W.M. 1740" (the MS is named for the Bodleian Library, Oxford, where it is housed). Robert Tannahill (1774-1810), bard and weaver of Paisley, wrote a song by this name which appeared twice in R.A. Smith's Scottish Minstrel (1821-1824), Vol. 1, pg. 49 and Vol. IV, pg. 89 (the latter air is a modification of the first and is called "The Three Carles o' Buchanan"). The song text appears in Henry W. Shoemaker's Mountain Minstrelsy of Pennsylvania (1931), with the following note:
***
Potter County: This very ancient ballad was furnished by Mr.
Myron Hill, 70 years old. It was sung to my grandfather when a
child, soon after the War of Revolution, by veterans of that war,
and he sang it to me in 1876, in memory of our family soldiers
of 100 years before.- John C. French, 1919.
***
Mr. French's account predates the Tannahill publication by some forty years, and perhaps he was a victim of the human penchant for subscribing increased antiquity to already old items, though it is possible that an older song text to the country dance tune predated the Tannahill publication. Tannahill's words begin:
***
Will ye go, lassie, go,
To the braes o' Balquhidder?
Where the blaeberries grow,
'Mang the bonnie bloomin' heather;
Where the deer and the roe,
Lightly bounding together,
Sport the lang summer day
'Mang the braes o' Balquhidder.
***
Chorus:
Will ye go, lassie, go,
To the braes o' Balquhidder?
Where the blaeberries grow,
'Mang the bonnie bloomin' heather.
***
The song "Wild Mountain Thyme" is derived from "Braes of Balquidder," as is "Will You Go, Lassie, Go" reworked by Frank McPeake of Belfast. Gow notes the tune "may be play'd very Slow." Gow (Complete Repository), Part 1, 1799; pg. 27. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; Set 16, No. 1, pg. 11. McGlashan (A Collection of Reels), c. 1786; pg. 37. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 212. Folk Lyric FL-116, Betsy Miller (Ewan MacColl's mother). Green Linnett GLCD 1146, The Tannahill Weavers - "Capernaum" (1994. Tannahill's song).
T:Braes of Balquhidder
L:1/8
M:C|
R:Reel
B:The Athole Collection
K:F
c|A/B/c Fc A2 AB|A/B/c Fc AGGB|A/B/c Fc A2 Ac|defd cAA:|
c|defd cAag|fdcA AGGc|defd cAfg|agfd cAAc|defd caga|~fdcA AGGA|
FCA,C FGAc|defd cAA||
|:c|dFcF A2Ac|dFcF AGGc|dFcF A2Ac|defd cAA:|
c|defd cAag|fdcA AGGc|defd cAfg|agfc A2Ac|defd caga|fdcA AGGA|
FCA,C FGAc|defd cAA||
T:The Braes o' Balquhidder
B:G.F. Graham, The Popular Songs and Melodies of Scotland (1900)
C:Words written by Robert Tannahill 1774-1810.
N:it's vaguely like The Duke of Bucclugh's Tune in Playford, 1687
M:2/4
L:1/8
R:Air
Q:1/4=96
K:D
% hexatonic, G missing
F>A|B2 A>D|F2 F>A|B2 A>F|F<E F>A|B2 A>D|F2 F>A|B>c d>B |A<F||
F>A|B>c d>B|A<F f>e|d<B A>F|F<E F>A|B>c d>B|A<F f>e|dB AF |F<E||
F>A|B2 A>D|F2 F>A|B2 A>F|F<E F>A|B2 A>D|F2 F>A|B>c e/d/c/B/|A<F|]
BRAES OF/O' MAR/MARR/MOR, THE [1]. AKA and see "Johnny Will You Marry Me," "Lord McDonald's Strathspey," "Love Won't You Marry Me," "Reel des Noces," "Sir Alexander McDonald," "Sir Alexander McDonald's Reel," "Some Say the Devil's Dead." Scottish, Canadian; Strathspey. Canada; Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton. D Major. Standard. AAB (Gow): AABB (Athole, Kennedy, Kerr, Skye [Old Set version]): AABB' (Perlman, Skye): AABCD (Dunlay & Greenberg/Campbell): AABBCDD (Dunlay and Reich). Attributed to John Coutts of Deeside, and used for the dance the Highland Fling or Highland Schottische. Skinner, in Harp and Claymore, thinks the tune "is almost a parody of "Lord MacDonald's Strathspey." The melody appears in the Drummond Castle Manuscript (also called the Duke of Perth MS), in the possession of the Earl of Ancaster (at Drummond Castle) as a country dance; it is inscribed 'A Collection of Country Dances written for the use of his Grace the Duke of Perth by Dav. Young, 1734.' In that MS the title is "Sir Alexander McDonald's Reel." Glen (1891) finds the tune earliest in print in Robert Bremner's 1757 collection, Part 3 (pg. 34), where it appears as "Sir Alexander McDonald."
***
Imported by Scottish emigrants to the new world, "Braes of Marr" is considered an old tune in the Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, fiddling repertoire. Dunlay & Greenberg mention that one of Buddy MacMaster's aunts recalled that the strathspey was often played by Domhnull Iain an Taillear (Donald John the Tailor) Beaton (1856-1919). The third turn may be of Cape Breton origins. From there it perhaps entered into French-Canadian fiddling repertoire, for Willie Ringuette recorded the melody as a reel in 1927 under the title "Reel des Noces." Interestingly, Dunaly & Greenberg report that Cape Breton fiddler Jackie Dunn (in her 1991 Master's thesis "The Sound of Gaelic is in the Fiddler's Music") states the strathspey is known to have Gaelic words and is called "'S Math a Dhannsadh" (It is good to dance).
***
In western Ireland the tune is known as "Johnny, Will You Marry Me," and is used for the dance "the Fling;" Irish versions of strathspeys usually are played as reels, without the distinctive dotted rhythm. Set in jig time, an Irish variant is "Kate/Katy Carnery." Sources for notated versions: Dan J. Campbell and Angus Allan Gillis (Cape Breton) [Dunlay & Greenberg, Dunlay and Reich]; Hector MacKenzie (Cape Breton) [Dunlay & Greenberg]; Mary MacDonald (Cape Breton) [Dunlay & Greenberg]; Angus McPhee (b. c. 1929, Mt. Stewart, Queens County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman]. Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 519. Dunlay & Greenberg (Traditional Celtic Violin Music of Cape Breton), 1996; pgs. 68-69 (three versions). Dunlay and Reich (Traditional Celtic Fiddle Music of Cape Breton), 1986; pg. 50. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 2, 1802; pg. 35. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 3, 1806; pg. 10 ("Original Sett"). Honeyman (Strathspey, Reel and Hornpipe Tutor), 1898; pg. 12. Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 90. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book), Vol. 2, 1954; pg. 18 (appears as "Some Say the Devil's Dead"). Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; No. 4, pg. 19. Lowe (A Collection of Reels and Strathspeys), 1844. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; pg. 63 & 64 {Old Set}. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; pg. 191. Skinner, Harp and Claymore, 1984; pg. 86. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 89 {Old Set}. ACC-49393, Hector MacKenzie- "MacNeil's Highland Ceilidh" (1992). Beltona BL2135 (78 RPM), Edinburgh Highland Strathspey and Reel Society (1936). Celtic 011 (78 RPM), "Dan J. Campbell and Angus Allan Gillis." Culburnie Records CUL 102, Alasdair Fraser & Jody Stecher - "The Driven Bow" (1988. A 4-part setting based on Cape Breton fiddlers). Decca 14026 (78 RPM), "Colin Boyd." Rounder 7009, Doug MacPhee- "Cape Breton Piano" (1977). Rounder 7012, Winnie Chafe - "Highland Melodies of Cape Breton" (1979). SA 93130, Donny LeBlanc - "Roisining Up the Bow" (1993). Silver Apple 7588-90193-4, Tommy Basker - "The Tin Sandwich" (1994). Univ. College of Cape Breton 1007, Dan Joe MacInnis- "Celtic Music of Cape Breton, Vol. I."
X:1
T:Braes of Mar
L:1/8
M:C
R:Strathspey
B:The Athole Collection
K:D
A/G/|F<A A>B d>ef>e|d<B B>A B>d BA/G/|F<A A>B d>ef>d|e>dg>f e2d:|
|:A/G/|F<A A>D FD AG/F/|G<B B>E G<E BA/G/|1 F<A A>D FD AG/F/|
(3GBG (3FAF E2D:|2 F<A A>G F>A d>e/f/g|f>dg>f e2d||
X:2
T:Braes of Mar (Old Set)
L:1/8
M:C
R:Strathspey
B:The Athole Collection
K:D
A|F<A AB/c/ d>ef>e|d<B B>A d<B BA/G/|F<A A>B d>ef>d|e<gf<a e2d:|
|:g|f<a a2 f<d a>f|g<b b2 g<e b>g|f<a a2 f<d a>f|g<bf<a e2d:|
CABER FEIDH (Deer's Antlers). AKA - "Caber/Caper Fey/Fei/Feigh," "Caberfei," "The Cameronian Rant," "The Copperplate," "The Deer's Horn," "Jack Smith's Favorite," "Rakish Paddy." Scottish, Canadian, Shetland; March, Reel and Country Dance. Canada, Cape Breton. C Major (most versions): D Major (Jean Carignan). Standard. AB (most versions): AABB (Begin). A particularly popular reel that has long been a mainstay of Scottish tradition and has been subsumed into the Irish. The earliest record of the tune is in Scottish musician David Young's MS. of 1734, called the Drummond Castle MS (because it was in the possession of the Earl of Ancaster at Drummond Castle) or The Duke of Perth MS, where it is set with variations. The MS is inscribed 'A Collection of the best Highland Reels written by David Young, W.M. & Accomptant." The melody also appears in Young's Bodlein MS (1740, named for the Bodlein Library, Oxford, where it is kept), the McLean Collection (published by James Johnson in Edinburgh in 1772), and in the McFarland MS of 1740 (where it is credited to David Young). In Robert Bremner's 2nd Collection (1768) it is printed in four parts in the key of C (with both f sharp and f natural accidentals). Cooke prints the following words to the tune, collected in the Shetland islands:
***
Mary made away being good luck wi' Teddie
All grown doss (toss?) makin me a dock an piddie.
***
The piece is often played in Scotland as a medley with "The Bob of Fettercairn," and is the tune for the famous Highland Dance called the "Caber Feidh," in which the dancers symbolically simulate the shape of deer's antlers with arms and fingers. From time immemorial a march version has been the clan march and insignia of the MacKenzie clan, "and in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was the official march used to signal the charge of Highland troops" (Cowdery). Pipers generally consider the strathspey, reel and even jig versions of the tune to be relatively recent adaptations; in point of fact, the strathspey version is by Pipe Major W. Ross (a member of the Scots Guards from 1896 to 1918) while the jig is by a modern musician, D. Johnstone. Cape Breton fiddler and editor Paul Stwart Cranford (1995), however, suspects that Bremner's 1768 variations may have been a strathspey setting due to his particular grouping of sixteeth notes.
***
With adaptations made necessary (according to Paul Stewart Cranford) by the scale available to 19th century Irish pipes, the tune also entered into Irish tradition. Despite its Scottish origins, it is a member of the tune family Cowdery (1990) classifies under the Irish reel "Rakish Paddy." See also "Rakish Paddy," "Padraig Reice," "Glastertown's Downfall," "The Castle Street Reel," "Copperplate," "Sporting Pat," "Cameronian Rant." Jean Carignan, taxi driver and famous Canadian fiddler from Montreal Canada, played the tune in the relatively rare (for this tune) key of D Major. Source for notated version: Mike MacDougal (Ingonish, Cape Breton, 1928-1982) via Jerry Holland (Invernesss, Cape Breton) [Cranford]; Winston Fitzgerald (1914-1987, Cape Breton) [Cranford]; fiddler Dawson Girdwood (Perth, Ottawa Valley, Ontario) [Begin]. Begin (Fiddle Music in the Ottawa Valley: Dawson Girdwood), 1985; No. 25, pg. 38. Cranford (Jerry Holland's), 1995; No. 20, pg. 6. Cranford (Fitzgerald), 1997; No. 117, pg. 48. Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 186. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; Set 23, No. 4, pg. 14. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; pg. 117. Sannella, Balance and Swing (CDSS). Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 60. Tolman (Nelson Music Collection), 1969; pg. 10. Breton Books and Records BOC 1HO, Winston "Scotty" Fitzgerald - "Classic Cuts" (reissue of Celtic Records CX 40).
T:Cabar Féidh
L:1/8
M:C|
R:Reel
B:The Athole Collection
K:C Major
G|~c2ed ~c2GB|~c2GF ECCE|Ddd^c d2Ac|d2AG FDDB|
~c2ed ~c2GB|cGAF ECCE|DEFG ABcA|d2 AG FDD||
f|ecgc acgc|ecgc ecce|fdad bdad|fgag fddf|ecgc acgc|GAcd eccg|
afge fdf^c|d2AG FDD||
CADGER O' CRIEFF, THE. Scottish, Reel and Country Dance Tune. A cadger is a carrier, originally a person who ferried customers about in sedan chairs (see note for "Cadgers of Cannongate") though later the word came to be a euphemism for a begger. Crieff is a town in Perthshire. The tune appears in the Bodleian Manuscript (1740), which resides in the Bodleian Library, Oxford; it is inscribed "A Collection of the Newest Country Dances Performed in Scotland written at Edinburgh by D.A. Young, W.M. 1740." The melody also appears in Young's Duke of Perth (the personage to whom it was inscribed to), also called the Drummond Castle Manuscript (1734).
CHEVY CHASE. English, Air (3/4 time). England, Northumberland. G Major. Standard. One part. The ballad is referred to as far back as Elizabethan times. As to the 'correct' music for "Chevy Chase," Chappell (1859) states that several tunes were printed to the ballad of that name; these tunes themselves had alternate names in many cases, and, further confusing the issue, later ballads were directed to be sung to the tune of "Chevy Chase" so that often it is not known exactly which of the many tunes is being referred to. See Chappell's note for the tune for a detailed explanation. A "Chevy Chase" air was published by John Gay in his The Beggar's Opera (1729). Williamson's recorded version is from a mid-17th century manuscript from the Edinburgh University Library, printed by Ritson, 1783 (Williamson repeats each half of the printed melody, as it seemed to him a more likely fit for the ballad tune). Historically, Chevy Chase refers to the Battle of Otterburn (1388), the scene of a Border affray between Percy, Lord of Newcastle and the Border chieftain Douglas, in which Percy was defeated. The battle is also called the Chase of the Cheviot, because the plunder raid on England which Douglas jokingly described as a hunt (or chase) involved crossing the Cheviot Hills in northern England, hence the title. "This melody has been played by Northumbrian small-pipe players from time immemorial as the air to which the old ballads of Chevy Chase were sung. It is regarded as 'the gathering tune' of the ancient and noble house of Perry, and is played by the Duke of Northumberland's piper on all public and festive occasions. Tradition is certainly in its favour as the correct Chevy Chase melody and an original small-pipe tune" (Bruce & Stokoe). Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 69. Bruce & Stokoe (Northumbrian Minstrelsy), 1882; pg. 145. Flying Fish FF358, Robin Williamson - "Legacy of the Scottish Harpers, Vol. 1."
T:Chevy Chase
L:1/8
M:3/4
S:Bruce & Stokoe - Northumbrian Minstelsy
N:"Slowly and smoothly"
K:G
zA|BA G3A|BA G3B|ce d3B|B2A2 zB|ce d3B|dB G3d|eg B3A|G4||
DUCHESS OF GORDON [1]. Scottish, Strathspey. G Minor. Standard. AB (Gow): AAB (Athole). John Glen (1891) finds tunes by this title in Riddell's collection (pg. 17) and Angus Cumming's 1780 collection (pg. 4). Perhaps the most famous Duchess of Gordon was the celebrated Jane Maxwell who, along with her sister Eglintoun Maxwell, were brought up by their mother in somewhat parsimonious circumstances in Edinburgh, though their financial constraints apparently did little to quell two spirited girls. One story goes that the sisters rode on the backs of the swine which a nearlby innkeeper allowed to forage in the street. In later life she captivated the Duke of Gordon and was at the heart of social activity in Scotland, particularly the northern elite. She was a leader of fashion, hostess to William Pitt the younger, and particularly loved her entertainments. Elizabeth Grant of Rothiemurchus called her a beautiful and very cultivated woman, though Sir Walter Scott thought that her "sole claim to wit rested upon her brazen impudence and disregard to the feelings of all who were near her."
***
In the late 18th century the Duke and Duchess of Gordon were patrons of the great Scottish fiddler Niel Gow, and Gow would frequently be called upon to entertain at balls, dinners and gatherings. Once when the Duchess called for him she had occasion to raise a passing complaint about feeling giddy with a swimming feeling in her head. Gow, who remained unawed by the gentry, replied with typical wit: "Faith, I ken somethin' o' that mysel', your Grace, when I have been fou the night before, ye wad think that a bike o' bees were bizzin' in my bonnet the next mornin'!"
***
Moyra Cowie (1999) relates the story that the 4th Duchess of Gordon, Jane, raised a regiment of Gordon Highlanders for her son George in 1797. It was perhaps a measure of her 'impudence', or else inspired determination, that she held the Kings Shilling (the bonus money for enlisting) between her teeth, thus offering a kiss to any man who dared approach and prize the money from her. Cowie says: "Many a strong willed man, who may not have enlisted under normal circumstances could not resist this beautiful women mounted on horse back with the regimental bonnet bedecked with red plumes jauntily perched on her head." This circumstance inspired Charles Murray (who evidently agreed with Walter Scott's opinion of the Duchess) to write in Hamewith:
***
BYDAND
***
There's a yellow thread in the Gordon plaid,
But it binds nae love to me,
And the ivy leaf has brought dool and grief,
Where there never but love should be.
***
For my lad would list, when a duchess kis't,
He forgot a' the vows he made,
And turned and took but ae lang last look
When the 'Cock O' North' was played.
***
O her een were bright, an' her teeth were white,
As the siller they held between;
But the lips that he pree'd were they half as sweet
As he vowed that mine were yestereen.
***
A puir country lass 'mang the dewy grass
May hae whiles hae to kilt up her goon;
But a lody hie sae to shew her knee,
And to dance in a borough toon!
***
If I were the Duke, I was nae muir look
Wi' love on my high born dame;
At kilt or plaid I wad hang my heid,
And think aye on my lady's shame.
***
By my leefu' lane I sit morn and e'en,
Prayin' aye for him back to me,
For noo he's awa', I forgie him a',
Save the kiss he was 'losted wi'.
***
In later life Jane and her husband Alexander became estranged because of his affair with Jean Christie, the daughter of the housekeeper at Gordon Castle. Proud Jane had a home built for herself, Kinrara, into which she moved, and the Duke eventually took Jean as his second wife. Jane died in the Pultney Hotel, Picadilly, London on the 10th of April, 1812, attended by her children and close companion and granddaughter Lady Jane Montague, and was buried at Kinrara.
***
The Duchess of Gordon is a Scottish country dance which was, at the mid-20th century, one of the 15 or so either wholly or in part in strathspey tempo (Flett, 1964); it was one of the more uncommon dances in a program. Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 40. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 202.
T:Duchess of Gordon, The
L:1/8
M:C
R:Strathspey
B:The Athole Collection
K:G Minor
A|G/G/G d2 d>=cA>g|G/G/G G2 A>GF>A|G/G/G d2 d>=cd>g|
f<d c>A G2G:|
^f|g<ab<a g<d d>=e|f>gf>c A<F F>^f|g>a b<a g<d d>g|f>dc>A G2 G>f|
g>ab>a g<d d>=e|f>gf>c A>GF>f|g>ab>a g<f a>g|f>dc>A G2G||
DUKE AND DUCHESS OF EDINBURGH. Scottish, Reel. Tradition 2118, Jim MacLeod & His Band - "Scottish Dances: Jigs, Waltzes and Reels" (1979).
DUKE OF BERWICK'S MARCH, THE. AKA and see "Why, Soldier's Why," "How Stands the Glass Around." English, March and Air (4/4 time). F Minor. Standard. AB. The tune appears in the ballad opera The Patron (1729) as "Why Soldiers, Why," however, Chappell (1859) states it is contained in a MS book of poetry in the Advocates' Library in Edinburgh under the given title. Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Times), Vol. 2, 1859; pgs. 134-135.
DUKE OF HAMILTON. Scottish. Glen (1891) finds the earliest appearence of the tune in print in Robert Bremner's 1757 collection (pg. 86). During the 1680's the Duke and Duchess of Hamilton are recorded as having employed a resident harper, obviously Irish, with the name Jago McFlaherty. Along with entertaining, Jago's duties also apparently included instructing the daughters of the house in music and in maintaining the other instruments at Brodick Castle, on Arran, or at the families other estates near Glasgow. In 1682 he was dispatched on a trip to Edinburgh to buy replacement strings for the Hamilton's virginals (Sanger & Kinnaird, Tree of Strings, 1992).
GEORGE'S SQUARE. Scottish, Reel. F Major. Standard. AABB. The melody was composed by William Marshall and appears fist in his 1781 collection (pg. 2). Marshall, Steward of the Household to the Duke of Gordon, dabled in mathematics, clockmaking and surveying, in addition to his talents as a fiddler. George Square, Edinburgh, was laid out by the planner James Brown in 1763/64, and has been ever since been one of the most prestigious areas of the city. Marshall, Fiddlecase Edition, 1978; 1781 Collection, pg. 2.
T:George's Square
L:1/8
M:C|
S:Marshall - 1781 Collection
K:F
(f|cF)cA cFfd|cFcA dGG(f|c)FcA fgag|dfcA G2:|
|:(e|f)gag fFF(A|f)gaf bgga|fgaf gefc|dfcA G3:|
JACKIE LAYTON. AKA - "Jackie/Jacky Latin/Latten," "Jockey Latin," "Jackey Layton," "Jack Leighton," "Jennie, Rock the Cradle." AKA and see "Jockey Latin." Scottish, English, Irish; Reel and Country Dance Tune. England, Northumberland. G Major (Gow, Peacock, Stokoe & Bruce): A Major (Kerr): D Major (O'Neill). Standard. AB (Kerr): ABC (O'Neill): AAB (Gow, Stokoe & Bruce): AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHII (Peacock). Another tune in which the provenance is debatable and which is popular throughout the British Isles as a bagpipe and fiddle tune. The earliest appearance in print of the melody under the "Latin" title (or variations of the same) appears to be in the Scottish Drummond Castle Manuscript (in the possesssion of the Earl of Ancaster at Drummond Castle), inscribed "A Collection of Country Dances written for the use of his Grace the Duke of Perth by Dav. Young, 1734." It is also said to have been published in the same year in Ireland in Neal's 3rd Collection of Country Dances (1734), according to Matt Seattle (whose information was supplied by Sean Donnelly). Closely following this is the melody appeared in Daniel Wright's Flute Tutor (1735) and the ballad opera The Female Rake (1736), indicating its popularity at that time. "Jacky Latin" appears in the 3rd book of The Compleat Country Dancing Master (1735) and volume 2 of Walsh's Caledonian Country Dances (c. 1737). Later printings can be found in Waylet's Collection of Country Dances (1749), book 12 of Oswald's Caledonian Pocket Companion (c. 1759-60), the McLean Collection (printed by James Johnson in Edinburgh, 1772), the Gillespie MS. of Perth (1768), and Bremner's McGibbon Collection (1768), though tune in the McLean Collection has been found contain a transposed flute version of the piece that Robert Bremner published four years earlier. The title appears in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes ("The Northern Minstrel's Budget"), which he published c. 1800, indicating that its popularity had at least spread to the Borders region. Johnson included "Jacky" in his Scots Musical Museum (No. 430), as the tune for Robert Burns' "Lass of Ecclefechan."
***
A correspondent of Francis O'Neill's, one Patrick O'Leary of Drumlona, Eastwood, Adelaide, South Australia claimed the melody was Irish in origin and related this story:
***
This fine old reel is said to have been composed in honor of
a young man, John Duffy--better known as 'Jack' Duffy--who
lived in the townland of Lattan, near (Walter 'Piper') Jackson's
home in the parish of Aughnamulien. Duffy being a fine,
strapping young man, a local Adonis, and an incomparable
dancer in those days when dancing was a fine art in Ireland,
he won Jackson's friendship and esteem to such a degree, that
the great composer immortalized him in the beautiful tune,
'Jack o' Lattan."
***
A variant of this story is the one which puts forward that Jack Lattin (1711-1731) was an Irishman who danced himself to death at the age of 21. Yet another identification has it that Lattin was an accomplished and gifted fiddler and an associate of another famous Irishman immortalised in tune: Larry Grogan, the gentleman piper from Wexford.
***
The melody was published in O'Farrell's Collection of National Irish Music for the Union Pipes (1804) as "Jack Latten with variations," a five part tune, the whole of which was reproduced by O'Neill in his Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody (No. 236), though this seems to be the earliest Irish printing. In the Fleischmann index, however, there is a note that the tune appears under the title "Irish Tune" in John Young's Collection of Scotch Tunes for the Violin (c. 1700), and if the reference is accurate, this would seem to indicate Irish origins for the melody predate Scottish ones. Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 392. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 3, 1806; pg. 18. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 3; No. 106, pg. 13. O'Neill (1001 Gems), 1907/1986; No. 537, pg. 100 (appears as "Jacky Latin"). Peacock's Tunes, c. 1805/1980; No. 49, pg. 23. Bruce & Stokoe (Northumbrian Minstelsy), 1882; pg. 176.
X:1
T:Jockey Latin
L:1/8
M:C|
S:Gow - 3rd Repository
K:G
(B/A/B/c/) dg dBBg|dBBg {e}d2 cB|(G/A/B/c/) de dBBg|a(AA>)B (A/B/c) B>A:|
(G/A/B/c/) dB ecdB|(G/A/B/c/) dB {e}d2 cB|(G/A/B/c/) dB ecdB|c(AA>)B (A/B/c/) B>A|
(G/A/B/c/) dB ecdB|(G/A/B/c/) dB {e}d2 cB|(G/A/B/c/) dB ecdB|a(AA>)B (A/B/c) B>A||
X:2
T:Jackie Layton
L:1/8
M:C
S:Bruce & Stokoe - Northumbrian Minstrelsy
K:G
G/A/B/c/ dg dBBg|dBBg d2B2|G/A/B/c/ dg dBBg|
gAAB c2 BA|G/A/B/c/ dg dBBg|dBBg d2B2|
G/A/B/c/ d/e/g/e/ d/c/B/d/ B/c/d/f/|gAAB c2 BA:|
|:G/A/B/c/ dB ecdB|G/A/B/c/ dG d2 cB|G/A/B/c/ dB ecdB|
eAAB c2 BA|G/A/B/c/ dB ecdB|G/A/B/c/ dB c2 BA|
G/A/B/c/ d/c/B/d/ e/d/c/e/ d/c/B/d/|eAAB c2 BA:|
X:3
T:Jacky Latin
L:1/8
M:C|
R:Reel
S:O'Neill - 1001 Gems (537)
K:D
(3ABc|dAFA DAFA|dAFG A2 (3ABc|dAFA DAFA|GFEF G2 (3ABc|dAFA DAFA|
dAFG A2 (3ABc|dBcA BGAF|GFEF G2||AF|DFAc BGTAF|DFAB A2 AF|DFAc BGAF|
GFEF G2 FE|DFAc BGAF|DFAB A2 (3ABc|dBcA BGAF|GFEF G2||AG|
(3FED AD BDAD|(3FED AB A2 AG|(3FED AD BDAD|GFEF G2 AG|
(3FED AD BDAD|(3FED AB A2 (3ABc|dBcA BGAF|GFEF G2||
KINLOCH (OF KINLOCH). AKA and see "Blow (Blaw) the Wind Southerly." English, Scottish; March (6/8 time) or Jig. England; Northumberland, Shropshire, Dorset. D Major. Standard. AB (Kerr, Stokoe & Bruce): AABB (Ashman, Sweet). The Gaelic name Kinloch means 'end of the lake'. The tune is named for a Newcastle dancing master and music publisher, and was published around 1815. It was the march tune of the English army's 99th Regiment, the Duke of Edinburgh's (Wiltshire Regiment). Glen (pg. 231) believes this title to the tune first appeared in John Watlen's Second Collection of Circus Tunes, 1798. The melody is contained in the Hardy family manuscripts of Dorset (whose most famous member was the novelist, Thomas Hardy). Source for notated version: a c. 1837-1840 MS by Shropshire musician John Moore [Ashman]. Ashman (The Ironbridge Hornpipe), 1991; No. 33b, pg. 10. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; No. 19, pg. 32. Stokoe & Bruce (Northumbrian Minstrelsy), 1882; pg. 183 (appears as "Blaw the Wind Southerly"). Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; pg. 23.
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.
***
Elizabeth Grant of Rothiemurches describes her experiences of Kinrara:
***
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||
LADY LOUISA GORDON'S REEL. AKA and see "Miss M'Leod's Fancy," "Miss Farquharson of Invercauld." Scottish, Strathspey. F Major. Standard. AABB. Composed by William Marshall (1748-1833), and first appearing in print in his 1781 collection. Lady Louisa was the daughter of the beautiful and witty Jane Maxwell, and married Lord Broome, the son of the Marquis of Cornwallis. Mother Jane was married to Alexander, 4th Duke of Gordon (Marshall's patron and employer), but Moyra Cowie (1999) says that daughter Louisa was reputed not to have been a Gordon child. "When Louisa married...Jane Maxwell insisted Louisa 'had not a drop of Gordon blood in her veins!', in response to the Marquis's concerns that insanity ran in the Duke of Gordon's family." Robert Burns called Marshall "the greatest composer of strathspeys of the age." Madame Hillsburgh, a celebrated stage dancer of the first half of the nineteenth century, danced to this tune at the Edinburgh Opera House (before 1845). The Gows renamed the tune "Miss M'Leod's Fancy" and did not give composition credit to Marshall until their Sixth Collection. In Marshall's posthumous collection the melody can be found under the title "Miss Farquharson of Invercauld". Glen (The Glen Collection of Scottish Dance Music), Vol. 1, 1891; pg. 14. Marshall, Fiddlecase Edition, 1978; 1781 Collection, pg. 7. Culburnie COL 102, Alasdair Fraser & Jody Stecher - "The Driven Bow" (1988). Culburnie COL 113D, Alasdair Fraser & Tony McManus - "Return to Kintail" (1999).
T:Lady Louisa Gordon
L:1/8
M:C
S:Glen Collection
K:F
A|C>FF>G A>GA>F|D<G G>A (B2 B<)c|d<fc<A G>F G<A|C>FE>G F3:|
|:e|f>c f<a f>c f<a|fcfa g2 g<a|f>c c<A f>b a<g|f<d c>A G3:|
MARQUIS OF HUNTL(E)Y'S FAREWELL, THE. AKA and see "George Booker." Scottish, Strathspey ("Slow when not danced"). A Major. Standard. AB (Alburger, Athole, Collinson, Gow, Honeyman, Kerr, Marshall & Skye): ABAB' (McGlashan): ABAB'AB''AB''' (Skinner). An andante air with "just a touch of strathspey," composed by William Marshall (1748-1833). The Marquis of Huntly, George Gordon (b. 1770), was the heredetary heir to the Duke of Gordon and became the 5th and last Duke. This tune was written by Marshall, the Gordon's steward or butler, who was emotionally moved as the young man took his farewells from his family when he departed for his Continental tour in 1787. Witnessing the family's sorrow and grief at his leaving, Marshall "endeavoured in the first part (of the tune) to imitate the wailing of the parents, and in the latter bars that of his young sisters" (Marshall, 1845 Collection). It was one of the earliest composed by Marshall and was first published in his First Collection of 1781; it is particularly celebrated and one of his most famous pieces (Collinson {1966} was much impressed by it and used it as an example of Marshall's melodic grace and power). The melody was published by the Gows, with no credit to the composer in their Repository, Part First, 1799. It was included as one of the tunes in a 1921 concert set by the famous Scots violinist J. Scott Skinner, which set was romantically entitled "Spey's Furys;" Skinner was thorughly familiar with the tune by that time, for his rendition of it gained him a first place prize at a competition held nearly sixty years previously in Inverness in September, 1863. Skinner was not only a noted violinist but, especially early in his career, was a tutor of the national dances, and had formerly included the melody as one of the pieces in his dance school ball in Forres in 1880. In America the tune became the precursor for the old-timey tune "George Booker," first printed by George P. Knauff in his Virginia Reels, volume III (Baltimore, 1839). Alburger (Scottish Fiddlers and Their Music), 1983; Ex. 54, pg. 80. Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 133. Collinson (The Traditional and National Music of Scotland), 1966; pg. 223. Emmerson (Rantin' Pipe and Tremblin' String), 1971; No. 62, pgs. 150-151. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 1, 1799; pg. 24. Hardie (Caledonian Companion), 1992; pg. 71. Honeyman (Strathspey, Reel and Hornpipe Tutor), 1898; pg. 22. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; Set 10, No. 1, pg. 8. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; pg. 1. Marshall, Fiddlecase Edition, 1978; 1822 Collection, pg. 14. McGlashan (A Collection of Reels), c. 1786; pg. 38. Skinner (The Scottish Violinist), pg. 16. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 12. Beltona BL2096, Edinburgh Highland Strathspey and Reel Society (1936). HCD 008, Tommy Peoples - "Traditional Irish Music Played on the Fiddle" (appears as 2nd tune, track 5).
T:Marquis of Huntly's Farewell, The
L:1/8
M:C|
S:Strathspey
B:The Athole Collection
K:A
C|A,2 A,>C E/E/E (E>F|A>Bc>B A2 (A>c|A,2 A,>C E/E/E (E>c|
B>c d/c/B/A/ (A<F F>A|A,2 A,>C E/E/E (E>F|A>Bc>B A2 (A>c|
d2 d>f e<c c>A|B>c d/c/B/A/ A<F F||f|f/e/d/c/ a>c b>c a2|f/e/d/c/ ac f>ed>c|
B<b b>f b/a/g/f/ b2|f<b b>f a>gf>e|f/e/d/c/ a>c b>c a2|f/e/d/c/ ac f>ed>c|
d/e/f/g/ a>g f>e d>c|B>c d/c/B/A/ A<F F>A||
PAUL'S STEEPLE. AKA - "I am the Duke of Norfolk/York," "St. Paul's Steeple." English, Country Dance Tune (cut time). G Dorian. Standard. AB. The air was published by Playford in his English Dancing Master (1650-95) and Division Violist (1685). Chappell (1859) reports the steeple of Old St. Paul's was set on fire by lightning and burnt down in June, 1561, and that within seven days a ballad was entered on the subject at the Stationers' Company. The melody is part of a large tune family which includes the Scottish song "John Anderson, My Jo," the Irish "Cruiskeen Lawn," the American "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again," and the Welsh "Yn Nyffryn Clwyd" (The Vale of Clyde). In addition it is a relative of "Godesses" and "Quodling's Delight," all of which, according to John M. Ward, can be considered descants over the ground known as 'passamezzo antico'. As the vehicle for the song "The Little Man and Little Maid" the tune appears in The Edinburgh Musical Miscellany, printed in that city in 1793 by Grant and Moir. Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Time), Vol. 1, 1859; pgs. 282-283. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 44.
SEVENTY SECOND HIGHLANDER'S FAREWELL TO EDINBURGH. Scottish, March (2/4 time). D Mixolydian. Standard. AABB. Composed by Pipe Major J. MacDonald. The 72nd Highland Regiment was known as the (1st Battalion of the) Seaforth Highlanders, which included the Ross-shire Buffs and The Duke of Albany's. The regiment became close to the 5th Gurkhas while serving in India in Victorian times, perhaps the model Kipling alluded to in With the Main Guard when Private Mulvaney says: "Scotchies and Gurkys are twins bekaze they're so onlike, an' they get dhrunk together when God plazes." Martin (Ceol na Fidhle), Vol. 2, 1988; pg. 10.
STUMPIE/STUMPEY. AKA - "Reel of Stumpie." AKA and see "Butter'd Peas(e)," "Highland Wedding," "Jack's Be the Daddy On't," "The Rosses Highland." Scottish (originally), Canadian, English; Strathspey. Canada; Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island. G Major (Dunlay & Greenberg, Dunlay and Reich, Perlman, Sweet): A Major (Athole, Gow, Honeyman, Hunter, Kennedy, Raven & Skye). Standard. AB (Honeyman): AAB (Dunlay & Greenberg, Dunlay and Reich): AABB (Hunter, Kennedy, Perlman, Raven, Skye, Sweet): AABB' (Athole): AABBCCDDEEFF (Carlin/Gow). "A very old tune" (Gow). The earliest recorded appearances of this double-tonic tune are in John Walsh's Caledonian Country Dances, book 1, c. 1743-44 (under the title "Butter'd Pease"), and in David Young's Duke of Perth Manuscript (AKA the Drummond Castle MS) which predates it, having been printed in 1734. William Stenhouse stated the "Reel o' Stumpie" was in the ballad opera The Female Parson (1729) under the title "Jockey has gotten a wife," though John Glen (Early Scottish Melodies, p. 201-2) said that the "Jockey..." tune was an entirely different melody. Bruce Olsen finds they were both right as the titles "Butter'd Peas" (Stumpie) and "Jockey has gotten a wife" were switched around in The Female Parson. It is usually rendered in the key of 'A' Major in Scottish versions, but the Mabou (Cape Breton) version is in 'G' and is played a bit differently (Dunlay & Reich). Some melodic material from "Stumpie" is shared with "Lady Betty Wemyss' Reel;" James C. Dick states they cover the "same subject."
**
The tune was used, as so many famous Scots melodies were, by Robert Burns for one of his revisions of a Scots song (No. 457 in Johnson's Scots Musical Museum {1796}). This song is also published in Dick's The Songs of Robert Burns (1903, No. 205) though he omitted parts he apparently deemed too risqué for the times. Charles Gore gives that the tune (or song) had been previously published as "Hap and row the Feetie o't," and that Burns reworked the material as he did with numerous other older songs. These lyrics appear in The Merry Muses of Caledonia:
**
Wap and row, wap and row,
Wap and row the feetie o't
I thought I was a maiden fair,
Till I heard the grettie o't
**
My daddie was a fiddler fine,
My minnie she made mantie O,
And I mysel a thumpin quean,
And try'd the reel of stumpie O.
**
Lang kail, pease and leeks,
They were at the kirst'nin' o't,
Lang lads wanton breeks,
They were at the getting o't.
Wap and row, &c.
**
The Bailie he gaed farthest ben,
Mess John was ripe and ready o't,
But the Sherra had a wanton fling,
The Sherra was the daddie o't.
Wap an' row, &c.
**
The Burns lyrics go:
**
Hap and row, hap and row,
Hap and row, the feetie o',t
I thocht I was a maiden fair
Till I heard the greetie o't.
My daddy was a fiddler fine,
My minnie she made mankie-o; (mankie=calamanco, a silk-wool material)
And I mysel' a thumpin' quean,
Wha danced the reel o' Stumpie O.
**
Gossip cup, the gossip cup,
The kimmer clash and caudle-O;
The glowin moon, the wanton loon,
The cuttie-stool and cradle-O.
Douce dames maun hae their bairn-time borne,
Sae dinna glower sae glumpie-O,
Birds love the morn and craws love corn,
And maids the reel o' Stumpie-O.
**
Dunlay and Greenberg (1996) report that Scots bagpiper Hamish Moore feels that the modern march "Highland Wedding" was derived from "Stumpie" and that he supplies a Gaelic title for the tune, "'Buail gu dluth le'd chluigean mi', meaning "strike me incessantly with your {?}." Sources for notated versions: Donald Angus Beaton (Mabou, Cape Breton) [Dunlay & Greenberg]; Paul MacDonald (b. 1974, Charlottetown, Queens County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman]. Aird (Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs), Vol. 2, 1782; No. 44. Carlin (Gow Collection), 1986; No. 221. Dunlay & Greenberg (Traditional Celtic Violin Music of Cape Breton), 1996; pg. 93. Dunlay and Reich (Traditional Celtic Fiddle Music of Cape Breton), 1986; pg. 59. Gow (Strathspey Reels), book I, 1784 (appears as "Stumpie Strathspey"). Gow (The Beauties of Niel Gow), Part 3, 1819. Gow (Collection). Honeyman (Strathspey, Reel and Hornpipe Tutor), 1898; pg. 34. Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 150. Kennedy (Fiddler's Tune Book), Vol. 2, 1954; pg. 16. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; Set 6, No. 3, pg. 6. Lowe (A Collection of Reels and Strathspeys), 1842. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; pg. 4. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; pg. 188. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 168. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 13. Surenne (Dance Music of Scotland), 1852. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1965/1981; pg. 57. Also found in many old collections. Beltona BL2128 (78 RPM), The Edinburgh Highland Strathspey and Reel Society (1936). Celtic CX 45, Wilfred Gillis - "Arisaig Airs." CTRAX 073, Hamish Moore - "Stepping on the Bridge/Daansa' air an Drochaid" (1994). DAB4-1985, Donald Angus Beaton- "A Musical Legacy" (1985. Appears as "A Mabou Strathspey"). JC 126, John Campbell- "Cape Breton on the Floor" (1981. Appears as "Traditonal Strathspey"). STEPH 1-94, Stephanie Wills - "Tradition Continued" (1994).
T:Stumpie
L:1/8
M:C
S:Strathspey
B:The Athole Collection
K:A
d|c>e a2 a/g/f/e/ a2|c>e a2 b<B B>d|c>e a2 a/g/f/e/ a2|c>eB>d c<AA:|
|:d|c>e e>d/c/ d>f f>e/d/|c>e e>d/c/ f<B B>d|1 c>e e>d/c/ d>f f>ed|c>eB>d c<AA:|2
c>e a2 b/a/g/f/ a2|c>aB>d c<AA||
UP AND WAUR THEM A', WILLIE [1]. AKA- "Up and Worst them all Willy." AKA and see "Nae Good Luck Aboot the Hoose," "Washing Day," "Mind What You Do." Scottish, Reel and Strathspey: English, Shetland; Reel. England, Northumberland. A Major (Athole, Gow): G Major (Kerr). Standard. AB (Gow, Cole): AABB (Athole, Kerr, Vickers): AABB' (Kerr). Popular in both 6/8 and 4/4 time from the early 18th to the early 19th century (especially in Scotland), the tune was based on a chord progression originally created in the 18th century in Italy, called passamezzo moderno. This Whig tune was the choice of William Augustus, the Duke of Cumberland and victor at Culloden (1745), when he partnered at a dance the Jacobite Lady Anne Mackintosh, who had been brought to London during the rebellion. She went him one better by immediately inviting him to dance to her choice of tune, "The Old Stuart's Back Again" (Winstock, 1970). Surviving directions to the country dance to this tune were written down in 1752 by John McGill, a dancing master in Girvan, for his students. The tune appears in the Drummond Castle Manuscript (in the possession of the Earl of Ancaster at Drummond Castle), inscribed "A Collection of Country Dances written for the use of his Grace the Duke of Perth by Dav. Young, 1734;" it also can be found in Robert Bremner's 1757 collection, and in the McLean Collection published by James Johnson in Edinburgh in 1772. Title appears (as "Up Willie, War Them A'") in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes ("The Northern Minstrel's Budget"), which he published c. 1800. Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 416. Cole (1001 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 125. Gow (Complete Collection), Part 3, 1806; pg. 26. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 3; Nos. 53 & 54, pg. 8 (strathspey and reel versions). Mooney, Vol. 2; pg. 22. Northumbrian Piper's Tune Book, 1970; pg. 40. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 20. Seattle (William Vickers), 1987, Part 3; No. 445.
T:Up and Waur Them A' Willie
L:1/8
M:C|
R:Reel
B:The Athole Collection
K:A
a|A/A/A cA d2df|A/A/A cA B2 Bc|A/A/A cA defa|edcB A2A:|
|:g|afec defg|afec B2Bg|afec defa|edcB A2A:|