Annotation:Over the Moor among the Heather (1)

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OVER THE MOOR AMONG THE HEATHER [1]. AKA - "O'er the Muir Amang the Heather." AKA and see "Aldivalloch," "Aldavaloch," "Rising of the year 1715 (The)," "Tha tighinn fodham eiridh." Scottish; Air, Country Dance Tune, Reel or Strathspey: English, Reel. England, Northumberland. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB (Gow): AABB (Bremner, Honeyman, Kerr, O'Farrell, Vickers): AABB' (Johnson). The antiquarian Stenhouse was of the opinion that "O'er the moor amang the heather" was but a modification of "Carle an' the King come," the air to a song in Allan Ramsay's The Gentle Shepherd (1725). The melody appears in the Bodleian Manuscript (in the Bodleian Library, Oxford), inscribed A Collection of the Newest Country Dances Performed in Scotland written at Edinburgh by D.A. Young, W.M., 1740. It also appears in Robert Bremner's 1757 collection and in the [James] Gillespie Manuscript of Perth (1768). Cazden et al, (1982) identify the melody as probably derived from the large "Boyne Water (1)" family of tunes, on the strength of the identifying motif in the second strain. Slow versions of the tune sometimes go by the name "Aldavaloch." The melody was current as a reel in the early 18th century, notes Johnson (1984), while the strathspey version he gives appears to have been fashioned c. 1760. For song versions and background notes see "Over the Moor among the Heather (2)."

Country dance versions of the melody and dance instructions were printed in London by the Thompsons in the Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 2 (1765), Longman and Broderip in their Compleat Collection of 200 Favorite Country Dances (1781) and by Straight and Skillern in Two Hundred and Four Favourite Country Dances, vol. 1 (1775). A different tune with the same title appears in John Hinton's periodical The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure of 1758.

"O'er the Moor Among the Heather" was a great favorite of Cape Breton fiddler Bill Lamey's, notes Mark Wilson (2005).

Sources for notated versions: Stewart, Reels (c. 1761-65) [Johnson]; William Vickers' 1770 music manuscript collection [1] (Northumberland) [Seattle].

Printed sources: Bremner (Scots Reels), 1757; p. 77. Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 382. Gow (Complete Repository, Part 3), 1806; p. 15. Honeyman (Strathspey, Reel and Hornpipe Tutor), 1898; p. 13. Johnson (Scottish Fiddle Music in the 18th Century), 1984; No. 78, p. 226. Jones [ed]. (Complete Tutor Violin), c. 1815; p. 2. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 2), c. 1880’s; No. 109, p. 14. Laybourn (Köhler’s Violin Repository vol. 3), 1885; p. 240. O'Farrell (Pocket Companion, vol. III), c. 1808; p. 33. Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 169. Seattle (Great Northern/William Vickers), 1987, Part 2; No. 287. Straight and Skillern (Two Hundred and Four Favourite Country Dances, vol. 1), c. 1775, No. 142, p. 71 (as “O’er the Moor to Moggie”). Thompson (Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 2), 1765; No. 19 (as "In the Moor among the Heather"). Wilson (Companion to the Ball Room), 1816; p. 46.

Recorded sources: Canadian Broadcasting Corp. NMAS 1972, Natalie MacMaster - "Fit as a Fiddle" (1993). Rounder 82161-7032-2, Bill Lamey - "From Cape Breton to Boston and Back: Classic House Sessions of Traditional Cape Breton Music 1956-1977" (2000). Rounder Records , John L. MacDonald - "Formerly of Foot Cape Road: Scottish Fiddle Music in the Classic Inverness County Style" (2005). Rounder Records 7057, Jerry Holland - "Parlor Music" (2005).

See also listing at:
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recordings Index [2]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [3]

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