Annotation:Old Virginia Reel (3)

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X:1 T:Old Virginia (Reel) [3] T:Flowers of Edinburgh M:2/4 L:1/8 R:Reel B:George P. Knauff - Virginia Reels, vol. II (Baltimore, 1839) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:Eb e|(B/E/G/B/) (e/G/B/e/)|(g/e/g/b/) (a/g/f/e/)|(d/e/c/d/) (B/c/d/e/)|(f/g/f/e/) (c/d/e/c/)| (B/E/G/B/) (e/G/B/e/)|(g/e/g/b/) (c'/d'/e'/c')|(b/a/g/f/) {f}(e/d/e/f/)|g [Ge][Ge]:| |:b|(e/d/e/f/) (e/g/f/e/)|(d/c/d/e/) fe/d/|(c/B/c/d/) (e/d/c/B/)|(B/c/c/d/) ce/c/| (B/G/E/G/) (B/G/A/B/)|(c/B/c/d/) (e/d/e/c/)|(B/A/G/F/) {F}(E/D/E/F/)|g [Ge][Ge]:||

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OLD VIRGINIA (REEL) [3]. AKA and see "Flowers of Edinburgh (1)." American (originally Scottish), Reel. E Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The melody, a version of the Scottish reel "Flowers of Edinburgh," appears under the "Old Virginia Reel" title in George P. Knauff's Virginia Reels, volume 2 (Baltimore, 1839). The tune is well-known under its Scottish title and probably was titled "Old Virginia" by Knauff as he heard it played in association with the country dance Virginia Reel. Chris Goertzen, in his book George P. Knauff's Virginia Reels and the History of American Fiddling (2017, pp. 58-59) explains that Knauff's second volume (actually a pamphlet of nine tunes), unlike his other Virginia Reel issues, contained titles that were local to his part of Virginia. "Old Virginia," according to Goertzen, referred to that part of the state that was first settled, in contrast with a Virginia territory that at one time included West Virginia, and, prior to 1792, parts of Kentucky. Old Virginia already had an aura of nostalgia, even by 1839, as evidenced by popular parlor and black-face minstrel songs of the mid-19th century.