Annotation:Lord MacDonald (4)

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LORD MACDONALD('S REEL) [4] ("Cor an Tigearna Mic Domnaill" or "An Tiarna Mac Dónaill). AKA and see "Lady McDonald's Reel," "Petit Bucheux (Le)," "Little Peggy (1)," "Little Peggy's Love," "Lord McDonald," "MacDonald's Reel," "McDonald's Reel," "John MacDonald's Reel," "Miss Jackson's," "Morag Nighean Domhnuill Duinn (Marion Brown Donald's Daughter)," "Slanty Gart," "Virginia Reel (1)" (Ford). Scottish, Canadian; Reel. Canada; Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. G Major (most versions): A Mixolydian (Cranford). Standard tuning. AB (O'Neill/1001, Surenne): AAB (Breathnach, Honeyman, Hunter, Kerr): ABB (Cranford): ABC (Miller & Perron/1977): ABCB (O'Malley): ABCD (Miller & Perron/2006, Taylor): AABB (Brody, Huntington): AABC (Martin & Hughes, Skinner): AABBCC (S. Johnson): AABCCD (Athole, Skye, Gow): ABB'CC' (O'Neill): AA'BB'CC'D (Perlman). One of the most famous folk fiddle melodies, composed by Sir Biography:Alexander MacDonald (1744-1795), 1st Lord MacDonald (according to some, a few days before his death), and first published around the year 1790; it appears in the Gow's 3rd Collection of Niel Gow's Reels (1792). "Lord Macdonald's Reel" was printed in John and Andrew Gow's A Collection of Slow Airs, Strathspeys and Reels (London, c. 1795). Andrew (1760-1803) and younger brother John (1764-1826) established a publishing business in London in 1788 and were the English distributors for the Gow family musical publications. From that beginning the tune was quickly assimilated throughout Scottish tradition and disseminated wherever the Scots emigrated.

Sir Alexander MacDonald

Sir Alexander was an amateur fiddler who composed several tunes extent in 18th century collections. See also his "London Highland Society (The)" (Gow, 3rd Collection, 1792). He was a friend and dinner partner of Samuel Johnson in London, to whom he had been introduced by James Boswell (Laird of Auchenleck and Johnson's anamnesis) while on their famous journey to Scotland and the Isles in 1772 (Macdonald presented Johnson with verses written in Latin during the visit to Armidale, Skye). Macdonald, who was the 9th Baronet of Sleat, was created in 1776 Baron Macdonald of Slate in the County of Antrim in the Peerage of Ireland; a pretence, as the territorial designation was Sleat on the Isle of Skye, County Inverness. Lord Macdonald married Elizabeth Diana Bosville, the daughter of Godfrey Bosville, with whom he had seven sons and three daughters. Despite being a Highland laird, Macdonald was educated at Eton and served with the Grenadier Guards. He was also a Deputy Lieutenant of Inverness-shre and a Brigadier General in the Royal Company of Archers.

"Lord Macdonald's Reel" can be found in many North American traditions; for example, see the closely related tunes and notes for the American "Leather Breeches/Leather Britches" and the French Canadian "Reel de l'Enfant," "Reel à quatre (Le)," and Louis Boudreault's "Reel McDonnell." Ken Perlman, who researched the fiddle music of Prince Edward Island, Canada, notes that it was in the old days the most requested tune of fiddlers by stepdancers throughout much of the island, attesting to its popularity there. He calls it "the most played 'good old tune' on PEI and states that it was at one time the benchmark by which fiddlers were measured. Cape Breton fiddler Jerry Holland's version, in A Mixolydian, is a pipe setting learned from his father. An American variant is "Leather Britches/Breeches," especially the 2nd and 4th parts of the Scottish versions printed by Gow and others. One of the oddest appearances of the tune is on the barrel organ from the polar expedition of Admiral Parry of 1810. In place of a ship's fiddler (common in those days), Parry introduced a mechanical barrel organ on board ship to provide entertainment and a vehicle to which the men could exercise (i.e. by dancing). "Lord MacDonald's Reel" was one of eight tunes on barrel no. 5.

Sources for notated versions: Boys of the Lough (Ireland/Scotland) [Brody]; Jerry Holland Sr. (Mass.) via his son Jerry Holland (Inverness, Cape Breton) [Cranford]; Peter Chaisson, Sr. (B. 1929, Bear River, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman]; the mid-20th century collection of Jack Wade (County Monaghan) [Breathnach]; a 1927 recording by Sligo fiddler Michael Coleman [Miller & Perron].

Printed sources: Breathnach (CRÉ IV), 1996; No. 184, p. 85. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; p. 176. Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 271. Cranford (Jerry Holland's Collection), 1995; No. 6, p. 2. Gow (Third Collection of Niel Gow's Reels), 1792; p. 9. Gow (Beauties of Niel Gow), vol. 1, 1819; p. 29. Honeyman (Strathspey, Reel and Hornpipe Tutor), 1898; p. 14. Howe (Diamond School for the Violin), 1861; p. 41. Howe (School for the Violin), 1851; p. 29. Hunter (The Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 200. Huntingdon (William Litten's Tune Book), 1977; p. 16 (two settings). Jarman (The Cornhuskers Book of Square Dance Tunes), 1944; p. 15 (appears as "MacDonald's Reel"). S. Johnson (A Twenty Year Anniversary Collection), 2003; p. 26. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book), vol. 2, 1954; p. 13. Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 1; Set 15, No. 4, p. 10. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; p. 86. Martin & Hughes (Ho-ro-gheallaidh), 1990; p. 23. Miller & Perron (Irish Traditional Fiddle Music), 1977; vol. 2, No. 47. Miller & Perron (Irish Traditional Fiddle Music), 2nd Edition, 2006; p. 86. O'Malley (Luke O'Malley's Collection of Irish Music, vol. 1), 1976; No. 27, p. 14 (appears as "Lord McDonnell's"). O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 133. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; Nos. 1289 & 1408. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 649, p. 116. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; p. 45. Preston (Preston's Twenty-Four Country Dances for the Year 1793). Riley's Flute Melodies, vol. 1, No. 123. Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 46. Smith (Scottish Minstrel), 1820-24, vol. 4, p. 16. Skinner (Harp and Claymore), 1904; p. 58. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; p. 164. Surenne (Dance Music of Scotland), 1852; p. 84. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964; No. or p. 69. Taylor (Through the Half-door), 1992; No. 33, p. 24. Taylor (Music for the Sets: Yellow Book), 1995; p. 2. Wilson (Companion to the Ballroom), 1840; p. 61.

Recorded sources: County 725, The Riendeau Family- "Old-Time Fiddling." Cranford Publications CP-R2, "Jerry Holland Solo" (1988). Folkways FG 3531, Jean Carignan (Monteal, Canada) - "Old Time Fiddle Tunes" (1968). Folkways FG 3532, Alan Mills and Jean Carignan - "Songs, Fiddle Tunes and a Folk-Tale from Canada" (learned from a fiddler on Québec's Gaspé Peninsula). Green Linnet SIF-1110, "My Love is in America: The Boston College Irish Fiddle Festival" (1991). Imperial 1370 (89 RPM), Intrepid Records, Michael Colemen - "Heyday of Michael Coleman" (1973). Olympic 6151, The Shetland Fiddlers' Society- "Scottish Traditional Fiddle Music" (appears as "MacDonald's Reel"). Rounder 7004, Joe Cormier- "The Dances Down Home" (as "MacDonald's Reel"). Saydisc SDL 234, Parry's Barrel Organ (vol. 11 in the Golden Age of Mechanical Music). Shanachie 33006, Michael Coleman- "The Classic Recordings of Michael Coleman." Shaskeen - "Atlantic Breeze" & "Shaskeen Live." Trailer 2086, "Boys of the Lough" (appears as "Slanty Gart").

See also listings at:
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [1]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [3]
Hear the 78 RPM recording by Kristoffersen & Malmkvist on accordion at the Internet Archive [4]

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