Annotation:Bush Aboon Traquair (The): Difference between revisions

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BUSH ABOON TRAQUAIR, THE. Scottish, Air (4/4 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. "Bush aboon Traquair" was one of the tunes marked by Thomson as composed by David Rizzio in his first edition of Orpheus Caledonius (1725). Rizzio was a lutenist and singer of repute as well as Queen Mary's secretary, however it has never been proven that he composed any existing melodies, and Thomson removed the ascription in his second edition. The popular air was used by Allan Ramsey in his ballad opera The Gentle Shepherd (1725), and subsequently in a number of ballad operas, including Damon & Phillida (1729), Patie & Peggy (1730), Mad Captain (1733), Highland Fair (1731), and others.

Traquair [1] is a small, ancient village in the Scottish Borders region, once surrounded by the Ettrick Forest. the Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland, edited by John Marius Wilson and published by A. Fullarton & Co. in 1868, gives:

The village of Traquair is a scattered assemblage of only about 20 or 30 houses, standing in different groups, and bearing different names. It is situated in the vale of the Quair, 3/4 of a mile from the Tweed, and 1 3/4 mile south of Innerleithen. The "Bush aboon Traquair," so celebrated in song, was a grove of natural birches, s little south-west of the village; but it fell a sacrifice, partly to ordinary innovation, partly to its own celebrity. Burns, we are informed, visited the Bush in the year 1787, when he made a pilgrimage to various places celebrated in story and in song; and found it composed of eight or nine ragged birches. It afterwards paid a heavy tax to human curiosity, and supplied nobles and princes with specimens, in the shape of snuff-boxes and other toys. A grove called 'The New Bush' was early planted by an Earl of Traquair, but never became famous; and the site of the old Bush has been replanted and enclosed by the present Earl, with the view of restoring its fame. "The Bush aboon Traquair," says the Old Statistical Account, "which in former times might be a considerable thicket of birch-trees, the indigens of the soil, is now reduced to five lonely trees, which solitarily point out the spot where love and its attendant poetry once probably had their origin." The grove must have been considered a remarkable object at latest two centuries ago; for it is laid down in Pont's maps under the designation of "Troquair Birks." A mansion-house seems to have anciently stood adjacent to it, but has long ago disappeared. The present mansion-house of Traquair is about a mile distant.

See also note for "Annotation:At Setting Day."

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Aird (Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 4), 1796; No. 187, p. 70. McGibbon (Scots Tunes, book III), 1762; p. 65. Oswald (Caledonian Pocket Companion, Book 2 (1760, p. 17

Recorded sources:

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-Traquair [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traquair] is a small, ancient village in the Scottish Borders region, once surrounded by the Ettrick Forest.
+Traquair [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traquair] is a small, ancient village in the Scottish Borders region, once surrounded by the Ettrick Forest. the '''Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland''', edited by John Marius Wilson and published by A. Fullarton & Co. in 1868, gives:
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+''The village of Traquair is a scattered assemblage of only about 20 or 30 houses, standing in different groups, and bearing'' ''different names.  It is situated in the vale of the Quair, 3/4 of a mile from the Tweed, and 1 3/4 mile south of Innerleithen.''  ''The "Bush aboon Traquair," so celebrated in song, was a grove of natural birches, s little south-west of the village; but it'' ''fell a sacrifice, partly to ordinary innovation, partly to its own celebrity.  Burns, we are informed, visited the Bush in the'' ''year 1787, when he made a pilgrimage to various places celebrated in story and in song; and found it composed of eight or nine'' ''ragged birches.  It afterwards paid a heavy tax to human curiosity, and supplied nobles and princes with specimens, in the shape'' ''of snuff-boxes and other toys.  A grove called 'The New Bush' was early planted by an Earl of Traquair, but never became famous;'' ''and the site of the old Bush has been replanted and enclosed by the present Earl, with the view of restoring its fame.  "The'' ''Bush aboon Traquair," says the Old Statistical Account, "which in former times might be a considerable thicket of birch-trees,'' ''the indigens of the soil, is now reduced to five lonely trees, which solitarily point out the spot where love and its attendant'' ''poetry once probably had their origin."  The grove must have been considered a remarkable object at latest two centuries ago;'' ''for it is laid down in Pont's maps under the designation of "Troquair Birks."  A mansion-house seems to have anciently stood'' ''adjacent to it, but has long ago disappeared.  The present mansion-house of Traquair is about a mile distant.''
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 See also note for "[[Annotation:At Setting Day]]."
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