Annotation:Mrs. Dingwall of Brockly’s Strathspey

Back to Mrs. Dingwall of Brockly’s Strathspey

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MRS. DINGWALL OF BROCKLY'S STRATHSPEY. Scottish, Strathspey. F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. The strathspey may have been composed by biography:Robert Petrie (1767-1830), although he did not claim it (as he other tunes) in his Fourth Collection (c. 1805). The melody was recorded in 1936 on a 78 RPM disc (Celtic 006) by Cape Breton fiddler Dan J. Campbell, one of the first recordings of Cape Breton fiddlers. Paul Stewart Cranford remarks that Campbell’s setting differs somewhat from the Skye Collection setting, and was picked by older Cape Breton players. The first and third measures of the first strain are identical to William Hardie's "New Brig o' Methlick (2) (The)."

Brucklay Castle (a.k.a. Brucklay House) is a 16th-century castle in the Buchan (New Deer) area of Aberdeenshire in Scotland, at one time the home of the Dingwall family. Mrs. Dingwall named in the title of the strathspey was perhaps Janet Morrison (1747-1831), who married in 1770 Arthur Dingwall, a lawyer in Aberdeen and later judge and Commissary. The couple resided in Arthurseat, a house in Aberdeen.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Cranford (Jerry Holland: The Second Collection), 2000; No. 165, p. 62. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; p. 151. Petrie (A Fourth Collection of Strathspeys, Reels, Jiggs and Country Dances), c. 1805.

Recorded sources: Rounder Records , John L. MacDonald – “Formerly of Foot Cape Road: Scottish Fiddle Music in the Classic Inverness County Style” (2005).

See also listings at:
Alan Snyder’s Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [1]
Hear Cape Breton fiddler Mike MacDougall play the tune at youtube.com [2]

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