Annotation:Mrs. Ramsay of Barnton (2)

Back to Mrs. Ramsay of Barnton (2)

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MRS. RAMSAY OF BARNTON [2]. AKA - "Mrs. Ramsay of Barnton's Strathspey." AKA and see “Riding on a Load of Hay.” Scottish, Strathspey. E Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Stewart-Robertson): AAB (Kerr). The strathspey was composed by Scottish dancing master and musician Duncan MacIntyre (c. 1767-1807), who established a practice in Edinburgh, but who moved to London in the 1790's. It was in the English city that he published his 1794 collection, dedicated to Lady Charlotte Campbell. "Mrs. Ramsay..." is similar in many ways to "Belladrum's Strathspey." The melody appears set as a polka in Frank Roche's Collection of Traditional Irish Music, vol. 2 (1912) under the title "Riding on a Load of Hay". See also the Cape Breton/P.E.I. tune "Charlie's Brother" AKA "Little Jack's Reel," which has 'borrowed' the first stain of "Mrs. Ramsay."

For more on the person(s) of the title, see note for "annotation:Mrs. Ramsay of Barnton (1)."

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 1), c. 1880; No. 5, p. 18 (appears as “Mrs. Ramsay”). MacIntyre (A Collection of Slow Airs, Reels and Strathspeys), 1794; p. 15. Scottish Country Dance Book, Book 20, 1959. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; p. 258.

Recorded sources:

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]

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