Annotation:Lady Lucy Ramsay's Strathspey (1)

Back to Lady Lucy Ramsay's Strathspey (1)

LADY LUCY RAMSAY. Scottish, Strathspey. C Major (most versions): D Major (Anderson). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Surenne): AAB (Anderson, Balmoral, Gow, Honeyman): AABB' (Athole, Kerr, Skye). MacDonald's Skye Collection (1887) credits this tune to Nathaniel Gow (1763-1831), however the Gows printed the tune with the attribution "By a Lady." There is a Scottish Country Dance by the name of Lady Lucy Ramsay. The strathspey may be a companion piece to "Lady Mary Ramsay."

Lucy is perhaps Lady Elisabeth Ramsay (1769-1848), the 2nd daughter of George, the 8th Earl of Dalhousie (died 1787). (The 9th Earl of Dalhouse, also a George, did not marry until 1805, five years after the tune was published; his wife was Christina, and they did not have any female children). Lady Elizabeth married Sir Thomas Moncreiffe of that Ilk, 5th Bt., in 1786. Nathaniel Gow also composed a reel, "Lady L. Ramsay's Reel", which may be in her honor as well.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Anderson (Anderson's Budget of Strathspeys, Reels & Country Dances for the German Flute or Violin), Edinburgh, 1820; p. 29. Carlin (Gow Collection), 1986; No. 99. Gow (Fourth Collection of Strathspey Dances), 2nd ed., originally 1800; p. 16. Honeyman (Strathspey, Reel and Hornpipe Tutor), 1898; p. 15. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 1), c. 1880; Set 23, No. 3, p. 14. J. Kenyon Lees (Balmoral Reel Book), c. 1910; p. 5. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; p. 120. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; p. 66. Surenne (Dance Music of Scotland), 1852; pp. 64-65.

Recorded sources: Beltona SDP03, Jimmy Shand - "King of the Button Box" (2002).

See also listing at:
Alan Syner's Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [1]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]