Annotation:Bonnie Annie (3)
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BONNIE ANNIE [3]. AKA and see "Bonny Ann," "Lethen's Reel," "Flip McGilder's Reel," "Follow Me Down to Carlow (1), "Follow Me Down to Carlow (2)" (jig version), "Crooked Reel (The)" (An Ríl Cam), "Miss Murphy (2)." Scottish, Reel. A Minor or A Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Surenne): AAB (most versions). One of the more famous compositions by Edinburgh music teacher Daniel (or sometimes, Donald) Dow (1732-83), originally of Kirkmichael, Perthshire, who first published it about 1775 or 1776 (the earliest it appears in print, according to John Glen {1891}). It also appears in Angus Cummings 1782 work Collection of Strathspeys or Old Highland Reels. In the opinion of Mr. Troup of Ballater (as cited by David Baptie in Musical Scotland, Past and Present, 1894, p. 46) "Bonnie Annie" is among the dozen or so of Dow's best compositions. See also Irish versions under this and alternate titles, although the second strain tends to vary (sometimes widely) in this tune family. Dow's "Bonnie Annie" was employed for the song ‘Follow Me Up To Carlow’ by P.J. McCall.
The tune is entitled "Lady Luebeck's Reel" in the manuscript collection of the Gunn family of County Fermanagh.
The tune was also entered into the 1840 music manuscript collections of multi-instrumentalist John Rook [1] of Wigton, Cumbria (p. 96), and the 1859 music copybook of American musician M.E. Eames. "Bonny Annie" is also contained in vol. 2 (p. 156) of the large mid-19th century music manuscript collection of County Cork cleric and uilleann piper biography:James Goodman, as "Bonny Anne". See also the first strain of Goodman's "Miss Murphy (2)" (vol. 3, p. 182). Goodman's "Bonny Anne" is distanced from the Scottish versions, and the interval leaps have been smoothed out in the melodic line.
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Aird (Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 3), 1788; No. 548, p. 209. Alexander (Alexander’s Fifty New Scotch & Irish Reels & Hornpipes), c. 1826; No. 33, p. 16. Glen (Collection of Scottish Dance Music), 1891; p. 23. Gow (Complete Repository, Part 1), 1799; p. 22. Kennedy (Fiddler's Tune Book, vol. 1), 1951; No. 38, p. 19. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 2), c. 1880's; No. 54, p. 9. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; p. 112. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 188. Robert Ross (Choice Collection of Scots Reels or Country Dances & Strathspeys), Edinburgh, 1780; p. 38. Saunders (New and Complete Instructor for the Violin), Boston, 1847; No. 27, p. 57. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; p. 43. Surenne (Dance Music of Scotland), 1852; p. 114.
Recorded sources:
See also listings at:
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [2]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [3]