Annotation:Kinrara (1)
X:1 T:Kinrara [1] C:”Mr. Marshall” M:C L:1/16 R:Strathspey Q:"Very Slow" B:Robert Petrie – Third Collection of Strathspey Reels (1802, p. 7) N:Dedicated to Francis Garden Esq. Junior of Troup by N:Robert Petrie at Kirkmichael. Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Bb DC|B,B3B3c BG3F3D|B,B3d3B c2C2C2DC|B,B3f3d (gfga) b3g|f3dce3 d2B2B2:| de|f3dBd3 F2B2 GFED|E3F GFED E2C2C2de|f3dB3d (gfga) b2d2|e3de2f2 g4 (g2ab)| f3dBd3 f3dBd3|Gc3c3B {Bc}d2c2c2DC|B,2B2 f2d2 (gfga) b3g|fd3c3d B4B2||
KINRARA (STRATHSPEY) [1]. AKA and see "Countess of Dalkeith." Scottish, Strathspey (whole time). B Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Marshall): AAB (Athole, Hunter). Kinrara was the summer residence "where the Duchess of Gordon resided in Badenoch" (Marshall). The strathspey was composed by biography:William Marshall (1748-1833) on short notice, at the request of Jane (Nee Maxwell), Duchess of Gordon, wife of his patron and employer, Alexander, the fourth Duke of Gordon. Moyra Cowie (1999) writes that Jane had become estranged from Alexander because of his liason with Jean Christie, the daughter of the housekeeper at Gordon Castle, and since she would not abide long in the same house, she had Kinrara built on the banks of the Spey in Badenoch, below the hill of Tor Alvie. The tune was first published in 1800 by Pietro Urbani and Liston (Edinburgh), alongside a piece by the Duke (who was an amateur fiddler) called "Brodie House." It was republished by the Gows in their Fourth Collection (1800) under the title "Countess of Dalkeith," without crediting Marshall. Jane Gordon died in 1812 and is buried on the Kinrara estate, overlooking a broad curve in the Spey.
Elizabeth Grant of Rothiemurches describes her experiences of Kinrara:
We are often over at Kinrara, the Duchess having perpetual dances, either in the drawing room or the servants hall and my father returning these entertainments in the same style. A few candles lighted up bare walls, at short warnings fiddles and whisky punch were always at hand and then gentles and simples reeled away in company till the ladies thought the scene becoming more boisterous that they liked remaining in; nothing more however, a highlander never forgets his place, never loses his native inborn politeness, never presumes upon on favour.