Annotation:St. Kilda's Reel
X:1 T:St. Kilda’s Reel M:C L:1/8 R:Reel B:Preston’s 24 Country Dances for the Year 1804 (No. 515, p. 218) N: “With proper tunes and directions to each dance, as they are performed at N:Court, Bath and all Public Assemblies.” Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Bb f2 fe dB-Bd|f2 fe dB-Bd|f2 fe dB-Bd|cdcB AF-FA:| |:d2 dc BG-GB|dedB G2 GB|dedc BGGB|cdcB AFFA:|]
ST. KILDA'S REEL. AKA and see "Sir Charles Douglass (Reel)." Scottish, English; Reel (whole time). B Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Garth Notley discovered a version of this tune in Charles Wheatstone's Sixteen Favourite Country Dances (London, 1806, No. 9) under the title "Sir Charles Dougless" with an alternate title, "St. Kelters Reel" (a corruption of "St. Kilda's Reel"). His research reveals that both "St. Kilda's Reel" and "Sir Charles Douglas's Strathspey" were danced at a ball given by the Ladies Twownhend in April, 1803, and he suspects Wheatstone's confusion of the titles may have stemmed from linking them together in reports of the Townhend dance or a similar event[1].
