Annotation:Dunnechan
Tune properties and standard notation
DUNNICHEN HOUSE. Scottish, Reel. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Skye): AA'BB' (Glen). The melody can be found in Archibald Duff's 1794 collection, though a note in MacDonald's Skye Collection says it was taken from the Peter Milne's Collection. Dunnichen, from the Scots Gaelic Dùn Neachdain, is a village in Angus, Scotland, near which is Dunnichen House, a country mansion purchased c. 1700 by a merchant named Dempster, from Dundee. Improvements were made by George Dempster (1735-1818), third Laird of Dunnichen, an agriculturalist and M.P., and it is his estate that appears to be honored by the composition. He was known as 'Honest George', and by the end of his life had a reputation as an incorruptable, progressive, and independent-minded politician.
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Glen (Glen Collection of Scottish Music), vol. 2, 1895; p. 10. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; p. 55 (appears as "Dunnechan").
Recorded sources: