Annotation:Minstrel of the Macdonalds (The)

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MINSTREL OF THE MACDONALDS, THE. AKA - "Smeorach Chlainn Domhnuill." Scottish, Slow Air (3/4 time). A Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABC. "This is a Highland melody, of a beautifully wild and solemn cast, totally unfit for any single instrument possessed in that country, and merely suited to a voice of sufficient length of tone. The editor's progenitor had various sets of words to it,--but the organ is the instrument to display it" (Fraser). The piece also appears in Patrick MacDonald's 1784 collection of Highland vocal airs. It is considered by some to be an example of a fiddle pìobaireachd (an extended musical theme and variations first played on the bagpipes).

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Fraser (The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles), 1816; No. 86, p. 32.

Recorded sources: Maggie's Music MM220, Hesperus - "Celtic Roots."

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