Annotation:New Year's Day (1)
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NEW YEAR'S DAY [1]. Scottish, Jig. F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune first appears in Alexander Reinagle's [1] (1756–1809) publication A Collection of the Most Favorite Scots Tunes (1782), according to Charles Gore. The jig was printed in several different collections, attesting to its popularity.
Reinagle was an English-born composer, organist and theater musician who learned his craft and practiced in Edinburgh, before emigrating to the United States in 1786. He arrived in New York, and then moved to Philadelphia where he helped to revitalize the new country's music during George Washington's first presidencies.
Source for notated version:
Printed sources:
Aird (Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 3), Glasgow, 1788; No. 446, p. 173.
Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 500.
Gow (Complete Repository, Part 2), 1802; p. 29.
Abraham Mackintosh (A Collection of Strathspeys, Reels, Jigs &c.), c. 1797; p. 2.
Petrie (Second Collection of Strathspey Reels and Country Dances), 1795.
Recorded sources: