Annotation:Honorable Charles Bruce (The)
X:1 T:Honorable Charles Bruce’s Reel, The C:Miss Magelene Stirling M:C| L:1/8 R:Jig B:John Bowie – “Collection of strathspey reels & country dances &c.” B:(Edinburgh, c. 1789, p. 20) F:https://digital.nls.uk/special-collections-of-printed-music/archive/104982637 Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Bb V:1 d|BFDB GBFB|EBDB C/C/C CF|BFDF Bdfd|Tc(Bc)d B/B/B B:| d|B/B/B (dB) fBbd|Bdfd Tc>(Bc)d|B/B/B dB fBbd|Tc>Bcd B/B/B Bd| B/B/B dB fBbd|Bdfd Tc>Bcd|BGFD FGBg|fdcd B/B/B B|| V:2 clef = bass z|D,2B,,2E,2D,2|C,2B,,2F,2E,2|D,2B,,2D,2B,2|E,2F,2B,,2B,:| z|D,2B,2D2B,2|D2B,2A,2F,2|D,2B,,2D,2B,2|E,2F,2B,,2 z2| D,2B,,2D,2B,2|D2B,2E,2F,2|G,2B,2D,2 G,E,|F,2F,,2B,,2B,||
HONORABLE CHARLES BRUCE, THE. Scottish, Reel (cut time). B Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. "The Honorable Charles Bruce" was composed by Miss Magdalene Stirling (1765–1846) of Ardoch, and was first printed in in Perthshire fiddler-composer biography:John Bowie's c. 1789 collection. Magdelene was a member of an old Perthshire family, a branch of whom held lands in the parish of Muthill, and she was a friend of Niel Gow and his son Nathaniel, who published a few of her compositions in their publications. She also had compositions published under her own name, perhaps the most famous of which is "Perthshire Hunt (The)", although some of her work appeared without attribution. It was not until 1812 that a small volume of her melodies was printed, and, obviously, her "The Honorable Charles Bruce" had been in circulation for some time and composed when she was a young woman.
