Annotation:Miss Ferguson of Raith's Strathspey (1)
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MISS FERGUSON OF RAITH'S STRATHSPEY. Scottish, Strathspey. G Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. The tune was first published (without composer credit) in MacDonald's Second Collection, reprinted in 1797, but was thought by some to have been composed by Niel Gow (1726-1806). Niel’s son Nathaniel claimed the composition for his father. Malcolm MacDonald was Nathaniel Gow's bass player at the time he published his collection and may have heard Gow play the melody; he perhaps did not know who wrote it. John Glen (1895), on the other hand, accuses the Gows of outright plagiarism in many instances, and questions the veracity of Nathaniel's claim. Similarities with "Miss Campbell's (3)."
Miss Ferguson was possibly a daughter of William Ferguson of Raith and his wife, Jane Craufurd of Restalrig. They were a landed Fife family, and early patrons of painter Henry Raeburn.
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: MacDonald (A Second Collection of Strathspey Reels), 1789; p. 9.
Recorded sources: