Annotation:Lord Elphinstone's Strathspey (1)
Back to Lord Elphinstone's Strathspey (1)
LORD ELPHINSTON(E'S). AKA and see "Drive Hakky," "Ca' Hawkie (Through the Water)." Scottish, Strathspey. F Major (Glen): C Major (Kennedy). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Glen): AABBCCDD (Kennedy). The strathspey was composed by Duncan MacIntyre (c. 1767-c 1807), and appears in his Collection of Slow Airs, Reels & Strathspeys (1794). He was an expatriate Scots dancing master in London who spent some years in India (probably as a Master of Ceremonies to the Governor-General's Court), and who died about 1806 or 1807.
The title likely refers to George Keith Elphinstone [1], Viscount Keith of Elphinstone (1746-1823), born at Elphinstone Tower, near Stirling, and named after his great-uncle George Keith, last Earl Marischal. Elphinstone entered the navy in 1761, distinguishing himself in one engagement after another against the French. In 1794 he became a Knight of the Bath and a Rear Admiral; the next year he was promoted to Vice Admiral. Honors amassed: he eventually became Admiral of the Blue, then White and finally Red. He was Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean from 1799 to 1802, and Commander of the Channel Fleet in the later wars with Napoleon. Having received many decorations, on 1 June 1814 he was created Viscount Keith. On 10 March 1823 he died at Tullyllan, on the Firth of Forth, and was buried there.
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Glen (The Glen Collection of Scottish Dance Music), vol. 2, 1895; p. 25. Kennedy (Traditional Dance Music of Britain and Ireland: Reels and Rants), 1997; No. 109, p. 27.
Recorded sources: