Annotation:Cawdor Fair
Tune properties and standard notation
CAWDOR FAIR. AKA and see "Calder Fair," "Cock o' Bendy," "Cockabendie," "Go on Lads and Give a Tune," "The Hawthorne Tree of Cawdor," "Sing a Song of Sixpence." Scottish, English, Cape Breton; Reel, Strathspey or Highland Schottische. C Major: A Minor or A Dorian ('A' part) & C Major ('B' part) [Dunlay & Greenberg, Howe]: B Dorian ('A' part) & D Major ('B' part) [Lowe]: G Major [Kerr]: D Major (Gow, Surenne). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Surenne): AAB (Gow, Johnson): ABB' (Howe): AABB (Honeyman, MacDonald, Stewart-Robertson): AA'BB (Dunlay & Greenberg). Cawdor was originally called 'Calder' (see "Calder Fair"). The tonality of the 'A' part differs from publication to publication, with some ambiguously harmonizing the accompaniment with once a C, then an A bass; on Cape Breton Dunlay & Greenberg note the first section traditionally is played in A Dorian. See note for "Hawthorne Tree of Cawdor" for more on Cawdor, Invernessshire, and Cawdor Castle. Gow (1817) notes: "See Dancing Set in our Dances for 1813" but says the melody is "Very Old."
Sources for notated versions: David MacIsaac, learned from his father, Alex Dan MacIsaac (Cape Breton) [Dunlay & Greenberg]; Gow's Part Fourth of the Complete Repository (1817) [S. Johnson].
Printed sources: Dunlay & Greenberg (Traditional Celtic Violin Music of Cape Breton), 1996; p. 25. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 4, 1817; p. 9. Honeyman (Strathspey, Reel and Hornpipe Tutor), 1898; p. 16. Howe (1000 Jigs and Reels), c. 1867; p. 125. S. Johnson (A Twenty Year Anniversary Collection), 2003; p. 40. Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 1; No. 16, p. 20. Lowe (Collection), 1844. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; p. 111. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; p. 43. Surenne (Dance Music of Scotland), 1852; p. 81.
Recorded sources: Ingold 2001-4, Dave MacIsaac and Jerry Holland. PolyGram 314 523 251-4, Kyle MacNeil. E25Q 7243 8 82013 2 2, John Morris Rankin and Howie MacDonald. See also listings at: Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [1], Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]