Annotation:Craigellachie Bridge

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CRAIGELLACHIE BRIDGE. Scottish, Strathspey. D Major/Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Marshall): AAB (Kerr): ABCD (Hunter, Johnson/2003, Martin): AABCD (Athole, Gow, Johnson). This double-tonic tune was composed by biography:William Marshall (1748-1833) on the occasion of the opening in 1815 of a new bridge constructed of iron by Thomas Telford over the Spey River at the modern village of Craigellachie, Moray, Scotland--one side is anchored to the abase of one of the two outcroppings of rock known as 'Craigellachie.' His enthusiasm for the structure has been noted by Alburger who cites the mention of the bridge in an 1814 letter from Marshall to one of his sons (Alburger, 1983; p. 88). Marshall's stake in the bridge was also personal-his daughter Jane was married to John McInnes of Dandaleith who was involved in the building of it. It was thought by Collinson (1966) and Puser (1992) to be one of Marshall's best compositions ("outstanding" "one of his very best"), and Emmerson (1971) says the tune was among his particularly celebrated tunes. Hunter (1988) also praises the melody, calling it "perhaps the finest in the whole repertoire."

James Davie (1850) was the first to note (in his Caledonian Repository, book first, second series) the similarity between Marshall's melody and an older tune entitled "Grey Daylight," which was originally published in Robert Petrie's Second Collection (1796) as "Mr. Anderson's Strathspey" and in a c. 1799 collection by Perth publisher John Anderson as "Grey Daylight." John Glen (1895) says there is no doubt of a resemblance between the tunes in the first part, but opines Marshall's air is "immeasurably the better of the two," and concludes the composer is likely not guilty of musical plagiarism. The tune first appeared in Marshall's Scottish Airs (1822).

Source for notated version: Paul Anderson (Tarland, Aberdeenshire) [Martin].

Printed sources: Alburger (Scottish Fiddlers and Their Music), 1983; Ex. 59, pp. 88-89. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 4, 1817; p. 28. Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 95. S. Johnson (The Kitchen Musician No. 10: Airs and Melodies of Scotland's Past), 1992 (revised 2001); p. 17. S. Johnson (A Twenty Year Anniversary Collection), 2003; p. 32. Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 1; Set 18, No. 1, p. 12. Köhlers’ Violin Repository, Book 1, 1881-1885; p. 78. Marshall, Fiddlecase Edition, 1978; 1822 Collection, p. 30. Matin (Traditional Scottish Fiddling), 2002; p. 135. Purser (Scotland's Music), 1992; Ex. 9, p. 206. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; p. 98.

Recorded sources: 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]