Annotation:Caledonian March (1)
Tune properties and standard notation
CALEDONIAN MARCH. AKA and see "Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine [1]," "March of the Die Hards," "Star of Bethlehem" (Pa.). Scottish, March (4/4 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. McDonald (Gesto Book of Highland Music, 1895) believed the air "to be of great antiquity" and "was a great favourite with Duncan MacDonald of Dalness, colonel of the 57th Regiment of Die Hards, one of the heroes of the Peninsular War." The reference to Die Hards stems from the Battle of Albuhera in 1811, when the commander of the regiment, a Colonel Inglis, knowing his men were hard pressed by the enemy, urged them to "Die hard, 57th, die hard!" David Murray, in his book Music of the Scottish Regiments (Edinburgh, 1994), says: "The tune of this march is the same as that of the 'Roussillon March', the slow march of the former Royal Sussex Regiment, raised in 1701, absorbed like the Middlesex into The Queen's Regiment in 1966 and, until 1881, the 35th Foot, otherwise 'The Orange Lilies', from its facing colour. The 35th defeated the French regiment Royal Roussilon at Quebec in 1759, and incorporated the Roussillon, the white plume of Henry of Navarre, in its crest and ultimately in its cap badge. As published in the Gesto book, the Scotch Snap is prominent, but as played by the Royal Sussex the figure was reversed, the long note falling on the beat" (p. 211). See also Bayard's (1981) note for "The Dusinberry March" and the "Star of Bethlehem," both closely related Pennsylvania collected marches. See also the Irish tunes "An Comhra Donn" and "Centenary March," melodically similar in the 'A' part.
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Howe's School for the Violin, p. 17. Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 1; No. 27, p. 49. McDonald (Gesto Collection), 1895; p. 110.
Recorded sources: Greentrax CDTRAX 9009, Pat Shearer (Orkney Islands) - "Scottish Tradition 9: The Fiddler and his Art" (1993).