Annotation:Count D'Artois

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COUNT D'ARTOIS. Scottish, Reel. C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. Robert Macintosh printed the tune in his 3rd Collection under the title Monsieur, the Count D'Artois's Reel. The title refers to the refugee Comte d'Artois (1757-1836), a younger brother to Kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, and ultimately a claimant to the French throne. After his escape from the French Revolution the Compte made his was to England with his mistress Louise de Polastron and was received by King George III, from whom he received a generous allowance. He lived in London and also occupied Holyrood in Edinburgh from 1795 to 1799, and eventually returned to France to intrigue in the Napeoleonic era. He became King Charles X of France after the fall of Napoleon but after six years he was deposed in 1830 in the July Revolution and found himself back at Holyrood from 1831-1835. Macintosh's tune evidently honors his presence during his initial Holyrood stay.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 3; No. 126, p. 15. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; p. 78.

Recorded sources:

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