Annotation:Honorable Miss Charteris (The)

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HONOURABLE MISS CHARTERIS, THE. AKA - "Miss Charters," "Miss Charteri." Scottish, Reel. G Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. Composed by Daniel Dow, and first appearing in his c. 1775 collection (p. 7). He was an Edinburgh composer and music teacher who lived from 1732 to 1783, perhaps most famous as the composer of “Money Musk.” Dow published a collection of Scots tunes called Thirty-seven new reels and strathspeys (1775) which appears to be the first collection to include the word "strathspey" in its title. His family is known to have stayed in Strathardle and his son (John Dow) was born "at Kirkmichael. Dow, whose first name has been given as Daniel or Donald (both acceptable translations for the Gaelic ‘Domhnull’) was buried in the Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh on January 20th, 1783.

The Earls of Wemyss adopted the name Charteris (absorbing the ill-gotten gains of the infamous Colonel Charteris). The title may honor one of the daughters of Francis Wemyss Charteris, Lord Elcho (1749-1808) and Susan Tracy-Keck, whom he married in July 1771. The daughters were Susan, Augusta, Henrietta and Katherine. See also Malcolm MacDonald's "Miss Chartere’s Reel."

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 278 (appears as "Miss Charteri"). Gow (Third Collection of Niel Gow's Reels), 1792; p. 15 (3rd ed.). MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; p. 134. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; p. 193. Surenne (Dance Music of Scotland), 1852; p. 105.

Recorded sources:

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