Annotation:Marchioness of Huntly's Strathspey (3) (The)

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MARCHIONESS OF HUNTLY--ABOYNE CASTLE [3]. AKA - "Aboyne Castle (2)." Scottish, Strathspey. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Cranford, Hunter): AB (Martin, Milne). Composed by self-taught fiddler Peter Milne (1824-1908), one of the great fiddler and composer J. Scott Skinner's teachers. Milne made his living playing in theaters until his opium addiction (which began with laudanum taken for an injury) reduced him to busking on ferry-boats crossing the Firth of Forth. This strathspey is often paired with another Milne composition, "Marquis of Huntly's Reel (2) (The)." J. Murdoch Henderson (Flowers of Scottish Melody, 1935) in his biography and critique of Milne says: "He evinces a distinct feeling for pleasing melody, but the beauty of one or two of his airs, particularly 'The Marchioness of Huntly--Aboyne Castle', is considerably marred by their lack of poise."

Peter Milne is on right

Sources for notated versions: Winston Fitzgerald (1914-1987, Cape Breton) [Cranford]; Hector MacAndrew [Martin].

Printed sources: Cranford (Winston Fitzgerald), 1997; No. 92, p. 39. Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; p. 138. Martin (Traditional Scottish Fiddling), 2002; p. 133. Milne (Middleton’s Selection of Strathspeys, Reels &c. for the Violin), 1870; p. 25.

Recorded sources:

See also listing at:
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [1]

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