Annotation:Mr. Hunter's Reel (2)

Back to Mr. Hunter's Reel (2)

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MR. HUNTER. Scottish, Reel. E Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. Composed by biography:Alexander Walker for Mr. Hunter of Fife Arms Inn, Braemar. The Fife Arms Inn, of Castletown, Braemar, had a post office and was a hub of social activity. The Sporting Magazine of 1823 (p. 99), for example, gives an account of a hunting party to the Earl of Fife's hunting seat at Mar Lodge:

In the course of the week, Lord Kennedy and Mr. Farquharson killed several very fine red deer; and on Friday evening a grand ball was given by the latter at the Fife Arms Inn.

Hunter's wife was the inspiration for verses by poet James Horne, entitled "Epistle to Mrs. Hunter, Fife Arms Inn, Braemar," published in his Poems (1865). A portion of the poem goes:

There the constant, rapid rushing Cluny's din
Is heard in the plaintive murmurs at the Fife Arms Inn.
The Fife Arms Inn! did I name it? Yes! and se ere night
Its landlady benevolent plainly write
Each sentiment expressive that's in thy mind--
Be thy thoughts animated, be the thy words refined.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Walker (A Collection of Strathspeys, Reels, Marches, &c.), 1866; No. 120, p. 41.

Recorded sources:

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