Annotation:Haddington Assembly (The)
X:1 T:Haddington Assembly, The M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Jig C:William Fraser B:Gow - 2nd Collection of Niel Gow's Reels, 3rd ed., p. 23 (orig. 1788) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G B/c/|dBG TG2B|dBG TG2B|ecA AcA|Tf3 {e/f/}g3| dBG TG2B|AFD D2c|(B/c/d)B cAF|G3 G2:| |:d|Tg2a bge|Tf2g afd|(e/f/g)e dBG|ABG TF>ED| [1 Tg2a bge|f2g afd|(e/f/g).e (f/g/a).f|g3 g2:| [2 (G/A/B).G Ac|(B/c/d).B Tc2e|dcB AGF|G3 G2|]
HADDIN(G)TON ASSEMBLY. AKA and see "South Bridge of Edinburgh (The)." Scottish, Jig (6/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBC. The tune was composed by the celebrated 18th century oboist William Fraser (1760-1825), who wrote the tune in Oswald's giga style, a favorite with pipe bands as a march. Fraser's playing greatly impressed poet Robert Burns who met the musician and conductor in 1793 (Stenhouse thought in 1820 to be "peculiarly chaste and masterly"), and he became an "outstanding and influential figure in Edinburgh musical life" (Emmerson, 1971). It was published in Niel Gow's Second Collection (1788). John Glen (1891) finds the earliest printing of a tune by this title in Daniel Dow's c. 1775 collection (p. 6).
