Annotation:Lady Balcarras
X:1 T:Lady Balcarras's Reel M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel B:John Riddell of Ayr – Collection of Scots Reels, Minuets &c. B:for the Violin (1782, p. 57) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:D A|TF2 (DF) (AB/c/d)A|TF2 (DF) EB, B,2|F2 DF ABde|gfed TB2d:| g|Tf2 (df) abaf|gbfa egfe|f2 (df) abaf|egfe fddg| Tf2 (df) abaf|gbfa efgb|afed T(BAB)d|ABde f(dd)||
LADY BALCARRAS. Scottish, Reel (cut time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. John Glen (1891) finds the earliest printing of the tune in Ayrshire fiddler-composer biography:Robert Riddell's (1718-1795) second collection (p. 57), printed in Glasgow by James Aird. This collection, printed in Edinburgh in 1782, was a second edition, "greatly improved" of his original collection, published around the year 1766.
One "Lady Balcarras", Elizabeth Dalrymple Lindsay (1759-1816), was the Countess of Balcarres in Fife and a patroness of musicians in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh. She was an accomplished keyboard player and composed tunes, one of which, "Lady Eliza Lindsay," a hornpipe written for her ten-year-old daughter, was published in John Watlen's 1791 collection. See note for "Annotation:Lady Elizabeth Lindsay" for more on the subject.
