Annotation:Bonnie Annie (3)

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X:1 T:Bonny Annie [3] M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel B:James Aird – Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 3 (Glasgow, 1788, No. 548, p. 209) N:”Humbly dedicated to the Volunteers and Defensive Bands of Great Britain and Ireland” Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Amin c|A/A/A A>G EGGc|A/A/A A>B c>ded|c/B/A/B/ cG E>GG>c|A/A/A eg a>AA:| |:g|e/f/g cg ecgc|BGdG Bcdg|ecgc egca|gede cAAg| agea gced|cAGc EcGc|AcGA cdea|gede cAA:|]



BONNIE ANNIE [3]. AKA and see "Bonny Ann," "Bonny Mary (2)," "Lethen's Reel," "Flip McGilder's Reel," "Follow Me Down to Carlow (1), "Follow Me Down to Carlow (2)" (jig version), "Crooked Reel (The)" (An Ríl Cam), "Lord Kilbeck's Reel," "Miss Murphy (2)." Scottish; Reel, Strathspey. A Minor or A Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (O'Connor, Surenne): AAB (most versions). One of the more famous compositions by Edinburgh music teacher Daniel (or sometimes, Donald) Dow (1732-83), originally of Kirkmichael, Perthshire, who first published it about 1775 or 1776 (the earliest it appears in print, according to John Glen {1891}). It also appears in Angus Cummings 1782 work Collection of Strathspeys or Old Highland Reels. In the opinion of Mr. Troup of Ballater (as cited by David Baptie in Musical Scotland, Past and Present, 1894, p. 46) "Bonnie Annie" is among the dozen or so of Dow's best compositions. See also Irish versions under this and alternate titles, although the second strain tends to vary (sometimes widely) in this tune family. Dow's "Bonnie Annie" was employed for the song ‘Follow Me Up To Carlow’ by P.J. McCall.

The tune is entitled "Lady Luebeck's Reel" in the manuscript collection of the Gunn family of County Fermanagh, and "Lord Kilbeck's Reel" in Book 2 of County Leitrim fiddler and piper biography:Stephen Grier's c. 1882 music manuscript. "Bonnie Annie" was also entered into the 1840 music manuscript collections of multi-instrumentalist John Rook [1] of Wigton, Cumbria (p. 96), and the 1859 music copybook of American musician M.E. Eames. The reel is also contained in vol. 2 (p. 156) of the large mid-19th century music manuscript collection of County Cork cleric and uilleann piper wikipedia:James_Goodman_(musicologist) (as "Bonny Anne"). According to Hugh and Lisa Shields, Goodman obtained the tune from a manuscript provided by Dublin bookseller John O'Daly[2]. See also the first strain of Goodman's "Miss Murphy (2)" (vol. 3, p. 182). Goodman's "Bonny Anne" is distanced from the Scottish versions, and the interval leaps have been smoothed out in the melodic line. Brendan Breathnach published a version of the reel in his CRÉ I (1963, No. 107) as "Crooked Reel (The)/An Ríl Cam".


Additional notes
Source for notated version : - Rev. Luke Donnellan music manuscript collection[1] (late 19th/early 20th cent., Oriel, Ulster) [O'Connor].

Printed sources : - Aird (Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 3), 1788; No. 548, p. 209. Alexander (Alexander’s Fifty New Scotch & Irish Reels & Hornpipes), c. 1826; No. 33, p. 16. Alexander Duff (Collection of Strathspey Reels &c.), 1794; p. 20. Glen (Collection of Scottish Dance Music), 1891; p. 23. Gow (Complete Repository, Part 1), 1799; p. 22. Kennedy (Fiddler's Tune Book, vol. 1), 1951; No. 38, p. 19. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 2), c. 1880's; No. 54, p. 9. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; p. 112. Robert Mackintosh (A Fourth Collection of New Strathspey Reels, also some Famous old Reels), 1804; p. 34. O'Connor (The Rose in the Gap), 2018; No. 31, p. 38. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 188. Robert Ross (Choice Collection of Scots Reels or Country Dances & Strathspeys), Edinburgh, 1780; p. 38. Saunders (New and Complete Instructor for the Violin), Boston, 1847; No. 27, p. 57. Hugh & Lisa Shields (Tunes of the Munster Pipers vol. 2), 2013; No. 665. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; p. 43. Surenne (Dance Music of Scotland), 1852; p. 114.

Recorded sources : - Saydisc CDSDL 416, Pipe Major William Ross – “Bagpipes of Britain & Ireland”. Saydisc CDSDL449, Pipe Major William Ross -- "Traditional Dance Music of Britain & Ireland" (2018).

See also listing at :
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [3]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [4]



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  1. Donnellan researcher Gerry O'Connor came to believe the ms. is not the work of the curate but rather was originally compiled by a unknown but able fiddler over the course of a playing lifetime, probably in the late 19th century. The ms. later came into the possession of Donnellan, who was also a fiddler.