Annotation:Mrs. Bisset's Strathspey
X:1 T:Mrs. Bisset’s Strathspey M:C| L:1/16 R:Strathspey B: John Morison - A Collection of New Strathspey Reels, with a few favourite Marches (Edinburgh, c. 1797, No. 6) N:Organist and fiddler Morison (1772-1848) was from Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, the easternmost point in Scotland, on the North Sea. Alburger notes that failing fortunes forced him to diversify: he also organized balls and ran a ship's chandlery. F:https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Collection_of_New_Strathspey_Reels_wit/Vo-EymUbJkYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22john+morison%22+%22new+strathspey+reels%22%C2%A0&pg=PP1&printsec=frontcover K:Bb F2|TB3cB2F2 B2c2d2g2|f2d2d2B2 c2B2c2d2|TB3cB2F|B2c2d2g2|f2d2c2d2 BBB2 B2:| B2|f2g2f2d2 Tc3Bc2d2|g2f2g2a2 b2f2g2b2|Tf3gf2c2 d2g2f2d2|Tc3Bc2d2 BBB2B4| Tf3gf2d2 Tc3Bc2d2|Tg2f2g2a2 b3fgb3|g2b2f2g2 d2g2f2d2|Tc3Bc2d2 BBB2 B2||
MRS. BISSET'S STRATHSPEY. Scottish, Strathspey (cut time). B Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. "Mrs. Bisset's Strathspey" was composed by John Morison (1772-1848), a fiddler and, for a time, organist at St. Peter's Chapel, Peterhead. Morison was from Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, the easternmost point of Scotland and a port town on the North Sea. He had a small fiddle band for playing dances, but he supported himself, as many musicians did, with diversification. Alburger notes he also organized balls and ran a ship's chandlery; he also tuned pianos and organs and copied out music, but eventually he went bankrupt (at least once). Morison published two collections; the first around 1797 and the second in 1815.
The 'Mrs. Bisset' of the title was likely the spouse of George Bisset (1760-1812), the founder of Udny Academy, Aberdeenshire (see note for Morison's "Udny Academy Reel." She was the former Mary Adamson, born in 1765 in Strichen, Aberdeenshire, who outlived her husband George by some sixty years. She died in 1872 at the age of 106 and is buried at Udny Kirkyard Ellon, Aberdeenshire.
