Annotation:Mrs. Oswald of Dunniker's Minuet
X:1 T:Mrs. Oswald of Dunniker's Minuet M:3/4 L:1/8 R:Minuet B: Daniel Dow – Twenty Minuets and Sixteen Reels or Country Dances (c. 1775, p. 12) B: https://digital.nls.uk/special-collections-of-printed-music/archive/106036449 Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Eb [G,3E3] GBG|EGBeGB|B,3 DFD|BDFBDF|[G,4E4] (G<E)|(B<G)(E<B)(g<e)| (d<B)(e<c)(B<=A)|1 B6:|2 B3|:B2|e2 (G<E)(c<A)|B>gfd B2|f2 Bdfa| g2 {fg}efga|bg e2 za|geagfe|dcBAGF|[G3E3] GBG| B,DFBDF|[G,4E4] (G<E)|(B<G)(e<B)(g<e)|(3BcA G2 TF2|1E4:|2 6||
MRS. OSWALD OF DUNNIKER'S MINUET. Scottish, Minuet (3/4 time). E Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Composed by Perthshire/Edinburgh fiddler-composer biography:Daniel Dow, it appears in his c. 1775 Twenty Minuets and Sixteen Reels or Country Dances. He named the tune for Janet Grey (1746-1841) of Skibo, Sutherland, who became Mrs. Oswald in 1764 when she married Scottish wealthy and influential Fife politician and merchant James Townsend Oswald (1748-1814)[1]. Their son became General Sir John Oswald, while their daughter Elizabeth married Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin. Janet outlived her husband several decades and died in 1841. Their home of Dunnikier (note spelling) House, once on the outskirts of the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife (now part of the northern suburbs), was built "in a richly-wooded demesne" 1791-93 by Edinburgh-based architect Alexander Laing (d.1823), but at the time Dow published his collection they lived in the town of Kirkaldy, a situation that had become "less agreeable" as time went on.
The proceedings at late 18th/early 19th century Scottish Assemblies and balls, public and private, opened with a formal minuet.
- ↑ Both James Oswald Sr. and James Oswald Jr. were members of Parliament at Westminster, the son succeeding the father.