Annotation:Finlay McIntyre's Strathspey
FINLAY McINTYRE'S STRATHSPEY. Canadian, Strathspey (whole time). Canada, Nova Scotia. F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. "Finlay McIntyre's Strathspey" was composed by dairy farmer, miller, sometime printer and bookbinder and fiddler James Barry (1812-1905) of Six Mile Brook, Pictou County, northern Nova Scotia. McIntyre was born in 1807 in Perthshire, Scotland, from whence Barry's parents hailed. Finlay is believed to have moved prior to 1832 briefly to Islay, Argyll from where he is believed to have immigrated about 1832 along with his half-brother Peter to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Two years later, in 1834, he married Sarah Eads of Portuguese Cove, a community near Halifax. While residing in Halifax he taught violin and dance in a studio called McIntyre Hall, but later McIntyre moved northwest to Truro to become a farmer. It is when he resided in Truro that he made Barry's acquaintance at the latter's mill. McIntuyre proved a primary musical influence on Barry, and probably did much to impart violin technique and repertory, as well as to assist in Barry's musical literacy.
See also Barry's "Lament for Finlay McIntyre."
