Annotation:Cluny MacPherson's Lament

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CLUNY MACPHERSON'S LAMENT. Scottish, Slow Air (4/4 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. Composed by the great Scots fiddler-composer and dancing master biography:J. Scott Skinner (1843-1927). MacPherson of Cluny is a clan name. It is mentioned by name in an account of a ball at Taymoth Castle given by the Marquis of Breadalbane in honor of Queen Victoria. The "Reel of Tulloch" was performed, "the dancers on the occasion were the Marquis of Abercorn, the Hon. Fox Maule, Cluny Macpherson and Davidson of Tulloch." The most famous Cluny MacPherson, however is Ewen MacPherson of Cluny, Chief of Clan Chattan, who rose for Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745. He and his followers were detached and missed Culloden, but MacPherson and the Prince ended up hiding in a cave for some five months after the great defeat. It is said that the Prince asked for Cluny 's plaid because it was thicker than his. and although Cluny refused to part with it, he offered to share so that the two of them slept under the same garment. MacPherson remained in hiding for some nine years, until he, too, escaped to France in 1765. He died only a little while later, of a broken heart, it is said, longing for his Speyside home.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Skinner (Harp and Claymore), 1904; p. 148.

Recorded sources:

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