Annotation:Miss Wedderburn's Reel (1)
X:1 T:Miss Wedderburn’s Reel [1] M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel B:Joshua Campbell – A Collection of New Reels & Highland Strathspeys (Glasgow, 1789, p. 24) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:A E2 (E>F) E>FA(c|TB>A)Bc TB>AFA|ECB,C A,AcA|T(B>AB)c A/A/A A2| E2 (E>F) E>FA(c|TB>A)Bc TB>AFA|T(E>D)(CB,) A,AcA|T(B>AB)c A/A/A A2|| |:Tc>BAB cde(c|d/c/B/A/) GA BcdB|1 Tc>BAB cde(c|d/c/B/A/) GB A/A/A A2:| |2 cAdB ecfd|Tg>eac A/A/A A2||:e3 (f e>f)a(c'|b>a)g(c' b>a)fa|e2 (e>f) efa(c'| b>a)bc' a/a/a a2:||d2 (bd) Tc2 ac|T(B>AB)c TB>AFA|d2 (bd) ceac| T(B>AB)c A/A/A A2|dbdb caca|T(B>AB)c TB>AFf|efge ac'ec|T(B>AB)c A/A/A A2||
MISS WEDDERBURN('S REEL) [1]. AKA and see "Miss Jenny Wedderburn," “Burn o' Cairnie,” "Greenfields of America (1)," "Molly Brallaghan (1)," "Old Mother Flanagan," "Carpenter's March (The)," "Napoleon's Farewell to Paris," "Grand Conversatoin of Napoleon (The)," "Bold Sportsman (The)," "Captain Rock's (1)," "Captain Rocke’s (1)," "McKenna's Dream," "Pratie Apples," "Under the Rose." Scottish, Reel. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Surenne): AAB (most versions): AABCCD (Gow): ABB'CCD (Campbell). John Glen (1891) finds the earliest appearance of the tune in print in Joshua Campbell's 1778 collection (p. 75). The melody has considerable currency among Cape Breton fiddlers and has been recorded often. "Miss Wedderburn's" seems ancestral to a number of derivative Irish versions (c.f. "Molly Brallaghan (1)"), and even some Appalachian cognates ("Old Mother Flanaghan").
Without a first name it is difficult to determine who Miss Wedderburn was, although Robert Ross printed a version of the reel as "Miss Jenny Wedderburn." Scottish portraitist Henry Raeburn painted a Margaret Wedderburn in 1792, who later married Philip Dundas, a naval officer and British administrator. She was his second wife.
