Annotation:Mrs. Duff of Fetteresso's Birthday
X:1 T:Mrs. Duff of Fetteresso’s Birthday M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel B: John Morison - A Collection of New Strathspey Reels, with a few favourite Marches (Edinburgh, c. 1797, No. 1) 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:A B|AFFA AEEA|AFFA AdcB|AFFA AEEA|AdcB A2A:| f|ecAc defd|ecAc BEEf|ecAc defd|AdcB A2 Af| ecAc defd|ecAc BEEf|ecAc defa|edcB A2A||
MRS. DUFF OF FETTERESSO'S BIRTHDAY. Scottish, Reel (cut time). A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. "Mrs. of Fetteresso's Birthday" 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.
See note for "Mrs. Duff (of Fetteresso's) Strathspey (1)" for information on the subject of the title. Morison dedicated his c. 1797 New Strathspeys to her. See also his "Mr. Duff (of Fetteresso's) Birthday (2)."
