Annotation:Mrs. Fraser of Lovat
X:1 T:Mrs. Fraser of Lovat's Strathspey C:Robert Petrie S:Petrie's Collection of Strathspey Reels and Country Dances &c., 1790 Z:Steve Wyrick <sjwyrick'at'astound'dot'net>, 3/5/04 N:Petrie's First Collection, page 5 L:1/8 M:C R:Strathspey K:Am A | E<A,E>D E<A,A,>C | B,G E/D/C/B,/ D<G,G,>B, | EA,TE>D E<A,A,>C | DE/F/ E/D/C/B,/ CA,A, :| B | A<ac<a Aac<A | G<gB<g G<gd<B |A<ac<a Aae<c | B/c/d/B/ e/d/c/B/ c<AA>B | A<ac<a Aac<A | G<gB<g G<gd<B |A/B/c/A/ B/c/d/B/ c/d/e/c/ d/e/f/d/ | eE e/d/c/B/ cAA |]
MRS. FRASER OF LOVAT. AKA and see "Honorable Mrs. Fraser of Lovat (The)." Scottish, Strathspey (whole time). A Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. The composition is generally credited to Kirkmichael, Perthshire, fiddler biography:Robert Petrie, in whose 1790 collection the strathspey was first printed. he tune is unattributed in the Gow and Mackintosh collections, although MacDonald in his later 1887 collection credits the composition to Petrie.
The strathspey's title probably refers to Jane Fraser of Leadclune (c. 1743-), sister of Sir William Fraser, 1st Bt., and daughter of William Fraser of Leadclune, Inverness. She married British diplomat and MP Archibald Campbell Fraser (1736-1815) of Lovat, in 1763. He was the second son of the executed Simon "The Fox" Fraser of Jacobite fame, and assumed the Chiefship of Clan Fraser upon the death of his brother, also Simon Fraser, in 1782. The couple had five children, most of whom predeceased them. Archibald died at Belnan, Nova Scotia, Canada, in December, 1815, outliving all his sons. There is no date of death for Jane, however, she is buried at the Boleskine Burial Ground near Loch Ness, the site of wikipedia:Boleskine_House, constructed by her husband Archibald. It was once the home of occultist Aleister Crowley and later Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), but sadly was burnt in 2015 and again in 2018 (restoration efforts are planned). Crowley's tenancy inspired local rumors of a tunnel linking the house with the graveyard, some say to allow spirits to rise up to the house, and others that it was to allow the remains of sacrifices to be taken to the burial ground.
