Annotation:Stewarton Lasses

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STEWARTON LASSES. AKA – “Stewarton Lassies.” Scottish, Reel. Scotland, Ayrshire. D Major (C Major). Standard tuning (fiddle). The melody is thought to be one of the most outstanding compositions credited to John Riddell, the amateur fiddle composer of Ayr (1718 1795), and was early attributed to him in a work called Introduction to the Ballads and Songs of Ayrshire (1846). It does not, however, appear in Riddell's published collection. Robert Burns called the melody "the oldest Ayrshire reel" and he attributed it to Captain Alexander Cuningham of Kirktonholm (d. 1770). Burns, in his Reliques, writes:

The oldest Ayrshire reel is Stewarton Lasses^ which was made by the father of the present Sir Walter Montgomery Cunningham, alias Lord Lyle; since which period there has indeed been local music in that country in great plenty.

Collinson (1966) remarks that the tune is "an interesting study in the so called double tonic."

Additional notes

Printed sources : - Collinson (The Traditional and National Music of Scotland), 1966; p. 208.

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