Annotation:Lochmaben Hornpipe

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LOCHMABEN HORNPIPE, THE. AKA and see "Bridge of Lodi (The)," "Down Back o' Shoddy," "Lord Nelson's Hornpipe (1)," "Murray's Hornpipe (1)," "Nelson's Hornpipe (2)," "Saxon's Hornpipe," "Stage Hornpipe (4) (The)." Scottish, Hornpipe. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune is popular in England under a variety of titles. The references to Nelson date the tune to at least the early 19th century, and the hornpipe appears in several north English fiddlers' manuscripts under the "Saxon's" title. The Lochmaben title does not appear in older publications or fiddlers' manuscripts, and appears to be a fairly modern appellation.

Lochmaben is a royal burgh founded in 1296 in Annandale parish, Dumfriesshire, in the valley of the Annan about 9 miles north east of the town of Dumfries itself. The town features not one but two castles, Lochmaben Old Castle (dating from the mid-12th century) and Lochmaben Castle (begun around c. 1300); once strongholds of the Bruces, reputed to be the birthplace of Robert the Bruce. Robert Burns referred to the place in his poem "The Five Carlins," when he says: "Marjory o' the many Lochs, A Carlin auld and teugh." Burns claimed to be a Burgess of Lochmaben town, but no record of his installation in the office can be found in the records.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Hunter (The Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 331. Miller (Fiddler's Throne), 2004; No. 297, p. 176.

Recorded sources:

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