Jane Murray (nee Cathcart), Duchess of Atholl.DUCHESS OF ATHOLE'S FAVOURITE. AKA and see "Kiss in the Kitchen." Scottish, Slow Air (6/8 time). A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'BBCC. The composition has been credited to the famous Perthshire fiddler-composer Niel Gow (1727-1807), although his name does not appear with the tune when it was printed in the Gow's 2nd Collection (1788). The title honors Jane (1754-1790), Duchess of Athole, daughter of one Lord Cathcart and sister to his successor. She married the John Murray, Duke of Athole, the day after Christmas, in 1774, in a double wedding with her younger sister, Mary (for whom see "annotation:Mrs. Graham of Ballgown's Reel"). The couple had four sons and four daughters. She died in London at age 36 in 1790, two years after the Gows published this tune.
Fr. John Quinn finds concordance between "Duchess of Athole's Favourite" and P.W. Joyce's "Kiss in the Kitchen," a tune collected by William Forde from famous sculptor Patrick MacDowell.
Cape Breton fiddler Bill Lamey (1914-1991) played the tune as a waltz, although waltzes did not come into vogue until after Niel Gow died and it is doubtful he wrote it as a vehicle for that dance. The tune was also recorded by Cape Breton fiddler Dan R. MacDonald on and early LP with accompanist Lila Hashem, according to Paul Cranford.
Additional notes
Printed sources : - Gow (Second Collection of Niel Gow's Reels), 1788; pp. 20-21 (3rd ed.). MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; p. 154.
Recorded sources : - Rounder 82161-7032-2, Bill Lamey - "From Cape Breton to Boston and Back: Classic House Sessions of Traditional Cape Breton Music 1956-1977" (2000).
