Brig o' Aboyne

 BRIG O' ABOYNE. Scottish, Strathspey ("slowly"). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'B. The brig o' Aboyne spans the River Dee. The town of Aboyne, reports Neil (1991), was developed in the latter half of the 19th century, but was originally a settlement surrounding the castle which lies to the north of the modern town. The composer of the tune was Peter Milne, "The Tarland Minstrel," who was born in Kincardine O'Neil in 1824. He was a self-taught fiddler but proved a prodigy who at the age of 17 was playing in the Theatre Royal in Aberdeen, and later led an orchestra in Edinburgh. Scott Skinner was one of Milne's pupils and musical partners and was greatly influenced by him, declaring him one of the finest native musicians Scotland ever produced. Unfortunately, Milne's later life was one of poverty and debilitated circumstances which began after he became addicted to laudanum (an opiate) which he originally took for rheumatism. Milne's composition was first published by Charles Middleton in Middleton's Selection of Strathspeys, Reels, &c., for the Violin (c. 1882), for which Milne did the arrangements, adding some of his own compositions. Printed source: Middleton (Selection of Strathspeys, Reels, &c., for the Violin), c. 1882; p. 11. Neil (The Scots Fiddle), 1991; No. 61, p. 85.

X:1 T:Brig o' Aboyne M:4/4 L:1/8 C:Peter Milne R:Strathspey K:D G|FB B/A/G/F/ d>B|AB A>FE>F|FB B/A/G/F/ d>B|1 A>F A/G/F/E/ (D2 D):|2 A>F A/G/F/E/ Dfa>f b/a/g/f/ a>f|d>fa>f bf|d>fa>f b/a/g/f/ a>f|a>fe>g fA| d>fa>f b/a/g/f a>f|d>fa>f gg|f>ae>f|d>eB>e|A>F A/G/F/E/ (D2D)||

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