Annotation:Haddington Assembly (The)

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 HADDIN(G)TON ASSEMBLY. AKA and see "South Bridge of Edinburgh." Scottish, Jig. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBC. The tune was composed by the celebrated 18th century oboist William Fraser (1760-1825), who wrote the tune in Oswald's giga style, a favorite with pipe bands as a march. Fraser's playing greatly impressed poet Robert Burns who met the musician and conductor in 1793 (Stenhouse thought in 1820 to be "peculiarly chaste and masterly"), and he became an "outstanding and influential figure in Edinburgh musical life" (Emmerson, 1971). It was published in Niel Gow's Second Collection (1788). John Glen (1891) finds the earliest printing of a tune by this title in Daniel Dow's c. 1775 collection (p. 6).  Source for notated version:  Printed sources: Emmerson (Rantin' Pipe and Tremblin' String), 1971; No. 80, p. 159. Gow (Second Collection of Neil Gow's Reels), 1788; p. 23 (3rd ed.).  Recorded sources: Celestial Entertainment CECS001, Brenda Stubbert (Cape Breton) - "In Jig Time!" (1995). HJC 2000, Hanneke Cassel - "Many Happy Returns" (2003).

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