Annotation:Dumfries House

Back to 

 DUMFRIES HOUSE. Scottish, Jig. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Callaghan, Kerr): AAB (Gow, Hunter): AABB' (Athole). The name Dumfries means 'stronghold by the little wood', from the Celtic root-word dun, meaning a fortified place. It was the place where, in 1306, Robert Bruce murdered John Comyn in the chapel of Grey Friars and subsequently claimed the throne of Scotland in rebellion against the English. Dumfries is closely associated with the poets Robert Burns and J.M. Barrie. The jig was composed by John Riddell (1718-95), the blind amateur fiddle-composer of Ayr, and first published (by music publisher Robert Bremner) in his c. 1776 A Collection of Scots Reels, Minuets, etc. (p. 32). Other early printings were by James Aird in vol. 4 of his Selections of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs (1782-97) and Niel Stewart in Select Collection of Scots, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, Jiggs & Marches (Edinburgh, c. 1788). It is still popular and one of Riddell's best tunes, opines Collinson (1966). It was picked up by English fiddlers and appears in the Elisabeth Williamson manuscript (dated 1790, although the place is unknown), George Malecot (Whitehaven, Cumbria, 1776-1779), and an anonymous 19th century West Midlands manuscript. It was included in the American music manuscript of William Patten (Philadelphia, Pa.) from around 1800. Samuel Bayard thought the second part of this tune was a version of "Rosin the Beau."  Source for notated version:  Printed sources: Aird (Selections of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs), vol. 4, 1794; p. 27. Callaghan (Hardcore English), 2007; p. 58. Gow (Complete Repository), 3rd Edition, Part I, 1799; p. 13. Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 283. Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 2; No. 314, p. 34. McGlashan (A Collection of Reels), c. 1786; p. 28. O'Neill (Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody), 1922; No. 169. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; p. 139.  Recorded sources:

Back to