Annotation:Mrs. Irvine's Reel
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MRS. IRVINE'S REEL. Scottish, Reel (cut time). E Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. Composed by Perthshire fiddler-composer biography:Duncan McKeracher, the "Dunkeld Paganini," probably for Janet (AKA Jessie) Stewart, the eldest daughter (or youngest daughter and last surviving child, as some records give) of Robert Stewart of Garth, who was born in 1776 either at Kynachan, parish of Dull, or at Drumcharry. Janet eloped in 1805 with the son of one of her fatherâs tenants, Alexander Irvine (1773-1824), who was then minister of Fortingall, and moved with him from there to Little Dunkeld, Perthshire, where he also became minister. In 1824 she was widowed, and, as a daughter of Robert Stewart of Garth, she then moved back to her family home at Drumchary in the parish of Fortingall and managed to carry on there until the second half of the 1830's, despite mounting financial problems. The Garth estate was then sold and Mrs. Irvine moved out to live in Cluny Cottage, near Pitlochry. She died at Lagreach, near Pitlochry, parish of Moulin, in March, 1865.
McKercher composed several tunes for the family (see also "Miss Irvine's Reel" and "David Stewart Irvine Esqr.'s Reel").
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Duncan McKercher (A Collection of Original Stathspeys and Reels), Edinburgh, c. 1830; p. 19.
Recorded sources: