Annotation:Colonel Byng's Favorite
COLONEL BYNG'S FAVORITE. Scottish, Strathspey. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. Composed by Edinburgh fiddler-composer, bandleader and music publisher biography:Nathaniel Gow (1763-1831). "In playing this Tune the 2nd Strain is to be played 8 notes higher alternately." The tune has been transformed into a polka in Irish repertoire under the title "Captain Byng" (see note for that tune for more). It was entered into The Buttery Manuscript [1] (c. 1784-1820, No. 751), the copybook of John Buttery (1784-1854), who joined the 34th Regiment in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England, in 1797 and served as a fifer until discharged in 1814. His large ms. contains marches, duty calls, dance tunes and airs. While the tune is set as a reel and not a strathspey in the ms., it may be that Buttery knew to play it with dotted rhythms and 'Scotch snaps'.