Annotation:Bonnie Christy
X:1 T:Bonny Christy M:C L:1/8 B:Alexander Stuart – “Musick for Allan Ramsay’s Collection, part 1st” B:(Edinburgh, c. 1724, pp. 2-3) F: https://digital.tcl.sc.edu/digital/collection/rbc/id/2942 Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:F V:1 f2|cAGF CDFG|A2 GF F2 B_A|G2 FE _e3f|g2 (GA) G2f2| cAGF CDFG|A2 GF F3A|GFGA f3g|a2 (cd) c2 BA| G2A2f3g|(ag)(fd) (fd)(cA)|G2 F_E _e3f|g2 (GA) G2 FG| A2 GA B2 AB|c2 (de) f2 (ed)|cdcA GABc|A2 (GF) F2|| V:2 clef = bass z2|F,,2C,2A,,2F,,2|C,2C,,2F,,2z2|_E,2B,2G,2F,2|_E,2B,2E,,2z2| F,2C2A,2F,2|C2C,2 F,G,A,F,|C2B,2A,2G,2|F,2C,2F,,2 z2| C,2F,2A,2G,2|F,2B,2A,2F,2|_E,2B,2G,2F,2|_E,2B,,2_E,,2z2| F,2C,2G,2F,2|A,2B,2A,2G,2|A,2F,2B,2G,2|C2C,2F,2||
BONNIE CHRISTY. AKA - "Bone Cirste," "Bonny Christy." Scottish, Air (cut time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (plus variations in McGibbon). The air can be found (as "Bone Cirste") in George Bowie manuscript, c. 1700, and was in the repertoire of Edinburgh violinist John McLachan, but was first printed by one of the next generation of Edinburgh musicians, in Alexander Stuart's Musick for Allan Ramsay’s Collection, part 1st (c. 1724). Additional early printings were in London by Daniel Wright in his Aria di Camera (1727), and in Munro's Scots Tunes, 1732.
The air accompany's poet Allan Ramsay's "South Sea Sang" "Bonny Christy," printed in his Tea Table Miscellany (No. 9). The first two stanzas go:
How sweetly smells the simmer green!
Sweet taste the peach and cherry;
Painting and order please our een,
And claret makes us merry:
But finest colours, fruits and flowers,
And wine, tho' I be thirsty,
Lose a' their charms and weaker powers,
Compar'd with those of Chirsty.
When wand'ring o'er the flow'ry park,
No nat'ral beauty wanting,
How lightsome is 't to hear the lark,
And birds in concert chanting!
But if my Chirsty tunes her voice,
I 'm wrapt in admiration,
My thoughts with extasies rejoice,
And drap the hale creation.
