Annotation:Honorable Miss Primrose Elphinstone’s Strathspey (The)

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HONORABLE MISS PRIMROSE ELPHINSTONE'S STRATHSPEY, THE. Scottish, Strathspey. E Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. Composed by Scottish dancing master and musician Biography:Duncan MacIntyre (c. 1767-1807), who established a practice in Edinburgh, but who moved to London in the 1790's. It was in the English city that he published his 1794 collection, dedicated to Lady Charlotte Campbell.

MacIntyre composed several tune in his collection for the Elphinstone family, including "Honorable Miss Elphinstone's Fancy (The)," "Honorable Miss Elphinstone’s Reel (The)," "Honorable Miss Mackinzie Elphinstone's Favourite," "Honorable Miss Keith Elphinstone’s Favourite (The)," and "Miss C. Elphinstone," in addition to "Honorable Miss Primrose Ephinstone's Stratspey (The)." Some or all of these titles may refer to the sisters Primrose Elphinstone (1748-1802) and Clementina Elphinstone (1749-1822), youngest daughters of Charles Elphinstone (1711-1794), 10th Lord Elphinstone, and his wife Lady Clementina Fleming (d. 1799). Primrose was unmarried, but Clementina married her 3rd cousin, James Drummond, 1st Baron Perth, in 1785. If MacIntyre composed the tunes for them, then he would have composed Clementina's tune ("Miss C. Elphinstone's Strathspey") while still a teenager.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: MacIntyre (A Collection of Slow Airs, Reels and Strathspeys), 1794; p. 11.

Recorded sources:




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