Annotation:Miss Balfowr. Balberny
X:1 T:Miss Balfowr Balberny C:James Walker (1771-1840), Dysart M:C L:1/8 R:Reel B:James Walker - A Second Collection of Reels, Strathspeys, Jigs, &c. (c. 1798, p. 10) N:Dedicated to Lady St Clair Erskine of Sinclair (Fife) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Dmix A|dfdA BdBF|BAGF E2 EF|DAEA FGFd|AGFE D2D:| A2|ded Bcde|fagf e2 ef|defg abag|fdge d2 dA| defd BcdB|AdFd EFGE|DAEA FGFd|AGFE D2D||
MISS BALFOWR, BALBERNY. Scottish, Reel (whole time). D Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. "Miss Balfour, Bilberry" was composed by biography:James Walker (1771-1840), a musician, fiddler-composer and music teacher of Dysart, Fife, Scotland. Walker dedicated his second collection to Lady St. Clair Erskine of Sinclair (née Harriet Bouverie), and his first collection to her spouse, wikipedia:James_St_Clair-Erskine,_2nd_Earl_of_Rosslyn (1762-1837), soldier, politician, and slave holder.
wikipedia:Balbirnie_House is an early 19th-century country house in Glenrothes, in central Fife, Scotland. The present house was completed in 1817 as a rebuild of an 18th-century building, itself a replacement for a 17th-century dwelling. The manor and estate was the home of the Balfour family from 1640, and exits today as a hotel. The tune is perhaps named for John Ramsay Balfour (1738-1813), who inherited and enlarged Balbirnie, was a member of the faculty of advocates, as well as a landowner and coalowner. He had two sons and two daughters. Ann Balfour (c. 1775-1839), the youngest of two daughters of Maj-Gen. Robert Balfour (1772-1837), who had retired from the army on inheriting the estate. He greatly enlarged the house and remodeled the grounds. Ann Balfour remained unmarried, and in 1803-04 she purchased and altered the attractive late 18th century Kingsdale House at Kennoway: when she died this passed first to her niece, the Countess of Leven & Melville, and then to her nephew, Col. John Balfour of Balbirnie.
