Annotation:Miss Downie's Strathspey
X:1 T:Miss Downie’s Strathspey M:C| L:1/8 R:Srathspey B:MacIntyre – Collection of Slow Airs, Reels & Strathspeys (1794)441 Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Gmin d/>c/|B>B, B,D/E/ FB, B,d/>c/|B>B, B,D/E/ {DE}F2 Fd/>c/|B>B, B,D/E/ F<B,F>D| C<CE>F {EF}G2 Gd/>c/|B>B, B,D/E/ F/E/D/C/ B,d/c/|B>B, B,D/E/ {DE}F2 Fd/c/| B>FB>d B>F G/F/E/D/|C<CE>F {EF}G2G||d/c/|B>f e/d/c/B/ F>BD>B| B,>f e/d/c/B/ [E2B2g2] gb|B>cBf {e}d>cBB,|C<CE>F {EF}G2 Gd/c/| B>f e/d/c/B/ F>BD>F|B,>f e/d/c/B/ [E2B2g2] gb|{g}f>dc<e {e}d>cB<B,|C<CE>F {EF}G2G||
MISS DOWNIE'S STRATHSPEY. AKA and see "Honest Duncan," "Garden Shiel." Scottish, Strathspey. G Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The strathspey was composed by Biography:Duncan MacIntyre, an expatriate Scottish dancing master in London who published the tune in 1795 with the title "Miss Downie's Strathspey." John Glen (The Glen Collection, 1895) suggests the melody called "Honest Duncan," published by the Gows in Second Repository (p. 1), may refer to MacIntyre. "Honest Duncan" was, however, claimed by fiddler-composer Robert Petrie, who published it in his Third Collection (1802) under the title "Garden Shiel." MacIntyre himself printed it in 1795 as "Miss Downie's Strathspey," and Glen supposes this gives him the better claim to the composition. The Gows' title for the tune may have been suggested, writes Glen, by poet James Hogg's poem "Honest Duncan" published in Forest Minstrel in 1810 (although the poem may have been written earlier). Perhaps Nathaniel's association with Duncan MacIntyre resulted in his borrowing the name for the tune.