Annotation:Mrs. Charles Mentath of Close-burn’s Jig

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MRS. CHARLES MENTATH OF CLOSE-BURN'S JIG. Scottish, Slip Jig (9/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). Composed by gentleman amateur musician Robert Riddell of Glenriddell, Dumfriesshire, southwest Scotland in honor of the wife of Sir Charles Granvill Stuart-Menteth (sometimes Menteith)(1769-1847), 1st Baronet of Closeburn and Mansfield. The castle is a round tower that dates to the 14th century, and is one of the oldest continually-occupied dwellings in Scotland. Mrs. Mentath (her husband's peerage was not awareded until the 1830's) was the eldest daughter of Philadelphia Ferguson, who married an Englishman named Thomas Loughman. Tracing the Ferguson connection reveals that Mentath's bride was the a cousin of Robert Riddell, whose grandfater (also Robert Riddell) had married Jean Ferguson (1711-1793) in 1731. Robert Riddell himself died at his estate of Friars' Carse, Apr. 21, 1794.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Riddell (Collection of Scotch Galwegian Border Tunes), 1794; p. 18.

Recorded sources:




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