Annotation:Mrs. Dr. Gordon Elgin
X:1 T:Mrs. Dr. Gordon, Elgin. A Reel. C:James Taylor M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel B:James Taylor – A Collection of Strathspeys & Reels, together with a Set of Scots Quadrilles (Elgin, c. 1835, p. 7) N:”Most respectfully dedicated to Lady Dunbar of Northfield.” Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Emin F|EFGA Bcde|dBAd FDDF|EFGA Bcde|dBdF E/E/E E:| eBBc defe|dBAF DEFD|eBBc defe|dBdF E/E/E Ed| eBBc defe|dBAF DEFD|EFGA Bcde|dBAF E/E/E E||
MRS. DR. GORDON, ELGIN. Scottish, Reel (cut time). E Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. "Mrs. Dr. Gordon, Elgin" was composed by James Taylor, a fiddler, composer and teacher of music in Elgin.
The Rev. George Gordon LL.D., born in Urquhart, Moray, in 1801 was for nearly 57 years the minister of Birnie. He was also distinguished as a naturalist and geologist, and the fossil reptile Hyperodapedon Gordoni was discovered by him and named after him. He added Pinguicula alpina to the list of British flora. Professor Cooper said of him: “He has been a living example of how science can subsist with faith, and how the active mind and the cultivated intellect can flourish in a Scottish manse”. Mrs. Dr. Gordon was born Anna Stephen (1813-1889), and the couple married in 1834, which means Taylor had recently composed the reel in her honor for his c. 1835 publication.
