Annotation:North's Farewell to the Caledonian Hunt

Back to North's Farewell to the Caledonian Hunt

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NORTH'S FAREWELL TO THE CALEDONIAN HUNT. Scottish, Slow Air. C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The Caledonian Hunt was a gentleman's sporting and social club, which, among other things, sponsored the annual Caledonian Hunt Ball, along with horse-racing, balls, and other social events. The parenthetical name "Milles Macphail" after the surname 'North's' in the title appears in the original publication, a reference to Mr. Miles Macphail, a once-famous Established Church publisher in Edinburgh, to whom poet Robert Burns was once apprenticed (Burns himself was admitted to the rolls of the Caledonian Hunt in April, 1792). Macphail was the publisher of Macphail's Magazine, and 'of books issued against the Free Church of Scotland'.

The Caledonian Hunt was a 'movable feast', and located to various areas around Scotland for its meetings and events. Thus the title may refer to the Hunt's move to a southern location for its activities for a time. Why Macphail's name was inserted is unknown.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Carlin (Gow Collection), 1986; No. 366. Gow (Fourth Collection of Niel Gow's Reels), 2nd ed., originally 1800; p. 16.

Recorded sources:

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