Annotation:Sir George Stewart of Grantley's Strathspey
X:1 T:Sir George Stewart of Grantley's Strathspey M:C L:1/8 R:Strathpsey C:”D.D” B:Gow – Fourth Collection of Niel Gow’s Reels (1800) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:A c/>B/|A>FA>E TF2 EF|A>B {A/B/}c>B AFE {d}c/>B/|AFAE TF2 AB|(c<e) TB>c AFF:|| c/e/|fceB ~c>BAf|ecTB>c A>F Ec|fceB {d}c>BAf|ecBc AFFc/e/| Tf>afc e>f (e/d/)c/B/|A>B {A/B/}c>B AFE c/B/|AFAE F2 AB|(c<e) TB>c AFF||
SIR GEORGE STEWART OF GRANTLEY’ S STRATHSPEY. Scottish, Strathspey (whole time). A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. Attributed to “D.D.” in Gow’s Fourth Collection (1800), perhaps biography:Daniel Dow (1722-1783), a fiddler-composer and cotemporary of the renowned fiddler-composer biography:Niel Gow (1727-1807). The latter had fiddle lessons from the age of 13 from John Cameron, a retainer of Sir George Stewart of Grandtully, and by the age of 18 was good enough to win a fiddle contest involving nine other fiddlers, including his mentor Cameron and Daniel Dow. The title perhaps references Sir George Stewart of Grandtully, 2nd Baronet of Grandtully (who succeeded to the estates in 1720 and died in 1759), or his namesake, the 5th Baronet of Grandtully, who died in 1827. It is possible that the tune originally referenced the 2nd Baronet, and that biography:Nathaniel Gow revived the tune for the Gows’ Fourth Collection (1800), pandering to the 5th Barnonet who had been recently raised (1797).