Annotation:Mr. Alexander Cunningham’s Strathspey
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MR. ALEXANDER CUNNINGHAM'S STRATHSPEY. Scottish, Slow Strathspey. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. Although the name 'Alexander Cunningham' is a fairly common one, it is possible the tune was name for an Edinburgh lawyer by that name who lived from 1763-1812, and who was a neighbor and friend of poet Robert Burns. Burns corresponded with Cunningham [1], one time sending him a draft of his song set to a 'beautiful Jacobite air', "There’ll never be peace till Jamie comes hame," with the note:
‘When Political combustion ceases to be the object of Princes and Patriots, it then, you know, becomes the lawful prey of Historians and Poets.’
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Gow (Third Collection of Niel Gow’s Reels), 3rd ed., originally 1792; p. 36. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; p. 67.
Recorded sources: