Annotation:Ale is Dear (The)

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ALE IS DEAR, THE. AKA and see "Elisa Dear," "Elsie Dear." Scottish, Reel. B Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. A traditional reel, and especially popular as a pipe reel. The tune was published by Glasgow Highland piper, pipe teacher and pipe-maker William Gunn (1795-1867) in his Caledonian Repository of Music Adapted for the Bagpipes (1848). In this case "dear" in the title means 'expensive'. See also "Lady Margaret Stewart", which may or may not be a cognate tune.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: William Gunn (The Caledonian Repository of Music Adapted for the Bagpipes), Glasgow, 1848; p. 22. Logan's Collection of Highland Bagpipe Music, Book 1, c. 1899; No. 53, p. 33. Martin (Ceol na Fidhle, vol. 1), 1991; p. 46. Martin (Traditional Scottish Fiddling), 2002; p. 85.

Recorded sources: Philo 1042, Boys of the Lough – "The Piper's Broken Finger" (1972).




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