Annotation:Miss Jean Maxwell of Monreith’s Reel

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MISS JEAN MAXWELL OF MONREITH'S REEL. Scottish, Reel. E Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. Attributed to fiddler-composer John French (c. 1753-c. 1803), of Cumnock, Ayrshire, in honor of a member of the Maxwell family of Monreith, a senior branch of the family that was once the most powerful on the Borders. The most famous Jean Maxwell of Monreith lived from 1748-1812, and became the Duchess of Gordon, by way of her marriage in 1767 to Alexander, 4th Duke of Gordon. If French named his tune for her, it was an early work indeed, for he would have been a young teenager at the time.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: French (Collection of New Strathspeys, Reels, etc.), 1801; No. 4, p. 6

Recorded sources:

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