~ from the playing of fiddler Mike MacDougall, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada…
Five comments
“Coilsfield House” C: Nathaniel Gow
“Coilsfield House” ~ The Fiddler’s Companion ~ Andrew Kuntz
http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/ ~ & for another transcription:
http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/CO_COLL.htm
COILSFIELD HOUSE. Scottish, Strathspey ("Slowly") or “Pastoral” Air (4/4 time). G Major. Standard tuning. AAB. The air was composed by Nathaniel Gow (1763-1831), the fourth son of famed Scottish fiddle-composer Niel Gow. It was named after the home of Colonel Hugh Montgomery (1749-1819), Earl of Eglinton, in the parish of Tarbolton, Ayrshire. Neil (1991) explains the name "Coilsfield" apparently derives from the grave of King Coil, reputed to lie somewhere near the mansion house. Coil, or sometimes Coilus or Coel Hen, was a British king in the Roman or post-Roman era who was linked to the Strathclyde area; his name comes down to us in modern times in the nursery rhyme “Old King Cole.” The property was once known as "Quillisfield" and was so named in the charter of John De Graham, who assigned the property to the monks of Melrose. Around 1640 it was acquired by James Montgomery, 4th son of Alexander, 6th Earl of Eglinton, and remained in the family for 250 years. His descendent Colonel Hugh Montgomery (or Montgomerie) was himself an amateur fiddler and Scottish music enthusiast and also was honored as the dedicatee of Niel Gow’s Fourth Collection. The mansion was well-known to the poet Robert Burns when he dwelt at Lochlea, for it was where he went to meet his Highland Mary, Mary Campbell, then residing as a dairymaid at Coilsfield Housse. It is where "Summer first unfaulds her robes," and where "they langest tarry,” said he. His romance was short-lived however, for while they were lovers in the Spring, by October, 1786, Mary had died of a fever caught while waiting on a sick boy, her brother.
***
Ye banks and braes and streams around the Castle o’ Montgomerie,
Green be your woods and fair your flours, your waters never dumlie!
There simmer first unfauld her robes, and there the longest tarry;
For there I took the last farewell o’ my sweet Highland Mary…
It would be great to see some other transcriptions for this lovely tune. I may chase at least one other up to add later…
High Level Ranters version
The following transcription is from the playing of The High Level Ranters on track 17 of the CD ‘The Northumbrian Small Pipes’
X: 1
T: Coilsfield House
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: Barndance
K: D major
de ||: f2 A2 d2 F2 | D6 ef | g2 e2 f2 d2 | ce-e2 A3g | gfed dcBA | d4 B2 GE | F2 d2 E2 c>c | d4 D2 :||
fg ||: a3b a2 f2 | b4 e2 fg | a2 d2 c2 d>f | edcB A2 g>g | f2 d2 A2 F2 | G2 AB E4 -| 2/4 E2 AG | 4/4 F2 d2 E2 c>c | d4 D2 :||
Coilsfield House
The version added by me (mcgill) is taken note for note from "The Neil Gow Collection of Scottish Dance Music" and more accurately represents the Patrick Ball version.