Thursday 21 March 2019
Tune of the Day: The Caledonian Hunt
Traditional Scottish strathspey
This tune was composed by Sir Alexander Don, 5th Baronet of Newton Don, who in 1777, along with other local gentry, formed a Society called the Caledonian Hunt, which met twice a year. The annual event of the Caledonian Hunt was the famous Caledonian Hunt Ball, an event so fashionable as to be attended by the majority of gentry of Scotland, and not a few from England.
According to tune collector Francis O'Neill, this strathspey first appeared in Robert Ross's A Choice Collection of Scots Reels or Country Dances & Strathspeys, which was published in Edinburgh in 1780.