Lady Of The Lake: A Song History

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Several unrelated tunes are called "Lady of the Lake." The Traditional Tune Archive attributes the duplication to a popular country dance that carried the name.[1] The title also calls to mind Sir Walter Scott's narrative poem The Lady of the Lake, published in 1810.[2] The Archive cites John Hartford's observation that the poem was popular on the American frontier.[3] The "Lady of the Lake" usually heard in old-time circles appears to be an American reel with a long history in Virginia. George P. Knauff printed it in the third volume of his Virginia Reels (Baltimore, 1839). Before 1936, Winston Wilkinson collected a version from fiddler J. H. Chisholm of Greenwood, Virginia.[3][4]

Color photochrom of a lakeside path beside Loch Katrine in the Scottish Trossachs, with wooded hills beyond

“Loch Katrine, path by the loch, Trossachs, Scotland,” photochrom print, about 1890–1900. Library of Congress. No known restrictions. Loch Katrine is the setting of Scott’s poem The Lady of the Lake.

Virginia fiddlers kept playing it. Collectors found a distinctive version from Parley Parsons of Galax, and Norman Edmonds of the Hillsville area had his own setting.[3][5] Alan Jabbour learned the tune in the 1960s from Joe Anglin. Jabbour regarded Henry Reed's "Ducks on the Pond" as a form of it.[3] The Library of Congress notes on Reed's 1966 recording point to the pond and lake of the two titles. They also observe that the Knauff and Chisholm settings start with the low strain, while Reed reverses the order and plays the high strain first.[4] John Hartford included "Lady of the Lake" on Wild Hog in the Red Brush (Rounder, 1996).[3] "Lady of the Lake" and "Ducks on the Pond" are separate entries in Stephen Seifert's mountain dulcimer book Join the Jam II.[6]

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Sources

  1. The Traditional Tune Archive: "Annotation:Lady of the Lake (1)".
  2. Encyclopaedia Britannica: "The Lady of the Lake".
  3. The Traditional Tune Archive: "Annotation:Lady of the Lake (6)".
  4. Library of Congress, American Folklife Center, Henry Reed Collection: "Ducks in the Pond".
  5. Slippery-Hill (Milliner-Koken Collection): "Lady Of The Lake".
  6. Stephen Seifert: "Join the Jam II".