Loch Lavan Castle: A Song History

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"Loch Lavan Castle" is the Scottish reel "Loch Leven Castle," and the Traditional Tune Archive, which links the title to the island castle in Loch Leven, says the "Loch Lavan" spelling is common in American sources.[1] That castle's owner, Sir William Douglas, kept Mary, Queen of Scots, captive there for nearly a year in 1567 and 1568; while a prisoner she was forced to give up the throne to her infant son, James VI, and in May 1568 she got away across the loch.[2] The earliest printing the Tune Archive lists is in Davie's Caledonian Repository (Aberdeen, 1829-30), and later fiddle books such as Kerr's Merry Melodies (c. 1880) carried it too; the Archive adds that it was popular in County Donegal, turned up elsewhere in Ireland as a hornpipe under other names, and is also played in Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island.[1] A London accordion recording by Daniel Wyper from about 1921 includes a reel titled "Loch Leven Castle," though the discography identifies it by title only, so it may not be the same tune.[3]

Print of Mary, Queen of Scots, in a rowing boat at night, leaving a castle on a loch

Henry Edward Dawe, The Escape of Mary, Queen of Scots from Loch Leven Castle, mezzotint, about 1828. Mary, Queen of Scots escaping from Loch Leven Castle, the castle the reel is named for.

The Tune Archive traces the reel's spread among modern American old-time musicians to West Virginia fiddler Franklin George, who learned it from a 78 credited to the Honeyman Fiddlers, a cover name for the Cameron Men, and the Fuzzy Mountain String Band learned it from George and recorded it in 1973 on Summer Oaks and Porch.[1] The Cameron Men were brothers from Kirriemuir in Angus whose Edinburgh session for Beltona, announced in May 1934, included a march, strathspey and reel set of "Loch Katrine," "Miss Lyall" and "Loch Leven"; Beltona later reissued these sides as Honeyman's Fiddlers.[4] The tune has since appeared in fiddle collections such as Brody's Fiddler's Fakebook (1983) and on recordings by Norman Blake and Jerry Holland.[1]

Neal Hellman arranges it in Mountain Dulcimer Arrangements From Both Sides Of The Atlantic, an 85-page Fingers Of Steel book of 35 arrangements that go beyond melody-only versions while staying approachable, each also supplied as its own PDF and as an MP3 recording.[5]

Our book that contains the song "Loch Lavan Castle"

Sources

  1. The Traditional Tune Archive: "Annotation:Loch Leven Castle".
  2. Historic Environment Scotland: "Lochleven Castle: History".
  3. Discography of American Historical Recordings: "Columbia matrix 71338. Auld Brig o' Ayr : Strathspey ; Loch Leven Castle : Reel ; Rakes of Kildare : Jig / Daniel Wyper".
  4. Topic Records: "The Cameron Men: Classic Scots Fiddle Recordings from the Thirties" (sleeve notes).
  5. Fingers Of Steel: "Neal Hellman, Mountain Dulcimer Arrangements From Both Sides Of The Atlantic".
  6. Image: Henry Edward Dawe, The Escape of Mary, Queen of Scots from Loch Leven Castle, mezzotint, about 1828. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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