Sheet Music: Annie Laurie

TitleAnnie Laurie
Alternate titlesMaxwelton Braes
ComposerAlicia Scott (1810–1900)
Also attributed toTraditional Scottish
InstrumentationFlute and Guitar chords
KeyC major
RangeC5–E6
Time signature4/4
Tempo90 BPM
Performance time0:45
Difficulty leveleasy
Download printable scorePDF Sheet Music (60 kB) (preview)
Download audio tracksMIDI (change tempo/key) MP3 (626 kB)
Play-along accompanimentMIDI (change tempo/key) MP3 (655 kB)
Date added2009-07-31
Last updated2009-07-31
Download popularity index☆☆☆☆☆ 0.3 (not so popular)
Categories
Ballads, Love songs, Traditional/Folk

Performances

  • Erin — Solo flute.

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Friday 31 July 2009

Tune of the Day: Annie Laurie

Traditional Scottish ballad

This old Scottish song is based on a poem by William Douglas of Dumfries and Galloway. Traditionally it is said that Douglas had a romance with Anna (or Anne) Laurie, the youngest daughter of Robert Laurie, who became first baronet of Maxwelton in 1685. The legend says that her father opposed a marriage, probably because Anna was very young; she was only in her mid-teens when her father died. It may also have been because of Douglas's aggressive temperament or more likely because of his Jacobite allegiances. Douglas eventually recovered from this romance and eloped with a Lanarkshire heiress, Elizabeth Clerk of Glenboig. They married in Edinburgh in 1706.

In 1890 Alicia Ann Spottiswoode (aka Lady John Scott) wrote to the editor of the Dumfries Standard, claiming that she had composed the tune and wrote most of the modern words. She said that around 1834–1835 she encountered the words in the collection called Songs of Scotland in a library, and decided to adapt the music she had composed for another old Scottish poem, “Kempye Kaye”.

The song is also known as “Maxwelton Braes”.