Carolina Nairne

From Wind Repertory Project
Carolina Nairne

Biography

Carolina Oliphant, Lady Nairne (16 August 1766, Perthshire – 26 October 1845, Gask) – also known as Carolina Baroness Nairn in the peerage of Scotland and Baroness Keith in that of the United Kingdom – was a Scottish songwriter.

N.B. The name may also be cited as Caroline Oliphant or L Nairne.

Lady Nairne was raised in an aristocratic and politically important Scottish family, marrying her cousin in 1806. She was descended from Lord Nairne, a significant political and military leader in 18th century Scotland.

Nairne began writing songs shortly after her father's death in 1792. She was a contemporary of the best-known Scottish songwriter and poet Robert Burns. Many of her songs, such as, Will ye no' come back again?, Charlie is my Darling , The Rowan Tree and Wi' a Hundred Pipers remain popular today, almost two hundred years after they were written. One of her songs, Caller Herrin', was sung at the 2021 commemoration of the 1881 Eyemouth disaster. She usually set her words to traditional Scottish folk melodies, but sometimes contributed her own music.

Carolina Nairne and her contemporary Robert Burns were influenced by the Jacobite heritage in their establishment of a distinct Scottish identity, through what they both called national song. Perhaps in the belief that her work would not be taken seriously if it were known that she was a woman, Nairne went to considerable lengths to conceal her identity (even from her husband) when submitting her work for publication. Her achievements became known only posthumously.

Although both working in the same genre of what might today be called traditional Scottish folksongs, Nairne and Burns display rather different attitudes in their compositions. Nairne tends to focus on an earlier romanticised version of the Scottish way of life, tinged with sadness for what is gone forever, whereas Burns displays an optimism about a better future to come.


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