Fiddle Composers from the South of Scotland
by Charlie Gore
John Riddell, John French & John Hall (all of Ayr)
Colonel Hugh Montgomerie (Sodger Hugh) 12th Earl of Eglinton
Alexander Gibb (Haddington, East Lothian)
James Porteous ‘The Musical Miller’ of Annandale
Robert Riddell of Glenriddell
If it hadn’t been for the publishing vogue of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, most of the music of the fiddle-composers of southern Scotland would have been lost long since. Fortunately, though neglected, the music has been preserved and is ready for rediscovery.
In some cases these music collections are all the history we have, but occasionally there has been a lucky break, such as a hand-written history or an anecdote saved from the fire, or official evidence from Parish records, even a moss covered headstone. But whereas in the case of ‘famous’ Niel Gow that great personality is remembered as much through his portraits and general notoriety as by his music. His four sons and his grandson – all distinguished musicians and composers – languish in a half-forgotten world, along with perhaps 90% of their contemporaries. How many of those other names do people now remember at all? William Marshall of Speyside, ‘Red Rob’ Mackintosh (Tullimet & Edinburgh), Alexander ‘King’ McGlashan (Edinburgh, Daniel Dow and Robert Petrie (Kirkmichael in Perthshire) were all notable personalities in the music profession and are dimly remembered in some quarters. What they did – and what all those hundred or so contemporaries of theirs also did – was to publish volumes of printed music (over 300 of them) and that in most cases is the only reason they are remembered at all. We should not forget that, without those volumes, the music resulting from centuries of Scottish tradition would now have vanished. Some of them published their own work and some chose to mix the old and the very old with the favourite music of the day. The result is an astonishing blend of material and perhaps the most extraordinary feature of it is that so much of it is still as fresh and playable as when the books were issued 200 years ago!
We ought to be able to identify without difficulty the works of many of these worthies from the Borders, Ayrshire and elsewhere by the inclusion of some of their music in the compilations of James Kerr (1870s) and such mighty volumes as The Athole Collection (1884). That has been denied to us by the unfortunate decision of the publishers to ignore the composers and all reference to sources and dates. The music selected is almost all from the earlier period but has the appearance of having no previous ancestry at all. Yet it was through the efforts of the early publishers that Scotland’s traditional fiddle and song repertory won its unique reputation as one of the great gems of European folk music. That celebrity was helped along by the general acclaim of Scotland’s patron saint of the song lyric, Robert Burns (1759-96), but how it stands now is a more vexed question. The national repertoires of Ireland, Shetland and Cape Breton have been swept into the flood tide of international folk music and yet the indigenous material and styles are still nurtured and cherished. Scotland in the meantime, while still providing the bulk of the popular pipe music within the folk repertory, seems to appreciate its own 18th and 19th century fiddle music and its local styles less and less. The teaching of the tradition, particularly with regard to dance tempo, is itself in danger in these changing times and may soon be in terminal decline. It can be preserved, through sound and video recording, but that would not be the same thing. Books of music tucked away in the ‘Rare Book’ sections of our principal libraries, to be studied only under strict supervision, are unlikely to set the heather on fire! We need to hear the music again, as it was intended to be heard, and that’s just not happening.
John Riddell, or Riddle (1718-1795)
From Ayr, is described by John Glen as ‘the earliest name that has come down to us as a composer of Scottish Dance Music’. He certainly was one of the earliest because his ‘Collection of Scots Reels and Country Dances and Minuets’ may have been published as early as 1766 (it was republished and much enlarged by James Aird, Glasgow, in 1782) The title page declares the tunes as ‘composed by John Riddle of Ayr’, whereas Robert Bremner and Neil Stewart, who were publishing in the previous decade, were merely collecting and editing their material. Any claim to authorship of dance tunes before that time would be very hard to prove with certainty. Bremner published Riddell’s The Merry Lads of Ayr in 1757. Dumfries House (a 6/8 tune still popular, which turned up in Cape Breton with the title changed to Dumphrie’s), the air Finlayston House and the reel, Stewarton Lassies are remembered. He died of ‘fever’ aged 76.
John French (1753-1803)
A native of Cumnock, Ayrshire and was clearly well-kent as a fiddler-composer in the neighbourhood. His little collection of his own compositions, dedicated to Mrs Boswell of Auchinleck (the wife of Dr Johnston’s Boswell), was published after his death and styled as ‘for behoof of his widow and children’, there being no social security net for the widows of dead fiddlers in his day. To judge from the titles of some of his tunes – Send Us Whisky and A Caup of yer Tippany Kate – it seems not unlikely that the demon drink caught up with him, but he left us some engaging music nevertheless.
John Hall (1788-1862)
From Ayr, describes himself as a Teacher of Music on the title page of his music collection, ‘A Selection of Strathspeys, Reels, Waltzes and Irish Jigs’ to which he adds mention of ‘a number of Jackson’s Admired Airs’ (a dozen or so favourite jigs from the Irish repertory). It contains 95 titles, 30 of them his own. He’s now best remembered through a number of manuscript collections (his teaching music), which are preserved in various Glasgow museums and a dancing master’s ‘kit’ fiddle, used in tuition.
Alexander Gibb
Dancing master from Haddington, East Lothian. /his story can be traced through advertisements dating from 1789 when he settled in Edinburgh, until 1809, after which there is silence. In one announcement he ‘informs his friends and the public that he has not been to Paris this year, but that he has as many modern dances, etc, as any in his line in the town’. (Glen) His ‘New Collection of Minuets, Medlies, High-Dances, Marches, Strathspeys and Other Reels’ seems cleverly geared to the dance fashions of 1798, the estimated year of publication. As a footnote he adds – with professional aplomb – that ‘at desire he makes Steps for New and Old Tunes’. His dance compositions are polished and the 6/8 Miss white’s Jig (in Bb) is a real gem.
James Porteous (1762-1847)
‘The Musical Miller of Annandale’, was born at Applegarth, Dumfries-shire, spent a year in Edinburgh (apparently learning the fiddle under Nathaniel Gow) and returned to the life of a miller and farmer at Hoddam* in Dumfriesshire, where he died aged 85. He was known as a kindly, jovial man whose fiddle made him ‘a welcome addition to any company’ (from a private biography). Around 1820, his compositions appeared in ‘A Collection of Strathspeys, Reels and Jigs’, dedicated to Lady Jardine of Applegarth, published in Edinburgh but foot-notes ‘Meinfoot by Ecclefechan’. There is a mystery surrounding a second edition, published by J. Sutherland (Edinburgh) which has the same title page (minus Ecclefechan) and the same music but with 84 of the original 98 titles changed beyond recognition. There are a random few pieces not his own (these remain unchanged) and it seems an odd notion for the author himself to alter the titles.
Hoddam was the property of Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, one of those who, though talented, was also a landowner and so was labeled (by his fellow musicians who made music their livelihood) an ‘amateur’. He wrote some truly sublime pieces, but never produced a volume of his own. The Gows published his 6/8, Hoddam Castle and a number of others; Malcolm Macdonald included his 6/8 Mrs Muir Mackenzie’s Fancie.
Captain Robert Riddell of Glenriddell (c1745-1794)
A composer and antiquary and a friend of Burns, some of whose songs he set to music. In the year he died he published ‘A Collection of Scotch, Galwegian and Border Tunes ‘ Another collection a few years earlier contained ‘Reels, Minuets, Hornpipes, Marches and Songs of the Old Scotch Taste’.
Hugh Montgomerie (c1740-1819)
12th Earl; of Eglinton, known as ‘Sodger Hugh’ (he fought in the American War) and a composer and musician, was a lifelong supporter of the tradition. He’s remembered now (remarkably, under his own name) for the reel Lady Montgomery, the air Annick Lodge, the jig The Island of Mull and the strathspey Ayrshire Lasses, all published in Gow’s Repository Book 4, but he composed a great deal of other music, under the style ‘Composed by a Gentleman’.
All these volumes can be seen in libraries around Scotland. For any other details please contact Charlie Gore.
Box and Fiddle
July 2002
John Riddell, John French & John Hall (all of Ayr)
Colonel Hugh Montgomerie (Sodger Hugh) 12th Earl of Eglinton
Alexander Gibb (Haddington, East Lothian)
James Porteous ‘The Musical Miller’ of Annandale
Robert Riddell of Glenriddell
If it hadn’t been for the publishing vogue of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, most of the music of the fiddle-composers of southern Scotland would have been lost long since. Fortunately, though neglected, the music has been preserved and is ready for rediscovery.
In some cases these music collections are all the history we have, but occasionally there has been a lucky break, such as a hand-written history or an anecdote saved from the fire, or official evidence from Parish records, even a moss covered headstone. But whereas in the case of ‘famous’ Niel Gow that great personality is remembered as much through his portraits and general notoriety as by his music. His four sons and his grandson – all distinguished musicians and composers – languish in a half-forgotten world, along with perhaps 90% of their contemporaries. How many of those other names do people now remember at all? William Marshall of Speyside, ‘Red Rob’ Mackintosh (Tullimet & Edinburgh), Alexander ‘King’ McGlashan (Edinburgh, Daniel Dow and Robert Petrie (Kirkmichael in Perthshire) were all notable personalities in the music profession and are dimly remembered in some quarters. What they did – and what all those hundred or so contemporaries of theirs also did – was to publish volumes of printed music (over 300 of them) and that in most cases is the only reason they are remembered at all. We should not forget that, without those volumes, the music resulting from centuries of Scottish tradition would now have vanished. Some of them published their own work and some chose to mix the old and the very old with the favourite music of the day. The result is an astonishing blend of material and perhaps the most extraordinary feature of it is that so much of it is still as fresh and playable as when the books were issued 200 years ago!
We ought to be able to identify without difficulty the works of many of these worthies from the Borders, Ayrshire and elsewhere by the inclusion of some of their music in the compilations of James Kerr (1870s) and such mighty volumes as The Athole Collection (1884). That has been denied to us by the unfortunate decision of the publishers to ignore the composers and all reference to sources and dates. The music selected is almost all from the earlier period but has the appearance of having no previous ancestry at all. Yet it was through the efforts of the early publishers that Scotland’s traditional fiddle and song repertory won its unique reputation as one of the great gems of European folk music. That celebrity was helped along by the general acclaim of Scotland’s patron saint of the song lyric, Robert Burns (1759-96), but how it stands now is a more vexed question. The national repertoires of Ireland, Shetland and Cape Breton have been swept into the flood tide of international folk music and yet the indigenous material and styles are still nurtured and cherished. Scotland in the meantime, while still providing the bulk of the popular pipe music within the folk repertory, seems to appreciate its own 18th and 19th century fiddle music and its local styles less and less. The teaching of the tradition, particularly with regard to dance tempo, is itself in danger in these changing times and may soon be in terminal decline. It can be preserved, through sound and video recording, but that would not be the same thing. Books of music tucked away in the ‘Rare Book’ sections of our principal libraries, to be studied only under strict supervision, are unlikely to set the heather on fire! We need to hear the music again, as it was intended to be heard, and that’s just not happening.
John Riddell, or Riddle (1718-1795)
From Ayr, is described by John Glen as ‘the earliest name that has come down to us as a composer of Scottish Dance Music’. He certainly was one of the earliest because his ‘Collection of Scots Reels and Country Dances and Minuets’ may have been published as early as 1766 (it was republished and much enlarged by James Aird, Glasgow, in 1782) The title page declares the tunes as ‘composed by John Riddle of Ayr’, whereas Robert Bremner and Neil Stewart, who were publishing in the previous decade, were merely collecting and editing their material. Any claim to authorship of dance tunes before that time would be very hard to prove with certainty. Bremner published Riddell’s The Merry Lads of Ayr in 1757. Dumfries House (a 6/8 tune still popular, which turned up in Cape Breton with the title changed to Dumphrie’s), the air Finlayston House and the reel, Stewarton Lassies are remembered. He died of ‘fever’ aged 76.
John French (1753-1803)
A native of Cumnock, Ayrshire and was clearly well-kent as a fiddler-composer in the neighbourhood. His little collection of his own compositions, dedicated to Mrs Boswell of Auchinleck (the wife of Dr Johnston’s Boswell), was published after his death and styled as ‘for behoof of his widow and children’, there being no social security net for the widows of dead fiddlers in his day. To judge from the titles of some of his tunes – Send Us Whisky and A Caup of yer Tippany Kate – it seems not unlikely that the demon drink caught up with him, but he left us some engaging music nevertheless.
John Hall (1788-1862)
From Ayr, describes himself as a Teacher of Music on the title page of his music collection, ‘A Selection of Strathspeys, Reels, Waltzes and Irish Jigs’ to which he adds mention of ‘a number of Jackson’s Admired Airs’ (a dozen or so favourite jigs from the Irish repertory). It contains 95 titles, 30 of them his own. He’s now best remembered through a number of manuscript collections (his teaching music), which are preserved in various Glasgow museums and a dancing master’s ‘kit’ fiddle, used in tuition.
Alexander Gibb
Dancing master from Haddington, East Lothian. /his story can be traced through advertisements dating from 1789 when he settled in Edinburgh, until 1809, after which there is silence. In one announcement he ‘informs his friends and the public that he has not been to Paris this year, but that he has as many modern dances, etc, as any in his line in the town’. (Glen) His ‘New Collection of Minuets, Medlies, High-Dances, Marches, Strathspeys and Other Reels’ seems cleverly geared to the dance fashions of 1798, the estimated year of publication. As a footnote he adds – with professional aplomb – that ‘at desire he makes Steps for New and Old Tunes’. His dance compositions are polished and the 6/8 Miss white’s Jig (in Bb) is a real gem.
James Porteous (1762-1847)
‘The Musical Miller of Annandale’, was born at Applegarth, Dumfries-shire, spent a year in Edinburgh (apparently learning the fiddle under Nathaniel Gow) and returned to the life of a miller and farmer at Hoddam* in Dumfriesshire, where he died aged 85. He was known as a kindly, jovial man whose fiddle made him ‘a welcome addition to any company’ (from a private biography). Around 1820, his compositions appeared in ‘A Collection of Strathspeys, Reels and Jigs’, dedicated to Lady Jardine of Applegarth, published in Edinburgh but foot-notes ‘Meinfoot by Ecclefechan’. There is a mystery surrounding a second edition, published by J. Sutherland (Edinburgh) which has the same title page (minus Ecclefechan) and the same music but with 84 of the original 98 titles changed beyond recognition. There are a random few pieces not his own (these remain unchanged) and it seems an odd notion for the author himself to alter the titles.
Hoddam was the property of Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, one of those who, though talented, was also a landowner and so was labeled (by his fellow musicians who made music their livelihood) an ‘amateur’. He wrote some truly sublime pieces, but never produced a volume of his own. The Gows published his 6/8, Hoddam Castle and a number of others; Malcolm Macdonald included his 6/8 Mrs Muir Mackenzie’s Fancie.
Captain Robert Riddell of Glenriddell (c1745-1794)
A composer and antiquary and a friend of Burns, some of whose songs he set to music. In the year he died he published ‘A Collection of Scotch, Galwegian and Border Tunes ‘ Another collection a few years earlier contained ‘Reels, Minuets, Hornpipes, Marches and Songs of the Old Scotch Taste’.
Hugh Montgomerie (c1740-1819)
12th Earl; of Eglinton, known as ‘Sodger Hugh’ (he fought in the American War) and a composer and musician, was a lifelong supporter of the tradition. He’s remembered now (remarkably, under his own name) for the reel Lady Montgomery, the air Annick Lodge, the jig The Island of Mull and the strathspey Ayrshire Lasses, all published in Gow’s Repository Book 4, but he composed a great deal of other music, under the style ‘Composed by a Gentleman’.
All these volumes can be seen in libraries around Scotland. For any other details please contact Charlie Gore.
Box and Fiddle
July 2002