Niel Gow
Niel Gow, who spelt his first name with the ‘i’ before the ‘e’ in Gaelic fashion, was born at Inver in 1727, the son of a plaid weaver. He started fiddling at nine, teaching himself until he was about 13 when he had some instruction from a teacher in Grantully.
He was persuaded to enter a fiddling competition at eighteen and easily won, according to a contemporary report, ‘with the cheerful consent of the other competitors’.
It was generally believed by Niel’s intimate friends that he composed his popular strathspey, ‘The Lass of Luncarty’, in 1745 on the occasion of the Highland armies passing through Luncarty.
Niel, and his brother Donald on the ‘cello, were soon in great demand at balls and weddings throughout Perthshire.
He wrote some 87 tunes and published his ‘First Collection…..dedicated to Her Grace, the Duchess of Atholl1 in 1784, His tune ‘Niel Gow’s Farewell to Whisky’, appeared in this collection and again in the 5th collection with the explanation ‘This tune alludes to prohibiting the making of whisky in 1799;.
One verse went :
“You’ve surely heard o’ the famous Niel, The man that played the fiddle weel,
“I wat he was a canty chiel, And dearly loved the whisky,O.
“And aye sin’ he wore tartan hose, He dearly lo’ed the Athole brose;
“And wae was he, you may suppose, To bid ‘farewell’ to whisky,O.”
Testifying to his outstanding skill as a fiddler and also to his country personality is the fact that Sir Henry Raeburn painted no less than four portraits of him.
One observed noted at a country ball that there was always a marked stiffness and distance among the nobility and the humbler gentry until Niel Gow arrived. Once he set his bow to strings, however, this reserve disappeared.
Robert Burns had his now famous meeting with Niel in 1787 and wrote verses in honour of the famous fiddler.
Niel was married twice. His wife Margaret Wiseman had five sons and three daughters, but there were no children from his second marriage with Margaret Urquhart from Perth. He died at his home in Inver on 1st March, 1807. His sons William, Andrew, John and Nathaniel were also fine musicians. Nathaniel, who composed 197 tunes, became a firm favourite of the Prince Regent, later George IV.
Box and Fiddle
November 1986
He was persuaded to enter a fiddling competition at eighteen and easily won, according to a contemporary report, ‘with the cheerful consent of the other competitors’.
It was generally believed by Niel’s intimate friends that he composed his popular strathspey, ‘The Lass of Luncarty’, in 1745 on the occasion of the Highland armies passing through Luncarty.
Niel, and his brother Donald on the ‘cello, were soon in great demand at balls and weddings throughout Perthshire.
He wrote some 87 tunes and published his ‘First Collection…..dedicated to Her Grace, the Duchess of Atholl1 in 1784, His tune ‘Niel Gow’s Farewell to Whisky’, appeared in this collection and again in the 5th collection with the explanation ‘This tune alludes to prohibiting the making of whisky in 1799;.
One verse went :
“You’ve surely heard o’ the famous Niel, The man that played the fiddle weel,
“I wat he was a canty chiel, And dearly loved the whisky,O.
“And aye sin’ he wore tartan hose, He dearly lo’ed the Athole brose;
“And wae was he, you may suppose, To bid ‘farewell’ to whisky,O.”
Testifying to his outstanding skill as a fiddler and also to his country personality is the fact that Sir Henry Raeburn painted no less than four portraits of him.
One observed noted at a country ball that there was always a marked stiffness and distance among the nobility and the humbler gentry until Niel Gow arrived. Once he set his bow to strings, however, this reserve disappeared.
Robert Burns had his now famous meeting with Niel in 1787 and wrote verses in honour of the famous fiddler.
Niel was married twice. His wife Margaret Wiseman had five sons and three daughters, but there were no children from his second marriage with Margaret Urquhart from Perth. He died at his home in Inver on 1st March, 1807. His sons William, Andrew, John and Nathaniel were also fine musicians. Nathaniel, who composed 197 tunes, became a firm favourite of the Prince Regent, later George IV.
Box and Fiddle
November 1986