Other Composers and Compilers

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Image	Title	Item Description
JSS0552	Page 1 of 2, Bannocks of Beer Meal	From 'A Collection of Scots Tunes some with variations for a violin, hautboy, or German flute, with a bass for a violoncello or harpsichord', by Edinburgh violinist and composer William McGibbon (c. 1690-1756), then Edinburgh's most prominent musician. The first 4 staves of his variation use 'double stops' (playing more than one note at the same time), and two-octave leaps (next last stave, bars 2 and 3). McGibbon (like Skinner, much later), omitted the bass line from underneath the variation, since the accompanist could use the same harmonies as the original melody. It saved paying for expensive engraving.
JSS0553	Page 2 of 2, Bannocks of Beer Meal	From 'A Collection of Scots Tunes some with variations for a violin, hautboy, or German flute, with a bass for a violoncello or harpsichord', by Edinburgh violinist and composer William McGibbon (c. 1690-1756), then Edinburgh's most prominent musician. The second page of his variations (see JSS0552 for p. 1). Here he varies the rhythm, and ranges, and brings in more complicated leaps, and quadruple stops (see JSS05552) in his last variation. McGibbon (like Skinner, much later), omitted the bass line from underneath the variation, since the accompanist could use the same harmonies as the original melody. It saved paying for expensive engraving.
JSS0554	Watson's Scots Measure	From William McGibbon's (see JSS0552) Third Collection (1755). The tune is traditional, known as 'An ye were dead, gudeman', and 'John Highlandman'. Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759-1796) used it for his song 'There was a lad born in Kyle'.
JSS0555	The Tindars Occupation	From William McGibbon's (see JSS0552) Third Collection (1755). By the title someone has written 'Clout the Cauldron', the title still used today. Skinner included the tune in the Harp and Claymore, as 'communicated by William Forbes, Newark, Ellon'. The traditional title shows that McGibbon's title is a misprint, and should read 'The Tinkars [Tinkers] Occupation'. A tinker would mend a cauldron by clouting (hitting) it.
JSS0556	Title page, A Collection of entirely ofiginal Strathspey Reels, Marches, Quick Steps &c.	The title continues '_for the Piano-forte, Violin, German flute &c. &c. by Ladies resident in a remote part of the Highlands of Scotland' [1801]. The 'Ladies', as J. Murdoch Henderson wrote, above the oval border, 'were the Misses White, Brockly'. It was unusual for Scottish women to be publicly involved in music - performance or composition. One other appears here, - Miss Stirling of Ardoch, Perthshire, with 'The Perthshire Hunt' (JSS0091). The ladies seem to have been friends of 'Colonel [Captain Simon?] Fraser of Knocky', to whom they wrote a strathspey which appears here (JSS0557).
JSS0557	Colonel Fraser of Knocky's Strathspey	From 'A Collection of entirely original Strathspey Reels, Marches, Quick Steps &c_.' [1801] (JSS0556) by the the Misses White of Brockley. The ladies seem to have been friends of 'Colonel [Captain Simon?] Fraser of Knocky', to (or for) whom they wrote this strathspey.
JSS0558	O Bessy Bell, and Mary Gray	This page shows an arrangement of the Scots song, O Bessy Bell and Mary Gray, by the Italian composer, Urbani. The top part, from volume 5, is the violin accompaniment for the melody, not given here. The cello bass line (from volume 6) is on the last three staves. Words of this Scottish ballad became part (no. 201) of the 'Child Ballads' collected and published by Harvard Professor Francis James Child in the nineteenth century. In the song, both girls died of the plague.
JSS0559	Title page, Fifty Favourite Scotch Airs for a Violin, German Flute and Violoncello, with a Thorough Bass for the Harpsichord	Francis Peacock (1723-1807) published this collection c. 1762. He was Aberdeen's official dancing-master for fifty years. A cellist and violinist, he helped found the Aberdeen Musical Society.
JSS0560	Preface, Fifty Favourite Scotch Airs for a Violin, German Flute, Violoncello, with a Thorough Bass for the Harpsichord	Francis Peacock (1723-1807) published this collection c. 1762. He was Aberdeen's official dancing-master for fifty years. A cellist and violinist, he helped found the Aberdeen Musical Society. It seem that he was not Scottish (perhaps born in Yorkshire), but still had a great affection for the melodies he found. 'DAVID RIZZIO', whom he mentions, was murdered while employed as secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots. For many years Rizzio was thought to have composed what are really works by James Oswald, an eighteenth-century Scottish musician and composer who prospered in London.
JSS0561	Subscribers list, Fifty Favourite Scotch Airs for a Violin, German Flute and Violoncello, with a Thorough Bass for the Harpsichord	Francis Peacock (1723-1807) published this collection c. 1762. He was Aberdeen's official dancing-master for fifty years. A cellist and violinist, he helped found the Aberdeen Musical Society. Subscribers' Lists provide a picture of the musician's social contacts, from Peacock's 'Mr Alexander Clerk, Aberdeen, Merchant', to 'Sir Alexander Grant of Monymusk' (see JSS0530).

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Historic Collections · Kings College · Old Aberdeen · AB24 3SW
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