Rob MacKillop wrote:
The Straloch version and Oswald version are two entirely different pieces
with no connection whatsoever. I recorded the Straloch ports - 5 of them -
on 'Flowers of the Forest'. Oswald must have heard of an old piece, thought
lost, and tried to summon it out of the 'air', so to speak. For a harp
player, playing both pieces back to back would be fun. Somewhere at the back
of my mind I remember Bill Taylor talking about two Rorie Dall's, one a
Morrison, I forget the other. Can anyone clear this up?
Great website, Bruce. I have transcribed 'Hallow My Fancy' and will put it
on my website soon, along with a few versions of Auld Lang Syne.
Rob
Thanks for "Hallow my Fancy". I'll be looking forward to seeing it, and
if the songs I have to the tune will fit it. They're all English,
though.
Sorry, I didn't read the entry in my own Scots tune index, where
it's plainly noted the Straloch and Oswald's piece are
different.
David Johnson, 'Scottish Fiddle Music', (#22) 2nd ed., 1997 gives
Oswald's tune from his 'Collection of Scot's Tunes with
Variations' [p. 30, "A Highland Port by Rory Dall", copy in
Library of Congress], with Johnson's title from CPC, bk. viii (c
1756). On p. 64 he suggested Scots Rory Dall Morison or Irish
Rory Dall O Cathain as composer, but added: "However, the piece
is almost certainly all Oswald's own work." [Estimated dates for
Oswald's 'Collection of Scots tunes with Variations' that I've
seen range from 1755 to 1765. There are 37 tunes plus a 'Giga' in
this. BUCEM calls Oswald's 'A Collection of 43 Scots Tunes with
Variations' another issue of this, but the number of tunes and
their estimated date of c 1790 make no sense. Needless to say,
I've never seen this latter.]
John Glen, 'Early Scottish Melodies', (SMM #347- "Ae fond kiss")
says the tune was called "Rosey Doll" in Walsh's 'Country Dances
Selected', (1760) but this is almost surely later than Oswald's
CPC publication of it.
Johnson says Scots Morison worked in the Highlands in the early
18th century, and Irish O'Cathain visited Scotland in the early
17th century. Edw. Bunting, in his 1840 Irish collection, took
Morison and O'Cahan to be the same person.
Bruce Olson
--
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