strathspey@strathspey.org:23218

Richard Goss

Re: The Wild Geese/Balance in Line

Oct. 25, 2000, 8:47 a.m. (Message 23218, in reply to message 23210)

Sylvia,

Thanks for the ID, tune, "Mrs McPherson of Cluny". The
Joseph Lowe with whom I am familiar was a publisher in
Edinburgh, fl. 1844, which fits my interpretation of the
score and your dates. I have no reference to hand, but I
think Lowe was a publisher and collector of music. I would
appreciate it if you could give me a reference indicating he
actually wrote this tune.
The title suggests that it was one of those bread and butter
tunes where were dedicated at random to earn patronage. I
don't think Lowe was like o'Carolan, who recycled his tunes
at the next house with a foxy check, just out of earshot
from the last one. If I could collect all of his extant
work, and properly date it, I would love to draw a map of
Ireland based on his dedicatees. The Gows had much more
class, in that most of their dedicatees were actual
landlords and employers.
It is ironic that we speak of Playford dances and tunes when
he was a publisher of legal materials and court reports
whose country dance books were the cheap DIY books of his
day. It is known that he had a musical background in that he
published materials on harmony, instrumentation, and
technique, which was known to have at least partially his.
These were much more upmarket than his country dances, where
probably none of the music was his nor the dances. Well look
what Vespucci did by putting his name on all those maps of
his. God bless Vespucciland.
Thanks again.

Goss
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