Watlen, John

Biographical info

In 1788, Watlen was listed as a music master and tuner, and he was publishing music in 1789, whilst his music warehouse opened in 1792. He was the first secretary of Edinburgh Musical Fund in 1790. He had to sell up c.1799 and by 1806 had moved to London, where he seems already to have had a business or agency (Glen 2, xiv-xv); Glen is dismissive of Watlen's attempts to compose Scottish tunes! Like many others, Watlen printed tunes by the Gows without attribution. (Alburger, 130)

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