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A Collection of Scots Reels Minuets &c.
by Riddell, John



Tunes list



Copy details


Publisher

Glasgow

Printer

James Aird

Seller

Jas. Aird's Music Shop in New Street

Edition

2nd

Date

1782

Library

Glasgow University Library (GB-Gu)

Shelfmark

Ca9-d.22

Description

2nd 'Greatly improved' edition published in Glasgow; more extensive than 1st edition published in Ayr. 'Entered in Stationers Hall'. Neither edition has an original index. It begins with a sequence of minuets, one for two violins; after these, the contents are mostly reels, some in jig time.

Notes

The minuet basslines are elegant and interesting; those for reels and strathspeys are generally repeated crotchets. An isolated minuet-type tune 'The Troon House' has a more baroque bassline. The basslines have been substantially simplified for the 2nd edition, with many features removed, and more repetition in earlier sections of strains. The spelling of names in tune titles often differs between editions. A few tunes also appear transposed for the German Flute, with no basses. 'The Highway to Coilsfield' includes bowing, and has its 1st edition bassline replaced with a repeated drone. Note that Gore indexes the 2nd edition, but cites the title from the 1st edition.

Copy notes

Includes a typed index comparing the first and second editions, by 'D.C.', most probably Davidson Cook, who sold the only known copy of the first edition to GB-En for £10 (less discount) on 1/10/37, according to a loose sheet in that copy. The note also says that the first edition 'is the earliest collection of Scots Dance Music bearing the name of the composer on its titlepage'.

Pages

60 p

Dimensions

17.5 x 25.5

RISM

R1374

Gore

R5

Biographical info

John Riddell (1718-95) was a fiddler and composer of reels and a couple of songs, associated with Ayr. He was described as 'musician' in the parish death register, and may have been blind. (Glen 1, viii-ix)

Other locations

GB-A SB 787 Rid
GB-DUcl 92464
GB-En Glen 97
GB-Lbl Music Collections a.219
GB-P Bd30