A Collection of Strathspeys, Reels and Irish Jigs
by Cooper, Isaac

Full title: A Collection of Strathspeys, Reels and Irish Jigs, for the Piano Forte & Violin, to which are added Scots, Irish & Welch Airs, Composed and Selected by I. Cooper at Banff.

Publisher: London, Edinburgh

Printer: J. Johnson sculpt

Date: [1806?]

Description:

One GB-En copy is of the second edition, which has p.26 (three more tunes) printed on the back of p.25 after Fine. The subscriber list is on smaller pages, and not in all copies. It has subscribers from as far afield as Jamaica and Tobago.

Notes:

Basslines to airs have baroque and galant elements, and extend into the piano right hand. There are two tunes for 'Harpd. and Violino': the harpsichord right hand has the tune with decorations and chords (p.2-3). Most of the book has simple single bass lines, especially for the many Irish jigs. Mackintosh's 'Lady Charlotte Campbells New Reel' appears with a simpler bassline: Mackintosh's own includes octaves, 'Pizicato' and a low B flat. Cooper's own composition, 'The Harlequin Strathspey for the Violin' has possible double-stopping - the piece earlier appeared, with some differences, in Thirty New Strathspey Reels. Cooper's 'Up the Town in haste' has notes with tails up (all high Es), which 'must be played with the 4th. finger.' After 'Trafalgar - A Strathspey' and 'The Death of Nelson' [melodrama] comes 'The Victory - A Reel', which has a simple four-beat bassline, and the option for two violins to play the first and third strains together (some in harmony, some in octaves). After the tune comes 'A Bass to the Victory for the Violoncello', on pp.16-17. 'Mrs. Colquhoun Grants Strathspey' on p.23 has 'Piano Forte' and second violin rather than harpsichord.

Gore: C24-2

Biographical info: Cooper (c.1755-1820?) was born and died in Banff, but spent some years in Edinburgh. He taught dancing, a wide range of wind and string instruments, and also composed dance music. His music was sold widely in Scotland, and also in London. (Glen 2, vii-viii; Alburger, 89) HMT Highland Collections reprints the tunes from this collection, some of them with basses, giving Cooper's biography on pp.ii-iii.

Location(s):

GB-A Lib R f78155 Coo c
GB-DUcl 10467 (2nd edition, [1808?])
GB-En Glen 270
GB-En MH.6(2)
GB-P Be42

Digitised items

This source has not been digitised.