Music for Aberdeenshire and Moray: Treasure trove of old fiddle tunes goes online
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Fiddle music fans can now view and play 3500 of the oldest Scottish tunes written for the instrument.
A new database being launched today contains music from the earliest 27 Scottish fiddle manuscripts, dating between the years 1670 and 1750.
The online index is the work of Glasgow University academic Aaron McGregor whose research has radically re-written the early history of the violin in Scotland.
His findings show evidence of a thriving violin tradition dating back to the 16th-century Scottish royal court, with elements from Scottish traditional music rubbing shoulders with a surprisingly cosmopolitan range of styles.
Dr McGregor said: "It had previously been assumed that the violin didn’t arrive in Scotland until around 1670, but my research shows that in fact it was here over 100 years before.
"Equally, my research shows the huge significance of the period 1670 to 1750 in the history of Scotland’s music.
"Fiddle music began to be written down for the first time, and musicians experimented with mixing traditional music with the most up-to-date art music styles.
"Without this period, we would never have had the 'Golden Age' of Scottish Fiddle Music of the late 18th century and the music of famous fiddlers like Niel Gow and William Marshall.
"This new resource points researchers and performers alike to the earliest manuscript sources, and we hope that it will lead to greater exploration and interest in Scotland’s early fiddling traditions."
The database is going live today at the website Historical Music of Scotland, where it joins another resource for early printed sources of Scottish fiddle music, which was launched in 2015.
