by Neil Gow
This article on Neil Gow the 18th Century Fiddle player was found in an old copy of The Scottish Violinist by J. Scott Skinner, in Oldham (North West England). It appears to have been sent from Scotland, either to a keen local student of Scottish music, or perhaps an expatriate of Scotland living in the area. Note the author! Also note that his name was "Niel Gow"!
Neil Gow, the celebrated Scots fiddler and composer of over two hundred Scottish airs, died at Inver in Perthshire 150 years ago this year (1957). In his time he acquired a renown and popularity much in excess of those of his contemporaries who were more properly skilled in the art of music. To-day thanks in part to the revival of Scottish country dancing as a form popular relaxation, there must be many who have set their feet dancing to his reels and strathspeys, and yet his name and his native land are unfamiliar to them.
His genius The continued popularity of his reels and airs indicates his natural genius for both playing and composition. This is the more remarkable because he was largely a self taught artist, although he did receive a few lessons at an early age from John Cameron, a follower of the house of Grandtully.
Gow's cottage was close to Dunkeld House, the seat of the Duke of Atholl and his family, and his skillful playing of the fiddle was quickly brought to their attention. There soon followed the patronage of the Duke of Gordon, and in no time his fiddle was in great demand. At first he played at all the Balls held in the county, and soon he was in constant demand at the great parties and Balls in Edinburgh and elsewhere.
Self-possessed The sudden acclaim by the Scottish nobility and gentry did nothing to affect Gow's simple and honest character . Indeed, his self-possession and downrightness, his earthy frankness and lack of affection, put him on good terms of peculiar equality and familiarity with his social superiors. On one occasion in Atholl House, a portion of the party lingered in the ballroom, unwilling to forsake the dancing, Gow, who felt nothing of this fashionable indifference towards supper or its accompaniments, soon became exasperated and called out to the ladies: "Gang doun to your supper, ye daft limmers, and dinna haud me reelin' here, as if hunger and drouth were unkent i' the land-a'body can naethin' done for you!"
A Complaint On another occasion, when the Duchess of Gordon called for him, she had occasion to complain in passing of giddiness, and swimming feeling in her head. Neil replied to this , with a twinkle in his eye: "Faith, I ken somethin' o' that mysel', your Grace; when I have been fou the night before, ye wad think that a bike o' bees were bizzin' in my bonnet the next mornin'!"
Not only his charming simplicity of character, but also his homely Scots appearance endeared him to his patrons and admirers whenever he appeared with his fiddle. His portrait by Raeburns, which now hangs in the County Rooms in Pearth, one of several which that great artist was commissioned to paint of him, shows Neil in tight tartan breeches and hose of the Gow tartan, with its muted tones of green, red and blue.
Characteristic In fact his whole appearance has been described as so characteristic of the popular notion of a Scottish Highlander of the period his portrait has been repeatedly copied.
In the autumn of 1787, Burns visited Gow at Dunkeld, and the poet described him as "a short, stout-built, honest Highlander figure, with grayish hair sheld on his honest social brow; an interesting face, marking strong sense, kind openheartedness, mixed with unmistrusting simplicity". As a result of the meeting of fiddler and poet, it was perhaps too much to expect that a professional association would follow. But indeed they seem to have found but little common ground, and their individual spirits appeared incapable of harmony.
Happy match Gow's air, "Locherroch Side" to which Burns wrote, "Oh, stay sweet warbling woodlark, stay" is the only noted piece in which their arts are happily matched. Burns was only one of many notable figures who came to the humble weaver's cottage at Dunkeld. In his travels, too, Gow was often greeted by strangers, to whom his Highland appearance and notoriety of character were well known. At Hamilton he was once accosted by two strangers who, on learning his name, claimed to have travelled a considerable distance just to see him. "By my saul," replied Neil with his usual modesty and bluntness, "ye're the mair fules; I wadna gang half sae far to see you!".
It is not surprising to learn that Gow's regular attendance at midnight revelries gave him a natural thirst, and something of a reputation as a tippler. Perhaps this reputation was due in part to the titles which he gave to some of his airs-"Neil Gow's Farewell to Whisky"-a slowing air, which was quickly followed by a more vigorous strathspey-"Welcome whisky back again!"
Family man Another anecdote relates that he was returning homeward early one morning, having been well refreshed during the evenings Ball.On his way to Dunkeld he caught up with some friends, who complained of the length of the road which they still had to cover. To this, Neil replied; De'il may care for the length o' the road, it's only the breadth o't that's fashin' me now!"
Neil Gow was an outstanding family man. He had five sons and three daughters by his first wife, but no more children by his second, to whom he dedicated a dainty air. His will, which he made shortly before his death in 1807, was one of the interesting historical documents on show at last year's (1956) exhibition at Register House, Edinburgh. The Inventory of his estate, amounting to £1000, a considerable sum in those days, gives ample evidence of the continuing simplicity of his way of life.
Tradition His effects included two large Bibles, seven old blankets, two water stoups, two old meal-stands, some milk dishes and a churn and eight dozen bottles-empty, no doubt!
Neil's sons carried on the family musical tradition. Andrew and John led fashionable bands in Edinburgh, and William and Nathaniel did likewise in London. Nathaniel, who's skill as a composer is said to have equalled that of his father, published various volumes of his own and his father's music. (Re-printed in 1985 by Serpent Press, 109 Corn Street, Witney, Oxon OX8 7DL - TonyD) The Gow collections, as they are now known, were completed in 1824, and form a permanent repository of some of our finest traditional Scottish airs.
In his own day, Neil Gow gave pleasure to many. It would no doubt afford him modest satisfaction to know that his music, albeit anonymously, continues to thrill and excite Scotsmen and Scottish country dancers all over the world.
Thanks to Timothy Jaques for the picture of Niel Gow.