Annotation:MacPherson's Rant (1)
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MACPHERSON'S RANT. AKA- "MacPherson's Lament," "Macpherson's Testament." Scottish, English; Slow Air, Rant, Reel or Strathspey. England, Northumberland. F Major (Emmerson, Gow, Vickers): C Major (Johnson): G Major (Martin, Skinner). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Martin, Skinner): AABB (Emmerson/Gow): AABBCC (Vickers): ABCB (Johnson). Essentially the same tune as that entitled "MacPherson's Lament" or "MacPherson's Farewell", although versions with the 'rant' title seem, on the whole, to be dancable; see Annotation:Macpherson's Lament for more. The melody appears in the Bodleian Manuscript (in the Bodleian Library, Oxford), inscribed "A Collection of the Newest Country Dances Performed in Scotland written by Edinburgh by D.A. Young, W.M. 1740." It also appears in Angus Cumming's 1780 collection (p. 12), and Gow's Repository, Part First, 1799. "Although I have seen a version identical to Vicker's uncorrected version (in the "Dancing Master"...), its third strain has such awkward intervals that I doubt if anyone today would consider it worth playing, even if it were thought to be correct, which seems unlikely. Hence my reworking of this part, giving a version still fairly different from others current today; c.f. Hunter, 1979 (Fiddle Music of Scotland), No. 10, 'Macpherson's Testament'" (Seattle). Johnson (1984) states that his version, reprinted from the Sinkler Manuscript (1710), is the earliest known fiddle tune in strathspey rhythm.
Source for notated version: Sinkler Manuscript [D. Johnson].
Printed sources: Emmerson (Rantin' Pipe and Tremblin' String), 1971; No. 47, p. 139. Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 10. Johnson (Scottish Fiddle Music in the 18th Century), 1984; No. 5, p. 23. Martin (Ceol na Fidhle), vol. 2, 1988; p. 27. Martin (Traditional Scottish Fiddling), 2002; p. 32. Seattle (Great Northern/William Vickers), 1987, Part 2; No. 397. Skinner (Harp and Claymore), 1904; p. 149.
Recorded sources:
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