Annotation:Nathaniel Gow
X:1 T:Nathaniel Gow M:C L:1/8 R:Strathspey C:Duncan MacIntyre Q:"Slowly" B:Gow - Fifth Collection of Strathspey Reels (1809) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:Bb B,F DG FB, {E}D2|B,>FD>F G/F/E/D/ C>D|BGEG FB, D>B|TF>G TB>c (d/c/)B/A/ Bd| B,F DG FB, {E}D2|B,>FD>F G/F/E/D/ C>D|BGEG FB, D>B|TF>G TB>c (d/c/)B/A/ Bf|| f>B (e/d/)c/B/ fB {Bc}d2|fBdf gc(eg)|fBdf (Bf)(df)|(eg)(df) gc(eg)| f>B {e}dc/B/ fB {Bc}d2|fBd>f .g/.f/.e/.d/ .c/.B/.A/.G/|~F>B (G/F/).E/.D/ FB,DF|(E/F/G) D/(E/F) G(CEG)||
NATHANIEL GOW. Scottish, Slow ("when not danced") Strathspey. B Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. Composed by biography:Duncan MacIntyre in honor of Biography:Nathaniel Gow (1763-1831), Scottish fiddler, composer, music publisher and bandleader; 3rd son of famed fiddle-composer Niel Gow (1727-1807). Originally an Edinburgh musician, music teacher and dancing master, MacIntyre removed to London in the last decade of the 18th century, where he practiced his trade. Unfortunately, very little is known about him save that he published two collections when in London, and that he likely journeyed to India around 1806 or 1807, probably as a Master of Ceremonies to the Governor-General's Court. He seems to have expired soon after arrival in that country.
Nathaniel Gow published several of his tunes in his Second Repository and Fifth Collection (1809), and he was known to John and Andrew Gow in the London office of the Gow publishing concerns. What relationship they may have had is unknown but it appears to have been cordial, based upon the exchange of compositional courtesies. John Glen (The Glen Collection, 1895) suggests the melody called "Honest Duncan," published by the Gows in Second Repository (p. 1), may refer to MacIntyre. "Honest Duncan" was, however, claimed by fiddler-composer Robert Petrie, who published it in his Third Collection (1802) under the title "Garden Shiel." MacIntyre himself printed it in 1795 as "Miss Downie's Strathspey," and Glen supposes this gives him the better claim to the composition. The Gows' title for the tune may have been suggested, writes Glen, by poet James Hogg's poem "Honest Duncan" published in Forest Minstrel in 1810 (although the poem may have been written earlier). Perhaps Nathaniel's association with Duncan MacIntyre resulted in his borrowing the name for the tune.
