Niel Gow
Encyclopedia
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
r and dancie (traveling dance instructor and bard) of the eighteenth century.
Biography
Gow was born in Inver, PerthshirePerthshire
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth , is a registration county in central Scotland. It extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south...
, as the son of John Gow and Catherine McEwan. He started playing the fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
when very young and at age 13 received his first formal lessons from one John Cameron. In spite of being something of a musical prodigy
Child prodigy
A child prodigy is someone who, at an early age, masters one or more skills far beyond his or her level of maturity. One criterion for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 18 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding...
, he originally trained as a weaver
Weaver
The Ploceidae, or weavers, are small passerine birds related to the finches.These are seed-eating birds with rounded conical bills, most of which are from Sub-Saharan Africa, with fewer species in tropical Asia. A few species have been introduced outside their native range. The weaver group is...
, but eventually gave up that trade to become a full-time musician. He was widely considered the best fiddle player in Perthshire, an area which was renowned for its musicians—the story goes that at age 18 he entered a competition that was being judged by John McCraw, a blind musician, who awarded him the first prize and then went on to claim that he "would ken his bow hand among a hunder players" (detect Niel's style among a hundred players). This attracted the attention of the Duke of Atholl
James Murray, 2nd Duke of Atholl
James Murray, 2nd Duke of Atholl KT PC , styled Marquess of Tullibardine between 1715 and 1746, was a Scottish peer.-Background:...
, who became Niel's patron, and also ensured Niel's employment for balls and dance parties put on by the local nobility. In time he became renowned as a fiddler.
Niel Gow was married twice. His first wife was Margaret Wiseman, and they had five sons and three daughters. His sons William, Andrew (1760), Nathaniel (1763), and John (1764) all followed their father as fiddlers and composers of fiddle music; two of the daughters were Margaret (1759) and Grizel (1761). The youngest son, Daniel (1765), died in infancy; William died in 1791 at age 40, and Andrew died in 1794 at 34. Of Niel's sons, Nathaniel
Nathaniel Gow
Nathaniel Gow was the fourth son of Niel Gow, and a celebrated performer, composer and arranger of tunes, songs and other pieces on his own right. He wrote about 200 compositions including the popular "Caller Herrin'".-Early life:...
is by far the most well-known and another fine composer of Scottish music, with nearly two hundred tunes to his credit. As a widower, Niel married Margaret Urquhart from Perth in 1768, and they went on to share a happy marriage until she died in 1805, which prompted his composition of one of his most famous tunes: "Niel Gow's Lament for the Death of his Second Wife". Niel died at Inver on 1 March 1807, aged 80.
According to John Glen (1895), Niel Gow composed, or is credited with composing eighty-seven dance tunes, "some of which are excellent." These tunes form the backstay of Scottish country dance
Scottish country dance
A Scottish country dance is a form of social dance involving groups of mixed couples of dancers tracing progressive patterns according to a predetermined choreography...
music even today. However, it must be said that he was not above claiming good material from other composers as his own; Glen claims that at least a quarter of the eighty-seven tunes are either derived from older tunes or are copies of tunes published earlier elsewhere, often under a different title.
This "borrowing" was a common practice at the time and it didn't seem to hurt his reputation; in fact, the famous painter Henry Raeburn
Henry Raeburn
Sir Henry Raeburn was a Scottish portrait painter, the first significant Scottish portraitist since the Act of Union 1707 to remain based in Scotland.-Biography:...
was commissioned to paint him several times. It also must be said that Celtic musicians are usually happy to share tunes and habitually lax about titles, with no intent to defraud other musicians. A tune may be known by multiple titles by different sets of people. Moreover, it's difficult to tell a tune composed in the eighteenth century (unless by Niel Gow or Robert Burns), and no longer in copyright, from one composed in the 1980s. A good example of this practice is the jig "Calliope House" by Dave Richardson of the Boys of the Lough and introduced on their 1984 album Open Road, which appears on many recordings labeled "traditional."
Many of Niel Gow's compositions are still played today at ceilidh
Céilidh
In modern usage, a céilidh or ceilidh is a traditional Gaelic social gathering, which usually involves playing Gaelic folk music and dancing. It originated in Ireland, but is now common throughout the Irish and Scottish diasporas...
s and country dances
Scottish country dance
A Scottish country dance is a form of social dance involving groups of mixed couples of dancers tracing progressive patterns according to a predetermined choreography...
. He himself spelled his name Niel, although others sometimes spell it Neil or even Neal. To add to the confusion he had a very musical grandson (by Nathaniel) who did spell his name "Neil".
The annual Niel Gow Fiddle Festivalhttp://www.niel-gow.co.uk/ takes place in Dunkeld and Birnam
Dunkeld and birnam
Dunkeld and Birnam refers to the two adjacent towns of Dunkeld and Birnam in Perth and Kinross, Scotland.Dunkeld and Birnam railway station serves the two towns....
, Perthshire
Perthshire
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth , is a registration county in central Scotland. It extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. It was established in 2004 to celebrate the life and music of Gow. It is envisaged that through time the festival and other activities will gather enough funds to erect a fitting memorial to him in Dunkeld and Birnam
Dunkeld and birnam
Dunkeld and Birnam refers to the two adjacent towns of Dunkeld and Birnam in Perth and Kinross, Scotland.Dunkeld and Birnam railway station serves the two towns....
. The 2008 festival took place between 14-16 March.
References
- The Glen Collection of Scottish Dance Music, republished by the Highland Music Trust, 2001 (ISBN 0-9541478-1-2).
- Clark, Pete. Even Now: The Music of Niel Gow. Smiddymade Recordings, Perthshire, Scotland, 1999 (SMD615). CD album with extensive album notes. Fifteen tunes by Niel Gow played by Pete Clark on Niel Gow's own fiddle and recorded in the ballroom of Blair Castle, a frequent eighteenth-century Niel Gow venue. (The Raeburn portrait above, posted by the author of this article, is part of the Blair Castle Collection.)