University of Edinburgh, School of Scottish Studies, ms 3. Original Highland Airs Collected at Rasay in 1812 by Elizabeth Jane Ross
This manuscript contains 150 pieces including 6 pibrochs. Eliza Ross transcribed these from the playing of John MacKay, piper to the laird of Raasay, while she was living at Raasay House. When she married, she became Lady D’Oyly and Angus MacKay’s note to Lady D’Oyly’s Salute (PS 251) records the following:
Her musical taste was remarkably good, and she was so fond of Pìobaireachd, that she acquired many of the longest pieces from the performance of the family Piper, and was accustomed to play them on the piano with much effect. She accompanied her cousin, the Marchioness of Hastings, to the East Indies, where she married the Hon. Sir Charles Doyle. Here she did not forget MacKay, the Piper of Rasay, but had an elegant stand of Pipes, of peculiar native workmanship, prepared, which she presented to him. (Historical and Traditional Notes, no. XVII)
A complete edition by Peter Cooke, Morag Macleod and Colm Ó Baoill, with accompanying facsimile, was published by the School of Scottish Studies Archives in 2011. In this outstanding study, the pibrochs are numbered 133, 140, 143, 145, 147 and 148. Four sections are essential reading for pibroch players interested in her notations: the introduction (pp. 9–13), the general observations on Eliza’s pibrochs (pp 24–26), the individual commentaries (pp 72–79), and the modern typesettings (pp 165–184).
The right-hand pages of the manuscript have been re-numbered in darker ink. This site uses the revised numbering, which differs from the old numbering (still visible on the left-hand pages) as follows: up to page 72, the revised numbers are 2 lower; from page 73 they are 4 lower because the leaf originally numbered 75–76 is missing. Unfortunately, this leaf contained the opening of The Battle of Glen Shiel (PS 291).
Barnaby Brown, 2015
This source contains 6 pibrochs:
E.133:56 PS 275 Failte Fir Cheanlochmuidort [The Laird of Kinlochmoidart’s Salute]
E.140:60 PS 173 Failt’a Phriunse [The Prince’s Salute]
E.143:64 PS 210 Failt’ Shir Seumas Machd Dhonuil [Sir James MacDonald’s Salute]
E.145:68 PS 231 [Unnamed – MacLeod’s Salute]
E.147:70 PS 200 Cumhe Mhichdintósic [MacIntosh’s Lament]
E.148:73 PS 291 [Unnamed fragment of The Battle of Glen Shiel]
[source abbreviation].[tune number]:[revised page number]
| Download all 6 pibrochs as a single PDF (27.5 MB) Permanent link: https://pibroch.net/e Online since: 2015-10-20 For commercial use of images, contact the School of Scottish Studies Archives |
License: Made available with the assistance of Peter Cooke |