Primary Sources
C1 McLachlan’s March C1.66: 139
H Moladh Mairi / McLachlan’s March H.7: 13v
D1 Moladgh Mari / Marys Praise for her gift [or] McLauchlans March D1.14: 73
K1 Moladh Màiri / Mary’s Praise or The MacLauchlan’s March. / Index: Marys Praise for her Gift K1.25: 67
SC Molidh Marie (Stiallag.) SC.37
Notes on Gaelic Titles
Moladh Màiri McLachlan’s March C1;Moladh Mairi / McLachlan’s March H; Moladgh Mari / Marys Praise for her gift D1; Moladh Màiri / Mary’s Praise K1; Marys Praise for her Gift K1 index; Molidh Marie (Stiallag) SC. Mary’s Praise. A footnote in H connects the first two names ‘This Piobrach was Composed by McLachlan’s Lady Praising a Natural Production viz s: Moladh mu ’da Thaobh &c.’ The expression ‘Mary’s Praise for her gift’ may relate to Gaelic texts which have not yet been interpreted: (1) Mollach dephit Mahary, from a document, dated 1778, quoted by F. Collinson, The Highland Bagpipe[:] the History of a Musical Instrument, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London (1975), p. 175; (2) a verse noted in 1884 by J. MacDougall Gillies, beginning Fionneamh air geibht Mairi…, appended to a set of the tune in Gillies’ manuscript, now Glasgow University MS G 1457, p. 53. The interpretation ‘gift’ is supported by two similar stories given by ‘Fionn’, The martial music of the clans, Glasgow (1904), p. 156. In both the gift is a skin for a new pipe bag, and in one the donor is a daughter of the clan chief, Maclachlan of Strathlachlan. It seems likely that ‘gift’ is a late bowdlerisation.
Stiallaig Molidh Marie (Stiallag.) SC. The name Stiallag is written slightly large and looks like a later addition, though still apparently in the hand of Angus MacKay. It would therefore not be very much later since the paper of the MS is watermarked 1853, and Angus died on 23 April 1859 (A. Campsie, The MacCrimmon Legend. Edinburgh: Canongate, 1980). It is the name of a farm that was held by the Lamonts, and was said to have been granted to one of the Lamont pipers (‘Fionn’, The martial music of the clans. Glasgow: John Mackay, 1904, p. 156).
Archive Recordings
1960 Pipe Major John D Burgess
Other Material
2001 William Donaldson: Set Tunes Notes
2012 William Donaldson: Set Tunes Notes