Collection of Old Scots Tunes [...] Set and most humbly dedicated to the Right Honorable Lady Erskine, by Francis Barsanti

The content of the work is: 'Dumbarton's Drums', Kat Oggie', 'Ettrick Banks', 'Lochaber', 'The Lass of Peatie's mill', 'The Highland Laddie', 'Busk ye buske ye my bonny bride', 'The last time I came o'er the moor', 'Corn riggs are bonny', 'Waly waly', 'Johnnie Faa', 'Lord Aboyne's welcome or Cumbernauld House', 'The Bush aboon Traquair', 'To danton me', 'The Birks of Envermay', 'Fife and all the Lands about it', 'Peggy I must love thee', 'Logan water', 'Pinkie House', 'The Sutours of Selkirk', 'Cromlet's Lilt', 'Bonny Jean', 'Thro' the wood laddie', 'Clout the cauldron', 'O dear Mother, what shall I do', 'Broom of Corvden knons', 'Where Helen lies', 'The bonny Earl of Murray', 'Gilderoy', and 'The Mill Mill O'.

Francesco Barsanti was an Italian flautist, oboist and composer. He was born in 1690 in the Tuscan city of Lucca, and had begun studying law in Padua only to abandon that for music. He spent most of his life in London, moving there in 1714, and from 1735 he also lived in Edinburgh where he obtained a post as a 'Master' with the Edinburgh Musical Society. He also benefitted from the patronage of Lady Charlotte Erskine (1720-1788). Poor finances led him to return to London where his daughter became a successful actress and opera singer.

Barsanti was the first of many foreign composers to be captivated by Scottish songs and he dedicated his Collection of Old Scots Tunes to his sometime patron, Lady Erskine.

Francesco Barsanti died in 1775.

Open to bona fide researchers, but please contact repository for details in advance of visit.

Acquired October 2015. Accesion no: E2015.84

None created for this collection.

Catalogued by Graeme D. Eddie 9 November 2015