Transcript of William Thomson's Orpheus Caledonius, or a collection of the best Scotch Songs set to Musick (London: 1725), made by John Murdoch Henderson, 1951
This is one of several significant music manuscripts gifted to the University by John Murdoch Henderson, and like his other deposits, has been heavily annotated with his own notes and comments on aspects of the original work.
Willaim Thomson (c 1684 - c 1760) William Thomson (c1684 - c1760), Scottish singer and folk song collector, is thought to have been born in Edinburgh, where his father was one of the king's trumpeters for Scotland. He settled in London and in 1725 published Orpheus Caledonius, or a Collection of the best Scotch Songs set to Music. Many of the 50 Scottish folksongs contained in his collection were taken from Allan Ramsay's Tea-Table Miscellany (1723). In 1733 an expanded second edition was published, in 2 volumes, containing 100 songs, with improvements in the harmonisation of the original 50.
John Murdoch Henderson (1902 - 1972) John Murdoch Henderson, son of Charles Henderson, farmer, and Mary Jane Murdoch, was born in New Deer on 31 March 1902, and graduated from the University of Aberdeen, MA 1926. He taught for several years in the south of Scotland, before returning to Aberdeen where he taught science and mathematics at Frederick Street, and latterly, Ruthrieston School. A gifted composer, and an authority on Scottish fiddle music, he wrote The Flowers of Scottish Melody: A First Companion to the Scottish Violinist and Pianist (Glasgow: Bayley & Ferguson, 1935), and arranged J. Scott Skinner's The Scottish Music Maker Skinner: a choice selection of strathspeys, Scots reels, schottisches, double jigs, waltz tunes, song airs, pastorals, marches, quicksteps, hornpipes ... arranged for the violin (Glasgow: Bayley & Ferguson, 1957). He was also a prolific collector of music for the fiddle and pipes, and during his life made several significant manuscript deposits to the University of Aberdeen.
His printed music collection was bequeathed to the National Library of Scotland in 1975/6, and duplicates from this collection transferred to Aberdeen University, where they form the University's John Murdoch Henderson Collection. A further collection of his papers was deposited more recently in the North East Folklore Archive, Aden Country Park, Mintlaw, Aberdeenshire, by his family. See Related Units of Description for further details.
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Gifted to the University in 1963, by John Murdoch Henderson, MA (Aberdeen, 1926), Aberdeen.
Very brief collection level description available on Aberdeen University Library Catalogue, accessible online http://www.abdn.ac.uk/diss/library/
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William Thomson, Orpheus Caledonius, or a Collection of the best Scotch Songs set to Music (London: 1725)
This material is original
