Best viewed in Internet Explorer
PDF
Back to
Updated
07/09/2015 |
Angus MacKay
Angus
MacKay was born on September 10, 1813, likely on Raasay, an
island off the northwest coast of Scotland. His three brothers
were also pipers. His father, John MacKay of Raasay (1767-1848),
was the leading composer and teacher of his generation and a
revered cultural figure in the Highlands. In 1823 he moved the
family from their relatively remote island home to Drummond
Castle near Crieff, where he became piper to Lord Gwydir. Angus
became piper to Sara Drummond, Lady Gwydir, while still a boy,
later to Davidson of Tulloch, then Campbell of Islay, and
finally, from 1843 until 1854, to Queen Victoria. He married
Mary Russell in Edinburgh in 1841 and had two sons and two
daughters.
Piping
success came early, both as a player and compiler. At 12 years
of age, he won a prize from the Highland Societies, not for
playing, but for setting pipe tunes in staff notation. In 1826,
at 13, he was fourth at the Edinburgh competition and in 1841 he
won the Prize Pipe, playing “The Finger Lock” with 14 pipers
competing. Donald Cameron was third. Like many pipers of his
time, he competed in the dancing as well, and on this day he
also took first prize as the best-dressed competitor outfitted
at his own expense.
His
prowess as a player, combined with his station as the first
Queen’s Piper and the son of a legendary piping father, provided
Angus with a lofty stature from which to influence his piping
world. He did not squander the opportunity. |
|
|
His Collection of
Ancient Piobaireachd, published in 1838, is the
considerable musical product of a man of 25 years. It contains
61 piobaireachd written in staff notation (still in its infancy,
pioneered by Donald MacDonald only 16 years earlier) as well as
extensive writings on the piping dynasties and the Highland
Society competitions from their inception in 1781 to the date of
publication. The historical material was in fact written by
James Logan, an Aberdeen journalist and under-secretary of the
Highland Society of London. But the musical legacy alone ensured
MacKay’s place in piping history. Ancient Piobaireachd
became the leading piobaireachd text-authority for generations
after his death and was reprinted in 1839 and 1899. It would
become the single most important published source for the early
volumes of the
Piobaireachd Society Collection
and a major influence on how piobaireachd was played in the 19th
century. But this was not all.
In 1841,
MacKay approached the Highland Society of London with a proposal
to publish a much larger manuscript collection containing 183
tunes – most of the known piobaireachd repertoire collected from
his father and other notable pipers of the day. In a massive
cultural blunder, the Highland Society declined the offer, and
while what became known as ‘the Angus MacKay Manuscript’ has
survived, it has never been readily accessible to players. At
the time of this writing, it remains unpublished, though well
studied and invoked extensively by later compilers.
Angus
MacKay’s influence on light music was also considerable. He
penned the original melodies of some the of great tunes in the
piping repertoire: "The Balmoral Highlanders," "The Glengarry
Gathering," "The Duke of Roxburgh’s Farewell to the Blackmount
Forest," "The Abercairney Highlanders" and the strathspey "Balmoral
Castle." In 1843 he compiled a collection of light music, called
The Piper’s Assistant, with 155 tunes, which went to
several editions. In 1849 he began to compile a similar
collection which eventually ran to 500 tunes. But it would never
see publication.
In 1854 he was afflicted with a
sudden and violent attack of apparent insanity that soon cost
him his royal appointment. His later years were dogged by mental
illness and he spent the rest of his life confined to
institutions. He died on March 21, 1859 trying to escape from
the Crichton Royal Hospital by swimming the River Nith and his
body was never found. |
“If the simplicity
of a musical instrument be the greatest criterion of its antiquity, the
Great Highland Bagpipe must be allowed to be of a very early invention.
It is founded on the oaten pipe of primitive times. The changer made of
wood, the most sonorous of all substances, seems to have been the first
step towards the improvement of the instrument. The bag and drones were
at some subsequent period added; and in that improved state it has been
handed down to us by a very remote generation, as is evident by the
impressions we see on old coins. There is now in Rome a most beautiful
bas relieve, a Grecian sculpture of the highest antiquity, of a Bagpiper
playing on his instrument, exactly like a modern Highlander. The
Romans, in all probability, borrowed it from the Greeks, and introduced
it among their swains; and the modern inhabitants of Italy still use it,
under the names of Piva and Cornumusa.”
“That master of
music, Nero, used one; and had it not the empire been so suddenly
deprived of that great artist, he would (as he graciously declared his
intention) have treated the people with a concert, and, among other
curious instruments, would have introduced the Utricularious or
Bagpipe.” |