Best viewed in
Internet Explorer

Music (PDF)

Music (BMW)

Back to
Index


Updated 05/10/2013

 


The Balmoral Highlanders
Angus MacKay

If anyone in the history of piping deserves to be described as a musical genius, it is Angus MacKay (1813-1859) - shown above.

He 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.