Hector MacAndrew (1903–1980) was the foremost Scottish fiddler of the second half of the 20th century. He was born in 1903, in a cottage on the
Fyvie Castle
Fyvie Castle is a castle in the village of Fyvie, near Turriff in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
History
The earliest parts of Fyvie Castle date from the 13th century – some sources claim it was built in 1211 by William the Lion. Fyvie was the si ...
Estate in Aberdeenshire, where his father was head gardener and piper to Lord Leith. Peter, his father, was a good fiddler as well as a piper and Hector's brother Pat was also a fine, prize-winning piper. No surprise, then, that he began playing very early in life. As a young man he received some classical training in Edinburgh, which may help to account for the full and generous sound he made, particularly in slow airs; but valuable as this experience was, it never blurred or diluted his awareness of the aural tradition going back to the Gows which he venerated and came to embody. Like his father, he became an estate gardener, eventually at Keithhall House, Inverurie, the residence of the Earl of Kintore. By this time (1933) he was much in demand as a player at social occasions and eventually on Radio Aberdeen. During the War he served in the
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...
and was with the
Eighth Army from El Alamein to Trieste when the War ended. He talked little of his wartime experiences, but was at this time that he determined that, should he survive, he would devote himself as far as possible to keeping the tradition of Scottish fiddle playing alive.
Home again, he began to make recordings on the
Parlophone
Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...
label, for the
School of Scottish Studies
The School of Scottish Studies ( gd, Sgoil Eòlais na h-Alba, sco, Scuil o Scots Studies) was founded in 1951 at the University of Edinburgh. It holds an archive of approximately 33,000 field recordings of traditional music, song and other lo ...
and the BBC. His small cottage in Cults became the centre for visits from many enthusiasts of Scottish fiddling. He judged many fiddle competitions, and it was at one of these, in the City Hall in Perth, that he met
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name:
* Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor
** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England
** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to the v ...
for the first time. Menuhin was greatly impressed by his playing and his knowledge of the ins and outs of traditional Scottish fiddling and in 1974 they made a television programme (''Mr. Menuhin's Welcome to Blair Castle'') on Scots Fiddle Music in Blair Castle, where
Niel Gow
Niel Gow (1727 – 1 March 1807) was the most famous Scottish fiddler of the eighteenth century.
Early life
Gow was born in Strathbraan, Perthshire, in 1727, as the son of John Gow and Catherine McEwan. The family moved to Inver in Perthshi ...
, the doyen of Scots fiddlers, had played regularly 200 years before. Of MacAndrew, Menuhin wrote, "What he knew could only be learned from people with a great musical tradition, and I have a kind of reverence, almost awe, for someone who represents a tradition as exciting as that. .... ... to me, of course, he was the voice of Scotland. When I met this man and heard him play, I knew I was in the presence of Scottish history." He died six years later on 5 April 1980, following a stroke, acknowledged by such as Ron Gonnella,
Ian Powrie
Ian Powrie (26 May 1923 - 5 October 2011) was a Scottish country dance musician and fiddle player best known for his performances on the BBC show the ''White Heather Club''.
Early life
Ian Powrie was born at Bridge of Cally ( near Blairgowrie) ...
and
Willie Hunter as the greatest Scots fiddler of his generation.
Hector MacAndrew was an expert in the playing of pipe music on the fiddle. He had many friends among the piping community, men who admired his approach to "their" tunes. Of contemporary pipers he particularly admired
G. S. McLennan
Pipe Major George Stewart McLennan (9 February 1883 – 31 May 1929) was a Scottish Great Highland bagpipe, bagpipe player. He was a successful solo piper, as well as a pipe major and composer.
Life
He was born on 9 February 1883 at 105 St. Leo ...
,
Angus Mackay and
William Lawrie
William Lawrie (1881–1916) was a Scottish bagpipe player, who was both an eminent solo competitor and a composer.
Life
He was born into a slate quarrying family in Ballachulish, Argyll and was the son of Hugh Lawrie, (Eòghann Thomais Uilleam) ...
. Yet to him the
strathspey Strathspey may refer to one of the following:
* Strathspey, Scotland, an area in the Highlands of Scotland
* Strathspey Camanachd
Strathspey Camanachd is a shinty club based in Grantown-on-Spey, Strathspey, Scotland, currently competing in the ...
was the soul of Scots fiddling. He never played for dancing, and his approach to these tunes, which was personal, led him to use whichever tempo he felt suited to a particular melody. A favourite strathspey was "Craigellachie Bridge" by
William Marshall (1748–1833), and indeed he also liked Marshall's inventive reels and, perhaps, the technical challenge that some of Marshall's music offered – once, when asked why he wrote music that was so difficult to play, Marshall answered (uncompromisingly) that he "did not write for bunglers"; MacAndrew enjoyed and admired this challenging music, and of all fiddle composers, it was Marshall he regarded most highly (though he also had a soft spot for
Peter Milne). MacAndrew was himself a considerable composer of fiddle tunes, and a book of his tunes, 97 of them, ''The MacAndrew Collection'', was published in 2002. His air, "Gight Castle", is particularly haunting. He was, however, dismissive of his efforts in this field, too much so friends, colleagues and pupils believed, and his aim, he said, was never for publication; but there is no doubt that the eventual book added a valuable addition to the library available to Scots fiddlers.
He used traditional techniques to inform his playing: the up-driven bow, 4th. finger unisons, double stopping, bowed, slurred and syncopated triplets and octaves. Of all of these he was an absolute master. His intonation was impeccable and his skill in varying tone quality and colour added much to everything he played, particularly the airs. He had complete technical control – you only need to hear his introduction to "
Auld Robin Gray
Auld Robin Gray is the title of a Scots ballad written by the Scottish poet Lady Anne Lindsay in 1772.
Robin Gray is a good old man who marries a young woman already in love with a man named Jamie. Jamie goes away to sea in order to earn money s ...
" with its elaborate double stopping, stopped trills, use of position work and rapid semi-quavers to be aware of that. One of his pupils, Douglas Lawrence, describes how MacAndrew played the final movement of the
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64, is his last concerto. Well received at its premiere, it has remained among the most prominent and highly-regarded violin concertos. It holds a central place in the violin repertoire and ha ...
from memory sitting cross-legged on the arm of the settee in the Lawrence cottage on the Black Isle. He did not use microphones; unlike some even quite famous players, he respected the fine
Pietro Guarneri
Pietro Guarnieri (14 April 1695 – 7 April 1762) was an Italian luthier. Sometimes referred to as ''Pietro da Venezia'', he was the son of Giuseppe Giovanni Battista Guarneri, ''filius Andreae'', and the last of the Guarneri house of violin-mak ...
violin he used, dusting excess rosin away and keeping it always in good order.
Discography
*''Scots Fiddle'' Scottish SR 138
*''Scottish Violin Music vol. 1'' 1963 Waverley ZLP 2809
*--do.--''Scottish Fiddle Music'' One-up OU 2215
*''Scottish Violin Music vol. 3 Waverley ZLP 2045
References
*Pohle, Horst (1987) ''The Folk Record Source Book''; 2nd ed. p. 298 (for discography)
External links
Hector MacAndrew: A personal memoirby Michael Welch
Hector MacAndrew Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:MacAndrew, Hector
Scottish fiddlers
British male violinists
1903 births
1980 deaths
20th-century violinists
20th-century Scottish musicians
20th-century British male musicians
British Army personnel of World War II
Royal Artillery personnel