William Marshall (27 December 1748 – 29 May 1833) is regarded as one of the greatest composers of Scottish fiddle music. Marshall was born in

Fochabers Fochabers (; gd, Fachabair or Fothabair) is a village in the Parish of Bellie, in Moray, Scotland, east of the cathedral city of Elgin and located on the east bank of the River Spey. 1,728 people live in the village, which enjoys a rich musi ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. He entered the service of the

Duke of Gordon The title Duke of Gordon has been created once in the Peerage of Scotland and again in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The Dukedom, named after the Clan Gordon, was first created for the 4th Marquess of Huntly, who on 3 November 1684 was c ...

, eventually becoming the Factor to the Gordon Estate. James Hunter's ''The Fiddle Music of Scotland'' credits Marshall with writing 257 tunes. Many of these compositions were named in honor of the Duke's guests.

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

called him "the first composer of Strathspeys of the age". He was also a clock maker, he built both a water clock and an astronomical clock and both are still in existence today. Marshall died at Dandaleith on 29 May 1833 and was buried in Bellie Parish churchyard near Fochabers. Some of Marshall's best-known compositions are the strathspeys ''The Marchioness of Huntly'', ''The Marquis of Huntly's Farewell'', ''Craigellachie Brig'' (named after the

Craigellachie Bridge Craigellachie Bridge is a cast iron arch bridge across the River Spey at Craigellachie, near to the village of Aberlour in Moray, Scotland. It was designed by the renowned civil engineer Thomas Telford and built from 1812 to 1814. It is a Catego ...

), and ''Lady Madelina Sinclair''; the air ''The Nameless Lassie''; and the

reel A reel is an object around which a length of another material (usually long and flexible) is wound for storage (usually hose are wound around a reel). Generally a reel has a cylindrical core (known as a '' spool'') with flanges around the ends ...

''Easter Elchies''. Marshall published two collections of his work, ''A Collection of Strathspey Reels with a Bass for the Violoncello or Harpsichord'' in 1781, and ''Marshall's Scottish Airs, Melodies, Strathspeys, Reels, &c. for the Piano Forte, Harp, Violin & Violoncello'' in 1822. A third collection, ''Volume 2nd of a Collection of Scottish Melodies Reels Strathspeys Jigs Slow Airs &c. for the Piano Forte, Violin and Violoncello'' was published posthumously in 1845. At present, his compositions are available in ''William Marshall's Scottish Melodies'', published by Fiddlecase Books.

References

*Alburger, Mary Anne (1983), ''Scottish Fiddlers And Their Music'', Victor Gollancz Ltd., . *Emmerson, George S. (1971), ''Rantin' Pipe And Tremblin' String'', McGill-Queen's University Press, .

External links

University of Edinburgh William Marshall page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, William 1748 births 1833 deaths Scottish fiddlers British male violinists Scottish composers People from Moray

See also

References

External links