Annotation:Major David Manson
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MAJOR DAVID MANSON. Scottish, Pipe Reel. A Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCCDD. Printed in the Edcath Collection of Highland Bagpipe Music, vol. 1 (1953), composed by Pipe-Major Peter R. MacLeod. MacLeod was made a prisoner of war at St. Valery, France, in June, 1940, and spent the rest of the war interred.
A fellow piper, Donald MacLean (1908–1964), was likewise a prisoner. He had access to a practice chanter and composed several tunes in captivity, including another tune (a march) called "Major David Manson at Clachantrushal." Manson was a retired Canadian army officer who worked as a silversmith in Glasgow. Prior to the war he had visited MacLeod at home and presented him with a set of engraved silver pipes.
It was a favorite reel of Cape Breton/Boston fiddler Bill Lamey (1914–1991), according to Paul Cranford, and popular among many Cape Breton fiddlers in the decade after its publication. Cape Breton fiddler Theresa MacLellan recorded the tune on a 78 RPM recording in the late 1950's.
Source for notated version:
Printed sources:
Ramsay (Edcath Collection, vol. 1), 1953; p. 44.
Recorded sources:
Rounder 7032, Bill Lamey – "Full Circle."
Rounder 82161-7032-2, Bill Lamey – "From Cape Breton to Boston and Back: Classic House Sessions of Traditional Cape Breton Music 1956–1977" (2000).
See also listing at:
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recordings Index [1]