Annotation:Reverend Mr. Patrick MacDonald of Kilmore
X:1 T:Revd. Mr. Patrick McDonald of Kilmore M:C L:1/16 R:Strathspey B:”Printed and Sold by Stewart & Co. Music Sellers South Bridge Street” (c. 1793-1802, p. 2) N:Untitled, unattributed collection of 12 airs. However the Catalog of the Wighton Collection N:gives that it was printed for Alexander Campbell, editor of Albyn's Anthology B:https://digital.nls.uk/special-collections-of-printed-music/archive/118867812 Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Amin AAA2 A3B A3G E4|ccc3e d3cBG3|AAA2 A3e A3GEC3|DDD2 E3G AA,3 A,2:| B,2|C4 C2E2 D2C2B,2E2|C3BA,C3 B,E3E3B|ccc2 c3e d3cBe3|c3B{B}A3G EA3A3B| ccc2 g4 B3cd4|c3BA3c Be3 e4|E4 A3^G A3Bc3e|d3c cBAG EA3 A4||
REVEREND Mr. PATRICK MACDONALD OF KILMORE. AKA and see "Cordwainers' March (The)," “Gloomy Winter’s now awa,” “Lord Balgonie's Favorite," "Mr. Nairne's Strathspey.” Scottish, Canadian; Strathspey or Reel. Canada, Cape Breton. A Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. The tune was claimed and published by biography:Alexander Campbell (1764–1824) in Albyn's Anthology (1815), however, Campbell may have published it earlier in an untitled, unattributed issue of four pages headed "Printed and Sold by Stewart & Co. Music Sellers South Bridge Street” (Edinburgh, p. 2), without a publication date but thought to have been from c. 1793-1802. The Catalog of the Wighton Collection gives that it was printed for Alexander Campbell. The Gows published the same melody in their Fourth Collection (Edinburgh, 1800), calling it "Lord Balgonie's Favorite" with a note that it was "A very Old Highland Tune," and indeed, Campbells strathspey seems to have been an adaptation of an existing melody.
The air was used by Tannahill for his popular song "Gloomy winter's now awa.'" The Reverend biography:Patrick McDonald (sometimes MacDonald) was born in the Manse of Durness, Sutherlandshire, in 1729, the son of a musically inclined father and grandfather. As a child he and his brother were tutored in the violin by the excellent musician Kenneth Sutherland of Cnocbreac, and their sister was reputed to have equaled if not excelled her brothers as an instrumentalist. Brother Joseph, also a skilled bagpiper, left for a post in India but succumbed a few years after his arrival to fever, leaving behind a collection of 86 original airs, but Patrick was educated at the University of Aberdeen and licensed as a preacher. He became the minister of the parish of Kilmore which he headed for 69 years, married and with his wife Barbara raised a large family, dying in 1824. John Glen (1891) remarks:
His ministerial office appears to have deterred him from becoming a bagpipe player like his brother Joseph, but in his handling of the violin, he is acknowledged to have been unexcelled among his presbyterial brethren. An anecdote is related of him, that being in Edinburgh on one occasion as a member of the General Assembly of the Church, he was urged by Stabilini (who was indisposed) to act as his substitute for the evening. He agreed to do so, and it is said that he executed his part so well that his audience were charmed and delighted. It is also said that there was some talk of his clerical brethren taking him to task for this performance in a playhouse, but that the general esteem in which he was held saved him from being brought to book.
The tune has several names, the earliest in print being "Cordwainers' March (The)", a trade march from James Aird's Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs vol. 1 (1782). Daniel McLaren included it in his 1794 Collection as "Mr. Nairne's Strathspey", and the Gows in their Fourth Collection (1800) as "Lord Balgonie's Favorite." The melody was used as the vehicle for Robert Tannahill's song "Gloomy Winter's now awa."
