James Stewart-Robertson and The Athole Collection

About James Stewart-Robertson

James Stewart-Robertson was born in 1823 at Edradynate, near Aberfeldy in Perthshire, and trained as a lawyer. He was also a gifted violinist, taught by Duncan McKercher, known as the Athole Paganini, by John McAlpine and by William McLeish, the Aberfeldy Paganini. In 1881 he was a founding member of the Edinburgh Highland Reel and Strathspey Society and became its first president. He died in 1896, during the society's 1895-96 session.

His lasting work is The Athole Collection of the Dance Music of Scotland, which he compiled and arranged and published by subscription in Edinburgh in 1884. Francis Collinson called it an encyclopaedia of Scottish dance music, and it remains one of the standard books behind modern Scottish fiddle playing. It was reprinted from the original plates in 1961 by Oliver and Boyd, and a new edition appeared in 1996 under the Balnain House Trust. The collection gathers reels, strathspeys, jigs, airs and port tunes, many of them older than the book itself.

The catalogue's 44 entries run to about 42 minutes and 6,001 notes, with no lyrics and a single difficulty index. The attribution needs care: Stewart-Robertson is credited as composer on many entries, but his role in The Athole Collection was that of editor and arranger, and a number of the tunes are traditional or by other hands. North of the Tay, a reel in E minor printed on page 265, is credited to him in the collection; Athole's Honest Men, a reel in G on page 180, carries the same credit. The catalog does not record tune type for every entry.

Listening and playing notes

Strathspeys need the snapped dotted rhythm that gives the dance its lift, and reels need a steady 2/2 with no sagging at the ends of phrases. Fiddlers should use cuts and strikes sparingly and in the style of the region; a piano accompaniment, as in the 1884 print, is a different sound from a solo fiddle. Watch the Gaelic titles for pronunciation, and do not confuse the tune's key with its mode: several of these pieces sit in E minor or in a modal G. Play the repeats before adding ornament.

Selected scores

1. North of the Tay

   The most-viewed tune: a reel in E minor printed on page 265 of The Athole Collection and credited to Stewart-Robertson.

2. Màiri Bhòidheach

   A Gaelic song title, 'Beautiful Mary'; the catalog's backticks stand in for the grave accents.

3. O Welcome to My Dearie O

   A Scots song air, one of the few non-Gaelic titles among the most-viewed entries.

4. Sean Chaisteal Ghart

   A Gaelic title naming a castle at Gart; the catalogue does not record the tune type.

5. Athole's Honest Men

   A reel in G, printed on page 180 with the structure AAB and credited to Stewart-Robertson.

6. Allt a' Ghobhainn

   Gaelic for 'the smith's burn', a stream name used as a tune title.

7. The Yetts of Muckart

   'Yetts' is the Scots word for gates; the title names a place in Perthshire.

8. Athole's Bonnie Lasses

   A tune named for the women of Atholl, the district that gives the collection its title.

9. Port Mor na Lurgann

   A Gaelic title built on 'port', the word for a tune, with a place name attached.

10. Colquhalzie Fir Trees

    A strathspey in G, printed on page 181 and also known as 'Colynhalzie Fir Trees'.