Scottish Transformations: Bibliography of Published Song Collections and Other Useful Resources
Compiled February 2014 by Karen McAulay, Music & Academic Services Librarian
Author / Title / Date / CommentsA Choisir-Chiul: The St. Columba collection of Gaelic songs, arranged for part-singing
/ 1983 / Music M1579.4 AAn ComunnGaidhealach / Coisir a Mhoid 1 = The Mod collection of Gaelic part songs 1896-1912 / 1912 / Music M1578 A
Bassin, Ethel (& Derek Bowman) / The old songs of Skye : Frances Tolmie and her circle / 1977 / Music book ML3655 B
Blackie, John Stuart / Scottish Song: its Wealth, Wisdom and Social Significance / 1889 / Music book ML3655 B
Bourgault-Ducoudray, Louis-Albert /
Trentemélodiespopulaires de Basse-Bretagne: Avec unetraductionfrançaise ...
/ 1885 / Not in Whittaker Library but available in Archive.org (see below)Carmichael, John (& Ishbel MacLennan) / CeolnamFeis : highlights from a showcase concert of Gaelic music, song, dance and drama …[participants from community-run festivals throughout the Highlands and islands, Edinburgh, Aberdeen]; producer John Carmichael; executive producer Ishbel MacLennan; off-air recording, 21 December 2000 / 2000 / DVD or Video M1746 C
Chambers, Robert / The Songs of Scotland Prior to Burns / 1862 / Music M1746 C
Chappell, William / Popular Music of the Olden Time / 1855-1859 / New edition, Old English Popular Music, ed Wooldridge, 1893
Chappell, William / A Collection of National English Airs / 1838-1840 / Not in Whittaker Library
Dauney, William / Ancient Scotish Melodies(including Dun essay and Graham transcription) / 1838 / Music book ML288 D
A transcription of a lute MS, not a collection for singing.
Dun / Lays of Strathearn (verses by Lady Carolina Nairne) / 1846 / Not in Whittaker Library
New editions c.1860-90
Dun, Finlay / Orainna h-Albain / 1848 / Music M1746 D. Collected by a mystery Highlander. Only the initials are known.
Dun, Finlay (& John Thomson) / Vocal Melodies of Scotland / 1836 / Music M1746 D
Reissued several times 1842-84
Graham, George Farquhar (& Finlay Dun) / A Selection of Celtic Melodies […] Selected and arranged by a Highlander / 1830 / Not in Whittaker Library. Mystery collection. Dun might have been the ‘Highlander’.
Graham, George Farquhar (for publisher John Muir Wood) / The Songs of Scotland adapted to their appropriate melodies (arrangers Mudie, Surenne, H. E. Dibdin, Dun). AKA Wood’s Edition of the Songs of Scotland / 1848-1849 / Music M1746 S. Revised. as ‘The Popular Songs of Scotland with their appropriate Melodies; with additional airs and notes’, 1887 and 1908)
Hogg, James / Jacobite Relics / 1874 / ML3655 H
Reprinted from the original edition, by A. Gardner, Paisley
Johnson, James / The Scots Musical Museum, 1707-1783 / 1991 / Music M1746 S (2 vols)
Kennedy-Fraser, Marjory / Twenty Scottish Songs in Two Books / n.d. / Music M1746 K
Kennedy-Fraser, Marjory / Songs of the Hebrides (3 vols) / 1909- 1921 / Music M1746 K
Kennedy-Fraser, Marjory / Sea Tangle: Some More Songs of the Hebrides / 1913
Kennedy-Fraser, Marjory / Sleeps the noon in the deep blue sky : (Ossian's day-dream) : Version no.1 in G. ; air from Patrick Macdonald's collection, 1781 ; arranged by M. Kennedy-Fraser ; words after Thos. Pattison's translation from Ossian / 1921 / Music M1747 S
Kennedy-Fraser, Marjory / Scots Folk Song / 1922 / Music book on song.
ML3655 K
Kennedy-Fraser, Marjory / Songs of the Hebrides. Selection of seven airs ; arranged simply for pianoforte / 1923 / Music M38.5 S
Kennedy-Fraser, Marjory / A Life of Song / 1929 / Autobiography. ML420 K
Kennedy-Fraser, Marjory / More Songs from the Hebrides / 1929
Kennedy-Fraser, Marjory / Land of Heart’s Desire: Songs of the Hebrides from the collection by Marjory Kennedy-Fraser / 1997 / Recording M1746 MILN
Kennedy-Fraser, Marjory (& Kenneth MacLeod) / From the Hebrides: Further Gleanings of Tale and Song / 1927 / Music M1746 K
MacCunn, Hamish / Songs and Ballads of Scotland / 1891 / M1746 M
MacLennan, Ishbel (producer) / Feisean nan Gaidheal : a one-off programme charting the success of the Feisean movement in the Highlands and islands through the eyes of youngsters who take part in such festivals annually, and featuring the movement's centrepiece concert CeolnamFeis, at Inverness's Eden Court theatre ; executive producer Ishbel MacLennan - off-air recording, 14 December / 2000 / DVD or Video M1746 F
MacLeod (& Marjory Kennedy Fraser / The road to the isles : poetry, lore and tradition of the Hebrides ; by Kenneth Macleod ; with an introduction by Marjory Kennedy-Fraser / 1927 / Music book ML3656 M
MacLeod, Christopher / The Gaelic music of the Hebrides : its history and structure ; by Christopher MacLeod (PublishedMarybank by Stornoway, Isle of Lewis / 2002 / Music book ML3655 M
Matarasso, Francois / Northern lights : the social impact of the Feisean (Gaelic festivals) / 1996 / Music book ML3656 M
Thompson, Frank / The National Mod / 1979 / Music book ML37 S
Yeats, W. B. / Celtic Twilight / 1893 / Not in Whittaker Library
Web Resources and an invitation
Bourgault-Ducoudray, Louis-Albert, Trentemélodiespopulaires de Basse-Bretagne: Avec unetraductionfrançaise ... (1885)
Bourgault-Ducoudray, Louis-Albert. This link shows you just one of his song settings:-
British Library Sounds. Ethnographic wax cylinders, DonanPasàdle recorded by EFDSS onto wax cylinders, 1908
British Library Soundshomepage:
Any student or teacher at the Conservatoire can login to the British Library's Sounds website. For example, you could hear "Auld langsyne" recorded on ethnographical wax cylinders way back in 1898, or a variety of Gaelic songs. Just enter Gaelic songs in the search box. There’s something special about listening to something recorded not just in the last century, but the one before that.
Francmanis, John (2002). National music to national redeemer: the consolidation of a ‘folk-song’ construct in Edwardian England. Popular Music, 21, pp 1-25. doi:10.1017/S0261143002002015.
University of Edinburgh Museums, Galleries and Collections - a page about Marjory Kennedy-Fraser:-
University of Edinburgh. School of Scottish Studies Archives.
Info about MKF’s wax cylinders, which are in the School of Scottish Studies Archives, University of Edinburgh:-
“The wax cylinders are part of Special Collections in the main library. They have not been digitised. They were copied on to magnetic tape in the 1960s but the recordings are very poor quality - overlaid with a
steam train like chugging. It is not possible to access them on-line and there is no on-line catalogue other than the one we keep in-house. If a student is interested in MKF they would be welcome to visit the archive. However, I think they would find it more useful to come with a view to listening to alternative versions of the songs that she recorded. Many of these were made in the 1950s in the same or similar communities and they are not likely to differ greatly from those recorded by MKF. Visits are by appointment.”
Either email or phone:-
Cathlin Macaulay
School of Scottish Studies Archives
University of Edinburgh
27 George Square
Edinburgh EH8 9LD Tel 0131 650 4159
Hear a graphophone on YouTube: