Fingal's Dirk
| ID | JSS0065 |
| Title | Fingal's Dirk |
| Document Reference | MS2726/47 |
| Format | 247 x 302 mm |
| Medium | pen & ink on music manuscript paper,with handwritten notes |
| Item Type | Manuscript |
| Subject | Music, Dance, Quickstep, Ossian |
| Item Description | Skinner's title is: Quickstep - 'Fingal's Dirk'* 'J. Scott Skinner'. A bagpipe setting in common time, and A major, with a natural sign replacing the the note G sharp, which Highland bagpipes lack. The music is set in four two stave systems, with the melody in the top stave. The accompaniment is usually in alternating octave quavers. Skinner remains within the 9-note range of the bagpipes throughout, but since the normal Highland bagpipes' pitch is closer to B flat, a fiddle and pipes duet in A would not be a success. Unusually, 'Fingal's Dirk' has a variation after each part of the tune. Skinner's note, below, explains that 'The order of playing the parts has always been 1st to give the whole melody and then the Var[iation]: the parts are here given in reverse order as composed. to Angus Macrae Callander, is it dedicated.' 'note [sic] Had I been a forger of arms Fingal said: - "Well would I form Knives; I would temper their blades with steel and their points with the hardest steel; their shafts of heather with their yellow heads, I would fix in the thick backs of the/ thin edges." This true poetical description of Dirks is thought to be the first invention of that weapon. See Poems of "Ossian" Hugh & John McCallum Montrose 1816 -'. |
| Creator | James Scott Skinner |
| Creator Manuscript | James Scott Skinner |
| Time Period | 1890's - 1900's |
| Associated Dates: Manuscript | 1816 |
| Related Images | MS2726/45, 45 (verso) |
| Relationships | JSS0063, JSS0064 |
| Location | University of Aberdeen |
| Collection Name | Harp & Claymore |
| Copyright | http://www.abdn.ac.uk/diss/historic/documents/copyright |
Historic Collections · Kings
College · Old Aberdeen · AB24 3SW
Tel:(0)44 1224 274312 · E-mail: scottskinner@abdn.ac.uk
