David Glen’s Manuscript

David Glen’s Manuscript: was completed around 1907. Containing 191 tunes, it is one of the 19th century’s biggest piobaireachd compilations. It is exceptionally wide-ranging in scope and includes several interesting contemporary compositions which indicate that the tradition was still in its creative phase. Glen’s manuscript is a fascinating ‘piper’s workshop’. In it we can see one of piping’s greatest editors actually at work, and study how he approached the tunes and the principles he applied. In addition to his editorial work, David Glen was perhaps the most prolific publisher of pipe music yet to have appeared. His Collection of Highland Bagpipe Music (17 vols., Edinr., 1876-1900) was for a good many years the standard light music edition, while his Collection of Ancient Piobaireachd (7 vols., Edinr., 1880-1907) was described by John MacDonald of Inverness in 1940 as ‘the most reliable we have today’. As well as being an editor and publisher of pipe music, David Glen was also an important pipe maker whose instruments are still prized, and a figure whose central significance to modern piping is at length being recognised.

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