Peter
Reid’s Manuscript
The Peter Reid MS, is dated Glasgow 1826. Reid
was one of the pipers who welcomed George IV to Scotland on the famous royal visit
of 1822. Reid originally hailed from Campbeltown (born c. 1801) , and may
have been a pupil of Donald MacDonald: certainly he seems to have been bred up
in the ornate and richly expressive MacArthur style of which he was evidently a
good exponent. Although clearly influenced by Donald MacDonald’s
notational conventions, Reid takes an independent line with regard to
expression and his settings often seem strikingly fluent and musical in
comparison with MacDonald’s ‘squarer’ more boxy style. The MS contains 43
tunes and a selection of poems, on ‘Highland’
and piping subjects, some possibly composed by Reid himself.
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