Captain Robert Riddell (1755–1794), Laird of Friar's Carse, near
Dumfries
Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...
.
A friend of
Robert Burns
Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...
, who made him a collection of his poems which later became famous, and wrote a poem 'Sonnet On The Death Of Robert Riddell' in memory of him when he died.
The Glenriddell Manuscripts
The
Glenriddell Manuscripts, an important autograph text of two volumes, one containing more than 50 poems, and the other 27 letters by Burns, were written for Riddell between 1791 and 1793. The poet's friendship with the Riddell family ended suddenly in December 1793 as the result of a mysterious drunken incident at
Friars Carse, the estate owned by Riddell in
Nithsdale. Burns asked successfully for the return of the poetry volume which had already been given to Riddell; the second had not been complete
The
Glenriddell Manuscripts are now in the possession of the National Library of Scotland.
The Interleaved Scots Musical Museum
Robert Burns produced the
Robert Burns's Interleaved Scots Musical Museum, Interleaved Scots Musical Museum for Robert Riddell, consisting of four volumes of
James Johnson collection of Scots songs with his personal notes added.
A Collection of Scotch Galwegian and Border Tunes
Riddell was the author of "A Collection of Scotch, Galwegian and Border Tunes",
[A Collection of Scotch, Galwegian and Border Tunes, Edinburgh, 1794. Digitised at http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/musicfiles/manuscripts/riddell/] a collection of music mostly from the western Border country, which was published posthumously. While the title page describes the music as "for the violin and pianoforte", many of the tunes have the characteristic idiom, 9-note range and
mixolydian mode of music for the
Border pipes, and is a very late source for the music of this instrument. Riddell points out that 'the tunes were collected in various parts of Scotland, and on the Borders ... and chiefly wrote from performers, who could not write or read music'. There are significant parallels between several of the tunes, and those in the
Peacock
Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...
collection of music for
Northumbrian smallpipes
The Northumbrian smallpipes (also known as the Northumbrian pipes) are bellows-blown bagpipes from Northeastern England, where they have been an important factor in the local musical culture for more than 250 years. The family of the Duke of ...
. Some of his variants differ principally in the title, so Peacock's "I saw my love come passing by me" appears here with minor changes as "The Drunken Wives of Carlisle". Other variants are much more distinct – Riddell's variation set on "Cut and Dry Dolly" is very different from Peacock's, though they do have material in common. Some minor differences are significant – Peacock's "Johnnie stays long at the Fair", and Riddell's "Willie stays lang at the Fair" are melodically very similar, but Peacock's version is an adaptation to Northumbrian pipes, while Riddell's makes more sense on Border pipes. Comparison of the two suggests that Peacock adapted a tune from Border pipes to Northumbrian pipes, making some melodic changes to fit the instrument.
See also
*
Ellisland Farm, Dumfries
References
External links
*
National Burns Collection - Robert Riddell
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riddell, Robert
1755 births
1794 deaths
18th-century Scottish people