Happy Birthday!

Fiddler & publisher of old Scottish melodies

Niel Gow

was born 3/22/1727
(d.Mar 1, 1807)

Jack Campin gives us:

"The obit that appeared in the Edinburgh papers just after his death ran:

          Gow and time are even now:
          Gow beat time, now time's beat Gow. 

In fact Gow was not as important a figure in Scots music as he's generally cracked up to be; he ended up being famous for being famous. He composed very little compared with his son Nathaniel, and Nathaniel did most of the editorial work for the anthologies that came out under his father's name. I've looked through most of the Gows' output in recent months [c.2002], and have come to have a lot more respect for Nathaniel's work than is currently considered cool. Plagiarizing arsehole that he was, he was one hell of a musician."

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