‘Highland Wedding’ 1780 by David Allan (1744-1796). Niel Gow was also from Inver on the Tay. He was Scotland’s greatest ever fiddler and is depicted playing here at Blair Atholl. You’ve probably danced a reel at a wedding or ceilidh to one of his tunes. His most famous are ‘Miss Stewart of Grandtully’, ‘Dunkeld Bridge’ and, sadly, ‘Niel Gow’s Lament for the Death of his Second Wife’. Hear the notes rising above the river into the Perthshire air.
Gow’s natural musical genius appealed to Robert Burns who described him as ‘a short, stout-built, honest Highlander figure, with grayish hair on his honest social brow; an interesting face, marking strong sense, kind openheartedness, mixed with unmistrusting simplicity’. Despite his talent he only received a £5 annual stipend from His Grace the hereditary Duke of Atholl and so had to play for tourist pennies.
You can visit his cottage today where a plaque on the wall celebrates his life.
Painting is in the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh.
Robin A Crawford 