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Scotland’s musical heritage
Music is an integral part of Scotland’s heritage. Many of our stories from history were immortalised in song and passed down through generations before being written down. And a good song needs a good accompaniment. From grand pianos to powerful bagpipes, our places offer a wealth of opportunities to see or hear a fascinating range of musical items. We’ve picked out a few highlights below.
Robert Burns Birthplace Museum
Scotland’s National Bard was also one of Scotland’s greatest song collectors. His lifelong love of music inspired him to travel around Scotland, collecting, writing down and editing songs and tunes – he saved hundreds that might otherwise have been lost from our cultural heritage.
Robert Burns Birthplace Museum is home to the most significant collection of Burns artefacts in the world. One of those artefacts is a rather special violin. It wasn’t an expensive item; a provincial craftsman fashioned it from pinewood, bird’s-eye maple and plain cut sycamore. If the violin had survived until the present day, it would be a story in itself. But this violin was touched not just with fame but with legend. By 1779, the violin had passed into the ownership of William Gregg of Tarbolton, Ayrshire. Gregg was a dance tutor and he used the instrument to accompany the lessons he gave to Burns and his friends in the town’s Bachelors’ Club. It’s thought that Burns himself may have played the instrument too.
Listen to the violin being played
The museum has many recordings of Burns’s songs as well, if your musical interest extends beyond strings! And don’t miss the manuscript of ‘Auld Lang Syne’, one of Scotland’s most famous songs of all time, showing revisions in Burns’s own hand.
Explore the Burns Collection
Museum and archive collections from Robert Burns Birthplace Museum are now available for everyone to explore online.
Fyvie Castle
Fyvie Castle’s historic pipe organ dates from 1905 and was one of the first of its kind in the UK. It features an electrical ‘self-playing’ mechanism that could play anything from opera tunes to the dance hits of the 1900s. Damage to the pipes had silenced the organ in recent decades, but thanks to specialist repair and restoration work carried out for our charity, the organ is playing loud and clear again.
Self-playing mechanisms were hugely popular for pianos (or ‘pianolas’) from the 1900s to the 1930s. The modernity of the mechanism, added by Herbert Marshall of Regent Street, London, contrasts with the more traditional pipe organ. The organ perfectly embodies the extravagant style of the Forbes-Leiths, who transformed Fyvie Castle having made their fortune in the steel industry in the US. Built by the Norman Brothers in 1905 with a panelled oak case and carvings of lyres, it makes a spectacular addition to Fyvie’s grand tapestry- and art-lined drawing room.
Crathes Castle
One of the most significant features of Crathes Castle is its painted decoration. Painted ceilings were popular in the 16th and 17th century and were heavily influenced by the Renaissance. Alongside images of heraldry, the Crathes ceilings boast well-known themes including presentations of the Muses (daughters of Zeus in Greek mythology and patrons of the arts and sciences), playing a wide range of historical instruments. How many can you spot, or indeed identify?!
The castle is also home to a harp, mandolin, square piano and of course the ancient horn of Leys – proudly displayed in the Great Hall. Said to have been given to the family by Robert the Bruce, it probably dates from 1323.
Don’t miss!
Definitely some of the more unusual items in the Trust’s collections, look out for the ribbeting display of frog musicians at Hill of Tarvit!
Find out moreThe Georgian House
A little smaller than Fyvie’s organ, but just as beautiful, the square piano at the Georgian House also has a remarkable history. The drawing room was the entertaining space of 7 Charlotte Square, where invited guests would gather for evenings of dancing, socialising and playing cards. Often the motivations behind these parties would be for young women to find suitable husbands. Playing the square piano or the flute would have been one way to showcase the talents of young ladies and their suitability as a wife.
In 1801, Ann Young of Edinburgh obtained a patent from George III for an educational children’s musical game. She was the only woman to receive a patent in 1801, and one of just 40 women to obtain a patent in the 200 years between 1617 and 1816. The game was designed to teach children as young as eight, and the players could choose one of several versions to play, depending on their ability. Musical instruction was very popular among the wealthy elite in Great Britain during the 18th and 19th centuries.
The complexity of this game demonstrates the high level of tuition in music received by children, and that proficiency in it was a prized skill. From a 21st-century perspective, this game is not for the faint-hearted! It requires a strong understanding of keyboard anatomy before play even commences. The instructions refer to players as ‘performers’ and require a keyboard to be nearby. Very few of these games have survived – and we are very proud that this one has a home in the city in which it was designed and made.
Culloden
Music plays an important role in commemorating and remembering the devastating loss of life at the Battle of Culloden. Before the men charged across the battlefield, bagpipes were played. After Culloden, some even considered bagpipes to be an instrument of war; drums and horns were given the same status – all these instruments were used to incite and stir up the men to battle. Visitors today can see a set of Highland pipes in the collection in the museum.
At the commemorative events each April, pipers play by the memorial cairn. Published in 1933, John Lorne Campbell and Margaret Fay Shaw’s Highland Songs of the Forty-Five brought together songs inspired by the events leading up to the Battle of Culloden, and beyond – many of which had never been written down before.
Haddo House
Haddo Arts was established in 2016 to provide a creative home for all the arts in the heart of North-East Scotland. Its mission is to develop the rich musical and artistic heritage of Haddo House as a centre of excellence, entertainment and enlightenment.
Don’t miss the annual Haddo Arts Festival in autumn – a celebration of music, literature and art. Haddo House Hall’s wooden construction gives a warm acoustic particularly suited to chamber music, and it has welcomed performers ranging from Benjamin Britten and Ralph Vaughan-Williams to Alfie Boe and The Whistlebinkies.
Did you know?
Festhailes, a family-friendly music festival, takes place at Newhailes each May. It features a sparkling Scottish line-up of talented performers!
Find out moreCanna
Margaret Fay Shaw was a US-born folklorist who dedicated her life to documenting Gaelic song. She married John Lorne Campbell in 1935 and moved to the Isle of Canna, where they lived for the rest of their lives.
The Canna archives contain many examples of Gaelic work songs, and the recordings, manuscripts and images taken by Margaret Fay Shaw tie the stories of these songs together. These songs leave us not only with the voices of those who sang them every day as well as their faces, but also gives us a glimpse into the lives of Hebridean people and their daily routines. The rhythms of the songs reflect the rhythms of their lives and their stories, and the richness of the language reflects the richness of their traditions. We’re fortunate that Margaret and John Campbell had the foresight to preserve and record a lifestyle that no longer exists.
