 In 1816 Captain Simon Fraser of Knockie in the Scottish Highlands published a collection of 232 airs and melodies from the Highlands and Islands and left a legacy of Celtic music that has endured by its merit into the 21st century. Simon Fraser was taught violin by Nathaniel Gow and tried to present his music in the style of other successful Scots musicians of the day. Although some of his own work is included amongst the tunes the majority was derived from the singing of his father and grandfather. These were the songs of the bards of the Scottish Gaeldom, including songs of the Jacobite rebellions. Due to the political climate of the time Fraser was compelled to leave out the words in order to publish his work.
The first edition of the book (published in Edinburgh) sold out but his schemes ended in ruin when he was persuaded to invest the proceeds in a venture to export thousands of volumes of his music to America and India. In America pirated copies of the music were already in circulation thus destroying his hopes and investment.
The book "The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland" has been published since 1982 by Cranford Publications of Cape Breton Island, Canada.
From the preface to the 1874 Edition of the book “The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland”...
"Captain Simon Fraser was born at Ardachie near Fort Augustus, in 1773. He subsequently moved to Errogie, in Stratherrick and for a long time was tenant of Knockie, in the same district. A warm patriot and an enthusiastic lover of music, the Captain early set himself to collect the sweet melodies of his native Highlands, - noting down the airs as sung around the hearth on winter nights, or on summer evenings among the shielings of Stratherrick. For several years he served in the Fraser Fencibles; and, during a period of seven years spent with them in Ireland, he found considerable scope for his taste in Celtic music, and became acquainted with the compositions of Carolan, the ‘Neil Gow’ of that country. Besides being a compiler on so large a scale, Captain Fraser was a composer of no mean merit; and as a performer on his favourite instrument, the violin, there were few to surpass him. A gentleman who in his younger days was an intimate friend of the Captain’s – Mr Colin MacCallum, one of the Honorary Presidents of the Gaelic Society of London, - says: “An uncle of mine, the late Captain MacDiarmid of the Forty-Second Highlanders, a first-rate amateur player on flute and violin, was a great admirer of Knockie’s music, and could play it well; but he used to say, that he did not think any person could do the tunes justice but Knockie himself. At all events, I never heard any one make the fiddle speak Gaelic so beautifully!”
Captain Fraser gave his music to the world in 1816, but this did not terminate his labours. From time to time, up to the date of his death in 1852, he added to, and made emendations upon, his large collection; and from the materials thus left to him, his now deceased son, Angus Fraser, prepared an amended copy of the work. This valuable copy became the property of the other Honorary President of the Gaelic Society of London, and a life member of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, Alexander Halley, MD., FGS., through whose kindness the present editor has been enabled to avail himself of its use............In this edition then original names of the airs will be found in correct Gaelic orthography; and, altogether, the care which has been besowed upon it will, it is hoped, enhance the value of a work already nmuch prized as a faithful compilation of genuine Highland Melodies......William Mackay Jun., Blairbeg, Glen Urquart, 28th July 1874."
In 1999, the first performance of the play "The Captain’s Collection" opened in Captain Fraser’s homeland in Errogie, on a memorable night when a thick, ghostly fog drifted down from the Monadhliath and almost two hundred people packed into tiny Stratherrick Hall. Following up with a more extensive tour in April 2000, the play was described in The Scotsman as “fascinating and provocative music theatre”. Captain Fraser’s Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles was originally suggested by Bruce MacGregor of the band Blazin Fiddles as the basis for a musical play as part of Highland Festival 1999. The play The Captain's Collection was written by Hamish MacDonald and directed by Alison Peebles. It was developed into an award winning series for BBC Radio Scotland, produced by Bruce MacGregor. The Captain’s Collection CD featuring the musical repertoire of the play was produced by Jonny Hardie for the Greentrax label, and featuring Jonny Hardie - Fiddle; Brian MacAlpine - Keyboards; Alyth McCormack - Song ; Rory Campbell/Iain MacFarlane - Whistle & Pipes, becoming one of the most highly acclaimed and cherished CDs of Celtic music in 1999.
From the Dogstar Theatre Company’s Production History - The Captain’s Collection:
At first glance, Captain Fraser’s musical publication of 1816 presents a fairly innocuous and romantic view of the Highland milieu. His introduction seeks the patronage and approval of the influential Highland Society, a necessary stamp of authenticity to promote his work. In this Prospectus, it is claimed by Fraser that the majority of his tunes have been derived from two main sources, the Gaelic singing of his paternal grandfather, a cattle dealer who moved among the Jacobite strongholds of the west, and his father, a Highland officer who scaled the Heights of Abraham in the company of General Wolfe. In fact, Fraser’s grandfather was a government spy who was the first to inform General Cope of the Jacobite positions, and Captain Simon himself - by the time of his publication in 1816 – had been defrauded in his early attempts at musical publication, had deserted from the British Army in Ireland, had fathered an illegitimate son, had cleared vast tracts of land for Cheviot grazing in Stratherrick, had amassed then lost a fortune, and just prior to his 1816 publication, had been denounced Rebel and thrown into Inverness jail for debt. A musical genius beset by ill judgement and poor luck, he would be plagued by misfortune for the rest of his life.
As with Captain Fraser’s Loyalist and genteel outward appearance, the tunes within the collection conceal an inner truth. Fraser set out to adorn his music with decorative European influences to suit the upper class tastes of Regency society. He saw fit to remove song lyrics, apparently uneasy that any Jacobite sentiment (in truth a dead letter and now greatly exploited by one of his main correspondents – Walter Scott) might yet cause offence. Although many of the original songs were apolitical, Fraser presented his music with caution, sometimes resorting to the most cringing of practises to seek the approbation of his peers....More Production notes and information: http://www.dogstartheatre.co.uk
The Simon Fraser Collection (book) The Captains Collection (CD) Music from the Simon Fraser Collection
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