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(James Miller and Stephen Clarke) |
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 Robert Burns (1759-1796) set his poem Ye Banks and Braes o' Bonie Doon to the melody first published
as The Caledonian Hunt's Delight in Niel Gow's Second Collection of Strathspey Reels (1788). Burns' song was first published in the Scots Musical Museum (1792). In Early Scottish Melodies (1900), John Glen relates that, according to a letter written by Robert Burns to George Thompson (editor of Select Scottish Airs), the rudiments of the melody were composed by James Miller and finished by Stephen Clarke (music editor of the Scots Musical Museum). Supposedly Miller had wanted to compose a Scots air and Clarke had jokingly advised him to "keep to the black keys of the harpsichord." Ye Banks and Braes o' Bonie Doon is in fact pentatonic and can be played entirely
upon the black keys of the piano. |
