50 Scottish National Airs for William Napier - part 2 - 1795

On 1 June, 1792, William Napier published his Second Volume of Scottish National Airs. The one hundred included songs had been set by Haydn during his first London journey. Napier had already published (in 1790) the first volume of a projected set of Scottish National Airs with accompaniment of a violin and figured bass continuo. A pianoforte played the vocal line in the right hand and realized the figured bass in the left hand. In practice, a cello frequently sat in and helped with that, so essentially it was a simplified piano trio.

In 1795, Volume Three was published, containing an additional fifty Haydn settings. Given the difficulty of finding information about the specific songs, even when you have recordings of them, I have created this list which includes the essential data on the fifty songs of 1795.  Wherever the poet was known I have included it. In some cases they were traditional poems, no author ever known, thus are attributed to the famous 'Anonymous'. This is important to know, because later on, we will see songs with the same names as some of these, but the lyrics are entirely different from the original. Robert Burns was particularly fond of doing this, taking an old, anonymous song, and writing a completely different set of words for it! I hope this aids your enjoyment of these fine works.

Here is part 1 of the backstory

Here is part 2 of the backstory

Hob 31	Title	Lyric	Key
a:101	The Bonnie gray ey'd morn	Allan Ramsay	Bb
a:102	Bonnie wee thing	Robert Burns	A
a:103	Roy's wife of Aldivalloch	Mrs. Grant of Carron	C
a:104	While hopeless	Robert Mundell	e
a:105	Frae the friends and land I love	Robert Burns	Eb
a:106	Shepherd's son, The	Anon.	G
a:107	A Cold frosty morning	Allan Ramsay	F
a:108	O, for ane-and-twenty Tam!	Robert Burns	Eb
a:109	Johnie Armstrong	Anon.	G
a:110	I do confess thou art sae fair	Robert Burns	d
a:111	Now westlin winds	Robert Burns	c
a:112	Green sleeves	Allan Ramsay	e
a:113	The Posie	Robert Burns	c
a:114	As I cam down by yon castle wa'	Robert Burns	e
a:115	The Minstrel	Thomas Pickering	c
a:116	The Ewie wi' the crooked horn	Rev. John Skinner	F
a:117	Fair Eliza (Gaelic air)	Robert Burns	e
a:118	The Widow	Allan Ramsay	Eb
a:119	Yon wild mossy mountains	Robert Burns	g
a:120	My Goddess woman	John Learmont	c
a:121	She's fair and fause	Robert Burns	e
a:122	O'er the moor amang the heather	Jean Glover	Eb
a:123	The Tears I shed	Helen Darcy Cranstoun	e
a:124	The wee wee man	Anon.	Eb
a:125	Nithsdall's welcome hame	Robert Burns	D
a:126	Bid me not forget	Peter Pindar	G
a:127	Lady Randolph's complaint	Thomas Blacklock	G
a:128	The Shepherd's wife	Anon.	Eb
a:129	The weary pund o' tow	Robert Burns	G
a:130	The Tither morn	Robert Burns	F
a:131	Ae fond kiss (?Celtic air)	Robert Burns	e
a:132	Jenny drinks nae water	Peter Pindar	Bb
a:133	The Vain pursuit	Thomas Blacklock	C
a:134	What can a young lassie do	Robert Burns	b
a:135	The Rose bud	Anon.	Bb
a:136	Dear Silvia	Peter Pindar	Eb
a:137	The Slave's lament	Robert Burns	d
a:138	The Death of the linnet	Anon.	Eb
a:139	Donald and Flora	Hector Macneill	D
a:140	Lass gin ye lo'e me, tell me now	Anon.	A
a:141	Hughie Graham	Robert Burns	g
a:142	On a bank of flowers	Robert Burns	c
a:143	Morag (Celtic air) (The Young Highland Rover)	Robert Burns	d
a:144	A Country lassie	Robert Burns	D
a:145	Strathallan's lament	Robert Burns	D
a:146	Tho' for sev'n years and mair	Allan Ramsay	F
a:147	Bess and her spinning wheel	Robert Burns	G
a:148	Kellyburn braes	Robert Burns	Eb
a:149	O'er the hills and far away	Anon	f or b
a:150	Strephon and Lydia	William Wallace of Cairnhill	Eb