James Oswald

He wrote variations of popular Scottish folk tunes, arranged these for the fiddle and composed other original tunes in the same genre. He published his chamber works under the nom de plume "Dottel Figlio". A "Collection of Minuets" was published in Edinburgh in 1736 and a "Curious Collection of Scots Tunes" in 1740. The tunes "The East Neuk of Fife" and "The Flowers of Edinburgh", "two classic reel tunes of the Scots fiddle repertory", have been attributed to him - however "The East Noock of Fife" was already in manuscript in 1709, before Oswald's birth, while Flowers of Edinburgh was included in John Walsh's Caledonian Country Dances in about 1737, long before its appearance in Oswald's collection The Caledonian Pocket Companion. Some tunes which were later used for some of Robert Burns's song lyrics, were included in that collection. The earliest version of 'Ae Fond Kiss' was closely modelled on Oswald's tune 'Rory Dall's Port'. It is unsafe to assume that tunes in the Caledonian Pocket Companion, are his compositions unless this is stated explicitly, although some are unknown elsewhere. However, many of the variation sets are his - the title page states that it includes All the Favourite Scotch Tunes... with Variations by James Oswald. Later, he wrote a collection of German military music, "40 Marches, Tattoos and Night Pieces for two German flutes, violins or guitars as performed by the Prussian and Hessian Armies". He was appointed Chamber Composer to George III in 1761, when George became King. Since many of his compositions were written anonymously, research still needs to be done to identify them. Some of Oswald's most remarkable creations are his two sets of "Airs for the Seasons" – some 96 compositions in all – each named for a different flower or shrub, and attributed to their appropriate season of the year. They are playable by violin (flute, oboe) and cello, with second violin parts available for 12 of them and therefore performable as trios. Contained within the Wighton Collection in Dundee is a manuscript of "Airs for Autumn" in the composer's own hand.

• Caledonian Pocket Companion – being a collection of the most favourite Scotch tunes for the German flute (12 books), by James Oswald, (c. 1760); • Books 1–6, online via Internet Archive (copy: National Library of Scotland) • Books 1–2: London: Printed for J. Simpson in Sweeting's Alley opposite the East Door of the Royal Exchange • Books 3–6: London: Printed for the author at his music shop on the pavement St. Martin's Church Yard • Books 1–8, online via Internet Archive (copy: Western Libraries, University of Western Ontario) • London: Printed for the author at his music shop on the pavement St. Martin's Church Yard • Book 2, online via National Library of Scotland • London: Printed for the author at his music shop on the pavement St. Martin's Church Yard • Books 7–12, online via Internet Archive (copy: National Library of Scotland) • London: Printed for R. Bremner, opposite Somerset House, Strand