Ramsay’s pastoral comedy The Gentle Shepherd (1725; 1729) went through over a hundred editions, was performed many hundreds of times, and inspired a wide range of visual representations and critiques. Although it is one of the most important printed texts in Scots literature, there has never been a scholarly edition which does justice to its complicated genesis, and to the music of its many songs. This groundbreaking and definitive edition will be welcomed by scholars, teachers, and practitioners of literature, drama and music, and opens up new avenues for research and performance.
Allan Ramsay (c. 1684–1758) was a foundationally important poet, dramatist, song collector, theatre owner, cultural leader in art and music, and innovative entrepreneur in many spheres from language to libraries.
Steve Newman is an associate professor of English at Temple University, specialising in British Literature of the Long Eighteenth Century and Scottish Literature in particular. . A selection of relevant publications include “‘Hodden-Gray’: Pastoral, Enlightenment Re-Mediation, and The Proverbial Allan Ramsay,” The Scottish Literary Review (10:1): 1-18, “Localizing and Globalizing Burns’ Songs from Ayrshire to Calcutta: The Limits of Romanticism and Analogies of Improvement,” ed., Evan Gottlieb, Romanticism and Globalization (Bucknell University Press, 2014), 57-77, “Second-Sighted Scot: Allan Ramsay and the South Sea Bubble,” The Scottish Literary Review, Spring/Summer 2012 (4:1): 18-33, “The Scots Songs of Allan Ramsay: ‘Lyrick’ Transformation, Popular Culture, and the Boundaries of the Scottish Enlightenment,” Modern Language Quarterly 63.3 (Fall 2002): 277-314.
David McGuinness is Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Glasgow. A selection of relevant publications include ‘The Problem with “Traditional”’. In Understanding Scotland Musically: Folk, Tradition, and Policy, edited by Simon McKerrell and Gary West, 122–38. Ashgate Popular and Folk Music Series. London: Routledge, McGuinness, David, and Karen McAulay. 2015. ‘Historical Music of Scotland Database’. Online catalogue and resource of digitised material from over 200 printed sources of Scottish fiddle music before 1850. Historical Music of Scotland. 2015. www.hms.scot, McGuinness, David, and Aaron McGregor. 2018. ‘Ramsay’s Musical Sources: Reconstructing a Poet’s Musical Memory’. Scottish Literary Review 10 (1): 49–71, McGuinness, David. (forthcoming). ‘Bass Culture in Printed Scottish Fiddle Music Sources 1750-1850: Harmonisation, Urbanisation and Romanticisation’. Scottish Music Review. www.scottishmusicreview.org.
