Flowers of Scottish Melody
Published in 1935 by J. Murdoch Henderson.

Go to Tunes from "Flowers of Scottish Melody" for a full list of the book's contents and selected audio sound bites.

From the Banffshire Journal
16th July 1935

These last few days have seen the publication of a work that will be regarded with the highest sense of interest by that large number of people who hold Scottish music in regard. It is entitled "Flowers of Scottish Melody" (Bayley and Ferguson, Glasgow, 5/- and 10/-) and is described as a First Companion to the Scottish Violinist and Pianist. It contains the music of 130 "Masterpieces of the Ages" including forty original contributions, the whole comprising slow airs, pastorals, quicksteps, reels, strathspeys, hornpipes etc., expressly arranged for violin and piano with full instructions and history of origins, by Mr J. Murdoch Henderson of Aberdeen.

The cover contains five portraits, each of which is furnished with a descriptive phrase that distinguishes the work of the composer. In the centre appears the familiar features of James Scott Skinner, 1843-1927, "the Strathspey King"; and occupying the four corners are illustrations of Neil Gow, 1727-1807, "the Father of Strathspey and Reel Players"; Nathaniel Gow, 1763-1831, "the Greatest Preserver and Improver of the Age"; Peter Milne, 1824-1908, "the Tarland Minstrel"; and Wm. Marshall, 1748-1833, "the First Composer of Strathspeys of the Age"; five names of abiding fame in the sphere of Scottish music, and notable surely for the long ages they all reached.

Mr Henderson has provided a collection of Scottish music of the highest distinction and there are very many who will thank him heartily for what may have been a labour of love, but necessarily involved also work on a large scale, engrossing labours that entailed inevitably much time and much research ere it left his hands with the impress of knowledge and authority that it bears. Mr Henderson's work marks a distinct point in the collection, arrangement and composition of Scottish music the importance of which will be recognised by everyone who takes concern in a subject of much fascination.