Pete Stewart looks at one of the classic tunes from the Border repertoire from two different viewpoints

‘Cuddy Clawed Her’ was the first tune I learnt from William Dixon’s manuscript back in 1995. Some time later I encountered the Scottish version - which in fact predates Dixon by some thirty years, and reveals a characteristic of ‘cross-border’ traditions which formed the basis of a presentation I prepared a few years back that bore the same title as this article;
Here is the Scottish version from the George Bowie Manuscript, dated 1705. It is probably the work of fiddler James McLachlan, who was a major figure in the Edinburgh music scene around the very beginning of the 18th century

Cutie Clat Her (Bowie MS. 1705)

The structure of the tune is straightforward - the ground can be written A|G|A|A||A|G|A|A, although the variations do not stick rigidly to this ground, with D patterns substituting for the A ones. (Bowie’s original is in G, here transposed for comparison.) Another striking feature is the syncopation, something which appears to be a particular characteristic device of McLachlan’s settings. The manuscript calls the tune ‘Cutie Clat Her’
The tune’s next chronological appearance comes from south of the Border, in William Dixon’s manuscript of 1733-38, and crossing the Tweed has caused a significant change; the ground is now ‘reversed’, giving the basic pattern A|A|A|G||A|A|DA|G. Were we to start playing at bar 3, and return to bars 1 & 2 after bar 8, we would reproduce the basic ‘Scottish’ version. This difference turns out to be shared by a number of tunes that appear on both sides of the Border. There has been some debate about how to interpret the ‘caesura’ symbol Dixon uses above the minim notes; Matt replaced it with the trill sign, which presents questions when it appears above the chanter’s top note; classically, the sign represents a pause, conventionally in vocal music, but challenging for the bagpiper. There is also the question of how to interpret those slurred notes.

Cuddy Claw’d Her (William Dixon MS. 1733)

The next appearance of the tune takes us back to Scotland. It comes in the third book of James Oswald’s Caledonian Pocket Companion, published in London some time around 1745 (the original is in G). Oswald’s setting retains the ‘Scottish’ version of the ground, but he introduces a new feature, something that was to dog publishers of ‘old’ music throughout the century, the use of accidentals to modify the mode. Another feature of both Oswald and McLachlan’s is the anacrusis, the pick-up note at the beginning. This is not retained throughout the notation and consequently might not have much impact on performance.
Oswald was presenting his collection as being ‘for German Flute or Violin’, and hence his range is beyond that of most pipers; nevertheless, he has some interesting new thoughts on the tune, and most of his wider-ranging strains can be condensed down into 9 notes and re-deployed in any new setting

Our second Northumbrian setting is ‘Cuddy Claw’s Her’ from John Peacock’s A Favorite Collection of Tunes, published sometime between 1800 and 1803. The original is in G

Peacock’s setting does retain the pick-up note throughout, and it suggests the potential to alter the rhythmic interpretation of the pattern that defines the tune, that of bars 2 and 4 etc. Peacock’s collection describes itself as ‘arranged for the Northumbrian Smallpipes’, and the consequence is that the modality of the old tune is changed, the pipes now being unable to play the low G and the high G being sharp. This being the case, it is surprising how much of the material in Dixon’s setting survives here. More of Dixon’s ideas that do not re-appear in this setting do re-surface later in the various settings from Thomas Clough in the 20th century, one of which does have G naturals (Fnatural in the original), but that’s another and more extensive story.

As something of an aside to finish, this strange setting, titled ‘Cuddy Claw’d Her’ is from Aird’s Airs, Book 3, and represents another Scottish branch of the tune which re-appears in an extended version in Gow’s 1822 volume of Strathspey Reels. In E minor, it has the feeling of an earlier age. It is nevertheless true to the Scottish ground