# William McGibbon (1690 - 1756)



## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

I have followed the dates given in Wiki. McGibbon was the son of an Edinburgh musician Duncan McGibbon and his wife Sarah Muir. Duncan is variously given as oboist or fiddler and William may have been born in 1690 in Glasgow or 1695 in Edinburgh according to earlier sources.

William is believed to have studied in London under William Corbett, and may have travelled in Italy in his youth, possibly with Corbett. Corbett moved to Italy in 1716. Nothing more is known of McGibbon until the winter of 1726 - 1727 when he appears in the minute book of the Edinburgh Music Society as a professional violinist. Although not described as "leader" he was the best paid regular player in the Society - apart from visiting virtuosi - a position he held until his death in 1756.

McGibbon supplemented his income as a player by selling violin strings to the members and also supplying the society with music both his own and that of others. The society also helped to subscribe to publication of his music.

McGibbon composed 24 trio sonatas in 4 sets (1727, 1729, 1734 and 1745) , six sonatas for flute (1748), six solo sonatas (1640) and some lost orchestral music. He also published three collections of Scots songs (1742, 1746 and 1755).

David Johnson describes McGibbon as a second rate Italian composer but a first rate Scots composer. His early trio efforts are marred by poor part writing - consecutive fifths and octaves. It is interesting that his 1740 collection (for flute and violin) represents much of his finest work drawing on the Scots tradition of fiddle and cello (or base) and representing two part writing the equal of Handel.

McGibbon's collections of Scots songs represents a high point of the Edinburgh musical scene. The Scots drawing room style was an attempt to meld European (and particularly Italian) ideas of harmony, ornamentation and development with the special characteristics of Scots music - pentatonic tunes, the snap and the shapes of the tunes.


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