John Gunn (writer)
Encyclopedia
John Gunn was a Scottish cellist, writer on music, and professor.

Gunn was born in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

 about 1765.

Gunn taught violoncello and flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

 in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

. From 1789 he was in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 for several years, making studies in languages and history in his leisure moments. He wrote at Cambridge his Treatise on the Origin of Stringed Instruments, and published it with his Theory and Practice of Fingering the Violoncello, with Examples, about 1789. Forty favourite Scotch Airs adapted for Violin, Violoncello, or Flute followed as a supplement to that work. In 1790 Gunn translated from the Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 A. D. R. Borghese's New and General System of Music (originally published in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, 1788, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

).

In 1795 Gunn returned to Edinburgh. An Essay on Harmony … adapted to the Violoncello was brought out at Edinburgh, 1801. About this time Gunn married Ann Young, a pianist, and authoress of Elements of Music, An Introduction to Music, and some ingenious musical games.

In 1805 General Robertson of Lude, Perthshire, sent 2 harps, including what is now known as the Queen Mary Harp
Queen Mary Harp
The Queen Mary Clàrsach na Banrìgh Màiri or Lude Harp, is a Scottish Clarsach currently displayed in the National Museum of Scotland. It is believed to date back to the 15th century, and to have originated in Argyll, in South-West Scotland...

 to the Highland Society of Scotland, in Edinburgh, The Society commissioned Gunn to inspect the instruments, and he read his report on the harp to the Society later that year. This paper was printed by their desire in 1807 as An Historical Enquiry respecting the performances of the Harp in the Highlands of Scotland, from the earliest times till it was discontinued about 1734, &c., 4to, Edinburgh. This is a valuable contribution to the history of music, and it is unfortunate that the author did not carry out his intention of writing an inquiry into the antiquity of the harp. Other works by Gunn were The Art of Playing the Flute and The School for the German Flute.
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