Happy birthday, Abraham Mackintosh! He was born on either June 15 or June 18 in 1769, so we’re splitting the difference, and was the son of the better-known Robert Mackintosh. Baptie writes that he was a “composer of ability”, which is certainly true. He published either two (Gore) or three (Baptie) collections of tunes (featuring both his own compositions and other popular favorites), and he also appears fleetingly in his father’s third collection under the name “Mackintosh Junior”.

His best-known tune is “Athole Brose”, but we decided to highlight two lesser-known but still excellent tunes: “Miss Hood’s Strathspey” and “Miss Brandling of Gosforth’s Reel”, both from his “Collection of Strathspeys, Reels, Jigs &c” of 1805.