The Gentle Shepherd is apastoralcomedy byAllan Ramsay. It was first published in 1725 and dedicated toSusanna Montgomery, Lady Eglinton, to whom Ramsay gifted the original manuscript.
The play has some happy descriptive scenes and is a pleasant delineation of rustic manners in the countryside of theScottish Lowlands in the 18th century. The backdrop is believed to have been inspired by thePenicuik area some eight miles south west ofEdinburgh where Ramsay was frequently the guest of his patronSir John Clerk of Penicuik atPenicuik House.
The Italian style of classical music was probably first brought to Scotland by the Italian cellist and composer Lorenzo Bocchi, who travelled to Scotland in the 1720s, introducing the cello to the country and then developing settings for lowland Scots songs. He possibly had a hand in the firstScottish opera, the pastoralThe Gentle Shepherd, with libretto by the makarAllan Ramsay.[1]
An adaptation ofThe Gentle Shepherd byRobert Kemp was staged at theAssembly Hall of the Church of Scotland inEdinburgh under the direction ofTyrone Guthrie during theEdinburgh International Festival in August 1949.[2]
The play was staged by theRoyal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama as a Festival production at theSignet Library in August 1986.[3]
The first complete recording ofThe Gentle Shepard, by the Makaris ensemble, will be released on March 7, 2025.[4]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Wood, James, ed. (1907). "Gentle Shepherd".The Nuttall Encyclopædia. London and New York: Frederick Warne.
Media related toThe Gentle Shepherd at Wikimedia Commons
