Gunn, John

About 1764-about 1824

Writer and teacher of music; born at Edinburgh; taught violoncello for a time in Cambridge, and about 1790 settled in London, where he taught cello and flute, and published works as follows: Forty Scotch airs arranged as Trios for Flute, Violin and Violoncello; The Theory and Practice of Fingering the Violoncello; and The Art of Playing the German Flute on New Principles. After his return to Edinburgh he published: An Essay, Theoretical and Practical, on the Application of Harmony, Thorough-Bass, and Modulation to the Violoncello; and An Historical Inquiry Respecting the Performance on the Harp in the Highlands of Scotland. His last work was written at the request of the National Society of Scotland, and is said to have been the most important of his writings. In 1804 he married Miss Anne Young, a well-known pianist, who had just published An Introduction to Music, Illustrated by Musical Games and Apparatus, which has since been republished twice. She was also the inventor of the games and apparatus mentioned in this book.