Rob Roy MacGregor is credited in some sources (e.g. Burwick[1]) as an opera (or sometimes called a melodrama) by William Henry Murray[2], written in association with Walter Scott. However other sources suggest that this may have been a play by Pocock and Davy, which Murray produced and performed in.

The original text

Ostensibly adapted from the novel Rob Roy (1817) by Sir Walter Scott, by Murray and Scott, it was first performed on June 10, 1818 in Edinburgh.

However, the entry on Murray by John Joseph Knight in the Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 39:p.415[3] states that "..15 Feb. 1819, when 'Rob Roy MacGregor, or Auld Langsyne,' was produced, and proved the greatest and most enduring success probably ever known in Scotland. Murray was Captain Thornton." ... and that Murray "..wrote many dramas intended to serve a temporary purpose, and without literary aim. 'Diamond cut Diamond,' an interlude, from 'How to die for Love,' a translation from Kotzebue ; 'Cramond Brig,' assigned by error to Lockhart, and depreciated by Scott ; 'Mary Stuart,' 'Gilderoy,' and a burlesque of 'Romeo and Juliet,' were among his successes."

Performance history in South Africa

A play called Rob Roy MacGregor Campbell, said to be based on Scott's novel, was performed a number of times in the African Theatre, Cape Town by the amateur company English Theatricals in the years 1823-24 (it is later simply referred to a Rob Roy in the sources). It may have been this version by Murray, though it is much more likely to have been the widely known and published musical version by Isaac Pocock (1782–1835)[4], with music by John Davy (1763-1824)[5].

For performances in South Africa, see Rob Roy