Scots Musical Museum
The Scots Musical Museum was an influential collection of traditional folk
The project started with
As well as collecting old songs, Burns wrote new words to old tunes, and many of the songs now attributed to Burns have older roots. Songs in the collection include .
The earliest issues of the ‘Museum’ did not identify the songs that were by Burns as in 1787 his fame had yet to imbed itself, however in later issues his name was appended to his contributions in the index and the text often had the declaration "Written for this Work by Robert Burns." Therefore the fewer songs ascribed to Burns in an issue, the earlier the issue.[2]
The 'Museum' was issued totally uncut, in plain boards and without any lettering. The earliest version of the title-page does not have a border around the vignette. Later versions have a border and a thistle design is present at the top and bottom.[3]
The collection became popular internationally, and songs and tunes were arranged by composers such as Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven. Burns collaborated with George Thomson in A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs, published from 1793 to 1818, which adapted Scottish folk-songs with "classical" arrangements. While this brought songs to new audiences, many of the songs and tunes continued in the folk tradition, both in Scotland and America.
The American collector John Gribbel was at one time in possession of Robert Burns's Interleaved Scots Musical Museum, the first four volumes of Johnson's "Scots Musical Museum" interleaved with some 140 pages of Robert Burns's explanatory notes on the 184 songs that he contributed. These volumes had long been in the possession of the Riddell family of Friars Carse in Nithsdale. These notes have provided many insights into the authorship and editing of the songs he contributed.[4]
References
- ^ Rogers, Charles (1885). "The Scottish Minstrel: The Songs of Scotland Subsequent to Burns, with Memoirs of the Poets".
- ^ Egerer, J.W. (1965). A Bibliography of Robert Burns. Southern Illinois University Press. p. 359.
- ^ Egerer, J.W. (1965). A Bibliography of Robert Burns. Southern Illinois University Press. p. 357.
- ^ Burns Chronicle XXIII January 1914
External links
- The Scots Musical Museum: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
- Digitised copy of Scots Musical Museum in six volumes by James Johnson, printed between 1787 and 1803, from National Library of Scotland. JPEG, PDF, XML versions.
- Island 7: Burns and Scottish Song
- Robert Burns - Travels and Music