Thomson's Collections of National SongsAuthor(s): F. H.Source: Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, Vol. 4, No. 1 (Dec., 1940), p. 35Published by: English Folk Dance + Song SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4521176 .

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BREVIORA

THE HIGHWAYMAN AND HIS CHAPBOOK

A series of six articles by A. L. Humphries with this title will be found in " Notes and Queries," beginning in Vol. I78, No. i8, p. 309.

Full titles, with dates of publication and execution when known are given. Two which are well known to folk-song collectors are mentioned, " Gilderoy," " The Three Butchers," while, " the Female Frollick, or an account of a young gentlewoman who went upon the road to rob in Man's Cloathes well masked on a mare," seems to be related to " Sovay, Sovay "-(Folk Songs from Somerset, ii, io). The articles should be referred to by any wishing to trace execution ballads.

E. A. W.

BREVIORA

THE HIGHWAYMAN AND HIS CHAPBOOK

A series of six articles by A. L. Humphries with this title will be found in " Notes and Queries," beginning in Vol. I78, No. i8, p. 309.

Full titles, with dates of publication and execution when known are given. Two which are well known to folk-song collectors are mentioned, " Gilderoy," " The Three Butchers," while, " the Female Frollick, or an account of a young gentlewoman who went upon the road to rob in Man's Cloathes well masked on a mare," seems to be related to " Sovay, Sovay "-(Folk Songs from Somerset, ii, io). The articles should be referred to by any wishing to trace execution ballads.

E. A. W.

BREVIORA

THE HIGHWAYMAN AND HIS CHAPBOOK

A series of six articles by A. L. Humphries with this title will be found in " Notes and Queries," beginning in Vol. I78, No. i8, p. 309.

Full titles, with dates of publication and execution when known are given. Two which are well known to folk-song collectors are mentioned, " Gilderoy," " The Three Butchers," while, " the Female Frollick, or an account of a young gentlewoman who went upon the road to rob in Man's Cloathes well masked on a mare," seems to be related to " Sovay, Sovay "-(Folk Songs from Somerset, ii, io). The articles should be referred to by any wishing to trace execution ballads.

E. A. W.

THOMSON'S COLLECTIONS OF NATIONAL SONGS

A recent reprint from the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society Transactions, though addressed primarily to bibliographers, has some interest for students of folk-song in that it offers a guide through the complicated series of Thomson's publications in which at the turn of the eighteenth century he sought the co-operation of all the prominent composers in Europe for various editions of the national songs of Scotland. Haydn's and Beethoven's are the greatest names on his title pages, which are documents of some charm, incidentally, and are here reproduced-but Pleyel, Kozeluch, Weber and Hummel also appear. Burns and Sir Walter Scott were among the con- tributors employed to provide new words in place of the rude verse of folk-song.

Messrs. Cecil Hopkinson and C. B. Oldman, the Mozart scholar, have put together a thematic index of the contributions made by Haydn and Beethoven to the various editions which Thomson published between 1793 and I845. It is prefaced with an account of what they did for this remarkable enterprise of a remarkable man, and so provides more detail of an episode in their careers for which the biographers have no room. Haydn wrote settings for I87 songs and Beethoven for I26, and the first two or three bars of each are quoted. The book is beautifully produced and scrupulously edited.

F. H.

THOMSON'S COLLECTIONS OF NATIONAL SONGS

A recent reprint from the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society Transactions, though addressed primarily to bibliographers, has some interest for students of folk-song in that it offers a guide through the complicated series of Thomson's publications in which at the turn of the eighteenth century he sought the co-operation of all the prominent composers in Europe for various editions of the national songs of Scotland. Haydn's and Beethoven's are the greatest names on his title pages, which are documents of some charm, incidentally, and are here reproduced-but Pleyel, Kozeluch, Weber and Hummel also appear. Burns and Sir Walter Scott were among the con- tributors employed to provide new words in place of the rude verse of folk-song.

Messrs. Cecil Hopkinson and C. B. Oldman, the Mozart scholar, have put together a thematic index of the contributions made by Haydn and Beethoven to the various editions which Thomson published between 1793 and I845. It is prefaced with an account of what they did for this remarkable enterprise of a remarkable man, and so provides more detail of an episode in their careers for which the biographers have no room. Haydn wrote settings for I87 songs and Beethoven for I26, and the first two or three bars of each are quoted. The book is beautifully produced and scrupulously edited.

F. H.

THOMSON'S COLLECTIONS OF NATIONAL SONGS

A recent reprint from the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society Transactions, though addressed primarily to bibliographers, has some interest for students of folk-song in that it offers a guide through the complicated series of Thomson's publications in which at the turn of the eighteenth century he sought the co-operation of all the prominent composers in Europe for various editions of the national songs of Scotland. Haydn's and Beethoven's are the greatest names on his title pages, which are documents of some charm, incidentally, and are here reproduced-but Pleyel, Kozeluch, Weber and Hummel also appear. Burns and Sir Walter Scott were among the con- tributors employed to provide new words in place of the rude verse of folk-song.

Messrs. Cecil Hopkinson and C. B. Oldman, the Mozart scholar, have put together a thematic index of the contributions made by Haydn and Beethoven to the various editions which Thomson published between 1793 and I845. It is prefaced with an account of what they did for this remarkable enterprise of a remarkable man, and so provides more detail of an episode in their careers for which the biographers have no room. Haydn wrote settings for I87 songs and Beethoven for I26, and the first two or three bars of each are quoted. The book is beautifully produced and scrupulously edited.

F. H.

THE PENTATONIC SCALE IN SCOTTISH SONG

This is the title of an article by E. Cecil Curwen in the December number of Antiquity, vol. xiv, pp. 347-362. It is a continuation of an earlier article in Vol. xii which shewed that the Hebrides formed a cultural backwater in which the general manner of life of the Early Iron Age survived almost to our own day. The author concludes that musical instruments with a 7-note scale appear for the first time at or soon after the dawn of material civilisation in the Near East, and

35

THE PENTATONIC SCALE IN SCOTTISH SONG

This is the title of an article by E. Cecil Curwen in the December number of Antiquity, vol. xiv, pp. 347-362. It is a continuation of an earlier article in Vol. xii which shewed that the Hebrides formed a cultural backwater in which the general manner of life of the Early Iron Age survived almost to our own day. The author concludes that musical instruments with a 7-note scale appear for the first time at or soon after the dawn of material civilisation in the Near East, and

35

THE PENTATONIC SCALE IN SCOTTISH SONG

This is the title of an article by E. Cecil Curwen in the December number of Antiquity, vol. xiv, pp. 347-362. It is a continuation of an earlier article in Vol. xii which shewed that the Hebrides formed a cultural backwater in which the general manner of life of the Early Iron Age survived almost to our own day. The author concludes that musical instruments with a 7-note scale appear for the first time at or soon after the dawn of material civilisation in the Near East, and

35

This content downloaded from 185.44.78.76 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 20:45:03 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions