NYOS Concerts - and an intriguing tune

From the NYOS website, with due acknowledgment

The National Youth Orchestra of Scotland is about to begin its annual summer tour.  Details here.

A highlight of the programme will be Nicola Benedetti playing the Bruch Fantasia on Scottish Folksongs. 

This favourite piece includes a tune called 'I'm a' doun for lack of Johnnie'.  The tune first appeared in a mid-19th century Scottish songbook called Songs of Scotland.  The commentary tells us it was a Highland melody, probably not very old, found and arranged by Finlay Dun.  It had never been published before.

Does this mean Bruch had a copy of Songs of Scotland? Or did someone else pass the tune on to him? We can only speculate.

The Whittaker Library at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is glad they've got copies of the songbook, in any case! 

Vol.1, Songs of Scotland: Finlay Dun's setting

The Songs of Scotland adapted to their appropriate Melodies, arranged with Pianoforte Accompaniments by G. F. Graham, T. M. Mudie, J. T. Surenne, H. E. Dibdin, Finlay Dun with historical, biographical, and critical notices by G. F. Graham, etc ... See catalogue entry ...

On this day ... John Muir Wood

On this day, 25 June, 1892

John Muir Wood died in Cove, 120 years ago today.  Very few people have heard of him nowadays, but he was a big name in the late 19^th century.  He and his brother were music publishers – one ran the Edinburgh branch, and the other the Glasgow one. John Muir Wood also contributed to Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

1st edition

Last edition

John Muir Wood published several editions of the popular collection, Songs of Scotland, initially in collaboration with George Farquhar Graham.  Graham made some of the arrangements, and wrote the preface and notes on each song.  He, too, was a scholar and writer, responsible in his earlier days for the music article in the 7^th edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica.  

• The Songs of Scotland adapted to their appropriate melodies (also known as Wood’s Edition of the Songs of Scotland), 1848-9; 
• Revised as The Popular Songs of Scotland with their appropriate Melodies; with additional airs and notes (J. Muir Wood and Co, 1885-7) – spine title was The Popular Songs and Melodies of Scotland; 
•  Revised with the addition of many airs and notes by J. Muir Wood, original notes by Graham; and now arranged by A. C. Mackenzie [et al] (London: Bayley and Ferguson, 1908)

It was a comprehensive collection, in 3 volumes - or sometimes bound as one - with authoritative notes, and piano accompaniments within the capabilities of a competent amateur.  If only because this was one of the most popular Scottish songbooks of its day, John Muir Wood deserves this mention. 

One of Whittaker's 'On this day' series of postings.  You can search 'On this day' for more of the same!

On this day: George Farquhar Graham

On this day, 28th December 1789, Scottish music journalist, historian and arranger George Farquhar Graham was born. Graham (1789-1867) was originally destined for law, but became what we would now call a musicologist instead. At some stage in his early adulthood, he had lessons with Beethoven on the Continent.

G F Graham - Songs of Scotland, 1st ed., 1848
















His major accomplishment was the three-volume anthology of Scottish songs he edited for publisher John Muir Wood - The Songs of Scotland adapted to their appropriate melodies. He arranged some of the songs himself, wrote all the commentary, and coordinated the efforts of the other arrangers - Mudie, Surenne, H. E. Dibdin and Edinburgh-based Highlander Finlay Dun.



Popular Songs and Melodies of Scotland, 1908



Because Wood was the publisher, the collection was also known as Wood’s Edition of the Songs of Scotland.

Why is this interesting today? Because the collection was one of the most respected Scottish song anthologies for the next sixty years, meaning that countless households over several generations would have encountered their Scottish heritage in the version presented to them by George Farquhar Graham and John Muir Wood - good, middle-of-the road arrangements, playable by a competent amateur, and bringing together some of the background to each song, as it had accumulated over the previous half-century or more.


The title changed slightly over the years, with the different editions:-

• 1848-1849 The Songs of Scotland adapted to their appropriate melodies (Mudie, Surenne, H. E. Dibdin, and Dun were also named on title-page). Also known as Wood’s Edition of the Songs of Scotland - see illustration of open copy
• 1887 Revised as The Popular Songs of Scotland with their appropriate Melodies; with additional airs and notes (J. Muir Wood and Co.);
• 1908 Revised as The Popular Songs and Melodies of Scotland, with the addition of many airs and notes by J. Muir Wood, notes by Graham and arranged by A. C. Mackenzie [et al] (London: Bayley and Ferguson). ‘The Balmoral Edition’ is the green copy illustrated here.

It only remains to be said - happy 222nd birthday, George! Cheers!

• Check our holdings in the Whittaker Library at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland here;
• Check other libraries' holdings in COPAC here.
• Click the 'On this day' label below to see other blogposts in this series.
• 'Charlie is my darling', arranged by G F Graham