Poet and song-collector William Motherwell responded to his friend R. A. Smith's polite request for a preface, along these lines: yes, fair enough, but it'll take me a week to get over Hogmanay!
To all those staff and students just wearily psyching themselves up to some 'real' work on 2nd January 2012 - one can only imagine how Motherwell celebrated Hogmanay in 1824, if it was going to take a week to get over it!
And did he write the preface eventually? Yes, after a fashion. Smith and his committee of "ladies" drafted a preface for The Scotish Minstrel, and Motherwell rearranged it a bit. Gee whizz!
Showing posts with label R. A. Smith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label R. A. Smith. Show all posts
Monday, 2 January 2012
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
On this day ... 16th November 1780
Okay, what about music written by someone, published as "trad", and then becoming part of the oral tradition?
What about someone having a laugh at his compatriots expense? (Just a bit of mischief, you might say.) What kind of words would you use to promote your "national" collection?
R. A. Smith, 16th Nov,1780 - 3rd Jan, 1829
He was born a Scottish weaver's son in London, came back to Scotland and abandoned the weaving trade to become an organist and music teacher first in Paisley and later in Edinburgh.
Much, much more could be said about his use of metaphors to characterise his collection and place it historically. (But maybe not on this blog posting! Visit our Minstrels and Metaphors page.) Ask to see his Scotish Minstrel - the Whittaker Library has a couple of volumes. University Library and national collections have lots more.
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