We were donated some old music the other day. At first glance, it was rubbish - old and tatty, probably ten-a-penny. Both pieces were published by Bayley & Ferguson, a music publisher with bases in Glasgow and London.
Reading a Score (not your usual score-reading!)
But look again. 'A Fairy Croon' was published in 1918. That's the era of Hugh Roberton and the Orpheus Singers, one of the big names of choral music history in Glasgow. This particular piece, scored for soprano solo and female voices, isn't a Roberton one - it was arranged by Julian Nesbitt, a name completely unknown to us today. Nonetheless, it's still distinctly in the 'Celtic Twilight' vein. Today we know it as 'Dream Angus'.
The other sheet, 'Scottish Part Songs, no.83' is set for mixed choir. It contains four song settings, beginning with 'Caller herrin'. That's a Scottish folk song that is still quite well known. Although ... we call it a folk song, but it isn't really. Far from being plucked from the rural hedgerows and oral tradition, we learn from this score that Lady Caroline Nairne wrote the words, and Nathaniel Gow Junior composed the tune. 'Folk?' 'Traditional?' Hardly! Strange things happen to 'folk songs' when they're scored for SATB choir, too. Sometimes they become almost hymn-like, and sometimes the harmonies are as thick and sludgy as golden syrup!
One last comment about 'Scottish Part Songs'. If there were four songs in no.83, there were plainly hundreds in the series. This one's in conventional staff music notation, but it says there was also a Tonic Sol-Fa edition. Those were the days when choral singing was much more popular, and Tonic Sol-Fa brought singing and sight-reading within the capabilities of people who couldn't read music.
So much musical and social history in two scruffy pieces of sheet music. We might keep them, anyway!
We've spotted this blogpost by a librarian at Trinity Laban Conservatoire. James Luff writes from the Jerwood Library of the Performing Arts:-
James posts lots of images of intriguing scores, so his posting is well-worth visiting.
... Take a look at our digital music collections. Staff and students of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland can download sheet music from Alexander Street Press, or from LibrarySource.com. They're listed on the Whittaker Library electronic resources page, and very usefully augment the popular free resources that anyone can access.
Partifi.org
Catherine also found an intriguing website called Partifi, the other day. It can create parts from an IMSLP (Petrucci Music Library) full score. It's fair to say that it's a bit fiddly to use, but if you're desperate to create parts for a piece of music, and they're not already online, then you might find it handy.
It's listed on our electronic resources page, to help you find it when you need it.
We subscribe to Alexander Street Press Classical Scores Library Collections 1 and 2. That means our staff and students can download anything they find there. There's classical music for everyone, whatever they sing or play. Do
take a look. (If you're accessing these links from off-campus, you'll
need to login.)
.
We
are the Whittaker Library at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland - here
to help our performing arts community with their information needs!
