Romantic Scotland Gallery5-collection of original Scottish airs for the voice

collection of original Scottish airs for the voice

George Thomson (1757–1851)
A select collection of original Scottish airs for the voice: with introductory & concluding symphonies & accompaniments for the piano forte, violin & violoncello by Pleyel, Kozeluch & Haydn; with select & characteristic verses both Scottish and English adapted to the airs including upwards of one hundred 
new songs by Burns… 
London: T. Preston; Edinburgh: G. Thomson, ca. 1803–1818
date unknown 

George Thompson was an early enthusiast for Scottish song, of which he was an untiring editor, publisher, and advocate. Preferring to hear the songs arranged and adorned by leading composers in the latest Viennese style, he began during the 1780s to publish a collection of Scottish songs arranged by composers such as Joseph Haydn, Carl Maria von Weber, and Johann Nepomuk Hummel. He had little time for the rougher sonorities of true folk song, which inspired composers such as Ralph Vaughan Williams and Percy Grainger a century later. 

The song “Duncan Gray came here to woo,” shown here, is based on a poem by Robert Burns with music by Ludwig van Beethoven. Beethoven was given the words and a melody, and produced a lively setting for piano. 

LENT BY THE BEINECKE RARE BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY, YALE UNIVERSITY 

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