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Hob 3Ia |
Genre |
Instruments |
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1 – 100 |
Harmonizations of Scottish National Airs for William Napier |
Violin & Continuo (pianoforte and cello) |
by Alexander Nasmyth (1828)
Of all the sundry and various parts of Haydn's immense oeuvre, there is perhaps no segment more misunderstood, and dare I say, underappreciated, than the Scots National Airs. Even Haydn's great champion, Robbins-Landon, totally missed the point of these works, and in his own way, he unintentionally served to damage them more than help. How could this happen? What could be simpler than a bunch of folk songs set to piano? Glad you asked! As always, a little history can rescue us from the darkest corner!
309 years ago, on the very day I write this, that is, 1 May, 1707, the Acts of Union married England and Scotland into the entity which exists today, the United Kingdom. Of course, there were a few bumps in the road. Such as the Jacobite Rebellions of 1715 and 1745 which attempted to restore the Stuart dynasty, in the person of Bonnie Prince Charlie, to the throne occupied by the Hanovers. But the 1746 Battle of Culloden effectively put an end to resistance to the single country idea. Unsurprisingly though, there was a strong push for preservation of some Scottish culture, and not just from the Scots, but from the English also.
by William Aikman (1722)
The Scots National Airs idea seems to have begun right at the turn of the century, with such publications as Playford's Collection of original Scotch-tunes, (full of the highland humours) for the violin (1700), Margaret Sinkler's Music Book (1710), and James Watson's Choice Collection of Comic and Serious Scots Poems both Ancient and Modern (1711). All of these collections were popular despite, or because of, the serious disapproval of the powerful Presbyterian Church, who were totally opposed to secular music and dance. Between 1715 and 1720, though, this began to ease, and an Edinburgh poet named Allan Ramsay hit it big. In 1719 he printed a collection he called Scots Songs, which poems he had published as broadsides for some time. The success of this and other ventures prompted him to collect his poems in 1722. That volume was issued by subscription, and brought in the sum of four hundred guineas, a stunning amount of money at the time! Clearly he was minting gold pieces, so in 1726 he published The Tea-Table Miscellany, A Collection of Choice Songs, Scots and English, containing some of Ramsay's own poems, and some by his friends, along with other well-known ballads and songs.
William Thomson
William Thomson's Orpheus Caledonius: or, A collection of the best Scotch Songs (1733), James Oswald's The Caledonian Pocket Companion (1751), and David Herd's Ancient and modern Scottish songs, heroic ballads, etc.: collected from memory, tradition and ancient authors (1776) were all popular contributions to the literature.
All of these were only a prelude, though for the most important work of its kind, The Scots Musical Museum published in six volumes from 1787 to 1803 by James Johnson and Robert Burns, which drew on the earlier works, but included both new poems, and also new words for old poems, all by Burns.
Robert Burns is certainly the greatest poet Scotland produced. Nothing in his biography prepares you for the sheer strength of intellect, pathos and wit which accompanies everything which came from his pen. He was the home-schooled son of a tenant farmer who was always on the edge of disaster. William Burnes was consistently unfortunate, and migrated with his large family from farm to farm without ever being able to improve his circumstances. He died in 1784 when Robert was 25 years old, and when, in 1786, Robert was in dire financial straits, a friend, Gavin Hamilton, suggested he sell some of his poems, which he had not considered as a commercial commodity. The resulting Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish dialect, published in 1786 in Kilmarnock, was an immediate success and contained some of Burns' best work. The prospect of a second edition, to be published in Edinburgh, sent him to that city where he at last began his new career as Scotland's Bard.
His fascination with Scots poetry and song impelled him to join forces with James Johnson the very next year, and the pair began the project which would occupy Burns for the rest of his life. In the event, he wrote fully a third of the six hundred poems in the Scots Musical Museum, and edited and or completed the balance of them. Along with the sources mentioned above, the Musical Museum provided the lyrics for the dozens of collections of National Airs which would follow in the next decades. Landon's suggestion that there was some lack of popularity in these works, or interest to anyone except musicologists, completely fails to account for the thousands of "Scotch Songs" which emanated from the pianos of The United Kingdom, and indeed, the United States, for the next century!
(c. 1715)
So what are we missing here, what did Landon and all the early commentators overlook in their eagerness to dismiss these works? The movement to bring these National Airs from the wilds of the Highlands and into the drawing rooms of the moneyed classes of Edinburgh and London was not a question of moving raw folk songs indoors, it was done, rather, with the intention of taming these works, domesticating them so they would be taken to heart and perpetuated. When Landon says "(Haydn's arrangements) are at frequent, and often violent, odds with the contents, musical and poetic, of the songs" or Karl Geiringer talks about "(Haydn) grasping the spirit alive in the folksongs of the British Isles", they are missing the point which Haydn, alive and part of the scene at the time, grasped only too well: reproducing the folksongs themselves, unchanged and unexpurgated, that is, simply arranging them for fiddle and pianoforte, was never the intention of the movement.
Richard Will, in his essay Haydn Invents Scotland, tells us:
By the time (Haydn) prepared his own arrangements, late in his career and some seven decades into the project of song collection, clothing the melodies in what we would now call "art music" style was nothing new. It suited the aesthetic of the collectors and their aim of reaching the literate classes of Scotland and England, for whom arranged songs could sit comfortably beside other genres meant for domestic music making.
Which brings us to the core point: these aren't 'folk songs', and calling them that serves no purpose other than to put people off from even trying them! Arguing their "authenticity", given their reason for being, verges on outright silliness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Selection
------ of ------
Original Scots Songs
------ in ------
Three Parts
The Harmony by
Haydn
We don't know the exact date, but Haydn had already been in London for some little while when he met William Napier, an apparently affable man who was in unfortunate circumstances. Greisinger generously assigns him twelve children, others are less specific, but safe to say, he had a large family and no longer had the means to care for them.
27 May, 1791 – The Morning Chronicle
BANKRUPT – the debtors of William Napier may receive a dividend of two shillings on the pound, on their respective debts.
Ouch. It is not known precisely how Haydn met Napier, perhaps he was known to Burney, Salomon, or another of their circle. But the important thing is this: Haydn, hip-deep in completing the 1791 concert season, then preparing for the 1792 season, offered to anonymously set 100 Scottish songs for Napier to print. In 1790, Napier had published Volume I of A Selection of Original Scots Songs. The settings were by four different composers, and at least three of them, William Shield, Samuel Arnold, and F.H. Bartholemon, were quite known to Haydn. At nearly 500 subscription copies sold, it had actually done quite well for Napier, but then, there were those twelve children at home… So what Haydn did here, essentially, was offer Napier a complete Volume II, and with no fee to the composer!
It should be no surprise to discover that setting one hundred songs, in addition to everything else Haydn was up to, was no overnight project! There also needed to be some discussion of terms. If Haydn meant this as a gift to Napier, then the value of it was hugely decreased by Haydn's name remaining concealed. And in fact, an announcement was published in the Morning Chronicle on 3 September to the effect that a Volume II of A Selection of Original Scots Songs was now "in great forwardness". But it wasn't until November we would learn more:
3 November – The Morning Chronicle
W. Napier is happy to announce to the subscribers to the Second Volume of the Scots Songs, that the work is now in considerable forwardness: and being anxious to render it worthy of National Patronage, the whole of the Harmony to the Original Melodies will be supplied by Mr. Haydn, who has already composed the greatest part of it.
From this point it will be a while yet before Haydn is able to make good on his promise, and Napier is able to get the publishing end all arranged. Finally, though, on 24 May, 1792, The Chronicle carried the announcement that Volume II would be released on 1 June. What sort of songs are these, then, if they aren't folk songs? Haydn's setting of them was quite simple. They are nowhere near as elaborate as the later works he undertook for George Thompson, full fledged piano trios with introductions and ritornellos, which Thompson called 'symphonies'. These, however are all of the same format. Two pages, on the left page is three lines to a set. The top line is the violin part. The second and third lines, connected by a brace, contain the vocal part (first verse set between them), and the third line is the figured bass. In practice, a pianoforte would accompany, and play the vocal line with the right hand and realize the figured bass with the left. If they were fortunate enough to have a cellist at hand, then the cellist would help with the bass line. On the blank facing page, the remainder of the verses are written out. The introduction to Volume II tells the players that:
The accompaniment of a Scottish Song ought to be performed with delicacy. The full chords of the thoroughbass should be used sparingly and with judgment, not to overpower, but to support and raise the voice at proper pauses. Where, with a fine voice, is joined some skill in instrumental music, the air, by way of symphony, or introduction to the song, should always be first played over; and at the close of every stanza, the last part of the air may be repeated, as a relief to the voice. In this symphonic part, the performer may show his taste and fancy on the instrument, varying ad libitum…
Basically, you can make it all as plain or fancy as your talent allows, then. In the event, Haydn's gift to Napier saved him from debtor's prison. Even though the first printing ultimately sold a hundred fewer copies than Volume I did, it did well enough to merit a second printing, and a Volume III was commissioned from Haydn, which we shall take a look at in 1795. So once again we see how Haydn, a man who seemingly was 'all about the money', gave his art away, just as with his concertos, and this time rescued a music publisher!!!
Next time, we will tie up all the loose ends of this visit to London and begin our trip back to Vienna. People are waiting for him!
Thanks for reading!