Mystery in a Music Book

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

I was at Edinburgh University Library yesterday – I’m trying to work out which bound volumes might contain music that arrived through the legal deposit route.  I was looking at one particular volume, and came to a batch of pieces all by the same Edinburgh-based  composer.  I looked him up – and found he spent some time in Italy in his youth, under the direction of a particular teacher.

Then I remembered that I’d encountered some music BY that teacher, in a different volume.  And then – exploring the University Library catalogue – I found more by the Edinburgh composer AND more by the Italian musician.  Is it remotely possible that the individual who arranged for that legal deposit volume to be bound, also knew the Edinburgh musician?  It was some decades before music would have an official, recognised place in the University curriculum, but obviously some music was being collected.

Equally, might the music by the Italian – in another volume, not necessarily legal deposit, and in other volumes definitely not so – have come to Edinburgh in some way connected with his British pupil?

You might argue that this doesn’t have much to do with legal deposit.  In one sense, that’s true.  But if we’re thinking about what the University decided to keep, out of the legal deposit material that they received, then this is – if nothing else – quite interesting, surely?

As to the identity of these guys – well, let me enjoy the mystery a bit longer, once I’ve worked out if there’s any more to be discovered!

Echoes From the Vault, Re-echoed

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
2016-03-09 16.25.31
Playfair Terrace, referenced in blogpost

Writing my paper for the IAML Congress which takes place in Leipzig later this month, I decided to reference a recording that I made with Dr Jane Pettegree for my blogpost on St Andrews’ Special Collections blog, Echoes From the Vault.  I can hardly believe it’s two years since I wrote it!  However, it was my research into the Copyright Music Collection at St Andrews, that led ultimately to the AHRC-funded research network that I’m currently leading.

So, maybe it’s not inappropriate to revisit the blogpost here, today?

Experimenting with Animation

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

Could you use a couple of absolutely miniscule videos to tell people about the Claimed From Stationers’ Hall research network?

Educationalists don’t entirely agree with the concept of learning styles these days, but in my librarian-as-educationalist capacity I have learned that people do value having access to a variety of formats when it comes to learning about new stuff.  The other day, I was experimenting with a newly-discovered facility for creating very short animated videos.  (Yes, I spend my weekends in odd ways.)

I can see potential uses for Biteable.com, but the major hurdle is deciding which template to use.  Although you start by deciding the purpose of your video, it isn’t immediately apparent how many screens each template offers you, nor what the images are going to look like! Maybe it’s because I was playing around with the free version.

[PS a few days later – I now know that starting a video from scratch means you get to choose how many frames to use, and you can also choose which templates to use, though you lose the chirpy little animated people.  Moreover, you can upload your own music.  THAT makes things much more fun!]

Anyway, my playful Sunday evening resulted in two short videos about the Claimed From Stationers’ Hall network.

  • My first attempt was Claimed From Stationers’ Hall: a Research Network, which explains how the network came into being.
  • Next came  Out of the Stacks,  which is about the repertoire itself, and its value.  Trust me, the videoclip is as short as can be and takes only seconds to view!  I managed to get my own images into this one, which was a bonus.
  • I’ve a feeling I can only create a few videoclips a month for free, so you have my assurance I won’t be cluttering this blog with Biteable videos!

 

Why “Not worth a mention”?

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

Wonderful! A lovely read, especially for followers of the Claimed From Stationers’ Hall network!

mj263's avatarMusiCB3 Blog

You may have wondered why our latest exhibition, in and around the Anderson Room, celebrating the work of female composers has the odd title of “Not worth a mention“. The idea for the exhibition came about through a chance conversation with a music librarian at another Legal Deposit library. Looking for some music that had been entered at Stationer’s Hall to show a researcher, the first score he plucked from the shelf had a piece by a little known nineteenth century composer, a Miss Heward. Researcher was delighted and wondered if the library had anything else by her. Librarian went confidently to the catalogue, and was puzzled to discover that there was NOTHING by Miss Heward, not even the piece he held in his hand. Perhaps it had been missed out of the electronic catalogue during the migration from cards? But no, there was no evidence of it…

View original post 925 more words

The Buttrey MS, a Napoleonic fifer’s tunebook

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

Eamonn O’Keele tells me this incredible manuscript is ‘linked to a 1/34th Regiment fifer in India, c.1790-1805. Plenty of great tunes and watercolours…’
It’s amazing. Do take a look!

via Drawings

Stationers’ Hall, Stationers’ Hall Court

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

Stationers Hall coloured image Thomas Shepherd 1831

The image I’ve been using?  I now have my own engraved, coloured antique print.  It dates from 1831, was drawn by Thomas H. Shepherd, and engraved by W. Watkins.  I treated myself to the print after our successful workshop last week.  You must admit it looks lovely in colour!

Project Workshop 26th March 2018

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

RCSWell, the arrangements are all in place.  We have delegates, a board room to meet in, catering and other practicalities taken care of, and even lunchtime entertainment for our guests.  I’m happy to say that we’ve made contact with ALL of the historical legal deposit libraries, and all but two of them will be represented at next Monday’s workshop, along with big data and digitisation experts and other interested scholars.  I won an AHRC networking award last year, and here we have it – networking really bearing fruit. I’m so excited!

FLASHBACKS

Bigger Picture What Did Happen - March 2016TWO YEARS … To think that it’s two years ago since I presented this slide at the IAML (UK and Ireland) Annual Study Weekend: things have moved on quite a bit since then!

TWO HUNDRED YEARS … Lastly, I can’t resist sharing this – a snapshot of what was registered at Stationers’ Hall OTD (on Charles Nicholson Flutethat day) 26th March 1818.  It really is a typical cross-section of music publishing at the time!  Just look – three arrangements of contemporary or near-contemporary operatic works for domestic consumptions (let’s not argue about who had the copyright in what! – see the posting on this blog last month!), and flute duets by one of THE big names of the time, virtuoso performer and arranger Charles Nicholson:-

Bishop’s Overture and Songs in Zuma, Book 1; Burrowes’s arrangement of Airs from Il Don Giovanni [Mozart], Books 1-3; Paer’s Numa Pompilio Overture; and Nicholson’s Four Concertante Duetts for Two Flutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tracing Early Legal Deposit Music

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
National_Library_Extension
Causewayside, National Library of Scotland, where UK legal deposit is administered.

Asked, in connection with another project, where the legal deposit music is in Britain, it seemed a good idea to summarise the current position.  What follows is a very broad outline, but it might prove helpful to anyone trying to track down an old British piece of music! 

The British Library has always received legal deposit materials from the start, has the most complete collection and all are catalogued.  The collection began as the Royal Collection, then formed the basis of the British Museum collection, from which the British Library evolved.

For the remainder of the legal deposit libraries, remember that historically, some form of library committee decided which music to keep. This varied widely:-

  • Bodleian Library, University of Oxford – has always received legal deposit materials, from the start right up to the present. Mostly all catalogued, though historical entries aren’t all full, in-depth records, having been digitised from old records.
  • Cambridge University Library – has always received legal deposit materials, from the start right up to the present. Not all historical materials are catalogued.
  • Aberdeen University Library – was a legal deposit library up to 1836. A very incomplete collection, but what survives is catalogued – not all catalogued online.
  • St Andrews University Library – again, a legal deposit library up to 1836. A more comprehensive collection, but only items post 1800 are catalogued online, and the paper catalogue records for the earlier items appear to be missing.  Interestingly, the historical music collection was very much a working one, frequently borrowed by professors, students, and friends of the professors.
  • Edinburgh University Library – a legal deposit library up to 1836. A very patchy collection, but items that ended up in the Reid Music Library, established in the 19th century, are at least now listed on a spreadsheet.
  • Glasgow University Library – a legal deposit library up to 1836. A more comprehensive collection, and catalogued online.
  • National Library of Scotland – evolved from the Advocates Library in Edinburgh, and is a legal deposit library to this day. Historical music is catalogued in the Victorian paper catalogue; probably not as complete as the British Library, for various reasons.  More modern materials are catalogued online.
  • Trinity College Dublin. Although a legal deposit library since 1801, there is little historical music copyright material to speak of, because it wasn’t collected. Still a legal deposit library.
  • Sion College, London, was historically a theological institution, with a legal deposit library prior to 1836. All holdings have more recently been transferred to Lambeth Palace Library, London, and little music survives. Not catalogued.
  • King’s Inns, Dublin – another historical legal deposit library 1801-1836, but music appears not to have been catalogued to any extent, except very popular publications which must have been added to stock individually as they made their way to the library.
  • National Library of Wales. Was not a legal deposit library until the 20th century. (Unlike the National Library of Scotland, it was a new establishment in 1907, not growing out of an earlier institution.

Agency for the Legal Deposit Libraries – find out about today’s legal deposit system.

Introduction to Legal Deposit – a helpful introduction from the National Library of Wales.

Acknowledgement: image https://www.flickr.com/photos/yellowbookltd/ – https://www.flickr.com/photos/yellowbookltd/2875093931/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7093190

Hello, G’Day, Shalom

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

This fascinating blogpost about Isaac Nathan appealed to me because his Hebrew Melodies were very popular in their day. (I know – people were borrowing them from St Andrews University Library!)

mj263's avatarMusiCB3 Blog

A gift from Australia from one music librarian to another.

Sometimes you don’t always end up writing what you intended…This started out as a post for Australia Day 2018; but ended up as a rather different story. So how did MusiCB3 manage to travel from Poland to Sydney, via Canterbury and Cambridge, in the company of aristocrats, an intelligent woman, a notable disaster, and a superstar? Stopping off at London en route, and bumping into an expedition that went wrong, although it turned out right. Welcome to the sometimes topsy-turvy world of Isaac Nathan.

View original post 875 more words