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Getting
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In
a hurry, click here for Quick Guide to this site. |
"Jane
Austen's Music"
To begin your
study of Jane Austen's music, you should obtain a copy of the book
"Jane Austen's Music", by Ian Gammie & Derek McCulloch,
published in 1996 by Corda Music Publications. The subtitle
to this book is: "The musical world of Jane Austen seen through
the manuscripts and printed editions held by the Jane Austen Memorial
Trust at Chawton with brief histories of contemporary composers
and a catalogue of more than 300 musical works." There
is a companion book "Incipits from the manuscript sources Jane
Austen's Music" which gives the first line of some of the music,
to help in its identification. These books are item numbers
CMP436 and CMP436a in the Corda
Music online catalog of Early Music. You may purchase
these directly from Corda Music, or from one of their authorized
distributors. In the USA, the authorized distributor who regularly
carries these two books is Jane
Austen Books.
Every song from
the Austen collection that is mentioned on these page is listed
with the number assigned to it in the Gammie/McCulloch book, which
I call the GM number. To find out more about
any song (or its composer), use the GM number given
to look up information in "Jane Austen's Music". |
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This book is
the GM referred to elsewhere on this site.
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For
more information about the abbreviations used on this site, see
the Guide to Abbreviations, which is linked from the bottom
of each page. |
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The
Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music
The Lester S.
Levy Collection of Sheet Music is a searchable online database of
music information and images, a treasure for music lovers and music
students. For several of the songs in the Austen collection,
I found one or more versions in the Levy collection. For each
such song, I give the box and item number used by the Levy collection,
which I call the LV number. Given the LV number (box and item
number), you can use the
Levy Collection Search page to find information and images for
that particular song. There are some songs for which the Levy
collection contains several different versions, in which case I
selected the one I thought most like the version in the Austen collection.
NOTE on searching
the Levy Collection: If you are searching for a particular
phrase, such as from a title or first line, remember to be creative
with spelling and punctuation. For example, seaching for "beg
my bread" (a phrase in the first line of the song Somebody,
GM3:27) yields one version, while searching for "beg my bred"
yields two others.
NOTE on printing:
You can print the images in the Levy collection, for further study.
I found that printing the images at 140% of the original yielded
good results on 8.5x11 paper. You may want to experiment with your
particular printer.
You can find
out more about the Lester
S. Levy Collection at the main site. |
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This collection
is the LV referred to elsewhere on this site.
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Music
Notation
After you try
to play/sing from an old music score, you may think how nice it
would be to create a clearer copy, in modern music notation. If
you do not have a music notation program, I recommend the program
Notepad from Finale
Music as a good starting program. It is free, it is easy to
use, and it is available for both Windows and Mac (I use an iMac
for all my music and web development.) Notepad allows you
to hear the music you enter, and transpose it easily as needed.
You will have to add grace notes, key changes and trill marks by
hand, but Notepad is a good place to start. All of the .pdf music
files on this website were created with the Printmusic
program (also from Finale
Music), a reasonably priced notation program which handles most
of the grace notes, key changes, and markings that Notepad does
not. |
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Arrangements
For some of
the songs listed on this site, I include arrangements that I have
made. My arrangements are based on my own limited knowledge
of 18th century music, some information about the pieces given in
GM, and information in the various versions I have seen, in the
Levy collection and elsewhere. When transcribing old music,
I sometimes find it necessary to make some adjustments, either because
the old music cannot be read, or is incomplete, or appears to be
incorrect. Sometimes I have made adjustments to make it easier to
play or sing. (I am not a professional musician, and have limited
vocal range.) In all cases, I try to give at least one source
for the original music, so that you can make your own arrangement
if you wish. All arrangements that I have made and posted
on this site are Copyright © Joyce Donley unless
otherwise stated. |
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By
Jane's own hand...
GM
describes 8 notebooks of music, only some of which (in particular
most of books 2 and 3) are verified to be in Jane's own hand. All
of the music belonged to the Austen family, but not all belonged
to Jane Austen herself. For specific information about which music
can be called Jane's music, see GM. This
site discusses the music from the 8 notebooks listed in GM,
without regard to which notebook belonged to which family member.
Also note, GM
gives specific information about the version/publisher/date of the
music. The music shown and linked on this site is similar
to, but not necessarily the same as, the original Austen music.
In particular, some of the music in the Lester S. Levy Collection
site was published after the dates of the Austen notebooks.
I have made some effort to find music as much like the Austen music
as possible, but I make no claim that the music shown/linked on
this site is 'the same as' the Austen music. |
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| Orpheus
Caledonius
"Jane Austen's
Music" lists two collections of "Scots Songs" (GM8:02
and 8:03). While looking for sources for these songs, I stumbled
across the book "Orpheus Caledonius: A Collection of Scots
Songs Set to Music by W. Thomson", a book of words and music
published in 1725 and again in 1733. Many of the songs in the
Austen lists appear in this book. Original copies of this
book are still around, and can even be purchased (try ABEbooks.com).
The 1733 version has been reprinted many times, including modern
facsimiles by more than one publisher in the 1960s and 70s.
Copies of these recent facsimile publications are more easily obtainable,
and may be found in many music libraries. I found a copy in
the UA library published in 1962 by Folklore Associates.
Note that Orpheus
Caledonius is a book I have used to locate "Scots Songs"
that are similar to, but not necessarily the same as, the Austen
music. I make no claim that the Austens had or used the same
publication. It is simply a useful tool for finding scottish
music. There are other collections of scottish music that will do
just as well. |
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This book is
the OC referred to elsewhere on this site. |
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"The
Innocent Diversion"
Gammie and McCulloch
described the Austen music that is held by the Jane Austen Memorial
Trust, and their work is the basis for most of this web site.
However, there are other collections of music of the Austen family
that are privately held. At present, the only description
I have of these other collections is in the book "The Innocent
Diversion" by Patrick Piggott (London, 1979.) This book
discusses music in Jane Austen's life and works, and is interesting
to read, besides what it has to say about the collections of music. I
will add information/links/arrangements for this other music at
some point. |
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Christmas
Music
It is common
for Austen lovers to celebrate Jane Austen's birthday with a program
of music (such as those that led to the creation of this website).
Since Austen's birthday is in December, several people have asked
for 'Christmas music of the period'. I have only found two songs
in the Austen collection that I would call Christmas music.
These are "Nos Galen" (GM2:04, now used as the tune of
'Deck the Halls') and "Prayer of the Sicilian Mariners"
(GM7:32) also known as "O Sanctissima". You will
find information about these songs in the "ncg"
section of the composers index. Corda music has published
"Nos Galan Theme and 10 variations on a Welsh Carol from the
manuscript copy made by Jane Austen", available from Corda
Music Publications (CMP435) (and through Jane
Austen Books.) A few libraries have this music, and you may
be able to get it through Inter-Library Loan, but if you want to
play it for a Christmas performance of Austen music, I recommend
you purchase a copy of the Corda publication. |
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