Matt Seattle wrote: > >.......... > > Rambling further.. PW mentions Owsald. There's been a bit of a renaissance and > reappraisal of JO recently, with some CDs on the 'serious' end of the market. > What I've heard sounds pleasant but lightweight to me, but might not be the > best stuff(?). Oswald was also of course an important collector, publisher and > arranger of trad tunes, and The Cal Pocket Companion was famously one of > Burns' reference works. It is indeed a goldmine, with a high proportion of > very choice nuggets among the mud and rocks. ..... > > Hugs to all > Matt
Oswald I've seen mentioned one place lately (Roger Fiske?) as the premier composer of popular tunes in England, c 1743 - c 1760. However, so many were published under a nom de plume, or other rubric, or anonymously that we're not likely to ever see anything like a complete list of his compositions. He published the original "Balimona Ora", but did he also compose it? He probably composed the score for "Harlequin Fortunatus", 1753, and "The Haymakers" dance from it appeared in several subsequent Scots tune collections. I suspect he composed "The Kettle Bender" (with song in Muses Delight, 1754), and "The Small Pin Cushion" (both in CPC), the latter of which later became (and still is) popular as "Haste to the Wedding" (also know as "Carrickfergus" from a ballad on Thurot's capture of the castle there in 1760) . His "Tulip" in 'Music for the Seasons' became the 'Irish' "Wearing of the Green". It also seems likely that the 6/8 (and maybe the 4/4) version of "St. Patrick's Day (in the morning)" (in CPC) is his. That's all that come to the top of my mind at present, but I'm sure others can add more to this short list. Bruce Olson -- Roots of Folk: Old British Isles popular and folk songs, tunes, and broadside ballads at Bruce Olson's website <A href="http://www.erols.com/olsonw";> Click </a> Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
