Andrew Kuntz wrote: > Have the Kerr collections been definitively dated? I don't recall > Merry Melodies having a publishing date in any of the four volumes, > but I understand the publishing house was (is?) active for some > time.
No. Unfortunately the background to the Kerrs books is vague, although I've often felt like doing some research. I believe the company still exists in some form in Glasgow, but I'm shy of approaching them (apart from having failed to find the time to do so). I'm in Edinburgh for two-and-a-half days a week, and although my free time there is short, I may spend some time in the National Library seeing what can be rooted out. I'm surprised if nobody has done this research before [do you know, Jack?], but if not, it would certainly be worth doing. Gore only lists the Merry Melodies books (1-4), and gives a date "from 1875"; others guess a little later. I think that's because there is some concordance with Ryan's Mammoth Collection (Boston, 1883), but I think not. /I/ think it's more likely that the Kerr's editor had access to earlier collections published by Elias Howe (publisher of Ryan's). I think it would be possible to trace many of the original sources for the tunes in Merry Melodies. It seems obvious, for example, that Joseph Lowe's Collection was heavily borrowed from; the Gow books similarly, and Simon Fraser's collections. There are clearly contemporary compositions in there, particularly from Carl Volti, which makes me suspect that he was possibly the editor. Ah well, as you can see, the Kerr's collections have fascinated me, and I wish I had more time to research. For anyone who's interested, I've a Kerr's section on my web site (URL below). -- Nigel Gatherer, Crieff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Kerr's Collections: http://www.nigelgatherer.com/books.html Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
