Laura Alexandrine Smith (1861–1902) was an English musician,
ethnomusicologist
and one of the earliest collectors of
sea shanties. Smith’s ''The Music of the Waters'', published in 1888, was possibly the first collection of sea shanties to include music as well as words.
Life
Laura Alexandrine Smith was born in
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...
in 1861. Her father was the Russian vice-consul.
In 1888, Smith published The Music of the Waters: ''a Collection of the Sailors' Chanties, or Working Songs of the Sea, of All Maritime Nations; Boatmen's, Fishermen's, and Rowing Songs, and Water Legends.''
She had been commissioned by the editor of ''The Shipping World'', and was described as: 'A thorough musician, a pleasing writer, and full of enthusiasm', and thus, 'specially fitted for the work'.
The collection was of 'chanties', or working songs, rather than songs sung of the sea by those living and working on the land.
These latter, Smith dismissed as tales of 'impossible ships in impracticable positions', where her working songs were sung to 'the booming double bass of the hollow topsails, and the multitudinous chorus of the ocean.'
The collection was introduced by
R. M. Ballantyne.
Following the success of ''Music of the Waters'', Smith tried in the 1890s to compile a volume of soldiers' songs, 'at a time when the protests about vanishing army music hung heavily in the air'.
She requested contributions in ''
Notes and Queries
''Notes and Queries'', also styled ''Notes & Queries'', is a long-running quarterly scholarly journal that publishes short articles related to " English language and literature, lexicography, history, and scholarly antiquarianism".From the inne ...
'', but received a disappointing lack of replies.
A subsequent collection by John Farmer managed to gather thirteen.
In 1893, Smith sat on the advisory council of the women's branch of the World's Congress on Folk-lore.
Laura Alexandrine Smith died on 7 June 1902 in
Whitechapel
Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed ...
,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.
Bibliography
* ''Music of the Waters: a Collection of the Sailors' Chanties, or Working Songs of the Sea, of All Maritime Nations; Boatmen's, Fishermen's, and Rowing Songs, and Water Legends'' (1888)
* 'Romany Songs' in ''Woman's World,'' Vol. 2, No. 3 (January 1889)
* ''Through Romany Songland'' (1889)
* ''The Crystal City under the Sea'' by
André Laurie, translated from the French by Laura Alexandrine Smith (1896)
* 'Workers' Songs' in ''Nineteenth Century'' (August 1898)
References
External links
Works by Laura Alexandrine Smithat the
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
Works by Laura Alexandrine Smithat
HathiTrust
Works by Laura Alexandrine Smithat
WorldCat
WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Laura Alexandrine
1861 births
1902 deaths
19th-century British women musicians
British ethnomusicologists
Women ethnomusicologists
Sea shanties
19th-century British women writers
Musicians from Newcastle upon Tyne
English folk-song collectors
19th-century musicologists