The ''Scots Musical Museum'' was an influential collection of traditional folk

music of Scotland Scotland is internationally known for its traditional music, often known as Scottish folk music, which remained vibrant throughout the 20th century and into the 21st when many traditional forms worldwide lost popularity to pop music. Traditiona ...

published from 1787 to 1803. While it was not the first collection of Scottish

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

s and music, the six volumes with 100 songs in each collected many pieces, introduced new songs, and brought many of them into the

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

repertoire. The project started with James Johnson, a struggling music engraver / music seller, with a love of old Scots songs and a determination to preserve them. In the winter of 1786 he met

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...

who was visiting

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

for the first time, and found that Burns shared this interest and would become an enthusiastic contributor. The first volume was published in 1787 and included three songs by Burns. He contributed 40 songs to volume 2, and would end up responsible for about a third of the 600 songs in the whole collection as well as making a considerable editorial contribution. The final volume was published in 1803 and contained the first printing of Handsome Nell, Burns' first song. As well as collecting old songs, Burns wrote new words to old tunes, and many of the songs now attributed to Burns have older roots. Songs in the collection include ''

Auld Lang Syne "Auld Lang Syne" () is a Scottish song. In the English-speaking world, it is traditionally sung to bid farewell to the old year at the stroke of midnight on Hogmanay/New Year's Eve. It is also often heard at funerals, graduations, and as a far ...

'', ''Lord Ronald, my Son'' (better known as '' Lord Randal'') and '' My love is like a Red, Red Rose''. Burns' songs include ''

The Battle of Sherramuir "The Battle of Sherramuir" is a song written by the Scottish poet Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796) about the Battle of Sheriffmuir which occurred in Scotland in 1715 at the height of the Jacobite rising in England and Scotland. ...

'', '' Scots Wha Hae'', '' Green Grow the Rashes'', '' Flow Gently Sweet Afton'', '' Ye Banks and Braes of Bonnie Doon'', '' Ae Fond Kiss'', '' The Winter it is Past'', '' Comin' Thro the Rye'', '' There Grows a Bonnie Brier Bush'', and '' John Anderson, My Jo''. The earliest issues of the ‘Museum’ did not identify the songs that were by Burns as in 1787 his fame had yet to imbed itself, however in later issues his name was appended to his contributions in the index and the text often had the declaration "''Written for this Work by Robert Burns.''" Therefore the fewer songs ascribed to Burns in an issue, the earlier the issue. The 'Museum' was issued totally uncut, in plain boards and without any lettering. The earliest version of the title-page does not have a border around the vignette. Later versions have a border and a thistle design is present at the top and bottom. The collection became popular internationally, and songs and tunes were arranged by composers such as

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

and

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

. Burns collaborated with

George Thomson George Thomson may refer to: Government and politics * George Thomson (MP for Southwark) (c. 1607–1691), English merchant and Parliamentarian soldier, official and politician * George Thomson, Baron Thomson of Monifieth (1921–2008), Scottish p ...

in ''A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs'', published from 1793 to 1818, which adapted Scottish folk-songs with "classical" arrangements. While this brought songs to new audiences, many of the songs and tunes continued in the folk tradition, both in Scotland and America. The American collector John Gribbel was at one time in possession of Robert Burns's Interleaved Scots Musical Museum, the first four volumes of Johnson's "Scots Musical Museum" interleaved with some 140 pages of Robert Burns's explanatory notes on the 184 songs that he contributed. These volumes had long been in the possession of the Riddell family of Friars Carse in Nithsdale. These notes have provided many insights into the authorship and editing of the songs he contributed.Burns Chronicle XXIII January 1914
/ref>

References

External links

* *Digitised copy o
Scots Musical Museum
in six volumes by James Johnson, printed between 1787 and 1803, from

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS; ; ) is one of Scotland's National Collections. It is one of the largest libraries in the United Kingdom. As well as a public programme of exhibitions, events, workshops, and tours, the National Library of ...

. JPEG, PDF, XML versions.
Island 7: Burns and Scottish Song

{{Authority control 1787 books 1787 in Scotland 1787 in literature 1787 introductions Book series introduced in the 1780s Scottish books Scottish folk music Robert Burns Ludwig van Beethoven Scots-language works Folk music publications Music books