For an account of the rival claimants Aytoun and
Sempill, see respectively "The Poems of Sir Robert Aytoun, by Charles
Rogers. London, privately printed, 1871," and "The Poems of the Sempills
of Beltrees, by James Paterson. Edinburgh, 1849."
The third song is that of Allan Ramsay, entitled "Auld Lang Syne,"
beginning—
"Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
Tho’ they return with scars?"
—which he printed in the first volume of his "Tea Table
Miscellany," published in 1724. It is in five stanzas of eight lines, of
the same measure as the previous song, and is written in English, with the
exception of one or two words. It is so well known and has been so often
printed, that there is no need here to refer to it at length.
THE MODERN SONG
The first record of the present well-known song is in
Robert Burns’ letter to his friend Mrs Dunlop, dated December 17, 1788,
wherein he enclosed her a copy of the verse; saying, "There is an old song
and tune which has often thrilled through my soul," and he apostrophised
it in these words, "Light lie the turf on the breast of the
heaven-inspired poet who composed this glorious fragment!" Five years
afterwards—letter, September, 1793—he sent a copy of the song to George
Thomson, who then was projecting the issue of a collection of Scottish
songs, with music, with a note that the air was mediocre, but that the
song he sent was a song of the olden time, which never was in print, nor
even in manuscript, until he took it down from an old man singing,—adding
that the poetry was enough to recommend any air. About the same time he
sent another copy to James Johnson for the now celebrated Standard
Collection of Scottish Songs, the "Scots Musical Museum;" and it was
printed and published for the first time in December 1796, in the fifth
volume of that work, about five months after Burns died. A verbatim copy
of the verses will be given at the close of this paper. Burns became first
acquainted with Johnson in Edinburgh at one of the meetings of the
Crochallan Fencibles’ Club in 1788. A very large number of Burns’ songs
were first printed in Johnson’s Collection, many of which were inserted
anonymously by the directions of Burns himself. Subsequently he informed
Johnson that the songs so marked he had given to the world as old verses,
but that in fact little more than the chorus of them was ancient, though
there was no reason to tell everybody this piece of intelligence. It is
now known for certain that he was the author of "Up in the morning early;"
"I’m ower young to marry yet," "Strathallan’s lament," "The lovely lass of
Inverness," "My heart’s in the highlands," "M’Pherson’s farewell," "My
bonie Mary," and a number of others, although all these were published
anonymously in the Museum. "Auld Langsyne" is in the same category.
Burns practised innocent deception for various reasons. In the case of
"Auld Langsyne" he had praised the writer of the verses in such high
terms, and cornpromised himself so much, that he was practically barred
from subsequently claiming it as his own composition, even if he had
thought of doing so. That there was an old rustic song of some sort, with
a chorus of the same class as Burns’ song, is suspected, but nobody is
known to have heard of it, and all attempts to discover the smallest trace
of it have been fruitless, and Burns it is believed owed nothing to the
old song except the chorus or a fragment of the chorus. The specimens of
"Auld Langsyne" here referred to were too dull and heavy as patterns for
the bright, merry verses of Burns.
In July 1799, or more than two years after Burns’
verses were first published in the "Scots
Musical Museum," they were printed in the second half volume of Thomson’s
Select "Songs of Scotland," to the sweet and simple melody to be presently
noticed. But the original order of the stanzas was not adhered to, and for
some reason or another the second stanza in the Museum became the
last in Thomson’s collection. No explanation of this displacement has ever
been made, and it so happens that nearly all the modern reprints of the
song follow Thomson’s arrangement of the stanzas. This is unfortunate,
because it spoils the natural sequence and regular continuity of the song.
The original begins by assuming that the friends have met for social
enjoyment, and immediately the cup of kindness is passed round to fire
enthusiasm. Remembrance of the happy days of childhood and youth are
indulged in, and then sombre reflections on the parting from the native
land at manhood. Lastly the friends shake hands with the parting-cup. But
according to Thomson’s version, the companions meet, begin the feast, and
then join hands, after which they return to their cups and discuss more
pint-stoups. This surely is a corruption of the original. The meeting and
parting of friends is the time for salutation or embrace, not the middle
of the function. Friends at a feast do not get up in the middle of it,
shake hands, and begin again. As Mr Scott Douglas remarked on the subject,
after the hand-shaking verse the play is over, and the curtain should
fall.
THE MUSIC
A song is not a complete lyric without a melody.
Although this is a self-evident definition, it is remarkable how few
modern poets have taken any pains to get their verses set to appropriate
melodies. The great writers, with the exception of one here and there,
have thrown their songs to the world unclothed, to find musical garments
as best they could. They seemed to consider that the choice of a melody
for their verses was beneath notice, and that such care was only fit for
the popular writer of street ballads. Since the age of Queen Elizabeth,
poets have neglected this important part of a song; Robert Burns is
perhaps the most conspicuous example of a great song-writer who followed a
different course. It is very remarkable how little attention his
biographers have given to this rare characteristic of Burns. The
predominant idea in his mind, when writing a song, was the choice of a
melody; and there was a nervous care bestowed over the adoption of a
suitable air always present with him. When he got a subject to write upon,
or when he wished to rewrite some old unpresentable song, he often
postponed the composition until he was familiar with the air it should be
sung to. In his letters he again and again reverts to the subject, and it
would be easy to give numerous quotations in support of his attention to
the choice of melodies. How much merit in these matchless lyrics is due to
the singing quality of them, the smoothness and limpidity of the verses,
it is impossible to say; but it cannot, I think, be doubted that they were
improved in the process. Burns wrote the poetry and chose almost all the
melodies for the 250 songs he sent to Thomson and Johnson.
THE OLD MELODY
In taking a short survey of the melody of the popular
social song of Scotland, it should be clearly noted that there are two
tunes bearing the name "Auld Lang Syne." There is the old one which Burns
was familiar with, and which he designated to Thomson as "mediocre," and
the later air which, although in existence before his time, and used for
the dance and for old songs of his district, he did not know in connection
with "Auld Lang Syne," as it was not printed with the words of his song
until the year 1799, when he had been dead three years. The old melody had
done service for all the "Langsyne" songs prior to the year named; and it
went out of use as the older songs disappeared.
Up to the year 1700 there is not in any written record
of music the trace of an air entitled "Auld Lang Syne;" and prior to about
the year 1670, no air can be recognised as resembling either of the two
melodies which in succession have done service to the song. The first
publication where the music of the old tune appears is a small book,
printed in London in the year 1700. Only one copy is believed to be in
existence; [It is at present in the possession of Mr Alex. W. Inglis, a
Fellow of the Society.] and until it was discovered, its existence was
unsuspected. The full title of this work is "A Collection of Original
Scotch-Tunes (full of the highland Humours) for the Violin: being the
first of this kind yet Printed, most of them being in the compass of the
Flute. London: Printed by William Pearson, in Red Cross Alley in Jewin-Street,
for Henry Playford, at his shop in the Temple-Change, Fleet-Street, 1700."
It contains thirty-nine airs, among which are "Killycrankie," "The
Collier’s Lass," "Jingling Geordie," "The Birks of Abergeldie," "Allan
Water," and "Deil Stick the Minister."
The publisher Henry Playford was the son of John Playford, a celebrated
music publisher and seller, of the seventeenth century, who issued a large
number of music-books in England, and to whom the country is indebted for
the preservation of numerous specimens of fine English popular music, and
also for many Scottish airs. This rare little volume of "Scotch tunes" is
a small oblong quarto of sixteen pages; and one of the thirty-nine airs
which it contains is designated in Cockney Scotch, "For Old Long Gine my
Jo." The tunes have no words, being a collection for the violin. See
Appendix I., No. 1.
This and the other music in Playford’s collection is
evidence that the tunes were in existence previously, and were known in
the seventeenth century. As bearing on Bums’ "song of the olden time," it
is a curious fact, that although the tune fits the song of "Old Long Syne"
by Francis Sempill of Beltrees, yet there would appear to have been some
old popular song current at the same time, for the title of the song in
Playford’s book, and that of the chorus which Burns sent to Johnson "For
Auld Lang Syne my Jo," are precisely alike. There is no reason why
Sempill’s song should not have been sung in England, for the English liked
that sort of dreary verse in their ballads; but it is scarcely conceivable
that such a song could be popular in Scotland. Therefore I think, with
others, that there was all old rustic song, current in Scotland, now
entirely lost, the chorus of which was heard by Burns.
The earliest publication of the old melody, with
verse, is in the first printed Scottish song-book with music, called
the Orpheus Caledonius, a collection of fifty songs, in a folio
volume, printed and issued in 1725 in London, by William Thomson, a
Scotsman resident there. As a boy he took part in the orchestra for the
concert at St Cecilia’s Feast in Edinburgh, 22nd November 1695, and is
there styled Dan. Thompson’s boy. Dan was one of the King’s trumpeters.
William Thomson gained a good deal of fame as a boy singer about the end
of the seventeenth century, which procured for him the patronage of
royalty and some members of the aristocracy. His first and second volumes
of the second edition of the Orpheus Caledonius [The second edition
of the Orpheus Caledonius was published in 1733
in two volumes octavo. The first volume was a reproduction of the
fifty songs in the first edition of 1725, the second volume contained
fifty additional songs—words and music.] were dedicated respectively to
Queen Caroline and the Duchess of Hamilton. The old tune "Auid Lang Syne"
occurs as the 31st song in the volume of 1725. Perhaps it was taken from
Playford’s little book; but, there are some variations from the original
copy, and they are so striking that it is doubtful whether it was obtained
from Playford at all. Very likely the air was sung to Allan Ramsay’s words
before 1725, and the copy in the Orpheus Caledonius represents the
air as performed in the beginning of the eighteenth century. It is in the
same key as Playford’s. The words attached to the song are those verses
ascribed to Allan Ramsay, beginning "Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
though they return with scars?" which first appeared in the Tea-Table
Miscellany, two years prior to the first issue of the Orpheus
Caledonius. It was one of the songs pirated by Thomson, to which
Ramsay directed attention in the second edition of his Miscellany. See
Appendix I., No. 2.
Allan Ramsay was very much annoyed with Thomson for
appropriating his verses in a wholesale way, and to meet him on his own
ground he printed a book in 1726 entitled Musick for Allan Ramsay’s
Collection of Scots Songs, which contains the music of 71 songs from
the Tea Table Miscellany of 1724. The intention was to publish
further volumes, hut the above was all that appeared. The tune of "Auld
Langsyne" with Ramsay’s verses is in this collection, and the music will
be found copied as No. 3 of Appendix I.
The next appearance of the old melody was in the third
volume of the Caledonian Pocket Companion, published in London by
James Oswald, a violin-player and a music publisher, about the middle of
last century. This work was for instruments,—without words to the music,—
and the old melody differs from the other two. The second strain
particularly, is not at all like either of the two previous copies, or any
other subsequent transcriptions of it. It resembles the second movement of
an old tune to which I will afterwards refer,
entitled "The Duke of Buccleuch tune," belonging to the seventeenth
century. In explanation of all the musical flourishes in this set, it must
be remembered that it was written for the violin, and not for the voice.
See Appendix I., No. 4.
The fourth appearance of the melody, in an important
music-book, was in the year 1787, in the first volume of the Scots
Musical Museum, again with Allan Ramsay’s words. The musical editor
introduced new variations into the air, which here differs from all the
copies previously known. See Appendix I., No. 5.
The precise date when Burns sent his song to Johnson
for the Scots Musical Museum has not been ascertained, but it
probably was in the year 1795. Burns did not make the acquaintance of
Johnson until after 1787, when the first volume of that Collection
had just been published; but from that year, until he died, the poet was
in constant correspondence with him. The fifth volume of the Museum,
containing the original impression of his song, was published at the
end of 1796, a few months after the poet’s death. [Burns must have seen
the proof of Johnson’s fifth volume, for there are two notes in his
handwriting in the Glenriddel MS. distinctly referring to its contents.]
The tune is the old melody, with further variations. It is written in the
key of D, a minor third lower than that to Ramsay’s words in the first
volume of the same work. A considerable alteration had now been made from
the original music of 1700. The air has been much simplified, and very
much improved. It is well within the compass of the human voice, and Burns
would not have so relentlessly condemned it as mediocre if he had seen and
heard it in the present form. To show at a glance the different
transcriptions of the old melody as it appeared in the various
publications, I have made a copy of the whole number in parallel lines,
transposed all into one key—the key of D,—so that the variations can be
seen by any tyro in music. See Appendix I., No. 6.
THE MODERN MELODY
The first time the song of Burns was printed, with the
melody now so well known, and to which it is universally sung, was in the
second volume of Thomson’s Select Songs of Scotland, published in
1799. The editor rejected the old time-worn tune, and replaced it with a
variation of another popular melody, which for many years had done service
in a variety of forms for the dance and song of Scotland. I will take
these in the order of time they appeared in print, and show the
development into the modern melody. The germ is in a melody entitled "The
Duke of Buccleugh’s tune," printed in a collection called Apollo’s
Banquet, issued after the middle of the seventeenth century. The title
is, "Apollo’s Banquet, or the Violin Book, containing New Ayres, Theatre
Tunes, Horn Pipes, Jiggs, and Scotch Tunes. London: John Playford." David
Laing, in the Appendix to the Introduction to the Illustrations by
Stenhouse to the Scots Musical Museum, states that this volume,
Apollo’s Banquet, was advertised in another publication of 1685; but
there was an earlier edition than this, for it was advertised in the
fourth edition of the Dancing Master issued in 1670. The music here
given was copied from the sixth edition of 1690, the earliest copy
in the British Museum. The first movement of the tune has a resemblance to
"Auld Lang Syne," and, so far as I know, is the earliest specimen of music
on which the melody is based. The melody having a Scottish title, may be
assumed to be one of the "Scotch tunes" in the collection. This is
confirmed by the striking resemblance of the second movement to the
popular melody of Burns’ song "There was a lad was born in Kyle." By a
transposition into the next key of D, this second movement will be
recognised at once as the music of Burns’ celebrated natal song. This is
the tune "0 ‘gin ye were deid, guidman," as old as the Reformation, for it
forms one of the spiritual parodies of the "Gude and Godlie Ballads." It
proves the nationality of the composite melody of "The Duke of Buccleugh’s
tune." See Appendix II., No. 1.
After a lapse of more than seventy years, the modern
melody turns up in a more substantive form. About 1757, Robert Bremner a
voluminous publisher of Scottish song and dance music, issued A
Collection of Scots Reels or Country Dances in Edinburgh. A strathspey
called "The Miller’s Wedding" appears there, and the third and fourth
movements are substantially the same tune as "Auld Lang Syne." See
Appendix II., No. 2.
In 1780, Alexander M’Glashan, a leader of dance
orchestras in Edinburgh, and a person of magnificent appearance and showy
dress, known by the nick-name of "King M’Glashan," published A
Collection of Strathspey Reels; and there, under the title of "The
Miller’s Daughter," is printed, note for note, the third and fourth
movements of "The Miller’s Wedding," from Bremner’s Collection of Scotch
Reels, 1757. See Appendix II., No. 4.
On comparing this strathspey with the modern tune of
"Auld Lang Syne," one is struck by the notes which make up the distinctive
character of the melody; and, further on, I will refer to this strathspey
again. Of the same family complexion is a dance tune called "The lasses of
the ferry," which Neil Stewart printed in his collection Newest and
Best Reels or Country Dances, published in Edinburgh 1761. See
Appendix II., No. 3.
In the year 1780, Angus Cumming published A
Collection of Strathspeys or old Highland Reels (dated Edinburgh,
1780). With one or two unimportant variations, probably due to misprints,
"The Miller’s Daughter" in this collection is identical with the tunes in
Bremner’s and M’Glashan’s collections. See Appendix II., No. 5.
In the year 1784, Neil Gow of Dunkeld, the celebrated
fiddler, published A Collection of Strathspey Reels, which was sold
by Neil Stewart previously referred to. The third and fourth movements of
"The Miller’s Daughter" in this collection are substantially copied from
the earlier publications, but there are some variations which bring it
closer to the modern tune of "Auld Lang Syne."
Between 1782 and 1788, James Aird issued A
Collection of Sots Airs, in three volumes. The publisher hailed from
Glasgow, where he carried on an extensive business as a music-seller. Here
the specimen of the tune "Auld Lang Syne" bearing the name of
"Roger’s Farewell" is to be found in the third
volume. The similarity will be easily recognised. See Appendix II., No. 6.
The locale of the tune is now transferred to England,
and its appearance in a work by an English musician has given rise to some
controversy as to its origin. The music of the overture to the opera of
Rosina, composed in 1783 by William Shield, a native of Durham county,
was founded on popular or well-known strains, and the last movement of it
is the strathspey "The Miller’s Wedding," served up with the true Scots
snap. It is directed to be performed "allegro," by oboes for the melody,
and by bassoons, to imitate the bagpipes, for the lower parts of the
harmony, which consists of one note—the lower C—held out for the whole
sixteen bars of melody, and seven bars of the chorus repeated. See
Appendix III, No. 11.
All the specimens of the modern melody of "Auld Lang
Syne" above named are for instruments, to be played as a dance tune, and
have been selected from the most important collections which appeared in
the last century. In no case are they accompanied by verses. The song and
the dance, however, are so intimately connected that, on a close search
among the folk music of all nations, we should probably find that most
dance tunes at some time or other had poetry set to them. In the case of
Scotland, it is quite clear that such was the practice; and a very great
proportion of the melodies of songs has been obtained purely from dance
tunes, adapted to suit the varying rhythm of verses. The early musical
manuscripts of Scotland are all dance music; not that this proves that all
the tunes were originally composed for the dance, for we know of the
existence of songs earlier than the date of the manuscripts. The tune now
under consideration was then originally a dance tune so far as we know,
although it is probable it was sung to verses before the date of its
earliest appearance in any dance collection. The first of the series in
print set to poetry is the old rustic song, "I’ve been courtin’ at a
lass," being the complaint of a lover that as his sweetheart had "sic a
gleib o’ gear," he had small prospect of gaining her parents’ favour.
These verses were first printed in Herd’s collection of 1776, and the
music, with the words from Herd, is in the fourth volume of Johnson’s
Museum of 1792, No. 306. The melody will be immediately recognised as
an adaptation of the dance, "The Miller’s Daughter." See Appendix II., No.
7.
In the same volume of Herd, the song "Hey, how, Johnnie
lad" is also printed with music for the first time. This is evidently an
older song than the previous one. The words are more archaic, and the
verse hobbles a little. It is one of the class of high-kilted ditties not
exactly fit for presentation in this age. Robert Jamieson, the editor of
Popular Ballads and Songs, 1806, says that this was a popular air
in his youth, which he often had heard sung in the north of Scotland; and
he printed a stanza which he remembered and a version of his own to be
sung to the old popular air he knew. The air was also printed in the
Museum 1792, with the words from Herd, and it is "The Lasses of the
Ferry" tune from Stewart’s Reels, of 1761. See Appendix II., No. 8.
Another of the same cycle of melodies is "O can ye
labour lea, young man?" in the same volume of the Museum as the two
others. In Cromeck’s Select Scottish Songs there is a note by Burns
on this song, to the following effect:—"That it
has long been known as a favourite among the inhabitants of Galloway and
Nithsdale, and that the first verse should be restored to its original
state:
"I fee’d a lad at Roodmass,
Wi’ siller pennies three;
When he cam’ hame at Martinmas
He couldna’ labour lea."
Stenhouse said that he always heard "Michaelmas" as the
term of the first line, and this agrees with the measure of the melody.
Buns did not restore the words, but he wrote some very pretty verses, of
three stanzas, beginning as Stenhouse knew them, "I fee’d a man at
Michaelmas"—the original manuscript of which is now in the British Museum
in his own handwriting, as sent to his friend Johnson for insertion in the
Scots Musical Museum, where they were first printed to the tune as
No. 394 of the fifth volume, published in 1792. Bearing in mind that this
was an old song which Burns for obvious reasons rewrote, sung to the
melody in the Museum, the tune will be recognised almost note for
note as that now known as "Auld Lang Syne," set to the verses of Burns.
See Appendix II., No. 12.
The tune "Comin' through the rye" is one of the same
family, and the Scottish tune—of which the English tune of that name is an
imitation—is a variation of "The Miller’s Daughter." The London tune saw
the light of day first, and because that happened the song has been
claimed as English. John Watlen was a music-seller in Edinburgh, who
emigrated to London. There, in the middle of 1796, he issued in sheet form
the English version of "Comin’ through the rye," with a tune framed on the
old melody, but with some variations. See Appendix II., No. 9.
While this song was being prepared in London, James
Johnson had set up the old tune, known over all the south of Scotland, and
engraved it as number 418 of the Museum, in the fifth volume,
published December 1796. See Appendix II., No. 10. The London song had
acquired so much popularity during its short run, that Johnson inserted
Watlen’s version in the same volume of the Museum alongside of the
old version. To the general public, Burns is not known as having had
anything to do with the old song "Comin’ through the rye;" but those who
search in the byways of the poet’s work will find that several years
before 1796 a very queer version of the song was found in a very queer
volume written by the poet, which fortunately has disappeared, it is hoped
permanently. Burns refers to this volume in a letter to one of his
intimate friends, Robert Cleghorn, dated December 1793, or three years
before the English song was printed. In the Museum No. 418 Johnson
printed the old Scotch verse to its own proper melody—one of the sets of
the "Auld Lang Syne" tune immediately after the London song.
I now come to the time when the famous song was first
printed to the music with which it is now always associated. The
correspondence between the poet and George Thomson was continuous from
September 1792, and in the following year a copy of the verses of "Auld
Lang Syne" was sent to this publisher. During the lifetime of the poet,
Thomson had only printed five of his songs, and censorious critics say
that after the poet’s death, he hurried forward the remaining portion of
his first volume, containing a number of Burns’ songs, in order that he
might anticipate Currie’s Life, which was in the press. Be that as
it may, "Auld Lang Syne" was not published by Thomson until 1799 (more
than two years after Johnson had published it), and then it appeared for
the first time, associated with the melody to which it has ever since been
sung.
William Stenhouse, in his illustrations of the
Museum, states that Thomson had the words arranged to the air
introduced by Shield in his overture to the opera of Rosina,
written by Mr Brookes, and acted in Covent Garden in 1783, and that Shield
borrowed the air, almost note for note, from the third and fourth strains
of the Scottish strathspey in Cumming’s collection, under the title of
"The Miller’s Wedding." The controversy which arose some years ago as to
the origin of the air, took its rise from this note of Stenhouse; and
William Chappell, the author of Popular Music of the Olden Time,
who took part in the discussion, adopted only that portion of the note
referring to Shield. He carefully ignored the old popular tune which
Stenhouse named, and which, as has been shown, had been used in so many
different ways during the 18th century. The dance tune, printed in at
least two important collections prior to the composition of Rosina—viz.,
Bremner’s in 1757, and Cumming’s in 1780—was entirely set aside; not
to mention the traditional airs of "O can ye labour lea" and "I’ve been
courtin’ at a Lass," which floated over the south of Scotland for many
years previously. It is not known where Stenhouse got the information for
his statement; but if he got it from Thomson, then there is a mystery
which required to be cleared up. Why should there be any mystery? It has
been assumed that both these airs are alike. But that is not so. There are
several important differences. If Thomson’s set was taken from Shield,
then it is a variation of the Rosina melody, just as this latter is
a variation of "The Miller’s Wedding" from Brernner’s and Cumming’s
collections. The mystery is that Thomson, if Stenhouse is correct, should
have gone to an English opera for the source of the air, when there was
under his eyes the tune published six or seven years before,—almost
exactly the one he printed, note for note. Anyone, even unacquainted with
musical notation, by referring to the Appendix II., No. 13, will be able
to observe the variations which exist between Thomson’s set, as the tune
of "Auld Lang Syne," and all the others which preceded it in point of time
of publication. It would be wearisome to go through the whole; and
therefore, I will only direct attention to the air in the overture of
Shield’s Rosina and the tune "O can ye labour lea" as printed in
the Museum 1792. The melody of "Auld Lang Syne" consists of sixteen
bars of music, which absorb the whole eight lines of the stanza—verse and
chorus. Comparing the Rosina music with the tune "Auld Lang Syne"
as originally printed by Thomson it will be seen that in each of seven
bars, or one-half of the whole, there are one or more notes which differ.
That is to say, in nearly every second bar, on the average, there are
notes which differ from the "Auld Lang Syne" tune; and there is alteration
in the rhythm or character of the music, owing to the absence of dotted
notes in the Rosina music. The variations in the tune extend over
the whole of the double stanza, and the actual number of notes differing
is thirteen.
Analyzing, in the same way, the old song, "I fee’d a
man at Michaelmas," or "O can ye labour lea," I find there are altogether
only two bars in which there are variations in the notes from "Auld Lang
Syne;" and the whole number of different notes in the two verses is six,
which all occur in bars three and five of the first four lines. The music
of the second four lines or the chorus of "Auld Lang Syne," and that of
the corresponding verse in "O can ye labour lea," is identical. Stenhouse
ought to have known this. He was familiar with the Museum, and
wrote a commentary on every song in it, including "O can ye labour lea."
He need not have gone beyond the collection to find Thomson’s tune, for it
had been conveyed bodily into Thomson’s collection, with just such
trifling alterations as a new editor might make on revising the copy.
Now, this latter song was printed in the fourth volume
of the Museum in 1792. Thomson had no need to go to England for his
copy of "Auld Lang Syne." The music, and he knew it, was in the volume of
a rival publisher—the tune of a well-known old Nithsdale song, with new
words by the poet Burns. Then, if he borrowed the tune from Shield, how
does it come to pass that he did not copy Shield, but appeared to get an
almost exact copy of the tune of "O can ye labour lea"? I think it is
quite clear that Thomson copied his tune from this song, but no doubt he
did not wish to be considered under obligation to a contemporary rival.
The intimate relation between Burns and Johnson could not be exactly in
accordance with Thomson’s desires. While he was gathering and selecting in
his leisurely fashion, and showing no signs of any public result, Johnson,
with the active assistance of Burns, was sending out volume after volume
of songs, and forestalling him. Let it be assumed that Thomson made
alterations in the Shield set—say, in the chorus of the tune—then it is
the greatest case of perfectly unconscious imitation in music that I know
of. The far more simple theory is that he found the tune of the 394th song
of the Museum to suit exactly the words of "Auld Lang Syne," and he
appropriated it.
The reader should examine the last three lines of music
in Appendix II., where I have marked with an asterisk all the notes in the
"Rosina" tune and those of "O can ye labour lea" which differ from the
melody "Auld Long Syne" the last line of music in the Appendix.
It may not be unnecessary to state that "Rosina," like
all English operas of the eighteenth century, was a musical medley. The
music is partly original and partly borrowed. In the body of the work
there are several Scottish airs, and the overture contains old musical
themes and tunes worked up for orchestral performance. There is no need
for any detailed analysis of the overture: it may be sufficient to say
that several old English dance tunes are used, as for example "Singleton’s
Slip," which will be found as No. 144 of the fourth edition of the
Dancing Master, 1670. It is no discredit to Shield that he borrowed
old melodies, for all his contemporaries did the same. He took as the
final strain for the overture an old familiar melody—that of the one we
are discussing, and made it do service as the closing subject.
I have not made any particular search, but I am not
aware that Burns’ song of "Auld Lang Syne," with its modern tune, jumped
into immediate popularity. The original folio edition of Thomson’s
Collection, with the original setting of the air, was too expensive
for a large circulation, and the smaller octavo edition was not issued
until 1822. The tune is in the second volume of R. A. Smith’s Scottish
Minstrel, which was completed and issued in six volumes by 1824. It is
set to three stanzas of Burns’ song with three others, not above
mediocrity, by an unknown hand, who was evidently a temperance reformer,
as the drinking-verses have been suppressed. The editor has had the
audacity to announce Burns as the author without any note pointing out
that new stanzas are an excrescence. I have not noticed "Auld Lang Syne"
in any other music-book early in the century, and it would be interesting
to know whether it appeared elsewhere than in Thomson’s book between the
years 1799 and 1822. But in the last fifty years this happy effusion of
our national poet has progressed in favour at an increasing rate: it now
girdles the habitable earth, and beyond all question it is the
widest-spread social song in the Anglo-Saxon language. He is a wise man
who recognises song as a powerful lever for raising emotion; and Browning
was correct when he said that music has exercised an influence over human
action, more than all the other arts combined.
APPENDIX I.
[The old melody "Auld Lang-syne," showing the variation from 1700 to
1796.]
APPENDIX II.
[Family Group of the modern tune "Auld Lang-syne."]
APPENDIX III.
"Auld Lang-syne"
[From the original printed copies]
Auld Lang
Syne recorded by Gordon Kennedy
Auld
Lang Syne sung by Ronnie Brown to the old tune