The English Dancing Master (London: 1686) by John Playford, title page. This was an English country dancing manual and major source book of British folk dance, published in several editions (1651-circa 1728) by Playford and his successors.
The English Dancing Master (London: 1686) by John Playford, page 142. Dancing directions for ‘Lull me beyond thee’.
The English Dancing Master (London: 1686) by John Playford, page 142. Dancing directions for ‘The Witches.'
Score of ‘Gaberlunzie Man’ from Orpheus Caledonius (London: 1726), the first Scottish song book containing the melodies and lyrics of traditional songs, edited by William Thomson (1695–1753).
Score of ‘Gaberlunzie Man’ from Orpheus Caledonius (London: 1726), the first Scottish song book containing the melodies and lyrics of traditional songs, edited by William Thomson (1695–1753).
Title page of George Frideric Handel’s Rinalto/Rinaldo, the vocal score of the first Italian language opera written specifically for the London stage. The copy in The Mitchell’s Kidson Collection is the only known surviving complete example of this edition.
Score of ‘Argante Sung by Signor Borcchi in the Opera of Rinaldo’, featuring handwritten lyrical marginalia on the right-hand side.
Title page of 1745 reprint of Orpheus Britannicus by Henry Purcell (1659-1695). This was the first collection of Purcell's vocal music, first published posthumously in two volumes (London: 1698 and 1702).
Score of ‘The last Song the Author Selt, it being in his Sickness’ from Orpheus Britannicus by Henry Purcell, page 38.
Score of ‘The last Song the Author Selt, it being in his Sickness’ from Orpheus Britannicus by Henry Purcell, page 39.
Score of ‘The last Song the Author Selt, it being in his Sickness’ from Orpheus Britannicus by Henry Purcell, page 40.
Score of ‘Gaberlunzie Man’ from Orpheus Caledonius (London: 1726), the first Scottish song book containing the melodies and lyrics of traditional songs, edited by William Thomson (1695–1753), page 43. ‘The Gaberlunzie Man’ is believed to have been written by James V of Scotland (1512-1542).
itle page of Niel Gow and Sons’ A Complete Repository of Original Scots Slow Strathspeys and Dances (Edinburgh: circa 1797), signed by Niel Gow.
Scores of ‘Earl of Marshall’, ‘Johnny McGill’, ‘I’ll go no more to yon town’, ‘Let us to the Aird’ from Niel Gow and Sons’ A Complete Repository of Original Scots Slow Strathspeys and Dances (Edinburgh: circa 1797), page 28.
Scores of ‘The Whigs of Fife’, ‘Woo’d and married and a’’ and ‘Lenox’s love to Blantyre’ from Niel Gow and Sons’ A Complete Repository of Original Scots Slow Strathspeys and Dances (Edinburgh: circa 1797), page 29.
Score of ‘Eglinton Castle’, ‘Countess of Eglinton’s Delight’ and ‘Earl of Eglinton’s Reel’ from A Collection of Strathspey Reels in Five Volumes by Niel Gow.
Title page, A Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs Adapted to the Fife, Violin or German-Flute.
Score of ‘The Royal Glasgow Volunteer’s Jig’, ‘Major’s Maggot’ and ‘Willie Was a Wanton Wag’ from A Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs Adapted to the Fife, Violin or German-Flute.
