Volume II, song 198, page 206 - 'Clarinda' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1: 'Clarinda, mistress of my soul, The (m)easur'(d) time is run! The wretch beneath the dreary pole, So marks his latest sun.' The 'Scots Musical Museum' is the most important of the numerous eighteenth- and nineteenth-century collections of Scottish song. When the engraver James Johnson started work on the second volume of his collection in 1787, he enlisted Robert Burns as contributor and editor. Burns enthusiastically collected songs from various sources, often expanding or revising them, whilst including much of his own work. The resulting combination of innovation and antiquarianism gives the work a feel of living tradition. Burns has left a revealing note in his personal commentary on the 'Museum', 'this air is by Schetki in Edinburgh. The verses are mine'. There were two Schetky's in Edinburgh: Johann Georg Schetky (1740-1824), music teacher and cellist and his son John Christian, a painter and composer. This tune is now believed to be the work of John. The name Clarinda was a pseudonym for Burns's lover, Agnes M'Lehose. Indeed Burns remarked in one of his personal letters that he had been working at setting a song (Clarinda) with Mr Schetky.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503394

Title

Volume II, song 198, page 206 - 'Clarinda' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Object Type

PhysicalObject

Measurements

- 130 x 211 mm