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The Music of Robert Louis Stevenson

Believe Me

By J.F.M. Russell ©2019

Robert Louis Stevenson began studying the piano and composition at age 36 and learned the penny whistle two years later. He played the flageolet, a version of the whistle equipped with keys, almost until the end of his life. His arrangements and compositions include more than 120 pieces. This site describes his complete works through facsimiles, transcriptions, recordings, quotations and commentary.

"An interesting chapter in his life will be written when all his scattered pieces are brought together, and the musical side of his character unexpectedly revealed to the vast public that knows him now only as the winsome versifier and the accomplished romancer."

Robert Murrell Stevenson in Robert Louis Stevenson's Musical Interests, 1957.

Facsimile:

Transcription:

Manuscript Location:

Princeton University Library

Morris L. Parrish Collection

Box/Series/Folder/Thesis #: Bd MSS 113, 114

Code/Call Number #: C0171 1B

Source:

Choice Irish songs: Boston: White-Smith, 1892, v.1, via Google books:

Significant References in Works of R.L.S.:

None.

Comments:

Stevenson's version is the same as the source except for the tempo marking, the transposition to the key of A major, slight changes in rhythm in the pickup measure and measures 2 and 9, and the omission of the fermata at measure 6.