Chanson de Marie

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The Music of Robert Louis Stevenson

Chanson de Marie

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.

Facsimiles:

Transcription:

Recording:

Manuscript Locations:

First part:

Washington University in St. Louis Libraries

Box/folder 16/140

Second part:

Yale University Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Stevenson Library of E.L. Beinecke 6599

Source:

Weckerlin, J.-B. (Jean-Baptiste), 1821-1910. Échos du temps passé. Paris: A. Durand, [19th cent.]:

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

None.

Comments:

Stevenson also used Échos du temps passé as a source for another arrangement, Rose Inhumaine, so probably he owned this work.

This is the only example in Stevenson's works of what is known as a Zwiefacher, a folkdance with meter alternating between 2/4 and 3/4. Except for the transposition to the key of B minor, the melody is the same as the source and the second part has been extracted from the upper staff of the piano accompaniment.