D-Mixolydian Solo in Four

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The Music of Robert Louis Stevenson

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:

Recording:

Manuscript Location:

Yale University, Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Gen Mss 664

Box 33, Folder 803

Edwin J. Beinecke Collection of Robert Louis Stevenson

Series II Manuscripts

Manuscripts of Robert Louis Stevenson

[Musical compositions] (6599) [3 of 4 folders] / undated

Source:

Carlin, Richard. Gow Collection of Scottish Dance Music. New York: Oak, c1986:

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

None, but see Stevenson's Dumbarton Drums.

Comments:

The first measure and a quarter of this untitled work suggest Gow's Old Dumbarton Drums, but the remainder that is not repetition appears to be completely original.

Stevenson was particularly interested in the structure of Scottish folk music, and this piece is in a mode commonly used in folk music of many nations. On the piano, the C major scale consists of the white notes between any two C's. If instead you begin and end on the note G, you form what is called the mixolydian mode, which Stevenson has used for his piece. Although it has the key signature of G major, it begins and ends on the note D.

Without repeats, this work is only six measures long, but measures 3-4 repeat measures 1-2 with variations, and measures 5-6 are similar to measures 1-2 transposed upwards. In addition, a triplet motif on the D major chord appears three times, making this a short, but highly structured composition.