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The Music of Robert Louis Stevenson
Frühlingstraum
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.
Facsimiles:
Lower trio parts:
Transcriptions:
As a trio:
Recording:
Manuscript Location:
Library of Congress
ML96 .S895 Case
Source:
Significant References in Works of R.L.S.:
None.
Comments:
In the first facsimile Stevenson has copied Schubert faithfully, transposing to the key of D, removing a few grace notes, and eliminating two final pages which are basically repetition. At the bottom of the manuscript are two difficult to read additional parts which form a trio for the first and last sections of the song. No parts have been found for the middle section. Measures 8-9 in the lower part are indecipherable or missing in the manuscript and have been supplied.