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The Music of Robert Louis Stevenson

I Lo'e na a Laddie

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:

Recording:

Manuscript Location:

New York Public Library

Robert Louis Stevenson collection of papers, [1873]-[1944] bulk (1881-1917)

Berg Coll MSS Stevenson

Source:

Brown, Pittman. Songs of Scotland. London: Boosey, [1877] via IMSLP:

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

None.

Comments:

Other than the transposition to A major and a slight rhythmic change at measure 11, Stevenson's piece is the same as that in Songs of Scotland. The addition of a second part in measures 2-4, 7-8, and 15-16 indicates that he saw it as a duet, but did not complete it.