Mill, Mill O

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The Music of Robert Louis Stevenson

Mill, Mill O

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:

Washington University in St. Louis Libraries

Box/folder 16/140

Source:

Complete Songs Of Robert Burns:

Surenne, J. T. The Songs of Scotland Without Words. Edinburgh: Wood, [19th cent]:

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

None.

Comments:

Note that the same slurring occurs in the last two measures of Stevenson's manuscript and in Surenne's version, which RLS owned and so must be his source. He is inconsistent in rhythm, however, and mixes both versions.

The note after the title, "D not C", may mean he wanted to rewrite this in the key of D.