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The Music of Robert Louis Stevenson

Norse Air, Grieg

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:

Yale University Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Stevenson Library of E.L. Beinecke 6599

Source:

Edvard Grieg. Nordische Tänze und Volksweisen, op. 17 via IMSLP:

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

None.

Comments:

In this trio for Bb clarinet and two other unnamed instruments, Stevenson extracts as much as he can from Grieg's piano score and transposes it to the key of A minor. The only alteration in the melody is in measure two, where it is lowered an octave to accomodate the probably limited range of the performer. The second part is altered generally when it goes below middle C. The clarinet part is mostly new, since the piano part is too low for the instrument.