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The Music of Robert Louis Stevenson

Slow Movement

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:

Stevenson House Collection, Monterey, CA

Source:

Robert Schumann's Werke no. 67, 43 Claviersücke für die Jugend op.68. Leipzig: Breitkopf, [19th Cent.]:

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

None.

Comments:

By using a repeat in the fourth measure, Stevenson cannot include a small, but important change in rhythm in the sixth bar of the source. He has also courageously deleted measures 9-13 of the source. The deletion does seem to be based on artistic reasons, however, since the melody in the missing measures relies a great deal on the accompaniment to support it. As a solo piece Stevenson's version still works. It is transposed to G.