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The Music of Robert Louis Stevenson
The Winter it is Past
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:
Transcription:
Recording:
Manuscript Locations:
First facsimile:
Yale University Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Stevenson Library of E.L. Beinecke 6599
Second facsimile:
Library of Congress
ML96 .S895 Case
Source:
Significant References in Works of R.L.S.:
None.
Comments:
Except for minor changes, Stevenson's melody is the same as Burns', while the accompaniment is original. The second version was probably rejected because it contains at least three intervals of a fifth, resulting in a cold and hollow sound. Although Stevenson liked fifths, the rules of music theory he had learned made it difficult for him to use them correctly.