Album Summary: William Thomson's Orpheus Caledonius (1725) was a landmark publication; the first ever large-scale collection of "Scotch Songs" in print — 50 songs arranged with un-figured bass, most with lyrics from Allan Ramsay's Scots Songs and Tea-Table Miscellany, plus an appendix of melodic reductions. It was an instant hit and in 1733, expanded into 2 volumes with 100 songs. Indeed, Thomson's Orpheus set the standard format for Scots Song settings for the rest of the eighteenth century, including those of Robert Burns in The Scots Musical Museum. This ScotMus.com album is a faithful reprint of the song arrangements from the historic 1st edition of 1725.
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There under the Shade of an old sacred Thorn,
With Freedom he sung his Loves Ev'ning and Morn; He sang with so saft and inchanting a Sound, That Silvans and Fairies unseen danc'd around. |
(3)
The Shepherd thus sung, Tho' young Maya be fair,
Her beauty is dash'd with a Scornfu' proud air; But Susie was handsome and sweetly could sing, Her Breath like the Breezes perfum'd in the Spring. |
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That Madie in all the gay Bloom of her Youth,
Like the Moon was unconstant and never spoke Truth; But Susie was faithful, good humourd and free, And fair as the Goddess who sprung from the Sea. |
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That Mamma's fine Daughter, with all her great Dowr,
Was aukwardly airy, and frequently sowr: Then sighing, he wished, would Parents agree, The witty sweet Susie his Mistress might be. |