Throughout the 18th century, Edinburgh’s city centre was a hubbub of sights, sounds, and smells. Both outside and in, the city was awash with sound. Ballad hawkers enticed punters to purchase song sheets by singing new lyrics to familiar tune such as ‘The Yellow Hair’d Laddie’ or ‘Blythsome Bridal’. The same tunes were also transformed into art songs fit for the concert room, where Italian songsters performed before the elite of Edinburgh. This talk provides an overview of the songs and tunes one would typically hear strolling through Edinburgh’s Old Town during the 18th century.
Brianna E. Robertson-Kirkland is a Lecturer in Historical Musicology at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and her most recent publications include Venanzio Rauzzini and the Birth of a New Style in English Singing Scandalous Lessons (2022), Allan Ramsay’s The Tea Table Miscellany co-edited with Professor Murray Pittock (2023), and Credulity in the Age of Reason (2024)
Online stream available