King's Collections

By Emma Poole, Library Assistant, Foyle Special Collections Library, King’s College London

The past month has been a time of transition for several of us in Special Collections, with certain projects coming to an end just as others begin. Having recently completed a project cataloguing film-related material formerly owned by American film producers, David and Barbara Stone, I am now embarking on a new and exciting project cataloguing some of our rare and historical music items. The project is a valuable opportunity to improve and broaden my cataloguing skills and contributes to my MA in Library and Information Studies which I am currently undertaking at UCL. Through this project, I hope to increase the discoverability of the unique musical treasures held here at King’s. 

King’s music collections  

The Foyle Special Collections Library holds a range of music-related material which can be found in various collections. For example, the Carnegie Collection of British Music consists of some 60 musical scores from lesser-known composers. Additionally, the Rainbow Collection holds a large number of works related to English church music, including many Hymnals and psalms dating back to the 18th century, as well as books on music education. The Rare Books Collection also holds a range of rare, historical music material, including instrument lesson books, Hymnals and psalms, and the scores of many well-known composers, including Beethoven and Handel. A number of these items formerly belonged to Robert Thurston Dart (1921-71), musicologist, harpsichordist and professor of music at both Cambridge and King’s.   

Music printing methods, 1450-1800 

When cataloguing music scores, it is helpful to have an understanding of the way music was printed. Before the invention of the printing press, music was transcribed by hand. Here we have an example of a liturgical music manuscript written on vellum and used as a binding for this 1563 copy of Ordinario e cerimonial dos conegos regrantes de Santo Augustinho. The manuscript was likely created sometime prior to 1563: 

Handwritten music continues to this day; however, alternative methods have since arisen over the centuries. For example, woodblock music printing evolved in the late 15th century – the process of writing or drawing music on a piece of wood, carving around the symbols, and covering this with ink before pressing onto paper or vellum.  Another method of printing emerged soon after Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press in the late 15th century; this is using movable music type. Gutenberg used metals to cast letters and symbols. These letters and symbols were then arranged and coated in ink and pressed against paper, creating an impression on the paper. This method was later utilised to print music. From the late 15th and early 16th centuries, music was printed by double impression, the staves being printed at one impression and the notes at another. By the late 1520s, single-impression music type began to appear, with each piece of type bearing a note and sections of the stave, made so the stave lines joined with the adjacent pieces of type. Here is an example of such a method used in a seventeenth-century Dutch hymn book: 

Although music type was an effective means of transcribing music, it lacked the detail that handwritten music provided. This led to the introduction of freehand music engravings on copper or pewter plates in the 18th century. The staves would be etched into the plate using a five-pronged device called a rastral. A steel nib would then be used to write the music onto the plate in reverse, with fixed symbols such as note heads and clefs punched into the metal. The plate was then inked and imprinted onto paper using a printing press. Freehand engravings enabled the printer to add details, such as beams, stems and slurs. Here we have an example of freehand music engraving used to print this 19th century copy of Handel’s Coronation Anthems:

Many of the music scores I’m currently cataloguing were printed using freehand engravings. I’d like to share a few examples of 18th and 19th century music scores that I have recently catalogued:  

Handel Operas  

The Morning Hymn  

For fans of John Milton, we have The morning hymn, taken from the fifth book of Paradise Lost, set to music by John Ernest Galliard and Benjamin Cooke. Galliard (1666/67–1747) was a composer and musical performer from Selle, Germany. He moved to London in 1706 to become chamber musician to Prince George of Denmark and in 1710 he was awarded the post of organist at Somerset House. He also performed as an oboist at the Queen’s Theatre under Handel. From 1717 to 1730, Galliard was employed by John Rich to compose music for his theatrical entertainment at Lincoln’s Inn Fields and later Covent Garden. His Hymn of Adam and Eve was first published in 1728 and was enormously popular, as evidenced in its revised format by Benjamin Cooke in 1773. Cooke (1734-93), at the time this 1773 edition was published, had been organist at Westminster Abbey for 11 years. He was also a director of the Academy of Ancient Music, to which this edition is dedicated. The copy held at King’s is particularly unique as it has been signed by Cooke himself:

Highland pipe music 

Finally, I’d like to share a collection of ancient Highland pipe music by Angus Mackay, first published in 1838. Angus Mackay (1813-59) was arguably the most influential collector and editor of highland pipe music in nineteenth-century Scotland. At the age of just 25, Mackay, with the help of the Highland Society of London, published Collection of Ancient Piobaireachd or Highland pipe music (1838), containing 61 tunes set in modern ‘scientific’ staff notation. The introduction is extensive, describing the leading pipe dynasties and the history of The Highland Society of London. Three editions of the work were published throughout the 19th century (1833, 1839, 1899) and it soon became the standard text. Mackay would go on to secure the position of household piper to Queen Victoria in 1843, where he remained until 1854, when he had to step down due to mental illness. He died 5 years later, at the age of just 46. William Donaldson notes Mackay’s lasting influence, arguing, ‘it is impossible to overstate MacKay’s influence on the culture of the highland bagpipe. The story of his reputation in the century and a half which followed his death is virtually synonymous with the history of piping itself.’ This first edition contains a beautiful illustration on the title page of a piper, possibly Mackay, with dancers in a field overlooking a Scottish castle: 

These are just a few of the numerous music scores held at King’s. Many have already been catalogued and can be found using King’s Library search. To view any of these items in person, either drop by The Foyle Special Collections Library during our opening hours or email us to arrange a visit. After such a positive start to this project, I am very much looking forward to seeing what other musical treasures are hidden within our uncatalogued material, just waiting to be uncovered.  

Bibliography

Primary sources 

Catholic Church, [Ordinario e cerimonial dos conegos regrantes de Santo Augustinho]. Coymbra : pos canonicos regulares do Moesteyro de Sancta Cruz, 1563. Rare Books Collection BX2942 Sa5 

George Frideric Handel, Arminius : an opera as it is perform’d at the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden. London : Printed for and sold by I. Walsh, Musick Printer and Instrument maker to his Majesty, at the Harp and Hoboy in Catherine Street in the Strand. No. 605, [1737]. Rare Books Collection FOL. M1500.H2 HAN 

George Frideric Handel, Justin : an opera as it is perform’d at the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden. London : Printed for and sold by I. Walsh, Musick Printer and Instrument maker to his Majesty, at the Harp and Hoboy in Catherine Street in the Strand. No. 609, [1740?]. Rare Books Collection FOL. M1500.H2 HAN 

George Frideric Handel, Coronation anthem : for the voice, harpsichord or piano forte [1801-1806]. Rare books Collection FOL. M1497 KEN

Jodocus van Lodensteyn, Van J. Lodensteyns Uyt-spanningen…, 1676?-1694. Rare Books Collection M2135 L6 

Angus Mackay, A collection of ancient piobaireachd or Highland pipe music. London : Published by the editor to be had at McClarys Library No. 32, St James’s Street London ; Edinburgh : MacLachlan & Stewart, South Bridge, Edinburgh & all book music sellers in the United Kingdom, 1838. Rare Books Collection FOL. M145 MAC 

John Milton, Benjamin Cooke, and Peter Welcker, The morning hymn, taken from the fifth book of Milton’s Paradise Lost. London : Printed by Welcker in Gerrard Street St. Ann’s Soho, and may be head at Dr. Cooke’s in Dorset Court Westminster, [1773]. Rare Books Collection FOL. M2000 GAL 

Secondary sources 

F Chrysander, “A Sketch of the History of Music-Printing, from the Fifteenth to the Nineteenth Century.” The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, vol. 18, no. 412, 1877, pp. 265–68. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3353554. Accessed 2 Sep. 2024

W Dean, “ARMINIO” in Handel’s Operas, 1726-1741, pp. 349–61. Boydell & Brewer, 2006. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt1f89s4q.26. Accessed 5 Sep. 2024

H Diack Johnstone, “Cooke, Benjamin (1734–1793), organist and composer.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 23 Sep. 2004; Accessed 6 Sep. 2024

W Donaldson, “MacKay, Angus (1813–1859), collector and editor of highland bagpipe music.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 23 Sep. 2004; Accessed 9 Sep. 2024

P Gaskell, A New Introduction to Bibliography: The Classical Manual of Bibliography. Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1972

V Halliwell, “Galliard, John Ernest [formerly Johann Ernst Galliard] (c. 1666/1687–1747), composer and musical performer.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 23 Sep. 2004; Accessed 6 Sep. 2024