Song Books 1760-85

Heather Glen: ‘What happens to words in songs?’

Abstract:  The first part of this paper discusses a genre that scholars seem scarcely to have noticed: that of the hundreds of popular ‘songsters’ that circulated in eighteenth-century England, their contents an eclectic mix of  broadside ballads, songs sung in drinking clubs, and songs from theatres and pleasure gardens.  Disapproved by moralists but apparently bought in large numbers, these collections showcase the pop songs of a rapidly expanding commercial culture.  But like present-day pop songs, these were by no means always simply offered up for passive consumption.  For the songster, I shall be suggesting, was a genre which enabled a more sophisticated self-reflexiveness. The second, more speculative part of this paper will focus on two songs from one such collection to consider the light they throw on my subject: what happens to words in song?

 

Song Collections – a selection published between 1760 and 1785

Because they were bought to be used, rather than preserved in libraries, surviving copies of eighteenth-century songsters are rare.  Most of those listed below are not to be found in the UL (the Bodleian has a larger collection), but they can all be found on ECCO.

 

In UL

The Union Song-Book: or, Berwick Vocal Miscellany  MR290.d.75.19

The Vocal Magazine, or British Songster’s Miscellany   MR290.c.75.4

The Goldfinch, or, New Modern Songster MR290.d.75.18

The Convivial Songster (1782) MR 290.d.75.14

Muses Banquet (5th edn. 1779)  RBR  Hib.7.779.39

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On ECCO

Apollo

The Aviary; or Magazine of British Melody

The Bird

The Blackbird

The British Muse

British Songster

The Buck’s Bottle Companion

Buck’s Delight

The Bullfinch

Calliope

The Chanter

The Charmer

Charms of Chearfulness

Charms of Melody

Chearful Companion: or Songster’s Pocket-Book  Price 3s. Bound

Complete English Songster

Court of Comus

Cupid and Bacchus; or, Love and the Bottle. Containing near six hundred songs, sung at the theatres, Vauxhall, Ranelagh, Marybone, Sadler’s Wells, &c. &c. (London, 1770)

The Delicate Songster (London, 1767) Price Three  Shillings and Sixpence

Delightful Vocal Companion

The Dramatic Muse; or Jubilee Songster Price bound 2s.6d.

Festival of Momus

Frisky Songster  2s.6d.

Goldfinch

The Humming-Bird

The Jovial Companion

The Lark

Ladies Polite Songster (London, 1775?) Price Bound One Shilling and Six Pence

London Songster  Price 2s.6d.

*The Masque

The Minstrell

Muse’s Banquet

Muses Choice

Muses’ Delight

Musical Miscellany

The Nightingale

Polite Songster

The Reveller  price only one shilling, sew’d.

The Robin; or the Ladies Polite Songster 2s.6d.

The Sky-Lark

The New London and Country Songster (1780?) Price only 1s. – or Is.6d. neatly Bound.

Vocal Music: or the Songster’s Companion (London, 1775)  Price Three Shillings

The Warbler

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