Lynn Wollstadt wrote:
>
> Bruce Olson wrote:
>
> >
> > I can't help wondering if Motherwell actually collected any ballads
> > himself. He got Andrew Blaikie to note some tunes for him, but at least
> > some, and maybe all of his texts were brought to him by others (as per
> > F. J. Child).
> >
>
> I think it's pretty clear that he did...Bill McCarthy could certainly talk
> about this; his book on Agnes Lyle, _The Ballad Matrix_, includes a few
> quotes from Motherwell's notebook about some of his face-to-face collecting
> experience.
>
> Lynn Wollstadt
...................
> >
> > Luisa Del Giudice wrote:
> > > W.F.H. Nicolaisen says the study is "a must for all ballad scholars.
> The
> > > depth, height, and breadth of this study comes as a real eye-opener.
> This
> > > is ballad scholarship at its best."
>

I can't agree.

His 'Minstrelsy', 1827, shows no evidence for that he heard or
personally collected any ballads at all.

In his appendix, # V, Motherwell gave a verse of "Lord Bengwell"
(Gil Brenton, Child #5) and the tune collected by Andrew Blaikie.
Bronson (C5, #2) repeats the verse and gives the tune transposed.
The other 47 verses, with the tune as originally collected, are
the first song in Dr. Emily Lyle's "Crawfurd's Collection".
[#1 on cassette tape by Jo Miller, STS 1]

Motherwell's note on "Bonnie Susie Cleland" is simply
'Never Before Published', and gives a tune collected by Andrew
Blaikie (repeated by Bronson C65, #2). From Child at #65, text I,
we find identical versions from 'Minstrelsy', from Mrs Thomson of
Kilbarchan, and from Mrs McLean of Glasgow. The tune then is
apparently from Mrs Thomson or Mrs McLean, and the other of the
two's tunes is possibly [Reposted from Scots-L]:

From - [Jack Campin] Sun Dec 12 13:32:37 1999

X:6
T:Born in St Johnstone and burn'd in Dundee
S:Blaikie MS, NLS MS.1578/Mf.Sec.MSS.295
N:double bars aren't in the MS; they mark where I put the line
ends [-Jack Campin]
M:3/4
L:1/8
K:Dmin
D2 A2 G2|F3  G A2||\
F2 E2 D2|C3  D E2||\
D2 A2 G2|F3  G A2||\
A2 f2 e2|d6      |]
A2 d2 dc|A2 d2 c2||\
F2 c2 AG|F3  G A2||\
A2 A2 G2|F3  G A2 |\
GF D2 CE|D6      |]

................................................................

Once, in 'Minstrelsy', Motherwell mentioned a singer, a widow
M'Cormick of Paisley, (a very rare named informant). Child (#83,
B text), adds also from Motherwell's notebook that it was from an
old woman in Dumbarton. Motherwell's tune, (collected by Andrew
Blaikie), however, is that for the single verse in Motherwell's
Appendix, #6. Bronson, C83, #4, repeats the verse and transposes
the tune. Emily Lyle took Motherwell's verse to be an alteration
of Mary MacQueen's and gives full text and (untransposed tune) as
the 2nd in 'Andrew Crawfurd's collection and 2nd on the cassette
tape STS1. This text can also be seen as Child's C text, from
Motherwell's MSS (no tune), from Mrs William Storie (= Mary
MacQueen).

Motherwell's other traditional texts are from recitation by
unknown informants, and he doesn't say that he was the one that
took them down from recition. He also mentions texts given to him
by C. K. Sharpe, that I expect we will see in the soon to be published
'Glenbuchat Ballads'.

Keeping track of texts and titles and tunes in Motherwell's
'Minstrelsy', Child's ESPB, Bronson's TTCB, and Dr. Lyle's
'Andrew Crawfurd's Collection' is more than a bit of a chore.
I've had enough. Motherwell, to me, just isn't worth bothering
with.

Bruce Olson

Old English, Irish and, Scots: popular songs, tunes, broadside
ballads at my website (no advs-spam, etc)- www.erols.com/olsonw
or click below  <A href="http://www.erols.com/olsonw"> Click </a>