The Songs of Robert Burns

Robert Burns's songs were, in their author's eyes, the crown to his achievement as a poet. After years of study and investigation, many hours spent listening to old airs, as he recalled the living, daily song-life of the people of Scotland, and through the creation of some of the finest lyric poetry of the British Isles, Burns's success is beyond doubt. Yet, until this volume, there has been no complete edition of his songs. Donald Low, the leading expert on Burns's songs, brings together in chronological sequence, the words and tunes of all the known songs, providing a full critical introduction and detailed notes. An appendix by Peter Davidson discusses musical arrangements. The book contains more than 300 songs and their music, from Burns's first known composition to the songs supplied for James Johnson'sScots Musical Museum, and George Thompson'sSelect Collection, to Burns's bawdy songs secretly published asThe Merry Muses of Caledonia. Thiscomprehensive critical edition can only enhance Burns's reputation as a supreme lyric poet. It will be important reading for those interested in Robert Burns and his age, lovers of the traditional music of Scotland, and students of song, lyric, and early European Romanticism.