On 7 Mar 2012, Gibbons, John wrote:
Bruce was one of the 2 editors of the Northumbrian Minstrelsy, though Stokoe
was the
main editor for the tunes. Both were not ideal - but many of the earlier
Ancient
Melodies Committee, particularly William Kell,
Last week I went through the Ancient Melodies Committee correspondence which
predates the appearance of the book by some 20-odd years.
Bruce had some direct contact with the sources - mainly the Duke's pipers,
but I
think Robert White, Kell and so forth did most of the actual collecting.
Bruce had the most appalling handwriting, anyway, particularly when compared
with a
surprisingly elegant hand from William Green, who was my primary interest on
this
occasion.
I think, as John says, that Stokoe was primarily an editor of already supplied
material. The earlier group obviously made extensive enquiries (within certain
social limitations), and also had access to a number of source publications
such as
Oswald, Aird, and Bewick's MSS, all of which are mentioned. There was a lot of
deliberation as to which tunes were Scottish and which rightly Northumbrian -
in a
way that wouldn't be seen as so important today, I think.
Julia
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