Over the page… a song and a 200 year old dried fern ...
In 1813, Sinclair,
‘the only Caledonian melodist on the British stage’ was already a fixture at the
Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, and he gave such national songs as ‘Scots wha hae’
‘Roy’s Wife of Aldivalloch’ at Benefit concerts alongside the inevitable ‘Pray
goody’, ‘The Death of Abercrombie’. ‘The Death of Nelson’ and the ilk. In 1816
I see he gave them ‘Auld lang syne’. He would sing it many, many times more, on
that same stage.
A romanticised Rob Roy Macgregor |
In 1817, Walter Scott published his novel Rob Roy, his version of the tale of a Scots murderer, rapist and
thief, alias Campbell, whose deeds ‘protected by several great men to whom he
was useful’ had become the stuff of sweetened-up heroic legend.
The theatres were close behind where Scott led, and less than three
months later (12 March 1818) Isaac Pocock’s dramatized version of Rob Roy MacGregor opened at Covent
Garden. I imagine that the fact of having Sinclair and his songs on the staff may
have had something to do with the drama becoming a musical drama (which some
critics objected to).
The Devon composer John Davy had composed, selected and
arranged a score, largely from popular Scottish songs, and principally for the
characters of Francis Osbaldistone (Sinclair, tenor), who was actually the main
character of the story, and his sweetheart Diana Vernon (Kitty Stephens,
soprano). Among them were ‘My love is like the red, red rose’, ‘Scots wha hae’,
‘A Highland lad my love was born’ (also included in this volume), ‘Roy’s Wife of Aldivalloch’ and, most
prominently, ‘Auld lang syne’ which did duty as a title-song, for the play of Rob Roy was subtitled ‘or Auld Lang Syne’.
Mr Macready, in the role of MacGregor did not sing. Apart from the two stars, only
Taylor as Major Galbraith had a song: a version of Wordsworth’s ‘A famous man
was Robin Hood’.
Rob Roy went on to become a staple of the British
stage. Other versions quickly sprouted – George Soane’s was hastened on to the
stage at Drury Lane while the Pocock play was still at Covent Garden – but it
was the Garden’s one which proved to have the staying power. And stay it did,
doing its bit to ensure that ‘Auld lang syne’ was sung in multiple productions,
all round the English speaking world, for a century, eventually proving a popular
warhorse in which slightly clapped-out star tenors could give what was a
virtual recital of Scots songs.
But ‘Auld lang syne’ is the one which became an institution.
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