My last two talks were about the Bass Culture project (Scottish fiddle tune-books) and the Wighton and Shand Collections in Dundee Central Library.
The next two are different again! I’m currently preparing my talk for Edinburgh Central Library, commemorating the bicentenary of the First Edinburgh Musical Festival. That’s scheduled for Friday 30th October. I’ve been poring over George Farquhar Graham’s account of the event, and sorting out in my own head what exactly they performed, and who performed it. This weekend, I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to source some of the (now) obscure pieces that were featured in amongst the Handel, Mozart and Haydn. I will not be beaten! I’m determined to play a couple of examples of these now unknown pieces that were once hot favourites, and I have a handful of pieces to source already.
COMMON THREADS
But before that, on 12th October, I’m talking at our Exchange Talks series at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Torn between talking about my recent research (the AHRC-funded Bass Culture project), and my next shorter project on a particular collection in St Andrews University Library, I finally realised yesterday that there’s a talk just waiting to be written – tracing the common thread between all the research projects I’ve ever been involved in. Because there is a thread that links them all, believe it or not. I have a title now:- ‘Common Threads: From Sacred to Secular, Ancient to (nearly) Modern’
Curious? You’ll have to come and listen! (Date changed from the original 2 November.)