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THE ODDITIES, AN ENTERTAINMENT BY CHARLES DIBDIN, TRANSCRIBED AND ENGRAVED WITH ACCOMPANYING NOTES

by

Benjamin Douglas Laur

An essay submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Musical Arts

degree in Music in the Graduate College of

The University of Iowa

August 2018

Essay Supervisor: Professor John Muriello

Copyright by

BENJAMIN DOUGLAS LAUR

2018

All Rights Reserved

Graduate College The University of Iowa

Iowa City, Iowa

CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL

____________________________

D.M.A. ESSAY

_________________

This is to certify that the D.M.A. essay of

Benjamin Douglas Laur

has been approved by the Examining Committee for the essay requirement for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Music at the August 2018 graduation. Essay Committee: ____________________________________________ John Muriello, Essay Supervisor ____________________________________________ Katherine Eberle ____________________________________________ Nathan Platte ____________________________________________ Marian Wilson Kimber ____________________________________________ Wayne Wyman

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His songs will keep his name alive so long as the English language is spoken. They are manly and healthy, their diction is eloquent; their music lends charm to their eloquence, and enforces

the emphasis of their meaning. There is nothing mean or vicious in their simple imagery, even if their mode of utterance is cast in common and unpretentious language. Therefore, as long as men have hearts to feel and minds to appreciate, the lyrics of Charles Dibdin will never lose their hold

upon the sympathies and affections of Englishmen.

W.A. Barrett “Charles Dibdin,” The Musical Times 516, no. 27 (1886): 72.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I owe an incalculable debt to my committee chair, advisor, and teacher, John Muriello,

for unflagging support and help throughout the planning and preparation of this project.

I also wish to acknowledge my committee members, each of whom has lent me their own

unique insights and expertise along the way. Thanks to Katherine Eberle for contagious

enthusiasm for the pedagogical value of the project, to Nathan Platte for encouragement and a

wealth of research resources, and to Wayne Wyman for commiseration and for helping me always

remember the big picture. I owe a special thanks to Marian Wilson Kimber for her active

encouragement and much-needed help with all the nuts and bolts of research and academic

writing, and for introducing me to the music of Charles Dibdin.

Thank you to my wife, Lauren, who has shown me tremendous support as I have worked,

and to my son, Gideon, for reminding me, occasionally, to put away the scores and sing in the

moment.

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PUBLIC ABSTRACT

The popular songs of Charles Dibdin represent a vibrant, prolific musical culture in late

eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century England—one that is sometimes overlooked in favor of

a more continental Eurocentric narrative in mainstream musical scholarship. Dibdin’s

entertainment, The Oddities (1790), played a significant role in his financial and popular success

late in life. The biting social satire in many of the songs—providing period commentary on race,

class, gender, and hypocritical prudes—may account for some of this, as may his popular gift for

melody. However, although some of the songs from this entertainment have maintained a place

in song repertoire, there is no extant print-ready edition of The Oddities to have been published

since the nineteenth century. This project seeks to provide that edition for scholarship and

performance, and hopes to encourage interest in the study and performance of Dibdin’s songs,

thereby furthering performance of popular English song of the period. The songs of The Oddities

are tuneful, mostly strophic character pieces appropriate for use in recitals and pastiche

productions, and will prove especially useful for voice teachers seeking material for English-

language singers and aspiring singing actors.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF EXAMPLES ................................................................................................................................. vi

LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................... vii

CHAPTER ONE: A PROJECT OF HISTORICAL, ARTISTIC, AND PEDAGOGICAL VALUE ........... 1

CHAPTER TWO: CHARLES DIBDIN IN HIS TIME .............................................................................. 12

CHAPTER THREE: A PERFORMANCE AND PUBLICATION HISTORY .......................................... 21

CHAPTER FOUR: SLY OLD HODGE ..................................................................................................... 36

CHAPTER FIVE: TAFFY AND GRIDDY ................................................................................................ 49

CHAPTER SIX: THE PORTRAIT............................................................................................................. 66

CHAPTER SEVEN: THE FLOWING CAN .............................................................................................. 77

CHAPTER EIGHT: ALL THE WORLD'S A MASQUERADE ................................................................ 91

CHAPTER NINE: SATURDAY NIGHT AT SEA .................................................................................. 104

CHAPTER TEN: MOCK ITALIAN SONG ............................................................................................ 114

CHAPTER ELEVEN: BACHELOR'S HALL .......................................................................................... 145

CHAPTER TWELVE: ON GRATITUDE ............................................................................................... 156

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: THE LAMPLIGHTER ..................................................................................... 168

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: THE INDIAN SONG ...................................................................................... 178

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: BEN BACKSTAY ............................................................................................... 187

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: AN IRISH DRINKING SONG ........................................................................... 197

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: PEGGY PERKINS ....................................................................................... 206

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: POOR TOM, OR THE SAILOR'S EPITAPH ................................................. 219

CHAPTER NINETEEN: A TAR FOR ALL WEATHERS ..................................................................... 228

CHAPTER TWENTY: THE GREENWICH PENSIONER ..................................................................... 237

CONCLUSION: DIBDIN’S VALUE AND NEW SCHOLARSHIP ....................................................... 250

APPENDIX A: SOURCE MATERIAL CONTENTS .............................................................................. 257

APPENDIX B: KEY, RANGE, TESSITURA OF TRANSCRIPTIONS ................................................. 264

APPENDIX C: METHODOLOGY AND SOURCE DISCREPANCIES ................................................ 268

BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................................... 273

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LIST OF EXAMPLES Example 1: Bound Dibdin Song Collection, “Poor Tom, or the Sailor's Epitaph,” p.1 .............................. 29

Example 2: Scansion in “The Sailor’s Epitaph” as set in The Harmonicon ............................................... 30

Example 3: C.H. Purday’s introduction to Hogarth’s “Tom Bowling” ...................................................... 31

Example 4: Introduction to Barrett’s Romantic rendition of “Tom Bowling” ........................................... 32

Example 5: Introduction to Moffat’s simple “Tom Bowling" .................................................................... 33

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LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: The Oddities’ Compared Contents .............................................................................................. 23

Figure 2: “Peggy Perkins” broadside, digitized by Gale Eighteenth Century Collections Online I,

from the Oxford Bodleian Library .............................................................................................................. 25

Figure 3: “The Lamplighter” broadside, digitized by Gale Eighteenth Century Collections Online I,

from the British Library .............................................................................................................................. 25

Figure 4: Portrait of Dibdin, found in Hogarth ........................................................................................... 43

Figure 5: “Mock Italian Song,” Iowa Source excerpt ............................................................................... 131

Figure 6: “Bachelor's Hall” Obbligati Excerpt, Iowa Source ................................................................... 150

Figure A.1: Iowa Source Contents, Volume 1 .......................................................................................... 258

Figure A.2: Iowa Source Contents, Volume 2 .......................................................................................... 259

Figure A.3: "The Greenwich Pensioner" Tessitura Determination ........................................................... 264

Figure A.4: Key, Range, and Tessitura of Transcriptions and Transpositions ......................................... 265

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CHAPTER ONE: A PROJECT OF HISTORICAL, ARTISTIC, AND PEDAGOGICAL VALUE

Charles Dibdin was a theater performer and composer of popular music in eighteenth-

century England. Given the prolific nature of his work, discussed later in this project, the relative

scarcity of modern editions might be surprising. Dibdin enjoyed success as a performer and

composer both in the theater and in his more intimately set one-man entertainments. While one

might not praise Dibdin’s compositions for any particular genius in their harmonic setting, his

songs were admired for their melodic and textual qualities. His works may now be considered

emblematic of their time, useful in establishing for modern singers and scholars alike a concept

of tastes and performance practices common in the period.

This project is intended to contribute value to three complementary but distinct fields:

musicology, vocal performance, and vocal pedagogy. To the music historian, these transcriptions

provide a legible, digitized edition of a set of popular Georgian songs for study. For the singer,

they are a set of clever character pieces suitable for recital, while the pedagogue can use this set

of English-language pieces, presented in medium-voice transpositions with realized harmonic

accompaniment, in the studio, alongside engraved editions of Charles Dibdin’s original

presentation. It is my sincere hope that this project succeeds in its pragmatic, if ambitious, goals.

This first of four chapters contains a historical review to provide suitable context for these

songs, beginning with a discussion of the primary source material. In the spring of 2015 at The

University of Iowa I took a class entitled Eighteenth-Century Music: Music in the World of Jane

Austen taught by Prof. Marian Wilson Kimber. Here I first encountered the songs of Charles

Dibdin via the Austen family’s music collection. I found his witty lyrics and attractive melodies

charming and decided to research his songs further. This grew into a project in which I reviewed

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and discussed a number of adaptations made of his songs since his lifetime, centering around

“Nothing Like Grog” and “Blow High, Blow Low,” a pair of sea chanties, and “Poor Tom

Bowling, or a Sailor’s Epitaph,” a popular song from The Oddities. I compared the earliest

available Dibdin scores with later adaptations and discussed the changes they underwent, from

the fully realized accompaniments conscripted by George Hogarth to the romanticized pianistic

accompaniments found in nineteenth-century adaptations, and finally to Benjamin Britten’s folk-

song adaptation of “Tom Bowling” (in Folk Song Arrangements) and Joan Frey Boytim’s

pedagogical adaptation of “Blow High, Blow Low” (in The First Book of Bass/Baritone Solos).1

While researching in the Arthur and Miriam Canter Rare Book Room in the Rita Benton

Music Library at the University of Iowa, I happened upon a major collection of Dibdin

entertainments bound in two volumes. This item had been mistaken for a collection of Dibdin’s

songs published posthumously by George Hogarth—an item also found in the Rare Book room,

also bound in two volumes—so its existence was apparently unknown to the current music

librarian, Katie Buehner. The cause of the confusion seems to have been that the source material

(fM1620.D5) has no second Cutter number (as opposed to the George Hogarth edition,

fM1620.D5 D3), which probably means that it was the only Dibdin item in the collection at the

time of its acquisition. This discovery was the cause of some excitement for both the librarian

and me. After the library digitized the item, I found that the second volume contained a

collection of seventeen songs ascribed to The Oddities, and I decided to engrave the songs to

make them more accessible for further study and performance.

The excitement of discovering a previously miscatalogued period item was somewhat

mitigated by the cold trail regarding its provenance. Unfortunately, it has not been possible to

1 Benjamin Britten, arr., Complete Folksong Arrangements (London: Boosey & Hawkes, 2006), 198-199; Joan Frey Boytim, compiler, The First Book of Bass/Baritone Solos (New York: G. Schirmer, 1991), 22.

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determine how the item came to be housed in the University of Iowa’s Music Library, other than

it was probably one of the numerous eighteenth-century publications acquired by its former

librarian, Rita Benton. Nevertheless, if nothing other than its authorship can be confirmed, much

else may be speculated about the source itself. The cover of each volume bears the title Dibdin’s

Songs, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, respectively. Within the cover of the second volume, the following is

written in pencil:

Charles Dibdin (1745-1814) 53 Songs Original Editions Of which 35 are autographed by the composer 2 vols 28.00 Dibdin, Charles Songs, Selections 2

Save for the penciled call number (fM1620.D5), these are the only markings that indicate

someone meant to organize the songs as one item. The rest of each volume consists of

individually titled songs, with individual prices (mostly 1 shilling), and some with individual

signatures.3 It therefore seems likely that the songs were sold individually and bound together in

these volumes at a later date. This is further supported by the following inscription found on all

the songs:

London Printed & Sold by the Author, at his Music Warehouse No. 411 Strand opposite the Adelphi.4

2 Charles Dibdin, Bound Dibdin Song Collection (London: Preston, n.d.), Arthur and Miriam Canter Rare Book Room, Rita Benton Music Library, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA. The first volume contains a similar inscription, but counting “48 songs, 46 of which are autographed by the composer,” and not bearing the number 28.00, presumably a sale price for the collection or the second volume at one time. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid.

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In his biography of Dibdin, The Theatre Career of Charles Dibdin the Elder (1745-1814),

Robert Fahrner indicates that around the same time the composer began to see success

performing his entertainments, he also began selling sheet music of the popular songs from his

own warehouse, No. 411 on the Strand.5 It seems reasonable to speculate, therefore, that the

songs bound in the source item are indeed original editions printed and sold by Dibdin himself.6

Further speculative evidence indicates that the songs in the Iowa collection are likely to

have been printed and sold at the composer’s own warehouse, based on items with strong

similarities to them housed in the British Library’s collections. An online search through the

British Library’s online catalog yields fifty scores from The Oddities, attributed to Charles

Dibdin and created before 1900.7 The majority of these are folios, twenty-five of which were

published by “the Author,” one by “Mr. Dibdin,” one “printed and sold by the author,” and one

by “the Author, at his Music Warehouse.”8 Some of these include the note “Issued with The

Bystander.”9 According to Fahrner, Dibdin published the periodical The Bystander on his home

press beginning in August 1789 and lasting until February 1790, and premiered The Oddities

December 1790.10 It seems unlikely that these publications are the same as those found in the

source in Iowa, since the songs in the Rita Benton Music Library volume are priced for

individual sale, rather than for inclusion in a periodical. However, not all items in the search bear

this note. The score of “Saturday Night at Sea,” “printed and sold by the author” (1790?), implies

its individual sale took place in London.11 Likewise the score of “The Greenwich Pensioner,”

5 Robert Fahrner, The Theatre Career of Charles Dibdin the Elder (1745-1814) (New York: Peter Lang, 1989), 130. 6 For a complete list of the contents of the source material, see Appendix A: Source Material Contents. 7 Results from online search, British Library, https://www.bl.uk, August 29, 2017. 8 Ibid. 9 Ibid. 10 Fahrner, The Theatre Career of Charles Dibdin the Elder, 129. 11 Results from online search, British Library, https://www.bl.uk, August 29, 2017.

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published by “the Author, at his Music Warehouse,” bears no mention of The Bystander.12 It is

telling, however, that the notes field in the catalogue reads, “P.4 contains an accompaniment for

guitar,” and that the copy of “Greenwich Pensioner” in the Iowa source, autographed by Dibdin,

also includes a guitar obbligato accompaniment on page four.13 One might reasonably speculate

that these last two items in the British Library are similar copies to those in the Iowa source,

perhaps printed and sold around the same time.

Although the provenance of Iowa’s volume cannot be determined, if the songs within it

transcribed here were indeed printed and sold by Dibdin during his lifetime, what does this tell us

about the actual performances of the published songs? Not much, really. By Dibdin’s own

admission, he was accustomed to committing his melodies to memory, improvising

accompaniments in performance, and only committing notes to paper for the purpose of selling

copies after a song had already gained popularity. In 1803 he wrote,

I have never written down my Compositions till they were wanted, either for a band, or for the engraver. I have now in my mind at least thirty songs, nearly twenty of which I have sung in public; of the music of which not even a single note has yet been written. To put the matter in a clearer point of view; whenever I have performed any one of the various Entertainments in my Catalogue, on the first night, I have sat down to the piano-forte with the words only; and, neither at that time, nor at any other, till required by the engraver for publication, has any single note been written.14

Perhaps the nonchalance with which Dibdin describes his keyboard writing should come as no

surprise, given the historical reception of his accompaniments. Fahrner notes that Dibdin’s skill

in “scoring and harmony… was particularly weak.”15 He cites George Hogarth as writing that

Dibdin possessed “the utmost poverty of harmonical resources.”16 It was Hogarth who published

12 Ibid. 13 Ibid.; Dibdin, Bound Dibdin Song Collection. 14 Charles Dibdin, The Professional Life of Mr. Dibdin, written by himself. Together with the words of six hundred songs selected from his works. Interspersed with many humorous and entertaining anecdotes incidental to the public character (London: Charles Dibdin, 1803), 104. 15 Fahrner, The Theatre Career of Charles Dibdin the Elder, 168. 16 Ibid.

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the posthumous The Songs of Charles Dibdin, Chronologically Arranged, with Notes, Historical,

Biographical, and Critical; and the Music of the Best and Most Popular of the Melodies, with

New Piano-Forte Accompaniments.17 Evidently, he saw value in disseminating Dibdin’s

melodies, but only with new accompaniments by himself, C. F. Purday, F. Lancelott, and E. G.

Westrop as a necessary improvement.18

Nevertheless, Dibdin’s genius lay not in his keyboard accompaniments, but rather in the

union of charming, accessible melodies with verbal wit. In an essay on Dibdin published in the

Musical Times, W.A. Barrett wrote that “the power of melody he possessed was as varied in its

mode of expression as it was rare in its inexhaustible quantity and quality,” and that “he

possessed a flow of tunefulness so copious and fresh that it was more easy for him to invent new

tunes than to use up his old ones to save trouble.”19 Hogarth wrote that Dibdin “possessed the

instinct of melody in a degree, perhaps, that has never been exceeded.”20 Moreover, in the years

after the composer’s death it was admirers of his songs who formed The Melodists’ Club in

London, with the motto, “Let our motto be, the soul of music, melody.”21

Satire, an age-old tradition in English theatre, was difficult to find on the stage between

the institution of the Licensing Act of 1737 and its alteration in 1843.22 Its revival after that time,

notably in the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan and the plays of George Bernard Shaw, may

owe in some part to its continuation in vehicles such as The Oddities. The characters described

17 George Hogarth, ed., The Songs of Charles Dibdin chronologically arranged, with notes historical, biographical and critical. The music of the best and most popular, with new pianoforte accompaniments. To which is prefixed a memoir of the author, by George Hogarth, esq. (London: G. H. Davidson, 1842). 18 Ibid. 19 “Charles Dibdin (1745-1814) [The substance of a lecture read at the London Institution on January 14, by Mr. W. A. Barrett],” The Musical Times 516, no. 27 (1886): 68-72. 20 Hogarth, ed., The Songs of Charles Dibdin chronologically arranged, Volume 1, xx. 21 John Parry, “Rise and Progress of the Melodists’ Club,” The Musical Journal 2, no. 41 (1840): 230. 22 Dennis Kennedy, ed., The Oxford Companion to Theatre and Performance (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 104; Roger Fiske, English Theatre Music in the Eighteenth Century, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), 149-150.

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in the songs of The Oddities include young lords on a hunt (“Bachelor Hall”), saints by day and

sinners by night (“The Lamplighter”), and more than a few sailors singing of their lovers (“Ben

Backstay,” “Saturday Night At Sea”), often with the aid of a can of grog (“The Flowing Can”).23

In his creation of such tales, Dibdin answered to no theater management and was free to observe

an assortment of characters with jolly ridicule.24

Dibdin’s melodic construction relies on characteristics that might be expected of popular

common practice era song: a contour that rises to climax and falls to resolution, outlining tonal

triadic harmony and using sequences, scalar and arpeggiated writing, and a variety of simple

rhythmic devices for organization. Scansion is weak at times, as in the first two words of “Poor

Tom” (“Here a sheer hulk,” with “Here” as a pick-up and the article “a” on the downbeat of m.

9).25 Text-setting is usually syllabic, as illustrated in “Ben Backstay.”26 Sometimes lyricism

suffers in favor of a more angular construction in the sea-songs, presumably to evoke a hornpipe

or sea-chanty, as in “The Flowing Can.”27 Likewise, Dibdin varies melodic construction in this

collection depending on the character depicted in each song. “An Irish Drinking Song” is more

angular still, evoking an Irish dance, whereas “Mock Italian Song,” the text of which pokes fun

at the construction and performance of an Italian aria, relies on characteristically Italianate

lengthy and stepwise melismatic writing.28 In “The Lamplighter,” Dibdin presents a playfully

leaping melody to complement the dotted rhythmic figures and compound meter, again evoking

dance, this time of a comical nature.29 But perhaps it is in the sentimental songs—“The Portrait,”

23 Ibid., “Bachelor Hall,” “The Lamplighter,” “Ben Backstay,” “Saturday Night at Sea,” “The Flowing Can.” 24 Ibid. 25 Dibdin, Bound Dibdin Song Collection, Volume 2, “Poor Tom, or the Sailor’s Epitaph.” 26 Ibid., “Ben Backstay.” 27 Ibid., “The Flowing Can.” 28 Ibid., “An Irish Drinking Song,” “Mock Italian Song.” 29 Ibid., “The Lamplighter.”

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“Saturday Night at Sea,” and “On Gratitude”—that Dibdin’s gift for lyrical construction most

shines, where it functions to depict admiration, tenderness, and noble sensibility.30

An example of both satire and clever text-setting may be found in the comically self-

aware “Mock Italian Song.” In mm.17-22, the text commands one to choose a pretty melody “to

take in all the flats,” while arpeggiating a Bb major triad.31 Requests to “growl like dogs,”

“miowl like cats,” and “chatter like monkeys” are accompanied by descending lines, large

ascending leaps, and long melismas, respectively.32 One can only imagine what the average

music-lover in London thought of this parody of Italian singing, when so much theater music was

created under its influence. But at least this song was poking fun at the “other,” and not at any

personages or institutions of the Empire. Dibdin reserved such audacity for songs like “All the

World’s a Masquerade,” which contains the following lines about a friar and a novice:

See that friar to a novice preach, To holiness to win her, Their masks dropped off, what are they each, He a thief and she a sinner.33

The composer’s satire operates in quick, vicious jabs like this, yet set to a pleasant melody and

sung with a smile. Not all of Dibdin’s characters are so facetious. The singer of “The Portrait”

seems earnest in his sentiment, as does the elegance of the melody.34 Likewise Dibdin’s sailors

sing of their beloved Nan and Peggy with honest words of devotion. It is precisely this range of

characters that should make a collection like The Oddities so appealing for recitalists. Songs of

heroism and devotion are matched by songs of snide social observation, and Dibdin’s melodic

gift, audible throughout, paints each character and viewpoint in vivid colors.

30 Ibid., “The Portrait,” “Saturday Night at Sea,” “On Gratitude.” 31 Dibdin, Bound Dibdin Song Collection, Volume 2, “Mock Italian Song.” 32 Ibid. 33 Ibid., “All the World’s a Masquerade.” 34 Ibid., Bound Dibdin Song Collection, Volume 2, “The Portrait.”

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Most accompaniments in the project’s primary source are simple, consisting usually of no

more than two or three voices at a time and frequently of nothing more than a melody over a bass

line. It might be inferred that some skill in additional harmonic realization on the part of the

performer was assumed in the barest of these excerpts. In order to present the songs as faithfully

to the source as possible but also to provide a usable edition for performance and pedagogy, I

have, therefore, presented at least three engravings of each: an exact representation of the source

material, with any changes noted in appendices; a medium-voice transposition; and the same

transposition with simple harmonic realizations added as appropriate. These realizations are

intended only as suggestions and are by no means meant to indicate any historic authenticity,

however that might be defined.

Almost all seventeen songs ascribed in the source to The Oddities are followed by

obbligato parts, typically some combination of flute and guitar parts.35 I have include these parts

in the key provided. Where it seems obvious that Dibdin incorporated his obbligati into the

keyboard-vocal score, which sometimes spans three staves for this purpose, I have generated

distinct transcriptions: the first is always presented as Dibdin presented it; the second, transposed

to a medium-voice key, also leaves the obbligati as originally presented. In the third

transcription, transposed with harmonic realization, I have reduced obbligato parts to a cue on the

staff for legibility where the parts are not otherwise incorporated.36 In this way I hope to have

created a document that may serve both historian and performer.

Finally, it should be noted that the songs vary in their vocal demands; some may prove of

excellent use in the teaching studio, while others should be reserved for a singer with full

command of their instrument. For this reason, I have listed the transcribed songs in Appendix B,

35 For a full list of the contents of the source material, including all obbligato parts, see Appendix A. 36 For a more thorough explanation of the methodology I used in transcribing and arranging, see Appendix C.

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indicating the range and tessitura of each one, both in the original key and the medium-voice

transposition. It is my hope this appendix may serve as a quick reference for the voice teacher

exploring this collection with students in mind.

This project will prove valuable to scholars in other fields as well. Interest in Dibdin

seems to be increasing. While Fahrner’s biography of the composer is the only notable

monograph about him in the twentieth century (written after his 1968 dissertation), Dibdin has

subsequently appeared in dissertations by both students of music and English literature in recent

decades. Literary interest in Dibdin centers around one of his three novels, Hannah Hewit or, the

female Crusoe, which features a female protagonist cast away on a deserted island.37

Tangentially, his songs have seen attention from Jane Austen scholars and enthusiasts, as a

number of the songs are included in the recently digitized Austen Family Music Library.38 The

year 2014 saw the first scholarly conference on Dibdin, Charles Dibdin and His World, and in

2018, Oxford University Press published Charles Dibdin and Late Georgian Culture, edited by

Oskar Cox Jensen, David Kennerley, and Ian Newman.39 The authors critique Dibdin, his work,

and his audience through the lenses of racial performance, patriotism, celebrity, and gender.40

The book is a significant addition to Dibdin scholarship, and, I hope, indicative of a resurgence

in interest. It greatly expands the current dialogue beyond Fahrner’s biography and previous

37 Rebecca J. Taylor, “Robinson Crusoe and the Reproduction of Singleness in England’s Long Eighteenth Century” (PhD diss., Washington University, 2004); Darlene Everhart, “Accounting and Authorship in Eighteenth-Century Island Narratives” (PhD diss., Carnegie Mellon University, 2009); Mariah Mitchell Lynch Bauer, “Novel Heroes: Domesticating the British, Eighteenth-Century Male Adventurer” (PhD diss., University of Maryland, 2011). 38 Ian Gammie and Derek McCulloch, Jane Austen’s Music: The Musical World of Jane Austen Seen Through the Manuscripts and Printed Editions Held by the Jane Austen Memorial Trust at Chawton (St. Albans: Corda Music, 1996; Austen Family Music Books, University of Southampton Library, https://archive.org/details/austenfamilymusicbooks, accessed 5 May 2017. 39 Charles Dibdin and His World, 2014, http://charlesdibdin.com (accessed May 2015; no longer accessible), http://international.nd.edu/events/2014/11/28/charles-dibdin-and-his-world (accessed 5 May 2017); Oskar Cox Jensen, David Kennerley, Ian Newman, ed., Charles Dibdin and Late Georgian Culture (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2018). 40 Ibid.

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period sources. Should that dialogue continue to develop, and Dibdin’s profile as a historical

character increase, it seems that interest in performing and interpreting his songs will inevitably

to follow. As cross-disciplinary interest in Dibdin grows, it will be of interdisciplinary benefit for

music scholars to possess resources such as the edition produced through this project.

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CHAPTER TWO: CHARLES DIBDIN IN HIS TIME

In spite of the moniker, das Land ohne Musik, that has been applied to Great Britain, one

has only to explore the works of the composers Thomas Arne, William Boyce, and William

Shield to understand that much more than merely John Gay’s ballad opera ornamented the

London concert hall, stage, and drawing rooms during the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth

centuries.41 Neither is there in vocal literature such a yawning gap between Henry Purcell and

Charles Villiers Stanford (or even Purcell and Benjamin Britten) as is so often implied in music

history survey courses and textbooks.42 This is not to say that the denizens of London, a

cosmopolitan metropolis, were divorced from continental culture. Perhaps it is only natural that

Italian theatrical music, so prevalent at the time, receives the lion’s share of attention in

contemporary scholarship. Nevertheless, composers such as Charles Dibdin seem to prove that

not all vocal music composed in the island nation was entirely derivative of the continental

vogue or unworthy of note.

Dibdin was born in Southhampton March 15, 1745, the same year as the death of

Jonathan Swift and the composition of Handel’s oratorio Hercules.43 As a child Dibdin was sent

to Winchester Cathedral to encourage him toward a life as a clergyman.44 There he sang anthems

and was instructed in music by the Cathedral organist, Peter Fussell.45 Before long he abandoned

41 Oskar Schmitz, Das Land Ohne Musik, Englische Gesellschaftsprobleme (Munich: Georg Müller, 1914). M.J. Walker suggests other sources predating Schmitz’s book also perpetuate the essentially German idea that England is a culture devoid of important art, including music. Walker discusses Schmitz’s book in this context in an article on MusicWeb International. M.J. Walker, “The Land without music: some reflections on Anglo-German cultural relations,” MusicWeb International, accessed 7 April 2018, http://www.musicwebinternational.com/dasland.htm#ixzz5C25sWKO3. 42 J. Peter Burkholder, Donald Jay Grout, Claude V. Palisca, A History of Western Music, 7th ed. (New York: W.W. Norton, 2006), 354-383, 472-505, 595-631. 43 Roger Fiske and Irena Cholij, “Dibdin, Charles,” Grove Music Online, accessed 2 May 2016; Clive Probyn, “Swift, Jonathan,” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, accessed 23 February 2018; Anthony Hicks, “Handel, George Frideric,” Grove Music Online, accessed 23 February 2018. 44 Fahrner, The Theatre Career of Charles Dibdin the Elder, 7. 45 Eric Walter White, A History of English Opera (London: Faber and Faber, 1983), 198.

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any ambition for the clergy and began applying for organist positions, which he failed to attain.46

In Dibdin’s autobiography, The Professional Life of Mr. Dibdin, he describes his first exposure

to music theater while visiting his brother in London as an “enchantment.”47 He also tells that at

the age of sixteen he attended two rehearsals for Arne’s Thomas and Sally at Covent Garden,

then went home and wrote out the score from memory.48 Though he admits the result was

imperfect, he implies it was at this moment he knew he would compose.49

In the following years Dibdin sang as a chorus member at Covent Garden and made his

composing debut there at the age of nineteen in the pastoral, The Shepherd’s Artifice, singing the

leading role.50 Through 1791 he participated as some combination of composer and/or librettist

in completing over 130 works for the stage, including comic operas, burlettas, pantomimes,

musical dialogues, and ballad operas.51 His early works of note include Love in the City (1767),

Lionel and Clarissa (1768), and The Padlock (1768), all settings of libretti by Isaac Bickerstaff,

who had written the libretto for Arne’s Thomas and Sally as well.52

Neither was Dibdin’s prolific oeuvre limited to the stage. Roger Fiske, in his English

Theatre Music in the Eighteenth Century, declares that “because of his autobiographical writings,

we know more about Charles Dibdin than we do of any other English composer of his century.”53

During his latter career the composer published a periodical (The Bystander, 1789–1790), three

46 Ibid. 47 Charles Dibdin, The Professional Life of Mr. Dibdin, written by himself. Together with the words of six hundred songs selected from his works. Interspersed with many humorous and entertaining anecdotes incidental to the public character (London: Charles Dibdin, 1803), vol. I, 20. 48 Ibid., 22. 49 Ibid. 50 Fiske and Cholij, “Dibdin, Charles.” 51 Fahrner, The Theatre Career of Charles Dibdin the Elder, Appendix, A Chronological List of Staged Works Written and/or Composed by Dibdin, 215-227. 52 White, History of English Opera, 199-200. 53 Roger Fiske, English Theatre Music in the Eighteenth Century, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), 348.

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novels (including Hannah Hewit or, the female Crusoe, 1792), a history of theatre (The Complete

History of the English Stage, 1800), an epistolary memoir (Observations on a tour through

almost the whole of England, and a considerable part of Scotland, 1801–2), an autobiography in

four volumes (The Professional Life of Mr. Dibdin, 1803), and a textbook (Music Epitomised,

1804).54

Dibdin’s rather lengthy writings typify his prolific, though troubled, career. His early

successes did not herald decades of acclaim in the theater. Rather, his work declined after the

mid-1770’s, according to Fiske, because of Dibdin’s “increasingly truculent and quarrelsome

behavior.”55 He abandoned one wife and two mistresses, making a third mistress his second

wife.56 He left Covent Garden for Drury Lane over a disagreement about finances and again

departed from Drury Lane for Covent Garden, burning bridges each time.57 His habit of accruing

debts led him to flee the country to escape debtors’ prison twice—once to France in 1776 and

once to India in 1787.58 Fortunately, he did not succeed in his voyage to India, but returned to

London with the notion of presenting his songs in one-man table entertainments, including The

Oddities.59

It is not difficult to imagine the man these events portray to be the author of The

Professional Life of Mr. Dibdin. Its tone is defensive to the point of paranoia as Dibdin assaults

those who accused him of plagiarism and deceit, and remains unabashedly proud at the

accomplishment of having written over six-hundred songs that were found pleasing by so many.

He labels music publishers “sons of envy” and “crotchet-mongers,” and writes of The Oddities

54 Roger Fiske and Irena Cholij, “Dibdin, Charles,” Grove Music Online, accessed 2 May 2016. 55 Ibid. 56 Ibid. 57 Ibid. 58 Ibid. 59 Ibid.

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that “every nerve was strained to prevent its circulation”—while also boasting that sales from

“Poor Tom” and “The Lamplighter” made him more money in four months than he had

previously acquired in his entire life.60 He lashes out at the public for his past failures, writing,

“From all the rest of the public what have been my thanks? Every attempt to establish simplicity

and nature has been considered as paucity and imbecility”—while also acknowledging that The

Wags, which followed The Oddities, brought him “a degree of success superior to anything”

previous.61

Dibdin’s character may have been problematic, but his art, taken for what it is, is at times

exquisite. Fiske describes Dibdin’s writing as galante—simple accompaniments to sweet

melodies.62 His intuitive singer’s ear, honed by years as a chorister in both the church and the

theater, made Dibdin’s vocal writing arguably superior to that of many of his peers setting the

English language. Fiske writes:

He had… one asset that was especially unusual in England. This was his ability to write a vocal line that reflected the dramatic situation. His best airs encourage the singer to act as well as sing, and thus they keep the drama alive instead of freezing it as in most of Arne’s opera songs. ... By nature, though not by education, he was at least as well fitted to write comic operas as Paisiello or Cimarosa.63 When Dibdin returned to London after his short-lived attempt to flee to India, it was with

a dogged determination to make the public love his songs. He had toured the country with his

entertainment Readings and Music in the spring of 1787, with the purpose of raising funds for his

Indian travel, but the tour was not a success, by his own estimation.64 Rather than succumb to his

60 Dibdin, The Professional Life of Mr. Dibdin, vol. I, 40, 43. 61 Ibid., 41, 45. 62 Fiske, English Theatre Music in the Eighteenth Century, 349. 63 Ibid. 64 Fahrner, The Theatre Career of Charles Dibdin the Elder, 120-122.

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debts, Dibdin immediately put together another entertainment, The Whim of the Moment, or

Nature in Little, which directly proceeded The Oddities.65

There was some precedent for the touring table entertainment. Samuel Foote used the

form in 1747 in order to get around the ban on satire set forth in the Licensing Act of 1737.66 So

did George Alexander Stevens, who performed his entertainment, Lectures on Heads, featuring

satirical portrayals of a number of English archetypes, quite profitably in England and America

from 1764 to 1774.67 Michael Tilmouth, in an article on Grove Music Online, defines the form

thusly:

A peculiarly British species of performance, consisting generally of a mixture of narration and singing delivered by a single individual seated behind a table facing the audience. The material was often satirical. It seems to have originated about the middle of the eighteenth century. G.A. Stevens gave table entertainments in Dublin in 1752 and actors and singers such as R. Baddeley, G.S. Carey and J. Collins mounted them with great success in 1775–6 at many towns in Britain. From 1789 to 1809 CHARLES DIBDIN gave a series of table entertainments in London in which song was the prominent feature. Dibdin united in himself the functions of author, composer, narrator, singer and accompanist.68 That Dibdin’s first attempts saw little success may owe in part to the public’s reticence to

believe the famed composer of Covent Garden and Drury Lane had need of so humbly presenting

his work to raise funds; he was accused in his initial tour of being an imposter.69 His ability to

charm through his compositional and performance gifts, however, eventually won their hearts

with The Oddities. Indeed, Fahrner suggests the table entertainment was the ideal form for the

composer, writing:

In these [entertainments]… Dibdin’s eccentric personality, his vocal abilities… and his talents as a writer-composer were to find a perfect fusion. Everything about the man—his inability to work with others, his real (although limited) gifts for writing and composing,

65 Ibid., 127-128. 66 Fahrner, The Theatre Career of Charles Dibdin the Elder, 119. 67 Ibid., 120. 68 Michael Tilmouth, “Table Entertainment,” Grove Music Online, accessed 4 February 2017. 69 Ibid., 124.

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his skill in playing caricatures and stereotypes, his facility as a singer and pianist—made the solo entertainment his ideal mode.70

Fahrner cites an anonymous source as giving an account of what an audience member

might have experienced:

His [Dibdin’s] manner of speaking was easy and colloquial, and his manner when acting was more that of a person entertaining a party of friends in a private drawing-room, than of a performer exhibiting to a public audience. He was near-sighted, and when seated at his instrument he would bend his head close to his book for a few moments, and then, laying it down, throw himself back in his chair and deliver his song without further reference to book or music. His voice was a barytone of no great power or compass, but of sweet and mellow quality. He sang with simplicity, but with much taste and expression.71

The same source goes on to describe the rather unique instrument upon which the composer

accompanied himself for these performances, calling it a combined pianoforte and chamber

organ with “a set of bells, a side drum, a tambourine, and a gong.”72 In the memoir of Dibdin that

serves as the introduction to William Kitchiner’s The Sea Songs of Charles Dibdin (1823), the

author confirms and elaborates:

It was a Grand Piano-Forte with Two Strings, made by Crang Hancock, which was laid upon an Organ built by the same Artist, and was very sensibly constructed with a fine full-toned Stop Diapason, of the same scale as those in Church Organs: a powerful Principle, and an excellent Trumpet. … Some of the pipes of the Trumpet were occasionally removed to introduce others which imitated the grunting of a Pig, which Mr. D. employed in his Song of the Learned Pig; and others, which imitated the Ba-a of Sheep, and the bleating of a Calf.73

Kitchiner further describes the bells, tambourine, triangle, and string effects that Dibdin would

sometimes add, resulting in an altogether colorful one-man orchestra.74 He adds to his

assessment of the performances that Dibdin “had that sensible idea about Vocal Music, that the

70 Ibid., 168. 71 Ibid., 131. 72 Ibid. 73 William Kitchiner, The Sea Songs of Charles Dibdin; with a Memoir of His Life and Writings (London: G. and W. B. Whittaker, 1823), 22-23. 74 Ibid., 22-24.

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true intention of it is, to render the Words more impressive,” and that “every word he uttered was

easily intelligible.”75 It may be surmised that Dibdin’s skill in this declamatory style of delivery

may have somewhat overcome the sometimes poor declamatory style in his writing. One might

likewise speculate that the myriad colors and textures available with such an interesting keyboard

instrument did much to compensate for Dibdin’s rather uninteresting keyboard writing.

Dibdin found success was only slowly achieved. The Whim of the Moment scarcely fared

better than Readings and Music.76 He premiered the show at the Lyceum in the Strand in October

1788 and tried valiantly to revive it the following April, but neither instance saw the reception

for which he hoped.77 Then, on December 7, 1789, he opened his third entertainment, again at

the Lyceum.78 The Oddities, named for the assortment of characters therein—“a HOSPITAL

BARONET, a MODERN PATRON, a SATYRIST, a FLATTERER,” etc.—was finally a

success, being performed regularly until the end of the following March.79 At the same time,

Dibdin began selling copies of the songs at his No. 411 on the Strand Music Warehouse,

recovering his debts and setting him on surer financial ground.80 He continued to write and

perform solo entertainments for the next sixteen years.81

Sadly, Dibdin’s character did not change, and his financial solvency crumbled yet

again.82 He was promised an allowance from George III, yet it was ultimately denied.83 By 1805,

his entertainments were failing to clear enough money to cover the cost of the theater he had

75 Ibid., 24. 76 Fahrner, The Theatre Career of Charles Dibdin the Elder, 127-128. 77 Ibid. 78 Ibid., 129. 79 Ibid. 80 Ibid., 130. 81 Ibid., 154-158. 82 Fiske and Cholij, “Dibdin, Charles.” 83 Ibid.

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purchased, the Sans Souci, and he was plunged deeply into debt once more.84 Hogarth writes that

in 1808, with the withdrawal of the pension, Dibdin was forced to try again to earn a living

through his craft.85 He gave three more entertainments at the Lyceum and opened another music

shop, but the endeavor ended in bankruptcy.86 It was only through the assistance of charitable

friends that he was able to support himself, his wife, and his daughter until his death in 1814.87

Though Dibdin’s works have largely fallen into obscurity today, evidence of the

popularity of his songs in the nineteenth century is not wanting. They were adapted and

presented by periodicals, temperance groups, and music publishers, thanks in no small part to the

posthumous editions published by George Hogarth.88 Dibdin’s many songs of naval life

contributed for decades to the international symbology of the British navy.89 A select few of his

songs maintain a place in the repertoire today—such as Britten’s setting of “Tom Bowling” (in

Folksong Arrangements), or the pedagogically appropriated “Blow High, Blow Low” (in Jane

Frey Boytim’s The First Book of Baritone Solos, published by G. Schirmer).90

What strikes this author as most remarkable about the composer is his seemingly

unfailing self-confidence, motivation, and ingenuity. It was while disgraced by debt, banished

from London opera houses, and entangled in a complicated menagerie of unpleasant business and

personal relationships that Dibdin set about creating his entertainments, not only in performance,

84 Fahrner, The Theatre Career of Charles Dibdin the Elder, 154-158. 85 George Hogarth, ed., The Songs of Charles Dibdin chronologically arranged, vol. 1, xxv-xxvi. 86 Ibid. 87 Ibid. 88 O. F., Routh, “The Temperance Dibdin, comprising 20 original songs, adapted to as many expressive airs of the late Charles Dibdin by O. F. Routh: preface” (advertisement), The Musical World 50, no. 19 (1872): 306; “Song, “William and Nancy,” the words and music by Charles Dibdin [Piano accompaniment has been supplied by The Harmonicon],” The Harmonicon 5 (1827):130-132; Aldred Moffat, ed., English Songs of the Georgian Period. A Collection of 200 Songs Edited and Arranged with Pianoforte Accompaniments by Alfred Moffat. Supplemented with Historical Notes by Frank Kidson (London: Bayley & Ferguson, c.1900); Hogarth, ed., The Songs of Charles Dibdin chronologically arranged. 89 H. G. Sear, “Charles Dibdin: 1745-1814,” Music & Letters 26, no. 2 (1945): 61-65. 90 Boytim, compiler, The First Book of Bass/Baritone Solos, 22; Jennifer Doctor, Judith LeGrove, Paul Banks, and Heather Wiebe, “Britten, Benjamin: Works,” Grove Music Online, accessed 5 June 2016.

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but also through self-publication, securing financial stability, recognition, and his enduring

legacy. As Fahrner notes, “in the face of tremendous odds he simply never gave up;” “his energy

and spirit were in every way admirable.”91 In 1914, the same year Oskar Schmitz published Das

Land Ohne Musik, W.A. Barrett summed up much of the positive sentiment that surrounded

Dibdin’s work for a century after his death with the following words:

His songs will keep his name alive so long as the English language is spoken. They are manly and healthy, their diction is eloquent; their music lends charm to their eloquence, and enforces the emphasis of their meaning. There is nothing mean or vicious in their simple imagery, even if their mode of utterance is cast in common and unpretentious language. Therefore, as long as men have hearts to feel and minds to appreciate, the lyrics of Charles Dibdin will never lose their hold upon the sympathies and affections of Englishmen.92

Barrett’s epithet defines Dibdin’s songs as “popular music” in the truest sense. Regardless of

their place in comparison to the continental canon, they represent an achievement of English art

by the English people, and were, in Dibdin’s own time, a mainstay of that art.

91 Fahrner, The Theatre Career of Charles Dibdin the Elder, 171. 92 W.A. Barrett, “Charles Dibdin,” The Musical Times 516, no. 27 (1886): 72.

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CHAPTER THREE: A PERFORMANCE AND PUBLICATION HISTORY

Dibdin’s performance of The Oddities warranted a healthy tenure and an encore.93

Fahrner writes that the show lasted from December 7, 1789, until the end of March 1790.94

Hogarth adds that it ran for seventy-nine nights in its second season.95 The Lyceum, located just

north of the river in the heart of London, had been operating near Covent Garden since 1765.96

There Dibdin had direct access to the city’s public. Hogarth surmises that Dibdin’s failures after

1796 were because the composer left the Covent Garden area and purchased a theater of his own

in Leicester Place, further from the center of the city.97 Those initial authoritative performances

at the Lyceum were unlikely to ever be replicated faithfully by anyone else, owing to their

uniquely receptive audience, the fact that Dibdin’s accompaniments were improvised, and that he

was the consummate performer.

In the recently published Charles Dibdin and Late Georgian Culture, David Kennerley

posits that Dibdin’s entertainments constituted a degree of celebrity personality performance.98

Citing Hogarth and a number of critics, he describes the persona Dibdin actively projected as

“friendly, informal, intimate.”99 Whatever Dibdin’s awareness of the phenomenon may have

been, the reviews were in his favor. Both Fahrner and Kennerley cite the General Magazine and

Impartial Review, December 1789, for its critical praise of the entertainment; the pieces did

“equal honour to the head and heart of their author.”100

93 Fahrner, The Theatre Career of Charles Dibdin, 129. 94 Ibid. 95 Hogarth, ed., The Songs of Charles Dibdin chronologically arranged, vol. I, xxii. 96 The Lyceum Theatre Website, http://www.thelyceumtheatre.com/about, accessed 10 March 2018. 97 Hogarth, ed., The Songs of Charles Dibdin chronologically arranged, vol. I, xxiii. 98 Oskar Cox Jensen, David Kennerley, Ian Newman, ed., Charles Dibdin and Late Georgian Culture (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), 80. 99 Ibid., 81. 100 Ibid.; Fahrner, The Theatre Career of Charles Dibdin, 129.

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In introducing his songs, Dibdin also improvised short monologues, described by Hogarth

as “little comic dialogues, lively or pathetic tales, anecdotes, and traits of satire.”101 Dibdin was

well-known for his outlandish stereotypical characters. Perhaps his greatest stage success was as

Mungo, a character he developed and performed in black face with a heavy accent in his comic

opera The Padlock.102 It might be assumed, therefore, that the monologues of The Oddities

presented a variety of characterizations. However, no text of them exists. Hogarth notes that

Dibdin published his monologues for another entertainment, The Whim of the Moment, but they

do not appear in the Iowa source.103

Accounts from Dibdin and others indicate that the composer did not use sheet music

while performing his entertainments, but that he instead referred to a little book of lyrics; it was

only for the public that he printed and sold notated songs.104 Those copies distributed from No.

411 on the Strand were far from the only iterations of the popular lyrics and melodies of The

Oddities. Neither did all of the songs fade into obscurity immediately.

For the purpose of this transcription project, The Oddities refers to the collection of

seventeen songs labeled as such in the Iowa source—that is to say, each of these songs bears the

inscription “for his [Dibdin’s] entertainment called THE ODDITIES.”105 Nonetheless, it may be

surmised that the contents of the entertainment varied at times, at Dibdin’s discretion. In The

Professional Life of Mr. Dibdin, the composer provides a different list of songs for The Oddities,

101 Hogarth, ed., The Songs of Charles Dibdin, chronologically arranged, vol. I, xxiii. 102 Fahrner, The Theatre Career of Charles Dibdin, 25-26. 103 Hogarth, ed., The Songs of Charles Dibdin, chronologically arranged, Vol. I, xxiii. 104 Dibdin, The Professional Life of Mr. Dibdin, Vol. I, 104. 105 Charles Dibdin, Bound Dibdin Song Collection.

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presented in a different order, missing some songs that are found in the Iowa volume, and with

others added.106

The Oddities, Iowa source, in order of appearance:

The Oddities as listed by Dibdin in The Professional Life of Mr. Dibdin:

“Sly Old Hodge” “Taffy and Griddy” “The Portrait” “The Flowing Can” “All the World’s a Masquerade” “Saturday Night at Sea” “Mock Italian Song” “Bachelor’s Hall” “On Gratitude” “The Lamplighter” “The Indian Song” “Ben Backstay” “An Irish Drinking Song” “Peggy Perkins” “Poor Tom, or the Sailor’s Epitaph” “The Tar for All Weathers” “The Greenwich Pensioner”107

“The Greenwich Pensioner” “The Wily Fox” “The Flowing Can” “Peggy Perkins” “Saturday Night at Sea” “Marriage and Music” “Alas! Where shall I comfort find” “Love’s Concerto” “Bonny Kate” “Little Neddy” “Ben Backstay” “Taffy and Griddy” “Little Ben” “Irish Drinking Song” “The Tar for All Weathers” “All the World’s a Masquerade” “The Lamplighter” “Mock Italian Song” “Poor Tom” “Celia”

Figure 1: The Oddities’ Compared Contents108

Some of the swapped songs may have shared a stock character. For instance, the text of

“Marriage and Music” is ponderously sentimental, not unlike that of “On Gratitude,” which is

missing in the autobiography’s collection:

106 Dibdin, The Professional Life of Mr. Dibdin, vol. III, index; “Index” seems a misnomer here, as the list in question serves more as a table of contents. Likewise the order referenced is the order in which Dibdin presents these songs in his autobiography. 107 Charles Dibdin, Bound Dibdin Song Collection. 108 Dibdin, The Professional Life of Mr. Dibdin, vol. III, index.

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Than marriage and music can ought be more like? Both are bound and cemented by strong chords; Hymen’s chains, tho’ they gall, yet with ecstasy strike, Exactly like discords and concords: Like hooting of owls and of bats on the wing, Strife all wedded happiness garbles, But when hearts born for pleasure in unison sing, ’Tis the mellow-ton’d nightingale warbles.109

It is not difficult to imagine that Dibdin may have included one or the other on a given night,

depending on his own whim, or perhaps based on which one he thought the audience might

prefer. Songs included in the Iowa source but missing from the autobiography’s list are found

elsewhere in The Professional Life of Mr. Dibdin. “Sly Old Hodge,” entitled “Curtis was old

Hodge’s wife,” is listed with The Wives Revenged, the larger work wherein it first appeared, and

“The Portrait” with The Whim of the Moment, both in Volume 2.110

None of the songs in The Professional Life of Mr. Dibdin include music notation; they are

solely text. This was apparently a popular form of dissemination. Oxford University’s Bodleian

Library, The British Library, and digitized collections from other institutions contain several

broadsides or slip-sheets printed in London and bearing the texts from popular Dibdin songs.111

One such broadside for “Peggy Perkins,” printed in London in 1789, credits the song “As sung

by Mr. Dibdin, in his entertainment of The Oddities” (see Figure 2).112 In his article,

“Broadside,” for Grove Music Online, Norm Cohen explains the lack of musical notation on

these single sheets was due to expense.113 It can also be surmised that the average person on the

109 Ibid., 20. 110 Ibid., volume II, index. 111 Charles Dibdin, “Peggy Perkins. As sung by Mr. Dibdin, in his entertainment of The Oddities” (London[?]: 1789[?]). 112 Ibid. 113 Norm Cohen, “Broadside,” Grove Music Online, accessed 25 February 2018.

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Figure 2: “Peggy Perkins” broadside, digitized by Gale Eighteenth Century Collections Online I, from the Oxford Bodleian Library114

Figure 3: “The Lamplighter" broadside, digitized by Gale Eighteenth Century Collections Online I, from the British Library115

114 Charles Dibdin, “Peggy Perkins. As sung by Mr. Dibdin, in his entertainment of The Oddities” (London[?]: 1789[?]). 115 Charles Dibdin, “The Lamplighter. Sung by Mr. Dibdin” (London[?]: 1790[?]).

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street was not musically literate enough to appreciate a score, but might well remember a popular

tune. Woodcut illustrations were often included, as may be seen in the 1790 printing of “The

Lamplighter” (see Figure 3).116 No publication information is included on these broadsides. It

can be speculated that their origin was Dibdin’s warehouse on the Strand as well, based solely on

their assumed dates, but if any part of the composer’s self-publishing consisted of broadsides in

addition to sheet music, novels, and his periodical, he did not made this clear. Since Dibdin was

praised mostly for the wit of his texts and the charm of his melodies, it makes sense that the

songs would be enjoyed as broadside ballads. It is difficult to imagine, by contrast, Handel’s aria

“Ombra mai fu,” from Xerxes, being enjoyed the same way. Ostensibly someone who purchased

the text to a Dibdin song would either already know the popular melody or enjoy the text on its

own merit.

Iterations consisting of text alone may also be found in a number of large collections,

both groupings of Dibdin’s songs exclusively and of larger scope. The text for “Sly Old Hodge”

is credited as “sung by Mr. Wilson in Wives Revenged” in The Billington: or, Town and Country

Songster, a collection of popular song texts published in 1790, before Dibdin appropriated his

own song for The Oddities.117 Most of the notable collections, however, were published after

Dibdin’s death. The composer’s son, Thomas Dibdin, published Songs Naval and National of the

Late Charles Dibdin; with a Memoir and Addenda in 1841.118 The collection does not

specifically identify songs’ relationships to larger works, but those taken from The Oddities are

grouped together. No music is included, although a number of illustrations are present, including

116 Ibid.; Charles Dibdin, “The Lamplighter. Sung by Mr. Dibdin” (London[?]: 1790[?]). 117 The Billington: or, Town and Country Songster: Containing Upwards of Seven Hundred of the Newest and Most Approved Songs, Duets, Trios, Cantatas, Catches, and Glees (London: E. Wenman, No. 144 Fleet Street, 1790), 49; Mr. Wilson was the singer who created the role of Alderman Tokay in Dibdin’s comic opera. 118 Thomas Dibdin, ed., Songs Naval and National of the Late Charles Dibdin; with a Memoir and Addenda (London: John Murray, Albemarle Street: 1841), later editions renamed Songs of the Late Charles Dibdin.

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one captioned “Saturday Night at Sea” and another, “Heaving the Lead,” which depicts a sailor

preparing to take a sounding.

If one wished to have a copy of sheet music for one of Dibdin’s songs, but copies proved

too expensive, one could always copy by hand. “The Lamplighter” appears in manuscript

alongside another Dibdin song, “The Soldier’s Farewell,” and an assortment of music

forpianoforte, voice, and harp in the Austen Family’s Songbooks.119 Their presence illuminates

one performance venue, a common one during Dibdin’s lifetime: the drawing room. Hogarth

writes that at the height of Dibdin’s entertainments’ success, sheet music of the songs was “seen

on every lady’s piano-forte, and sung in every company.”120 While Dibdin was presenting his

songs to the public at the Lyceum, the public were presenting them in private.

In 1823, William Kitchiner published The Sea Songs of Charles Dibdin, with a Memoir of

His Life and Writings.121 Hogarth notes that Kitchiner, a friend of Dibdin, had collected “the

most complete set extant of the musical compositions of Dibdin.”122 Of the ninety-nine songs

included, six are credited to The Oddities.123 The scores look very much like Dibdin’s in the Iowa

source, albeit cleaner. “The Flowing Can” and “Ben Backstay,” for instance, are each scored on a

grand staff, wherein the vocal line takes the place of a keyboard right-hand.124 Notably, Kitchiner

119 Gammie and McCulloch, Jane Austen’s Music: The Musical World of Jane Austen Seen Through the Manuscripts and Printed Editions Held by the Jane Austen Memorial Trust at Chawton; Austen Family Music Books (University of Southampton Library, hosted on archive.org: https://archive.org/details/austenfamilymusicbooks): accessed 5 May 2017. 120 Hogarth, ed., The Songs of Charles Dibdin chronologically arranged, vol. 1, xxii. 121 William Kitchiner, The Sea Songs of Charles Dibdin, with a Memoir of His Life and Writings (London: G. and W. B. Whittaker, Ave Maria Lane; and Cheapside, Clementi and Co.: 1823). 122 Hogarth, ed., The Songs of Charles Dibdin chronologically arranged, “Preface to the First Edition.” 123 Kitchiner, The Sea Songs of Charles Dibdin, Index. Songs attributed to The Oddities: “The Flowing Can;” “Ben Backstay;” “Poor Tom;” “The Tar for All Weathers;” “Saturday Night at Sea;” “Greenwich Pensioner;” as well as “Little Ben” and “Bonny Kate,” neither of which are attributed to The Oddities in the Iowa source. 124 Ibid., “No. 4, The Flowing Can,” “No. 10, Ben Backstay.”

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does not include any of Dibdin’s obbligati, an absence that may have hindered musicians in

harmonic realization.125

Perhaps it was an open secret even during Dibdin’s lifetime that while he possessed a

degree of genius in his melodies and lyrics, he also possessed “the utmost poverty of harmonical

resources,” as Hogarth puts it.126 That is likely why Hogarth’s 1848 The Songs of Charles Dibdin

boasted “the best and most popular of the melodies, with new piano-forte accompaniments” by

Hogarth, F. Lancelott, C.H. Purday, and H. West.127 A small number of Dibdin songs continued

to appear in various collections in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, almost always with

new keyboard arrangements, and mostly consisting of his popular sea songs, including “Blow

High, Blow Low” and “Poor Jack.” The one song that seems to have reoccurred the most comes

from The Oddities; “Poor Tom, or the Sailor’s Epitaph,” often retitled “Tom Bowling,” became

the primary vehicle for Dibdin’s song legacy after his death. As a result of the keyboard

problems inherent in that legacy, the song has been arranged numerous times.

The problems begin with Dibdin’s own arrangement, which, per the Iowa source, is

notated on a grand staff, usually consisting of two voices at a time, and with the vocal part taking

the place of the keyboardist’s right hand (see Example 1).128 One may infer from this rather bare

texture that some realization was expected on the part of the performer. As has been discussed,

Dibdin’s own performances may or may not have faithfully represented the material as

presented. Note for note, Kitchiner’s “Poor Tom” exactly replicates the version in the Iowa

source, excluding obbligati lines for flute or guitar, one in G Major and one in F Major, with

slight differences between them.

125 Ibid. 126 Hogarth, ed., The Songs of Charles Dibdin chronologically arranged, vol. I, xix-xx. 127 Ibid., Contents of Vol. I. 128 Dibdin, Bound Dibdin Song Collection, “Poor Tom, or the Sailor’s Epitaph.”

28

29

Example 1: Bound Dibdin Song Collection, "Poor Tom, or the Sailor's Epitaph," p.1

29

30

Example 2: Scansion in “The Sailor’s Epitaph” as set in The Harmonicon129

In 1824 the song was published in The Harmonicon with an accompaniment “now, for

the first time, added, and two very slight alterations are made in the Melody, for the sake of

Accent” (see Example 2).130 Alterations to the keyboard part are conservative but readily

apparent. The accompaniment follows the structure and most of the harmonic implications of

Dibdin’s score, but with the barest excerpts now realized for the amateur musician who was

either unable or who could not be bothered to realize thorough-bass on their own.131 The changes

made “for the sake of Accent” refer to a problem of scansion previously mentioned. Dibdin

begins his most famous song with three iambs, an anapest, and two more iambs (syllables noted

below as “u” for unstressed, “s” for stressed):

u s u s u s u s u u s u s u s Here a sheer hulk lies poor Tom Bowling, the darling of his crew132

The first two feet are poorly set in the text, asking the reader to unnaturally stress the article “a,”

and not to stress the modifier “sheer,” which should receive equal weight as “hulk.” Dibdin

corrects the second issue in his setting, but the first remains a problem, with “a” falling on the

129 “Music Example: Song, ‘The Sailor’s Epitaph,’ written and composed by Charles Dibdin, on the death of his brother, Captain Thomas Dibdin,” The Harmonicon 2, pt. 2 (1824): 242-243. 130 Ibid. 131 Ibid. 132 Dibdin, Bound Dibdin Song Collection, “Poor Tom, or the Sailor’s Epitaph.”

30

31

first metered downbeat.133 The anonymous arranger of The Harmonicon attempts to remedy this

by placing both “here” and “a” before the downbeat, accenting “sheer” instead.134

Hogarth’s 1842 “Tom Bowling,” arranged by C.H. Purday, takes more liberties with

texture and form (see Example 3).135 C.H. Purday was probably Charles Henry Purday (1799-

1885), known as a hymnist, and his approach is firmly chordal. He reorganized the keyboard

introduction to occupy four measures, representative of the aesthetic of classical symmetry then

in vogue.136 Moreover, he skirts the problematic scansion of the opening by doing away

altogether with Dibdin’s pick-up eighth note, and placing the first word, “here,” on the first

metric downbeat. Other changes include transposition to the key of C major, more sophisticated

harmony, and omission of obbligati.

Example 3: C.H. Purday’s introduction to Hogarth’s “Tom Bowling”137

133 Ibid. 134 “Music Example: Song, ‘The Sailor’s Epitaph,’” The Harmonicon, 242. 135 Hogarth, ed., The Songs of Charles Dibdin chronologically arranged, Vol. II, 292-29. See Peter Ward Jones and R.J. Goulden, “Purday,” in Grove Music Online, www.oxfordmusiconline, accessed 9 May 2015. 136 Ibid. 137 Ibid.

31

32

Like Purday, William Alexander Barrett attempted to revive the song with the aesthetic of

his time, the late-nineteenth century. His 1892 Twenty-one Songs Composed by Charles Dibdin,

edited, and with Piano-forte Accompaniments includes a romanticized piano part for “Tom

Bowling” with sweeping legato lines, triplet figures within duple meter, and clearly marked

dynamics (see Example 4).138 Barrett, also a church musician, became the editor of The Musical

Times the following year.139 Perhaps, given this fact as well as his elevated treatment of the

accompaniment, his intended audience was not Dibdin’s beloved public, but rather professional

musicians. Or perhaps the amateur, too, would have preferred the romantic idiom, had the songs

first appeared so near the fin de siècle.

Example 4: Introduction to Barrett’s Romantic rendition of “Tom Bowling”140

Other appearances of Dibdin’s song include those in J.L. Hatton’s 1894 The Songs of

England, a Collection of 200 Melodies, W.H. Hopkinson’s arrangement in the 1896 English

Minstrelsie, a National Monument of English Song, and an uncredited reprint of J.L. Hatton’s

arrangement in the undated Boosey collection, Tenor Songs, the last of which is an unabashedly

138 William Alexander Barrett, ed., Albums of English Song, vol. III: Twenty-One Songs Composed by Charles Dibdin (1745-1814) (London: Novello, Ewer & Co., 1886), 13-17. 139 Bernarr Rainbow, “Barrett, William Alexander,” in Grove Music Online, www.oxfordmusiconline, accessed 9 May 2015. 140 Barrett, ed., Albums of English Song, vol. III: Twenty-One Songs Composed by Charles Dibdin, 13.

32

33

commercial collection, with more advertisements than credited arrangers, and no historical or

bibliographic notes.141 Alfred Moffat’s simple arrangement in the 1907 English Songs of the

Georgian Period signals an attempt to reframe the song in a classical idiom, with a strong bass

line that evokes late Baroque and early Classical era thorough-bass, moving beneath hymn-like

chords (see Example 5).142 Granville Bantock’s arrangement in the 1914 One Hundred Songs of

England goes even further, restoring much of Dibdin’s original introduction and counterpoint,

though retaining Romantic dynamics, tempi, and phrase indications.143

Example 5: Introduction to Moffat’s simple “Tom Bowling”144

141 J.L. Hatton, ed., The Songs of England, a Collection of 200 Melodies, Including the Most Popular Traditional Ditties, and the Principle Songs and Ballads of the Last Three Centuries, Edited, with New Symphonies and Accompaniments, by J.L. Hatton (London: Boosey, 1894), Vol. I, 173-175; S. Baring-Gould, ed., English Minstrelsie, a National Monument of English Song, Collated and Edited, with Notes and Historical Introductions, by S. Baring-Gould, M.A. (Edinburgh: Grange Publishing Works, 1896), 68-69; Tenor Songs, Imperial Edition (London: Boosey, n.d.), 164-165. 142 Alfred Moffat, ed., English Songs of the Georgian Period, a Collection of 200 Songs Edited and Arranged with Pianoforte Accompaniments by Alfred Moffat (London: Bayley & Ferguson, 1907), 296-297. 143 Granville Bantock, One Hundred Songs of England, Edited by Granville Bantock, for Low Voice (Boston: Oliver Ditson, 1914). 144 Moffat, ed., English Songs of the Georgian Period, 296.

33

34

By the time Benjamin Britten realized the song in 1959 (though his setting was not

published until 2001), it had been remade as a classical song, a Romantic song, a commercially

popular song, and a historical artifact.145 Britten’s arrangement, refreshingly, does not attempt to

reinvent the song through any of his myriad twentieth-century techniques; no bitonality is to be

found here. Rather, Britten treats the song with reverent respect, setting it simply. The most

adventurous elements are the addition of another octave below the left hand, and an occasional

minor iv occupying the tonic function, both of which seem entirely warranted by Dibdin’s text.146

Part of the allure of “Poor Tom” is the sense of sincerity so well captured by the simple

elegance of Dibdin’s own melody, which is also found in the Moffat and Britten arrangements.

Frederick Penna gave an entertainment entitled Dibdin and His Songs in 1863, in which,

according to a review in The Musical World, “Tom Bowling” was “rapturously encored.”147 The

song has appeared four times in the Proms.148 Performers have made commercial recordings—

not only of Britten’s Folksong arrangement or Proms performances, but even of Moffat’s

arrangement.149 No other Dibdin song has retained such a secure place in the repertoire.

Perhaps only “Blow High, Blow Low,” the popular sea chanty, has maintained similar

name-recognition, though it does not come from The Oddities. “The Lamplighter” has also been

commercially recorded, due to its association with Jane Austen through the Austen Family’s

Songbooks, but whether it would have resurfaced without that connection is doubtful.150 In short,

most of the songs from The Oddities have been forgotten, and awareness of Dibdin’s

145 Britten, arr., Complete Folksong Arrangements, 198-199. 146 Ibid. 147 “Dibdin and His Songs,” The Musical World 41, no. 42 (1863): 669. 148 BBC Proms, the World’s Greatest Classical Music Festival, https://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/events/works, accessed 14 March 2018. 149 Charles Dibdin “Tom Bowling,” André Previn and Robert Tear, BBC Music, https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/tracks/n2jw6n, accessed 14 March 2018. 150 Charles Dibdin, “The Lamplighter,” Jane’s Hand – The Jane Austen Songbooks, with Daniel Pincus, Anthony Newman, and Mary Jane Newman (Musical Concepts 7537, 1996, compact disc).

34

35

entertainments has become the subject of niche study. It is my hope that the recent resurgence in

scholarly interest in Dibdin will yield a resurgence of his songs in the repertoire as well, which

this project hopes to facilitate.

35

Sly Old HodgeCharles Dibdin

Full Text

Curtis was old Hodge's wife,For virtue none was ever such,She led so pure and chaste a life,Hodge said 'twas virtue overmuch.

For says sly old Hodge, says he, Great talkers do the least, d'ye see.

Curtis said, if men were rude,She's scratch their eyes out, tear their hair;Cry'd Hodge, I believe thou'rt wondrous good,However, let us nothing swear.

For says, etc.

One night she dreamt a drunken foolBe rude with her in spight would fain;She makes no more, but, with joint stool,Falls on her husband might and main.

For says, etc.

By that time she had broke his nose,Hodge made shift to wake his wife;Dear Hodge, said she, judge by these blows,I prize my virtue as my life.

For says, etc.

I dreamt a rude man on me fell,However, I his project marr'd:Dear wife, cried Hodge, 'tis mighty well,But next time don't hit quite so hard.

For says, etc.

At break of day Hodge cross'd a stile,Near to a field of new mown hay,And saw, and curs'd his stars the while,Curtis and Numps in am'rous play.

Was not I right, says Hodge, says he, Great talkers do the least, d'ye see.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

CHAPTER FOUR

3936

Allegretto

5

5

9

9

Cur tis was old

Hod ge's wife, For

vir tue none was

e ver such, She

- - - -

Sly Old Hodge

Charles DibdinThe Oddities

Original Key

4037

13

13

led so pure, and

chaste a life, She

led so pure and

chaste a life, Hodge

17

17

said 'twas vir tue

o ver much.

For says sly old

- -

20

20

Hodge, says he,

For says sly old

Hodge, says he says

4138

23

23

sly old Hodge says

he, Great

talk ers do the

-

26

26

least, d'ye see.

4239

Allegretto

5

5

9

9

Cur tis was old

Hod ge's wife, For

vir tue none was

e ver such, She

- - - -

Sly Old Hodge


Medium Transposition

4340

13

13

led so pure, and

chaste a life, She

led so pure and


17

17

said 'twas vir tue

o ver much.

For says sly old

Hodge, says he,

- -

21

21

For says sly old

Hodge, says he says

4441

23

23

sly old Hodge says

he, Great

talk ers do the

-

26

26

least, d'ye see.

4542

Obb.

Piano

5

5

5

Sly Old Hodge

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities

Medium Transposition, Realized by Benjamin Laur

Figure 4, Portrait of Dibdin, found in Hogarth

From Guitars, m.9

4643

9

9

Cur tis was old

9

Hod ge's wife, For

vir tue none was

e ver such, She

- - - -

13

led so pure, and

13

chaste a life, She

led so pure and


17

said 'twas vir tue

17

o ver much.

For says sly old

Hodge, says he,

- -

4744

21

For says sly old21

Hodge, says he says

23

sly old Hodge says

23

he, Great

talk ers do the

-

26

least, d'ye see.

26

4845

6

11

16

Sly Old Hodge

Charles DibdinObbligato, 2 Flutes

4946

21

26

5047

14

19

25

Sly Old Hodge

Charles DibdinObbligato, 2 Guitars

Begins m.9 in score, with voice

5148

Taffy and GriddyCharles Dibdin

Full Text

Abergavney is fine, Aberist with also,And the lasses, it is fine when to market they go,The birds and the pretty finches sing fine in the groves,But the finest bird of all is that little rogue love.

Love me I pray you now, dearly as your life, And Taffy and Griddy shall soon be man and wife.

The mountains are high and the valleys are low,And for Radnor to Glamorgan's a long way to go,But I'd go and I'd walk and I'd fly and I'd rove,If when I came there I should meet with my love.

Love me I pray, etc.

Toil and labour is hard and the times very long,From the larks' pretty chant to the Nightingales' song,But I'd toil and I'd labour throughout the whole year,And think it a day were I blest with my dear.

Love me I pray, etc.

1.

2.

3.

CHAPTER FIVE

5249

Andantino

5

5

9

9

Taffy and Griddy

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities

Original Key

5350

12

12

15

15

A ber

gav' ney is

fine A be

- -- - -

19

19

rist with al

so, And the

las ses it is

fine when to

--

23

23

mar ket they

go, The

birds and the pret ty

fin ches sing

- - -

5451

27

27

fine in the

groves, The


fin ches sing

- -

31

31

fine in the

groves, But the

fin est bird of

all is that

-

35

35

lit tle rogue

love,

Love me I pray you now,

Love me I pray you now

-

39

39

dear ly as your

life,


-

5552

42

42


dear ly as your

life, And

-

45

45

Taf fy and Grid dy And

Taf fy and Grid dy,

Shall

soon be man and

- - - -

49

49

wife.

5653

Andantino

5

5

9

9

Taffy and Griddy

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


5754

12

12

15

15

A ber

gav' ney is

fine A be

- - - - -

19

19

rist with al

so, And the

las ses it is

fine when to

- -

23

23

mar ket they

go, The


fin ches sing

- - -

5855

27

27

fine in the

groves, The


fin ches sing

- -

31

31

fine in the

groves, But the

fin est bird of

all is that

-

35

35

lit tle rogue

love,

Love me I pray you now,


-

39

39

dear ly as your

life,


-

5956

42

42


dear ly as your

life, And

-

45

45


Taf fy and Grid dy,

Shall

soon be man and

- - - -

49

49

wife.

6057

Andantino

5

5

9

9

Taffy and Griddy

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities

Medium Transposition, Realized by Benjamin Laur

From Flutes and Guitars

6158

13

13

A ber

- -

17

gav' ney is

17

fine A be

rist with al

so, And the

-- - -

21

las ses it is

21

fine when to

mar ket they

go, The

- -

6259

25


25

fin ches sing

fine in the

groves, The

- -

29


29

fin ches sing

fine in the

groves, But the

- -

33

fin est bird of

33

all is that

lit tle rogue

love,

- -

6360

Love me I pray you now,37


dear ly as your

-

life,

40



dear ly as your43

life, And


- - -

6461

Taf fy and Grid dy,

46

Shall

soon be man and

wife.

- -

50

50

65

From Flutes andGuitars

62

5

11

16

Taffy and Griddy

Charles DibdinObbligato, 2 German Flutes

6663

21

26

31

36

41

6764

8

14

21

28

34

40

Taffy and GriddyCharles DibdinObbligato, Guitar

6865

The PortraitCharles Dibdin

Full Text

Come painter, with thy happiest sight Portray me every graceIn that blest region of delight, My charming Sylvia's face.And hear me, painter, to enhance The value of thine art;Steal from her eyes that very glance That stole away my heart.

Her forehead paint in sway and rule Where fits, with pleasure graced,A form like Venus beautiful And like Diana chaste,Then paint her cheeks, come paint and gaze, Guard well thy heart the while,And then her mouth where Cupid plays In an eternal smile.

Next draw—presumptuous painter hold; Ah, think'st to thee 'twas givenTo paint her bosom—would’st so bold Presume to copy heaven.Nay, leave the task, for 'tis above, Far, far above thy art.Her portrait’s drawn—the painter love, The tablet, my fond heart.

1.

2.

3.

CHAPTER SIX

6966

Andantino

5

5

3

3

3 3

3

33

3

3 3

9

3 3

9

3 3

Come

paint er with thy

hap piest flight Por

- --

The Portrait

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities

Original Key

7067

13 13

tray me eve ry

grace In

that blest re gion

of de light My

---

17

17

char ming Syl via's

face My

char ming Syl via's

face And

- - - -

21

21

hear me pain ter

to en hance The

va lue of thine

art Steal

- - -

25

25

from her eyes that

ve ry glance, Steal

from her eyes that

-

7168

28

28

ve ry glance, That

stole a way my

heart Steal

from her eyes that

--

32

32 ve ry glance That

stole a way my

heart.

- -

37

33

37

33

3

33

3

33

3 3

33

7269

Andantino

5

5

3

3

3

3

3 3

3

33

3

9

3 3

9

3

3

Come

paint er with thy


- - -

The Portrait

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


7370

13

13

tray me eve ry

grace In

that blest re gion

of de light My

- - -

17

17

char ming Syl via's

face My

char ming Syl via's

face And

- - - -

21

21

hear me pain ter

to en hance The

va lue of thine

art Steal

- - -

25

25

from her eyes that

ve ry glance, Steal

from her eyes that

ve ry glance, That

--

7471

29

29

stole a way my

heart Steal

from her eyes that

ve ry glance That

--

33

33

stole a way my

heart.

-

37

3

3

37

3

3

3 3

3

3

3

3

3 3

3

3

7572

Andantino

5

5

3

3

3

3

3

9

9

3

3

Come

paint er with thy


- - -

The Portrait

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities

Medium Transposition,Realized by Benjamin Laur

7673

13

tray me eve ry

13

grace In

that blest re gion

of de light My

- - -

17

char ming Syl via's

17

face My

char ming Syl via's

face And

- - - - -

21

hear me pain ter

21

to en hance The

va lue of thine

art Steal

- - -

25

from her eyes that

25

ve ry glace Steal

from her eyes that

ve ry glance, That

- -

7774

29

stole a way my

29

heart Steal

from her eyes that

ve ry glance That

- -

33

stole a way my33

heart.

-

37

37

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

7875

6

12

17

22

27

3 3

33 3

3 3

The PortraitCharles DibdinObbligato, Flute

79

Begins with voice, m.10

76

The Flowing CanCharles Dibdin

Full Text

If howling winds and roaring seas Give proof of coming danger,We view the storm, our hearts at ease, For Jack's to fear a stranger.Blest with the smiling grog we fly Where now below, We headlong go,Now rise on mountains high; Spight of the gale, We hand the sail,Or take the needful reef; Or man the deck, To clear some wreck, To give the ship relief;Though perils threat around,All sense of danger's drowned, We despise it to a man.

We sing a little, etc.

But yet think not our case is hard, Though storms at sea thus treat us,For coming home a sweet reward With smiles our sweethearts greet us.Now too the friendly grog we quaff, Our am'rous toast, Her we love most,And gaily sing and laugh; The sails we furl, Then, for each girl,The petticoat display. The deck we clear, Then three times cheer As we their charms survey.And then the grog goes round,All sense of danger drowned, We despise it to a man.

We sing a little, etc.

1.

CHAPTER SEVEN

A sailor's life's a life of woe; He works now late, now early,Now up and down, now to and fro, What then he takes it cheerly.Blest with a smiling can of grog, If duty call, Stand, rise or fall,To fate's last verge he'll jog; The cadge to weigh, The sheets belay,He does it with a wish; To heave the lead, Or to cat head, The pond'rous anchor fishFor while the grog goes round,All sense of danger's drowned, We despise it to a man;

We sing a little, and laugh a little, And work a little, and swear a little, And fiddle a little, and foot it a little, And swig the flowing can.

2.

3.

8077

Allegretto

6

A

11

Sai lor's life's a

life of woe He

works now late now

ear ly Now

up and down now

- -

16

to and fro What

then he takes it

chear ly Blest

with a smi ling

- -

20

Can of grog, If

du ty call stand

rise, or fall, To

fates last verge he'll

-

The Flowing Can


Original Key

8178

24

jog; The

cadge to weigh. The

sheets be lay, He

does it with a

-

28

wish; To

heave the lead, Or

to cat head, The

pond' rous an chor

- -

32

fish; For

while the grog goes

round, All

sense of dan ger's

-

36

drown'd, We de

spise it to a

man; We

sing a lit tle, And

- -

40

laugh a lit tle, And

work a lit tle, And

swear a lit tle, We

sing a lit tle, And

- - - -

8279

44


work a lit tle, And

swear a lit tle, And

fid dle a lit tle, And

- - - - -

48

foot it a lit tle, And

swig the flo wing

Can, And


- - - -

52


swig the flo wing

Can, And

- -

55

swig the flo wing

Can, And

swig the flo wing

Can.

- -

59

8380

Allegretto

6

A

11

Sai lor's life's a

life of woe He

works now late now

ear ly Now

up and down now

- -

16

to and fro What

then he takes it

chear ly Blest

with a smi ling

- -

20

Can of grog, If

du ty call stand

rise, or fall, To


-

The Flowing Can

Charles Dibdin

The OdditiesMedium Transposition

8481

24

jog; The

cadge to weigh. The

sheets be lay, He

does it with a

-

28

wish; To

heave the lead, Or

to cat head, The

pond' rous an chor

- -

32

fish; For

while the grog goes

round, All

sense of dan ger's

-

36

drown'd, We de

spise it to a

man; We

sing a lit tle, And

- -

40


work a lit tle, And

swear a lit tle, We

sing a lit tle, And

- - - -

8582

44


work a lit tle, And



- - - - -

48


swig the flo wing

Can, And


- - - -

52


swig the flo wing

Can, And

- -

55

swig the flo wing

Can, And

swig the flo wing

Can.

- -

59

8683

Allegretto

5

5

10

A

10

Sai lor's life's a

life of woe He

works now late now

ear ly Now

- -

The Flowing Can

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


8784

15

up and down now

15

to and fro What

then he takes it

chear ly Blest

-

19

with a smi ling19

Can of grog, If

du ty call stand

rise, or fall, To

- -

23


23

jog; The

cadge to weigh. The

sheets be lay, He

-

8885

27

does it with a27

wish; To

heave the lead, Or

to cat head, The

31

pond' rous an chor31

fish; For

while the grog goes

round, All

- -

35

sense of dan ger's

35

drown'd, We de

spise it to a

man; We

- -

8986

39

sing a lit tle, And

39


work a lit tle, And

swear a lit tle, We

- - - -

43

sing a lit tle, And

43


work a lit tle, And


- - - -

47


47


swig the flo wing

Can, And

- - - -

9087

51


51


swig the flo wing

Can, And

- - - -

55

swig the flo wing

55

Can, And

swig the flo wing

Can.

- -

59

59

9188

Allegretto

7

13

19

26

32

38

44

The Flowing Can

Charles DibdinObbligato, Guitar

9289

50

56

9390

All the World's aMasquerade

Charles Dibdin

Full Text

Sure en't the world a masquerade With shrugs and queer grimaces,Where all mankind a roaring trade Drive underneath bare faces.Pray don't the lover, let me ask, Hid by a fascine battery,Steal hearts away? And what's his mask? To be sure it is not flattery.

To be sure it en't, to be sure it en't, To be sure it is not flattery.Then join the gen'ral masquerade That men and manners traces,To be sure the best masks that are made For cheating en't bare faces.

Weigh yonder lawyer, I'll be bail, So able are his talents,The devil himself in t'other scale Would quickly kick the balance.See that friar to a novice preach, To holiness to win her,Their masks dropt off, what are they each, He a thief and she a sinner.

To be sure they 'ent, etc.

For her husband see yon widow cry, She'll never have another;By my soul she weeps with but one eye, For she's leering with the other.Yon courtier see, who in a crack Will promise fifty places,By my soul his friends scarce turn their back But he laughs before their faces.

To be sure he don't, etc.

1.

2.

3.

CHAPTER EIGHT

9491

5

10

15

Sure

en't the world a

Mas que rade wit

- -

All the World's a Masquerade

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities

Original Key

9592

19

shrugs and queer gri

ma ces Where

all man kind a

roar ing trade drive

- - - -

23

un der neath bare

fa ces

- - -

27

Pray

don't the lo ver,

let me ask, Hid

by a fas cine

- -

32

bat tery, steal

hearts a way? And

what's his mask to be

sure it is not

flat te ry. To be

- - - -

37 sure it en't, to be

sure it en't, to be

sure it is not

flat te ry. Then

- -

9693

41

join the gen' ral

mas que rade That

men and man ners

tra ces, To be

- - - - -

45

sure the best masks

that are made For

chea ting en't bare

fa ces.

- -

49

53

9794

5

10

15

Sure

en't the world a

Mas que rade wit


- - -


Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


9895

20

ma ces Where

all man kind a


un der neath bare

- - - - -

24

fa ces

Pray

-

29

don't the lo ver,

let me ask, Hid

by a fas cine

bat tery, steal

hearts a way? And

- - - -

34


sure it is not

flat te ry. To be

sure it en't, to be

- -

38

sure it en't, to be

sure it is not

flat te ry. Then

join the gen' ral

- - -

9996

42

mas que rade That

men and man ners

tra ces, To be

sure the best masks

that are made For

- - - -

47

chea ting en't bare

fa ces.

- -

52

10097

5

5

10

10


Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


10198

15

15

Sure

en't the world a

Mas que rade wit

- -

19


19

ma ces Where

all man kind a


- - - -

23

un der neath bare

23

fa ces

- - -

27

27

Pray

don't the lo ver,

let me ask, Hid

-

10299

31

by a fas cine

31

bat tery, steal

hearts a way? And


- - -

35

sure it is not

35

flat te ry. To be

sure it en't, to be

sure it en't, to be

- -

39

sure it is not

39

flat te ry. Then

join the gen' ral

mas que rade That

- - - - -

43

men and man ners

43

tra ces, To be

sure the best masks

that are made For

- -

103100

47

chea ting en't bare

47

fa ces.

- -

52

52

104101

7

15

23

31

38

45


Charles DibdinObbligato, Flute

105102

8

16

24

32

40



106103

Saturday Night at SeaCharles Dibdin

Full Text

"I'll give," cried little Jack, "my Poll, Sailing in comely state,Top gan'tsails set, she is so tall, She looks like a first rate.Ah! Would she take her Jack in tow, A voyage for life throughout,No better birth I'd wish to know, Then push the grog about."

"I'll give," cried I, "my charming Nan, Trim, handsome, neat, and tight,What joy so fine as ship to man, Oh! She's my heart's delight;So well she bears the storms of life, I'd sail the world throughout,Brace every toil for such a wife, Then push the grog about."

Thus to describe Poll, Peg, or Nan, Each his best manner tried,'Till summoned by the empty can, They to their hammocks hied;Yet still did they their vigils keep, Though the huge can was out,For in soft visions, gentle sleep Still push'd the grog about.

1.

2.

CHAPTER NINE

'Twas Saturday night, the twinkling stars Shone on the rippling sea,No duty call'd the jovial tars, The helm was lash'd alee.The ample can adorn'd the board, Prepar'd to see it out,Each gave the lass that he adored, And pushed the grog about.

Cried honest Tom, "My Peg I'll toast, A frigate neat and trim,All jolly Portsmouth's favorite boast, I'd venture life and limb.Sail seven long years and ne'er see land, With dauntless heart and stout,So tight a vessel to command, Then push the grog about."

3.

4.

5.

107104

5

'Twas

9

Sa tur day night the

twink ling stars, Shone

on the rip pling

sea, No

- -- -

13

du ty call'd the

jo vial tars, The

helm was lash'd a

lee, The

- - -

Saturday Night at Sea

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities

Original Key

108105

17

helm was lash'd a

lee; The

am ple Can a

dorn'd the board, Pre

- - -

21

par'd to see it

out, Each

gave the lass that

he a doard, And

-

25

push'd the grog a

bout, And

push'd the grog a

bout.

- -

29

109106

5

'Twas

9



on the rip pling

sea, No

- -- -

13

du ty call'd the

jo vial tars, The

helm was lash'd a

lee, The

- - - -


Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


110107

17

helm was lash'd a

lee; The

am ple Can a


- - - -

21

par'd to see it

out, Each

gave the lass that

he a doard, And

-

25

push'd the grog a

bout, And

push'd the grog a

bout.

- -

29

111108

5

5

5

'Twas

9


9


on the rip pling

sea, No

- - - -


Charles Dibdin

The OdditiesMedium Transposition,Realized by Benjamin Laur

Flute and guitar

112109

13

du ty call'd the

13

jo vial tars, The

helm was lash'd a

- - --

16

lee, The

16

helm was lash'd a

lee; The

- -

19

am ple Can a

19


par'd to see it

- - -

113110

22

out, Each

22

gave the lass that

he a doard, And

-

25

push'd the grog a

25

bout, And

push'd the grog a

- -

28

bout.

28

-

114111

5

9

14

19

24

28

Saturday Night at SeaCharles DibdinObbligato, Flute

115112

6

12

18

24

29



116113

Mock Italian SongCharles Dibdin

Full Text

First choose a pretty melody To take in all the flats,Then change your drift, And suddenly Prepare to shift The key; Then growl Like dogs, and miowl Like cats;Then chatter like monkeys,Then go low, and then high;Then pause through the note,And then swim and die, And then come to a close.

Among the flats and sharps nowA tedious journey travel, Then lose yourself in knots of chords, And then those knots unravel; Then sigh, and die, And faint in bliss ecstatic, And then the half-tones try For a touch of the chromatic.Then where you left off come again,And now you're welcome home again.

Then one more the pretty melody To take in all the flats, etc.

And then swim and die, And then come to a close, Yet not shabbily, But with a fine cantabile, In which go high and low, boy, Still follow'd by the ho! boy, And all through the nose, And then swim and die, And then come to a close.

CHAPTER TEN

117114

Andantino

3

33

3 3

3

5

9

13

First

3

choose a pret ty

33

me lo dy a pret ty

3

me lo dy a pret ty

- - - - - - -

17 3

me lo dy To

take in all the

flats To

take in all the

- -

Mock Italian Song


Original Key

118115

21

flats

Then

change your drift and

sud den ly Pre

- - -

25

3 3

pare to shift the

3 3

key Then

growl like

dogs and

29

miowl like

cats Then

growl like

dogs and

miowl like

34

cats Then

chat ter like

mon keys Then

chat ter like

mon keys, Then

- - - -

39

chat ter chat ter chat ter chat ter



- - - - - - - - - - - -

119116

42


chat ter chat ter chat ter like

mon keys Then go

low and then

- - - - - - - -

46

high

low and then

high Then

pause through the

note And

51

then swim and

die And then

come to a

close And then

55

come to a

close And then

57

come to a

close

A

-

120117

61

mong the flats and

sharps then a

ted ious jour ney

tra vel A

mong the flats and

- - - -

66 sharps then a

ted ious jour ney

tra vel And

lose your self in

knots of chords and

- - - -

71

then those knots un

ra vel Then

sigh and then

die

sigh

- -

76

die And

faint

in

bliss ecs

-

81

ta tic And

then the half tones

try for a

touch of the Chro

ma tic for a

- - -

121118

86

touch of the Chro

ma tic Then

where you left off

come a gain Then

where you left off

- - -

91

come a gain and

now

now

now you're wel come

ad libitum

home a gain Then

- - -

96

3

once more the

33

me lo dy the

3 3

me lo dy the pret ty

3

me lo dy To

- - - - - - -

100

take in all the

flats To

take in all the

flats Then


105

sud den ly Pre

3 3

pare to shift the

3 3

key Then

growl like

dogs and

- - -

122119

110

miowl like

cats Then

growl like

dogs and

miowl like

115

cats Then

chat ter like

mon keys Then

chat ter like

- - -

119

mon keys Then



- - - - - - - - -

122




- - - - - - - - - - -

125

mon keys Then go

low and then

high

low and then

-

123120

129

high and then

pause through the

note And

then swim and

die and then

134

come to a

close Yet not

sha bi ly but

with a fine can

ta bi le in

- - - - -

139

which go high and

low boy still

foll ow'd by the

ho boy and

all through the

- -

144

3

nose no

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

- - - - - - -

149

3

- - - - - - - -

124121

154

and

then swim and

die And then

come to a

- - -

159

close

And then

come

162

to a

close

And then

165

come

to a

167

close.

125122

Andantino

3

3

3

33

3

5

9

First

14

3

choose a pret ty

3

3me lo dy a pret ty

3

me lo dy a pret ty

3

me lo dy To

- - - - - - - - -

Mock Italian Song

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


126123

18

take in all the

flats To

take in all the

flats

22

Then


sud den ly Pre

3 3

pare to shift the

3 3

- - -

26

key Then

growl like

dogs and

miowl like

cats Then

31

growl like

dogs and

miowl like

cats Then

chat ter like

-

36

mon keys Then

chat ter like

mon keys, Then


- - - - - - -

127124

40




- - - - - - - - - - - -

43


mon keys Then go

low and then

high

low and then

- - - -

48 high Then

pause through the

note And

then swim and

die And then

come to a

54

close And then

come to a

close And then

57

come to a

close

A

-

128125

61

mong the flats and

sharps then a

ted ious jour ney

tra vel A

mong the flats and

- - - -

66

sharps then a

ted ious jour ney

tra vel And

lose your self in

knots of chords and

- - - -

71

then those knots un

ra vel Then

sigh and then

die

sigh

- -

76

die And

faint

in

bliss ecs

-

81

ta tic And

then the half tones

try for a

touch of the Chro

ma tic for a

- - -

129126

86

touch of the Chro

ma tic Then

where you left off

come a gain Then

- - -

90

where you left off

come a gain and

now

now

-

94

now you're wel come

ad libitum

home a gain Then

3

once more the

3

3me lo dy the

- - - -

98

33


3

me lo dy To

take in all the

flats To

- - - - -

102

take in all the

flats Then


sud den ly Pre

- - -

130127

106

3 3

pare to shift the

3 3

key Then

growl like

dogs and

110

miowl like

cats Then

growl like

dogs and

miowl like

115

cats Then

chat ter like

mon keys Then

chat ter like

mon keys Then

- - - -

120




- - - - - - - - - - - -

123



mon keys Then go

low and then

- - - - - - - -

131128

127 high

low and then

high and then

pause through the

note And

132

then swim and

die and then

come to a

close Yet not

sha bi ly but

- -

137

with a fine can

ta bi le in

which go high and

low boy still

foll ow'd by the

- - - -

142

ho boy and

all through the

3

nose no

3

3

3

3

- - - - -

147

3

3

3

3

3

- - - - - - - -

132129

152

and

then swim and

- - - - - -

157

die And then

come to a

close

160

And then

come

to a

163

close

And then

come

166

to a

close.

133130

Andantino

3

3

3

3

3

3

5

5

Mock Italian Song

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


Fig. 5, "Mock Italian Song," Iowa Source Excerpt

134131

9

9

First

14

3

choose a pret ty

14

3

3

3me lo dy a pret ty

3

3

3

me lo dy a pret ty

3

3

me lo dy To

3

- - - - - - - - -

18

take in all the

18

flats To

take in all the

flats

135132

22

Then22


sud den ly Pre

3 3

pare to shift the

3 3

3 3

- - -

26

key Then26

growl like

dogs and

miowl like

cats Then

31

growl like

31

dogs and

miowl like

cats Then

chat ter like

-

136133

36

mon keys Then36

chat ter like

mon keys, Then


- - - - - - -

40


40



- - - - - - - - - - - -

43


43

mon keys Then go

low and then

high

- - - -

137134

47

low and then

47

high Then

pause through the

note And

51

then swim and

51

die And then

come to a

close And then

55

come to a

55

close And then

come to a

138135

58

close

58

A

mong the flats and

sharps then a

-

63

ted ious jour ney

63

tra vel A

mong the flats and

sharps then a

- - - -

67

ted ious jour ney

67

tra vel And

lose your self in

knots of chords and

- - - -

139136

71

then those knots un

71

ra vel Then

sigh and then

die

sigh

- -

76

die And76

faint

in

bliss ecs

ta tic And

- -

82

then the half tones

82

try for a

touch of the Chro

ma tic for a

- -

140137

86

touch of the Chro

86

ma tic Then

where you left off

come a gain Then

- - -

90

where you left off

90

come a gain and

now

now

-

94

now you're wel come

94

ad libitum

home a gain Then

3

once more the

3

3

3me lo dy the

3

3

- - - -

141138

98

33


98

3

3

3

me lo dy To

3

take in all the

flats To

- - - - -

102

take in all the

102

flats Then


sud den ly Pre

- - -

106

3 3

pare to shift the

106

3 3

3 3

key Then

growl like

dogs and

142139

110

miowl like110

cats Then

growl like

dogs and

miowl like

115

cats Then115

chat ter like

mon keys Then

chat ter like

mon keys Then

- - - -

120


120



- - - - - - - - - - - -

143140

123


123


mon keys Then go

low and then

- - - - - - - -

127 high

127

low and then

high and then

pause through the

note And

132

then swim and

132

die and then

come to a

close Yet not

sha bi ly but

- -

144141

137

with a fine can137

ta bi le in

which go high and

low boy still

foll ow'd by the

- - - -

142

ho boy and

142

all through the

3

nose no

3

3

3

3

- - - - -

147

3

147

3

3

3

3

- - - - - - - -

145142

152

152

and

then swim and

- - - - - -

157

die And then

157

come to a

close

160

And then

160

come

to a

146143

163

close

163

And then

come

166

to a166

close.

147144

Bachelor's HallCharles Dibdin

Full Text

To Bachelor's hall we good fellows invite,To partake of the chase that makes up our delight,We have spirits like fire, and of health such a stock,That our pulse strikes the seconds as true as a clock;Did you see us you'd swear, as we mount with a grace,That Diana had dubb'd some new gods of the chase.

Hark away, hark away, All nature looks gay, And Aurora with smiles of her in the bright day.

Dick Thicket came mounted upon a fine black,A better fleet gelding ne'er hunter did back,Tom Trig rode a bay, full of mettle and bone,And gayly Bob Buxom rode proud on a roan;But the horse of all horses that rivalled the day,Was the squire's neck-or-nothing, and that was a grey. Hark away, hark away, While our spirits are gay, Let us drink to the joys of the next coming day.

Then for hounds there was Nimble, so well that climbs rocks,And Cocknose, a good one at scenting a fox,Little Plunge, like a mole who will ferret and search,And beetle-browed Hawks-eye, so dead at a lurch;Young Sly-looks, that scents the strong breeze from the south,And musical Echowell, with his deep mouth.

Hark away, etc.

Our horses thus all of the very best blood,'Tis not likely you'll easily find such a stud;And for hounds our opinions with thouands we'll back,That all England throughout can't produce such a pack;Thus having described you dogs, horses, and crew,Away we set off, for the fox is in view.

Hark away, etc.

Sly renard's brought home, while the horns found a call,And now you're all welcome to Bachelor's Hall;The savory sirloin grateful smokes on the board,And Bacchus pours wine from his favourite hoard;Come on then, do honour to this jovial place,And enjoy the sweet pleasures that spring from the chase.

Hark away, etc.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

148145

Allegretto

5

To

9

Ba che lor's hall we good

fel lows in vite, To par

take of the chase that makes

- - - - -

12

up our de light, We have

spi rits like fire, and of

health such a stock, That our

- -

15

pulse strikes the se conds as

true as a clock; Did you

see us you'd swear, as we

-

Bachelor's HallCharles DibdinThe OdditiesOriginal Key

149146

18

mount with a grace,

Did you

21


mount with a grace, That Di

a na had dubb'd some new

gods of the chase, That Di

- - -

25


gods of the chase, Hark a

way, hark a way, all

- - -

28

na ture looks gay, And Au

ro ra with smiles of hers

in the bright day.

- - -

31

150147

Allegretto

5

To

9




- - - - -

12



health such a stock, That our

- -

15

pulse strikes the se conds as



-

Bachelor's HallCharles DibdinThe OdditiesMedium Transposition

151148

18

mount with a grace,

Did you


22



gods of the chase, That Di

- - -

25




- - -

28



in the bright day.

- - -

31

152149

Allegretto

4

4

4

Bachelor's Hall

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


Fig. 6, "Bachelor's Hall" Obbligati Excerpt, Iowa Source

2nd Flute

153150

8

To

8



- - - - -

11


11



- -

14

health such a stock, That our14

pulse strikesthe se conds as


-

154151

17


17

mount with a grace,

20

Did you

20



-

23


23

gods of the chase, ThatDi


- - -

155152

26


26



- - - -

29


29

in the bright day.

-

32

32

156153

4

8

12

16

Bachelor's HallCharles DibdinObbligato, 2 Flutes

157154

20

25

30

158155

On GratitudeCharles Dibdin

Full Text

Sweet is the dew drop on the thornThat, like a prism, reflects the morn,Sweet is the cheering solar ray,That compasses the ample day;Sweet is the balmy ev'ning's close,That shuts the foliage of the rose;These to creation charms impart,Like those that charm the grateful heart.

The little songsters on the spray,Spontaneous pour their grateful lay,Or to the pebbly rivulets driven,They sip, and lift their heads to heaven;Or for the worm of insect fly,To feed their craving progeny,Feelings a lesson that impart,To stimulate the grateful heart.

Mark vegitation, wond'rous sight,See how the germe breaks into light!The fruitful flower the tree receives,And fresher green adorns its leaves;Man cultivates the grateful soil,And flowers and fruits reward his toil,Plants, birds, all nature thus impartJoys such as warm the grateful heart.

1.

2.

3.

CHAPTER TWELVE

159156

Andantino

4

8

Sweet is the

dew drop on the

Thorn, that like a

11

pri sm re flects the

morn, Sweet is the

cheer ing So lar

ray, That com pas

- - - - - - -

On Gratitude

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities

Original Key

160157

15

ses the am ple

day, Sweet is the

cheer ing So lar

- - -

18

ray, That com pas

ses the am ple

day, That com pas

- -- - -

21

ses the am ple

day; Sweet is the

bal my ev' ning's

- - -

24

close, Sweet is the

bal my ev' ning's

close, That shuts the

- -

161158

27

fo liage of the

rose, That shuts the

fo liage of the

- -

30

rose; These to cre

a tion charms im

part, These to cre

- - - -

33

a tion charms im

part,

Like those that

charm the grate ful

- --

37

heart.

(The)

162159

Andantino

4

8

Sweet is the

dew drop on the

Thorn, that like a

11


morn, Sweet is the

cheer ing So lar

ray, That com pas

- - - - - - -

On Gratitude

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


163160

15

ses the am ple

day, Sweet is the

cheer ing So lar

- - -

18

ray, That com pas

ses the am ple

day, That com pas

- -- - -

21

ses the am ple

day; Sweet is the

bal my ev' ning's

- - -

24

close, Sweet is the

bal my ev' ning's


- -

164161

27

fo liage of the


fo liage of the

- -

30

rose; These to cre

a tion charms im

part, These to cre

- - - -

33

a tion charms im

part,

Like those that

charm the grate ful

- --

37

heart.

(The)

165162

Andantino

4

4

8

Sweet is the8

dew drop on the

Thorn, that like a

On Gratitude

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


166163

11


11

morn, Sweet is the

cheer ing So lar

ray, That com pas

- - - - - --

15

ses the am ple15

day, Sweet is the

cheer ing So lar

- - -

18

ray, That com pas

18

ses the am ple

day, That com pas

- - - - -

167164

21

ses the am ple

21

day; Sweet is the

bal my ev' ning's

- - -

24

close, Sweet is the24

bal my ev' ning's


- -

27

fo liage of the27


fo liage of the

- -

168165

30

rose; These to cre

30

a tion charms im

part, These to cre

- - - -

33

a tion charms im

33

part,

Like those that

charm the grate ful

- --

37

heart.

37

169166

4

9

14

19

23

27

31

On GratitudeCharles DibdinObbligato, Flute

170167

The LamplighterCharles Dibdin

Full Text

I'm jolly Dick the Lamplighter, They say the sun's my dad,And truly I believe it, Sir, For I'm a pretty lad.Father and I the world delight, And make it look so gay,The difference is, I lights by night, And Father lights by day.

But Father's not the likes of I For knowing life and fun,For I strange tricks and fancies spy Folks never show the sun.Rogues, owls, and bats can't bear the light, I've heard your wise ones say;And so, d'ye mind, I sees at night Things never seen by day.

At night men lay aside all art As quite a useless task,And many a face and many a heart Will then pull off the mask;Each formal prudes and holy wight, Will throw disguise away,And sin it openly at night, Who sainted it all day.

His darling hoard the miser views, Misses from friends decamp,And many a stateman mischief brews To his country o'er his lamp.So Father and I, d'ye take me right, Are just on the same lay;I barefaced sinners light by night, And he false saints by day.

1.

2.

3.

4.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

171168

Allegretto

6

I'm

11

jol ly Dick the

Lamp light er, They

say the Sun's my

dad, And

- - -

15

tru ly I be

lieve it Sir, For

I'm a pret ty

lad.

Fa ther and I the

- - - -

The Lamplighter

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities

Original Key

172169

20

world de light, And

make it look so

gay, The

dif fe rence is, I

lights by night, And

- - -

25

Fa ther lights by

day. The

dif fe rence is, I


- - -

29 Fa ther lights by

day. And

Fa ther lights by

day.

- -

33

173170

Allegretto

6

I'm

11

jol ly Dick the

Lamp light er, They

say the Sun's my

dad, And

- - -

15

tru ly I be

lieve it Sir, For

I'm a pret ty

lad.

Fa ther and I the

- - - -

The Lamplighter

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


174171

20

world de light, And

make it look so

gay, The

dif fe rence is, I


- - -

25

Fa ther lights by

day. The

dif fe rence is, I


- - -

29

Fa ther lights by

day. And

Fa ther lights by

day.

- -

33

175172

Allegretto

6

6

I'm

11

jol ly Dick the11

Lamp light er, They

say the Sun's my

dad, And

- - -

The Lamplighter

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


176173

15

tru ly I be

15

lieve it Sir, For

I'm a pret ty

lad.

Fa ther and I the

- - - -

20

world de light, And20

make it look so

gay, The

dif fe rence is, I


- - -

25

Fa ther lights by

25

day. The

dif fe rence is, I


- - -

177174

29

Fa ther lights by

29

day. And

Fa ther lights by

day.

- -

33

33

178175

7

13

19

25

31

The LamplighterCharles DibdinObbligato, Flute

179176

7

13

19

25

31

The LamplighterCharles DibdinObbligato, Guitar

180177

The Indian SongCharles Dibdin

Full Text

Dear Yanko say and true he say All mankind, one and to'therNegro, Mulatto, and Malay Through all the world be broder.

In black and yellow what disgrace That scandal so he use themFor dere no virtue in de face De virtue in de bosom.

Dear Yanko say, etc.

What harm dere in a shape and make, What harm in ugly feature,Whatever colour form he take, The heart make human creature,Then black and copper both be friend, No colour he bring beauty,For beauty Yanko say attend, On him who do him duty.

Dear Yank say, etc.

1.

2.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

181178

6

Dear

Yan ko say and

true he say all

-

11

man kind, one and

to' ther, ne

gro, mu lat to,

and ma lay through

all the world be

- - - - - -

16

bro der.

In

-

The Indian Song

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities

Original Key

182179

21

black and yel low

what dis grace that

scan dal so he

use them for

dere no vir tue

in de face de

- - - -

27

vir tue in de

bo som, de

vir tue in de

bo som. Dear

Yan ko say and

- - - - -

32

true he say all

man kind one and

to' ther, ne

gro, mu lat to,

and ma lay through

- - - - - -

37

all the world be

bro der.

-

183180

6

Dear

Yan ko say and

true he say all

-

11

man kind, one and

to' ther, ne

gro, mu lat to,

and ma lay through

all the world be

- - - - - -

16

bro der.

In

-

The Indian Song

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


184181

21

black and yel low

what dis grace that

scan dal so he

use them for

dere no vir tue

in de face de

- - - -

27

vir tue in de

bo som, de

vir tue in de

bo som. Dear

Yan ko say and

- - - - -

32

true he say all

man kind one and

to' ther, ne

gro, mu lat to,

and ma lay through

- - - - - -

37

all the world be

bro der.

-

185182

6

6

Dear

Yan ko say and

-

10

true he say all

10

man kind, one and

to' ther, ne

gro, mu lat to,

- - - - -

The Indian Song

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


186183

14

and ma lay through

14

all the world be

bro der.

- -

18

18

In

black and yel low

what dis grace that

- -

23

scan dal so he

23

use them for

dere no vir tue

in de face de

vir tue in de

- - -

187184

28

bo som, de28

vir tue in de

bo som. Dear

Yan ko say and

- - - -

32

true he say all

32

man kind one and

to' ther, ne

gro, mu lat to,

and ma lay through

- - - - - -

37

all the world be

37

bro der.

-

188185

7

16

23

30

37

The Indian Song


189186

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Charles Dibdin

Ben Backstay Full Text

Ben Backstay loved the gentle Anna,Constant as purity was she.Her honey words, like succ'ring MannaCheer'd him each voyage he made to sea.One fatal morning saw them partingWhile each the other's sorrow dried,They by the tear that then was startingVow'd they'd be constant 'till they died.

At distance from his Anna's beauty,While roaring wings the sea deform,Ben sings and well performs his duty,And braves for love the frightful storm.Alas in vain the vessel battered,On a rock splitting opened wide;While lacerated, torn, and shattered;Ben thought of Anna, sighed, and died.

The semblance of each lovely featureThat Ben had worn around his neck,Where art stood substitude for nature,A Tar, his friend, saved from the wreck.In fervent hope while Anna, burning,Blushed as she wished to be a bride;The portrait came, joy turned to mourning,She saw, grew pale, sunk down and died.

1

2

3

190187

5

Ben Back stay

-

9

loved the gen tle

An na cons tant as

pu ri ty was

she. Her ho ney

- - - - - -

13

words like succ' ring

Man na cheer'd him each

voyage he made to

sea. One fa tal

- - -

17

morn ing saw them

par ting while each the

oth er's sor row

dried. They by the

- - - -

Ben Backstay


Original Key

191188

21

tear that then was

start ing, they by the

tear that then was

start ing vow'd they'd be

- -

25

cons tant 'till they

died.

-

192189

6

Ben Back stay

loved the gen tle

An na cons tant as

- - - -

11

pu ri ty was

she. Her ho ney



- - - - -

15

voyage he made to

sea. One fa tal

morn ing saw them

par ting while each the

- - -

Ben Backstay

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


193190

19

oth er's sor row

dried. They by the

tear that then was


- - -

23

tear that then was



died.

- -

27

194191

5

5

Ben Back stay

loved the gen tle

- -

10

An na cons tant as

10

pu ri ty was

she. Her ho ney


- - - - - -

Ben Backstay

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


195192

14


14

voyage he made to

sea. One fa tal

morn ing saw them

- - -

18

par ting while each the18

oth er's sor row

dried. They by the

tear that then was

- --

22


22

tear that then was



- - -

26

died.

26

196193

5

10

16

Ben Backstay

Charles DibdinObbligato, 2 Flutes

197194

21

26

198195

6

12

17

22

26

Ben Backstay


199196

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Charles Dibdin

An Irish Drinking SongFull Text

Of the ancients it's speaking my soul you'd be after, That they never got how come you so,Would you seriously make the good folks die with laughter, To be sure their dog tricks we don't know:

With your smallilliow nonsense and all your queer bodderns, Since whisky's a liquor divine, To be sure the old ancients as well as the moderns Did not love a sly cup of good wine.

Apicius and Esop, as authors assure us, Would swig 'till as drunk as a beast,Then what do you tink of that rogue Epicurus, Was not he a tight hand at a feast.

With your smalliliow, etc.

Alexander the great at his banquets who drank hard, When he no more worlds could subdue,Shed tears to be sure but 'twas tears of the Tankard, To refresh him and pray would not you.


Then that t'other old fellow they called Aristotle, Such a devil of a Tipler was he,That one night having taken too much of his Bottle, The thief staggered into the Sea.


Then they made what they called of their wine a libation, Which as all authority quotes,They threw on the ground, mucha what boderation, To be sure 'twas not thrown down their throats.


1

2

3

4

5

200197

Allegretto

5

Of the

9

an cients it's speak ing my

soul you'd be af ter, that they

ne ver got how come you

- - - -

12

so, Would you

ser ious ly make the good

folks die with laugh ter, to be

- - -

An Irish Drinking Song

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities

Original Key

201198

15

sure their dog tricks we don't

know; to be


18

know; with your

smal li liow non sense and

all your queer bod derns, since

whis key's a li quor di

- - - - - - -

22

vine, to be

sure the old an cients as

well as the mo derns, did not

- -

25 love a sly cup of good

wine, did not

love a sly cup of good

28

wine.

202199

Allegretto

5

Of the

9




- - - -

12

so, Would you



- - -


Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


203200

15


know; to be


18

know; with your




- - - - - - -

22

vine, to be



- -

25


wine, did not


28

wine.

204201

Allegretto

5

5

Of the

9


9



- - - -


Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


205202

12

so, Would you12



- - -

15


15

know; to be


18

know; with your18




- - - - - - -

206203

22

vine, to be

22



- -

25


25

wine, did not


28

wine.

28

207204

6

12

18

23

28



208205

Peggy PerkinsCharles Dibdin

Full Text

Let bards elate Of Sue and Kate,And Moggy take their fill-o,And pleas'd rehearseIn jingling verse,The lass of Richmond hill-o;A lass more bright,My amorous flight,Impell'd by love's fond workings,Shall loudly sing,Like anything,'Tis charming Peggy Perkins.

Some men compareThe favorite fairTo every thing in nature;Her eyes divine,Are suns that shine,And so on with every feature;Leave, leave, ye fools,These hackneyed rules,And all such subtle quirkings,Sun, moon, and starsAre all a farce,Compared to Peggy Perkins.

Each twanging dart,That through my heart,From Cupid's bow has morriced,Were it a tree,Why I shou'd beFor all the world a forest;Five hundred sops,With shrugs and hops,And leers, and smiles, and smirkings,Most willing sheWould leave for me,Oh, what a Peggy Perkins.

1.

2.

3.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

209206

5

10

14

Let

bards e late of

Sue and Kate, and

Mog gy take their

- -

Peggy Perkins

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities

Original Key

210207

18

fill o, And

pleas'd re hearse, in

jing ling verse, the

lass of Rich mond

- - -

22

hill o, the

lass of Rich mond

hill o; a

lass more bright my

-

26

amo rous flight, im

pell'd by love's fond

work ings, shall

loud ly sing, like

- - - -

30

a ny thing, 'tis

char ming Peg gy

Per kins, Peg gy

Per kins, Peg gy

- - - - - - - -

34

Per kins, Peg gy

Per kins, Peg gy

Per kins, shall

loud ly sing, like

- - - - - -

211208

38

a ny thing,

'tis

char ming Peg gy

Per kins.

- - - - -

43

212209

5

10

14

Let

bards e late of

Sue and Kate, and

Mog gy take their

- -

Peggy Perkins

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


213210

18

fill o, And



lass of Rich mond

- - -

22

hill o, the

lass of Rich mond

hill o; a

lass more bright my

-

26

amo rous flight, im


work ings, shall

loud ly sing, like

- - - -

30

a ny thing, 'tis

char ming Peg gy

Per kins, Peg gy

Per kins, Peg gy

- - - - - - - -

34

Per kins, Peg gy

Per kins, Peg gy

Per kins, shall

loud ly sing, like

- - - - - -

214211

38

a ny thing,

'tis

char ming Peg gy

Per kins.

- - - - -

43

215212

5

5

10

10

Peggy Perkins

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


216213

14

Let

14

bards e late of

Sue and Kate, and

Mog gy take their

- -

18

fill o, And

18



lass of Rich mond

- - -

22

hill o, the

22

lass of Rich mond

hill o; a

lass more bright my

-

217214

26

amo rous flight, im

26


work ings, shall

loud ly sing, like

- - - -

30

a ny thing, 'tis

30

char ming Peg gy

Per kins, Peg gy

Per kins, Peg gy

- - - - - - - -

34

Per kins, Peg gy

34

Per kins, Peg gy

Per kins, shall

loud ly sing, like

- - - - - -

218215

38

a ny thing,

38

'tis

char ming Peg gy

Per kins.

- - - - -

43

43

219216

8

16

23

30

37

Peggy PerkinsCharles DibdinObbligato, Flute

220217

7

14

22

30

38

Peggy PerkinsCharles DibdinObbligato, Guitar

221218

Poor Tom

Charles Dibdin

Full Text

Here, a sheer hulk, lies poor Tom Bowling, The darling of our crew;No more he'll hear the tempest howling, For death has broach'd him to.His form was of the manliest beauty, His heart was kind and soft,Faithful below he did his duty, And now he's gone aloft.

Tom never from his word departed, His virtues were so rare,His friends were many, and true hearted, His Poll was kind and fair;And then he'd sing so blithe and jolly, Ah many's the time and oft!But mirth is turned to melancholy, For Tom is gone aloft.

Yet shall Poor Tom find pleasant weather When he who all commandsShall give, to call life's crew together, The word to pipe all hands.Thus death, who Kings and Tars dispatched, In vain Tom's life has doffed;For, though his body's under hatches, His soul is gone aloft.

1.

2.

3.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

or, The Sailor's Epitaph(Tom Bowling)

222219

Andante

5

Here,

9

a sheer hulk, lies

poor Tom Bow ling, the

dar ling of our

crew; no

- -

13

more he'll hear the

tem pest how ling, for

death has broach'd him

to. His

- -

Poor Tom, or the Sailor's Epitaph

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities

Original Key

223220

17

form was of the

man liest beau ty, his

heart was kind and

soft, faith

- - -

21

ful be low he

did his du ty, and

now he's gone a

loft, and

- - -

25

now he's gone a

loft.

-

224221

Andante

5

Here,

9

a sheer hulk, lies


dar ling of our

crew; no

- -

13

more he'll hear the



to. His

- -


Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


225222

17

form was of the


heart was kind and

soft, faith

- - -

21

ful be low he

did his du ty, and

now he's gone a

loft, and

- - -

25

now he's gone a

loft.

-

226223

Andante

5

5

Here


Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


Flute

227224

9

a sheer hulk, lies

9


dar ling of our

crew; no

- -

13

more he'll hear the

13



to. His

- -

17

form was of the

17


heart was kind and

soft, faith

- - -

228225

21

ful be low he

21

did his du ty, and

now he's gone a

loft, and

- - -

25

now he's gone a

25

loft.

-

229226

Poor Tom

Charles DibdinObbligato, Flute or Guitar

230227

A Tar for All WeathersCharles Dibdin

Full Text

The storm came on thicker and faster,As black just as pitch was the sky,When truly a doleful disasterBefell three poor sailors and I;Ben Buntline, Sam Shroud, and Dick Handfail,By a blast that came furious and hard,Just while we were furling the mainsail,Were every soul swept from the yard.

But sailors, etc.

Poor Ben, Sam, and Dick cried Peccavi,As for I, at the risk of my neck,While they sunk down in peace to old Davy,Caught a rope, and so landed on deck.Well what would you have, we were stranded,And out of a fine jolly crew,Of three hundred that sailed, never landedBut I, and I think twenty-two.

But sailors, etc.

After thus we at sea misscarried,Another guess way sat the wind,For to England I came and got marriedTo a lass that was comely and kind;But whether for joy or vexationWe know not for what we were born,Perhaps I may find a fixed station,Perhaps I may touch at Cape Horn.

But sailors, etc.

3.

4.

5.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

I sail'd from the downs in the Nancy,My jib how it smack'd through the breeze,She's a vessel as tight to my fancyAs ever sail'd on the salt seas;Then adieu to the white cliffs of Briton,Our girls and our dear native shore,For if some hard rock we should split on,We shall never see them any more;

But sailors were born for all weathers, Great guns, let it blow high, blow low; Our duty keeps us to our tethers, And where the gale drives, we must go.

When we entered the gut of Gibralter,I verily thought she'd have sunk;For, the wind so began to alter,She yaw'd just as though she was drunk.The squall tore the mainsail to shivers,Helm a weather the hoarse boatswain cries,Brace the foresail athwart, see she quivers,As through the rough tempest she flies.

But sailors, etc.

1.

2.

231228

Allegretto

4

I

sail'd from the downs in the Nan cy my

-

6

jib how it smack'd through the breeze, she's a

ves sel as tight as my fan cy as

- -

8

e ver sail'd on the salt seas. Then a

dieu to the white cliffs of Bri ton, our

- - -

The Tar for All Weathers

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities

Original Key

232229

10

girls and our dear na tive shore, for

if some hard rock we should split on, we shall

-

12

ne ver see them a ny more; but

sai lors were born for all wea thers, great

- - - -

14

guns let it blow high blow low, our

du ty keeps us to our te thers, and

- -

16

where the gale drives we must go.

(When we)

233230

Allegretto

4

I


-

6



- -

8



- - -


Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


234231

10



-

12



- - - -

14



- -

16


(When we)

235232

Allegretto

I

4


-


Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


236

From Flute Obb.

233


6


- -


8


- - -


10


-

237234


12


- - - -


14


- -


16

When we

238235

4

8

12

15

A Tar For All Weathers


239236

The Greenwich PensionerCharles Dibdin

Full Text

'Twas in the good Ship RoverI sail'd the world aroundAnd for three years and overI ne'er touch'd British ground;At last in England landed,I left the roaring main,Found all relations stranded,And went to sea again.

That time bound strait to Portugal,Right fore and aft we bore;But, when we made Cape Ortugal,A Gale blew off the shoreShe lay, so did it shock her,A Log upon the main,Till saved from Davy's locker,We put to sea again.

Next in a frigate sailingUpon a squally night,Thunder and lightening hailingThe horrors of the sight,My precious limb was lopped off,I, when they'd eased my pain,Thanked God I was not popped off,And went to sea again.

Yet still am I enabledTo bring up in life's rear,Although I'm quite disabled,And lie in Greenwich tier,The King, God bless his royalty,Who saved me from the main,I'll praise with love and loyalty,But ne'er to sea again.

1.

2.

3.

4.

CHAPTER TWENTY

240237

6

11

'Twas

in the good ship

Ro ver I

-

15

sail'd the world a

round And

for three years and

o ver I

- -

The Greenwich Pensioner

Charles Dibdin

The Oddities

Original Key

241238

19

ne'er touch'd Bri tish

ground And

for three years and

o ver I

- -

23


ground. At

last in Eng land

land ed, I

- - -

27

left the roa ring

main; found

all re la tions

strand ed, and

- - - -

31

went to sea a

gain. At

last, in Eng land

land ed I

- - -

35

left the roa ring

main; found

all re la tions

strand ed, and

- - - -

242239

39

went to sea a

gain. And

went to sea a

gain. And

- -

43

went to sea a

gain. Found

all re la tions

strand ed, and

- - - -

47

went to sea a

gain.

-

52

243240

6

11

'Twas

in the good ship

Ro ver I

-

15

sail'd the world a

round And

for three years and

o ver I

- -


Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


244241

19


ground And

for three years and

o ver I

- -

23


ground. At

last in Eng land

land ed, I

- - -

27

left the roa ring

main; found

all re la tions

strand ed, and

- - - -

31

went to sea a

gain. At

last, in Eng land

land ed I

- - -

35

left the roa ring

main; found

all re la tions

strand ed, and

- - - -

245242

39

went to sea a

gain. And

went to sea a

gain. And

- -

43

went to sea a

gain. Found

all re la tions

strand ed, and

- - - -

47

went to sea a

gain.

-

52

246243

6

6

11

11

'Twas

in the good ship

Ro ver I

-


Charles Dibdin

The Oddities


247244

15

sail'd the world a

15

round And

for three years and

o ver I

- -

19


19

ground And

for three years and

o ver I

- -

23


23

ground. At

last in Eng land

land ed, I

- - -

248245

27

left the roa ring

27

main; found

all re la tions

strand ed, and

- - - -

31

went to sea a

31

gain. At

last, in Eng land

land ed I

- - -

35

left the roa ring

35

main; found

all re la tions

strand ed, and

- - - -

249246

39

went to sea a

39

gain. And

went to sea a

gain. And

- -

43

went to sea a

43

gain. Found

all re la tions

strand ed, and

- - - -

47

went to sea a

47

gain.

-

250247

52

52

251248

7

15

24

33

41

49

The Greenwich PensionerCharles DibdinObbligato, Guitar

252249

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CONCLUSION: DIBDIN’S VALUE AND NEW SCHOLARSHIP

This collection of songs may be representative of Dibdin’s style, but it is hardly

exhaustive. Hundreds more similar songs exist, each one imbued with some degree of the

composer’s unique flare. The practical value of such a collection of relatively untapped English-

language character pieces with pleasant, tuneful melodies cannot be overstated for the performer

or pedagogue. Their uses can and should be myriad, from studio work and student recitals, to

lecture recitals concerning table-top entertainments, Georgian popular song, music in the life of

Jane Austen, examples of satire under the Licensing Act of 1737, and other related topics, to

character pieces for concerts, pastiche works, and auditions. Furthermore, I believe the historical

and artistic value to be just as strong, when properly contextualized.

Of the comic songs—“Sly Old Hodge,” “All the World’s a Masquerade,” “Mock Italian

Song,” and “The Lamplighter”—“The Lamplighter” is the simplest, and, I would argue, is

charming in that simplicity. It is suitable for young students, but the wit will also be attractive to

recitalists. By contrast, “Mock Italian Song” is the most virtuosic, in terms of vocal demands, of

the entire collection, and will also require a talented actor to do the pedantic setting justice. “Sly

Old Hodge” extends a mere octave and a step in range, a bouncy, approachable melody with a

fun text that gives ample opportunity for expression. It should absolutely be used in the voice

studio and in performance alike.

The sailing songs might be organized in two groups. “The Flowing Can,” “Saturday

Night at Sea,” “The Tar for All Weathers,” and “The Greenwich Pensioner” are lively and jovial,

evoking a band of rough men singing together in a tavern while on shore-leave. They will be

attractive especially for young male singers, but they all comprise a range over an octave, so

caution is recommended in their selection. “Ben Backstay” and “Poor Tom,” however, while also

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both concerning seamen, take a much more pathetic tone, serving as eulogies for those who have

died at sea. Attention to proper support and legato will aid in their successful delivery.

“Taffy and Griddy” and “Bachelor’s Hall” are both robust songs of celebration—one of

love, the other of youth and masculinity. Likewise “Peggy Perkins” celebrates the titular

character with vitality. The range of each may be prohibitive for young students, but “Bachelor’s

Hall” may prove suitable for advanced students, and will be a good exercise in vocal patter. The

chief challenge of “Taffy and Griddy” lies in the large melodic leaps in the refrain. The tessitura

of “Peggy Perkins” is reasonable for students. This song might be interesting in a set with other

lovers’ odes, especially “The Lass of Richmond Hill,” referenced in Dibdin’s text.

“The Indian Song” presents a real problem. It may seem obvious to the historian that

Dibdin assumed the shameless stereotype of Yanko to convey a truly progressive idea—that all

men are brothers, and that virtue lies in the bosom, not the color of one’s skin. Nevertheless, the

dialect used (“de” for “the,” for example) will likely prove offensive in most contexts.

Furthermore, Dibdin seems to have embraced the stereotype in every musical way possible. The

rhythmic pounding of a limited-range melody in octaves in the piano is an overt example of

primitivism, used here to evoke what Dibdin imagined (or assumed his audience would imagine)

to be the music of a non-Western culture. The song is an interesting artifact, to be sure, but

should be contextualized appropriately, rather than programmed haphazardly.

After the lively sailing songs, my favorites from this collection are those that seem to

walk a line between sentimentalism and something like the Empfindsamkeit of eighteenth-

century Lieder. In addition to the sailors’ eulogies, these include “The Portrait” and “On

Gratitude,” the latter of which I find especially lovely. There is a sort of Romantic heroism to the

rising chords in the pianist’s right hand in m. 34, the climax of the piece, that appeals very much

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to my neo-romantic sensibilities. And if Dibdin’s text here borders on sentimentality, it must also

be admitted that the poem seems very honest. The conceit—that the beauty of nature yields joy,

warmth, and gratitude in the heart of the observer—is a simple one, and if the setting meanders at

times, the result is likewise full of pleasant little surprises, like the deceptive cadence in m. 13-

14, or the modulatory section from m. 22 to m. 30.

Taken altogether, Dibdin’s songs are problematic in their existing form. Several consist

of a vocal line over an unrealized bass comprised of unrelenting quarter notes that perpetually

outline I-IV-V-I. Others are made up of three staves of material with obbligato parts that at times

conflict with melodic material in the primary score. None of the keyboard writing rivals anything

by the continental masters. Very little of the harmony is surprising. There are small errors and

inconsistencies, much to the chagrin of anyone engaged in the task of realizing their harmonies.

All this notwithstanding, Dibdin’s voice shines in these songs through the originality, elegance,

and enduring charm of the melodies.

Problems with the scores’ quality aside, one is left to contend with the questionable value

of Dibdin’s harmonic treatment. In my opinion, the problem itself is telling of a larger trend that

privileges harmony in Western music. The seeming contradiction of Dibdin the composer, a

beloved musical genius who “never put a bass to one of his own songs without betraying the

utmost poverty of harmonical resources,” is both signified and signifier.1 It can be argued that the

keyboard—from J.S. Bach’s counterpoint to Franz Schubert’s myriad text-painting devices—

forms the backbone of the current study of European art music. Viewed through this lens, surely

Dibdin’s work serves to reinforce the implication that all great music of the time was

1 Hogarth, The Songs of Charles Dibdin, Chronologically Arranged, Vol. I, xix-xx.

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Continental, an assumption which, when combined with the popular nature of his music, prevents

the music scholar from encountering Dibdin and others like him in the first place.

I would argue that Dibdin’s songs are best understood in the context of popular music. A

once-hailed composer from the realm of music theater organized a large block of individual

songs and presented them, night after night, by himself, to a room of paying customers, many of

whom rushed afterward to acquire individual scores or broadsides for their own collections.

Surely this phenomenon equates more with the current popular music industry model than with

the current concert music model. Neither is a comparison of Dibdin’s songs with most canonical

song models apt—for the same reason. At the risk of hyperbole, the public gathering at the

Lyceum to hear “The Flowing Can” and “Peggy Perkins” was no Schubertiade. Nevertheless

there seems to be a bent in some music scholarship, and specifically vocal music scholarship, to

gloss over popular song as unimportant unless it has been either elevated by fine keyboard

writing (as with German Volkston Lieder) or somehow deconstructed or reimagined in a

twentieth century idiom (as with the songs of Charles Ives, or Benjamin Britten’s folksong

arrangements, for instance).

While the omission of Dibdin’s compositions from the classical canon is logical, it does

not follow that his music has comparatively little value. As a specimen of popular music of its

era, a portrait of its political and cultural moment, and a melodically and textually pleasing

collection of performance pieces, his compositions can now be appreciated on multiple levels.

In her article “Jane Austen’s Playlist: Teaching Music History Beyond the Canon,” Marian

Wilson Kimber suggests that in the “post-canonic world” there is value in finding fresh points of

entry into the history of Western music that do not stem from the traditional Germanic model so

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prevalent in the institution.2 It was in Professor Wilson Kimber’s classroom that I so encountered

Dibdin for the first time, and now I humbly submit him as Exhibit A, a fresh point of entry. I

posit that the issues involved in struggling with Dibdin’s harmonic treatment, performance

practice, and popular context are not only acceptable, but good, insomuch as they force the

scholar to re-evaluate how value is to be determined in a piece of music. I do not propose to add

Dibdin to the cherished canon. I propose to embrace his work as something which does not

require inclusion in the canon to be found valuable.

The canon notwithstanding, I hope more of Dibdin’s songs secure a place in the vocal

repertoire. They may seem odd in the English song narrative that leaps from Purcell to Stanford,

yet there is something here in the union of wit and charm that evokes the music of Gilbert and

Sullivan. The songs have great potential for use in pastiche and other theatrical productions, and

could be valuable for relieving the weary ears of audiences, companies, and programs which

cycle regularly through the Gilbert and Sullivan catalogue. In their present, non-orchestrated

form, they are already suitable for recitalists and provide ample variation of characters, subject

matter, and musical contrast for a set or full program. Many of the songs may also prove useful

in the voice studio. Challenging melodic lines—now transcribed to suit a lower tessitura—and

dramatically diverse characters may offer several pedagogical advantages. Students and their

instructors might focus on delivery of English diction, embodiment of characters such as those

that make up The Oddities, and evocation of strong emotions ranging from humor to despair. It is

my sincere hope that the transcriptions, transpositions, and realizations I have created come to

facilitate all these uses.

2 Marian Wilson Kimber, “Jane Austen’s Playlist: Teaching Music History Beyond the Canon,” Journal of Music History Pedagogy 4, no. 2 (2014): 213-230.

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Finally, there is inherent historical value in the Iowa source material, the Bound Dibdin

Song Collection, as a unique item of autographed scores. While duplicate copies of said scores

likely exist in quantity, the item itself does not, as far as is known. The collection therefore adds

value to the Rita Benton Music Library and the University of Iowa as a research institution, and

this project seeks to augment that value by engaging the collection and creating a space for

discussing it. Similar projects based on the other songs in the source material will yield a greater

wealth of Dibdin material for study and performance. A more in-depth cataloguing and

comparison of objects similar to the individually sold songs might also open an avenue in

musicology for more discussion about music printing and sales during the early nineteenth

century.

The special problem of disparity in quality between Dibdin’s melodies and keyboard

arrangements could also provide fertile ground for composers who wish to follow in the footsteps

of Benjamin Britten and explore new settings of popular songs. Such an exercise might yield

exciting new imaginings of songs once beloved but long forgotten.

One obstacle to preserving these songs as a truly historical artifact is the unreliability of

the scores in conveying Dibdin’s performance. By all accounts, he was a master before an

audience, improvising material on his signature keyboard instrument. It is not possible to know

what any of these songs sounded like in Dibdin’s hands on any given night, and in a case where

the composer openly claimed to perform the songs before writing any of his musical ideas down,

the idea of the score as an absolute value is demonstrably not dependable.3 However, this too

provides an opportunity for performers and scholars—for knowing that the songs are meant to be

improvised, singers may take liberties with them, perhaps to reflect their own cultural moment

3 Dibdin, The Professional Life of Mr. Dibdin, 104.

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(as is often done in Gilbert and Sullivan performances) or to revive what is known of the period

from which they derive. Should performances of Dibdin’s music take such a direction in the

future, a dynamic tradition of interpretive fluidity could well be the happy result.

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APPENDIX A: SOURCE MATERIAL CONTENTS

Songs in the Iowa source (also referred to as the Bound Dibdin Song Collection) are

mostly organized by entertainment. Most scores consist of either two or three staves, comprising

a voice, a keyboard, and sometimes an obbligato staff. None of the staves are labeled as such.

Most songs are strophic, with the text of one verse printed in the score, and the others printed on

the last page. Most songs include at least one obbligato part but sometimes more appear after the

keyboard/vocal score. These parts are usually for 1 or 2 flutes or 1 or 2 guitars, and they are

printed in differing keys from the principle score. They also frequently require or imply further

interpretation of the principal score (see Appendix C, Methodology, for more on this).

Most scores bear an inscription attributing the song to Mr. Dibdin and to a specific

entertainment. Most also bear printing information (London, Printed & Sold by the Author at his

Music Warehouse, No. 411 Strand, opposite the Adelphi), a price for individual sale (Pr 1s,

presumably 1 shilling), and a signature (usually Dibdin’s, as far as speculation can confirm). The

final 21 songs of the second volume, however, are attributed to printers and sellers other than

Dibdin. None of these 21 songs bear Dibdin’s signature, most bear no entertainment attribution,

and some are priced 6d rather than 1s.

This appendix hopes to serve as an index of the entire contents of that source in 2

volumes. Songs are listed in the order in which they are bound. Instrumentation always includes

a vocal part set into an accompaniment, presumably for keyboard, set on 2-3 staves. Where

obbligati follow, I have specified these parts as “After Voice & Keyboard.” Where any other

information has seemed irregular or of particular interest, I have summarized it under “Notes.”

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A.1: Iowa Source Contents, Volume 1

Entertainment: Private Theatricals, or Nature in Nubibus

Song Title After Voice & Keyboard Notes

Meum and Tuum 1 flute

Tack and Tack 2 flutes

Jack’s Gratitude 2 flutes, 2 guitars

Life’s a Pun 2 flutes

Poor Peg 2 flutes

All the Birds in the Air 2 flutes

The Sailor’s Return 1 flute

Tantivy 2 flutes

The Reward of Fidelity 2 flutes

Conjugal Comfort 1 flute, 1 guitar

The Rara Avis 2 flutes

Leap Year 2 flutes or 2 guitars

Roses and Lilies n/a

The Waggoner n/a

The Soldier’s Last Retreat 2 flutes

The Beggar 1 flute, 1 guitar

The Lucky Escape 1 flute

The Sailor’s Consolation 2 flutes

Virtue 2 flutes

Nothing but Drunk 1 obbligato (unspecified)

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The Royal Nuptials n/a

Bill Bobstay 1 flute or 1 guitar

Entertainment: The Wags; or Camp of Pleasure

Irish Italian Song Violini, viola, 2 flutes Ensemble parts included in

score

Celia 1 flute, 1 guitar

The Woodman 2 flutes

The Wily Fox 1 flute

Love’s Concerto 1 flute

A.2: Iowa Source Contents, Volume 2

Entertainment: The Wags, continued

Song Title After Voice & Keyboard Notes

The Dustman 1 flute, 1 guitar

Family Likeness 2 flutes, 1 violin

Death or Victory 1 flute

The Joys of the Country 1 flute

The Indian Death Song 1 flute, 1 guitar

Happy Jerry 1 flute, 1 guitar

Patrick O’Row 1 flute, 1 guitar

The Pleasures of the Chase 2 flutes

A Drop of the Creature 1 flute, 1 guitar

The Watery Grave 1 flute

Entertainment: The Oddities

Sly Old Hodge 2 flutes, 2 guitars

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Every Inch a Sailor 1 guitar Not attributed here to The Oddities

Taffy and Griddy 2 German flutes, 1 guitar

The Portrait 1 flute

The Flowing Can 1 guitar

All the World’s a Masquerade 1 flute, 1 guitar

Saturday Night at Sea 1 flute, 1 guitar

Mock Italian Song n/a Not strophic

Bachelor’s Hall 2 flutes

On Gratitude 1 flute Inscribed to the Viscount Galman. Signed J.W. for C. Dibdin.

The Lamplighter 1 flute, 1 guitar

The Indian Song 1 guitar

Ben Backstay 2 flutes, 1 guitar

An Irish Drinking Song 1 flute

Peggy Perkins 1 flute, 1 guitar

Poor Tom, or the Sailor’s Epitaph

1 flute or 1 guitar, 1 guitar in F Major

The Tar for All Weathers 1 flute

The Greenwich Pensioner 1 guitar

Entertainment: The Whim of the Moment

Poor Jack 1 German flute Printed & Sold by Preston & Son. Flute obbligato part includes song text.

Songs Neither Printed Nor Signed by Dibdin

I was, d’ye see, a Waterman 1 guitar Printed by Longman and Broderip.

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The Chelsea Pensioner 1 German flute or guitar Printed & Sold by Preston & Son. Flute obbligato part includes song text.

The Celebrated Indian Battle n/a Printed & Sold by Preston & Son.

The Sailor’s Sheet Anchor n/a Printed & Sold by Preston & Son.

The Mellow Toned Horn 1 German flute Printed & Sold by Preston & Son. Flute obbligato part includes song text.

A Linnets next with anxious care

Violin 1, violin 2, viola, oboe 1, oboe 2, corni, guitar

Printed by Longman & Borderip. All parts except guitar appear in score. Guitar obbligato part includes song text.

The Fox Chase 1 German flute or guitar Printed & Sold by Preston. Obbligato part includes song text.

Sounding the Bowl 1 German flute Printed & Sold by Preston & Son. Flute obbligato part includes song text.

A Favorite Air (unclear if this is the title)

1 guitar Solds at Blands, Birchalls, and S. Vache. Guitar obbligato part includes song text.

What naughty Things we Women are

n/a Printed by John Welcker. Attributed as “Sung by Miss Romain at the Royal Circus in the Entertainment called Pandora. Composed by Mr. Dibdin.”

The Voice of Nature 1 German flute Printed & Sold by Preston & Son. Flute obbligato part includes song text.

The Jolly Fisherman n/a Printed & Sold by Preston & Son.

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The Lady of Ton n/a Printed by Preston & Son. Ascribed to The Whim of the Moment.

Colin and Cloe n/a Printed by Preston & Son. Ascribed to The Whim of the Moment.

This World is sure a Pack of Cards

1 German flute Printed & Sold by Preston & Son. Flute obbligato part includes song text.

Nothing Like Grog 1 German flute Printed & Sold by Preston. Flute obbligato part includes song text.

Robinhood 1 German flute Printed & Sold by Preston & Son. Flute obbligato part includes song text.

Title unclear; “A favorite song sung by Master Sestini in the Character of a Sailor, in an Entertainment, Performed at the Royal-Circus; Composed by C. Dibdin.”

n/a Printed by John Welcker.

Title unclear; “A very favorite song sung by Miss Romain, in an Entertainment called the Talisman, Performed at the Royal Circus; Composed by C. Dibdin.”


Title unclear; “A very favorite song sung by Miss Langrish in an Entertainment called The Saloon, Performed at the Royal Circus; Composed by C. Dibdin.”


Title unclear; “A favourite song sung by Miss Wilkinson in The Saloon, an Entertainment Performed at the


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Royal Circus; Composed by C. Dibdin.”

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APPENDIX B: KEY, RANGE, TESSITURA OF TRANSCRIPTIONS

In order to determine tessiture, I quantified pitch duration to the smallest common

denominator, added all durations for each given pitch, and then found the fifth interval

(sometimes diminished or augmented, depending on use of accidentals) with the greatest

distribution. The process can be observed with the following integers for “The Greenwich

Pensioner,” where 1 represents a sixteenth-note (the shortest duration present), 2 represents an

eighth note, 3 a dotted-eighth note, etc.

A.3: “The Greenwich Pensioner” Tessitura Determination

“The Greenwich Pensioner”

Key: G Major; Range: F#4-A5; Tessitura: G4-D5

Pitch Name Instances and Duration Total Duration

A5 2 2

G5 2222122 13

F#5 1 1

E5 222222222122 23

D#5 2 2

D5 14124222222121442112 42

C#5 2 2

C5 12112122242121121322121 39

B4 212212222212212121 30

A4 12122222121322132 31

G4 12221224241222114114 41

F#4 2222222 14

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A.4: Key, Range, and Tessitura of Transcriptions and Transpositions

“Sly Old Hodge”

Key: Bb Major (original) Key: F Major (medium)

Range: F4-G5 Range: C4-D5

Tessitura: A4-Eb5 Tessitura: E4-Bb4

“Taffy and Griddy”

Key: Bb Major (original) Key: E Major (medium)

Range: F4-Bb5 Range: B3-E5

Tessitura: Bb4-F5 Tessitura: E4-B4

“The Portrait”

Key: Eb Major (original) Key: Bb Major (medium)

Range: D4-Bb5 Range: A3-F5

Tessitura: Ab4-Eb5 Tessitura: Eb4-Bb4

“The Flowing Can”

Key: G Major (original) Key: E Major (medium)

Range: D4-G5 Range: B3-E5

Tessitura: G4-D5 Tessitura: E4-B4

“All the World’s a Masquerade”

Key: A Major (original) Key: E Major (medium)

Range: E4-A5 Range: B3-E5

Tessitura: A4-E5 Tessitura: E4-B4

“Saturday Night at Sea”

Key: G Major (original) Key: D Major (medium)

Range: D4-A5 Range: A3-E5

Tessitura: G4-D5 Tessitura: D4-A4

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“Mock Italian Song”


Range: Bb3-C6 Range: F3-G5

Tessitura: Bb4-F5 Tessitura: F4-C5

“Bachelor’s Hall”

Key: C Major (original) Key: Ab Major (medium)

Range: C4-A5 Range: Ab3-F5

Tessitura: G4-D5 Tessitura: Eb4-Bb4

“On Gratitude”

Key: Bb Major (original) Key: E Major (medium)

Range: F4-Bb5 Range: B3-E5

Tessitura: Bb4-F5 Tessitura: E4-B4

“The Lamplighter”

Key: A Major (original) Key: F Major (medium)

Range: D#4-F#5 Range: B3-D5

Tessitura: G#4-D5 Tessitura: E4-Bb4

“The Indian Song”

Key: A Major (original) Key: E Major (medium)

Range: E4-F#5 Range: B3-C#5

Tessitura: G#4-E5 Tessitura: D#4-B4

“Ben Backstay”

Key: Bb Major (original) Key: Ab Major (medium)

Range: Bb3-G5 Range: Ab3-F5

Tessitura: G4-Eb5 Tessitura: F4-Db5

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267

“An Irish Drinking Song”

Key: C Major (original) Key: A Major (medium)

Range: C4-G5 Range: A3-E5

Tessitura: G4-D5 Tessitura: E4-B4

“Peggy Perkins”


Range: Eb4-Bb5 Range: Bb3-F5

Tessitura: A4-Eb5 Tessitura: E4-Bb4

“Poor Tom, or the Sailor’s Epitaph”

Key: Eb Major (original) Key: C Major (medium)

Range: Eb4-G5 Range: C4-E5

Tessitura: Ab4-Eb5 Tessitura: F4-C5

“A Tar for All Weathers”

Key: Eb Major (original) Key: C Major (medium)

Range: D4-F5 Range: B3-D5

Tessitura: Ab4-Eb5 Tessitura: F4-C5

“The Greenwich Pensioner”

Key: G Major (original) Key: C Major (medium)

Range: F#4-A5 Range: B3-D5

Tessitura: G4-D5 Tessitura: C4-G4

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APPENDIX C: METHODOLOGY AND SOURCE DISCREPANCIES

My goal in this project was to create as highly faithful a transcription of Dibdin’s

material in the Iowa source as possible, while making enough allowances to assure the project’s

usefulness in performance and pedagogy. For this reason, every song has three iterations

(original key, medium transposition, and medium transposition with realization). The purpose of

this appendix is to clarify subjective choices made in the generation of each iteration, and to

catalogue significant discrepancies.

Transcription in the original key is the most faithful to the source. The primary aim of

this iteration was simply to update the engraving of Dibdin’s material for greater legibility, and a

number of the formatting changes made in this iteration to that end are currently standard and are

therefore universal throughout the project. Those include: phrase markings to clarify vocal

underlay, which Dibdin did not typically provide; “s” spelling rather than the antiquated “ſ” in

the song texts; indication of triplet figures in duple meter by means of a bracket with “3” (the

only indications in the source are beam groupings and the quantity of notes); and standardization

of the duration of ornaments such as suspensions and appoggiature to half the duration of the

note of arrival, which is sometimes observed and sometimes not in the originals. It should be

noted that where I have added phrase markings for vocal underlay I have done so only in the

vocal part, which might yield an otherwise confusing discrepancy between phrase markings in

the vocal part and the keyboard and obbligato parts. In these instances, I have intentionally not

added to the instrumental parts any markings that Dibdin did not also include. I have also

preserved Dibdin’s vertical dotted line before the verse of each song, which one assumes was

intended to serve as a return repeat sign. In strophic songs (every song in the collection except

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for “Mock Italian Song”), performers should go back to this vertical dotted line upon each

repeat, omitting introductory material.

In the entirety of the collection there is only one place where I am unsure I have correctly

interpreted the composer’s intention regarding triplets, in m. 16 of “Mock Italian Song” (Ch. 10,

p. 116).1 I transcribed “melody” as it appears in the source, three straight eighth-notes occupying

the first beat and a half of the bar. This setting seems strange, however, as the word is always set

to a triplet throughout both the rest of the section and at the return of this material in m. 98 (p.

120). It seems possible the missing eighth-note repetition of D5 required to make the figure a

triplet in m.16 was a mistake on Dibdin’s part; but if so, I have not corrected it.

In generating medium voice transpositions, I took both range and tessitura into account.2

Many of the original key transcriptions are probably too high for optimal use in the teaching

studio, and the tessiture of some sit so high one is forced to wonder if the intended technique for

male singers relied implicitly on use of falsetto. This conjecture may be supported by Kitchiner,

who writes that “Mr. D. had a Baritone Voice, with enough falsetto to sing any Song.”3

Confusion surrounding historical use of the term “falsetto,” however, is well known in voice

pedagogy, and Kitchiner’s observation hardly seems enough upon which to base a model for

historically-informed performance practice. Rather than prescribe the use of falsetto, I have

endeavored to set these transpositions with tessiture beneath most singers’ secondo passaggio. I

confess this process was based largely on my own education and experience and was not

scientifically codified.

1 Dibdin, Bound Dibdin Song Collection, “Mock Italian Song.” 2 See Appendix B for key, range, and tessitura of each song transcription and transposition. 3 Kitchiner, The Sea Songs of Charles Dibdin, 24.

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The most subjective part of the project was creating harmonic realizations for the barest

source excerpts. Here I wish to repeat the caveat that these realizations are not intended to serve

as critical or scholastic historically-informed artifacts, but are included rather for the pragmatic

goal of facilitating use of these songs in performance and pedagogy. Nevertheless I have

endeavored to make logical choices informed by common practice era rules and the source

material, choices which differ from song to song depending on that content.

Not every song requires a fuller realization to be satisfying. At times the texture provided

by Dibdin’s accompaniment, such as the Alberti bass in “Taffy and Griddy,” needs no

embellishment. Three source scores—“Sly Old Hodge,” “Taffy and Griddy,” and “The

Portrait”—are spread out over three staves, with ample keyboard and obbligato material. The

other fourteen songs are written on two staves, with an assortment of obbligati following. Where

it made sense to do so, I have used these obbligato parts to inform my realizations. In some

places I have included obbligato voices on a cue staff, usually to show significant differences in

rhythm or contour between an obbligato part and the melody it ostensibly doubles. For example,

the beginning of “Bachelor’s Hall” includes a flute part that differs slightly from the keyboard

melody (Ch. 11, p. 151). Likewise the flute for “The Tar for All Weathers” presents a minor

discrepancy from the keyboard melody in its introduction (Ch. 19, p. 234). “Poor Tom, or the

Sailor’s Epitaph” includes two obbligati (“Flute or Guitar” and “Guitar in F”) that are mostly

identical, but with six small sections of rhythmic discrepancy. In that case I included disparate

material on a cue staff in the obbligato part itself (Ch. 18, p. 228).

Obbligati in the source are at times problematic. In one instance a key signature is given

incorrectly. “An Irish Drinking Song” appears in the source in C Major, with a flute part clearly

intended to be read in D Major but with only one sharp given. The resulting mixolydian mode

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might yield an arresting interpretation of an Irish dance, were it not splitting the seventh scale

degree with the tonally major keyboard. In other obbligato parts, form is unclear. The “Sly Old

Hodge” part for two guitars, for instance, seems to begin with the voice in m. 9, though no such

indication is given in the source. The same is true of the flute part for “The Portrait,” which

begins in m. 10 of the score. That same part omits a repeat, though presumably the player is

expected to repeat with singer and keyboardist. In these instances I have included corrections in

my transcriptions. I did not create complimentary obbligato transpositions for the medium voice

transpositions, which will need to be addressed if the parts are to be used in performance.

Obbligato parts from the Iowa source are further complicated by instrument keys. One

would assume the traditional Western flute (the transverse, or German flute) to play at concert

pitch. Dibdin has, in some of the flute parts, indicated that the flute in question is a German flute.

Nevertheless, part keys vary in their relation to the keyboard and vocal scores. It is difficult to

speculate as to why this is the case without further research into early nineteenth-century

instrument practices. The score of “Saturday Night at Sea,” for instance, is in G Major, with the

flute part written in D Major. This part could ostensibly be played by the G Major alto flute, and

other similarly transposed parts played by complimentary instruments, but a simpler solution for

performance would be to simply transpose the parts to match the keyboard and vocal scores. I

suggest the same solution for guitar parts, and would add that transposing all obbligato parts to

match the key of the keyboard and vocal scores is the next logical step for this project, for these

parts’ practical use. At this time, however, I have presented the parts in the keys provided in the

Iowa source, to remain faithful to the material.

Stylistic differences in engraving between the source and these transcriptions are

ubiquitous. They are also passive, by which I mean the software I used, Finale 2012 and Finale

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2014, generated each file with default settings that updated a number of decisions, usually

regarding barring, which I then could have reverted to what appears in the source, but chose not

to do so. For example, the eighth notes that comprise the patter-like vocal part of “Bachelor’s

Hall” are not barred together in the source, but Finale’s default is to bar them in groups of three

in 6/8 time. This decision resulted in what seems to be standard notation to me, so I kept it, and

others like it throughout the project.

Originally it was my intention to also draw upon a number of other period sources—

Dibdin’s own “The Professional Life of Mr. Dibdin,” and his son Thomas’s “Songs of the Late

Charles Dibdin” among them—to compare the texts of these songs to what appears in the source

for discrepancies. As I began this process, however, it became rapidly apparent that differences

are of a superficial nature, usually concerning the spelling or apocopation of a word, and I

decided that whether one instance includes “blest” where another includes “bless’d” was not of

significant value to the ends of this project.

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