Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Content
- Acknowledgements
- Chronology
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Anne Hunter's life
- Parents
- 2 Childhood
- 3 The young woman
- 4 Angelica
- 5 Mrs John Hunter
- 6 The anonymous song-writer
- 7 Leicester Fields
- 8 Dr Haydn
- 9 Disaster
- 10 Isabella
- 11 Rescue
- 12 Publication
- 13 The Creation
- 14 George Thomson
- 15 ‘I am but a shabbi person’
- Anne Hunter's poetry
- Bibliography
- Index of titles
- Index of first lines
- General index
6 - The anonymous song-writer
from Anne Hunter's life
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Content
- Acknowledgements
- Chronology
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Anne Hunter's life
- Parents
- 2 Childhood
- 3 The young woman
- 4 Angelica
- 5 Mrs John Hunter
- 6 The anonymous song-writer
- 7 Leicester Fields
- 8 Dr Haydn
- 9 Disaster
- 10 Isabella
- 11 Rescue
- 12 Publication
- 13 The Creation
- 14 George Thomson
- 15 ‘I am but a shabbi person’
- Anne Hunter's poetry
- Bibliography
- Index of titles
- Index of first lines
- General index
Summary
Quite suddenly, we find that Anne was not only writing poetry, but also producing songs and that they were being published, albeit anonymously. She probably wrote the music, though not the words, for Donnel and Flora: a ballad on the late misfortune of General Burgoyne and his gallant army … / By a Lady …. It appeared as a broadsheet in 1778 or 1779 published in Edinburgh by N. Stewart. Both words and melody were republished several times, eventually being reset by Haydn for his friend William Napier. In Airy Dreams a favorite Duett was published in London by P. H[odgson]. in about 1780. Although a manuscript version of the poem in her hand has the note ‘Air, my own’ it is doubtful whether she wrote the music of this version as her own different setting appeared later. It must have sold well, for it was used as a selling point for a more ambitious work: Eight canzonets peculiarly adapted for ladies: with an accompanyment for the piano forte or harp/composed by the author of the favorite ballad In airy dreams, &c … London: Printed by Longman & Broderip, no. 6 Cheapside. On some copies the authorship is attributed to Thomas Billington, as author of Airy Dreams, but on others only to the author of Airy Dreams, which should be Anne; it is possible that she composed the music, but the words of most, if not all, of the canzonets in this work were taken from other sources.
At about the same time another broadsheet was published, definitely attributable to Anne: The Sun sets in night. The Death Song of the Cherokee Indians. An original Air, brought from America by a Gentleman long conversant with the Indian Tribes, and particularly with the nation of the Cherokee. The Words adapted to the Air by a Lady. Price 6d. London printed for the Author and sold at J. Preston's Warehouse No 97 Strand and Exeter Change. Anne's powerful words celebrated the bravery of an Indian chief in the ‘Noble savage’ tradition then becoming fashionable. The verses were immensely successful, appearing and reappearing in various versions in dozens of anthologies in England, Scotland, Ireland and the United States from then until well into the nineteenth century.
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- Information
- The Life and Poems of Anne HunterHaydn’s Tuneful Voice, pp. 35 - 39Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2009