The unknown Beethoven
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Originally posted by otterhouse View Post
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The reference to Beethoven's folk song settings reminds me that I had an LP in the 1980s of Robert White singing a selection (with YoYo Ma on cello!) One of the arrangements - The British Light Dragoons - with words by Walter Scott to an Irish folk tune had a line about the dragoons with 'their swords of Sheffield steel'. Having been brought up in that city I was thrilled by the idea that Beethoven had been made aware of my hometown and its metallic renown! I also discovered that Beethoven had complained to his publisher George Thompson that the lyrics were not usually supplied with the requests for arrangements for piano trio. In the case of Scott's poem, I'm sure Beethoven had access to the words; the 'slash, slash, slash' of the swords is so evocotively conveyed in the arrangement. I don't know much about Robert White's career but he is beguiling in these songs. BBC4 have recently been repeating editions of The Good Old Days (from the 1970s) and he was in one of the programmes, gamely joining in with the ethos of the show...
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