MUSIC FROM THE GRAND TOUR
In the process of cataloguing holdings of the Reid Music Library at the University of Edinburgh, I identified two collections of minimally documented manuscript parts that were apparently gathered in the middle years of the eighteenth century. These collections are now held by and accessible through the Centre for Research Collections in the Main Library of the university. The first of these consists of twenty five sinfonias and overtures, apparently collected by Charles Hope Weir, together with an aria ascribed to J. C. Bach. The second is a collection of about forty trios featuring one or two flutes, believed to have been owned by General John Reid, the founder of the Music School. Most of the works in both collections are in three movements, with title and composer most fully given on the cover of the basso part. The collections give rise to several questions, the answers to which could shedmore light on life andmusic in Europe, and more specifically Scotland and Edinburgh, at the time. There seems to be little information on Charles Hope Weir's involvement with music, but he must have had some purpose in collecting such a substantial and focused repertory. Does the presence of the collection in the Reid Library indicate a relationship between General Reid (1721 1807) and Charles Hope Weir (1710 1791) The latter was Muster General (Scotland) (responsible for military record keeping) from 1744 to 1759, and both he and Reid were Hanoverians. One of Hope Weir's motives in making the Grand Tour was to visit his son William, then finishing his education in Pisa and Gottingen. William joined the first regiment of Dragoon Guards in 1756. The Reid collection appears to have been assembled in much the same way as the Hope Weir collection, but there is little indication of how or when. The Hope Weir Collection consists of parts dated between 1753 and 1756, each set marked with a location, presumably indicating where it was collected. The music is mostly for an ensemble of two horns, two violins, viola and basso, with the addition of pairs of oboes (twice alternating with flutes) and trumpets in some cases. The composers are largely associated with the opera of that time, and little of their instrumental music seems to have survived. The name Hope Weir is written on the title page of each set together with a number in the same hand, along with other numbers. Most of the music is in the key of D major, and in three movements (typically Allegro Andantino Allegro, the latter often in triple time) with the winds tacet in the middle movement. The exceptions are the two pieces (Hope Weir Nos 4 and 11) where the oboists take up piccolo or flute in the middle movements. In addition, in the overture by Davide Perez (No. 17) the three movements follow each other without a break, with the oboes and horns playing in every movement. Another point of interest in the collection are the expression marks, apparently in vernacular Italian: in the work by Rinaldo di Capua (No. 12) the first horn part features a marking posta di voce sforzata. The marking sforzata by itself also appears in the violin parts in the Perez (No. 17) The dynamic markings include sections indicating a gradual increase in volume: po assai, poco fe, piu fe, rinf, fe, fmo. The marking ten p exists in contexts where we might now expect sempre p. In addition to the twenty five overtures or sinfonias there is in one box an aria by J. C. Bach (known in Italy as Don Giovanni Bach) It does not carry the name 'Hope Weir' but was found in the same box as the first set of overtures. This is a manuscript score ofNon temer bell' idol mio, for soprano with oboe, two violins and basso. There is a staff labelled viola, but it is blank until the final bar, when it has the bass note at the octave. As J. C. Bach is known to have been in Italy, indeed in Milan and Bologna, at the same time as the collection is dated (see, for example, Karl Geiringer, The Bach Family (London: George Allen Unwin, 1954) 406, quoting C. P. E. Bach) it seems reasonable to assume that the aria was copied and brought back to Scotland in the same collection in which it is now found. Charles Hope Weir was the second son of Charles Hope, First Earl of Hopetoun; he embarked on a Grand Tour during 1754 1756,when as aMember of Parliament hewas given leave to be abroad. In 1754 hewas joined in Brussels by the young Robert Adam with his brother James, the celebrated architects and designers. The
Eighteenth Century Music