In May 1815, Beethoven completed a new batch of 15 British folksong settings for Scottish publisher George Thomson. These constitute Group VI in Barry Cooper’s catalog and chronology. Several are available in live performances on YouTube.
#Beethoven250 Day 284
Setting of “O Mary ye’s be Clad in Silk,” CFS VI/7 (WoO 158b, No. 6), 1814–15
Ian Bostridge sings this traditional Scottish folksong. Thomson considered Beethoven’s setting to be “too complicated and too difficult.”
#Beethoven250 Day 284
Setting of “The Parting Kiss,” CFS VI/8 (WoO 155, No. 25), 1814–15
In this haunting setting, William Smyth describes a painful parting kiss: “I cannot aid thy breaking heart, For mine is breaking too.”
#Beethoven250 Day 284
Setting of “Again, my Lyre, yet once again,” CFS VI/10 (Opus 108, No. 24), 1814–15
William Smyth tells how a woman's lyre brings only sorrow. “And still one angel sigh bestow / On her who weeps, who mourns below.”
#Beethoven250 Day 284
Setting of “Dim, dim is my eye.” CFS VI/11 (Opus 108, No. 6), 1814–15
A woman reveals that a “fast less’ning sail / Bore my William away,” but then “the sea is his grave … for my William’s / For ever away.”
#Beethoven250 Day 284
Setting of “Bonny Laddie, Highland Laddie,” CFS VI/12 (Opus 108, No. 7), 1814–15
James Hogg, later author of “Confessions of a Justified Sinner,” wrote this jolly text addressing a spirited Scottish youth.
#Beethoven250 Day 284
Setting of “The Sweetest Lad was Jamie,” CFS VI/13 (Opus 108, No. 5), 1814–15
William Smyth tells how Jamie didn't understand teasing and flirting, and now he’s gone off to war, leaving poor Jeannie heartbroken.
#Beethoven250 Day 284
Setting of “O swiftly glides the Bonny Boat,” CFS VI/15 (Opus 108, No. 19), 1814–15
With a setting written for two sopranos, tenor, and bass, Joanna Baillie’s text tells of a fishing boat that always finds good bounty.
Later in 1815, in September and October, Beethoven completed three more folksong settings for George Thomson, constituting Group VII in Barry Cooper’s catalog and chronology.
#Beethoven250 Day 284
Setting of “Oh! thou art the Lad of my Heart,” CFS VII/3 (Opus 108, No. 11), 1815
A trombone takes the cello part while a woman wonders if Willy, “the lad who won the lasses all, / Would ever be won by me.”