A Select Collection of Original Scotish Airs for the Voice

Scottish song collection

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July 13, 2026

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"A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs for the Voice" was a publication edited and published by George Thomson between 1793 and 1841. Thomson, an amateur editor, aimed to present Scottish folk songs with semiclassical arrangements for voice and piano trio. He commissioned prominent European composers, including Ludwig van Beethoven and Joseph Haydn, to create these settings. Thomson also enlisted Scottish poets like Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott to revise the lyrics, often replacing ribald verses with more sentimental ones. While Thomson's collection aimed to popularize Scottish music, it was criticized for a perceived lack of national authenticity and for simplifying the musical arrangements.1

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Robert Burns
After Edinburgh
…first five volumes of Thomson’s A Select Collection of Original Scotish Airs for the Voice (1793–1818) contain the bulk of Burns’s songs. Burns spent the latter part of his life in assiduously collecting and writing songs to provide words for traditional Scottish airs. He regarded his work as service to…
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…first five volumes of Thomson’s A Select Collection of Original Scotish Airs for the Voice (1793–1818) contain the bulk of Burns’s songs. Burns spent the latter part of his life in assiduously collecting and writing songs to provide words for traditional Scottish airs. He regarded his work as service to…
Read More