Claimed from Stationers' Hall: the United Kingdom's Historical Copyright Music Collections

CONTEXT: The 1709 Copyright Act provided for legal deposit of British publications into nine designated libraries, through the registration and distribution of items by Stationers' Hall in London. Whilst not perfect, and resented by the publishers, the arrangement assured a steady flow of materials to the Royal Library (later the British Museum), Sion College, Oxford's Bodleian, Cambridge University Library, the Advocates' Library (later the National Library of Scotland) in Edinburgh, and the Universities of St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. Trinity College, Dublin later become a recipient in 1801, with the Act of Union. Little music was registered until a landmark case involving J. C. Bach and Carl Abel in 1777, and music registration peaked in the 1790s, dropping off markedly thereafter.

Documentary evidence demonstrates the difficulties experienced by Scottish universities in claiming their entitlement, and there was also some uncertainty as to what to do with the music, which in this era was not a university discipline. As extreme examples, one can cite the University of St Andrews, which bound over 400 volumes of music and allowed professors to borrow it, compared with Trinity College's request that no music or school books be sent at all, or the Edinburgh Advocates' practice of leaving all newly received material on tables for readers to view (or take). Even accepting that the legal deposit music now in libraries cannot be taken to represent the full picture of music publishing in this era, it nonetheless raises questions as to what survives, and where, since retrospective online cataloguing has not entirely captured holdings. Moreover, archival evidence at St Andrews offers glimpses of what professors borrowed (and did not always return), suggesting that other libraries may have similar records. Whilst a few papers have been written about individual collections, we lack a comprehensive overview of the surviving music from Stationers' Hall, and interpretation of what we can learn about its use, or infer about any music that attracted particular attention.

AIMS & OBJECTIVES:- This networking project will raise the profile of the repertoire, encouraging musicologists, librarians, bibliographers, as well as book, library and social historians to share insights into individual collections, their reception and subsequent curation. It will aim to nurture an interdisciplinary network of interested parties with a view to further research on particular aspects of the repertoire.

It aims to create a resource bibliography of archival documentation, including the availability of historic catalogues in whatever form; and also to include modern writings on the subject of Britain's legal deposit music legacy from this era.
It aims furthermore to establish where online cataloguing lacunae exist, for these need to be filled before any big data analysis can be carried out. (Copac, Britain's online union catalogue of university and national libraries, has agreed that the addition of RISM numbers to relevant music, should be listed as a future project, to aid future identification of items.)
The project will organise a Study Day for all interested parties, and prepare a subsequent publication either of proceedings, or a comprehensive report of issues raised; and potential big data projects and approaches will be identified for pursuit at a later date.
Whilst a collaborative history would be unfeasible in the context of this bid, a network with a collaborative understanding of the repertoire, its survival patterns and its whereabouts would form a foundation for this important work.

POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS & BENEFITS:- Although much British music of this era is dismissed as trivial, this project will allow researchers and interested musicians to find out more about what is actually in libraries, and librarians to gain insights into the ways this repertoire can be explored.

Who might benefit from this research?

Professional and practitioner groups such as the International Association of Music Libraries (national branches and the international parent organisation) and the Royal Musical Association are obvious beneficiaries, because of their role as gatekeepers between the academy and the general public. Music librarians, special collections professionals (and other librarians with wider responsibilities) act in an advisory capacity to enquirers of all backgrounds, so a knowledge of this historic repertoire enables them to have a more informed engagement with readers and other enquirers. Similarly, RMA members may be involved in music-making at many levels, including community groups and adult education classes.
If, through social media engagement, other networks can be tapped into, then the material may also be of interest to social historians, and those engaged in related areas such as local history, specialists in songwriting (poetry) of the era, or working in a curatorial capacity in a variety of museum settings.

Through these intermediaries, interested members of the public can be introduced to an untapped reservoire of musically accessible material. Knowing where the music is, and how individual pieces might relate to a broader output, whether a single composer's works or a particular category music, is a crucial first step, and making it known to the wider public is the obvious next step.

How might they benefit from this research?

There is a vast body of British-published eighteenth and early nineteenth century music both in today's legal deposit libraries and in those that lost their privilege with the 1836 act, and much of it never sees the light of day. Amongst a mass of music which was fairly run-of-the mill or even mediocre, there is nonetheless a significant amount of music which is accessible, playable or singable, and perhaps also of interest for reasons beyond the music itself. For example, it may have a regional connection, or concern historical events such as the Napoleonic Wars; may be connected with a sociological group (eg composed by women composers, set to texts by women poets, or published by or dedicated to a particular individual); or may have had a particular function, eg pedagogical, theoretical, or written for a particular category of user such as glee-singers or church musicians.

An increased awareness of the repertoire amongst professionals and other subject experts will undoubtedly benefit the many different communities with whom they engage, regardless of whether these are in an academic environment or a more informal setting. Exhibitions, talks, lecture-recitals or workshops enable members of the public to learn something of this repertoire and may inspire them to explore it more deeply. Gaining an awareness of the archival resources documenting the music's place in legal deposit collections will similarly offer the opportunity to develop an understanding of this particular aspect of music publication, library history, early attitudes to the material within the universities, and its historic use by members of the communities in and around the universities.