Clerk of Penicuik Papers
Location: GB-Enr
Reference: GD18/4537-8
Date: 1698 - 1720
Size: Loose sheets
Notes:
Selection of loose sheets in the Clerk papers at the National Records of Scotland, predominantly in the hand of or associated with the composer and violinist John Clerk of Penicuik, and grouped together with copies of his five cantatas for voice and strings. Apart from the cantatas, there is a four-movement sonata for violin and figured bass, dance tunes, some with bass, a few vocal pieces, several long sets of variations, and several sketches for sonata movements. An incomplete list of items was given by Elliott in his edition of Clerk’s cantatas, but an updated index here makes note of several items previously unnoticed. One of the cantatas is dated 1698, and a set of variations by Clerk on the tune “Saw ye no my Peggy” is given the date 1720.
Bibliography:
Stell, Sources, 68-70.
Elliott, ed., Five cantatas of John Clerk of Penicuik
McGregor, Violinists and Violin Music in Scotland, 126-8, 273-9, 451-8.
Includes transcription of Clerk’s violin sonata and four other pieces.