Episode 33 - Little Robin Redbreast (Part 2)

In this captivating episode of the A Tisket-Tasket Podcast, host Gina explores the curious world of nursery rhymes through the lens of "Little Robin Redbreast." Unraveling the confusion surrounding multiple versions, Gina distinguishes them as separate rhymes and delves into their unique histories. She sheds light on the enigmatic figure of Robert Burchill, who played a pivotal role in preserving music and literature, making nursery rhymes accessible to generations. Join the journey into the intriguing realm of nursery rhymes, where history and culture intertwine. #NurseryRhymes #LittleRobinRedbreast #RobertBurchill #Folklore #CulturalHeritage #MusicHistory 

Transcript

Gina: 0:37

Hello and welcome to a task podcast. I'm your host, Gina. And today we are going to have a second episode talking about the nursery rhyme. Little Robin Redbreast before we get started today, just a few things to go over. I'm looking for your support to help me get out to Portland, Oregon, this November to speak at the American folklore society's conference. Please see my website link in the description below and how you can contribute to making this podcast happen. Now let's get started on episode number 33. By talking about little Robin red breast.

1:18

You

Microphone (USB Condenser Microphone)-1: 1:20

As I was researching, it occurred to me that there was more than one nursery rhyme with the first line, little Robin red breast. I should first say that nursery rhymes do not usually have definitive titles. But are often categorized by their first lines. John orchard Holly. Well well-known to this podcast as a nursery rhyme researcher. Use this categorization with the folklore society. And other researchers have followed suit. Thus it's sometimes makes it difficult to differentiate between versions. To recap, the nursery rhyme I talked about last week was the following. Little Robin Redbreast sat upon a rail. Nibbled dobble went to his head with a wiggle when his tail. Little Robin red breast came to visit me. This is what he whistled. Thank you for my tea. So that is the version I talked about last week. We covered the naughtiness of the first version. We talked about the superstitions around Robin. And around other birds and I encourage you to listen to it. If you have not already. However. This week's nursery rhyme. Is the following. Little Robin red breast sat upon a tree. Up what pussy cats in down when he down came pussy in a way Robin ran says little Robin Redbreast catch me. If you can. Little Robin Redbreast jumped upon a wall. Pussy cat jumped after him and almost got a fall. Little Robin chirped in saying in what did pussy say? Pussy cat said. Meow in Robin jumped away. I also realized that after I finished last week's episode and before it uploaded it. That I use audio of the of this version. As well. So I didn't even, I don't think included audio, the first version of that I read. And that's because when I went to go back and research and try to find audio, I could not find. Any recording of it anywhere. And I don't know if it was because it was so short. I don't know. If it was because of the first version included a naughty. Knotty lyrics about flatulent humor. I have no idea. But you did hear audio versions of this week's poem. For this episode for this week, I will play different audio versions of the rhyme than I played last week. But for now, let's talk about the history of this particular version of little Robin red breast. When I looked to see if this nursery rhyme had a route, a folk song index number, it appeared to share the same entry as the rhyme I talked about last week. Which was 20,612. And it was very annoying to see that entry because they are two different versions. Yeah, scholars like ope and Oop. See these rhymes as two independent entries. And. In my research, I have not found evidence suggesting that they are the same rhyme, except the route folks on index number. And the Wikipedia entry. When reviewing the Oxford dictionary of nursery rhymes, the editors have them as separate entries. And thus, I would categorize them as two different poems. Not only because I believe the ops, but also because their histories are slightly different. They appeared at different times. Now it could be that this version. Was just an elongated version of the first one I read because it did appear after 1744. Which the version I read last week, that's where it was first published in Tommy thumb's songbook. However, I'm going to go with my gut and I'm going to say that these are two different nursery rhymes, and we should consider them as such. So what is the origin of this nursery or I'm, if I'm going to consider them separate. According to opion OB little Robin red breast sat upon a tree was first published in 1800. It included an accompaniment for piano, compiled and written by Robert Berto and the musical circulating library. And I'll talk about what that means in a minute. The rhyme also appears in songs for the nursery 1805. London jingles by J G Russia, 1805. Didi's by J T wood 1850. John orchard Holly Wells collection in 1853. And in correspondence in 1846. So we can see that this version was around from at least the 18 hundreds. Again, it may have been adapted from that previous version. But as I mentioned last week, Robin's were very common or are very common in England. And I see them in a lot of different nursery rhymes. So this could have. Been written completely independent than the little Robin Redbreast I mentioned last week, but who knows? In the only true mother Goose's melodies, 1833. There's a slightly altered version in the second verse. And it reads as follows. Little Robin, Redbreast sat upon a tree. Up what pussy, cat and downwind. He down came Pussycats away. Robin ran says little Robin red breast. Catch me if you can. Little Robin red breast jumped upon a spade pussy cat jumped after him. And then he was afraid little Robin chirped in song. And what did pussy say? Pussy cat said, Meow. Meow. Meow. In Robin flew away. And I included this version because there's a really cool. Illustration of the Robin sitting on a spade. I don't know if the lyrics are suggesting that the Robin was going to hit the cat with the speed or what was going on, but I did want to include it because included a second verse. That was slightly different than the one I had read earlier. But now that we have heard these versions and I've given you a bit of history behind the rhyme, let's go ahead and listen to some of the audio recordings. Now last week I played two versions. I played a known Frank Luther version from the 1940s. And I played an unknown version that sounded like Frank Luther, but it had no identifying marks on the record or the publication. But I guess it was probably around the same time, given the voice and the quality and just kind of, you kind of get an ear for what decade. These things were published. And I think that the versions I played were from around the 1940s. This week, I will start with a spoken version from the Florida center for instructional technology. Part of the university of south Florida, read by Lorraine Montgomery. You can find it on the F C I T website, which I link in the blog. And if you were a teacher in our listening to this podcast, F C I T also includes students activities. With in addition to the audio and the reading, which I think is really handy, especially if you're trying to teach nursery rhymes in a literature setting. But let's go ahead and listen to it now. Very straightforward. Very well-read great job. I love that. This information is on the website and available to teachers and mothers and anyone who wants to learn more about nursery rhymes. The second version that I'm going to play. It's from 1922. So quite old. And it is song by our friend, Alice Green. Now I've played some of her work before, but as I mentioned, when I go to look up her biography and more about the singer, I cannot find a single thing about her. Except that she was in her teens when she recorded this. But we do know that she was a soprano who published a few different recordings for Victor records. This version has different lyrics and it could be its own nursery rhyme. But I wanted to play a second version and I want to do include it because it was from the early 20th century. And I'm a sucker for these Alice Green recordings. So let's go ahead and listen to it now.

10:46

Oh, I wait you at dawn.

Gina: 10:58

Short and sweet and to the point, right. But again, I wanted to include it. I love these old recordings and I love that I can look up recordings from the early 20th century to include in this podcast. So there we have two versions of little Robin red breast for your enjoyment. But let's move on and look more to the poem.

11:17

You

Gina: 11:19

Now there isn't much more that I wanted to add to my analysis that are discussed that I did last week in regards to the lyrics of the poem. It's a pretty straightforward nursery rhyme talking about native flora and fauna that a young child would recognize. And I even included the finger play that was talked about any original version. And I suspect that the version I read today could have some finger play or some hand emotions or some more acting out. We have the cats and we have the up and down and things of that nature. However, I did want to talk more about a name that I uncovered, what I was doing. Some more research. So this is sort of a hybrid episode, I suppose. It is an episode about a nursery ran and an episode about a historical person in the field. The name, Robert Burchill popped up when I was looking at where this nursery I am was first published. I did a quick search and it turns out the virtual was instrumental in collecting and sharing music. In fact, if ethnomusicology is your thing, there's an entire book about virtual in his collection. It's called Burchill. continuation of Bland's collection of divine music consisting of Psalms, hymns and anthems, and the title's a little bit longer from there. But. Burchill as it stands out. It was actually a really big name in collecting music and literature. And not only that, but he didn't hoard it. He wanted other people to see it. And so his name crops up here and there. In British advertisements to try to get. The word out there that he had this literature, a lot of it was divine liturgical pieces and they were available to study or to read and much like the nursery. Right. We talked about today. Some of this even included. You know, scores in which you did play. So I thought that was really neat. He even has an entry on the British museums website, lauding his historical collections in a short biography reads. Robert virtual from 1750 to 1819. One of the important London music publishers from his early imprints. We learned that before commencing business, he was employed by William Randall at washer's old shop and Catherine street. He probably left here on Randall's death instead of his own business with Hugh Andrews. 1, 2 9 new bond street sometime near 1780. After his partnership with Andrews who continue to publishing separately. Virtual appears to have pushed his business forward, vigorously and to have established an extensive musical circulating library. Rapidly coming to the front as a publisher. About the end of the century, he published a quantity of Italian vocal music then in such great demand, much of this in an OB long folio. A great number of gullies also appears singly as well as in large collections. Horsley's in Kyle Cox, several books in oblong folio. He issued many single pieces of handles in altogether, a massive sheet in other musical publications, much too large to indicate. One of the series was a reissue and a continuation of Campbell's country dances and strats fee reels in oblong korto. This extended to at least the 27th book circuit, 1811. The set was originally commenced by William Campbell, the music publisher, but Burchill acquired the place. After making his business, one of the largest of its kind in London, Robert virtual died in 1819. They're from now or shortly after 1821 became virtual Lonsdale and mills in 1830. It was lawn sales and mills. And before 1838, there were two separate seed launch deals going to 26 old bond street in our mills retaining the old address at one 40. Richard Mills was a nephew of Robert virtual from 1868 to 1896 and the business continued. As Richard Mills and sons. That was a short biography published by the British museum about virtual's life. And I felt it incredibly important to include it because. These are the people that are keeping nursery rhymes alive in being able to pass them down generation to generation. And this was before the internet. So it was much more difficult to do so. But like many people I talk about on this podcast, virtuals research focus. Wasn't nursery rhymes. And in his case it was spiritual or liturgical music. However, he had a huge historical impact on the collection of children's music. Especially through his musical circulating library. 1978. Article in a musical times, publications limited writer, Alec Hyatt king talks about just how amazing these circulating libraries were as well as laments. That little is still known about them. And I actually had never heard about these musical circulating libraries before I wrote this podcast episode. I'm not an ethnomusicologist and music is not my strong suit. So if you're really into music, you probably know about this a bit more, but I was really excited to learn about it. The first for the first. Time. In any case king writes that most of the libraries were maintained by music publishers, but a few were part of self-sufficient independent organization. Virtual's collection was one of these. He note that Bertrand's circulating library began in 1786 to 18, 19 by virtual Lonsdale and mills the publication company on bond street. And then personally maintained by virtual until his death and then taken over after his death until about 1860. How awesome is that? Virtual and others maintain personal library so that music and literature could be accessed by others. Allowing for some of these nursery rise to be continued, to be passed out and learned. If you'd like to learn how how Britain musical circulating libraries worked. Check out my reference list on the blog. The article I referred to by king has like the rules and the advertisements from these advertisements from the 19th century, talking about how to use these libraries, which I am just tickled by. It gets really cool to see how. These libraries were used and of course I'm really spoiled as an American because our library system is awesome. And I know that I can go out and check out any book or music or movie that I want to very easily. But in the 19th century, this, you know, wasn't quite as easy as it was today. And so it's people and companies like Birch Hills that allow these things to continue to be used by the public or continue to be used by others. So go ahead and check that out. But. There we have it. Well, I didn't have much to add on last week's episode, where I began to talk about nursery rhymes about red breasted Robins. I certainly wanted to have a second episode where a differentiated between the two rhymes as well as talk about another pivotal historical figure in nursery ride research. I feel like these names in libraries can be so easily lost of time, which is why I feel it's important to talk about them on the podcast. But nevertheless, I want you to thank you for listening this week and continue to listen in next week. And the weeks that follow. Where I continue to talk about. Though weirdness. Of nursery rhymes.