Andrew McCrea takes a brief look at the rich history of organ anthology production in Britain in the last two centuries.

The RCO’s Library contains many examples of printed music from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and a series of digitised editions has been launched to highlight this area of the collection, in order to bring to light often rare material that is not readily available in either printed or electronic formats. This includes the Six Cornet Pieces by the renowned Dr Charles Burney (1726–1814).

The RCO’s Library contains many examples of printed music from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and a series of digitised editions has been launched to highlight this area of the collection: this includes the Six Cornet Pieces by the renowned Dr Charles Burney (1726–1814).

Little is known of Theophania Cecil’s musical life and career, but her Twelve Voluntaries are stylistically very much of their time, with their suggested publication date of 1810. 

Geoffrey Webber’s extensive commentary on the current editions of Buxtehude’s organ music was published to mark the Buxtehude Tercentenary year in 2007.  The aim of this resource is to allow players to move beyond having to rely on any one edition, and to make their own informed decisions about the textual problems.

The copy used for this digital edition comes from the RCO Library, and is part of the RCO’s on-going project to digitise and publish online its collection of rare eighteenth and early nineteenth century music. You can read more on the edition used, and also a little more on Theophania Cecil’s life and music, below, in an article by Andrew McCrea and RCO Librarian Frances Pond.