Erskine, Thomas A. / The Earl of Kelly

Erskine, Thomas A. / The Earl of Kelly – The Periodical Overture in 8 parts No. 25

Published by Robert Bremner at the Harp and Hautboy, opposite Somerset-House, in the Strand
Issued: 10 June 1769; price 2 shillings
Source: Henry Watson Music Library – Courtesy of Manchester Libraries,
Information and Archives, Manchester City Council: BR580Er56
Instrumentation: 2 violins, viola, basso, 2 oboes, 2 horns [originally in D]
Editors: Barnaby Priest & Alyson McLamore

(German preface not available)

COMMENTARY
After a longish gap—perhaps of more than a year— Robert Bremner (c.1713–1789) resumed publication of the Periodical Overtures by issuing No. 25 on 10 June 1769. The composer was Thomas Alexander Erskine (1732–1781), the sixth Earl of Kelly, and this was the third time that Bremner had featured a composition by his long-time Scottish colleague. Interestingly, the very first work by Erskine to appear in the series (Periodical Overture No. 13) had also been issued after a long hiatus; perhaps Bremner felt that offering a work by a British citizen, instead of one of the many foreign composers who had contributed the majority of the overtures, might “kick-start” the renewed series with more energy. In any event, with the release of Periodical Overture No. 25, Bremner’s “Opera Quinta” was underway.
Erskine and Bremner had first collaborated in Scotland, before Bremner had left Edinburgh for London. During the 1745 Rebellion, Erskine’s father had sided with Bonnie Prince Charlie and ended up in prison. Therefore, it may have been for political reasons that in 1752, at age twenty, Erskine had embarked on a Grand Tour. …

read more / German not available … > HERE