Caroline Grigson
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781846311918
- eISBN:
- 9781846315886
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781846311918.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
Despite being one of the most successful songwriters of the second half of the eighteenth century, Anne Hunter did not receive as much acclaim as her contemporaries, owing mainly to the fact that ...
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Despite being one of the most successful songwriters of the second half of the eighteenth century, Anne Hunter did not receive as much acclaim as her contemporaries, owing mainly to the fact that many of her works were published anonymously or attributed to ‘a Lady’. Anne usually wrote words for existing tunes, but she also set verses written by others to her own music, and sometimes composed both words and music. She collaborated with Joseph Haydn in two sets of Original Canzonettas and the Creation, and with George Thomson in his Select Collection of Original Welsh Airs. Anne also wrote gloomy poems, many of which are included in Poems, published in 1802 under the name Mrs. John Hunter.Less
Despite being one of the most successful songwriters of the second half of the eighteenth century, Anne Hunter did not receive as much acclaim as her contemporaries, owing mainly to the fact that many of her works were published anonymously or attributed to ‘a Lady’. Anne usually wrote words for existing tunes, but she also set verses written by others to her own music, and sometimes composed both words and music. She collaborated with Joseph Haydn in two sets of Original Canzonettas and the Creation, and with George Thomson in his Select Collection of Original Welsh Airs. Anne also wrote gloomy poems, many of which are included in Poems, published in 1802 under the name Mrs. John Hunter.
Caroline Grigson
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781846311918
- eISBN:
- 9781846315886
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/UPO9781846315886
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
Anne Home Hunter (1741–1821) was one of the most successful song writers of the second half of the eighteenth century, most famously as the poet who wrote the lyrics of many of Haydn's songs. ...
More
Anne Home Hunter (1741–1821) was one of the most successful song writers of the second half of the eighteenth century, most famously as the poet who wrote the lyrics of many of Haydn's songs. However, her work, which included many more serious, lyrical and romantic poems, has been largely forgotten. This book contains over 200 poems, some published in Hunter's lifetime under her married name ‘Mrs John Hunter’, some attributed only to ‘a Lady’, and most importantly, many transcribed from her manuscripts, housed in various archives and in a private collection, which are now collected for the first time. Hitherto Anne Hunter has been known almost entirely through her Poems published in 1802. In her Introduction the author argues that Hunter saw this book as a definitive representation of her poetry. Besides Hunter's consummately skilful lyrics and songs, Poems contains serious political odes and reflective poems. The unpublished material amplifies and extends the work of 1802. The Introduction is followed by a long biographical essay. The daughter of Robert Home, an impoverished Scottish Army surgeon, Anne Hunter spent her adult life in London, where she married the famous anatomist John Hunter, with whom she lived in great style, latterly as a bluestocking hostess, until his death in 1793. The book includes many new details of her long life, including her friendships with Angelica Kaufman (who painted her portrait) and with the bluestocking Elizabeth Carter. The account of Anne's life as a widow describes her relationships with her family and friends.Less
Anne Home Hunter (1741–1821) was one of the most successful song writers of the second half of the eighteenth century, most famously as the poet who wrote the lyrics of many of Haydn's songs. However, her work, which included many more serious, lyrical and romantic poems, has been largely forgotten. This book contains over 200 poems, some published in Hunter's lifetime under her married name ‘Mrs John Hunter’, some attributed only to ‘a Lady’, and most importantly, many transcribed from her manuscripts, housed in various archives and in a private collection, which are now collected for the first time. Hitherto Anne Hunter has been known almost entirely through her Poems published in 1802. In her Introduction the author argues that Hunter saw this book as a definitive representation of her poetry. Besides Hunter's consummately skilful lyrics and songs, Poems contains serious political odes and reflective poems. The unpublished material amplifies and extends the work of 1802. The Introduction is followed by a long biographical essay. The daughter of Robert Home, an impoverished Scottish Army surgeon, Anne Hunter spent her adult life in London, where she married the famous anatomist John Hunter, with whom she lived in great style, latterly as a bluestocking hostess, until his death in 1793. The book includes many new details of her long life, including her friendships with Angelica Kaufman (who painted her portrait) and with the bluestocking Elizabeth Carter. The account of Anne's life as a widow describes her relationships with her family and friends.
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781846311918
- eISBN:
- 9781846315886
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781846311918.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
The early published poems of Anne Hunter appeared anonymously in anthologies, books of music or as broadsheets; they can be identified as hers because the texts are among her manuscripts. This is ...
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The early published poems of Anne Hunter appeared anonymously in anthologies, books of music or as broadsheets; they can be identified as hers because the texts are among her manuscripts. This is also true of her Nine canzonetts ... and six airs, for which she wrote both words and music. Anne's manuscripts are in several collections, most notably those of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the University of Aberdeen, the National Library of Scotland and a private collection (the Jobson Papers), with a few in the Wellcome Library and the British Library. The majority are unpublished. Many of Anne's poems appear in several different manuscript volumes with slight variations in wording, punctuation and capitalization. Almost all are fair copies, written out in Anne's own hand in her old age, rather than original working drafts.Less
The early published poems of Anne Hunter appeared anonymously in anthologies, books of music or as broadsheets; they can be identified as hers because the texts are among her manuscripts. This is also true of her Nine canzonetts ... and six airs, for which she wrote both words and music. Anne's manuscripts are in several collections, most notably those of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the University of Aberdeen, the National Library of Scotland and a private collection (the Jobson Papers), with a few in the Wellcome Library and the British Library. The majority are unpublished. Many of Anne's poems appear in several different manuscript volumes with slight variations in wording, punctuation and capitalization. Almost all are fair copies, written out in Anne's own hand in her old age, rather than original working drafts.
Isobel Armstrong
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781846311918
- eISBN:
- 9781846315886
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781846311918.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
Published in 1802, Poems may be considered the definitive representation of Anne Hunter's poetry. Containing a carefully selected collection of her works, it is Hunter's attempt to consolidate her ...
More
Published in 1802, Poems may be considered the definitive representation of Anne Hunter's poetry. Containing a carefully selected collection of her works, it is Hunter's attempt to consolidate her work and lay claim to many of those songs she had written but had been circulating anonymously, including those written for Haydn's settings. The first three poems in the collection showcase Hunter's great sensitivity and skill in using the poetic conventions of the ode during the time. Following these are poems addressed primarily to family and friends, and then ballads and imitation folk songs that expose the harsh underside of the eighteenth-century life. Hunter saw that the ballad form was a vehicle for showing how the experiences of the common people pressed on the social circle and the hierarchies of the educated, introducing another language and wholly different kinds of poetic convention. The collection ends with over 20 songs, airs and canzonets. While many critics dismiss these poems as the product of a narrow musical culture intended for ladies singing to ladies or, at best, to a mixed audience in the homes of the elite, Hunter may have viewed these lyrics as a quintessential demonstration of the delicate social arts of collaboration and performance. All these poems indicate the amplitude of her interests and her commitment to writing poetry that always had the social circle in mind.Less
Published in 1802, Poems may be considered the definitive representation of Anne Hunter's poetry. Containing a carefully selected collection of her works, it is Hunter's attempt to consolidate her work and lay claim to many of those songs she had written but had been circulating anonymously, including those written for Haydn's settings. The first three poems in the collection showcase Hunter's great sensitivity and skill in using the poetic conventions of the ode during the time. Following these are poems addressed primarily to family and friends, and then ballads and imitation folk songs that expose the harsh underside of the eighteenth-century life. Hunter saw that the ballad form was a vehicle for showing how the experiences of the common people pressed on the social circle and the hierarchies of the educated, introducing another language and wholly different kinds of poetic convention. The collection ends with over 20 songs, airs and canzonets. While many critics dismiss these poems as the product of a narrow musical culture intended for ladies singing to ladies or, at best, to a mixed audience in the homes of the elite, Hunter may have viewed these lyrics as a quintessential demonstration of the delicate social arts of collaboration and performance. All these poems indicate the amplitude of her interests and her commitment to writing poetry that always had the social circle in mind.
