The Scottish Musical Magazine

Founded in 1919 by its editor William Saunders, the monthly Scottish Musical Magazine (RIPM code SMM) was published in Edinburgh until January 1931. Volumes I through VII (September 1919 to August 1927) comprise twelve issues each; Volume IX has nine single issues (September 1927 to May 1928) and a triple issue (June-July-August 1929). Volume X comprises four single and two double issues (September-October1928 to October 1929). Volume XI comprises twelve single issues (November 1929 to October 1930). Volume XII comprises three issues (November 1930 to January 1931). No reason is given for the cessation of the journal. The articles and reviews are printed in two-column format and pagination is continuous beginning with the number 1. Each issue begins with several articles dealing with historical and contemporary topics about music in Scotland, followed by reviews of concerts and operas, new music publications, books on music subjects. Advertisements appear at the beginning and end of issues and occasionally inserted within an issue.

Issues generally begin with William Saunders’s editorial in which important musical events in Scotland are discussed, explained or reviewed. Saunders reviews important instrumental concerts in Edinburgh including the General Reid Orchestral Concerts, the Scottish Orchestral Concerts, Donald Francis Tovey’s orchestral concerts at the University of Edinburgh, the Edinburgh Bach Society. He provides a column entitled “Vignettes” in which biographical sketches of a wide variety of currently active singers, instrumentalists and composers are given, often accompanied by photographs.

A. M. Henderson is a regular contributor of “Music in Glasgow,” a column dealing with a wide variety of concerts and opera performances including the activities of the Scottish Orchestra, the Glasgow Orpheus Choir, the Glasgow Choral Union, the Saturday Popular Concerts and the Choral and Orchestral Union . In addition, Henderson writes about his pilgrimage to Paris where he encounters concerts of French music.

A column entitled “London Letter” written by F. A. Hadland reports on a great number of performances in the English capital. Appearances by Scottish musicians including the Kennedy-Fraser family

Numerous articles about the history of music in Scotland are found throughout the journal. Granville Bantock on the value of folksong in original composition; J. A. Fuller-Maitland on the music of the Scottish church; F. A. Hadland on Scottish dance music.

This RIPM index was produced from copies of the journal held by the New York Public Library and the Library of Congress.