Thomas Hamly Butler (1755-1823) - National Airs and "Exotic" Rondos

I. 

I am interested in what I call "exotic" tunes and songs that were published in Europe from the 16th to the 19th century (see here in my blog & my bibliography). By this I mean music from outside of Europe or from the European periphery that was notated by Western travelers and then made available in print to European readers. For a long time these kind of tunes could be found nearly exclusively in travel books or academic treatises. But since the late 18th century supposedly authentic non-European tunes began to appear in the popular music repertoire. 

I recently came across one interesting example from the early 19th century, an "Egyptian air" arranged as a rondo by one Thomas Hamly Butler. Here is one of the many editions:

• An Egyptian Air. Arranged as a Rondo, or Easy Lesson for the Piano Forte, by T. H. Butler, Author of Lewie Gordon, Goulding & Co., London, n.d. [1815?], at Google Books [= BL] 

This piece seems to have been very popular and it remained available in print for nearly the whole century (see Copac). We can see that the author only claimed to have arranged it. This suggests that he wanted the buyers to believe that it was an original "Egyptian" tune. The problem with a publication of this kind - and the many similar pieces - is that it is difficult or even impossible to find out if it was really an "authentic" melody. But at that time it didn't matter much. The buyers and critics usually had no way of knowing. One may assume that many of them regarded it as an original "Egyptian" melody. Therefore Butler's rondo served as a representation of a foreign musical culture. 

This seemed like an interesting problem to me. First I wanted to know more about the arranger of this rondo. Who was Thomas Hamly Butler? And then I will try to place his piece in a wider historical context. What other musical publications of this kind were available at that time? Who played these pieces? How do these works fit into the history of the so-called "national airs"? A great number of "Scottish" and "Irish" tunes and songs had already been published at that time. "National" melodies from other European countries also appeared. Therefore non-European tunes - no matter if they were "authentic" or not - were of course a reasonable addition to the popular repertoire. 

II. 

Thomas Hamly Butler (1755-1823) was a pianist, composer, arranger and music teacher, first in London and then in Edinburgh. A search in Copac provides several hundred results, nearly exclusively works for the piano. So it seems he must have been quite busy during his lifetime. But I must admit that I have rarely heard his name before. Not much has been written about him. There are only a few short articles in some encyclopedias (Fiske in New Grove 8, 1980, p. 518; Squire in DNB 8, 1886, at wikisource; Brown, Biographical Dictionary, 1886, pp. 132-3; Moore, Complete Encyclopedia, 1854, p. 168) and a paragraph or two in some books (see f. ex. Fiske, Theatre Music, 1973, pp. 425-6, Nelson, Notion, 2002, p. 261). Some information about his early years can be found in a letter by Butler himself that was published in The Bee, Or Literary Weekly Intelligencer (Vol. 10, No. 83, 19.7.1792, p. 65). 

He was born in London but as a young man he went to Italy for three years to study music with composer Niccolò Piccinni (1728-1800). After his return to London he was hired to play the piano at Covent Garden. He also tried his hand at writing music for stage shows, first for Calypso, a New Masque (1779; see The Morning Chronicle No. 3070, 23.3.1779, BBCN) and then for The Widow of Delphi (1780, see Google Books [=BL]), both with words by popular dramatist Richard Cumberland.

But these two shows weren't particularly successful and his career in London was soon to end. In the early 80s Mr. Butler moved to Edinburgh where he spent the rest of his life as a teacher of music and writer of piano pieces mostly for amateurs and beginners. He taught the young ladies of the nobility and the better-off families to play this instrument. It is quite interesting to read his ads in local newspapers like the Caledonian Mercury [= CM]. For example on November 22nd, 1804 (CM No. 12981, BNCN) he "intimates, That he has commenced Teaching the Piano-Forte, as usual, for the winter Season". On May 5th, 1806 (CM No. 13157, BNCN) it was announced that "in the middle of May, Mr. Butler intends opening a Class, at his house, for Young Ladies, to improve themselves in this and some other very necessary and useful branches of musical knowledge". That year he opened what he called a Musical Academy: 

"Mr. Butler begs leave to acquaint his Friends and the Public, That [...] on Monday se'enright he will open his Academy (as formerly advertised), and, with the assistance of the Miss Butlers, commence his plan of teaching Beginners the Piano Forte, For Two Guineas the Quarter. The Young Ladies will be more thoroughly grounded in the Rudiments of Music at the Academy than they can be in any other way, and they will be taught to Finger the Piano Forte well, and to execute what they play neatly, and as the Writing of Music, in a certain way, is a real help to the better understanding it, writing it for this purpose will also be taught at the Academy; - in short, a real foundation is Mr. Butler's object, and he flatters himself, that his long experience and tried ability as a teacher of Music, qualify him in a very particular manner for this undertaking [...] Mr. B. continues his Private Teaching, at Two Guineas Twelve Lessons as usual" (CM No. 13228, 18.10.1806, BNCN). 

We can see that - just like all other teachers of course - he claimed to have a particularly good and effective method and he also pointed out his "his well known experience, as a Teacher of Music" (CM, No. 13000, 5.1.1805, BNCN). At this time he was already more than twenty years in this business. Among his educational publications were the Musical Games (1804, see Kassler, p. 535; see catalog BL). In several ads he described them as "an entertaining way of passing A Winter Evening, And a pleasant and easy method of assisting Young Performers on the Piano-forte, To attain and retain some very useful Musical Knowledge" (CM No. 129891, 22.11.1804, BNCN), as " a pleasant and amusing, instead of the common dry and discouraging way, of learning the Keys of Music, both Major and Minor, with their Sharps, Flats and Scales" that "will tend more to increase and establish this most useful and necessary branch of musical knowledge in their memories than any other method whatever" (CM, No. 13000, 5.1.1805, BNCN) or as "entertaining and instructive musical Games, which no young Lady should be without who wish to know correctly by heart and play with ease and judgment upon the Piano Forte" (CM No. 13157, 5.5.1806, BNCN). 

Exactly for these "young Ladies"- the young Gentlemen of course did not make music, they had other things to do - he wrote his piano pieces, mostly rondos as well as some sonatas. In this respect he showed an astonishing productivity. Many of these pieces were based on Scottish tunes and other national airs. Thankfully a considerable number of his works - 70 at the moment - have been digitized by Google for the British Library and are now available online (see BL & Google Books). Some more can be found on several other sites (see IMSLP; Internet Archive). 

III. 

The first was "Lewie Gordon", published in 1782 after he had moved to Edinburgh. At least the earliest mention in a newspaper ad that I know of is from that year (CM, No. 9858, 10.4.1782, BNA): The Favourite Scots Air of Lewie Gordon, made into a Rondeau. It was later claimed that Mr. Butler had heard the song from "the maid of the house" and then chose it as the first tune to turn into a rondo (Moore, Complete Encyclopedia, p. 168). This piece was clearly a great success and it would be regularly printed again during the following decades by nearly all major publishers (see Copac), for example by Hamilton (c. 1800, at Google Books), Dale (c. 1800, at Google Books), Walker (c. 1802, at Google Books), Preston & Son (c. 1811, at Google Books) and Goulding & Co. (n.d., in Jenkyns 07, at the Internet Archive). Butler also once announced "Lewie Gordon, very much improved [...] A very Pleasing Sonata for the Piano-Forte, in which is introduced the admired Rondo of Lewie Gordon, with Alterations and Additions" (CM No. 13352, 3.8.1807, BNCN). In ads and on sheet music covers he was often referred to as the "Author of Lewie Gordon" (see f. ex. CM No. 11509, 8.6.1795, BNA). 

Apparently Mr. Butler regarded himself as an authority for Scottish songs. He also attempted an anthology A Select Collection of Original Scotish Airs Arranged for One and Two Voices, with Introductory & Concluding Symphonies and Accompanyments for the Flute, Violin & Piano Forte [...] With an Additional Selection of Words from the Most Admired Scotch and English Poets (Muir and Wood, Edinburgh, 1800, see cat. BL). This publication looked "extremely similar" (Nelson 2003, p. 261) to George Thomson's ambitious Select Collection that was published since 1793 (see f. ex. the First Set, reprint Dublin, c. 1793, at the Internet Archive). He even copied the term "Scotish" instead of "Scottish" from Thomson's title. 

Of course the difference was that Mr. Butler wrote the arrangements himself while Thomson had managed to hire star composers like Pleyel. But nonetheless he claimed in his ads (f. ex. CM No. 12289, 28.6.1800, BNCN) that this "Elegant Folio Volume" with mostly the same songs was "infinitely preferable to any collection of the kind that hitherto has appeared". I really wonder what Mr. Thomson - who also lived in Edinburgh - thought about Butler's anthology. But by all accounts it was clearly not a big success. No further volumes appeared and later nothing more was heard about it. 

Much more successful were his many piano arrangements of - mostly - Scottish tunes: "Mr. Butler, as a rondo writer, has long been a favourite with the public" (Universal Magazine 10, 1808, p. 460). It seems that he wrote them on assembly line. I haven't counted these publications but it must have been several a year. Here I will list only some examples: 

• Corn Riggs. A Favorite Scots air, Made a Rondo for the Harpsichord or Piano Forte, Corri & Company, Edinburgh, c.1795, at Google Books [= BL]
• The Birks of Invermay. A New Rondo for the Piano forte or Harpsichord, Stewart & Co., Edinburgh, c.1796, at Google Books [= BL]
• I'll gang nae mair to yon Town. A New Rondo for the Piano Forte, Stewart & Co., Edinburgh, c.1800, at Google Books [= BL]
• The Lass of Paties Mill. A Favorite Rondo for the Piano Forte, Gow & Shepherd, Edinburgh, 1799 (see CM No., 3.8.1799, BNA), at Google Books [= BL]
• A New and Pleasing Sonata for the Piano Forte. The Beautiful Scots Airs of Tweed Side, the Broom of Cowden knows, and Benny Jean of Aberdeen, are introduced in this Sonata, Brysson, London, c.1802, at Google Books [= BL]
• The Flowers of Edinburgh. Arranged as a Rondo for the Piano Forte, Clementi, Banger, Hyde, Collard & Davis, London, 1804 (see The Morning Chronicle No. 11106, 22.12.1804), at BL 
• The Earl of Moira's Strathspey, with entirely New and Brilliant Variations for the Piano Forte, Goulding & Co., London, 1806 (see CM No. 13157, 5.5.1806, BNCN), at Google Books [= BL]
• The Ewe wi' the Crooked Horn. A Favorite Scots Air, Arranged as a Rondo for the Piano Forte, Goulding, Phipps, D'Almaine & Co., London, c.1810, at Google Books [= BL]
• Could Kail in Aberdeen. A Favorite Scots Air, Arranged as a Rondo for the Piano Forte, Goulding, Phipps, D'Almaine & Co., London, c.1810, at Google Books [= BL]
• The Bush Aboon Traquair, A Favorite Scots Air, Arranged as a Rondo for the Piano Forte, Goulding, Phipps, D'Almaine & Co., London, c.1810, at Google Books [= BL]
• Durandarte & Belerna. A Favorite Scotch Air, Arranged as a Rondo for the Piano Forte, Wheatstone, London, c.1810, at Google Books [= BL]

Sometimes he compiled small anthologies with several pieces bound together: 

• Eight Rondos for the Piano Forte, with or without the Additional Keys. Composed from the following favorite English and Scotch Airs, Printed for the Author, Edinburgh, 1806, at Google Books [= BL]

Among the Scottish tunes included here were "The Bush Aboon Traquair", "My Ain Kind Dearie" and "Roys Wife of Aldivalloch". In this case he noted in the advert for whom this work was intended:

"These Rondos are all of them of an agreeable length to play in company and are composed to shew the taste and execution of the performers without tiring the hearers; and, from very long experience Mr. Butler can affirm [...] that these are the best, as well as the most inviting sort of Lessons that can be given to young performers, to improve their taste, and increase their execution upon the Piano Forte" (CM No. 13156, 2.1.1806, BNCN). 

Interestingly the reviews of Mr. Butler's publications in the contemporary press were usually quite positive. In the Monthly Magazine (18, 1804, p. 250) it was noted that they had "frequently awarded our praise" to his "productions". For example the reviewer of Dainty Davie. A Favorite Air Arranged as a Rondo for the Piano Forte (Goulding & Co., London, 1802, at Google Books) was mostly impressed by this work: 

"Mr. Butler has arranged this air with a considerable degree of taste. The introductory movement, in three quavers, andante expressivo, is pleasingly conceived, both in the bass and general disposition of the melody; and the modulation, though in some places rather abrupt, is bold in its effect, and displays a respectable degree of science" (Monthly Magazine 13, 1802, p. 155). 

A 4th Sonata for the Piano-Forte, in which are introduced the favourite Scotch Airs "Lochaber" and "Duncan Gray" (1803, see Copac) was also praised and recommended: 

"Mr. Butler's excellent first movement to this sonata, together with the taste with which he has ornamented and augmented the subject matter of the following movement, will render the composition a pleasing acquisition with piano-forte performers. The plan of introducing old and favourite airs in instrumental compositions, is a very eligible one; and when adopted with a success equal to the present, forms a strong recommendation with the generality of hearers" (Monthly Magazine 14, 1802, p. 170) 

The review of another work, A Slow Movement, and the Favourite Scots air of O! Bonnie Lassie, Arranged as a Rondo, with or without Additional Keys (Goulding & Co., see cat. BL) was even better: 

"The 'slow movement' to this production, which we suppose to be original, does great credit to Mr. Butler's taste and imagination. It is smooth, flowing, and affecting, and sweetly introduces the charming Scots' air, by which it is succeeded. As a rondo, this air, under Mr. Butler's excellent management, produces additional effect, and forms one of the most pleasing exercises for the piano-forte that we have noticed in a considerable time" (Monthly Magazine 15, 1803, p. 170). 

Of course Butler was not the only one to use Scottish tunes for his popular piano pieces. That was quite common at that time (see f. ex. Nelson 2003, pp. 255-66) and sonatas and rondos of this kind had become a lucrative part of the music business. Many other composers and arrangers worked in this field. A look at contemporary newspaper adverts may suffice. For example publisher James Hamilton from Edinburgh announced in an ad in the Caledonian Mercury in 1804 on November 24th (No. 12982, BNCN) not only three new pieces by Mr. Butler ("De'il tak' the War", "O'er the Water to Charlie" and "Tweedside") but also one by Domenico Corri ("O'er the muir among the Heather") and five by John Ross from Aberdeen, another popular composer from that time who adapted "Scotch Airs" in his sonatas and rondos. 

But it seems that Butler was particularly busy in this respect. I haven't counted his relevant works published between 1782 and 1823 but a complete bibliography could be a challenging task. Besides that there is also another question. There is good reason to assume that he had played - with his numerous piano pieces - a not unimportant part in popularizing all these tunes all over England, "among a class who might otherwise have remained in ignorance of their numberless beauties" (Brown, Biographical Dictionary, p. 132). Many young pianists have learned and played them and that has surely also "prolonged the longevity of their popularity amongst amateur performers" (Nelson 2003, p. 266) and those who had to listen to them. 

It is also not unreasonable to suspect that Mr. Butler's - and of course his like-minded colleague's - works played a bigger role in disseminating the Scottish melodies they used than the big ambitious anthologies like George Thomson's Select Collection. These were expensive publications that not everybody could afford. But a rondo by Butler was much cheaper, much easier to get and - I assume - easier to play for the typical amateur pianist. 

I noticed that most of the experts on Scottish songs and music apparently didn't care much for Butler. I found him rarely mentioned in the relevant literature and as far as I know nobody ever wrote more than a few lines about him. Today his works are all forgotten and his reputation isn't the best. Fiske in his somewhat lackluster article in the New Grove (Vol. 8, 1980, p. 518) only mentioned in passing "a profusion of unambitious piano rondos and sonatas on 'Scotch' themes". Claire Nelson (2003, p. 261) noted that "in general his works seem to have lacked originality". Only recently another modern expert referred to "Butler's usual rubbish" (D. McGuinness on Twitter, 14.2.2019). 

This may all be correct and I don't want to doubt it. But, as far as I know, Mr. Butler never claimed to be another Pleyel or Beethoven. He specialized in music for amateurs and beginners, "those juvenile practitioners, who wish to gratify the ear, while they are improving the finger" (Monthly Magazine 28, 1809, p. 418) and many of them were surely not among the musically most gifted. He wrote "agreeable trifles for the piano-forte" (Monthly Magazine 28, 1809, p. 316) and that was his niche on the music market. 

It seems that Butler did quite well both as a teacher and a composer. He had a successful business for four decades. By all accounts both the critics and the buyers were satisfied with what he produced. As mentioned above the reviews of his works were usually very good and his "unambitious" rondos probably sold quite well. Otherwise he wouldn't have written so many. This is a field that perhaps needs a little bit more research. It is not really important if what Mr. Butler wrote and published was "rubbish" or not. More relevant is the quantitative data. There must have been a reason for his apparent success and his numerous works surely had a certain importance on the popularization and dissemination of the so-called national airs, Scottish and others. They were played and they were listened to, not only in Scotland but all over England. But this is a question that should be left for the musicologists. 

IV. 

Mr. Butler of course did not only arrange Scottish tunes. He also attempted variations and rondos on patriotic standards like "God Save The King" and "Rule Britannia" (see f. ex. CM, No. 11153, 16.2.1793, BNA; No. 13156, 1.2.1806, BNCN), composed military pieces like The Royal Montrose Volunteers. A New March (see CM No. 11509, 8.6.1795, BNA), The Landing of the Brave 42nd in Egypt. A Military Rondo for the Piano Forte (1802; see Kassler, p. 492; Copac) or The Marching and Embarkation of the Brave 42nd Regiment, a Grand Military Divertimento for the Piano Forte (see CM No. 14134, 25.7.1812) and turned some contemporary popular tunes into rondos. I will only mention Sanderson's "Adown, adown, adown in the Valley" (see Universal Magazine 10, 1808, p. 460) and Nathaniel Gow's "Long Life to Step Mothers" (c. 1810, at Google Books). The latter was published by Gow himself who apparently appreciated that a popular rondo writer revived his tune. 

But he also used other national airs, for example some Irish tunes. The Favorite Irish Air of Aileen Aroon with Variations for the Piano Forte or Harp was published in 1807 (at NLI, see CM No. 13352, 3.8.1807, BNCN) and Gramachree Molly, A New Rondo for the Piano Forte or Harp (c. 1810, at Google Books) some years later. Not at least Mr. Butler also tried his hand at foreign melodies: 

• A Slow Movement and a Favorite Russian Arranged as a Rondo, for the Piano Forte, with or without the Additional Keys [No. 12], Goulding & Co., London, 1802, at Google Books [= BL])
• A Slow Movement and a favorite Second Russian Air Arranged as a Rondo for the Piano Forte [No. ?], Goulding, Phipps & D'Almaine, London, c. 1802, at Google Books [= BL]
• A New Slow Movement, & the Favorite Russian Air of the Drunken Sailor, Arranged as a Rondo for the Piano Forte [No. ?], Goulding, Phipps & D'Almaine, London, c.1803, at Google Books [= BL]
• A Slow Movement and A Favorite Danish Air, Arranged as a Rondo for the Piano-Forte. With or Without the Additional Keys [No. 7], Goulding & Co., London, c.1802, at Google Books [= BL]

He also wrote Two Sonatas for the Piano-Forte, in which are introduced favourite Danish Airs as the Subjects of the Rondos. It seems that no copy has survived but there was a review (Monthly Magazine 13, 1802, p. 496): 

"We can have the pleasure to speak of these sonatas in highly commendatory terms. Their style, though familiar, is gay and inspired; and the Danish airs are sweet and full of national character. Mr. Butler, in the digressive matter of the rondos, has been particularly happy in adhering to the cast of his subjects, to which he always returns with an adress which indicates a well-cultivated taste, and maturity of judgment." 

Russian tunes were not uncommon at that time in British music market. In fact it seems that that there was even a kind of fashion for "Russian Airs" (see Copac). But as far as I know Mr. Butler may have been the first one to introduce melodies said to be from Denmark. 

This series of "Slow Movements, with favourite select Airs, arranged as Rondos" (Morning Post No. 10647, 23.11.1802, BNA; see Copac) was published since 1801 or 1802. It is particularly interesting because of its international approach. Of course he used predominantly Scots airs but there were also some foreign tunes: besides those from Russia and Denmark listed above he offered a "Neapolitan air" and a "Spanish Quick Step" as well as two pieces based on melodies from India and Persia. At least he claimed so:

• A Slow Movement and a favorite Indian Air Arranged as a Rondo for the Piano Forte [No. 15], Goulding, Phipps & D'Almaine, London, c.1802, at the Internet Archive 
• A New Slow Movement and a Beautiful Persian Air Arranged as a Rondo for the Piano Forte [No. 23], Goulding, Phipps & D'Almaine, London, 1802, at Google Books [= BL] (see the review in: Monthly Magazine 14, 1802, p. 441) 

This was the time when foreign national airs began to appear in the popular repertoire. This included a small amount of supposedly non-European tunes. I don't mean the pseudo-exotic music - from Lully to Mozart, from a Ballet des Indiens performed at the French court in the early 17th century (see Pisani, Chronological Listing, 2006) to an Egyptian Love Song by Welsh bard Edward Jones, published in one of his earliest collections, The Musical Bouquet; or Popular Songs, and Ballads (1799, p. 4) - that was so popular in Western Europe (see also Locke 2011 & 2015 about "exoticism"). Now real "national music" from outside of Europe - Westernized and made usable for European instrumentalists and singers - became available on sheet music and in popular anthologies. Of course there were only few publications and what was published was more often than not difficult to distinguish from the traditional "exoticism". But it was a visible development. 

We may at first look to Germany. Here the Abbé Vogler was a kind of innovator. His Polymelos ou Caractères de Musique de differentes Nations (1791, at BLB Karlsruhe) only included European tunes but in a later anthology with easy arrangements for pianists, the Pieces de Clavecin faciles (1798, at the Internet Archive), he also offered several tunes from outside of Europe: some that he claimed to have collected in North Africa as well as a Chinese melody he had learned while in London some years earlier. He even performed these tunes in his concerts all over Europe (see also here in my blog). 

In the meantime German musician Karl Kambra had published in London Two Original Chinese Songs. Moo-Lee-Chwa & Higho Highau, for the Piano Forte or Harpsichord (1795, at Harvard UL, see also the review in Monthly Magazine 4, 1796, pp. 223-4). But in England tunes from India played a bigger role. William Hamilton Bird's Oriental Miscellany, an anthology of Indian melodies arranged for piano that was printed in Calcutta in 1789 (at the Internet Archive), had inspired a fashion for so-called "Hindustannie Airs" (see f. ex. Farrell, pp. 31-44; Woodfield, pp. 292-95; see also here in my blog, ch. 2) and since the late 1790s several collections with new arrangements of these tunes appeared in London. 

Composer E. S. Biggs published two volumes of Twelve Hindoo Airs with English words by poet Amelia Opie (c. 1800, at the Internet Archive). Thomas Williamson offered Twelve Original Hindostanee Airs (c.1800, see Copac). In 1802 M. P. King added Three Indian Rondos for the Piano-forte. The Subjects Taken from Some of the Most Favorite Airs of Hindostan (see Copac; see Monthly Magazine 13, 1802, p. 155) to the available repertoire. We can see that Mr. Butler was also among the first to join this new musical fashion. 

But his "Persian" rondo was more unusual. In fact until that time only two tunes supposedly from Persia had been published in Europe. The first one was the "petit Air Persan" in Jean Chardin's Voyage de Perse (1711, Vol. 2, pl. 26) that later also appeared in Rousseau's Dictionnaire de Musique (here in the Engl. ed., 1779, p. 265). The other one - of unkown and surely dubious origin - can be found in Domenico Corri's Select Collection of the Most Admired Songs (c.1782/3, Vol. 3, p. 44). 

Of course it is not clear if the tune used by Butler really was genuine. On the title page he only claimed to have arranged it. Perhaps he had received the melody from an unknown informant, someone who was in Persia and then had brought it to England. This was not unusual at that time. If it was in fact an original melody it would have been a notable achievement, no matter how much edited or even mutilated it may have been. But of course it is also possible that he had written it himself and then passed it off as a foreign tune. 

After all these Indian airs one from Persia surely had a real novelty value. At least the reviewer in the Monthly Magazine (14, 1803, p. 441) was impressed by this "beautiful" air and Mr. Butler's arrangement. After these two publications Mr. Butler returned to the usual repertoire. There were no more "exotic" tunes for a while until the Egyptian Rondo. But in the meantime some other composers and editors offered more music of this kind to a - hopefully - curious musical public. 

Feliks Yaniewicz (1762-1848, see Wikipedia), a Polish composer and musician who lived in Liverpool and later in Edinburgh, also wrote rondos based on Scots airs and European tunes (see Copac). The Indian War Hoop, A Rondo for the Piano Forte (1804, at Google Books) was his contribution to the "exotic" repertoire. He even performed this piece in concerts (see CM No. 12876, 19.3.1804, BNCN). Henry Dixon Tylee from Bath arranged Eight Indian Airs Selected by A Lady (c. 1805, at Google Books). This was published by Goulding in London who was also responsible for King's Indian Airs, the second volume of Williamson's Hindostanee Airs and of course for Butler's series of Slow Movements. It seems this publisher was particularly interested in foreign national airs. We will meet him more often in the next decade. 

Then there were the earliest anthologies of international national airs. Welsh bard Edward Jones published his Lyric Airs with "Greek, Albanian, Walachian, Turkish, Arabian, Persian, Chinese, and Moorish National Songs and Melodies" in 1805 (at the Internet Archive). He had received the "Persian Air" included here from an informant who had heard it in East India (p. 25). More collections of this kind would follow (see here in my blog). William Crotch's, Specimens of Various Styles of Music (1808) was a systematic presentation of national airs from Britain and from all over the world with a generous number of non-European tunes (pp. 145-65, at the Internet Archive). These were no academic treatises even though the editors included notes and an introduction. Crotch's Specimens even grew out of lectures in Oxford and London. But they were intended for practical use. All tunes were arranged for piano and they could be played by curious musicians. 

Otherwise not much more appeared on commercial sheet music at that time. There were some "Turkish" pieces, for example one by Joseph Woelfl (1773-1812, see Wikipedia), an Austrian composer who had relocated to London in 1805. There he also began to write rondos for the British market (see Copac). But his Turkish March and Rondo (1809, see Copac; see Morning Chronicle No. 12373, 6.1.1809, BNCN) may have to do more with the traditional alla Turca style than with original Turkish music. Nonetheless it surely fit well with the new interest in "exotic" national airs. 

The same can be said about a Persian Dance, a great hit in 1810 that was played on dances of the high society (see Cooper, Examples). Welsh bard John Parry, a composer and multi-instrumentalist who at that time had already made a name for himself himself as "the composer of several ballads, and agreeable exercises for young piano-forte practitioners" (Monthly Magazine 29, 1810, p. 483) published it as The Persian Dance. A Favorite Air Composed and Arranged as a Familiar Rondo for the Piano Forte (Bland & Weller, London, 1810; see cat. BL; Copac). There were also many other editions both as sheet music, for example one by Joseph Dale (at Google Books), and in dance anthologies like Nathaniel Gow's Favorite Dances of 1812 (p. 2). 

It is unlikely that this dance is really based on an original Persian tune. At least one newspaper reported that it was "composed in compliment to his Excellency Mirza Abul Hassan" (quoted by Cooper, Examples), the Persian ambassador who was in London at that time. So it seems it was a new tune, probably written by Parry himself to whom it was credited in some contemporary newspaper reports. But three decades later this "Persian Dance" was included in Parry's own anthology Two Thousand Melodies, arranged for All Instruments forming an Encyclopedia of Melody (D'Almaine & Co., London, 1841, p. 155) and there he didn't claim authorship. In fact we really don't know who wrote this tune and where it was from. But at least Parry added a touch of authenticity. In his arrangement he "introduced an imitation of a small pipe used by the shepherds in Persia, somewhat resembling the English flageolet, and described to Mr. Parry by his Excellency the Persian Ambassador" (Monthly Magazine 29, 1810, p. 483). 

V. 

Here I can return to Butler's Egyptian Rondo, that little piece of music that served as the initial inspiration for this work. We can see that it fit well into this music historical context. And again - as with the other "exotic" rondos - we don't know if it was genuine. Of course it is possible that he had received the melody from an anonymous informant, perhaps someone who had heard and noted it in Egypt. But we have no way of knowing. 

At that time Egypt was no terra incognita, at least not since Bonaparte's invasion 1798, the Battle of Abukir and the landing of British troops. Since 1799 a few songs and tunes referring to Egypt had appeared. Edward Jones included an "Egyptian Love Song" in one of his earliest collections, The Musical Bouquet; or Popular Songs, and Ballads (1799, p. 4). Broderip & Wilkinson offered an Egyptian March by the Lord Viscount Galway (Times No. 5280, 12.4.1801; Morning Chronicle No. 10143, 12.4.1801). Another Egyptian March, for a Military Band, also adapted for the Piano Forte was published by Cahusac in London (see Copac). Butler himself wrote The Landing of the Brave 42nd in Egypt. A Military Rondo for the Piano Forte (1802; see Kassler, p. 492; Copac). 

But original tunes from Egypt had not yet been made available in print in Western Europe. Neither Jones nor Crotch were able to include one in their respective anthologies. Only in 1809 French musicologist Villoteau - one of the scholars who had accompanied Bonaparte on his expedition - offered a generous amount of musical examples in his De l'État Actuel de l'Art Musical en Égypte, one volume of the famous Description de l'Égypte (pp. 607-846, available at the Internet Archive). But I couldn't find Butler's tune in this book. It is of course not even known if he was familiar with this work. 

The dating of Butler's Egyptian Rondo is also a little bit difficult. It was not entered at Stationer's Hall and I know of no contemporary reviews that would help to determine when this piece was first published. Besides that I only found one advert, strangely not in a London newspaper but in a provincial publication. With an ad in the Staffordshire Advertiser on August 24th (at BNA) publisher Goulding, D'Almaine, Potter & Co. announced a "Second Egyptian Air" by Butler. I have no idea what the first one was but this seems like a reasonable publication date for the well-known Egyptian Rondo that I am discussing here. 

Then we can have a look at the four editions of this piece that are at the moment - thanks to the British Library - available online at Google Books. The tentative dates from the catalog are not really reliable and look more like guesswork. Therefore I have added, with the help of Music Publishing on the British Isles by Humphries & Smith (1970), the time span when the respective publisher had his business at the address given on their edition: 

• An Egyptian Air. Arranged as a Rondo, or Easy Lesson for the Piano Forte, Goulding & Co., London, n.d. [betw. 1811 & 1816], at Google Books [= BL] 
• An Egyptian Air. Arranged as a Rondo, or Easy Lesson for the Piano Forte, J. Lawson, London, n.d. [after 1814], at Google Books [= BL] 
• Butler's Egyptian Rondo, For the Piano-Forte, Preston, London, n.d. [betw. 1810 & 1822], at Google Books [= BL] 
• An Egyptian Air. Arranged as a Easy Lesson for the Piano Forte, Birchall & Co., London, n.d. [betw. 1824 & 1829], at Google Books [= BL] 

These four were all published after 1810 and the one published by Goulding seems to have been the earliest. That fits well with the advert quoted above. Nearly all other editions listed in British library catalogs (see Copac) also appear to be from after 1810/11. There is only one exception: A Favorite Little Egyptian Air, made an Easy Rondo for the Piano Forte and humbly dedicated to the Right Honorable Lady Isabella Boyle was published by McFadyen in Glasgow and is dated as from "ca. 1800" (see cat. UofGlasgow). This is perhaps a little too early. The publication dates in library catalogs are often unreliable. Publisher McFadyen was active until 1826 (Humphries & Smith, p. 222 ). 

There were also several American editions, for example by Blake in Philadelphia (c.1816, at LoC), Graupner in Boston (c.1810, at LoC), Willig in Philadelphia (c.1810, at LoC) and Willson in New York (c.1812, at Levy Sheet Music). The tentative dates in the catalogs indicate that the Egyptian Rondo was not available there before 1810. All in all it seems reasonable to assume that Butler's rondo first appeared in Britain in 1810 or 1811. If it really had been published much earlier it clearly wasn't successful at first and only became popular after 1810. I even tend to think that the great success of John Parry's Persian Dance perhaps inspired Butler and his publisher to offer something equally "exotic" and therefore this Egyptian Rondo was either composed and published at that time or - if already available earlier - revived and printed anew. 

An "Egyptian" air was as uncommon and rare as a "Persian" dance. And it didn't matter if it really was an original tune or not. The buyers had no way of knowing that. Butler's rondo was clearly a great success. This can be seen from the surprising number of new editions by other publishers. But some other composers also felt inspired to try something similar. John Parry - since his Persian Dance an expert for "exotic" rondos - answered with an "Arabian" air and on the title page he even referred to Butler's piece. This was also published by Goulding: 

• John Parry, Arabian Rondo, for the Piano Forte. Intended as a Companion to Butler's Egyptian Rondo. Composed and respectfully inscribed to Miss Young, Goulding, D'Almaine, Potter & Co., London, n. d. [betw. 1811 & 1816], at Google Books [= BL]; at Google Books [= BSB] 

This piece must have also been quite successful. Mr. Parry then produced a whole series of "international" rondos (see Copac). I will only cite one here because the others are listed on the title page: 

• John Parry, The Hibernian Rondo, For The Piano Forte, Composed to Correspond With The Arabian, Russian, Hanoverian, Swiss, Prussian, Venetian, Spanish, Milanese, Turkish & Cambrian Rondos, No. 11, Goulding D'Almaine, Potter & Co, London, n.d. [betw. 1811 & 1816], at Google Books [= BL] 

Of course most of these rondos' titles refer to European countries and Hanover wasn't really an "exotic" foreign place. But the world outside of Europe was at least additionally represented by the Turkish Rondo of which apparently no copy has survived. Interestingly Parry occasionally identified the origin of the tune he used. In case of the Hanoverian Rondo he informed the buyers that the "subject [was] taken from a German Air" (see BL) and the "subject" of the Hibernian Rondo was borrowed "from a Song in 'High Notions' called Dennis McPhane". But of course it is not clear if the Turkish and Arabian rondos are also based on original tunes. At around the same time Parry wrote an Indian Rondo, Composed in a Familiar Style, for the Piano Forte (Phipps, London, c.1815, see Copac) that was not part of this series

Shortly later one J. P. Wrede jumped on this bandwagon and produced not only an Original Egyptian Rondo but also "celebrated" Indian and Chinese Rondos (1816/17; see Kassler, p. 683 & p. 688; see Copac). This was a pseudonym of John Charles White, a young composer from a music publishing family in Bath, who otherwise was busy writing country dances on assembly-line (see Cooper, White v. Gerock). Then there was Matthias Holst (1767-1845; see Scott, M. H.; see IMSLP), a German musician from Riga who lived in England. He composed piano pieces, many of them on "foreign" subjects (see Copac) and later also arranged Scottish airs. Holst offered Tartarian, Circassian and American rondos and also tried his hand at a Chinese Rondo (c.1817, at Google Books; see YouTube). 

Butler himself also tried to capitalize on his great success and published a New Egyptian Rondo, Composed and Arranged for the Piano Forte or Harp in 1819. A reviewer called it a "pleasing trifle" and "a proper lesson for young pupils" (see Repository of Arts 7, 1819, p. 44). But this new attempt apparently wasn't successful. As far as I know no copy has survived. There was even a parody "on Butler's celebrated Egyptian Air (to which it is intended as a companion)" by one O. H. Normino (Monro & May, London, c. 1825, see Copac). 

But - as mentioned - Butler's original Rondo survived them all. It must have been quite popular among piano players and was regularly reprinted during the 1820s. But at least some critics became more critical. A writer for the Athenaeum (No. 77, 15.04.1829, p. 232) ridiculed it as "the most popular, and, at the same time, most insignificant piece perhaps ever published". That was not very kind. But the pianists kept on playing this piece and the publishers kept it available. There were even new editions several decades later in 1872 and 1880 (see Copac), many years after Butler's death when all his other works were long forgotten. 

VI. 

I have started with Butler's Egyptian Rondo and now I have ended my text with this piece. In between I have tried to find out a little bit more about Mr. Butler who it seems was a quite interesting character even though his numerous works are now completely forgotten and his reputation isn't really that good today. But no matter what we now think of his abilities as a composer and arranger: during his lifetime his musical publications were apparently appreciated both by the buyers - probably mostly amateur pianists - and the music critics. 

Butler was among the first piano composers who not only arranged numerous "Scottish" tunes for amateur pianists but also introduced foreign national airs to the commercial music market. Especially his series of "Slow Movements" with rondos in 1802 offered a new international approach: in addition to many melodies regarded as "Scottish" he also used tunes described as Danish, Russian, Persian and Indian. As far as I can see this was a new concept. I wonder if it was his own idea or his publisher's. The earliest comprehensive anthologies of international national airs - by Edward Jones and William Crotch - would only appear in 1805 respectively 1808. And in some way Butler's series also prepared the ground for later international collections like Thomas Moore's Popular National Airs (1818 etc). 

Of course other piano composers followed Butler's example and wrote similar pieces based on tunes of supposedly exotic origin: until circa 1820 more "Indian", "Chinese", "Persian" and "Arabian" rondos were made available. His own Egyptian Rondo was clearly the most successful piece of this kind and inspired some more arrangers and composers, especially John Parry who even started his own series of "exotic" rondos. This was essentially a reorientation of the traditional musical exoticism in the context of the new interest for "national" music. 

Of course it is not clear if any of the tunes used here were really genuine. I haven't yet found printed precursors. It can not be ruled out that Butler or Parry - or any of the other composers mentioned - have received formerly unpublished melodies from private collectors. But for me this looks more like musical masquerading. That was quite common at that time. To name only one famous example: some years later composer Henry Rowley Bishop claimed that the melody for the song that would later become "Home, Sweet Home" was "Sicilian". But in fact he had borrowed parts of an older German tune (see Underwood 1977). As already noted: for the buyers it surely didn't matter much. They had no way of distinguishing original tunes from imitations. These "Egyptian", "Persian" or "Arabian" rondos were a welcome supplement to the numerous "Scottish" piano pieces and they offered a simulated look at "exotic" musical cultures. 

Literature

• BBCN = 17th & 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers (Gale - via Nationallizenzen.de) 
• BNA = The British Newspaper Archive 
• BNCN = 19th Century British Library Newspapers (Gale - via Nationallizenzen.de) 
• James Duff Brown, Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. With a Bibliography of English Writings on Music, Gardner, London, 1886, at the Internet Archive 
• Thomas Hamly Butler, Letter to the Editor, in: The Bee, Or Literary Weekly Intelligencer 10, No. 83, 19.7.1792, p. 65, at Google Books 
• Paul Cooper, White v. Gerock, 1818 (of Country Dances & Copyright) (= Research Paper 14, 3.6.2015), at RegencyDances.org.Your learning resource for the dances of the 18th and 19th centuries
• Paul Cooper, Example Tunes for Country Dancing (= Research Paper 34, 19.2.2019), at RegencyDances.org. Your learning resource for the dances of the 18th and 19th centuries 
• Gerry Farrell, Indian Music and the West, Oxford, 1997 
• Roger Fiske, English Theatre Music In The Eighteenth Century, London, New York & Toronto 1973 Roger Fiske, Art.: Butler, Thomas Hamly, in: Stanley Sadie (ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians 3, London, 1980, p. 518 
• David Golby, Instrumental Teaching in Nineteenth-Century Britain, Abingdon & New York, 2014
• Charles Humphries & William C.Smith, Music Publishing in the British Isles from the Beginning Until the Middle of the Nineteenth Century, 2nd Ed., Oxford 1970 
• Michael Kassler, Music Entries at Stationers' Hall 1710-1818. From Lists prepared for William Hawes, D. W. Krummel, and Alan Tyson and from Other Sources, Burlington, 2004 (Online Edition, 2013, partly at Google Books) 
• Ralph P. Locke, Musical Exoticism. Images and Reflections, Cambridge, 2011 
• Ralph P. Locke, Music and the Exotic from the Renaissance to Mozart, Cambridge, 2015 
• John W. Moore, Complete Encyclopedia of Music. Elementary, Technical, Historical, Biographical, Vocal, and Instrumental, Jewett & Co., Boston, 1854, at Google Books 
• Claire M. Nelson, Creating a Notion of 'Britishness'. The Role of Scottish Music in the Negotiation of a Common Culture, with Particular Reference to the 18th Century Accompanied Sonata,Ph.D., Royal College of Music, London, 2003, available at EthOS 
• Michael V. Pisani, A Chronological Listing of Musical Works on American Indian Subjects, Composed Since 1608, 2006, online at: http://indianmusiclist.vassar.edu/ 
• Prue Scott, Matthias Holst, in: The Weiss family of Mulhouse (Mulhousien Society), n.d., at weissfamilymulhouse.blogspot.com 
• Byron Edward Underwood, The German Prototype of the Melody of "Home! Sweet Home!", in: Jahrbuch für Volksliedforschung 22, 1977, pp. 36-48 
• Ian Woodfield, English Musicians in the Age of Exploration, Stuyvesant NY, 1995 (= Sociology of Music 8) 
• Bennett Zon, Representing Non-Western Music in Nineteenth-Century Britain, Rochester, 2007

"Exotic" Tunes: Athanasius Kircher's Tarantellas (1641)

I. 

Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680; see Wikipedia; good introduction: Larsen 1989, at the Internet Archive), Jesuit from Germany, was one of the most famous and productive scholars of the 17th century. He has been called "The Last Man Who Knew Everything" (Findlen 2012) or the "Master of a Hundred Arts" (Reilly 1974), to quote the titles of two of the more recent works about him. Kircher wrote about numerous different topics, for example about China, Egyptology, medicine, geology, musicology and much more (see the list of his books at Roessler, Kircher; see also at the Internet Archive). 

I am interested here only in his work in one particular field. Kircher also happened to be among the first who made available popular tunes and songs of the people from Europe's cultural periphery. Today they would be called "folk-tunes". One may say that he could be regarded as one of the first folklorists or ethnomusicologists. I am referring of course to the famous tarantellas from the south of Italy, dance tunes that at that time were said to cure the bite of the tarantula. 

We can find them in his work about magnetism, Magnes Sive De Arte Magnetica Opus Tripartitum - first published in 1641 and then in new editions in 1643 and 1654 - as part of a chapter "De Tarantismo, sive Tarantula Apulo Phalangio, eiusque Magnetismo, ac mira cum Musica sympathia", an extensive scholarly discussion of what was called tarantism (see here 2nd ed. 1643, pp. 755-77). He offered eight tunes, some of them with texts, together with helpful notes (pp. 761-4, see the translation in Brewer 2011, pp. 2-9). 

II. 

But at first it is necessary to review the digital copies of this work. We have to find them which is not always that easy. Then we have to check if they are usable: are the scans complete and in good quality?. Not at least there is also the question if these digital copies are presented in a way that they can be used effectively? 

A good start is the above-mentioned list of digital copies of Kircher's books (Roessler, Kircher). Wikisource offers links to scans of Kircher's publications with musical content including this one. To find more copies several search engines and catalogs are needed: KVK, Europeana, Google and Google Books, the Internet Archive and others. The result is once again very impressive. All in all I found more than 30 digital facsimiles of this work, eight of the 1st edition, nine of the 2nd and 14 of the third. Two thirds of them - twice as many as by all other libraries together - were produced by Google. This shows that they still rule the field. 

Athanasius Kircher, Magnes Sive De Arte Magnetica Opus Tripartitum, Scheus, Roma, 1641, here pp. 872-6 

• at Google Books [= UofLausanne], also at the Internet Archive 
• at Google Books [= BM Lyon] 
• at Google Books [= BNC Roma] 
• at Google Books [= BSB/SB Regensburg] 
• at Google Books [= BSB] 
• at MPIWG 
• at Lower Silesian Digital Library [djvu; Book 1 & 2 only] 
• at BDH

dto., Editio Secunda, Kalcoven, Köln, 1643, here pp. 761-4 

• at Google Books [= UofLausanne] 
• at Google Books [= BSB] [plates missing, see VD 17 23:255233C], also at the Internet Archive 
• at Google Books [= ÖNB] 
• at Google Books [= U Gent] 
• at Google Books [= BM Lyon] 
• at the Internet Archive [= BCL] 
• at HAB Wolfenbüttel 
• at e-Rara (ZB Zürich) 
• at BDH 

 dto., Editio Tertia, Mascardi, Roma, 1654, here pp. 591-6 

• at Google Books [= BSB/SSB Augsburg] 
• at BSB [= GB?], also at the Internet Archive 
• at Google Books [= BM Lyon] 
• at Google Books [= Sapienza – Università di Roma] 
• at Google Books [= UC Madrid] 
• at Google Books [= UC Madrid] 
• at Google Books [= BNC Roma], also at the Internet Archive 
• at Google Books [= BNC Firenze] 
• at Google Books [= BN Napoli], also at the Internet Archive 
• at Google Books [= ÖNB] 
• at HAB Wolfenbüttel 
• at e-rara (ZB Zürich) 
• at Biblioteka Narodowa (Warszawa) 
• at Internet Culturale 

It is good to have so many copies but as is known there are some serious problems with the quality of the Google-scans. Particularly troublesome is the fact that many of them are not complete. Everything that has a different format than the book itself has - in many cases - not been scanned correctly: fold-outs with maps, illustrations and music or other extras. This is not occasional sloppiness but a general problem that must always be taken into account. Therefore every Google Book needs to be checked for completeness. In this case - Kircher's books are lavish productions - it would be a very time-consuming task: how many illustrations and plates are missing? Were they already missing from the original copy or did they get lost during the scanning process? 

But I can't do this here and I only have checked if they are usable for my own purposes: at least the chapter about the tarantula including the musical examples should be complete. Surprisingly in nearly all copies it is. Only in two scans made from copies of the 2nd edition the plate with the "Antidotum Tarantulae" (after p. 762) is missing (UGent; BM Lyon). This seems to have happened during the scanning process. In another one (BSB) it is also missing but in this case it is a problem of the original book (see VD 17 23:255233C). In general most of the scans are better than expected. Of course some look a little uneven and some are still only in black & white but the pages I needed were there. But I don't doubt that a closer inspection would reveal other defects. 

The copies made available by other libraries also seem to be reliable but I think their online readers are not as good and effective as they should be. They are much slower and less flexible than those of Google Books and of the Internet Archive. The latter offers at the moment still the best possible reader and therefore I used as my working copy a scan of the 2nd edition - from the Boston College Library - that is available there. The Internet Archive's own scans are generally much more reliable than those by Google Books and usually I prefer them to all others. 

III. 

Tarantism, an exotic and strange custom from Europe's cultural periphery, used to be a favorite problem for scholars for a very long time. A wealth of relevant literature was produced over the last several centuries and it is still discussed today (see f. ex. the overviews in: Strasser 1984; Schedtler 1994; Arcangeli 2000, at academia.edu; Le Menthéour, 2009, at Michigan Publ.; Daboo 2010; Korenjak 2013; still useful; Bergsøe 1865, at Google Books; Büsching 1778, at UB Tübingen). It was known well before Kircher's publications. Perotti referred to the tarantula in his Cornucopiae seu Latinae Linguae Commentarii (1527, col. 51; see Becker 1836, col. 11) as did Spanish humanist Pedro Meija in his immensely popular Silva de varia lección (1540, see German ed., 1564, pp. cciiii). In England it was John Case who included a short remark in The Praise of Musicke (1586 [ESTC S115011], p. 56, at EEBO]: 

"Likewise in Apulia when anie man is bitten of the Tarrantula, which is a certain kinde of flie, verie venimous and full of daunger, they finde out the nature and sympathie of the sicknesse or humor, with playing on instrumentes, and with diuersitie of Musicke, neither doe they cease from playing, vntill the often motion and agitation, haue driuen the disease away".

This fable also found its way into literature. There is for example a reference in Sidney's Arcadia (1590, here 1598, p. 33): "This word, Louer, did not lesse pierce poor Pyrocles, than the right tune tune of musicke toucheth him that is sicke of the Tarantula". Italian physician Vincenzio Bruni dedicated one of his Tre dialoghi to this problem (Napoli, 1601, pp. 1-37). More names could be added. But it was Kircher who actually discussed it in detail, as a scientific case study in the context of his ideas about musical therapy. "Rather than offering rarefied speculations [...] Kircher focuses on the here-and-now, observing, scrutinizing, documenting" (Gioia, p. 118). 

Most important in this respect was that he made available the tunes and songs performed at these occasions. He hadn't collected them himself. Instead he relied on the information sent to him by two Jesuits who lived and worked in Apulia and who had witnessed cases of tarantism. Their names are given at the start of the chapter (2nd. ed., p. 756). There have been some doubts about the reliability of these notations. All except one of these tunes are in common time while all tarantellas collected later were in triple metre (see Daboo, p. 122). Perhaps these two padres didn't have enough experience with this kind of music or these tunes were really performed this way. 

Kircher offered all in all eight tunes. For some of them he added texts. He was able to comment on every one of them, gave some information about the instrumentation, the performance context and the effects. One of them - the only one in triple time - had been sent to him from Napoli as the "true tarantella". In this case he had some doubts but added it nonetheless. His theories about musical therapy and his discussion about tarantism are of course now completely outdated. But this collection of tunes and songs remains important as "a unique example of actual music from this historical moment" (Daboo, p. 122), a very fascinating documentation of the popular music of the people from the South of Italy. 

At that time not much music of this kind - "exotic" tunes either from the European periphery or from outside of Europe - was available (see my bibliography at Google Docs). Spanish musicologist Francisco Salinas had published popular tunes from Southern Europe in his De Musica Libri Septem (1577; see also Pedrell 1899). Some original music from the Americas had been made available by Jean de Lery (1585) and Marc Lescarbot (1617). Turkish pieces can be found both in Salomon Schweigger's, Newe Reyßbeschreibung (1608) and Kepler's Harmonices Mundi (1618). 

Most closely related to Kircher's work was a book published only several years earlier. Friedrich Menius had included three fragmentary tunes recorded from performances of Baltic peasants in his Syntagma de Origine Livonorum (1635, pp. 45-6, at NLR; see also the reprint in Scriptores Rerum Livonicarum II, 1848, p. 525; see Graf 1963). Menius (1593-1659), at that time professor of history in Dorpat, also offered these songs and tunes in the context of an academic treatise. He was interested in the origin of the non-German Baltic populations, a very popular topic among scholars at that time (see now Donecker 2017, part. pp. 123-46). But he also added interesting and notes about the musical performances. These tunes were in fact the earliest available examples of the music of the Latvians and Estonians and it would take a long time - more than 140 years - until more was collected and published. 

Neither Kircher nor Menius were interested in these tunes and songs itself but only in their value as an historical source and as documentary evidence in the context of their treatise. Nonetheless both works can be seen as the symbolic starting-points for subsequent research into the popular music of the people from Europe's cultural periphery. At that time both the Baltic peasants and Kircher's Apulian taranti must have been as exotic and strange to the common European scholar as some newly discovered people on the other side of the world. Unfortunately Menius' innovative efforts were quickly forgotten. But Kircher's tarantellas always remained available and were reprinted regularly over the next centuries. 

IV. 

Kircher returned to this topic in two of his later publications, both musicological works:

• Athanasius Kircher, Musurgia Universalis Sive Ars Magna Consoni Et Dissoni in X Libros Digesta, Grignani, Roma, 1650, II, pp. 221-4, at the Internet Archive: Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 [= Google Books-UC Madrid: Vol. 1 & Vol. 2]; at Google Books: Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 [= BSB], also at the Internet Archive: Vol. 2 
• Athanasius Kircher, Philosophischer Extract und Auszug aus deß Welt-berühmten Teutschen Jesuiten Athanasii Kircheri von Fulda Musurgia Universali, in Sechs Bücher verfasset, Laidigen, Schwäbisch Hall, 1662, here pp. 179-87, at Google Books [= NBC]; at Google Books [= BSB] 
• Athanasius Kircher, Phonurgia Nova Sive Conjugium Mechanico-physicum Artis & Naturae Paranympha Phonosophia, Dreher, Kempten, 1673, pp. 204-16, at the Internet Archive [= Google Books-BNC Roma]; at the Internet Archive [= Google Books-BSB] 
• Athanasius Kircher, Neue Hall- und Thonkunst, oder Mechanische Geheim-Verbindung der Kunst und Natur, Durch Stimme und Hall-Wissenschaft gestiftet, In unsere Teutsche Sprache übersetzt von Agatho Carione, Schultes, Nördlingen, 1684, pp. 144-52, at Google Books [= BSB], also at the Internet Archive

In his Musurgia Universalis we can find a summary of this problem, but no musical examples. The German translation made Kircher's ideas also available to those who couldn't read Latin. I should add that this influential standard work (see Scharlau 1969) also included some remarks about non-European music (I., p  565; German ed. p. 151). Here he added two examples, one a fragmentary Chinese tune he had received from a Jesuit colleague who had been in China, the other the Turkish melody from Kepler's Harmonices Mundi. 

Kircher also wrote about tarantism in his Phonurgia Nova and here he offered his readers at least one of the tunes originally published in the Magnes Sive De Arte Magnetica, the "Antidotum Tarantulae" (here pp. 209-10). He added a nice illustration of dancers and musicians (p. 206). Both the tune and the image can also be found in the German translation (p. 145 & p. 148). 

Other scholars also discussed this problem with reference to Kircher's work. Samuel Hafenreffer (1587-1660, see Wikipedia), physician and professor in Tübingen, did not invest much efforts but simply quoted most of Kircher's original text in his book about dermatology. We can find it here as part of the chapter about animal bites. He also reprinted all the music. But beware, this book has until now only been digitized by Google and in all five available copies the fold-out with the "Antidotum Tarantulae" (after p. 488) is either missing or mutilated: 

• Samuel Hafenreffer, Nosodochium, In Quo Cutis, Eique Adhaerentium Partium, Affectus Omnes, Singulari Methodo, Et Cognoscendi et Curandi Fidelissime Traduntur, Ulm, 1660 , p. 475-520, at Google Books [= ÖNB]; at Google Books [= UofLausanne]; at Google Books [= UTorino]; at Google Books [= NB Napoli]; at Google Books [= BSB] 

The tarantula also earned an entry in Matthias Zimmermann's encyclopedia: one of Kircher's tunes, the "Antidotum Tarantulae", was reprinted. But beware again, this scan, the only one available of this publication, is of very bad quality and barely usable. But at least we can see that a foldout with music was originally included: 

• Matthiae Zimmermann, Florilegium Philologico-Historicum, Aliquot myriadum Titulorum, Cum Optimis Authoribus, qvi de qvavis Materia scripserunt, qvarum praecipuae curiose & ex professo tractantur, Adhibita re Nummaria & Gemmaria, Praemittitur Diatriba De Eruditione Eleganti Comparanda Cum Figuris, Parts II, Güntherus, Dresden & Meissen, 1689, here p. 757, at BSB [= GB] 

It seems that during the 18th century the tarantula and tarantism were referred to even more often. It was mentioned in literary works, for example by Jonathan Swift in his Tale of a Tub (1704, p. 203): "He was troubled with a Disease, reverse to that called the Stinging of the Tarantula, and would run Dog-mad at the Noise of Musick, especially a Pair of Bag-Pipes". Physicians discussed this topic in their treatises, like Giorgio Baglivi from Italy in his De Praxi Medica (1699, here Engl. ed., 1723, pp. 312-73) and Richard Mead from England in his Mechanical Account of Poisons (1702, here 1708, pp. 59-81). 

Travelers went to Apulia and reported what they saw, for example Johann Georg Keyßler (II, 1741, pp. 232-3) and Johann Hermann Riedesel (1771, pp. 250-9). But the original story - music as a cure for the bite - was more and more treated with suspicion and then debunked. German physician Ernst Gottfried Baldinger ridiculed it as a "Fabel" in an article in the Neues Magazin für Ärzte (1779, p. 143) and Anton Friedrich Büsching, geographer and jurist, found even harsher words in his Eigene Gedanken und gesammelte Nachrichten von der Tarantel (1779, at UB Tübingen), a collection of critical articles and documents. He regarded it all as a fraud. 

I will only list here those relevant publications that included some music. Among those was one that stood out: 

• Georgius Vallerius, Exercitium Philosophicum de Tarantula, Quod Indultu Ampliss. Collegii Philosophici in Regia Upsaliensi Academia, Uppsala, 1702, at Google Books [= BL]; at the Internet Archive 

In this Swedish dissertation the author not only discussed Kircher's standard talking-points but also compared the Italian tarantellas with Swedish popular dances and songs and saw similarities (see also Arcangeli, p. 98). This may be regarded as a very early example of comparative ethnomusicology. Vallerius also reprinted several of Kircher's melodies and the frontispiece depicts two traveling musicians with drums and bagpipe performing an unidentified tune.

 

In Germany one or more of Kircher's tunes were included in a several books published during the first half of the century. It is interesting to see the many different contexts in which this topic was discussed: 

• Germanus Adlerhold, Umständliche Beschreibung Des anjetzo Vom Krieg neu-bedrohten sonst herrlichen Königreich Neapolis, nach dessen bewunders-würdigen Natur-Gütern, Fruchtbarkeit, Flüssen, Seen, Meer-Busen, und Häfen [...]. Zusamt einer nachrichtlich-Alphabetischen Verzeichnus aller in denen zwölff Provincien dieses Reichs enthaltenen Städten und Vestungen ; Nebst vielen schönen Kupffern auch mit und ohne Land-Carten. Wobey eine Erzehlung was sich seit dem Tod Caroli II. in diesem Königreich begeben, Buggel, Nürnberg, 1702, pp. 239-60, at ÖNB [= GB]; at BSB [= GB] 
• Michael Bernhard Valentini, Museum Museorum, oder Vollständige Schau-Bühne aller Materialien und Specereyen, nebst deren natürlichen Beschreibung, Election, Nutzen und Gebrauch. Aus andern Material-, Kunst und Naturalien-Kammern, Oost- und West-Indischen Reiß-Beschreibungen, Curiosen Zeit- und Tag-Registern, Natur- und Artzney-Kündigern, wie auch selbst-eigenen Erfahrung. Zum Vorschub der Studirenden Jugend, Materialisten, Apothecker und deren Visitatoren , wie auch anderer Künstler als Jubelirer, Mahler, Färber u.s.w. also verfasset, und mit etlich hundert sauberen Kupfferstücken unter Augen geleget. ZUnner, Frankfurt, 1704, pp. 514-6, at the Internet Archive 
• Abraham Friedrich Krafft, Der Sowohl Menschen und Viehe Grausamen Thiere schädlichen Ungeziefers Und Verderblichen Gewürmer Gäntzliche Ausrottung: Oder vielmehr Ausführliche Unterweisung, Wie allerley Thiere, als reissende Wölffe, listige Füchse, wütende und rasende Hunde, Mader, Iltißen, Wieseln [...] gäntzlich auszurotten, zu vertilgen und zu vertreiben, Buggel, Nürnberg, 1709, pp. 344-67, music p. 362, at Google Books [= BSB] 
• Georg Ernst Stahl, Praxis Stahliana, Das ist Collegium Practicum, Welches theils von Ihm privatim in die Feder dictirt, theils von seinen damahligen Auditoribus aus dem Discurs mit besonderem Fleiß nachgeschrieben, Nunmehrs aber aus dem Lateinischem ins Deutsche übersetzt, mit vielen Anmerckungen und Raisonnemens aus 29. jähriger Praxi bekräfftiget und erläutert, auch nach der Vorschrifft des Herrn Autoris bey dieser zweyten Auflage um viel vermehrt und verbessert zum Druck befürdert worden von Johann Storchen, alias Hulderico Pelargo, Eyssel, Leipzig, 1732, p. 31, at Google Books [= BSB]; also 3rd ed., 1745, p. 31, at ÖNB [= GB] 
• Historische Nachricht von der Tarantula, und derselben Abbildung, in: Kern Anmuthiger und Zeit-kürtzender, Eines auserlesenen Vorraths curieuser und nützlich-gesammleter Wissenschafften und deren brauchbaresten Kunst-Stücke, 1. Sammlung, Funcke, Erfurt, 1745, pp. 283-7, at BSB

Adlerhold's book is description of the Kingdom of Napoli. The tarantula was what most readers presumably knew best about this area and therefore he couldn't avoid including a long chapter about this topic. Valentini (1657-1729; see Wikipedia), professor of medicine in Giessen, discussed the tarantula and the musical cure of its bite in his monumental medical compendium. Krafft in his book about animals regarded as vermin also felt it necessary to add a well researched chapter. All three used Kircher's "Anitidotum Tarantulae" as a musical example. 

Georg Ernst Stahl (1659-1734), professor of medicine in Halle, also reprinted this tune - he had taken it from Valentini's book - but he seems to have been quite skeptical about this story. He only mentioned it in passing in connection with some short remarks about music and medicine. Swiss "Küh-Reyhen" that were said to cure homesickness of soldiers from Switzerland served as another example. In Funcke's Kern Anmutigher Wissenschaften, a popular scientific periodical, the old stories about the tarantula and the tarantella were recycled once again more or less uncritically and here we can also find the same tune. 

Shortly later a different tune was made available in an article published by an English magazine:

• Stephen Storace [i. e. Stefano Storace], A genuine Letter from an Italian Gentleman, concerning the Bite of the Tarantula, in: The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Chronicle 23, 1753, pp. 433-4, at Google Books 

One Steven Storace , i. e. Stefano Storace (1725-1781, see Wikipedia), an Italian musician who later moved to Britain - his son of the same name would become a popular composer there - claimed to have come across someone bitten by the tarantula. He learned the tune on the spot, played it for him and helped him to recover (see also Gioielli 2008). This article was translated into German the following year and his tune reappeared later in several other publications, for example a Viennese dissertation and Tans'ur's influential Elements of Musick: 

• Ein ächter Brief von einem italienischen Herrn über den Biß der Tarantul. Aus dem Gentleman's Magazine for Sept. 1753, in: Hamburgisches Magazin, oder, Gesammlete Schriften, aus der und den angenehmen Wissenschaften überhaupt 13.1, 1754, pp. 1-8, at the Internet Archive [= BHL] 
• Johann Baptist Mathias Schwarz, Dissertatio Inauguralis Medica De Tarantismo Et Chorea Viti, Wien, 1766, at Google Books 
• William Tans'ur, The Elements of Musick Display'd. Or, Its Grammar, or Ground-Work Made Easy, Rudimental, Practical, Philosophical, Historical, and Technical. In Five Books, Crowder, London, 1772 [ESTC T153927], pp. 217-20, at the Internet Archive 

One more tune from Apulia was made available by English traveler and scholar Thomas Shaw (1694-1751; see DNB 51, p. 446, at wikisource) in the second edition of his popular and influential book about his Travels in the Middle East. In a short chapter about scorpions and phalangiae he couldn't resist referring to the tarantula and the dance "to obtain [...] copious perspiration". In a note one tune is printed. I haven't seen it in an earlier publication so I assume Shaw had heard and noted it himself. There is no mention of Kircher's work but only of Italian botanist and physician Mattioli's commentary on Dioscorides (1554, here 1565, p. 362), another early reference to this phenomenon:

• Thomas Shaw, Travels or Observations Relating to Several Parts of Barbary and the Levant. Illustrated with Cuts. The Second Edition, with Great Improvements, Millar, London, 1757 [ESTC T114688], p. 191, n.9, at the Internet Archive 

Occasionally also a musicologist expressed his opinion about this topic. Jacob Adlung (1699-1762) wasn't fond of the "Antidotum tarantulae" and quipped that it sounded so miserable that one gets sick rather than healthy from it. He only included one half of this melody which he had found in Kircher's Phonurgia Nova thinking it was the second of two tunes: 

• Jacob Adlung, Anleitung zu der musikalischen Gelahrtheit, theils vor alle Gelehrte, so das Band aller Wissenschaften einsehen; theils vor die Liebhaber der edlen Tonkunst überhaupt [...], Jungnicol, Erfurt, 1758, pp. 57-8, Tab 1.1, at the Internet Archive [= Oberlin] 

All of Kircher's tune were later made available once again in a German dissertation about the human ear: 

• Christian Ernst Wünsch, De Auris Humanae Proprietatibus Et Vitiis Quibusdam, Leipzig, 1777, pp. 38-43, at Google Books [= BSB] 

A decade later six more tarantellas were included in a Spanish publication: 

• Francisco Javier Cid, Tarantismo observado en España, con que se prueba el de la pulla, dudado de algunos, y tratado de otros de fabuloso, Gonzalez, Madrid, 1787, here after p. 14, at the Internet Archive 

V. 

After the turn of century tarantellas began to appear in collections of national airs. Edward Jones, Welsh harper and editor of a series of anthologies dedicated to foreign tunes (for more about Jones see my article in this blog), once again revived Kircher's "Antidotum Tarantulae" but his source was Zimmermann's Florilegium Philologico-Historicum. He also added some variations: 

• Edward Jones, Maltese Melodies; Or National Airs, And Dances, usually performed by the Maltese Musicians at their Carnival & other Festivals; with a few other characteristic Italian Airs & Songs; To these are annex'd a selection of Norwegian Tunes, never before Published; and to which are added Basses for the Harp or Piano-Forte, London, n. d. [1807], pp. 38-9, at the Internet Archive 

Among the more important publication dedicated to this topic was surely Justus Hecker's influential book about dancing manias. This work was translated into English and other languages. Hecker (1795-1850), historian and physician, reprinted all of Kircher's tunes and made them available for a new generation of readers: 

• J. F. C. Hecker, Die Tanzwuth, eine Volkskrankheit im Mittelalter. Nach den Quellen für Aerzte und gebildete Nichtärzte bearbeitet, Enslin, Berlin, 1832, pp. 26-54, tunes: pp. 89-92
• J. F. C. Hecker, The Epidemics of the Middle Ages, London, 1844, pp. 107-133, tunes: pp. 167-74, at the Internet Archive 

At this time the tarantella had already been adopted by modern composers and a lot of new pieces were composed and published. Nearly 400 relevant publications were announced between 1829 and 1900 in Hofmeisters Monatsberichten (at Hofmeister XIX). Many travelers went to Apulia and witnessed local performances of tarantellas. Goethe made it there during the 1780s but his short report was only published much later, in 1810 (pp. 110-2; see Assel & Jäger at Goethezeitportal). Others brought back tarantella tunes they had heard there, like Gustav Parthey (I, 1834, App., No. V, p. 6) and Karl August Mayer (I, 1840, pp. 387-8, see also pp. 366-73). But the old tunes were also republished and remained available, for example in a history of dancing:

• Albert Czerwinski, Geschichte der Tanzkunst bei den cultivierten Völkern von den ersten Anfängen bis auf die gegenwärtige Zeit, Weber, Leipzig, 1862, pp. 54-7, at Google Books 

Of course some of the experts for national airs and Volkslieder also weighed in. Danish composer Berggreen included nine tarantellas in his comprehensive anthology of international Folke-Sange. Eight of them (No. 90-96) were modern pieces from different sources, for example Parthey's book and several Italian collections. As an example of the older style he revived Storace's tune (No. 97). But of course he was familiar with the historical development of the genre and in his notes also referred to Kircher: 

• A. P. Berggreen, Italienske, Spanske og Portugisiske Folke-Sange og Melodier, Samlade og Udsatte for Pianoforte, Anden, Meget Forogode Udgave (= Folke-Sange og Melodier, Fædrelandske og Fremmede 7, Anden Utgave), C. A. Reitzel, Köbenhavn, 1866, here No. 97, p. 129 , also notes, p. 246, pp. 251-2 

I will close with two musical encyclopedias from the latter part of the 19th century. In both of them we find informative summaries of this topic. One or more of Kircher's tunes were reprinted and once again made available to those interested in the history of this genre. 

• Musikalisches Conversations-Lexikon. Eine Encyklopädie der gbesammten musikalischen Wissenschaften. Für Gebildete aller Stände, begründet von Hermann Mendel. Fortgesetzt von Dr. August Reissmann, Bd. 10, Oppenheim, Berlin, 1878, pp. 104-108, at the Internet Archive 
• A Dictionary of Music and Musicians (A. D. 1450-1889). By Eminent Writers, English and Foreign. With Illustrations and Woodcuts. Ed. by Sir George Grove. In Four Volumes. Vol. IV, MacMillan, London & New York, 1889 , pp. 58-9 

During the 20th century these tunes were also regularly published again. For example the original plate with the "Antidotum Tarantulae" appeared as the frontispiece in a Handbook of Medical Entomology (1915, p. ii). We can find them in musicological works and other academic publications discussing tarantism. Some of Kircher's tarantellas were recorded. Today they are of course available on YouTube (see f. ex. here). Now these melodies have a consecutive history of more than 350 years. They have made it in to the modern world even though Kircher's own theories are long out-dated.

Literature 

• Alessandro Arcangeli, Dance between disease and cure: the tarantella and the physician, in: Ludica. Annali di Storia e Civilà del Gioco 5-6, 2000, pp. 88-102, at Academia.edu 
• Jutta Assel & Georg Jäger, Goethes Italienische Reise - Neapel: Volksleben Folge 3: Tarantella (Italiensehnsucht Deutscher Künstler der Goethezeit), 2015/16, at Goethezeitportal  
• Giorgio Baglivi, The Practice of Physick, Reduc'd to the ancient Way of Observations Containing a just Parallel between the Wisdom and Experience of the Ancients, And the Hypothesis's ogf Modern Physicians, Intermix'd with many Practical Remarks upon most Distempers. The Second Edition, Midwinter etc., London 1723 [ESTC N9783], at the Internet Archive 
• Philip V. Bohlman, Representation and Cultural Critique in the History of Ethnomusicology, in: Bruno Nettl & Philip V. Bohlman (eds.), Comparative Musicology and Anthropology of Music. Essays on the History of Ethnomusicology, Chicago & London, 1991, pp. 131-51 
• Karlis Brambats, Ein frühes Zeugnis livländischen Singens, in: Musik des Ostens 8, 1982, pp. 9-29
• Carl Ferdinand Becker, Systematisch-Chronologische Darstellung der musikalischen Literatur von der frühesten bis auf die neueste Zeit, Friese, Leipzig, 1836, at the Internet Archive [= GB] 
• V. Bergsøe, Iagttagelser om den italianske Tarantel og Bidrag til Tarantiesmens Historien i Middelalderen og nyere Tid, in: Naturhistorisk Tidsskrift 3.2, 1865, pp. 239-299, at Google Books
• Charles E. Brewer, The Instrumental Music of Schmeltzer, Biber, Muffat and their Contemporaries, Abingdon & New York, 2011 (see Google Books) 
• Anton Friedrich Büsching, Eigene Gedanken und gesammelte Nachrichten von der Tarantel, Berlin, 1778, at UB Tübingen 
• Jerri Daboo, Ritual, Rapture and Remorse. A Study in Tarantism and Pizzica in Salento, Bern etc, 2010 
• Stefan Donecker, Origines Livonorum. Frühneuzeitliche Hypothesen zur Herkunft der Esten und Letten, Köln etc, 2017 
• Paula Findlen (ed.), Athanasius Kircher: The Last Man Who Knew Everything, New York & London, 2004  
• Walter Graf, Die ältesten deutschen Überlieferungen estnischer Volkslieder, in: Musik des Ostens 1, 1963, pp. 83-105 
• Johann Georg Keyßler, Neueste Reise durch Teutschland, Böhmen, Ungarn, die Schweitz, Italien, und Lothringen, worinn der Zustand und das merckwürdigste dieser Länder beschrieben wird. Mit Kupfern, Försters und Sohns Erben, Hannover, 1740-1, 3 Bde., at BSB [= GB] 
• Mauro Gioielli, Il tarantismo campano in una lettera di metà settecento, in: Utriculus. Bollettino trimestrale dell’Associazione Culturale “Circolo della Zampogna” di Scapoli 22, No. 46, April-June 2008, pp. 29-33, at maurogioielli.net 
• Ted Gioia, Healing Songs, Durham & London, 2006 
• Andrea Korenjak, Musik und rituelle Heilung am Beispiel des Tarantismus - Historische, ethnologische und psychologische Reflexionen, in: Jacob A. v. Belzen (ed.), Musik und Religion. Psychologische Zugänge, Wiebaden, 2013, pp. 125-164 
• A. Dean Larsen (ed.), Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680). Jesuit Scholar. An Exhibition of his Works in the Harold B. Lee Library Collections at Brigham Young University. Introduction and Descriptions by Brian L. Merrill, Provo, 1989, at the Internet Archive [= BYU] 
• Rudy Le Menthéour, The Tarantula, the Physician, and Rousseau: The Eighteenth-Century Etiology of an Italian Sting, in: Proceedings of the Western Society for French History 37, 2009, pp. 35-47 , at Michigan Publishing 
• P. Conor Reilly, Athansius Kircher, S. J.: Master of a Hundred Arts, 1602-1680, Wiesbaden, 1974 (= Studia Kircheriana 1) 
• Karl August Mayer, Neapel und die Neapolitaner, oder Briefe aus Neapel in die Heimat, Schulze, Oldenburg, 1840 & 1842, 2 Bde., at the Internet Archive [= GRI] 
• Richard Mead, A Mechanical Account of Poisons in Several Essays. The Second Edition, Revised, with Additions, Smith, London, 1708 [ESTC T55004], at the Internet Archive 
• Friedrich Menius, Syntagma de Origine Livonorum, Dorpat, 1635 (not yet digitized; reprinted in: Scriptores Rerum Livonicarum II, Riga & Leipzig, 1848, pp. 511-42, at the Internet Archive) 
• Gustav Parthey, Wanderungen durch Sicilien und die Levante, 2 Bde. & Anhang, Nicolai, Berlin, 1834 & 1840, at the Internet Archive 
• Felipe Pedrell, Folk-lore musical castillan du XVI. siècle, in: Sammelbände der Internationalen Musik-Gesellschaft 1, 1899-1900, pp. 372-400 (Internet Archive) 
• Johann Hermann Riedesel, Reise durch Sicilien und Großgriechenland, Orell etc, Zürich,. 1771, at the Internet Archive 
• Hole Rößler, Athanasius Kircher: Forschungsbibliographie & Werke im Internet, at holeroessler.de 
• Ulf Scharlau, Athanasius Kircher (1601-1680) als Musikschriftsteller. Ein Beitrag zur Musikanschauung des Barock, Phil. Diss., Marburg, 1969 (= Studien zur hessischen Musikgeschichte 2) 
• Susanne Schedtler, Musiktherapeutische Aspekte der Tarantella in Geschichte und Gegenwart. In: Jahrbuch für musikalische Volks- und Völkerkunde Band 15, 1994, 181-221 
• Gerhard F. Strasser, 'Wie von der Tarantel gebissen': Tarantismus und Musiktherapie im Barock, in: Martin Bircher et al. (eds.), Barocker Lustspiegel. Studien zur Literatur des Barock. Festschrift für Blake Lee Spahr, Amsterdam, 1984 (= Chloe. Beihefte zum Daphnis 3), pp. 245-64

[first publ. 25.8.2017; 10.02.2018: some minor corrections & one link added]