Twenty-one Songs
Editor: Edited by Timothy Roberts
for Bass (F-f#') and continuo
Ref. no Lev 1 (in 'cantatas') sample page cover page To order: ☞
Leveridge often composed in a simple ballad style, and these songs — with new words — were often incorporated into ballad operas. He could also compose in a more florid style, particularly notable in his earlier songs. While his gift was primarily literary and melodic, he also wrote good bass lines, sometimes with harmonies that suggest an archaic or rustic character.
This anthology has been compiled specifically for singers of Leveridge’s own type, that is, baritones and basses. All the texts selected are suitable for a man, even where (Nos. 5 and 7, both of them mildly racy) they were originally sung by a woman. None of the composer’s manuscripts have survived. In the printed editions most of the songs appear, as was normal, with the vocal line in treble clef and in keys suitable for soprano/tenor – even where (as in Nos. 6 and 8) it is indicated that Leveridge himself was the singer. In the present edition, all but one of the songs have been transposed downwards, and the voice part put an octave lower in the bass clef.
