The Muse: A Song History

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"The Muse" is the eleventh of the twelve pieces in Ellen Pratt's Ensemble Arrangements For The Mountain Dulcimer, Volume 3, a book she publishes herself, where it is set for three dulcimers in DAD tuning.[1] The table of contents pictured on the DulcimerDownloads listing puts it in 3/4 time on pages 44 to 46, and that table names no composer for any of the book's pieces.[1] Pratt's own store describes the volume as "Original and traditional multi-part arrangements for all levels of mountain dulcimer players," and the sources consulted here do not say which of those two groups "The Muse" belongs to.[2]

White marble statue of a standing woman in a long gown holding a lyre beside a pedestal

Antonio Canova, Terpsichore Lyran (Muse of Lyric Poetry), marble, 1816. Shown for its subject; the sources consulted here do not say what muse, if any, the piece refers to.

Pratt's DulcimerDownloads biography, which does not mention this piece, says she took up writing and arranging for dulcimer ensembles after she joined a dulcimer orchestra in northeastern Connecticut, and it counts ten volumes of ensemble tablature to her name.[3] None of the sources consulted here explains the title, ties the piece to any earlier work, or mentions a recording of it.[1][2][3]

Our book that contains the song "The Muse"

Sources

  1. Ellen Pratt: "Ensemble Arrangements For The Mountain Dulcimer, Volume 3".
  2. Ellen S. Pratt: "Ensemble Arrangements for Mountain Dulcimer Volume 3".
  3. DulcimerDownloads: "Ellen Pratt".
  4. Image: Antonio Canova, Terpsichore Lyran (Muse of Lyric Poetry), marble, 1816. The Cleveland Museum of Art.

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