ENGLISH FOLK-SONG

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 51, 6 July 1928, Page 3

ENGLISH FOLK--SONG

(By

W. R.

Hill

+ HE recent great revival of interest in genuine folk music of all nations. has been nowhere stronger than in England, where, through the efforts of Mr. Cecil Sharp, Rev. 8. Baring Gould, Miss IL. E. Broadwoed, Dr. Ralph Vaughan Williams, and others, every corner of the British Isles has been or is being searched for such old traditional tunes and songs as have for centuries reflected perfectly. the lives, hab-. its, and modes of living of rural populations. It is extraordinary that in such music we should find a delightful quaintness and simple beauty quite worthy: of recognition and appreciation by the most cultured; and the fact that some of the world’s greatest musical compositions have been built up on genuine folk songs is surely conclusive. proof of their inherent worth. GEMS OF MELODY. AY 7® find in folk and traditional tunes: . many gems of melody; but in the somewhat uncouth verses contained in the average English folk song there is, nevertheless, an earnestness and hon-. est belief which the ordinary: ballad: frequently lacks.. If a folk singer tells in rustic verse of the pleasures of being a ploughboy he really believes that. such occupation is the best that a man can follow; and so on, poachers, high-. raymen, sailors, soldiers beggars and many others all have their place in genuine Wnelish folk songs, whilst theold "love’ theme was evidently as popular of yore as it is to-day. The aforementioned present-day enthusiasin for English folk music has been the means, indirectly, of unearthing many interesting facts in connection therewith, and of doing away with many erroneous ideas, chief among the -latter being. the impression that there is a great dearth of good rural music in the British Isles, despite that which always accompanies the rustie celebrations of May Day, Easter, and Christmas. "PHONETIC DECAY." MAXEY interesting English folk songs are probably the conscious compositions of forgotten musicians who have lived and worked during the last three hundred years or so; but the songs which apparently never had an fluthor are of even greater interest. For instance, it may be that uintelligible verses Sung in England to-day by some unlettered peasant who merely imitates the sounds his parents made in singing the same song years ago, represent entirely different words and sentiments Since changed by "phonetic decay." A good example of the way in which folk songs occur in different forms, to different tunes in different places, is the pallad, since made famous by Brahms and Toewe as "Edward," and long known both in Scotland and in England

as "Lord Rendel,’’ "Lord Ronald," ete. Exactly the same song also exists in a version, "King Henry, My Son," which contains a reference to an old suspicion: that either Kiing Henry I or the son of Henry IT, was foully poisoned. At any.rate, there is enough actual fact in most genuine folk songs to make it certain that some unknown poets and m.wcicians of the past enriched the world with lyrical compositions woven. round same, which, but for the energy and enthusiasm of collectors, must have perished for ever, It is not intended here to go very deeply into the question: of the technical musical form of English folk songs and tunes; but if may be said in passing, that students tell of their original perpetual "modal" structure, not only in the form of the, scale chosen (since fallen into disuse), but in other details, such as the almost inevitable descent of the penultimate note to the. final by a single degree of the "mode," ‘which latter-may be any one of those favoured by the Lydian, Dorian (very frequent), Ionian, or other churches, In the light of recently published folk songs, it is reasonable to suppose that each modal tune which has survived. with the characteristics of one particular mode unaltered, is a quite unconscious survival from the time when "modes" were in common use, and represents more or less accurately, an original dating from at any rate the period of the madrigal. SIMPLICITY A NECESSITY. The fact that genuine folk and traditional songs are "of the people, by the people, and for the people" necessitates that their outstanding feature be simplicity ; therefore, they were originally nearly all wunharmonised melodies sung solo or in unison, with no "accompaniment" as we understand it to-ay. It is probable, though, that the village fiddler or other musician may occasionally have also played the "air," These English rural singers hare handed down to us to-day compositions that sound the very depths of every human sympathy and impulse. There is strong emotional expression in "Willow, Willow," and "Barbara Allen"; naive wistfulness and gentle melodie charm in "I Love My Love," "Pretty Polly Oliver," "Blow Away the Morning Dew." and "Strawberry Fair"; piquaut sentiment in "The Maypole," "Come, My Owa a One," and "The Bailift's Daughter" poetry in "The QO.%x and the Ash" "anil "Under the {ireenwooil Tree’; and robust humour ov rhythmie light-heartedness in "Mowing the Barley," "Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron." or "TwentyHWighteen." n conclusion, most of2these and muny other Iinuglish folk songs will appear on A programme to be presented iby the Ar jel Singers at 2Y¥A on Monday, fJuly 16 next. It is hoped that they will appeal tu listeners-in, and that many new conyerts to the cause of folk Sones may result.