The Fascination of the BALLAD

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 23, 18 December 1931, Page 5

The Fascination of the BALLAD

On December 28 an unusual programme will be featured: from 2YA. It will be a recital by Miss Clodagh Russell,’ who will contrast the Ballad with Modern Poetry. In this: interview with the "Record" she makes some interesting. comments on the form of art known as the ballad..

OU want me to talk about the ballad. That is not difficult, for it is such an interesting subject that one could talk for a very long time and touch only the fringe. Really, in a short talk, it is more difficult to know what not to say. Ballads have interested me, and I have studied them and specialised in their presentation-few people do so-and I think that makes them all the more interesting. Many people have only a hazy perception of the meaning of the word "ballad," and not a few associate it with a dance. They are not to be blamed, though, for not only are certain elementary dances associated with a type of ballad but the words "ballet" and "ballad" are very similar and, having their origin in the same root, are likely to be rather too closely associated. A

ecited, which deals with episode or mple motif rather than with a sustained theme. These episodes are handed down like traditions, and are subject to modification on that account. But like most things that are handed down, they improve with the process. It is said that ballads have no authors. but that they are the outcome of oral improvisation before an audience in close emotional contact. Whether that is so or not is for us immaterial. The fact remains that at some time or other there was an author, but the point is that whoéver he was, his name has been forgotten, and the ballad has become common property. The diction and metre of the ballad are altogether different from modern verse. It is. simple and unkempt art, 1s a special type.ot verse, sung or Si

strikingly different from all known styles. Its history is interesting, and to.a great extent explains its form. In the absence of printing and definite records, it is difficult to make any statements with certainty, yet it is certain that many of the ballads dated’ back to pre-Norman times. They were perpetuated by itinerant minstrels, and in this manner became known over wide areas. OME minstrels, of course. remained in one district. and that may explain the locality factor entering into some compositions. But the majority moved on. They sought their night’s lodging by playing, singing and jesting. Their stories had to suit their audiences, or they woul lose their meal and rest-perhaps their heads, if the Royal monarch had. had a poor day’s hunting. Consequently the minstrel made alterations to the ballad. This explains why many built on the same theme, though they are found in widely-separated countries whose people are of entirely different temperaments. Until the time of Sir Walter Scott, little was done to collect these ballads. But Scott, in his book, "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," threw the subject into the limelight and founded the study of this fascinating subject. The ballad may be regarded as the forerunner of the arts. From it has sprung the Drama, the Song and the Dance. Let me explain (Concluded on page 38.)

all = lh Ballads {Continued from page 5.)

more fully. It does not need much imagination to connect the drama with the ballad. It can be seen that in rendering these old themes the minstrels, and after them the ordinary folk, coloured their interpretations by a certain amount of dramatisation, which has gradually evolved into the form of dramatic art we now have. The Song*has an interesting connection. Certain of the ballads-in fact one group of them-have a yocal refrain. It would be impossible to ask an audience to join in a refrain they did not know, for there would be no sereen and bouncing ball to teach them the words and the time. But there was the urge to join in and at least make a noise. So refrains of simple sound were added. These rarely were words -those were left to the reciter. The refrain was merely a.device enabling one’s hearers to join in and do something, and as a result were little more than a rhythmic chain of words. These refrains were ‘strictly impersonal,’ and by no means standardised. Apart from the refrains, many of the ballads were set to music-certainly crude, but from these have developed the song as we know it.

‘ The art of dancing was introduced to lend variety. This art seems to have been practised extensively by the Normans before they left France, but it was evidently unpopular with the more sombre Saxon, for there are few traces of it in Hnglish. Ballads are now grouped according to certain elements they have in common. First, there is the dialogue typeperhaps the most common. The story is told principally through the dialogue of two or three principals. You see the connection between this and _ the drama! Secondly, there is the romantic bal-lad-a type which needs little or no explanation. Romantic form appears in every branch of art. It is not surprising, then, that it should present the ballads of the people of yore. Thirdly, we have the mystic group which includes the Christmas ballads. Fourthly, there are those with the refrain of which I have spoken. In a short programme it is impossible to give examples of all these types, or even present the better-known ballads, but I am hoping to achieve a certain amount of variety. "False Knight of the Road’"-one of those I propose doing-is weaved round an interesting story. Of the dialogue type, it relates the experiences of a little boy who meets the devil in the form of an old man and strives by

quick retorts to stave off the eyil, / spirit. It was generally ‘believed at the time that the devil took the form of a'man who loitered about the roads . and might accost anyone and ask him some ‘question, perhaps extremely foolish. Unless he were ready with a quick retort his soul would be carried off to the place of eternal ‘damnation. This particular ballad abounds in interesting and brilliant passages of dialogue. Apart from the ballads, I am presenting a selection of modern poems, and it will, I ‘think, be ‘interesting to compare the two. Whereas the latter are specific, and reflect the personality of the author, the former are quite impersonal. We can recognise Masefield’s or Shaw’s works without referring to the title, but the ‘ballad is just a storv-certainlv a wonderful

and interesting one.-

C.W.

S.