English Folk-Song And Dance - free ebook by Frank Kidson

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English Folk-Song And Dance

Frank Kidson

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ENGLISH FOLK-SONG AND DANCE

ENGLISH FOLK-SONG AND DANCE

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS London: FETTER LANE, E.C. C. F. CLAY, Manager Edinburgh: 100 PRINCES STREET Bombay and Calcutta: MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd. Toronto: J. M. DENT &amp; SONS, Ltd. Tokyo: THE MARUZEN KABUSHIKI-KAISHA All rights reserved ENGLISH FOLK-SONG AND DANCE BY FRANK KIDSON AND MARY NEAL Cambridge: at the University Press 1915...

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INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

Writing two centuries ago, Joseph Addison tells us in the character of Mr Spectator:— “When I travelled I took a particular delight in hearing the songs and fables that are come down from father to son, and are most in vogue among the common people of the countries through which I passed; for it is impossible that anything should be universally tasted and approved of by a multitude, though they are only the rabble of the nation, which hath not in it some peculiar aptness to please and gratify th

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I. DEFINITION

I. DEFINITION

The word “folk-song” is so elastic in definition that it has been freely used to indicate types of song and melody that greatly differ from each other. The word conveys a different signification to different people, and writers have got sadly confused from this circumstance. Even the word “song” has not a fixed meaning, for it can imply both a lyric with its music, and the words of the lyric only. “Folk-song,” or “people’s song,” may be understood to imply, in its broadest sense, as Volkslied do

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II. THE ORIGIN OF FOLK-SONG

II. THE ORIGIN OF FOLK-SONG

Every nation, both savage and civilized, has its folk-song, and this folk-song is a reflection of the current thought of the class among which it is popular. It is frequently a spontaneous production that invests in lyric form the commonly felt emotion or sentiment of the moment. This type is more observable among savage tribes than among civilized nations. Folk-song is therefore not so permanent among the former as it is among the latter. So far as we can gather, though it is difficult to get a

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III. THE CANTE-FABLE

III. THE CANTE-FABLE

The existence of the “Cante-fable” has furnished another theory of folk-song origin. The Cante-fable is a traditional prose narrative having rhymed passages incorporated with the tale. These rhymes are generally short verses, or couplets, which recur at dramatic points of the story. They were probably sung to tunes, but present-day remembrance has failed to preserve more than a few specimens, and the verse, or couplet, is now generally recited. It has been asserted that the Cante-fable is a sort

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IV. THE CONSTRUCTION OF FOLK-MUSIC

IV. THE CONSTRUCTION OF FOLK-MUSIC

It will be quite evident to the average hearer that much folk-music is built upon scales different from those that form the foundation of the ordinary modern tune. This fact is accounted for by the circumstance that a large percentage of folk-melodies are “modal”; i.e. constructed upon the so-called “ecclesiastical modes” which, whether adopted from the Greek musical system or not, had Greek nomenclature, and were employed in the early church services. The ecclesiastical scales may be realised b

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V. CHANGES THAT OCCUR IN FOLK-MUSIC

V. CHANGES THAT OCCUR IN FOLK-MUSIC

That all traditional lore is subject to change is of course a well-recognised fact, and this change is so uncertain in its effects, and so erratic in its selection that no law appears to govern it. In ballads or prose narratives that exist only by verbal transmission we may expect the dropping of obsolete words and phrases, and this usually occurs; though sometimes corruptions of such remain and are meaningless to those who repeat them. For instance, in a certain singing-game, children of a part

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VI. THE QUALITY OF FOLK-SONG, AND ITS DIFFUSION

VI. THE QUALITY OF FOLK-SONG, AND ITS DIFFUSION

The strongest and most valuable feature of folk-song is its earnestness and good faith. Though the quality of earnestness is indefinable it is the soul of art work, and its presence is ever felt. A folk-song may be very doggerel in verse, its subject trite and trivial, yet it possesses that subtle character that has the appeal and lasting power only belonging to sincerity. The maker of a folk-song did not produce his work for professional reasons; he sang because he must, and sometimes he was ve

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VII. THE MOVEMENT FOR COLLECTING ENGLISH FOLK-SONG

VII. THE MOVEMENT FOR COLLECTING ENGLISH FOLK-SONG

It remains now to consider what has been done towards the noting of traditionary songs and their airs. Little attention was paid to the songs sung by country singers prior to the first half of the nineteenth century. In England, the first step toward the recognition of country folk-song was made by the Rev. John Broadwood, squire of Lyne, on the Sussex and Surrey border. In 1843 he published (modestly keeping his name from the title page) a collection of sixteen songs which were harmonised by a

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VIII. THE NOTING OF FOLK-MUSIC

VIII. THE NOTING OF FOLK-MUSIC

When the songs and the ballads of the people began to be recognised as belonging, more or less, to literature, the editors of collections deemed it was essential that their crudities of style, rhyme, and diction should be amended, and that the whole should undergo a polishing process before being launched to the public. Bishop Percy, of course, naturally occurs to one’s mind in this connection, and we must grant that in the classic age when he issued his three volumes (1765) there was reason on

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IX. THE DIFFERENT CLASSES OF FOLK-SONG

IX. THE DIFFERENT CLASSES OF FOLK-SONG

The folk-song that does, or did within recent years, exist is manifold in its variety. It reflects very accurately the type of thought that is, or was, current among the class who sang it. Its limits are strictly within their understanding, though now and again its commonplaces are tinged with romance. Yet this romance is not above the comprehension of the most humble and constitutes a grown-up’s fairy tale. It tells its story or voices its sentiment in the fewest possible words, and in tragedy

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X. THE NARRATIVE BALLAD

X. THE NARRATIVE BALLAD

This in its earliest form is, without doubt, the oldest surviving kind of folk-song. In all cases it is a long rhyming story which tells of events more or less romantic, and more or less true. It is probable that such ballads have come down to us from the middle ages, when professional glee-men, or minstrels, went from one noble house to another and sang such lyrics to the harp or to other accompaniment. The stories are dramatic and sufficiently well-marked in character to be easily remembered.

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XI. LOVE SONGS AND MYSTIC SONGS

XI. LOVE SONGS AND MYSTIC SONGS

Love holds first place in all lyrics, and there is no exception to this rule in the folk-song. There is, however, this difference;—whilst the art-song is frequently couched in language abstract and sentimental, and enriched with metaphor and simile, the folk-song is almost always direct, and from its baldness of diction possessed of great force. The declaration of love in a folk-song is simple, and there is no mincing of words. It is unmistakably fervent and in earnest. The tragedy of a girl’s f

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XII. THE PASTORAL

XII. THE PASTORAL

The pastoral song is fairly frequent, especially in the Southern counties of England. Its chief theme is the joys of country life. Such are the songs in which the ploughman is the chief personage, and one who glories in his calling. In Sussex Songs we find a very typical example— Then there are sheep-shearing songs, some of which may be seen in Dr Barrett’s English Folk-Songs and elsewhere. English County Songs provides this ordinary example— Other verses would, of course, provide for consumptio

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XIII. DRINKING SONGS AND HUMOROUS SONGS

XIII. DRINKING SONGS AND HUMOROUS SONGS

The drinking song is not very common among folk-songs. “The good old leathern bottle,” and some other South country songs, chiefly dealing with harvest-home festivities, can scarcely be called such. They speak of the home-brewed farm ale in an honest fashion, and without the gloating over liquor which is so much a feature of the eighteenth century bacchanalian song. “When Joan’s ale was new” is popular over most parts of England, and “Drink old England dry” is another very harmless production. T

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XIV. HIGHWAYMAN AND POACHER SONGS

XIV. HIGHWAYMAN AND POACHER SONGS

If the pressgang was an unpleasant factor in eighteenth century life, so also were the footpad and highwayman. The highwayman generally claimed the sympathy of the folk-song maker on the ground that— “He never robbed a poor man upon the King’s highway,” and that his takings from the rich were distributed among the poor. This atoned for all crimes against person and property that were committed by such men as “Brennan on the Moor,” the hero of a very favourite ballad. Sometimes these highwayman s

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XV. SOLDIER SONGS

XV. SOLDIER SONGS

Of soldier songs the folk-singer has comparatively few. One of the prettiest is that indifferently called “The Summer Morning,” or “The White Cockade.” It commences— Another soldier’s song popular among folk-singers is “Pretty Polly Oliver,” or “Polly Oliver’s Ramble.” Polly dresses herself in male attire, mounts her father’s black gelding, and joins the regiment, with the captain of which she is in love. Then we have the pathetic “Deserter.” Another favourite is “The Gentleman Soldier,” and yet

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XVI. SEA SONGS

XVI. SEA SONGS

These have always been welcome among English singers, and our nation has a plenitude of fine ones. In folk-song they generally take a narrative form and treat of adventures with pirates, and the like. Examples of this type are “Paul Jones,” “Ward the pirate,” “Henry Martin,” “The bold Princess Royal,” and some others. The pressgang songs might, in a sense, go under the heading “sailor songs,” and, certainly, the Chanty, but these are dealt with separately. “The Golden Vanity” is popular, so is “

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XVII. PRESSGANG SONGS

XVII. PRESSGANG SONGS

These have a greater dramatic effect than any other type before dealt with. In the eighteenth century, when the constant war with France demanded a supply of men to man the navy, the pressgang was a very vital thing in the lives of the humbler classes. The law empowered (under a press warrant) officers of the King’s Navy to seize any man, with few exceptions, and then and there remove him to a King’s ship to serve as a common sailor. Violence was freely used, and at dead of night whole villages

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XVIII. HUNTING AND SPORTING SONGS

XVIII. HUNTING AND SPORTING SONGS

The folk-singer does not lack songs dealing with the sports he loves. The fox-and hare-hunting songs are in a degree reflexes of the eighteenth century ones—of great compass, and of much allusion to the Greek gods. It is in these that Diana, Aurora and Phœbus figure so largely. The folk-song that deals with hunting, generally is local in its narrative, and tells of some particular famous fox hunt or hare hunt, naming every squire or yeoman farmer that joined in it. “The Fylingdale Foxhunt” in Tr

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XIX. SONGS OF LABOUR

XIX. SONGS OF LABOUR

Primitive folk appear to have always had particular songs appropriate to specific kinds of labour. Such songs seem to have been traditionally associated with each class of work, and to have been used either to give a marked rhythm, by which the efforts of a number of people are united at a certain moment (as the pull upon a rope), or generally to lighten work, an effect which song certainly has. It is well known that girls in a weaving shop, or other factory, work twice as well and feel the stra

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XX. TRADITIONAL CAROLS

XX. TRADITIONAL CAROLS

That a large number of carols existed in a purely traditional form was somewhat of a revelation, even to the folk-song collector, when Miss Lucy Broadwood, Mr Cecil Sharp, and Dr Vaughan Williams published their “finds” in the Folk-Song Journal . Mr Robin H. Legge, as early as 1890, or before, had collected a number of traditional carols in Cornwall, but his valuable manuscript collection of them was accidentally destroyed. Some of the folk-carols that have lately been recovered embody curious l

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XXI. CHILDREN’S SINGING-GAMES

XXI. CHILDREN’S SINGING-GAMES

The tunes used by children in the traditional singing-games rank as folk-music, and are always of the most simple and marked character. Having these qualities they are easily remembered, and capable of being passed from one generation of children to another with but little chance of corruption. Although certain games have the same rhymes and tunes in different parts of the country, yet there are others where the airs are not so fixed. A very high antiquity has been allotted to the origin of thes

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XXII. THE BALLAD SHEET AND SONG GARLAND

XXII. THE BALLAD SHEET AND SONG GARLAND

When the folk-song singer did not get his song by oral transmission he took it from a ballad sheet, or from those small collections of songs which, for at least three centuries, were called “Garlands.” The words of most of our folk-songs were generally printed either on the ballad sheet (otherwise “broadside”), or included among those that formed the contents of the “Garland,” and nowhere else, except in the rarest instances. Regular song books were too dignified to admit songs or ballads of the

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The following works have each a bearing upon English Folk-Song and Folk-Music, and the student will find a reference to them of great help in obtaining a full knowledge of the subject. Many others might have been named, for it is difficult, if not impossible, to fix a limit for the bibliography of a particular line of study. COLLECTION OF BALLADS AND SONGS, WITHOUT MUSIC Ashton, John . A Century of Ballads. Collected, edited, and illustrated in facsimile by ——. 1887. —— Modern Street Ballads. 1

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Acknowledgment is given with many thanks to— Miss Lucy Broadwood , who directed attention to several works of reference. Miss A. G. Gilchrist , for permission to use the music of the Moston rush-bearing Morris dance and for pointing out its connection with “To-morrow shall be my dancing day.” Miss Nellie Chaplin , for allowing me to use her copy of Playford’s Dancing Master . Mr Clive Carey , for reading proofs and other help. Mr Walter Dodgson , for translating passages from Mysterium und M

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INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

Before the year 1905 few people knew that England possessed a traditional folk-dance of her own, and fewer still realised that the national dances were still practised on certain festival occasions in several villages and country towns, for the most part in the Midland and Northern counties. The word “folk” when used to describe a dance may be interpreted in two ways. It may be used to signify a dance (either traditional or not) at one time popular amongst the people, or its meaning may be limit

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I. THE MORRIS DANCE TO-DAY

I. THE MORRIS DANCE TO-DAY

Before the revival of Morris dancing in 1905, there was only one description of the steps and evolutions of the dance, and that was in Orchesographie et Traicte en Forme de Dialogue , by Thoinot-Arbeau, published in 1588. This is so interesting that I have had a photograph of it taken from the copy in the British Museum. The Morris dance may be roughly divided into five kinds—processional, corner, handkerchief, stick dances, and solo jigs. The corner dances are danced with handkerchiefs and so a

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II. TUNES

II. TUNES

A word must be said about the tunes played for the dances by country musicians to-day. These tunes are, of course, of much later date than the Morris and Sword dances, and probably contemporary with the original country dances. The musicians took any tune which was popular at the time and adapted it to the dances, so that the tunes are not by any means all traditional. As an instance of this, I remember that old Mr Trafford, of Headington, told me that one day when he heard a military band playi

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III. MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

III. MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

In the earliest records of Morris dancing, the pipe and tabor, or whittle and dub, were the musical instruments in use, and the oldest dancers to-day are never tired of lamenting that the pipe and tabor to which they danced in their youth have gone out of fashion. A Morris dancer in Fleet Street, London, is described in a seventeenth century manuscript in the British Museum (Harleian MS. 3910): In the old play of Jacke Drums Entertainment (1601)— Later the fiddle took the place of pipe and tabor

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IV. THE DRESS

IV. THE DRESS

The Morris dance dress had two characteristics; it was the holiday attire of the dancers and it had added to that certain special ceremonial features. These were bells, ribbons, sticks or swords, and handkerchiefs. In the Kingston-on-Thames Churchwardens’ Accounts (1536-37) the dresses of the Morris dancers are thus described:—They consisted of four coats of white fustian spangled, and two green satin coats with garters on which small bells were fastened. In an old tract called “Old Meg of Heref

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V. EXTRA CHARACTERS

V. EXTRA CHARACTERS

In the days when the Morris dance was an integral part of the people’s life it was no one’s business to make exact records in writing either of the dance itself, of the ceremonies connected with it, or of the characters associated with it. It is therefore very difficult to differentiate with any exactitude just where the Morris dance merged into the sword dance, and just where the dances were merged into the Mummers’ plays and other early pageants and ceremonies. All primitive forms of dance and

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VI. THE SWORD DANCE

VI. THE SWORD DANCE

The Sword dance is still performed in the North of England, generally at Christmas time and on Plough Monday, 6th of January. It was originally part of a pageant or Mummers’ play in which the ever-recurring drama of death and resurrection was acted in various forms. Mr Sharp says that traces of it have been found in two southern English counties. Mr Carey found a dance called “Over the Sticks” in Sussex, but it has more of the characteristics of the Scotch sword dance, in which the swords are pl

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VII. THE FURRY DANCE

VII. THE FURRY DANCE

The Furry dance comes under the heading of a genuine folk-dance and is part of an old ritual of May Day. Mrs Lily Grove gives the following account of it:— “The Fadé or Furry dance takes place in the parish of Helston, on Furry Day, May 8th, which to dwellers in those parts is like Christmas Day to most English people.” Fadé is an old Cornish word meaning “to go,” and is often corrupted into faddy, while furry is by some authorities derived from the Cornish fuer, signifying fair or merry-making.

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VIII. THE COUNTRY DANCE

VIII. THE COUNTRY DANCE

A few country dances are still remembered by old people living in villages, but, unlike the Morris dances, by far the greater number of country dances are recorded both as to steps and figures, so that they do not come under the same heading as the strictly traditional dance. The supposition that “country-dance” is a corruption of “contre-danse,” and that it came to England from France, is not correct. It was in fact, as in name, a country dance, danced by country folk in barn and ale-house and

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IX. THE PRESENT-DAY REVIVAL OF THE FOLK-DANCE

IX. THE PRESENT-DAY REVIVAL OF THE FOLK-DANCE

Twenty years ago the folk-dance had almost entirely disappeared, and the first definite effort made to reawaken it was that made by Mr D’Arcy Ferrers, who in 1886 revived the Morris dance in Bidford-on-Avon and round about that neighbourhood. This created great interest at the time, an interest which has since never wholly died out, though but for Mr D’Arcy Ferrers it is probable that the dances of that neighbourhood would have completely disappeared. At that time the traditional “side” had been

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X. CONCLUSIONS

X. CONCLUSIONS

In the foregoing pages we have seen how in primitive times dancing was inextricably interwoven with all religious ceremonial, even when that religion took the earlier form of magic and the dancing was part of a ceremonial to induce the growth of crops or the rising of the morning sun. We have seen, too, how later the more advanced teaching of the Greek and Christian religion was partly expressed and symbolised in dance and rhythmic gesture. We have seen these same dances as part of the popular f

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

In the space of the foregoing book it has been impossible to give more than a limited account of English Folk-Dance. Students are, therefore, referred to the following books— “Dancing.” Badminton Library. By Mrs Lily Grove. 1895. “Educational Value of Dancing and Pantomime.” By Dr Stanley Hall, Clarke University, Worcester, Mass. “Illustrations of Shakespeare and of Ancient Manners.” 2 vols. London, 1807. By Francis Douce. 1807. “The Witch of Edmonton.” By divers well estimed Poets, W. Rowley, T

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