The People Dance and Sing
FOLK MUSIC
ALL THE WORLD HAS DANCED AND SUNG
We have watched the human race grow out of its state of primitive yells
and grunts, or babyhood, telling its stories and expressing its feelings
in crude music. We have seen it sing and dance its way through the ages
during which its men were semi-barbarians, like the Franks, Gauls,
Goths, Huns, Saxons, Celts, and Angles into the period when these same
tribes became the French, German, Belgian and English nations.
Music was not a thing of learning as it is today, it was merely a way of
talking, of enjoying life, and of passing on to others deeds and doings
of the time. Early people said in poetry and song what was in their
hearts. They knew nothing of musical rules and regulations and passed
their songs along from father to son through the long years when the
world was young, and their best songs have in them the seed of musical
art! A modern Greek folk singer said: “As I don’t know how to read, I
have made this story into a song, so as not to forget it.”
This music of the people, by the people and for the people is Folk Music
and we shall see how these simple, tuneful bits have influenced the
world of music because, as H. E. Krehbiel said, “they are the heartbeats
of the ... folk and in them are preserved feelings, beliefs and habits
of vast antiquity.” Don’t you believe that studying history through folk
tunes would be fascinating? People today have found out much about the
different races and tribal events through them.
It is impossible to find out who wrote the five thousand folk songs of
England and the more than five thousand of Russia and of Ireland and all
the others, for it was not until the 19th century that folk songs and
dances became a serious study. The fact is, that a true folk song
doesn’t want to find its composer for it loses its rank as a folk song
if its maker should turn up! Isn’t that curious? But it is not quite
fair, for surely we should accept as folk songs those which have sprung
up among them, or have become a part of their lives through expressing
their thoughts and feelings, even though the composer’s name has not
been lost. We divide folk songs into two classes,—Class A, the
composerless songs, and Class B, those tagged with a name.
Isn’t it exciting to think that folk songs and dances of the ancient
Greeks, the Aztecs of Peru, the Chinese, the Irish and Russian peasants
and our American negroes have things in common? It seems as if they
might have had a world congress in primitive times and agreed on certain
kinds of songs, for every nation has
1. Songs of childhood, games, and cradle songs.
2. Songs for religious ceremonies, festivals, holidays, and Christmas
Carols.
3. Love songs and songs for marriage fêtes, and weddings.
4. War songs, patriotic songs and army songs.
5. Songs of work and labor and trades.
6. Drinking songs, comical, political and satirical.
7. Songs for dancing, rounds, etc.
8. Funeral songs and songs for mourning.
9. Narratives, ballads and legends.
So it comes to pass, that many a time when nations, due to wars and
wanderings and vast passings of time, have forgotten their origins, the
singing of a song will bring back the fact of some far distant
relationship.
One day a party of Bretons, in 1758 (long after the Welsh and Bretons
had forgotten they were of the same race), were marching to give battle
to some Welsh troops that had descended upon the French coast. As the
Welsh soldiers marched forward, the Bretons were amazed to hear their
enemies singing one of their own national songs! They were so surprised
and so overcome with sympathy that the Bretons joined in and sang with
the Welsh. Both commanders, speaking the same language, gave the order
“Fire!” But neither side would or could fire. Instead, the soldiers
dropped their weapons, broke ranks and in wild enthusiasm greeted each
other as long lost friends. The song they sang is probably seven hundred
years old or older.
(1) SONGS OF CHILDHOOD, GAMES AND CRADLE SONGS
From the day of the obelisk to the day of the radio, every baby that has
ever been born has been put to sleep to the soothing sound of the
mother’s song. The Greek mother sang to her baby,
Come, Sleep! come, Sleep! Take him away.
Come, Sleep, and make him slumber.
Carry him to the vineyard of the Aga,
To the Garden of the Aga,
The Aga will give him grapes; his wife, roses; his servant, pancakes.
Many early lullabies were sung in honor of the infant Jesus, which
really gives them a very blesséd beginning. It is related by a Sicilian
poet “When the Madunazza (mother) was mending St. Joseph’s clothes, the
Bambineddu (Bambino—the Infant Jesus) cried in his cradle, because no
one was attending to Him. So the Archangel Raphael came and rocked Him
and said these sweet little words to Him, ‘Lullaby, Jesus, Son of
Mary.’”
The Indians, too, sang lullabies, for you know the squaw is a gentle
soul and takes beautiful care of her papoose. The Chippewas think of
sleep as a big insect and they have named him Weeng. Weeng comes down
from the top of a tree where he is busy making a buzzing noise with his
wings and puts you to sleep by sending many little fairies to you who
beat your head with tiny clubs!
We all know our own _Bye, Baby Bunting_, _Father’s Gone a Hunting_,
etc., and _Rockabye Baby on the Tree Top_.
The Germans, whose children songs and lullabies are so lovely, have the
familiar _Schlaf, Kindlein, Schlaf!_ It is a sweet name the Italians
give their lullaby, the _ninne-nanne_! And the mothers in Lyons, France,
call sleep _souin-souin_ and have a charming little song:
Le Poupon voudrait bien do(r)mir;
Le souin-souin ne peu pas venir.
Souin-souin, vené, vené, vené;
Souin-souin, vené, vené, vené!
The infant wants to go to sleep;
Sleep does not wish to come.
Sleep come, come, come;
Sleep come, come, come!
GAMES
We all have sung _The Farmer in the Dell_, _London Bridge is Falling
Down_, _Ring Around the Rosy_ and many other game-songs. We have told
you of the Indian moccasin game, and we know that in all the other
nations the children have had their game-songs.
(2) SONGS FOR RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES, HOLIDAYS, AND CHRISTMAS CAROLS,
ETC., MAY SONGS AND SPRING FESTIVALS
Spring is so full of the beginnings of life, and people can see the
flowers begin to bloom and take on color and glory. Even as you and I,
they have never been able to see them without rejoicing and every one’s
rejoicing sooner or later is a cause for music. In many countries this
renewal of life is celebrated by rites and ceremonies that have been the
source of much folk-lore and music.
The Greeks, as early as the 6th Century B.C., celebrated the coming of
the spring with a religious festival named after the god Dionysus. Many
songs and dances accompanied these festivals. On the evening before the
festival, which lasted five days, there was an impressive procession by
torch-light in which an image of the god Dionysus was carried to the
theatre where the festival was held, accompanied by many handsome youths
and a very splendid bull which was sacrificed.
In the excavations of Crete this ancient hymn has been found,—a spring
song and a young man-song in one:
Ho! Kouros (young man), most Great, I give thee hail, Lord of all that
is wet and gleaming; thou art come at the head of thy Daemones. To
Dickte for the year, Oh, march and rejoice in the dance and song.
In Germany, it was thought that on Walpurgis-nacht (May night) witches
rode on the tails of magpies and danced away the winter snows on the
Brocken, one of the highest peaks of the Hartz Mountains. In Germany
too, it was the custom for children to set May-flies (Maikäfer) free and
to sing this song:
Maikäferchen fliege,
Dein Vater ist in Kriege
Dein Mutter ist in Pommerland
Pommerland ist abgebrannt
Maikäferchen fliege.
or
May-fly, fly away,
Your father is at war,
Your mother is in Pommerland.
Pommerland is all burned up!
May-fly, fly away.
Don’t you think it is like our rhyme?
Lady-bug, lady-bug,
Fly away home.
Your house is on fire
Your children will burn.
And here is the French:
Avril, tu t’en vas!
Car Mai vient la-bas
Pour balayer ta figure
De pluie, aussi de froidure.
Hanneton, vole!
Hanneton, vole!
Au firmament bleu,
Ton nid est en feu,
Les Turcs avec leur èpée
Viennent tuer ta couvée.
Hanneton, vole!
Hanneton, vole!
or:
April, away!
For here cometh May
With sunshine again
To banish the rain.
May-beetle, fly!
May-beetle, fly!
Afar in the sky,
With flames leaping high,
The Turks with swords rude
Have slaughtered your brood.
May-beetle, fly!
May-beetle, fly!
The first comic opera, a _pastourale_ six hundred years old, _Le Jeu de
Robin et de Marion_ by Adam de la Hale, is full of May songs.
The King and Queen of the May and May Pole dancers and the English
Jack-in-the-Green, the Thuringian Little Leaf Man and the Russian tree
dressed up are only a few of the many examples of the rites of spring.
And we have seen how the Druids and the Aztecs celebrated spring.
One of the most modern composers, Igor Stravinsky, has written a ballet
called _Le Sacre du Printemps_ (Rites of Spring) in which he has used
the ancient Russian pagan rites of celebrating the spring. The music is
wild and the rhythms primitive.
RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES
From legends, we know that songs and dances of the Polish people
accompanied their religious ceremonies before Christianity. When they
exchanged their pagan gods for the teachings of the early Christian
fathers, many of these songs were lost, but some of them were handed
down merely by changing the pagan name to the Christian. These songs
have been traced by the fact that many of them are based on the old
pentatonic scale. The Slavs, the Lithuanians and the Germanic races have
kept this scale in Eastern and Middle Europe, and the Greeks, the
ancient Italians and the Celts brought it into Western and Southern
Europe. These scales are supposed to have come from Indo-China, for it
must not be forgotten that the Polish along with all Slavs migrated from
Asia, the cradle of the human race.
Two festivals,—St. John’s Eve and Christmas, came down from the pagan
era in Poland and the manner of celebration has changed little
throughout the centuries.
CHRISTMAS CAROLS
The Polish Christmas Carol was also handed down from the days before
Christ. The word “carol” comes from the old French _carole_ which was a
dance, and gave its name to the song by which it was accompanied. In the
pagan time there were summer carols, winter carols, Easter carols and
carols that celebrated a religious winter festival. As the winter
festival occurred about the same time of the year as the Nativity or
birthday of the Saviour, it was celebrated in the Christian Church as
Christmas. In England, the old Yule-tide of the Druids has influenced
the present celebration of Christmas with its fun, festivities and
Christmas trees!
Throughout Germany, Christmas Carols are still sung early every
Christmas morning, and many of the old hymns have thus been preserved.
The Christmas Carol in France is called _Noël_ and the old English word
was _Nowell_.
(3) LOVE SONGS
It is safe to say that there are more love songs than any other kind of
folk music, and among them is some of the most beautiful music in the
world. You will find charming folk love songs of every nationality on
earth.
Different countries have different marriage customs which give an
intimate picture of the life in different periods, of countries and
tribes far apart. Again we can trace forgotten relationships in like
customs of bygone days. Singing and dancing are very important in all
marriage celebrations, and some wedding music is of great age.
In Russia, for example, the marriage customs and wedding music are very
beautiful and impressive. At the same time no folk dancing is wilder or
gayer than that celebrating a peasant marriage.
Before going to a wedding ceremony, the Polish bride sings one
particular song built on the pentatonic scale, that has probably been
sung for more than two thousand years! There are other wedding ceremony
songs that can be traced back almost as far.
In Brittany, during the 11th and 12th centuries, the priest demanded a
“nuptial song” from the newly-weds on the Sunday following the wedding,
as a wedding tax!
In another place the feudal lord demanded that every new bride should
dance and sing before him and in return he decorated her with a bonnet
of flowers.
You haven’t forgotten the Indian and his love music played on the flute,
have you?
(4) PATRIOTIC SONGS
In the recent World War, we had examples of how folk songs were made.
There were popular songs like _Over There_ (George Cohan), _The Long,
Long Trail_ (by Zo Elliot), _Tipperary_, _Madelon_, that were sung by
millions. They were songs of the people, by the people and for the
people, and no one cared who wrote them.
Most of the national hymns and patriotic songs were born in a time of
storm and stress. Words inspired by some special happening were written
on the spur of the moment, and often set to some familiar tune.
_America_ was first sung to the tune of _God Save the King_ on July 4,
1832. The words of _Star Spangled Banner_ were written by Francis Scott
Key during the War of 1812 as he watched the bombardment of Fort McHenry
in Chesapeake Bay, and was set to an English drinking song, _Anacreon in
Heaven_. _Yankee Doodle_, a song first sung to make fun of the young
colonists, became the patriotic hymn of the Revolution! Where the tune
came from is a mystery, but it shows a family likeness to a little Dutch
nursery song, a German street song, an old English country dance, a folk
tune from the Pyrenees and one from Hungary! But we love our old _Yankee
Doodle_ anyhow! _Hail Columbia_ was adapted to a tune, _The President’s
March_, which had accompanied Washington when he was inaugurated, in New
York, as our first president.
England’s _God Save the King_ was composed, words and music, by Henry
Carey, and it was used first in 1743 during the Jacobite uprising. It
has since served America, Germany, Denmark and Switzerland. _Auld Lang
Syne_ of Scotland was written by “Bobby” Burns and set to an old Scotch
tune. _St. Patrick’s Day_ was originally a jig, and _The Wearing of the
Green_ was a street ballad of the Irish rebellion of 1798 mourning the
fact that the Irish were forbidden to wear their national emblem, the
shamrock. The Welsh song _Men of Harlech_, a stirring tune, dates from
1468.
The French have several thrilling national songs. If you heard _Malbrouk
s’en va-t-en guerre_ (Malbrouk to war is going) you would say, “Why!
that’s _For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow_.” So it is, and it has had a long
and chequered career. It is supposed to have been brought into Europe by
one of the Crusaders, and was lost for five centuries; it cropped up
again in 1781 when Marie Antoinette sang it to put the little Dauphin
(the French prince) to sleep. Paris picked up the tune and it was heard
in every café and on every street corner. Napoleon who had no ear for
music hummed it. It crossed the English channel. Even the Arabs sing a
popular song like it which they call _Mabrooka_. Beethoven used the air
in a Battle Symphony (1813).
The stirring hymn of France, is the _Marseillaise_ written by Rouget de
l’Isle (1792) on the eve of the Revolution. It became the marching song
of the French Army and was sung during the attack on the Tuileries
(Paris), the king’s palace. It has always been the Republican song of
France.
In almost every book you read about the French Revolution, _La
Carmagnole_ and _Ça Ira_ are mentioned. They accompanied thousands of
victims to the guillotine. _Ça Ira_ (It will go!) was a popular dance
which Marie Antoinette played on her _clavecin_. Little did she know
that the same tune would be shouted by the infuriated mobs as she was
driven through the streets of Paris in the tumbril to the guillotine!
The Italians show their natural love for opera by the fact that their
national hymn is adopted from Bellini’s opera _Somnambula_.
The _Rakoczy March_ of which you will hear later in the chapter is the
Hungarian national hymn.
We could write an entire book on this subject, but this is only to give
you a suggestion of how these songs grew and where they came from.
(5) SONGS OF WORK AND LABOR AND TRADES
We have shown you the American Indians singing their songs as they fish
and pound the corn; the boatmen rowing to the rhythm of their songs; and
we have tried to show you that everybody loved songs as much when they
worked as when they danced. Haven’t you, too, hummed or sung while
working? People who accompany dish cloths and dusters with songs work
better!
American negroes have used song to ease their work in the hot sunny
fields. They not only sang, but men were hired to sing and act as song
leaders in the slave days, to set the pace for workers, for more work
was done when the slaves moved to the rhythm of music. In modern
factories today, music is used to relieve the drudgery.
In Southern States the stevedores sing as they unload and load ships.
And haven’t you often heard a rhythmic sound uttered by men hauling
ropes on ships or buildings?
The world over, sailors have their songs and dances, farmers their
reaping and planting songs, spinners and weavers their songs, boatmen
songs like those on the Nile and the Volga boat song.
While few Greek folk songs have come down to our time, we know that they
had songs for reaping the harvest, for grinding the barley, for
threshing the wheat, for pressing the grapes, for spinning wool, and for
weaving. They also had the songs of the shoemaker, the dyer, of the
bath-master, the water carrier, of the shepherd, etc.
There are innumerable spinning songs of all nationalities, and
shepherds’ songs,—you probably know the French _Il etait une Bergère_.
In Africa, we hear that the workers when cleaning rice were led by
singers, who clapped their hands and stamped their feet to accompany the
song. One man reports that he heard the negro women singing a national
song in chorus, while pounding wheat always in time with the music.
Charles Peabody tells of a leader in a band of slaves in America who was
besought by his companions not to sing a certain song because it made
them work too hard!
The difference between the negro songs and the labor songs of other
peoples and places is, that the negroes had no special labor songs but
sang their religious songs, which they adapted to all purposes and
occasions, while the true labor song was composed to fit the occasion.
In old England we hear of the “Labor-lilts” which were all work songs of
spinners, milk-maids and shepherds. And we must not neglect the old
night-watchman whom we meet in Wagner’s _Die Meistersinger_. Neither can
we let go by unnoticed the “town-crier” who told the news, good and bad.
The street calls and cries of the Middle Ages were labor songs, later,
in England and in France made into real compositions.
We, in America, have the old Cow-boy songs, the Mining songs of
California, and the Lumberjack songs of Maine. These are not exactly
labor songs but are first cousins to them.
The stage coach _postillons_ with their fascinating horn calls are
really music of trades or occupations, too. Isn’t it too bad that the
inartistic jangle of the tram-car and the “honk-honk” of the automobile
tear our ears instead of the tuneful hunting horns and postillon horns
which are still occasionally heard in European forests!
The world’s workers sing to make work slip along easily, so you see song
is a great lubricant.
(6) DRINKING SONGS
In the great dining halls of the Middle Ages, when hunting parties
gathered, and guests were received from near and far, or at Christmas
time, when in old Britain the Wassail-bowl flowed freely, drinking songs
were an important part of the banquet. At the splendid feasts in Rome,
drinking songs were popular. In fact, all over the world there are
thousands of this kind of folk song.
The name Wassail dates back to the day when Vortigern, King of the
Britons, visited Hengist, the Saxon. Rowena, Hengist’s daughter greeted
him with, “Was hail hla, ond cyning!” which mean in plain English, “Be
of health, Lord King!” to which the king replied, “Drink heil” (Drink
health).
THE WORD VAUDEVILLE
In the second half of the 15th century, two men named Basselin and Jean
de Houx wrote many drinking songs. As they lived in the little valleys
(in French called _vaux_) near Vire in Normandy, drinking songs came to
be called _vaux-de-vire_. At the same time, songs that were sung in the
streets, in fact, any folk songs with gay melodies and light words, were
called _voix-de-ville_, (or voices of the city). So, in some way, these
two terms became mixed, and the familiar word, _vaudeville_ is the
result!
(7) DANCING SONGS
In the folk dance, man shows the feelings and dispositions of his race.
From this dance of the people, all music gradually took a measured form,
a rhythmic thing that is lacking in the song of primitive people. In
primitive times, all dances were sung, particularly was this the case
with the Slav race. As instruments were perfected, they took the place
of primitive drums and singing as accompaniment to the dance.
The plain chant, and in fact all music of the church, lacked the element
we call rhythm. It followed a metre or measure needed by the words, but
this was much more like talking than like singing. Even the ornamented
chant of the soloists in the churches had no definiteness of time or of
phrase.
Rhythm as we feel it today, occurs in two ways,—through the singing of
verses and through dancing. We must not forget that early peoples were
much like children, and took pleasure in jingles, and in moving their
feet and bodies in repeated motions which became dances.
It is most fascinating to see that the people who have the saddest
songs, have the gayest and wildest dances! Maybe it is because the
sadder the nation the more need it has for some gay way of forgetting
its woes. The Russians, the Poles, the Norwegians and the people of all
north countries where the songs are minor and tragic, have the wildest
dances. The clothes, too, of the folk in these countries are decked in
colored embroideries, and the decorations of the houses giddy and jolly.
When the Russians get together they forget their sorrows in wild and
almost frenzied dances, and directly after they will sing songs of
deepest gloom.
POLISH DANCES
The Poles have several folk dances that are easily recognized by their
rhythm and style. The great Polish composer Chopin used these folk
dances in some of the loveliest piano music ever written. For more than
six centuries they have been used by Polish composers, yet there are
people who say that folk song has no influence on musical art.
The Polonaise, in ¾ time, a stately dance of the aristocracy and nobles
rather than of the people, began as a folk dance, and is supposed to
have come from the Christmas Carol. The rhythm of the Polonaise, is
easily recognized and followed. In the early times, these polonaises had
no composer’s tag, but were often named for some Polish hero, and thus
show the date in which they were born.
One Polish writer dates the “courtly” polonaise from 1573. The year
following the election of Henry III of Anjou, a great reception took
place at Cracow, in which all the ladies of high rank marched in
procession past the throne to the sound of a stately dance. This was the
beginning of the stately polonaise, in which old and young took part,
marching all through the great drawing rooms and gardens.
The Mazurka, another very popular Polish dance, is also in ¾ time, but
faster than the polonaise, and slower than the waltz. It is performed by
a few couples at a time, two to eight but rarely more. The accent of the
measure falls on the third beat, which distinguishes it from a waltz.
Other well known Polish dances are the _Krakowiak_ in ²⁄₄ time, the
_Kujawiak_ in ¾ time, the _Obertass_ in ¾ time, the dance of the
mountaineers, called the _Kolomyjka_ in ²⁄₄ time, and the _Kosah_ in ²⁄₄
time. All these dances are fast, and all of them come directly from folk
songs.
SPANISH DANCE-SONGS
It is very hard to tell which of the Spanish folk pieces are dances and
which at first were songs, because the favorite songs of Spain are
nearly all sung as accompaniments to dancing. Spain had almost as rich
troubadour music as France, because the influence of the troubadours and
of the jongleurs was very strong, Provence being Spain’s neighbor. In
Catalonia the Provençal language has been used since the 9th century,
and the folk music differs from that of other parts of Spain.
The songs of Spain divide themselves into four groups. The Basque, the
music of Biscay and Navarre, unlike any music of which we have told you,
is irregular in rhythm, melody, and scale, and the _jota_ is one of its
characteristic dances. Galicia and Castile have gay, bright, strong
marked dance rhythms as may be seen from their characteristic _boleros_
and _seguidillas_. Andalusian music and that of Southern Spain is
perhaps the most beautiful of all, for here we find the influence of the
Oriental music to a marked degree, in the use of the scale, in florid
ornament, and in the richness of the rhythm; the dances _fandangos_,
_rondeñas_ and _malagueñas_ are thought to be finer than the songs. The
guitar is the king of instruments in Andalusia and how Spanish it is!
The fourth group of songs is from Catalonia of French influence and less
Spanish than the others.
THE BALLAD AND THE BALLET
In the English language we have the word _ballad_, which means a long
poem in which a story is told. We also use the French word _ballet_, for
a dance on the stage. These two words come from the same root, and show
that at one time ballads and dance tunes were practically the same
thing.
The English dance song, the “round” or the same dance in France called
the _ronde_, was a popular dance for many centuries, some of which are
most amusing and curious. One dance tune from the 12th century has Latin
words; there is also a well known tune, Sellenger’s Round, from the
collection called the _Fitzwilliam Virginal Book_. Another famous ballad
(dance) was _Trenchmore_, a good sample of English folk dance at the end
of the 16th century:
[Illustration: TRENCHMORE]
An English writer (how childlike was his fun!) in 1621 says of
_Trenchmore_, “Who can withstand it? be we young or old, though our
teeth shake in our heads like virginal jacks (see page 310), or stand
parallel asunder like the arches of a bridge, there is no remedy; we
must dance Trenchmore over tables, chairs, and stools!”
THE MORRIS DANCE
The English Morris Dance is a sort of pageant accompanied by dancing. It
may have come from the _Morisco_, a Moorish dance popular in Spain and
France, or perhaps from the Matassins, also called Buffoons, who did a
dance in armor, which may have come from the Arabs. This dance of the
Buffoons, popular in France during the 16th and 17th centuries, was
performed by four men with swords, and bells attached to their costumes,
used also in the Morris Dance. It may have come into England at the end
of the 14th century, but in the 15th it was flourishing. First it was
given as a part of the May festival and the characters who took part in
it were a Lady of the May, a Fool, a Piper, and two or more dancers. The
dance then became a part of the _Robin Hood_ pageant, and the dancers
were called after the characters of the Robin Hood ballad: Robin Hood,
Friar Tuck, Little John, and Maid Marian. Later, a hobby-horse, a
dragon, four marshals, and other characters were added. The Puritans
stopped the Morris Dance as they thought it too frivolous, and it was
never so popular again.
THE CUSHION DANCE
In the _Story of Minstrelsy_ is quoted a description of the Cushion
Dance from _The Dancing Master_ (1686):
“This dance is begun by a single person (either a man or woman), who,
taking a cushion in hand, dances about the room, and at the end of the
tune stops and sings, ‘This dance it will no further go.’ The musician
answers, ‘I pray you, good sir, why say you so?’ Man: ‘Because Joan
Sanderson will not come too.’ Musician: ‘She must come too, and she
shall come too, and she must come whether she will or no.’ Then he lays
down the cushion before the woman, on which she kneels, and he kisses
her, singing, ‘Welcome, Joan Sanderson, welcome, welcome.’ Then she
rises, takes up the cushion, and both dance, singing, ‘Prinkum-prankum
is a fine dance!’” Why not try it?
Thomas Morley (1597) wrote of a kind of dance-part-song called
_vilanelle_ or _ballete_. “These and all other kinds of light musick,
saving the madrigal, are by a general name called _aires_. There be also
another kind of ballets commonly called _Fa-la’s_....”
When printing was invented these ballads (or ballets) appeared in such
quantities, that they became a nuisance. Any subject or event was made
into a ballad. They were usually printed on single sheets so that an
instrument like the viol could play the air, and were carried around in
baskets and sold for a trifle. Ballad-singing in the streets took the
place of the older minstrels, but the newer fashion never reached the
dignity of the bards. These ballads were used as dances.
Both Henry VIII and Queen Mary issued edicts forbidding the printing of
books, ballads, and rhymes, probably because many were political ballads
uncomplimentary to them. In Elizabeth’s reign the edict was removed, and
many of these dance-songs are found in the plays of Shakespeare and are
sung today in concerts as examples of English folk music.
Many of the better ones have been preserved for us in the _Fitzwilliam
Virginal Book_, which is often wrongly called _Queen Elizabeth’s
Virginal Book_, and in Playford’s _English Dancing Master_ in which
there are ninety-five songs used for dancing; they are also to be heard
in the _Beggar’s Opera_ which contains sixty-nine airs, among which may
be mentioned _Sally in our Alley_, _Bonny Dundee_, _Green Sleeves_,
_Lilliburlero_, _Over the Hills and Far Away_, etc. John Gay gathered
these folk songs and dances into _The Beggar’s Opera_ in 1727, and it
was recently (1920) revived with great success in London and New York.
Tiersot (an authority on French folk music) has shown that Adam de la
Hale probably wrote the play of _Le Jeu de Robin et de Marion_ and then
strung together a number of popular tunes, many of far older date, to
suit his words. So this pastoral-comedy may be the oldest collection of
French folk tunes in existence.
In France, when a dance-air became popular, the rhymers made up words to
fit the music; this was called _parodying_ it. Our use of the word
“parody” means to make fun of something, but at that time, the word
meant to adapt words to a melody. One of the early French writers
translated the Psalms for use in the Church, and these very Psalms which
were dedicated to François I, the King, were “parodied,” so that the
people sang them to their favorite dance tunes,—_courantes_,
_sarabandes_ and _bourrées_. This happened at a time when church music
was being popularized, and one hears queer tales of the use of popular
songs in the masses and motets of the 14th and 15th centuries. It sounds
sacrilegious to us, doesn’t it?
In spite of all the mixing-up of tunes and words, the French folk dances
besides being very charming and winning were the parents of a most
important kind of musical composition. Just to keep you from being too
curious, the name of this important musical composition is the Suite—but
wait!
(8) FUNERAL SONGS AND SONGS FOR MOURNING
All people from the savage state to the most civilized have had their
funeral songs and songs for mourning which have been characteristic of
the day and age to which they belonged and revealed many tribal and
racial beliefs, superstitions and customs.
(9) NARRATIVES, BALLADS AND LEGENDS
We shall not tarry long on this subject for it has been covered in the
chapter on Troubadours and Minnesingers.
All primitive races used this means of teaching and preserving their
tribal history, legends, etc., of telling the news of the day and of
praising their over-lords. Many hundreds of volumes of ballads of all
countries are to be found and are most useful as well as entertaining in
the story of mankind.
Among the most famous narratives known to us are: the _Sagas_ and
_Eddas_ and _Runes_ of the Northlands; the _Kalevala_ of Finland; the
_Percy Reliques_ of Britain; the _Odyssey_ and _Iliad_ of ancient
Greece; the _Song of Roland_ of France, _Beowulf_ of the Anglo-Saxons,
and others, many of which have been translated and simplified for young
readers.