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3. Songs of the People. Folk songs may be loosely defined as music that is transmitted orally and has no identifiable composer, often found in different variants from different places. They may have grown up around equally anonymous texts, but quite often these are forgotten and only the melody remains. In the first hour, we shall look at different types of English and Scottish folk songs from the middle ages to the present. The second hour will consider the influence of folksong on orchestral, operatic, and chamber composers, drawing materials from a wide range of cultures.

There is no separate text compilation in this case, as most of the songs have traditional words that differ slightly between renderings. As usual, the script, videos, and images will be posted immediately after class.

Handout (flat) Handout (folded) Class Script	Return to Index
Images shown in class Artists, composers, writers

Videos

The videos below are as close as possible to those played in class. However, most do not have the titles added by me, and I have made a few close substitutions for videos that are not now available; these items are *asterisked.*


		Sumer is icumen in Medieval round (13th century or earlier) Sung by the Hilliard Ensemble; opening video of the class
Echad Mi Yodea Passover counting song Rabbi Ruth Gan Kagan and family
		Echad Mi Yodea Dance by Ohad Naharin Performed by Bathsheva Young Ensemble
Green Grow the Rushes, O Traditional counting sond King Solomon's Singers, Chicago (audio only)
		Green grow the rashes O Song by Robert Burns, 1784 Performed by The Band of Burns
The Water is Wide (O waly, waly) Traditional, arranged by Benjamin Britten Sung by Kathleen Ferrier
		Barbara Allen Traditional, British version Sung by Andreas Scholl
Barbara Allen Traditional, Appalachian version Sung by Jean Ritchie (audio only)
		Boney was a warrior Traditional sea shanty, early 19th century Sung by Paul Clayton
Three Shanties for Wind Quintet Malcolm Arnold (1943) *Movements 2 and 3; members of the San Diego Symphony
		Johnny come down to Hilo Traditional sea shanty Sung by the Fisherman's Friends See also my blog on Shallow Brown, a song whose origin is similarly ambiguous*
Long John Traditional work song Sung by a Texas chain gang, 1934
		The Gospel Train Traditional spiritual, arranged for chorus Sung by US Navy Sea Chanters
Roll, Jordan, roll Traditional spiritual From the movie 12 Years a Slave
		Blowin' in the wind Song by Bob Dylan (1962)
The Beggar's Opera, 1728 Ballad opera by John Gay (1728); Film by Peter Brook, 1953 Click for love scene (Laurence Olivier and Dorothy Tutin)
		Folk Songs from Somerset Ralph Vaughan Williams (1923) Orchestra of St. Martins in the Fields, conducted by Neville Marriner
Eugene Onegin Opera by Tchaikowsky (1879); chorus from Act I *Film by Petr Weigl, 1988
		Jenufa Opera by Janacek (1904); chorus from Act I Liceu, Barcelona: Par Lindskog Stárek (Steva) [not the version shown in class]
Mañanita de San Juan From Ayre by Osaldo Golijov (2004) Sung by Ilana Davidson
		Azerbaijani Love Song From Folk Songs by Luciano Berio (1964) Cathy Berberian, with the composer

Images

The thumbnails below cover the slides shown in class. Click the thumbnail to see a larger image. Click on the right or left of the larger picture to go forward or back, or outside it to close.

	John Gay, 1684–1732. English paywright. Although he wrote the libretto for Handel's early opera Acis and Galatea (1718), Gay is best known as the author of The Beggar's Opera (1728), satirizing the very kind of opera that Handel made famous. The songs in this piece about highwaymen and whores are sung to popular tunes arranged by the German-English composer Johann Pepusch.
	Robert Burns, 1759–96. Scottish poet. Rabbie Burns is often regarded as the national poet of Scotland, where his birthday (1/25) is an occasion for the often-drunken singing of his many songs. He wrote mainly in a Scottish dialect, but it is mostly intelligible to non-Scots.
	Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, 1840–93. Russian composer. Tchaikovsky was the first Russian composer to gain an international reputation, in part because his Russian voice was allied to a thorough training in Western parctice. His symphonies, tone-poems, and ballets have become staples of their repertoire, but his dozen operas are less well-known, except for Eugene Onegin (1879) and The Queen of Spades (1890), both based on texts by Pushkin.
	Leoš Janácek, 1854–1928. Czech composer. Janácek turned to opera fairly late in his career, but his half-dozen mature works in the medium place him in the forefront of opera composers of the 20th century, not only for their distinctive musical style but also their unusual structure and dramatic innovation. Among them are: Jenufa (1903), Káta Kabanová (1921), The Cunning Little Vixen (1923), The Makropoulos Affair (1925), and From the House of the Dead (1928).
	Cecil Sharp, 1859–1924. English folksong collector. Sharp was the pre-eminent figure in the English folk-song revival in the early 20th century, collecting over 4,000 songs from untutored singers in SW England and the Appalachian Mountains in the US. Although he was also a composer, his more important musical legacy can be found in the inspiration he gave to other composers, such as Vaughan WIlliams, Holst, and Butterworth.
	Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1872–1958. English composer. Associated with the English folk song revival, he was more than anybody responsible for giving English music its national voice. He wrote nine symphonies and numerous vocal works, including the one-act opera Riders to the Sea. His first name is pronounced "Rafe."
	Gustav Holst, 1874–1934. English composer. The son of a church organist of Swedish descent, Holst studied first the piano and then the trombone. With Ralph Vaughan Williams, he was largely responsible for the revival of interest in English folk music at the turn of the century. He worked most of his life as a church musician and in education, but wrote numerous works, of which The Planets (1918) is the largest and most famous.
	Benjamin Britten, 1913–76. English composer. Arguably the leading opera composer of the mid-20th century, Britten's major operas have included Peter Grimes (1945), Billy Budd (1951), Gloriana (1953), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1960), and Death in Venice (1973), plus many stage works for smaller forces. He was equally active as a composer of instrumental music and text settings, and latterly as a conductor and accompanist.
	Malcolm Arnold, 1921–2006. English composer. Sir Malcolm Arnold wrote in many genres, from symphonies to film scores; his Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) won him an Oscar. WIkipedia notes: "his style is tonal and rejoices in lively rhythms, brilliant orchestration, and an unabashed tunefulness."
	Luciano Berio, 1925–2003. Italian composer. After following a practice of strict serialism for some years, Berio began to depart from it by including elements of chance and collage, incorporating fragments of other works as in his Sinfonia (1969), arguably his masterpiece. His Folk Songs of 1975 was one of several works written for his wife, the American soprano Cathy Berberian.
	Bob Dylan, 1941– . American singer-songwriter, author, and artist. His songs of the 1960's such as "Blowin' in the Wind" became anthems of the Civil Rights movement, but he has continued writing in many genres ever since. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016.
	Osvaldo Golijov, 1960– . Argentinian composer. Born of an Eastern European Jewish emigrant family, Golijov has devoted his career to exploring the traditions of his various cultures, in works that cross the normal boundaries between classical, jazz, and folk music of all kinds.