Complete Encyclopaedia of Music/B/Ballad style

Ballad style. In the air or manner of a ballad. BALLAD TUNE. The common song or tune of a ballad. Bab lad tune generally means a kind of song, adapted to the capacity of the lower class of people. The ballad has not, however, always been confined to the low and inferior order of compositions. In an old English version of the Bible, Solomon's Song is designated as the Ballad of Ballads. Some suppose that a knowledge M' the ballads in common use is necessary to a minister of state to learn the temper and disposition of the people ;and Lord Cecil, prime minister to Queen Elizabeth, is said to have made an ample collection if ballads for this purpose. See Dr. Percy's Collection of old English and Scotch Ballads, and a dissertation prefixed to Dr. Albino Collection of Ballad Tunes, or Songs.