Page:The International Folk-Lore Congress of the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, July, 1893.djvu/500

 FOLK-MUSIC.

BY FREDERIC W. ROOT.

the brute creation to man in his highest development, there is almost an infinite scale of vocal sounds and combinations, which symbolize all phases of emotional excitement from the rudimentary affections of the animal to the subtle and complex feelings of highly developed man. We have learned these various sounds as a sort of a language, and they express to our minds something of the inner life of the being that utters them. The higher development of this emotion-language, that which comes when intellect gives symmetry and a pleasing relationship to emotional sounds gives us music. The music of a people is an interesting and accurate means of studying the inner life of that people; and, during our studies of the products and peculiarities of the different nations of the globe during the World's Pair, the happy thought occurred to the Folk-Lore Society of Chicago of putting alongside of costumes, languages, manners, religions and industries of the remarkable aggregation of nationalities represented here, the music of these peoples. No such opportunity had ever before presented itself of bringing together upon one program characteristic selections performed by nations of every part of the globe, and exhibiting as it were a panoramic view of musical development, from the formless and untutored sounds of savage people to the refined utterances of our highest civilization. It was impossible to represent upon a single program all the material that was within reach, for nearly or quite all those in charge of national exhibits, either in the Midway Plaisance or the rest of the fair, seemed inclined to put their resources at the disposal of the Folk-Lore Society for this purpose. Therefore, excepting some selections representative of the music of our North 424