Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/883

* FOLK-MUSIC. , 85 FOLK-MUSIC. is always associated with words, The songs of savages are frequently songs without words, or with words thai have n< waning. Bui whi n conic to mediaeval European folk-song, we find that what Wagner wrote concerning il is true: ''The word-poem and the tone-poem are om the same thing. The people never thin) ing their songs without words. . . . The two seem to belong together, 1 i l-< - husband and wife." Owing to this close adaptation of the ran ic to the words, the mediaeval folk-music is indeed more artistic than the art-music of the eccle ia composers of the same period, who usually maltreated their words, or buried them under a rank growth of contrapuntal artifices. Nor is this the only point of superiority. While the ecclesiastical composers were still hampered bj the unwieldy Church modes, folk music li.nl in- stinctively adopted the modern major and minor modes, and thus represented, in its day, the music of the future. Furthermore, it had i :h greater rhythmic variety, as well as more melodic originality and charm, so that it is not sur- prising that the Church composers began, as early as the twelfth century, to adopt folk tunes as themes for their masses and motets. Toooften they distorted them almost past recognition; but in the sixteenth century Luther had the eour;i ■_■•■ to discard the monotonous Gregorian chants and substitute for them in church good folksongs, unaltered except, as to the words. It. is nol difficult to understand why folk-songs should have been, as a rule, more spontaneous than the art-music of these early times. The Church composers were hampered by artificial rules, and there were only a limited number of them, where- as the folk-singers were countless in number and could do as they pleased. The assertion made in musical histories that the folk-songs of Europe were invented by the Troubadours (q.v.) and Minnesingers (q.v.), and from them passed to the people, is contrary to the facts. It was the Troubadours and Minnesingers who got many of their tunes from the people ; and among the people they were a matter of slow growth. Few, perhaps, were the product of one mind. A man might spontaneously conceive a melody to give expression to his feelings of love or religious fervor, or some other joyous or sad emotion; others would repeat it, with additions and improvements, until finally a perfect melody would be evolved — a melody that spoke to the hearts of all. Usually folk-songs were sung as melodies only; in some cases harmonic parts were added, but the best of these melodies are so rich that they seem to require no harmonies. Of all European countries. Germany probably has the greatest number and variety of good folk-songs. Many collections of them have been printed, a list of which may be found in Engel's The Literature of National Music (London, 1870), a valuable guide for the student of this subject. As folk-music is anonymous, and nol copyrighted, and as it frequently undergoes slight changes, it is not surprising thai few of the old German times have come down to us unaltered. They were affected by contact with art-music, which gradually wore off their rough edges and polished them: and since Germany has set the standard in modern music, it is easy to under- stand why its folk-songs should, for these rea- sons, seem normal to us — that is, deficient in trait ractei ize the popu lar mo ic of such i navia try. Italy and Fra i mat ter in thi u ■, Gei many, have helped to fix the modern t In ir tdmit able, but it prevent - t hem from t i hi a 1 1 mu ii ol imi 1 1 a I. t he land of coi ited litt Ii- ol real alue to the woi li hentic folk- mu8ic. I here were, ol course, in the olden times, i Mam Ih, frottole, and other kinds of folk musi is 1 here a lacl of col- of what purport to l"- Italian folk songs, Man, Sicilian. diet ia n. and jo on; '"it in mo t ca es ii is impo ible to tell whel her t hese melodies were really invented by the people in true folk-music fashion, or whether taken from t he thousand peratii winch have practically monopolized the musical interest of t he Italian evei ince 1 hi hi finning of I lie seventeent Ii cent un I lie t* Petrucci's collection, published in 1503, an from Gen i. French, and other there is reason for the a ert made by Mrs. Wodehouse thai "Italian musicians held the popular songs of other countries in higher esti- mation than their own." So far as I songs have harmonic accompaniments, they arc apt to be simple and commonplace, avoiding modulation; and the son more intei meliidically than rhythmically. # In French folk music also no great alt is paid to harmony or accompaniment, but rhythmic variety and piquancy constitute a striking trait, and the words arc apt to govern the tunc, instead of vice versa, as in Italy. Among the French airs, chansons, chants, and romances there is plentiful variety of subject; many arc witty, and political sot, iri popular. There arc also brunettes, addressed to girls, and other tender songs; but French folk music seldom is so soulful and romantic in its yearnings as the German, or bo poignant a the expression of grief as the Russian or Scandi- navian. In the neighboring country of Spain folk-music has much more of an exotic ch than in France, Italy, or Germany; nor i- this surprising, since in that country, especially in Andalusia, the Moorish influence make, itself strongly felt. This is Bhown in the predominant use of song as an accompaniment to dancing; in quaintly Oriental melodic intervals: in the abun- dance of ornaments: and in the simultaneous use of several rhythms. But whether Oriental or purely Spanish, there is an ineffable charm in the national music of the Spanish people— the iotas, boh ros, fandangos, seguidillas, malagui Has, etc. Bizet caught some of the charm of this music in his Carmen; and some day, if Spain ever gives birth to a Liszt, a Dvor ak, or a Grieg, marvels ot novel musical beauty may be While England has long been reputed an un- musical country — chiefly for the reason that, like Spain, it has never produce. 1 a compi the first rank -l !i i time when the people of thai country were as musical as those other part of Europe, so far, at least, as the en- joyment and practice of music are con There were always hards and minstrels, who were richly rewarded for their services, and in