Thanks Herbert for this question, and thanks Alain for this information. I'd like to add that a lot of true folk music, at least in the English and French languages, IS preserved. It was transmitted via oral tradition and recorded and transcribed by collectors in the later 19th and early 20th centuries. In English, Francis Child and Cecil Sharp saved much valuable material from oblivion. In French Canada, Marius Barbeau, E. Z. Massicote and others did the same. Many of these songs originated with jongleurs and often date back to the early Renaissance and Medieval times. Although it is all but gone now, the oral tradition was still very much alive in rural areas into the 20th century, and many source singers were recorded by Barbeau, Sharp and others as early as 1916 on Edison cylinders. I'll be happy to share some bibliographies if anybody is interested. Tom
> Herbert, > If you mean popular music rather than 'folk' (which I believe is a > 1960s concept, so not yet relevant in the 1560s), Thomas Ravenscroft > (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Ravenscroft) made his fame > collecting and publishing it with the express aim to preserve it from > oblivion. Another very important source for the 16th century are the > single sheet ballads -- a lot (1000s of those) have survived and most > are available in facsimile formats. The University of Santa Barbara is > hosting a project to make those ballads more digitally available (see > http://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/). Very few of those single sheets have > printed music but they usually carry a mention of the tune they > should be sung to, so they give a good idea of what tunes were > popular: most of those exist in one or several solo lute version of > some kind - Packington's pound being an example among dozens. I > mention the Robert ap Huw manuscript as an effort to preserve very > early harp music at > http://musickshandmade.com/lute/collections/view/50 . > Attaingnant's publications for the lute in France covered the > type > of material that we might identify today as 'folk': popular and even > regional. I think it even preserves the tunes used by tradesmen to get > attention and sell their goods in the streets, "les cris de Paris". > Many folk tunes have their origin in good old 'classical' music, i.e. > compositions by highly educated and professionally trained musicians. > Gabriel Bataille's publications of the 'Airs de cour' for instance > would have provided much material for provincial folks to emulate. In > the 17th and 18th century in England, much if not all of the theater > songs were published and popularized. You might find it interesting to > compare those 2 versions of the same French popular tune on YouTube: > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tXiY2A8nAM and > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfJZu_Bz6Yo&feature=related. I heard > that the beautiful italian tune "Vestiva i colli" is still sung in > some areas of Italy as a favorite folk tune making it one of the > longest lasting melody in Europe - whether Palestrina actually > composed the melody or arranged it from a popular source. My 2 cents > on this rather complex and fascinating subject, Alain > > > > On 08/08/2012 08:40 AM, Herbert Ward wrote: > > I've always assumed that little of the folk music > > from 1400-1650 has survived, except for that preserved > > as lute arrangements (Go From My Window, Fortune > > My Foe, etc.), because of the low literacy and the > > high cost of paper. > > > > Is this accurate? > > > > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > Tom Draughon Heartistry Music http://www.heartistrymusic.com/artists/tom.html 714 9th Avenue West Ashland, WI 54806 715-682-9362
