While all those observations about the passage in and out of tradition
of composed tunes (avoiding the issue of how a 'traditional' tune is
supposed to have come about in the first place) are very valid, would
we agree that the substance of the original post - that " little of the
folk music from 1400-1650 has survived" is valid ... bearing mind that
its by definition impossible to be that precise, because, like species
which go extinct without leaving fossil evidence, we can never know how
many tunes and lyrics have come and gone for forever. But even within
one locality, over a generation, there may be many dozens of such
things in circulation, many of which will disappear over time. That
would suggest a very great number of extinction tunes and songs, over
time and over the various countries normally associated with reliable
historical record.
Returning to more lute related considerations, the same thing
essentially must hold for the renaissance lute repertoire, the earlier
times - if one is thinking back to 1400 - even more?
Stephen
--- Original message ---
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Survival of folk music from 1400-1650.
From: Christopher Stetson <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Date: Friday, 10/08/2012 3:46 PM
Indeed indeed. One doesn't even have to go back that far to find
authorship forgotten. Many 19th century American composers who
weren't
Stephen Foster have unwittingly contributed to the folk
tradition.
Just what springs to mind: Lydia Maria Childs' "Over the River
and
Through the Woods", Septimus Winner's "How Much is That Doggie
in the
Window", and perhaps most famously, Patty and Midred Hill's
"Happy
Birthday to You" are all frequently credited as "traditional".
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