Paradigmatic of Folk Music Tradition?
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‘Fiddlers’ Tunebooks’ - Vernacular Instrumental Manuscript Sources 1860-c1880: Paradigmatic of Folk Music Tradition? By: Rebecca Emma Dellow A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Sheffield Faculty of Arts and Humanities Department of Music June 2018 2 Abstract Fiddlers’ Tunebooks are handwritten manuscript books preserving remnants of a largely amateur, monophonic, instrumental practice. These sources are vastly under- explored academically, reflecting a wider omission in scholarship of instrumental music participated in by ‘ordinary’ people in nineteenth-century England. The tunebooks generate interest amongst current folk music enthusiasts, and as such can be subject to a “burden of expectation”,1 in the belief that they represent folk music tradition. Yet both the concepts of tradition and folk music are problematic. By considering folk music from both an inherited perspective and a modern scholarly interpretation, this thesis examines the place of the tunebooks in notions of English folk music tradition. A historical musicological methodology is applied to three post-1850 case-study manuscripts drawing specifically on source studies, archival research and quantitative analysis. The study explores compilers’ demographic traits and examines content, establishing the existence of a heterogeneous repertoire copied from contemporary textual sources directly into the tunebooks. This raises important questions regarding the role played by publishers and the concept of continuous survival in notions of tradition. A significant finding reveals the interaction between aural and literate practices, having important implications in the inward and outward transmission and in wider historical application. The function of both the manuscripts and the musical practice is explored and the compilers’ acquisition of skill and sources is examined. This results in the ‘re-discovery’ of Musical Circulating Libraries, and identifies a binary route to skill acquisition, largely defined by environment. Acknowledging the contention surrounding terms such as folk, popular and tradition, and the subtle interaction of aurality and literacy, this study concludes that the manuscripts contribute to wider historical discourse and do have a place in notions of folk music tradition, moreover that their textual nature provides a unique perspective from which to observe the process. 1 Steve Roud, Folk Song in England, (London: Faber & Faber, 2017), p. 9. 3 Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................... 3 Contents .................................................................................................................. 4 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................. 8 A Note on Referencing, Figures and Copyright .......................................................... 8 Figures ................................................................................................................... 10 Abbreviations ........................................................................................................ 16 Chapter 1- Introductions ........................................................................................ 17 Part 1 - Introduction to the Field of Study and Thesis ......................................... 17 Vernacular Instrumental Music and Tune Manuscripts .................................. 19 Existing Studies and the Wider Literature ....................................................... 23 Thorny Traditions and Slippery Definitions ..................................................... 34 Why This Research Matters ............................................................................. 52 Research Questions.......................................................................................... 54 Approaching the Archive .................................................................................. 54 Scope and Sources ........................................................................................... 59 Structure of Thesis ........................................................................................... 63 Conclusion to Part 1 ............................................................................................. 66 Part 2 – Introduction to the Case-Study Manuscripts ......................................... 66 Hampton MS c1870-1880s ............................................................................... 66 Till/Clutterbuck MS 1866 ................................................................................. 70 Bennett MS 1860 ............................................................................................. 73 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 76 Chapter 2- ‘Who Were the Folk? The Demography of the Manuscript Compilers’ .... 77 Biographical Examination of Case Studies. .......................................................... 78 Hampton MS c1870-1880s - Thomas Hampton 1844-1896. ........................... 79 Till/Clutterbuck MS 1866 ................................................................................. 85 Bennett MS 1860 ............................................................................................. 95 Broader Indications ............................................................................................ 102 Results from the Wider Sample ..................................................................... 105 Analysis of Key Characteristics ........................................................................... 107 4 Age and Marital Status ................................................................................... 107 Gender ............................................................................................................ 109 Environment ................................................................................................... 111 Occupation and class...................................................................................... 112 Participants in Folk Music Tradition? ................................................................. 116 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 117 Chapter 3- Repertoire ‘…how wide and deep their roots’ ..................................... 119 Methodology – a note on Boundaries and Classification .................................. 119 ‘Depth’ ............................................................................................................ 121 ‘Width’ ............................................................................................................ 126 Repertoire in the Manuscripts ........................................................................... 128 Hampton MS c1870 ........................................................................................ 128 Till/Clutterbuck MS 1866 ............................................................................... 135 Bennett MS 1860............................................................................................ 145 Overall ............................................................................................................ 156 A Heterogeneous Repertoire ............................................................................. 157 Causes of a Heterogeneous Repertoire ......................................................... 160 Specific Genres of Note within the Repertoire .............................................. 165 Historic Tunes in Contemporary Structures ................................................... 168 Folk Music Tradition and a Heterogeneous Repertoire? ................................... 170 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 173 Chapter 4 – Inward Transmission and Source Provenance .................................... 175 Inward Transmission Methods ........................................................................... 175 Comparative Visual Evidence ......................................................................... 177 Survey Evidence ............................................................................................. 182 Wider Literature ............................................................................................. 183 The Discovery of ‘Direct’ Sources................................................................... 186 Results ............................................................................................................ 191 Sources ............................................................................................................... 191 ‘Cheap Works’ ................................................................................................ 191 The Legality of Copying Music........................................................................ 196 Favouring Copying Over Using Purchased Print ............................................ 206 Print Survival and Lack of Interest ................................................................. 207 5 Print versus Manuscript Survival ................................................................... 208 Using the Sources to Define an Autonomous Practice