Les Folies d'Espagne: A Study Author(s): Fr. Niecks Source: The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, Vol. 29, No. 550 (Dec. 1, 1888), pp. 717-721 Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3360152 Accessed: 28-11-2015 22:39 UTC

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Musical Times Publications Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular. http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 137.132.123.69 on Sat, 28 Nov 2015 22:39:06 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE MUSICAL TIMES.--DECEMBER I, 1888. 717

hospitable North Sea; but there he was, and, all or without previous investigation,tells me something unconscious of the fact, he had a work to do of no that is not known about it, adds to my ignorance. small musical importance. The Tuscan Prince, true However great a boon an honestly-writtengeneral to the traditions of his illustrious race, took much history of music is, musico-historical students are interest in art and artists, and was not long in be- better employed in the investigations of matters of coming acquainted with Handel. He lamented, as detail. What I place here before the reader is a was patriotic, that the young master knew nothing of very slight contribution of this kind, which, I , and very littleof Italian artists, and he exerted hope, will not prove altogether unworthy of his all his influence in persuading him to make the attention. journey. According to Mainwaring, the musician The history of dances is still full of obscurities. combated the arguments and statements of the Prince And yet it is of the greatest importance; for dances with much spirit. When the Tuscan vaunted the play leading parts in the development of our art, compositions of his native country,the Saxon pro- especially in that of instrumental music, and by no fessed he could see little in them. When he declared means unimportant ones in the highly-advanced that in no country was every branch of music state of the instrumental music of our own time. cultivated with so much care as in Italy, the reply The desideratum would be a complete history of was that he (Handel) was at a loss to conceive each-its birth, growth,vicissitudes of fortune,&c.; how such great culture could be followed by so little in short, its rise, decline, and fall. But to accom- fruit. Nothing daunted by these rebuffs,the Prince plish such a feat is perhaps impossible in any case. kept "pegging away," and even offered to bear It is certain that I am unable to accomplish it in the the costs of Handel's travel. The master declined present one. My unsatisfactory attempt may, how- with thanks; none the less, however, was he moved ever, induce others to supply what will make up for to undertake the journey at his own charge, and my deficiencies. having, in 1706, saved up a sum, according to Main- The Folie (or Folies) d'Espagne, called in Italian waring, of 20o ducats, he left Hamburg with his face Follia (or Follie), and in Spanish and Portuguese Folia turned to the south. Christmas was spent at Halle (or Folias-with the accent on the "i" in these three under the maternal roof, and he reached Florence languages), is generally thought to be a dance of in January, 1707. These are Chrysander's dates; Spanish origin. Trustworthy evidence, however, but Schcelcher takes him to Italy six months earlier, shows that this is not the case. In A. J. D. and nearly every biographer of the master differs Cuncha's Portuguese and English dictionary we read more or less from every other as to time. Without of the Folia: " A sort of mad dance used in Portugal, going into these particulars here, we will simply say by a great number of people with a confused noise, that the painstaking research of Chrysander makes whence it took its name; as being so like folly." his statements more trustworthythan those of any The same definitionis given in D. Jose da Lacerda's other writer on the subject. We take it, therefore, large new Portuguese dictionary. "A kind of merry that Handel entered upon his Italian career at the Portuguese and Spanish dance with ," says date last named. M. Seone in his Spanish dictionary. Turning from (To be continued.) these modern books, and going back 250 years, we findin Lorenzo Franciosini Fiorentino's "Vocabulario espafiol " (Rome, 1638) the following definition: "A well-known tune which is on the LES FOLIES D'ESPAGNE: A STUDY. Portuguese played guitar " (Un suono Portugheseassai noto,chi si suona By FR. NIECKS. con chitarra); and in the companion volume, the " Vocabulario italiano e spagnuolo," the following To the thoughtful,history is of all kinds of reading more complete description: " A Spanish; or,to be more the most attractive-they prefer it to fiction. To exact, Portuguese dance, which is danced with a the critical, it is also the most irritating-they detect certain vivacity and fire, making gestures that the fiction in the history. It has been said of awaken voluptuousness, mostly seen danced by universal history that it must be a mirror in which expert Spanish women" (Ballo spagnuolo, o per diir is seen in distinct outlines the sum of the historical meglioPortughese, che si balla con certa vivacitY,e brio, knowledge of the time: that it is a work which cannot facendogesti, che suegliano lussuria, massime vedendolo be brought to a close as long as man's spirit of ballare a spagnuole 'ratiche). With such evidence inquiry discovers new mines of knowledge; having, on before us we may, I think, safely assume that the the contrary, from time to time to be recreated, Folia was of Portuguese origin, but became soon and continuing to present ever new views, ever naturalised in Spain. The sequel will show that it more enlightened judgments. Applying this standard was through the Spaniards that the dance got into to musical history,we cannot avoid the depressing vogue in other parts of Europe, a fact irrefutably and humiliating confession that the musico-historical testified,moreover, by the name Folies d'Espagne. knowledge of the time would not make an imposing The question as to the character of the Folia is show were a mirrorheld up to it. Enormous addi- much more difficultto answer than that as to its tions have no doubt been made to our stock of know- nationality. In fact, many descriptions of the ledge; compared, however, with what has yet to be character of the music are based on one popular added, they are mere trifles. Nevertheless, if our specimen, which seems to fill the whole fieldof vision authors of musical histories would collect, sift,and of the majority of the writers on this subject. The judiciously comment upon the materials furnishedby most common definition is " A dance [or "merry specialists-setting forth plainly what we do know dance "] with castanets." Lichtenthal tells us in his and what we do not know-they would do useful " Dizionario della musica " (1836) that the music of work. But this they rarely condescend to do; they this dance, with castanets, is a simple in preferto pose as omniscient sages, to recount fables 3-4 time, consisting of two parts of eight bars each, and enunciate surmises with the air of recorders of and being, when repeated, executed with variations. the eternal verities, and to envelop the lacutze which He furthertells us that the dance was intended for even fables and surmises fail to fill in a mist of copi- a single person, was formerly(anticamente) much in ous magniloquence. He who, after a thorough use in Spain, where it was invented, but that in his investigation of a subject, tells me that nothing is time it was no longer Ala mode. J. G. Walther, in about adds known it, to my knowledge; he who, with his " Musikalisches Lexikon " (1732), says only:

This content downloaded from 137.132.123.69 on Sat, 28 Nov 2015 22:39:06 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 718 THE MUSICAL TIMES.-DECEMBER I, I888. " Folie d'Espagne is the knownSpanish dance which is executedby a singleperson." JohannMattheson - (1681-1764)classes': the Folies d'Espagne as belong- ---q - ing to the species, and remarksthat, __ seriouslyspeaking, they are very far indeed from beingfollies, there being more in such an old melody, which has onlya compass of a minor(diminished) fourth,than in all morrisdances (Mohren-Tiintzen) that have ever been invented. But fromwhat Matthesonsays it is clear thathe had in his mind that one specimenpopular in his time,and already w- _ - - alluded to. And this specimen Lichtenthalhad, no doubt, likewise in view, althoughthis melody would be more correctlydescribed as consistingof one part of sixteenbars than as consistingof two partsof eight bars. It will, therefore,be advisable to ignore these descriptionsfor the present,and to rest satisfiedtill later on with the above-quoted definitionfrom Fiorentino's " "A Vocabulario," ~L I I __ Spanish; or, to be more exact, Portuguese dance, whichis dancedwith a certainvivacity and fire,"&c. The earliest traces of the Folia which I have A few years after Frescobaldi's workthere ap- been able to discover a.re to be found in two at Milan AmbrosioColonna's " Intavolatura works peared Italian musical published like Fiorentino'sdi CitharaSpagnola," which was published,according "Vocabulario" in the firsthalf of the seventeenthto Hawkins,F6tis, Becker,&c., in but,accord- The earlierof the two works is 1627; century. Girolamo ing to HerrW. Tappert,in 162oand 1637. The last- Frescobaldi's first book of " Toccate e Partite mentioned that this work contains d'intavolaturadi Cimbalo" which contains authoritysays (1615),M" " Folie ed altre arie alla Spagnola." In Hawkins's Partitesopra Folia. " Partita is an old word for " Historyof Music " we read thatit contains" many whatwe nowadayscall "variation." The historian airs-viz., Passacalli tam simplicesquam Passegiati, Ambros says of Frescobaldi'sfartite on favouriteChiacone, Zaravande, Folias, Spagnolette,Pavag- dance tunes that they are of the nature of contra- nilie,Arie, Monache, Passe-mezzi, Romanesche, Cor- puntalstudies (not real variations),from which the rente,Gagliarda, Toccata, Nizarda,Sinfonia, Baletto, theme,which is supposedto be knownand thereforeCapricio, and Canzonette." I should have liked to need not appear at the head, peeps out at all corners. make the reader withthe Folias of this is acquainted This remark,however, less trueof the Partitesopra publication,but have not succeeded in gettingsight Folia than of othersof Frescobaldi's fartite. For, of Colonna'swork, although I have lookedout for it thoughthe composerdoes not give the plain original in manylibraries in this and othercountries; now, formof the theme,he seems to have retainedthe however,I am on the trail of the game. Hawkins's generaloutlines of it. I lookupon the comparativelyknowledge, too, seems to have been second-hand;at simplefirst partita (Parte prima,in 3-1 time) as a least, he mentionsMersenne in this connection. scholarly-i.e., already somewhat ornate-present- My next specimenof a Follia is from Giovanne mentof the theme; and onthe more florid secondpartita Enrico Schmelzer's" Arie il Ballettoa Cavallo." in per (Seconda parte, 3-2 time)as a variation(a French The equestrian ballet for which this music was musicianof the olden timewould have said a double) writtenwas performedin 1667,on the occasion of ofthe former. At anyrate, both partite-each of which the marriageof Leopold I., Emperorof Germany. consists of two repeatedhalves of eight bars-cor- The titleof the balletruns as follows: " Sieg-Streit respondin regard to theirfundamental harmonic, desz Lufftund Wassers. Freuden-Festzu Pferdzu melodic,and rhythmicfeatures. For our purposeit dem Beeder sufficeif I the first GlorwiirdigstenBeyliger Kayserlichen will quote only partita. The MajestditenLeopoldi desz Ersten," &c. (Wienn, originalis notedon fourteenlines-on a stave of six Anno1667.) Thereare fivepieces: a Corrente,Giga, forthe righthand, and on one of eight lines forthe Follia, Allemanda,and Sarabanda. Abovethe piece left. Printerand reader will thank me, I have no whichinterests us herewe read: "Follia per nuovo doubt,for transcribing it hereon twofive-lined staves, ingressode i saltatori,e altre operazionide Cavalli. and, moreover, in 3-2 instead of 3-1 time. The Con Trombe e I shall the the Timpani." quote only tonalityof piece (the mixtureof medieval and melodyof the Folia. In the originalnotation there modern)and the composer'spart-writing offer entic- are bars onlyafter every six crotchets,the signature ing opportunitiesfor discussion,but we are not is and the notesare lozenge-shaped. concernedwith these matters on this occasion. C3, No. 2. JOHANNHEINRICH SCHMELZER. No. I. .

A, .go,1". . .

: .. - - r- : ! "_V 1...61 _Z ' -"- _-.- - L , -- ,

* See his "Kernmelodischer Wissenschaft " and ' Der vollkom- meneKapellmeister" (respectively of1737 and 1739). j Thereis alsoan editionof 1637, with a differenttitle-page. F6tis mentionsalso an editionof 1627. The strangestory of thefirst edition-withits differentissues of 58, 68, and 94 pages,in 1615and 1616(presumably tosatisfy the curiosity ofthe public or the impatience the as faras the ofthe of composer progress" engraversadmitted)-is toldby Fr. X. Haberlin the KirchenmusikalischesJahibuch" of Besides the above-mentionedFolias, I knowonly 1887. Frescobaldi'sdedication is dated December 22, 1614. 4 In theindex the word is speltin the Italian manner, Follia. one other,and that is the one already repeatedly

This content downloaded from 137.132.123.69 on Sat, 28 Nov 2015 22:39:06 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE MUSICAL TIMES.-DECEMBER I, I888. 719 alluded to, which enjoyed for a long time an extra- plays on it the Folies d'Espagne, and afterwards ordinary popularity. Now let us see what infor- sings the followingwords to it,' Lass Schiinstelass mation we can get about this air. Hawkins, in a doch dein Hertze bewegen,'"&c.- foot-note to his mention of Colonna's Folias, writes: " The Follia is so particularly of Spanish original,that No. 3. FARINEL'S GROUND.* in music-books it is frequentlycalled Follia di Spagna. Grassineau has given a very silly description of it, styling it a particular sort of air called Fardinal's Ground, which mistake is thus to be accounted for: about the year 1690 there resided at the court of Hanover, in quality of concert-master, a musician named Farinelli. Corelli being then at Hanover, Farinelli gave him a ground to compose on; and the divisions, to the number of twenty-four, make the twelfth of his solos, termed Follia.* Corelli had the practice of the Spanish musicians in his eye, the Follia di Spagna being nothing else than a certain number of airs in different measures composed on a ground bass. Vivaldi also has composed a sonata consisting of divisions on the same ground, and called it Follia. See his Sonatas for two violins and a bass opera prima." Hawkins alludes once more to Corelli's Follia and Farinelli's ground on another page of his " History of Music," saying of the latter that it " was composed by ---- I- - Farinelli, uncle of the famous singer Carlo Broschi Farinelli, and violinist, and concert- componist, Both Hawkins's and accounts con- master at Hanover about the year 1684. He was Chrysander's tain statements which seem to me ennobled by the King of Denmark, and was by King purelyconjectural. I. his resident at Venice." Dr. Of Farinelli almost nothing is known-neither his George appointed Christian name nor the dates of his birth and death. Chrysander (G. F. Hiibdel, Vol. I., p. 357, of German shall now us his version of the tale: Our information about him amounts to little more edition) give than a few allusions to his " Farinelli, who about this time made a contemporary playing [1681] journey and at Hanover. Corelli's life too lies to Copenhagen and was knighted by the King, has position early not never wrote in obscurity. It has been said by some that before published any larger works, perhaps to he was the rival of in any; his strengthlay in dances and suchlike gaieties going Germany Lully Paris, A little which did not even others have doubted this. His stay in Munich is [Munterkeiten]. dance, as a fact. As to his visit to him, but is of called generally accepted to belong Spanish origin, Follia-- Hanover and his with I am not i.e., his name farthest; his merit in the friendship Farinelli, Folly-carried aware that evidence exists. How- matter was that he used the simple notes for his any documentary ever, be this as it may, in 1681 Corelli was settled in instrumentas a theme for improvisation [ioumndariiber zu In the was therefore Rome. Perhaps Farinelli's friendshipwas invented phantasiren]. England piece for the sake of as it a for called ' Farinelli's Ground,' and satirical and getting, were, pedigree drinking Corelli's "Follia." One even without songs were sung to it (for instance, Tom d'Urfey's might ask, to Casar.' See 'The laying one's self open to the accusation of unreason- 'Joy great Guardian,' 1713, whether the dance-tune in No. . . . Later on several and Italian ableness, question really 67). English came from this is musicians wrote variations on this little melody; Spain, although probable enough. the whole of such a was called Still, the sole evidence ofthat fact is the " d'Espagne " piece Folies, in the name. An of the musical fantasias. The most important ones are amusing example putting those Corelli and Vivaldi. Corelli was a friend cart before the horse is furnished by Czerwinski in by his Brevier der Tanzkunst " : "The first of the Hanoverian concert-master, one of the first " (1879) [!] of this dance Corelli the violinists of his age, and in the course of his travels composition by delighted in made a of considerable Spaniards to such a degree that it made 'perfect Germany stay length fools' of them." This of the name re- at Hanover. . . . With the coming into vogue of explanation this is connected a circumstance of minds one of the once much cultivated style of melody general However interest. Not till Farinelli's time, imaginative etymology. greatly Corelli may consequently chiefly have contributed to the of the through him, did the Spanish dance find admission spreading popularity into and was then numbered the of the tune, he certainlywas not the firstin the field. Germany, among a " follies of fashion. We see this from the old His "XII Suonate violino e violone o cembalo clearly the twelfth of entitled " Hamburg opera, ' Die grossmiithige Thalestris oder (Op. 5), which, Follia," letzte der Amazonen' of which consists of the air given below, with twenty-two Kinigin [the composer were not till was Johann Philipp Fortsch], of 169o. Here Postel variations, published 1700. [the librettist] introduces the fool ' in a coat of the ARCANGELOCORELLI. latest fashion,' and makes him say, 'What is nowa- No. 4. days to please all the fashionable people must, as a rule, be Les Folies d'Espagne. The Folly is now coming into such vogue that everybody wishes to 5?t6 adorn himselfwith it, in dancing, playing, and sing- ing. To make myselfagreeable in all matters, I will for once join in the Spanish folly. Holla laquais! Apportela Guitarre.' A servant a brings guitar. He * The above is taken from Hawkins's " of and is History "Music," * probably identical with the version said to be given in The Division This is wrong. Corelli's compositionconsists only of twenty-Violin," the first edition of which appeared in 1684. It would be three numbers-ofwhat we call a theme with twenty-twovaria- interesting to know whether Farinel's Ground made its first printed tions,and people in the olden time called a bass with twenty-threeEnglish appearance in this publication; and if it did, in which divisions. edition.

This content downloaded from 137.132.123.69 on Sat, 28 Nov 2015 22:39:06 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 720 THE MUSICAL TIMES.-DECEMBER I, 1888. Germans called it Folies d'Espagne, and not Folia or Follia, seems to show that they got it from France, and not fromSpain directly,or through Italy. This is also the opinion of Dr. Spitta, who, in passing, makes some interesting remarks on this melody in the " Vierteljahrsschrift fiir Musikwissenschaft" (1885, pp. 76-78), mentioning, for instance, varia- tr tions on this theme for clavier, which he saw in C. Grimm's " Tabulaturbuch " of 1698. But as the subject of his discussion was popular songs, he 7 5 turned his attention chiefly to the utilisation of the A6 6 54 #3 melody for vocal purposes. "I know more than half-a-dozen French sets of words," he writes, " and yet this is certainly only a small part of those which exist. During the firsthalf of the eighteenthcentury Franz M. B*hme gives in the second volume (p. 54) La Folie d'Espagne occupied in the favour of the of his " Geschichte des Tanzes in Deutschland," the playing and singing world the place which in the melody of a Folie d'Espagne, and says that it was a second half was held by the minuet of Exaudet." great favourite at the beginning of the seventeenth Dr. Spitta quotes French words sung to our air, and up to the eighteenth century. This melody is which were also known in Germany. And he points no other than Farinelli's Ground, being note for note out a German poem (" Du strenge Flavia, ist kein identical with it, only written in B minor and 3-2 Erbarmen da") writtento the melody about 1697 by time. As to his dates, I doubt the correctness of the Neumeister. This thus wedded poem became in the first,and the incorrectness of the second will be firsthalf of the eighteenth century one of the most proved by the rest of this article. The earliest popular and hackneyed household songs. From appearance in print of the Folies d'Espagne I have Sulzer's "Theorie der schbnen Kiinste und Wissen- come across is in Jean Henri d'Anglebert's " Pieces schaften," published in 1778, we learn that the Folie de Claveqin," which were published in 1689, and d'Espagne, "a dance of a serious kind for one contain a number of variations on this air. The latter person," had gone out of fashion on the stage. deserves to be quoted on account of its slightly In a manuscript at Copenhagen, of 1702, the differentform. But in transcribing it I shall make Tablature Book of Charlotte Trollens, we recognise use of the bass clef on the fourth instead of on the our old friend'sdisguised name in " Le Voli de spang." third line, and leave out the twenty-fourgraces of the 's Follia appeared thirty-sevenyears right hand, and the one of the left. after Corelli's-namely, in 1737 (that is to say, if the French edition mentionedby Fetis is the first)-and is No.5. JEANHENRI D'ANGLEBERT. No. 12 of Op. I, " Douze trios pour deux violons et violoncelle." Both and C. Ph. Em. Bach wrote variations on Les Folies d'Espagne.* J. S. Bach makes use of the melody in his Bauern- Cantate, which he wrote in 1742 (see Aria in B minor, "Unser lieber Kammerherr," Vol. XXIX., p. 183, of edition of the German Bach Society; or, Samuel Reay's English adaptation, " The Peasants' Cantata," " the p. I4, Drink our host's good health ") I found melody also in the firstbook of" Les Amusements du Parnasse. Methode courte et facile L pour apprender' A toucher le clavegin. Avec les plus jolis airs la ...... mode, out les doigts sont chiffres pour les com- menqans," by Mr. Corrette, organist of the Grands Jesuites. Fetis, who says that Corrette was organist at the great Paris College of the Jesuits of the Rue Saint-Antoine in 1758, does not mention this work. The compositions and instructive works he does L==Fr mention were in the As published years 1771-1783. a teacher Corrette was so little successful that the musicians in Paris called his pupils les anachorates (les diuesa' Corrette). His version of our melody need not be quoted or discussed, as it has no features that call for such a distinction. To come to this century, -1 . 1 1 ,- there is in one of Friedr. Reichardt's -- d? - J. Liederspiele -1 i r r. Liebe und Treue," 1804) a Pomeranian popular I ! (" -- song which, according to Herr Tappert, is an unmis- All" takable imitation of the Folia. The last item of my enumeration shall be Liszt's "Rhapsodie espagnole" (Folie d'Espagne et Jota aragonesa). On July 24 of the year 1689, in which D'Anglebert By this time the reader will be tired of the subject, published his " Pi6ces de Clavegin," Madame de and may think that the outcome of my facts and Sevign6 wrote to her daughter, Madame de Grignan, discussions is unsatisfactory. If this is really the about a gentleman as follows: "I1 dEnse ces belles case I shall not quarrel with him on that account, chaconnes, les folies d'Espagne, mais surtout les for I feel and think as he does. To complete the passepieds avec sa femme, d'une perfection, d'un agr6ment qui ne se peut representer." We have * The twelve variations by C. Ph. Em. Bach were printed (post. already seen that the Folies d'Espagne had about humously,I think)by Hofmeister,of Leipzig, and also at Vienna. As to this time become the fashion in as a dance Scarlatti's composition, C. F. Weitzmann ("' Geschichte des Clavier- Germany spiels," 1863,page 2o) is my authority. I do not know in which colle- tune and song. By the way, the fact that the tion of his works it is to be found.

This content downloaded from 137.132.123.69 on Sat, 28 Nov 2015 22:39:06 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE MUSICAL TIMES.-DECEMBER I, I888. 721 ' historyof the Folia we requiremore early (seven- collectionof Antony Wood,to the tune of " Gallants, teenth century)examples, and, above all, furthercome away," was untilquite recentlysung by the particulars about the practice of the dance in wassailersof Staffordshireand Warwickshire on their Portugaland Spain. Are thereno notices,descrip- rounds. A carol, " Here we comea-wassailing," will tive and other, of the dance in Portuguese and be familiarto thosewho know the collection of Stainer Spanish books? Are thereno Folias in Portuguese and Bramley. It is not unlikelythat the customof and Spanishcollections of dances and popularsongs ? singing" The Wren Song," which at one time was In MarianoSoriano-Fuertes's " Historiade la Musica observed.in Ireland on Boxing Day, is a relic of espaiiola" (1855-59) we read of various Spanish Druidism. The youngmen used to decoratethem- dances, but nothingof the Folia. As a dance, the selves with ribbonsof various colours,and carry a Folia was not much practisedout of Portugaland furzebush to which a live wren was secured,and Spain. It did notbecome naturalised in France and withthis they perambulated the town or village, sing- Germanyas some other southerndances. And if ing the subjoinedlines to varioustunes, according to the Folia was danced at all in England, it must the locality. One whichwas in use near to Corkran have been to a verylimited extent. Even the diffi-thus:- cultiesof the name remainunsolved. Chrysander's explanationof its plural formis one that naturally suggestsitself, but the frequentoccurrence of the singularform militates against the acceptanceof the The wren, the wren is the king of all birds on Saint explanation. But incompleteas this studyis, it has the meritof concentratingwhat others and myself have foundout about that curious in phenomenon Ste - He was in the Al - the historyof our art called the Folia, Follia, or phen's day. caught furze, Folies d'Espagne.

CHRISTMAS MUSIC. though he's lit -tie, his fa - mi-ly's great, Then THERE are many traditional customs connected with the observance of Christmas,and music is associated with several of them. Not to speak of pray, kind gentlefolks,give him a treat, the wren,the wren, the wren. whichare assertedto be Christianin Carols, purely Those in the origin, and which offerone of the purest of the interested ecclesiasticalorigin of popular musical of the season, there are the folk- melodieswill noticethat this melody is in the Dorian pleasures like others songs, dances, and legendarypractices derived from mode many of undoubtedlyancient a in the observances character. highantiquity, songs preserved writerin of the play of the hobby-horse,mumming, and other A Hone's "Year-book" (p. 804), in customs,and thereare theWaits. Morethan one of describing the custom alluded to above, says: these customs tell of the influenceof the various "Instantly, when the song was sung, in the true of Irish effectsof mental, religious, and social stages throughspirit hospitality,open flewthe gates; and which the people have passed. The practice of the little 'king of all birds,' entering with his churchesand houses with and attendants,found the trate(as the rhymeand the decorating holly,ivy, national accent would have mistletoeis a directlegacy of Druidicalorigin. The it) prepared for him." ofthe " Yule " is evenof A like custom was at one time also observedin burning log higherantiquity, and there is a as it was probablyderived from our Aryanancestors, Germany, parallel to it in the and, like the offires on Midsummereve, has " Chelidonising,"or swallow singing among the lighting ancientGreeks. Thereare numbersof other referenceto the worshipof the Sun. The Juneor musical mid-summerbonfires are still called Bel-tanein the customsstill observed at thetime of Christmaswhich northern of and in can boast ofa highantiquity, and whichfor the most parts England, Walpurgis-nacht have been Germany. The mince-pie,and the good cheer at part transmittedunchanged in theirforms Christmas,and the Wassail Song, are inheritancesto posterity. fromthe Danes and Saxons. The mummerscan The best knownChristmas music is that whichis trace their in the of called "The Waits." It is a customwhich of all prototypes pageants mediaeval has most times,and to the Churchmysteries and moralities.others been modifiedand influencedby out- The whichwas at one time observed side pressureso thatit has lost its originalshape and equality strictly intention. at thisseason was doubtlessa Christianprompting. All menwere in the of the and The institutionprobably dates only from the equal eyes Almighty, fifteenth when it was the customof at this time of the year, when all were especially century, kings, in their common therewas no nobles, and wealthy cities to support bands of rejoicing salvation, musicians in connectionwith the distinctionof persons. night-watch.At certainperiods of the year the Waits accompanied Then opened wide the baron's hall the watch their at certain To vassal, tenant, serf,and all; upon rounds,halting places Power laid his rod aside to performsome piece of music forthe solace and And ceremony doffedhis pride. comfortof the peacefulcitizens. The heir with roses in his shoes, term That night might village partner choose - The " Waits," which is never used in the The lord, underogating, share singular form,was appliedto the wholeset of wind The vulgar game of" post and pair." All hailed with uncontrolled delight, instrumentswhich were playedby the musicians,as And general voice, the happy night, well as to the music they played, and to the That to the cottage as the crown musicians themselves. The custom it is Brought tidings of Salvation down. originated, supposed,among the minstrelsattached to the Court The carryinghome of the hollyand mistletoewas of some king or noble. Their duty was to keep celebratedin the music and singing, The bringingwatch and ward, to call the hours in the manner in the boar's-headwas accompanied by carols, and whichwas observedby the watchmenin the streets, the Wassail or Drinkheil customs had theirtradi- and to performother tasks properto their office. tional musical ditties. A Wassail or VWtasselsong, Fromthe Courtsof kings and nobles it extendedto printedby Ritson in his " AntientSongs," fromthe wealthycities, then to guildswithin the cities,and

This content downloaded from 137.132.123.69 on Sat, 28 Nov 2015 22:39:06 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions