Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1998. Vol. 2. Eger Journal of English Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 26)

Studies - Jan Smaczny: The stuff of life' - aspects of folksong in the fabric of art music in the British Isles

JAN SMACZNY THE STUFF OF LIFE' - ASPECTS OF FOLKSONG IN THE FABRIC OF ART MUSIC IN THE BRITISH ISLES Abstract: Folksong has at many stages played an important role in the art music of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales; in various guises it has also gone on to influence art music in other English speaking parts of the world, notably the United States of America. The primary purpose of this paper is to look at folksong's historical role in the British Isles - with a brief glance at parallel influences and interpretations of the idiom in America - the means by which it has been transmitted and the results of its presence in a number of repertoires. In addition, a major focus of interest is the way in which folksong in Ireland became a significant symbol of national identity. 1 The role of folksong, or what is often frequently referred to as national song,

1 in the development and revival of a number of branches of classical music in Central Europe, Scandinavia and Russia is firmly established. From a European perspective, the crucial presence of folksong in the art music of the British Isles across several centuries of evolution is perhaps less well understood, in part, paradoxically, because it is so pervasive. At nearly every stage in the musical development of British (understood here to mean English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh) music, folksong has been a major factor in conditioning melodic and harmonic style, and to an appreciable extent, form. At the same time folksong has added a particular melos as well as 1 In the Czech tradition, for example, the distinction between 'lidové' ('of the people') and národní ('national') is a crucial one where definitions of particular forms of melody are concerned. 'Lidové' is cognate much more with what might be described as genuine folk music emanating from remoter regions with a much more clearly ethnic profile; 'národní' as a term is applied to the popular collections of songs (many of non-Czech origin) which were in common currency and which major composers, such as Smetana and Dvorák, might have understood as folksong. 27