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
peculiarities in word setting (note in particular the start of the short Cantata Lord Ullin's Daughter ) and the melodic aspects of national melody which in turn generate harmonies (often involving plagal progressions) that become a recognisably individual part of MacCunn's style. This openness to native raw material was a subject to which one of the most famous musical visitors to England often alluded. Antonín Dvorák first came to London in 1882 to conduct concerts of several of his works which were gaining considerable popularity in England. Over the next fifteen he visited England seven times and received a number of significant commissions from musical societies and festivals. Critics in England were quick to perceive Dvorak's effective use of the popular accent in certain of his works, in particular the first set of Slavonic Dances, op. 46. In a contemporary review of these in the Monthly Musical Record, the writer ended his notice with the following comment: There is no great pretension in the work as a musical composition other than that which aims at the representation of a national peculiarity, and the reproduction, in a quasi-classical form, of things that are in their origin popular. 9 For his part, Dvorák offered advice to the composers of Britain to base their classical compositions on the: '... fine melodies of Ireland and Scotland'. 1 0 While far from scientific in his methods of observation, Dvorák frequently noted the presence of national music in the work of other composers. Writing about Schubert's original use of national characteristics in his music, Dvorák offered the following analysis of the practice: During his residence in Hungary, he assimilated national melodies and rhythmic peculiarities, and embodied them in his art, thus becoming a forerunner of Liszt, Brahms and others who have made Hungarian melodies an integral part of European concert music. From the rich stores of Slavic folk music, in its Hungarian [sic], Russian, Bohemian and Polish varieties, the 9 Notice reprinted in Norman Demuth (ed.), An Anthology of Criticism, London, 1947, p. 290. 1 0 From an interview printed in the New York Herald, 21 May 1893. Reprinted in John Tibbetts (ed.), Dvorák in America: 1892-1895 , (Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press, 1993), p. 356. 37
