Thomas Morley (1597) wrote of a kind of dance-part-song called vilanelle or ballete. “These and all other kinds of light musick, saving the madrigal, are by a general name called aires. There be also another kind of ballets commonly called Fa-la’s....”
When printing was invented these ballads (or ballets) appeared in such quantities, that they became a nuisance. Any subject or event was made into a ballad. They were usually printed on single sheets so that an instrument like the viol could play the air, and were carried around in baskets and sold for a trifle. Ballad-singing in the streets took the place of the older minstrels, but the newer fashion never reached the dignity of the bards. These ballads were used as dances.
Both Henry VIII and Queen Mary issued edicts forbidding the printing of books, ballads, and rhymes, probably because many were political ballads uncomplimentary to them. In Elizabeth’s reign the edict was removed, and many of these dance-songs are found in the plays of Shakespeare and are sung today in concerts as examples of English folk music.
Many of the better ones have been preserved for us in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, which is often wrongly called Queen Elizabeth’s Virginal Book, and in Playford’s English Dancing Master in which there are ninety-five songs used for dancing; they are also to be heard in the Beggar’s Opera which contains sixty-nine airs, among which may be mentioned Sally in our Alley, Bonny Dundee, Green Sleeves, Lilliburlero, Over the Hills and Far Away, etc. John Gay gathered these folk songs and dances into The Beggar’s Opera in 1727, and it was recently (1920) revived with great success in London and New York.
Tiersot (an authority on French folk music) has shown that Adam de la Hale probably wrote the play of Le Jeu de Robin et de Marion and then strung together a number of popular tunes, many of far older date, to suit his words. So this pastoral-comedy may be the oldest collection of French folk tunes in existence.
In France, when a dance-air became popular, the rhymers made up words to fit the music; this was called parodying it. Our use of the word “parody” means to make fun of something, but at that time, the word meant to adapt words to a melody. One of the early French writers translated the Psalms for use in the Church, and these very Psalms which were dedicated to François I, the King, were “parodied,” so that the people sang them to their favorite dance tunes,—courantes, sarabandes and bourrées. This happened at a time when church music was being popularized, and one hears queer tales of the use of popular songs in the masses and motets of the 14th and 15th centuries. It sounds sacrilegious to us, doesn’t it?
In spite of all the mixing-up of tunes and words, the French folk dances besides being very charming and winning were the parents of a most important kind of musical composition. Just to keep you from being too curious, the name of this important musical composition is the Suite—but wait!
(8) Funeral Songs and Songs for Mourning
All people from the savage state to the most civilized have had their funeral songs and songs for mourning which have been characteristic of the day and age to which they belonged and revealed many tribal and racial beliefs, superstitions and customs.