We shall not tarry long on this subject for it has been covered in the chapter on Troubadours and Minnesingers.
All primitive races used this means of teaching and preserving their tribal history, legends, etc., of telling the news of the day and of praising their over-lords. Many hundreds of volumes of ballads of all countries are to be found and are most useful as well as entertaining in the story of mankind.
Among the most famous narratives known to us are: the Sagas and Eddas and Runes of the Northlands; the Kalevala of Finland; the Percy Reliques of Britain; the Odyssey and Iliad of ancient Greece; the Song of Roland of France, Beowulf of the Anglo-Saxons, and others, many of which have been translated and simplified for young readers.
CHAPTER X
National Portraits in Folk Music
There is one particularly lovely thing about folk songs and dances and that is the natural labels which they bear, marking them as belonging to France, Spain, Germany, Russia and so on. As with people, they all have similarities and yet no two are the same in looks or in actions. It would not take you long to know whether you were hearing a Spanish folk dance, an Irish Jig, a Russian Hopak, a Norwegian Halling or an American Foxtrot, because each has its own kind of rhythm and melody.
Some nations have gay, bright folk music, and others have sad, mournful music. In northern countries where living is hard on account of the long, dark, cold winters, and the people are forced to spend much time indoors and away from neighbors, where money and food are scarce, they are likely to be sad and lonely. In the centuries gone by they made up songs that pictured their lives and their surroundings. On the other hand, in countries where the sun shines most of the time, where people live out of doors, are happy, and have many friends and much fun, the music is gayer and usually lighter. This is why the music of Finland, Sweden, Norway and northern Russia is so much in the minor key, and seems grey, and why the music of Italy Spain, France and other southern countries is in the major key and seems rosier in color and happier in mood. Other reasons, too, for sad folk music is oppression, harsh rulers and harsh laws. So the Finns and Russians, the American negroes and the Hebrew tribes sang sad songs.
“The Music Making Boys,” by Frans Hals, from the Kassel Gallery, Germany.
Boys with a Lute.
After a painting by Teniers, in the gallery at Munich.
A Peasant Wedding.