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NUMBER 424.

The Songs of Wales.

AMONG those ancient national melodies which ripen and mellow with the centuries, like a choice canvas from the hand of a master, none can take precedence of the songs of old Cambria. The moist, fresh air of the land which gave them birth may have its influence in producing the rich voices and that love of wild music which is found in this interesting little corner of the British Isles. Freedom naturally seeks expression in song; and although the brave Cymry, after fighting for their small portion of the earth against Romans, Saxons, Danes, Normans, and finally against the Anglicized product of all these nations, late yielded to the power of numbers; yet their national spirit has never been broken. Wild Wallia is devoted to its queen, whose heir assumes as his proudest title, "The Prince of Wales," but retains its ancient tongue, holds proudly to its ancient pedigree, and treasures its literature and traditions with a singleness of purpose and devotion scarcely equalled among the nations of to-day.

Doubtless the isolation and conservatism which the true Cambrian does not, at least, discourage, have had a strong influence in preserving unaltered the ancient melodies of the country, and in deepening their influence on the people of Wales. England, Ireland, and Scotland borrow, with more or less freedom, from each other traditions and music; and a certain similarity of nature adheres in the ancient possessions of these countries. But little Wales neither borrows nor lends. Those old songs, some of which have been handed down from the Druids, and few of them later than the time of Queen Elizabeth, have a peculiar character. No nation can claim them, or dispute their claim to be genuinely Cambrian.

A large part of the most ancient music of Wales is stately, solemn, and grave, as its use for religious purposes demanded; yet an almost equally large part of that which has been preserved is of quite another sort. This daring little nation, familiar with the arts of war, and from the time of Cæsar to that of the first Edward struggling for independence as bravely as ever their Greek brothers struggled, could naturally produce stirring martial music; and it is claimed by excellent critics that in this department of music Wales excels all other nations.

The antiquity of many Welsh melodies is traced with difficulty; but there are good reasons for believing that The March of the Monks of Bangor "

..

BOSTON, MAY, 1897.

dates back to the event which it celebrates, and that it was in reality the strain by which those devoted religious, the White Monks of Bangor Iscoed, marched to their bloody fate at the hands of the Saxon savages. The mingling of major and minor A phrases is one of the internal evidences of age. fine martial tread sounds through each measure, combined with the spirit of exalted piety; and the rhythm boldly paints the long procession of whitecowled monks bearing peaceful banners and in faith taking their way to Chester to stimulate the valor of their countrymen, away back in the seventh century.1

The songs of Wales have undoubtedly derived many of their most pleasing characteristics from the influence of the harp, which has always been the favorite musical instrument of the country. The three indispensable possessions of a Cambrian gentleman in the early days were, a harp, a cloak, and a chessboard. Slaves were not permitted to learn to use the harp lest they should pretend to be gentlemen. The harp could not be seized for debt, because its loss implied degradation from rank. The ancient Welsh harp had but a single row of strings; and flats and sharps were produced by a peculiar movement of the thumb and finger, a device which seems to be no longer known. One form of the harp was so small that a gentleman riding on horseback could easily carry it, and trill out a lay on its strings, or encourage his spirit with a martial air. The calm, even sweetness of the harp tones furnish a peculiarly delightful accompaniment to the melodies of Wales, which, says an old Welsh writer, "are expressive of the afflictions which the pecple were enduring when they were written." Equally well are they adapted to the joyous carols of the hills and valleys which must have been sung in Wales, as elsewhere; since youth and love and joy are universal, and demand expression in song.

Of pastoral songs Cambria has a great store. They are distinguished by a singular regularity of construction, well suited to their theme, and a well-ordered but never wearisome sequence not inconsistent with variety. A well-known musical critic says, 66 They are the finest pastorals I know, and may be backed against the world for poetry, music, and purity of sentiment."

Of "Ar hyd y nos," a delightful little melody, it may be said that it has been shamelessly bor

1 Vide "The Songs of Wales," edited by Brinley Richards; London, Boosey & Co., p. 94.

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rowed by all sorts of ballad-makers, and required to do duty for words of very little consequence. I find the melody in one of the oldest collections of Welsh ballads in existence, and it seems to have been taken down from the lips of the Welsh peasants by an enthusiastic lover of Cambrian music who wished to preserve it. The song has recently been made very popular on this side of the Atlantic by a famous Irish singer of ballads, Mr. Plunkett Greene. Doubtless this air had its origin in that period between 1680 and 1780 which was so prolific in ballad-making. It is a melody which lends itself readily to an ancient, but by no means forgotten, style of music called "penillion singing." This is usually accompanied by the harp, and is presented on this wise: An extempore line is sung by some member of a chorus, and the person at his left takes up the refrain, "Ar hyd y nos," which gives the first singer time to compose his second line. The entire chorus repeats the second part of the melody. As the subjects are often humorous, the style is very popular. An accomplished singer in penillion is able to adapt stanzas of various metres to a single melody, and should be acquainted with each of the "four-and-twenty metres," according to bardic rules.

The songs of old Wales were, for hundreds of years, handed down from generation to generation by the lips of the people; and I find no trace of a printed collection until the close of the last century, though old manuscript copies of many songs are to be seen in the Drexel Musical Library, now the property of the Lenox Library of New York City. About the year 1797, Dr. Parry, a blind Welsh harper, in connection with other lovers of Welsh music, made a collection of the most famous of the old Welsh airs. And in the early days of the present century, Mr. George Thomson of Edinburgh, who had previously published collections of English, Scotch, and Irish music, travelled through Wales in order to obtain the native songs from the lips of the peasants themselves. He became an enthusiast on the subject, and on his return committed the airs to Haydn, who was a lover of Welsh minstrelsy, and by him they were Mention harmonized in the best possible manner. should also be made of an excellent and very complete collection of Welsh songs arranged more recently by Miss Jane Williams of Wales, which contains some of the most ancient, as well as the most modern, of the genuine songs of Cambria. HELEN MARSHALL NORTH, in The Looker-On.

Folk-Melody.

MUCH has been written in appreciation of the primitive yet beautiful poetry of the folk-songs. For many years this department of folklore has been closely studied. It seems that the melodies

to which many of these songs are sung are equally worthy of attention. The people of a nation are usually possessed of several melodies more or less musical, to which they either chant or declaim their popular poetry, or accompany their accustomed work. The origin of these melodies is as mysterious as that of the folk-poems. It is supposed that one of the people, of a more musical nature than the others, originates the melody, which, in course of being sung or played, is adapted to the general idea. A distinctive characteristic of a folk-melody is that it is the product of many minds, rather than being the apparent product of one only. In fact, it possesses nationality rather than individuality. One of the elements which go to compose melody is rhythm, a regular division of time. So a person performing any kind of labor which requires regularity of movement has one of the elements of a song all ready to hand; and, as to sing is an inborn tendency, he soon supplies the other elements of melody, and there we have a folk-song. The work helped to compose the song; and now the song helps to do the work by inducing the man to strike, or the woman to rock the cradle, in time to the music. While in the field, the primitive hunter found that to imitate the calls of birds was a useful acquisition, and from this sprang a class of folk-melodies which imitate bird-song. Almost every occurrence in the lives of primitive peoples has called into being its own peculiar music, either bright and joyous, or dark and lugubrious, as the case might be, but all reflecting the national character with more or less sincerity. Thus funeral and marriage music, music to accompany various incantations, melodies supposed to possess medicinal qualities, prayer melodies, love melodies, and melodies to which the historical records of the people were chanted, so that by remembering the melody one could call to mind the words. This method was also used to assist in remembering the laws. An interesting modern example of the tendency of the people to melodize is to be seen in the street cries of our large cities. Some of them are very characteristic.

There are more folk-melodies to be found in major than in minor. A perfect folk-melody usually contains something which is characteristic of the people from which it springs, and characteristic of them only; but what this something is, is very difficult to define. Evidently national characteristics do not spring altogether from the kind of scale in which a melody is composed. The melody, There is a Happy Land," is composed in the Chinese scale, but it does not sound Chinese. Nor do they lie altogether in the rhythm. The Scotch and the Hungarians frequently use the same rhythm, but their respective folk-melodies give one an entirely different impression. Nationality in art is a much-discussed point. Both sides have many able and learned adherents. But we may safely conclude that national flavor in music is an indisputable fact. We do not care to how many other causes the difference in their music can be assigned, the difference in the nationality of men certainly plays no small part in causing an ultimate difference in their music. The fountainhead of nationality in music is to be found in the folk-melodies. The folk-melodies are very near to

the people; they spring from the heart of the nation, and thus contain the musical essence of nationality. Many musical composers have appreciated this fact, and in their endeavors to give national flavor and meaning to their music have searched out and studied the national musical spirit as evinced in their nation's folk-melodies, and have taken this beautiful wild-flower to their hearts, and loved it, developed it, and wrought over it until a noble symphony was produced, which is as much a national product as the folkmelody, although it required the thought, energy, and technique, so to speak, of the cultivated musi cian to give it form and being.

Such a musician was Anton Borodin, a Russian. In his works we find the earnest and reflective national musician. Borodin spent many years in studying Russian folk-melodies. Having absorbed their inmost spirit, he embodied it in many strong and beautiful works. Two finished symphonies, an opera, a symphonic sketch, and an unfinished symphony, are among his published works. Edward Grieg is another composer who has laid the foundation of his musical activity in the folk-melodies of his country, Norway. In very many of his compositions we see the subtle element which charms us in the Norwegian folk-melodies grasped, brought forward, and placed in the magic light of artistic development. The list of musicians who are indebted to the suggestions of the folk-melodies is a large one; but this article would be incomplete did I not mention Peter Tchaikowski, the Russian, Antonin Dvorák, the Bohemian, and Johan Severin Svendsen, the Norwegian. These men also have developed the suggestions of the folk-melodies in a most remarkable manner. Considering the amount of great music already written, which is but a broad and artistic development of the suggestions of the folk-melodies, does it not seem that herein lies a healthy and unfailing source of art inspiration? Many men have found it so ; and does it not seem reasonable that a work of art which is of humanity should be more solidly founded, at any rate, than one which rests merely in the fancies of a few unbalanced individuals ? H. F. GILBERT, in Music.

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