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Somewhere in the nineteenth century, the Grimm brothers set out to put
Germany?s heritage of old folk stories on record, that untill then had
been passed down the generations by worth of mouth. The result was a
still popular book, that has prevented many a classic from dropping out
of our collective memory. The brothers were just in time: the
disappearance of the story telling tradition is not to be blamed on the
rise of radio and television, but on the disintergration of traditional
society as a result of the industrial revolution. A gradual process of
social and cultural unrooting from mankind out of the soil of the
eighteenth century, that was at its end merely accelerated by some new
ways of entertainment. By the time that traditional story telling was in
a state uncanningly alike the one polar ice and tiger are in today (not
yet beyond rescue, but we have to act without delay), the Grimm example
got a worldwide follow up. Not just for the preservation of folk
stories, but of folk songs as well. And they were not the least of their
profession who travelled across their countries to preserve their
musical heritage: in Hungary, for instance, it was Zoltán Kodály
(1882-1967), who could compose a rather good song of his own.
In England it was Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), in his time
regarded as the country?s leading composer, to take up the task. It may
have been done at the cost of a couple of symphonies, but from December
1903 onward, he wrote down some eight hundred songs, recorded from the
mouth of the last and rapidly dwindling generation that stood in the
tradition. A part of his collection he adapted for performance by choir.
?Five English Folksongs? was first published in 1913, when the work was
largely done. The five songs selected for this particular cycle,
however, are not merely for their charm seleceted to celebrate the
completion of the project in a choral setting. The sequence of texts
constitutes a coherent unity.
?Five English Folksongs? is a cycle of four love songs, with a coda on
the old English tradition to help the poor through the Christmas period.
In this Wassail Song, ?wassail? stems from ?wess hael? (on your health),
and means ?drinking session?. It is traditionally sung by the poor when
proceding from one house to another with a modest-sized cup, and the
?wassail?-call at the beginning is both begging-call and the traditional
name for the booze donated. This coda, as we in due time will recognize,
is far closer related to the previous love songs as one might expect
from a christmas tradition. So let?s have a look at the opening text. A
song on Shakespeare?s immortal observation Yourneys end in lovers meeting:
The Dark Eyed Sailor
It was a comely young lady fair,
Was walking out for to take the air,
She met a sailor all on her way,
So I paid attention to what they did say.
Said William, ?Lady, why walk alone?
The night is coming and the day neare gone.?
She said, while tears from her eye did fall,
?It?s a dark-eyed sailor that?s proving my downfall.?
?It?s two long years since he left the land;
He took a gold ring from of my hand,
We broke the token, here?s part with me,
and the other lies rolling at the bottom of the sea.?
Then half the ring did young William show,
She was distracted midst joy and woe.
?O welcome, William, I?ve lands and gold
For my dark-eyed sailor so manly, true and bold.?
Then in a village down by the sea,
They joined in wedlock and well agree.
So maids be true while your love?s away,
For a cloudy morning brings forth a shining day.
A rather straightforward story about the reunion of a fair lady with her
beloved sailor, who she believed death. But two lines deserve a closer
look: the ones of the fourth verse in which the lady offers the sailor
land and gold. The donated booze of the final song is in comparision
less of a sacrifice, but the intention is the same. And this connects
the love of the fair lady for her William to the spirit of christmas by
means of charity. But in search for overall unity we find the next song
refusing to fit in on this theme. It is clearly out of season to begin with:
The Spring Time of the Year
As I walked out one morning,
In the springtime of the year,
I overheard a sailor boy,
Likewise a lady fair.
They sang a song together,
Made the valleys for to ring,
While the birds on spray
And the meadows gay
Proclaimed the lovely spring.
The lovers, however, are the very ones I overheard in the previous song,
and this time they are singing. Just as the beggars will do in the coda.
This singing also features in next song, but this time there is a change
of perspective, as there is nobody around to overhear our lovers:
Just as the Tide was Flowing
One morning in the month of May,
Down by some rolling river,
A jolly sailor, I did stray,
When I beheld my lover.
She carelessly along did stray,
A-picking of the daisies gay;
And sweetly sang her roundelay,
Just as the tide was flowing.
O! her dress it was so white as milk,
And jewels did adorn her.
Her shoes were made of the crimson silk,
Just like some lady of honour.
Her cheeks were red, her eyes were brown,
Her hair in ringlets hanging down;
She?d a lovely brow, without a frown.
Just as the tide was flowing.
I made a bow and said; ?Fair maid,
How came you here so early?
My heart, by you it is betray?d
For I do love you dearly.
I am a sailor come from sea,
If you will accept of my company
To walk and view the fishes play.?
Just as the tide was flowing.
No more we said, but on our way
We?d gang along together,
The small birds sang, and the lambs did play,
And pleasant was the weather.
When we were weary we did sit down
Beneath a tree with branches round;
For my true love at last I?d found,
Just as the tide was flowing.
Again journeys end in lovers meeting, and, judged by their descriptions,
they are the very lovers of the opening song, only this time at the
earlier occasion of breaking a ring of gold. As we know, he is to sail
shortly afterwards, and will not return for a long time. Long enough in
any case to be assumed dead:
The Lover?s Ghost
Well met, well met my own true love;
Long time I have been absent from thee,
I am lately come from the salt sea,
And ?tis all for the sake, my love, of thee.
I have three ships all on the salt sea,
And one of them has brought me to land,
I?ve four and twenty mariners on board,
You shall have music at your command.
The ship wherein my love shall sail
Is glorious for to behold,
The sails shall be of shining silk,
The mast shall be of the fine beaten gold.
I might have had a King?s daughter,
And fain she would have married me,
But I forsook her crown of gold,
And ?tis all for the sake, my love, of thee.
In the sequence of this four songs we now find both unity and symmetry.
Which should be basic features of any song cycle anyway, as one can
learn from both Schubert?s masterpieces in this field: Winterreise and
Die Schöne Müllerin. And even from RVW?s miscellanious set of Three
Elizabethan Part Songs, if one takes the trouble to read parts two &
three of The Art of Ralph Vaughan Williams. This time the lay-out is in
comparision with that elusive composition rather straightforward: unity
is established by the sailor boy, who for the sake of symmetry is
presumably dead in both opening and closing song. His love is arranged
with re-union on the wings, and union in the centre. Symmetry is a
specific type of balance, but the sequence shows the general type as
well, in a way that involves development: Before the symmetry axis the
storyteller is an outsider, afterwards it is the sailor boy himself. The
storyteller restricts him/herself to reporting on what (s)he heard, the
sailor boy follows up with describing the lady as she appeared to him at
the first meeting. After this she tells us what he said to her, and how
she responded, and then turns to her directly for a return of favours
from the opening song. Which charity results in this composition scheme:
story communi- lover <---charity---> lover
teller cation I season II
between <---destiny--->
lovers
out- dialogue sailor <---land & gold---- fair
sider boy ----landbound----> lady
out- duet sailor spring* fair
sider boy lady
symmetry axis
------------------------------------------------------------------
symmetry axis
sailor monologue sailor spring fair
boy boy lady
sailor monologue sailor ----ship & music---> fair
boy boy <---seabound---- lady
Coda:
the <----------- matter (spiritual refreshments) -------------
economically monologue the ec. chall. midwinter** the ec. strong
challenged ----------- spirit (God?s blessing with matter) ---------->
story communi- lover <---charity---> lover
teller cation I season II
between <---destiny--->
lovers
* the season of love
** high tide of God?s love = God gives us his son
The coda hides yet another contrast: while the pre-christian Old
Testament of the Holy Bible teaches us that the just (Abraham, Isaac,
Job) receive the blessing of God in the form of earthly wealth (Pray God
send our master a good...), the christian sequel revolves around the
message that wealth isn?t everything at all. And this little Christmas
song therefore doesn?t fail to bring one of the sharper edges of Jesus?s
gospel unobtrusively to the attention of the possessing class.
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear:
Wassail Song
Wassail, Wassail, all over the town,
Our bread it is white and our ale it is brown:
Our bowl it is made of the green maple tree;
In the Wassail bowl we?ll drink unto thee.
Here?s a health to the ox and to his right eye,
Pray God send our master a good Christmas pie,
A good Christmas pie as e?er I did see.
In the Wassail bowl we?ll drink unto thee.
Here?s a health to the ox and to his right horn,
Pray God send our master a good crop of corn,
A good crop of corn as e?er I did see.
In the Wassail bowl we?ll drink unto thee.
Here?s a health to the ox and to his long tail,
Pray God send our master a good cask of ale,
A good cask of ale as e?er I did see.
In the Wassail bowl we?ll drink unto thee.
Come butler, come fill us a bowl of the best;
Then I pray that your soul in heaven may rest;
But if you do bring us a bowl of the small,
May the devil take butler, bowl and all!
Then here?s to the maid in the lily white smock,
Who tripp?d to the door and slipp?d back the lock;
Who tripp?d to the door and slipp?d back the pin,
For to let these jolly Wassailers walk in.
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