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Folk Song in England
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 613

Folk Song in England

In Victorian times, England was famously dubbed the land without music - but one of the great musical discoveries of the early twentieth century was that England had a vital heritage of folk song and music which was easily good enough to stand comparison with those of other parts of Britain and overseas. Cecil Sharp, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Percy Grainger, and a number of other enthusiasts gathered a huge harvest of songs and tunes which we can study and enjoy at our leisure. But after over a century of collection and discussion, publication and performance, there are still many things we don't know about traditional song - Where did the songs come from? Who sang them, where, when and why? What part did singing play in the lives of the communities in which the songs thrived? More importantly, have the pioneer collectors' restricted definitions and narrow focus hindered or helped our understanding? This is the first book for many years to investigate the wider social history of traditional song in England, and draws on a wide range of sources to answer these questions and many more.

The English Year
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 879

The English Year

  • Type: Book
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  • Published: 2008-01-31
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  • Publisher: Penguin UK

'The English Year' is a month-by-month, day-by-day guide to all the customs and festivals of England, from the national celebrations to herald the New Year down to small local traditions such as duck racing in Oxfordshire.

London Lore
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 466

London Lore

  • Type: Book
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  • Published: 2012-03-31
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  • Publisher: Random House

In which part of North London were wild beasts once thought to roam the sewers? Why did 1920s working-class Londoners wear necklaces of blue beads? Who was the original inspiration for the 'pearly king' costume? And did Spring-heeled Jack, scourge of Victorian London, ever really exist? Exploring everything from local superstitions and ghost stories to annual customs, this is an enchanting guide to the ancient legends and deep-rooted beliefs that can be found the length and breadth of the city.

The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 662

The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs

  • Type: Book
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  • Published: 2012
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  • Publisher: Penguin UK

One of the Spectator's Books of the Year 2012 'Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladiesFarewell and adieu to you ladies of SpainFor we've received orders for to sail for old EnglandBut we hope in a short while to see you again'One of the great English popular art forms, the folk song can be painful, satirical, erotic, dramatic, rueful or funny. They have thrived when sung on a whim to a handful of friends in a pub; they have bewitched generations of English composers who have set them for everything from solo violin to full orchestra; they are sung in concerts, festivals, weddings, funerals and with nobody to hear but the singer.This magical new collection brings together all the classi...

A Dictionary of English Folklore
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 1045

A Dictionary of English Folklore

This dictionary is part of the Oxford Reference Collection: using sustainable print-on-demand technology to make the acclaimed backlist of the Oxford Reference programme perennially available in hardback format. An engrossing guide to English folklore and traditions, with over 1,250 entries. Folklore is connected to virtually every aspect of life, part of the country, age group, and occupation. From the bizarre to the seemingly mundane, it is as much a feature of the modern technological age as of the ancient world. BL Oral and Performance genres-Cheese rolling, Morris dancing, Well-dressingEL BL Superstitions-Charms, Rainbows, WishbonesEL BL Characters-Cinderella, Father Christmas, Robin Hood, Dick WhittingtonEL BL Supernatural Beliefs-Devil's hoofprints, Fairy rings, Frog showersEL BL Calendar Customs-April Fool's Day, Helston Furry Day, Valentine's DayEL

Street Ballads in Nineteenth-Century Britain, Ireland, and North America
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 373

Street Ballads in Nineteenth-Century Britain, Ireland, and North America

  • Type: Book
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  • Published: 2016-04-01
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  • Publisher: Routledge

In recent years, the assumption that traditional songs originated from a primarily oral tradition has been challenged by research into ’street literature’ - that is, the cheap printed broadsides and chapbooks that poured from the presses of jobbing printers from the late sixteenth century until the beginning of the twentieth. Not only are some traditional singers known to have learned songs from printed sources, but most of the songs were composed by professional writers and reached the populace in printed form. Street Ballads in Nineteenth-Century Britain, Ireland, and North America engages with the long-running debate over the origin of traditional songs by examining street literature’s interaction with, and influence on, oral traditions.

The Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 1004

The Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland

  • Type: Book
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  • Published: 2006-04-06
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  • Publisher: Penguin UK

Are black cats lucky or unlucky? What should you do when you hear the first cuckoo? Since when have people believed that it's unlucky to shoot an albatross? Why does breaking a mirror lead to misfortune? This fascinating collection answers these and many other questions about the world of superstitions and forms an endlessly browsable guide to a subject that continues to obsess and intrigue.

A Pocket Guide to Superstitions of the British Isles
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 296

A Pocket Guide to Superstitions of the British Isles

  • Type: Book
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  • Published: 2004
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  • Publisher: Unknown

The first major new book on British superstitions and their history in over a generation, this survey not only explains what people have believed and why, but when superstitions arose, which parts of the country adopted them, how they evolved and what people believe today. Drawing extensively on literary sources from medieval times to the present, the book settles many arguments, debunks many myths and provides in the process a fascinating sideways view of social customs and beliefs over the centuries.

The English and Scottish Popular Ballads
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 550

The English and Scottish Popular Ballads

The rich field of English balladry was virgin territory before Francis James Child entered it. The few published ballad editions that existed were unreliable, filled with unacknowledged editorial changes and distortions of the original manuscripts. Professor Child compiled all the extant ballads with all known variants, and made them available for the first time — together with his invaluable commentary that prefaces each work — in a single source that maintained absolute fidelity to the original texts. Published between 1882 and 1898, the original ten-part study became the definitive collection of popular ballads in the English language, never to be superceded. To this day, scholars and devotees speak of "The Child Ballads" with the awe and respect generated by few other literary works. Volume 1: Parts I and II of the original set, ballads 1-53 including "Edward," "Lord Randal," "Tam Lin," "Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight," "Earl Brand," "Thomas Rymer," more. Biographical sketch of Child by Prof. Kittredge, Child's portrait, additions and corrections.

The Ballad-Singer in Georgian and Victorian London
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 299

The Ballad-Singer in Georgian and Victorian London

An in-depth study of the nineteenth-century London ballad-singer, a central figure in British cultural, social and political life.