Miscellany

• Classic English Folk Songs
  Additions, corrections and supplementary material for the revised edition of The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs published in 2003 by the English Folk Dance and Song Society in association with the South Riding Folk Network.
  
  
• Marrow Bones
  Additions, corrections and supplementary material for the revised edition of Frank Purslow's Marrow Bones: English Folk Songs from the Hammond and Gardiner Manuscripts (1965), published in 2007 by the English Folk Dance and Song Society.
  
  
• Henry Burstow: Reminicences of Horsham
  The autobiography of the Horsham bootmaker, bellringer and singer whose songs were collected and published by such as Lucy Broadwood and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Originally printed in 1911, this is a fascinating account of the life of one of the most prolific and influential singers discovered during the folk music revival of the early 20th century. Transcribed to html with the original pagination preserved, and all illustrations included.
  
  
• Sabine Baring-Gould: An Essay on English Folk Song
  This piece by the pioneer folk song collector, prolific writer and Dartmoor "Squarson" first appeared in Volume VII of English Minstrelsie: a National Monument of English Song (1895), of which he was the series editor. A collection of musings and anecdotes rather than an analysis, it is interesting mainly for its descriptions of early collecting efforts in the West Country and of some of the singers Baring-Gould met.
  
  
• The Sheffield Christmas of Bygone Days
  An article from The Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, Saturday 21st December 1872. Descriptions of the run-up to Christmas in the late 18th and early 19th centuries; including carol singing, the Derby Tup, the Poor Old Horse, Morris and Sword dancing.
  
  
• Luck-visiting in the Old South Riding
  Extracts from Chambers' Book of Days, 1879; Lucy E. Broadwood and J. A. Fuller Maitland, English County Songs, 1893, and Sidney Oldall Addy, A Glossary of Words used in the Neighbourhood of Sheffield, 1888.
  
  A Yorkshire "Gooding" carol
  The Anston Wassail song
  The Mummers' Song
  The Poor Old Horse
  
  
• Postcards from France
  Two old postcards from the Le Puy region with interesting photographs -one of a hurdygurdy player- and music and words for two dialect songs. Note: the images are relatively large and may take a little while to load.
  
  
• "The Ship in Distress" in Scandinavia
  A 17th century Danish antecedent of the English ballad.
  
  
• Dances Mentioned by Thomas Hardy in Under the Greenwood Tree
  An article from E.F.D.S. News, No. 12, 1926; includes a letter from Hardy on the subject of Country Dance.
  
  
• The Doc Rowe Collection
  The ongoing story of the move to safe housing in Sheffield of this important archive of folklore, folklife and traditional culture.
  
  
• Martin Carthy and "Doc" Rowe: honorary degrees.
  On 26th July 2002, the University of Sheffield presented honorary doctorates in music to Martin, one of the most influential musicians of the folk revival, and to "Doc", our most prolific documenter of traditional custom (and honorary vice-president of the SRFN). The Official Orator of the university does special speeches for occasions of this kind, and, thanks to Dr Jonathan Stock of the Music department, we have preserved them here:
  
  Martin Carthy
  "Doc" Rowe
  
  
• The "Wicked Stix" Mummers' Play
  For several years in the '90s, the Morris team Wicked Stix toured local pubs at Christmas time with a Mummers' play. The team is no more, but recently Ron and Jenny Day unearthed the script that they used, and passed it onto us.
  
  
• Michael Turner's Waltz
  In 1982, the publication by EFDSS of Vic Gammon and Annie Loughran's The Sussex Tunebook led to a further upsurge of interest in the traditional dance music repertoire of South East England. The tunes came from a number of sources, including MS tunebooks made by the fiddler Michael Turner (1796-1885) of Warnham, Sussex. Turner was a shoemaker by trade, working also as leader of the local choir band and later as Parish Clerk; a detailed article about him can be seen at Musical Traditions:
  
  Michael Turner: a 19th Century Sussex Fiddler
  
  One of these tunes, an unnamed waltz, has since became popular as Michael Turner's Waltz. It's an unusual piece, having a North European feel not particularly characteristic of Southern English styles, and there has been some debate as to its origins over the years. It's been gradually narrowed down to a late chamber piece by Mozart, Six German Dances (KV 536); specifically to dance number 2. Jonathan Stock of the Music dept. at Sheffield University has kindly unearthed the relevant piece for us, and the second part (the Trio) is indeed the tune now known as Michael Turner's. We reproduce it here for your edification, along with midis for those who (like the present writer) have only limited music-reading abilities.
  
  German Dance no.2 (Trio) KV 536 no.2, 1788.
  (pdf format: requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
  
  Midi (melody line)
  Midi (full score)