For J L Speranza.

I have collected some soldiers' songs sung in the British Army over the past century.  I am not sure that they really count as "ballads" - but they are certainly culturally distinct in their words and all use highly singable tunes (or they would not have caught on).  In most cases I have no written music, but they were very often sung to existing tunes (John Brown's Body, and Old King Cole, for example).

Please get in touch if you are interested in including any of this material.

Charles Kirke. 

-----Original Message-----
From:	J L Speranza [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:	05 November 1998 04:17
To:	[log in to unmask]
Subject:	Re: A Treasury of Balladry 

Dear List-Members,
I'm currently researching into 'A treasury of balladry' for a forthcoming
charity (Anglo-Argentine) local concert. I feel it is, admittedly, a bit of
a mixed bag (the audience may hopefully not feel alike), as we are
presenting a chronology of the different types of balladry, with a focus on
'community singing', being presented by an amateur club, The Nostalgia Club,
and with excerpts from Alan Ayckbourn's play, A Chorus of Disapproval. It's
a tribute to the [Chappell/Boosey-type] ballad Concerts, and we have
selected the ballads listed below. Comments or links that may be used as
background for the Master of Ceremonies very much welcomed at
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The Nostalgia Club presents
A Treasury of Balladry,
A tribute to the Chappell/Boosey ballad concerts
with excerpts from
Sir Alan Ayckbourn's A Chorus of Disapproval
St Michael's Hall,
Buenos Aires, Argentina.

TRADITIONAL. Of the anonymous 'traditional' ballads we have chosen 'Barbara
Allen'. We mention the Edwardian arrangement by R Quilter (Chappell 1908),
but render instead the Boosey arrangement. Ayckbourn's play is based on an
amateur club produciing J Gay's masterpiece of the ballad opera, The
Beggar's Opera, and it is mentioned that Gay uses indeed traditional ballads
(notably 'Chevy Chase'). As the concert (like Ayckbourn's play) takes the
form of an 'audition', the singer asks to audition with the familiar
'Barbara Allen' rather than 'Chevey Chase'.

MOCK PASTORAL. We offer a mock-pastoral ballad, 'Come live with me & be my
love', by C Marlowe, and the mock reply written by W Raleigh in Albion's
Glory, 1500. The musical setting is from Mel Bay's Songs of England.

LITERARY. 'Drink to me only with thine eyes' (B Jonson, The Forrest,
1616)(community singing). It is mentioned that the ballad, like 'Barbara
Allen' was also arranged by R Quilter, and made famous on the concert
platform by Kathleen Ferrier.

BALLAD OPERA. Then comes a medley from J Gay's The Beggar's Opera, presented
as the 'masterpiece' of the ballad opera ('Over the hills & far away', 'No
token of love?', etc). We mention that with the Regency's urban development,
the pastoral ballad decayed, but was found a new use ('revamped') by the
London playwright, John Gay whose Beggar's Opera took London by storm when
first presented at Lincoln Inn Fields in 1728. It is mentioned (or felt)
that with this new genre, the 'ballad opera', the term 'ballad' is somewhat
extended (if not a misnomer). Although Gay does use traditional ballads
(like 'Chevy Chase'), most of the tunes he picked are not strictly speaking
ballads - and, in any case, he changes the lyrics to fit the plot. The
effect on the 1728 audience of hearing Macheath's singing his tribulations
in the condemned cell to the tune of 'Chevy Chase' must have been
interesting - possibly humourous, as they were attending an opera supposedly
written  by the 'beggar' of the title.

VICTORIAN BALLADS. After the medley, we skip some hundred years (!) and
mention the efforts of Boosey to keep the genre alive (?) during the
Victorian era. We mention that Boosey edited & staged The Beggar's Opera
(with ballad singer Sims Reeves as Macheath), while also starting the
successful (London) Boosey Ballad Concerts, at St James's Hall, Regent
Street, 1867-1905, later (St James's being demolishing), at Queen's Hall
(now the St George's Hotel), 1905-1936.
We examine three types of (Victorian) [drawing-room, concert] ballads, our
source being D Scott's book, The Singing Bourgeois:
Religious (one for each Victorian decade):
The Lost Chord (Procter/Sullivan 1877), 'the most popular ballad of the
century', in the words of P Gammond.
The Better Land (Hemans/Cowen 1880)
The Holy City (Weatherly/Maybrick 1892).
Military: 
Old Brigade (Weatherly/Slater 1881)
Shipmates O'Mine (Teschemacher/Sanderson 1913)
(The MC mentions that the 'Old Brigade' was the source of all these military
ballads, and model of later ballads - with a middle section pondering death
- such as 'Deathless Army' (Weatherly/Trotter 1891) and 'The Trumpeter'
(Barron/Dix 1904).
Sentimental: Leanin' (Wright/Sterndale-Bennett, date unknown, in Boosey
Ballad Album II)
Bid me to live (Herrick/Hatton, date unknown, in Boosey Baritone Songbook)
Love's Old sweet song (Bingham/Molloy 1884, in Boosey Ballad Album. Possibly
the most famous of all the parlour ballads.

EDWARDIAN SENTIMENTAL BALLADS (from Boosey's Ballad Album, ed A Lamb)
('Passionate', rather than 'sentimental', would be a better title, though).
Pale hands I loved (Cory/Ward, 1903). Described as the most popular ballad
of all time (by S Fuller).
Thora (Weatherly/Maybrick, 1905), by the authors of The Holy City.
I hear you calling me (Lake/Marshall 1908).
Macushla (Rowe/Macdermough 1910) 
Until (Teschemacher/Sanderson, 1910).

EARLY GEORGIAN BALLADRY (Ballads of Sentiment by lady-soloists):
Smilin' thru (Penn)
Somewher a voice is calling (Newton/Tate 1911).
Little grey home in the west (Wilmott/Lohr 1911).
In an old fashioned house (Harris/Squire 1914)

GEORGIAN WAR-TIME BALLADS. 
Roses of Picardy (Weatherly/Wood 1916).
Homing (Salmon/Leadbitter 1917).
Bells of St Mary's (Furber/Emmett).
(We mention Weatherly/Coates's Green hills O' Somerset, 1916).

GEORGIAN AFTERMATH (only mentioned).
A brown bird singing (Bennett/Wood, 1922)
Birdsongs at eventide (Bennett/Coates, 1926).
FINALE: Lumps of Pudding (from Beggar's Opera).

As you see, a mixed bag. I would of course be very pleased to hear comments
from list-members of this distinguished mailing list, realising myself that
the mailing-list's focus is the TRADITIONAL ballad as such, rather than the
'drawing-room', 'royalty', 'shilling', 'Boosey' type (I haven't been able so
far to find a specialised mailing-list (or forum, club, society) where this
extended type of balladry (its lyricists, composers, ballad-singers) is
dealt with; thus links in that direction also most welcomed).

With many thanks for your attention, and very best wishes.

J L Speranza, 
Calle Arenales 2021, 
Recoleta CP 1124, 
Buenos Aires, Argentina
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