Of all European countries, Germany probably has the greatest number and variety of gond folk-songs. Many collections of them have been printed, a list of which may he found in Engel's The Literature of National Husk. (London, 1879), a valuable guide for the student of this subject. As folk-music is anonymous, and not copyrighted, and as it frequently undergoes slight changes, it is not surprising that few of the old German tunes have come down to us unaltered. They were affected by contact with art-music, tvhich gradually wore off their rough edges and polished them: and since Germany has set the standard in modern music, it is easy to under stand why its folk-songs should, for these rea sons, seem normal to us—that is, deficient in those exotic traits which characterize the popu la• music of such countries as Russia, Seandi navia, and 111111g:try. Italy and Ira TIN! are in this matter in the saute position as is Germany, because they, too, have helped to lix the modern musical standard. That 41003 make their folk-songs any less admirable, but it prevents them from exercising so striking an iffilu•nee on the ;Ill.-mushc of our time. Italy, the 'land of song,' has, strange to say, contributed little great value to the world's stock of authentic folk music. There were, of course, in the olden times, plenty of ballate, Trot '01,, and other kinds of folk-ninsie; nor is there a lack of col lections of what purport to be Italian folk.songs, Neapolitan, Sicilian, Venetian, and so on but in most eases it is impossible to tell whether these melodies were really invented by the people in true folk-music fashion, or whether they were taken from the thousands of operatic scores which have practically monopolized the musical interest of the Italians ever sinee the beginning of the seventeenth century. The best songs in Petrucci's collection, published in 1503, are taken from German, French, and other sources, and there is reason for the assertion made by Mrs. Wodehouse that "Italian musicians field the popular songs of other countries in higher esti mation than their own." So far as Italian songs have harmonic accompaniments, they are apt to be simple and commonplace, avoiding modulation; and the songs are more interesting melodically than rhythmically. • in French folk-music also no great attention is paid to harmony or accompaniment, but rhythmic variety and piquancy constitute a striking trait, and the words are apt to govern the tune, instead of vice versa, as in Italy. Among the French airs, chansons, chants, and romances there is plentiful variety of subject; many are witty, and political songs are popular. There are also brunet(es, addressed to young girls, and other tender songs; but French folk music seldom is so soulful and romantic in its yearnings as the Gorman, or so poignant in the expression of grief as the Russian or Scandi navian, in the neighboring country of Spain folk-music has much more of an exotic character than in France, Italy, or Germany; nor is this surprising, since in that emintry, especially in Andalusia. the Moorish influence makes itself strongly felt. This is shown in the predominant use of song as an accompaniment to dancing; in quaintly Oriental melodic intervals; in the abun dance of ornaments; and in the simultaneous use of several rhythms. But whether Oriental or purely Spanish, there is an ineffable charm in the national music of the Spanish people—the lotus, holcros, fandangos, scpuiflillas, inaluguenus, etc. Bizet caught some of the charm of this music in his Carmen: and some day, if Spain ever gives birth to a Liszt, a Dvol'ilk, or a Grieg, marvels of novel musical beauty may be expected.
While England has long been reputed an un musical country—chielly for the reason that. like Spain, it has never produced a composer of the first rank—there was a time when the people of that country were as musical as those of any other part of Europe, so far, at least, as the en joyment and practice of music are concerned. There were always hands and who were richly rewarded for their services, and in the dim past every man was apparently expected to be able to sing and accompany himself on the harp. What is most surprising about English music, both popular and professional, is that there is so little about it that is characteristically national. This is particularly true regarding instrumental music (of which all. Continental
nations have such abundant variety) and folk song. It is only in concerted vocal music, the madrigal, and the glee, that we find a national flavor. The ballad is, indeed, also very much favored in England; the Beggar's Opera, with its sixty-nine popular ballads and dance tunes, struck the keynote of English taste; yet, in most instances, the words of the English ballads have infinitely more merit and national character than the music. In Wales, Ireland, and Scotland, on the other hand, the popular music not only has a strong national flavor, but it is almost as exotic as that of the border lands of the Euro pean Continent. The charms of Irish folk melodies have been made known to thousands by the association of a number of them with Moore's poems, and in more recent times through the collection made by Villiers Stanford, who also w rote an opera, Shamus O'Brien, full of quaint musical Hibcrnicisms.
Of Scotland's folk-music there are almost as many collections as of Germany's, and they in clude many gems of the first water. The bag pipe is typical of Scotch folk-music; it is not, as many suppose, an instrument on a level with the barrel organ, but has a great fascination for .educated musicians, with its persistent drone and queer melodic intervals. Scotch music has a characteristic which it shares with the Chinese— pentatonic (or five-tone) scale which omits the fourth and seventh tones of the ordinary diatonic scale; it can be amusingly imitated by playing only on the black keys of a piano. Scotch music also has a good deal in common with the folk-music of Scandinavia, especially Norway. The Norwegian, Grieg, was partly of Scotch descent, and so is his music. Grieg did not, as so many writers have erroneously stated, habitu ally incorporate Norwegian folk-melodies in his compositions. What he did was to write in the style and spirit of Norwegian folk-musie. This music shares the rugged, gloomy characteristics of Norwegian scenery and climate; it indulges in frequent capricious changes of rhythm and tempo, occasioned by the close alliance between the words and music; it evinces a preference for the minor mode; its tonality is often uncertain; and its melodic intervals are strange to our ears.
Similar traits are noted in the national melo dies of Russia, which, according to Rubinstein, are equaled in charm only by those of Sweden and Norway. while CC;sar Cui claims for Russia supremacy over all countries. The typical Rus sian folk-song is of limited compass, and this is probably to the primitive instru ments of the lute and violin families long in use. The prevailing mood of these songs is melaneholy, but some of them are characterized by a wanton excess of animal spirits. Florid passages on one syllable occur, and the harmonies are apt to he ImId and harsh. Liszt's ultra-modern discords had no terrors for the Russian composers hnnight up on such food. Bohemian tunsie is remarkable for its varied rhythms and great diversity of dances. Polish folk-music is chiefly hist ru mental; its general traits are well known, owing to the wide diffusion of the works of Chopin, in which (especially the mazurkas) they are ad mirably reflected. The tempo rube to, or ca pricious and frequent change of time, is also an essential trait of Hungarian music. although its use in the mazurka differs widely from its application to the Gypsy csArdas (q.v.). Hun garian music has a scale of its own, with an augmented fourth that intensifies its melancholy. It is usually highly ornamented, and these orna ments were supplied by the Gypsies, while the melodies themselves are of Magyar origin. All these things go back to a remote antiquity. Folk music is never the growth of a few centuries; it requires ages and isolation, and this is why the New World, cosmopolitan America, has none.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. The best series of articles on Bibliography. The best series of articles on folk-mnsie are those by Krehbiel which appeared in the New York Sunday Tribune for July, August, September, and October, 1899. Con sult also: Finck, Songs and Song Writers (New York, 1900) ; Parry, The Erolution of the Art of Music (New York, 1S96) ; Wallaschek, Primi tive Music (New York. 1893) ; Engel, An Intro duction to the Study of National Music (London, 1880) ; and Leland and Prince, Popular Songs of the Algonquins (Ne• York, 1902).