RVW collected folk songs and used them in his work. Those folksongs are available as he collected and transcribed them. Likely someone has done scholarly work that compares his works to the material he collected. If one had the object of playing "E trad" music, the collected folksongs, rather than the composed works, would be the more suitable source.

The hymns that he edited and arranged cannot reliably be considered English folksongs. In the Introduction to The English Hymnal, Mr. Williams enumerates his sources:

The following classification shows the chief sources from which the tunes come:--

A. GERMAN.--(1) Lutheran chorale tunes 16th and 17th centuries. (2) Tunes from the 16th and 17th century Catholic song books (chiefly Leisentritt's, 1567, and the Andernach Gesangbuch, 1608). (3) Tunes of the 18th century, chiefly by Bach and Freylinghausen. (4) Modern German tunes. (5) German traditional melodies.

B. FRENCH AND SWISS.--(1) Tunes from the Genevan Psalters of the 16th century. (2) Ecclesiastical melodies from the paroissiens of various French uses (chiefly those of Rouen and Angers). (3) French and Swiss traditional melodies.

C. ITALIAN, SPANISH, FLEMISH, DUTCH.--Ecclesiastical, traditional, and other melodies from these countries are also included.

D. AMERICAN.--Among American tunes may be mentioned Lowell Mason's tunes, certain tunes from 'Sacred Songs and Solos' and a few 'Western melodies' in use in America as hymn tunes.

E. BRITISH ISLES.--I. Ireland. (1) Irish traditional melodies. (2) Tunes by Irish composers.

II. Scotland. (1) Melodies from the Scottish Psalters of the 16th and 17th centuries. (2) Melodies from the Scottish tune-books of ihe 18th and 19th centuries. (3) Scottish traditional melodies.

III. Wales. (1) Archdeacon Prys' Psalter, which contains the. famous tune 'St. Mary'. (2) Welsh traditional melodies. (3) Tunes by 18th and 19th century Welsh composers, which partake decidedly of the nature of their traditional melodies.

IV. England. (1) Tunes from Day's, Damon's, Este's, Ravenscroft's, and Playford's Psalters of the 16th and 17th centuries (the original versions of these, with the melody in the tenor, are occasionally included as alternatives to the modern version). (2) Tunes by Tallis, Gibbons, Lawes, &c., from their own collections. (3) Tunes from 18th century books--especially those by J. Clark and Dr. Croft. (4) English carol, and other traditional melodies. (5) Tunes by 19th and 20th century composers.

R. Vaughan Williams