The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #7307   Message #2384209
Posted By: The Doctor
08-Jul-08 - 06:20 PM
Thread Name: HYMNS and Folk Tunes?
Subject: RE: HYMNS and Folk Tunes?
In The English Hymnal(1933) 44 tunes are listed as English Traditional Melodies, with a further 5 as English Traditional Carols and one specifically as an English Traditional May Day Carol. I've not so far identified all of them, and some have already been mentioned, but to add to the list there is East Horndon, set to the words 'I think when I read that sweet story of old' but named after the village where VW collected 'The Bold Fisherman', Capel to 'The church of God a kingdom is', collected by Lucy Broadwood from some gypsies who sang 'King Pharim sat a-musing', and Gosterwood to 'When spring unlocks the flowers', but originally to 'The brisk, young lively lad'. In another hymnbook was Holy Well, set to 'For thee, O dear, dear country', but found in its original form in The Oxford Book of Carols, and by the Copper Family set to 'Pleasant month of May'. 'O God of earth and altar' I have only ever sung to Kings Lynn, the subject of another thread, while 'Wir pflugen und wir streuen', the tune to 'We plough the fields and scatter', I have only ever seen by its German title, and said to be arranged from JAP Schulz. But it does go very well to John Barleycorn. Shirley Collins' 'Blacksmith', by the way, combines verses from that and 'Our Captain cried'.