Further Reminiscences, 1864–1894

Abstract

Happily, at the present hour there are musicians of real freshness and merit among us who are diving into the old cisterns of Elizabethan and Stuart music, and of folk-music as well, for inspiration. The latter furnish them with a well-spring of purest melody, the former supply superb examples of harmony. Perhaps the first to lead the way of exploration was Sullivan. At the time when I was working on the folk-music of Devon and Cornwall, I spent days in the British Museum, examining the old published music there, as well as the printed garlands of words, to discover if possible the origin of the tunes and the ballads circulating among our people. One of the librarians told me: ‘Sullivan is often here, doing much the same as you. But he is searching for musical ideas, whereas you are in quest of relationships of melodies and words.’

Sabine Baring-Gould (1834–1924) was a prolific author of saints’ lives, folklore studies, novels and travel books. A vigorous champion of the Church of England, he is remembered most vividly, perhaps, for his authorship of ‘Onward, Christian Soldiers’. Among his many productions — all of which enjoyed a wide audience, though their scholarly deficiencies were regularly noted — were Songs and Ballads of Devon and Cornwall (1890) and Songs of the West (1905).