Folk-music tends to associate itself with several lines of effort that in more highly developed conditions are quite distinct from music. Thus it is often mimetic or epic, suggesting incipient stages of the drama or of history. It is always related to rudimentary literature of every kind. It is apt to reflect vividly religious beliefs, superstitions and practices. It belongs to a grade of culture where the many modes of expression are not yet differentiated.
Folk-music has been more notable at certain times than at
others and among certain peoples. In the later Middle Ages
among such racial groups as the Kelts, the Teutons and some
others the interest in popular songs and dances was so widespread
that formal music was finally forced to reckon with it.
This mediæval influence became important as the 16th century
approached and continued potent long afterward.
The various branches of the Keltic stock have always been singularly
musical. This influence has been strong in France from the Troubadour
time, and to it is to be attributed some part of the French capacity for
gay, piquant and brilliant song and dance that has been notable since the
14th century. The Keltic genius is also evident in Wales, Ireland and
Scotland. Here the interference of formal styles has been so slight or so
long delayed that extensive literatures of folk-music have accumulated
and have been highly valued. Just what relation this has to the history
of English music is not clear, but that it has been a useful factor can
hardly be doubted.
Still more important is the gift for folk-music among the Germans. The healthy sturdiness of the ancient Teuton—virile, assertive, masterful, yet also tender, reflective and religious—continued for centuries to express itself in every sort of music with an earnestness and grace that have become proverbial. This was the soil in which the Minnesinger flourished. This gave character to the first German experiments with counterpoint. This determined the form of the music of the Reformation. Even now, in spite of the prevalence everywhere of more artistic forms, the peasantry in many parts of Germany and in Switzerland and the Tyrol continue to cherish songs and dances that are full of artless charm. The value of this to the general art of music cannot be computed. Again and again the standard types of melody, harmony and form have been modified by the impress of these humble styles.
Somewhat similar remarks might be made about the folk-music of Romance countries like Italy and Spain, or of the several Scandinavian countries, or of the vast regions where the Slavs have gradually pushed their way into the circle of modern civilization.
That which distinguishes all folk-music is its essential naïveté.
Its production is unconscious, unstudied, unfettered by rules.
Although particular specimens often acquire a precise and
