New-York tribune., 1922-02-12
Uses to Which Folksongs
Have Been Put by Composers
Creation and Collection of the Melodies NJ 4. bv
the People; Ancient Rites and Children.
Games; New Book of Creole SONGS


afs.s.s DO upon their icons has brought
uo''gn' TO the world and given Russian
music an extraordinary influence. It
mas even made the critic wonder
"hether an excessive measure nc cr.s-
tive genius had been bestowed ,r.,, j..
people who less than one hundred year.
ago We're still dependent upon their
ne1ghbors for their culture in secu,ar
music. Their church music dates hscl
millennium, but it was not nn+;, ,..r
."e miooie OF the nineteenth century
.""' Verstoffsky and Glinks planted
'he seeds of national opera.
a New Collection
Of Creole Songs
However, it was not our crrroo.
""en we began writing to discuss Rus.
Sian music any further than to cal, at-
! ee"e'on TO some of the uses to which
russian folksongs have been put We
nave referred to their EMPLOYMENT in
opera, where, when they do not sunnl,,
inc meiodic material, they Gas In "Sne-
sourotchka') provide type for the in
vent'ons OF the composer. The extent
20 winch they have Influenced syn,-
phonlc composition has often h.cn
pointed out. A more ingenious usc NJ
'hem appears In such pieces AS Liadoff' $
arrangement of folksongs for orchestra
short pieces in which the melody
! appears in its integrity, but clothed
/ with Enthusiastically beautiful and
expressive harmonics and instrunen+a,
inVest't"rc Why has not something Of
'hls KIND been attempted with the
foiktunes which are native to America ?
Inc query occurred to US when we
opened pretty volume recently pub
lished by G. Schirmer, entitled Bayou
Ballads: Twelve Folk-Songs from
Louisiana. Texts and music collected
BY Nina Monroe. Edited with the COL
laboration OF Kurt Schindler." The
songs did not present themselves as
strangers. for We have known some of
them FOR forty years. But here Is an
interesting fact about them: they are
creole songs, and it was while We were
IN manner collaborating with George
". Cable, the tremendously popular
author of "Old Creole Days" that We
serc some creole tunes to John van
Rrockhoven in Cincinnati for use in
suite for orchestra which was to be
played at cele bration By the Music
Club. Mr.. Broelthoven wrote the suite,
and it was played in May. 1886. in Gin
cinnati and aftervard in other cities,
Mr. Theodore Thomas once putting it
on a program, we believe. Creole tunes
had been utilized by Gottschalk in some
pianoforte pieces, but Mr.. van Brock
hoven's suite. v'e believe, was the first
, experiment in an orchestral setting of
them. Since then they and Afro-Amer-
lean tunes have been set by Henry r.
Gilbert (whose ballet at the Metropoii-
tan Opera House, The Dance in Place
Congo was designed as concert
suite) and others. Mr.. Burleigh has
set number Of Afro American folk
songs for voice and pianoforte, but we
are still waiting for composer with
the skill oil LiadcT to give artistic
orchestral settings to some Of our ma
tive gems.
Mrs. Monroe prefaces her collection
with q short essay highly appreciative
of their value but not remarkable for
original thought. A considerable por-
ton Of it, indeed, is paraphrase Of OBJ
servations which she found in the book
whic., also includes some Of the songs
which she publishes. Some of these
songs ("Gardes la pitt Milztte-la," for
instance, which is "Michie Banjo" in
afro american Folksongs") have a
more natural structure in other colec-
tons. There is descriptive note, also,
for each song. A bit Of information
which probably will DC new to many
who read this is the statement that
"Old Boscoyo's Song" as it is called in
New Orleans ("Michie Preval'), is in
some way connected With "boscoyo,"
meaning "the protruding, krotty root
of cypress tree" We never knew
Why the song had its title, but had
imagined that somebody named Bos
coyo had something to do with the
origin or early popularity Of the satire
Mrs. Monroe also says that black
nurses sang the song when giving their
charges q bath. and that the refrain
"Bou djoum, bou-djoum" was the signal
for +ha r1vr 0a into tho tub