Thomas d urfey biography of mahatma

I’m not the martial type and have no temperament, time nor tolerance for militarism as a political creed, but one of my favourite folk music records is a , long out of print vinyl album called Songs and Music of the Redcoats. Never re-issued on CD, it is hard to find &#; but English folksinger Martyn Wyndham-Read kindly sent me a copy a decade or two ago. Its sequel, The Valiant Sailor: Songs & Ballads of Nelson&#;s Navy, followed in

The songs range from the English Civil War to the Boer War, in which the red coat was replaced by khaki, and all the wars between. The War of the Spanish Succession, the Seven Years War (in America, the French and Indian War), the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary War, the Crimean and Afghan Wars, the Indian Mutiny, the Sudan wars, and the South African War. Standouts for me are The Girl I Left Behind Me,  which dates back to ,  The British Soldier, with its ominous line, “we marched into Kabul and we took the Balar Hizar”, Soldiers of the Queen, which enjoyed immense popularity during the South African War, and in latter days, in the film Breaker Morant, and Stand to Your Glasses Steady, a memento mori of the prevalence of death, most often from disease, in the service of the East India Company. The featured image is from Stanley Kubrick&#;s film Barry Lyndon, set during the Seven Years War.

But my favourite was Over the Hills and Far Away.

Then let us list and march, I say …

This traditional English marching song has been around for four centuries, probably originating during the War of the Spanish Succession. It was published in Thomas D&#;Urfey&#;s Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy in and appeared in The Recruiting Officer in , a comedy by George Farquhar, and in John Gay&#;s The Beggar&#;s Opera in The lyrics refer to the War of the Spanish Succession (), the Duke of Marlborough, and Queen Anne of England ( ).

It recalls a time when poor men joined the

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MAN AND HIS MUSIC THE STORY OF MUSICAL EXPERIENCE IN THE WEST

ALEC HARMAN with Anthony Milner WILFRID MELLERS

BARRiE &. JENKINS LONDON

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First published in 4 parts in by Barrie & RockliiTLtd First published in a revised, single-volume edition in by Barrie & Jenkins Ltd Westbourne Grove, London W11 2QA Reprinted in , , , , ; new edition Copyright © Alec Harman, Wilfrid Meilers and Anthony Milner , A// rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electrical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Harman, Alec, rgiy — Man and his music: the story of musical experience in the West. - Rev. ed. 1. Western music, to I. Title II. Milner, Anthony HI. Meilers, Wilfrid ' .9 ISBN o X Printed and bound in Great Britain by Anchor Brendon Ltd, Tiptree, Essex

CONTENTS

Preface to parts I and II

xi PART I

MEDIAEVAL AND EARLY RENAISSANCE MUSIC f up to c. ) Music in the early Church: Christian chant Music in the early Church: the beginnings of part music Music outside the Church: solo song and dance music The all-embracing style of the thirteenth century The new art Music in the early Renaissance

i 40 74 95

PART II

LATE RENAISSANCE AND BAROQUE MUSIC ( c. c. ) The late Renaissance: secular music The late Renaissance: sacred music—instrumental music The Baroque: music for the stage: I The Baroque: music for the stage: II The Baroque: music in church, hall and home The Baroque: instrumental music



Preface to parts III and IV

PART III

THE SONATA PRINCIPLE (fromc. ) , I. TRADITION AND REVOLUTION

The birth of sonata Haydn Mozart: music for home and church V

•

¿81

vi 4 5 6

Contents Beethoven Schubert Bruckner, Brahms and Mahler

Traditional song

"King John and the Bishop" is an English folk-song dating back at least to the 16th century. It is catalogued in Child Ballads as number 45 and Roud Folk Song Index

It tells how King John, covetous of the bishop of Canterbury's wealth, compels him on pain of death to answer three impossible questions. The bishop's shepherd appears in disguise to substitute in his place, and answers the questions cleverly in riddle fashion, after which the appeased king rewards the shepherd and spares the bishop. Like the ballad, historical King John had a reputation of confiscating property from the clergy.

The ballad is classified as Aarne-Thompson folktale type "AT " of the shepherd substituting for the priest to answer the king's questions (For analogues, see Parallels below). Analogues are widespread, some of them being literary works dating to medieval times.

Synopsis

King John in the opening lines is described as a man who did much wrong and did little to uphold what was right. Enraged that the bishop (variant B, the abbot) of Canterbury maintained a household with many servants and riches paid by comfortable income, the king summons him to court, accuses him of treason, threatening him with beheading and the confiscation of income afterwards, unless the cleric can correctly answer three questions:

• How long does it take to travel the whole world?
• How much money am I worth?
• What am I thinking?

The king sends the bishop off, allowing a thinking period of twenty days (B, three days). The distressed bishop returns to his shepherd (who in A is his own half-brother), and confides his dilemma. The shepherd says, "Lend me your clothes, I will deliver the correct answers for you". The disguised shepherd then meets King John. His answers are:

• A twenty-four-hour day. If you rise in the morning and follow the sun's movement the whole day long, until you wait for