the unity gained by restatement. No better definition of Folk-
songs can be given than that of Parry in hisEvolution of the
Art of Musicwhere he calls them “the first essays made by man
in distributing his notes so as to express his feelings in terms
of design.” In folk-tunes this design has been dominated by the
metrical phraseology of the poetic stanzas with which they were
associated; for between the structure of melody and that of po-
etry there is always a close correspondence. In Folk-songs, there-
fore, we find a growing instinct for balanced musical expression
and, above all, an application of the principle of Restatement
after Contrast. The following example drawn from Irish Folk-
music[24]—which, for emotional depth, is justly considered the
finest in the world—will make the point clear.
[Music: THE FLIGHT OF THE EARLS]
[Footnote 23: The same statement is true of the Oriental na-
tions, the Arabians, Persians and Greeks, who are left out of the
enumeration only because their development in many respects
has been along different lines from ours. For suggestive specu-
lations as to early music among all nations seePrimitive Music
by Richard Wallaschek.]
[Footnote 24: For illuminating comments on the Folk-music
of all the English-speaking peoples see Chapter XII of Ernest
Walker’sHistory of Music in England. The famous Petrie col-
lection of Irish Folk-tunes should also be consulted.]
The statement is sometimes made that the principles of our
modern system of tonality and of modulation are derived from
Folk-music. This is only partially true, for pure Folk-songs al-
ways developed under the influence of the old medieval modes,
long before the establishment of our fixed major and minor
scales. Furthermore, as these were single unaccompanied melodies,
they showed slight connection with modulation or change of key
in the modern sense of the term—which implies a system of har-
monization in several voices. It is true that there was an instinc-
tive and growing recognition of the importance of the three chief
tonal centres: the Tonic or Keynote, the Dominant (a perfect
fifthabove) and the Subdominant (a perfect fifthbelow) and at
times the relative minor. All these changes are illustrated in
the melody just cited;e.g., in the fourth measure[25] there is
an implication of E minor, in measures seven and eight there
is a distinct modulation to D major, the Dominant, and in the