OF ENGLISH BALLADS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 12, 5 April 1927, Page 13

OF ENGLISH BALLADS

ROTARIAN’S ADDRESS The rise and fall of the English ballad was the substance of an interesting address given by Professor J. C. Sperrin-Johnson at yesterday’s Rotary Club luncheon. The speaker said that of all the diversions off art, jnnsic was the last to be cultivated as a highly-technical and individual study. In the dawn of civilisation when men consented to lay down their weapons and talk, music became a to legends. From the 12 th to 15 th centuries all amusements were taken in a communal way and the upper and lower classes were not so sharply differentiated. After the 15th century, when melody was instituted and harmony began there rose the academic type of music which was directly opposed to popular type. “Ballad-making was a mania in the 15th and early 16th centuries,” said the professor, “and it was shared by everyone from kings downward. But the ballads appreciated in quality, and in public regard until in the early Victorian era, ballad-singers were looked on as the very lowest type of people.” Portions of the romantic ballads of the 16th century and of lachrymose ditties of later dates were read by the professor, who was accorded a vote of thanks. Rotarian W. Coltman held the bellstriker.