Scan 199
The American history and encyclopedia of music, 1908
10 lines. Read by computer on 11 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1of the popular celebration in song of the victory of Clotaire over the Saxons in 622 A. D.
3Naturally, the early songs were very primitive. There were the narrative songs of the bards, love-songs, dance-songs, drinking-songs, lullabies, religious and patriotic songs but of these the narrative songs were the most popular. Back in those early days, the folk-song was practically the only chronicle of the doings of the time and they well illustrate the spirit of the age.
5Of the vast multitude of songs which have come into existence through the years, very few are now the property of the "folk" themselves, Brittany being the only part of France in which they are still to be heard. The French people seem to have lost the spirit of popular song, differing in this from their German neighbors. Of the songs which we have, the majority are in the major, and in sextuple time, showing a generally cheerful disposition in the people who gave them birth. The songs of southern France are occasionally tinged with melancholy though, as a general rule, the spirit is blithe and gay.
7From the time of Charlemagne until the Revolution, the kings and nobles of France faithfully guarded the interests of music. Charlemagne himself performed an important work when he implanted the so-called Gregorian song in every church and school of his dominion. In later times, when the nobility had broken away from the church, their influence still is seen reflected in the art of the troubadours. The encouragement which the Bourbons showed to the opera was also a vital factor in the development of the art.
9The early history of music in all countries is always much the same. But as years go by, national spirit begins to show. In France the earliest type of popular singer was the jongleur. He would go from castle to castle and from village to village, singing his songs and possibly accompanying himself with the lute or violin. The songs dealt with the life of the times; war, romances, religious and epic subjects, and songs with a moral. The "Chansons de Geste," or
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