Folksong is defined as song which has grown up amongst the peasantry of any race, transmitted orally from generation to generation and sung without accompaniment.
The songs are always verse-repeating, that is, the same tune is used for every stanza. Often the tunes are not in the modern scales but in older modes. Frequently words and music were not created together but adapted to each other, so that the same tunes recur with different words. Equally, songs occur in different versions between which the words may vary widely.
The term folksong covers a broad range of material transmitted in the oral tradition. It includes worksongs, sung to lighten labour, sea-chanties, sung by sailors, and even lullabies.
The idiom of a folksong usually expresses racial characteristics which identify its source. In primitive and nomadic societies it often serves to preserve the history and identity of the tribe or group; its rhythms and rhymes making it easy to remember and transmit.
In the mid-nineteenth century interest developed in the collection of folk material as a reaction to the growth of industrial and urban living in Europe. This coincided with the Romantic movement's preoccupation with all that was considered natural and individual. As a result, much European material which might have been lost was preserved by collectors and academics. Whether or not this preservation amounts to petrifaction is a matter of opinion.
Composers from Rosseter and Dowland, to Haydn, Beethoven, Grieg and Britten have been inspired by folksongs and used their melodies and idioms in their works. Classically-trained singers have also been known to perform folksongs, with and without success. The simplicity, clarity and lack of pretension required is exemplified in the recordings of Kathleen Ferrier.
In many societies throughout the world folksongs can still be heard as part of a living tradition, now largely lost in the West.
