ABSTRACT
Music dictionaries publish long articles on musical folklore, but the very definition of this term is vague. The word “folklore” was invented a little over a hundred years ago by an English antiquarian, editor of a bibliographic magazine in London, whose name was W. J. Thoms. It actually means learning or knowledge, particularly when applied to an assembly of unclassified and unorganized information, such as relates to the customs and the manners of a tribe or a nation. The term “folklore” is now used in every language in the world, and it is sometimes confused with the lore not of a people but of individuals. Particularly in Europe and in Latin America, popular fairy tales or songs are classified as folklore, even if they were composed by a definite personality.
