ABSTRACT
The arranged folksong, given new life by composers of contemporary repute and marketed as such, is one of the few branches of music that seem to have originated in Britain. One of the most important people in the British folksong movement was Cecil Sharp, who was born exactly 44 years before Britten – on 22 November 1859. In placing 'The Salley Gardens' at the beginning of this selection Britten begins with a crossover piece – half folksong, half art song. George Thomson was a puritanical bowdleriser, but he was no folksong purist; he was mainly concerned with the music's melodic and harmonic charm. Britten's second volume of folksongs was devoted to French settings. Britten's folksong settings have often been compared to Grainger's. It was certainly his admiration for the Grainger arrangements that gave Britten the confidence to make settings of his own, but the two men could not have approached this hallowed subject more differently.
