The Rover, The Ragman and The Landlord

scored for 3 Bb trumpets, 4 F horns, 3 trombones, tuba

Folk melodies and their accompanying lyrics have been passed down through countless generations by aural tradition. Composers of all nationalities have mined this rich melodic seam, whether for patriotic reasons or on account of a melody's inherent beauty or for the possibilities it offers in terms of harmony and thematic development.

The ancient folk music tradition faltered somewhat, certainly in the British Isles, with the advent of the Music Hall, when the hoary old songs and those who sang them began to be sidelined at village social gatherings by the newly written ballads and their performers. Fortunately, many of the old melodies and the history they enshrine have been preserved, both on manuscript and magnetic tape, by collectors who realised their value.

As I Roved Out

There are many songs with this or similar titles and with many regional variations. The out-rovings usually involve a meeting with a maid or a lover. The version that begins this arrangement eventually gets displaced by a version more familiar to me which used to introduce the early morning farming programme on the BBC Home Service.

( A Trav'llin' ) Candyman

This tune was sung to me in a Geordie accent by my grandmother when I was a small child and, though there are songs of a similar title, I have not been able to find anything like the version she sang. A 'candyman' was an alternative name for a 'rag and bone man', who would drive his horse-drawn cart through the streets, ringing a hand-bell and shouting "rag-a-bone!". They were the pioneers of our modern recycling process, and would take old clothes, scrap metal and just about anything else. The original theme is quite jaunty, but in this treatment is much more reflective. The second section of this movement uses an inversion of the original theme, which suggests new harmonies.

When Jones's Ale Was New

This is a typical agricultural labourers' drinking song, the words of which extol the joy of a pint or two at The Barley Mow when the day's work is done. The lyrics of the original verses introduce and describe various different customers, the last one dealing with the landlord himself. Discovering a time signature of 6/8, the horns are soon off frightening foxes with their hunting calls, which sometimes punctuate the stanzas of the folk tune.