Folk song

A song carried by the people

A folk song is a popular, simple song in strophic form, sung among the people and shaped by their spirit and oral tradition. The German word “Volkslied” was coined by Johann Gottfried Herder in 1773, modelled on the English “popular song”. Typical hallmarks are easy singability, origin among the people and anonymity; text and melody can change as they are sung on. Often a folk song comes from an unknown author.

Four folk songs and a comparison

On the song sheets of the archive this is easy to see. Instead of a poet and a composer they carry the entries “Text: Volksgut” and “Melodie: Volksweise”. All the sheets are strophic songs: the melody is printed once, and the further stanzas follow as text beneath it. The table sets the four folk songs side by side with, for comparison, a song with named authors; of the sheets listed below the table, “Auf de schwäbsche Eisebahne” and its seven stanzas appear only in the table.

What stands out is how differently the sheets are built otherwise: two-four, three-four and four-four time, three keys, with and without an upbeat. The folk song is therefore not a time signature and not a key, but a genre. On the comparison sheet “Der Mond ist aufgegangen” the construction is the same, but the genre is given there as “Abendlied” and the authors are named.

Folk songs in the archive

• Ein Jäger aus Kurpfalz voice with chord symbols · text: “Volksgut”, tune: “Volksweise” (according to the sheet) · 1 page

  Below the title is “Volkslied”. The song is in 2/4 time and in F major (one ♭, ending on F with the chord symbol F). It begins with an eighth note as an upbeat and has 16 bars; the last bar fills only three eighth notes and so completes the upbeat. The first stanza is printed beneath the notes, stanzas 2 and 3 appear as text below it.

• Die Gedanken sind frei voice with chord symbols · text: “Volksgut”, with the note “Fassung Hoffmann v. Fallersleben” on the sheet; tune: “Volksweise” · 1 page

  Below the title is “Volkslied”. The time signature is 3/4, the key signature is empty and the song ends on C (chord symbol C). Two eighth notes form the upbeat. Four stanzas: the first beneath the notes, stanzas 2 to 4 as text below it.

• Es ist ein Schnee gefallen voice with chord symbols · text: “Volksgut”, tune: “Volksweise” (according to the sheet) · 1 page

  Below the title is “Volkslied”, followed by a date in parentheses. 4/4 time, one ♭, ending on F (chord symbol F), a quarter note as an upbeat. An instruction line says that the last two lines of each stanza are repeated; in the score the melody of bars 5 to 8 returns in bars 9 to 12 with a different ending.

For comparison: song with named authors

• Der Mond ist aufgegangen voice with chord symbols · text: Matthias Claudius, tune: Johann Abraham Peter Schulz (according to the sheet) · 1 page

  The sheet gives “Abendlied” as the genre, not “Volkslied”, and names poet and composer. Otherwise it is built like the other sheets: 4/4 time, one ♭, ending on F, a quarter note as an upbeat, one stanza beneath the notes, the others as text below it.

Common mistakes

• Taking every song with stanzas for a folk song: “Der Mond ist aufgegangen” is also a strophic song, but the sheet names poet and composer and gives the genre “Abendlied”.
• Singing only the stanza under the notes: The further stanzas appear as text beneath the staff and belong to the same melody.
• Counting the upbeat like a full bar: It completes the shortened final bar.