‘Peace o’er the World’: Village Carolling in the Hope Valley of Derbyshire
2022; Routledge; Volume: 133; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/0015587x.2022.2130617
ISSN1469-8315
Autores Tópico(s)Theater, Performance, and Music History
ResumoAbstractThe current traditions of Christmas carolling in the Derbyshire Peak District were well established by the end of the eighteenth century. The main centre of activity was and is the Hope Valley with its several settlements based on upland farming, small-scale industries, quarrying, and mineral extraction. These communities nurtured distinctive repertoires of local carols over two centuries and through into the twenty-first century. The research into this phenomenon draws on ethnographic fieldwork undertaken during the past fifty years and aims to understand it in terms of historical development, social context, performance dynamics, musical characteristics, and individual participation.View correction statement:Correction Supplemental MaterialSupplemental material for this article is available at doi: 10.1080/0015587X.2022.2130617Notes1 Alexander Pope, ‘Messiah’, Spectator, 14 May 1712, lines 19–40. See ‘Let peace her olive wand extend’, ‘Hymn III’ in Nativity of Christ, with Hymns for Christmas, Pitts of Seven Dials [c.1830], K. S. Goldstein Collection, in Archives and Special Collections at the University of Mississippi Libraries, Broadside Ballads: England, 1368, https://egrove.olemiss.edu/kgbsides_uk/1368; see also ‘Let peace her olive-wand extend’, no. 2, in A Hymn for Christ-Day, R. and W. Dean, 81 Lower Hillgate, Stockport [c.1805], Bod11890, Bodleian Broadside Ballads Online, Roud V7175, http://ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/static/images/sheets/05000/02504.gif.2 There are several indicators for this statement. For instance, John Hall of Sheffield Park, the composer, wrote the melodies for several carols sung in the Peak District which date from the 1760s or earlier.3 The Hope Valley is not defined here as a clear-cut geographical entity but rather a socio-cultural grouping that encompasses communities that identify with the valley. Thus, Sparrowpit is included because it belongs to the Methodist circuit centred on Castleton and Hope.4 Joanna and Peter Mackey have researched and revived the Bamford carols (Mackey and Mackey Citation2004; Sing Another! Citation2018). Ray Whitely and the late Mick Hibbs have spearheaded local carolling in the Grindleford district, largely based on the tradition practised in the north-west of Sheffield.5 In most cases, confusingly, published arrangements have harmonization added by editors, arrangers, and compilers, in line with modern four-part choral conventions. See, for example, Bramley and Stainer (Citation1871).6 All my audio and video recordings, photographs, manuscripts, and printed documents, dating from 1969, connected with the local carol-singing traditions are deposited in the Archives of Village Carols in Aberdeen.7 The line opened for freight in 1893 and the passenger service opened in the following year. See ‘Dore and Totley Tunnel’, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totley_Tunnel; and Paul Salveson, ‘Hope Valley Line, The: Through the Heart of the Peak’, Today’s Railways UK 121, http://hopevalleyrailway.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/121HopeValley.pdf.8 The Westminster Assembly of Divines directed in 1644 that the minister or clerk read aloud each line of the psalms before it is sung.9 Victoria & Albert Museum, FA.222[O], https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O18124/a-village-choir-oil-painting-webster-thomas-ra/.10 References to these church bands are given in the booklets accompanying the following recordings: Bells of Paradise, pp. 41–42; and Peace o’er the World, pp. 27–29.11 In Ecclesfield near Sheffield, the band of instrumentalists was dismissed from their duties in church in 1826. Some sixty years later one of the two carol parties active in the village called themselves the Church Band, although they had no official connection with the parish church. Rather, the members chose to associate themselves with their erstwhile colleagues and their choice of music. See A Song for the Time, booklet, pp. 22–23.12 Bodleian Libraries, Bod18411, http://ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/static/images/sheets/05000/00732.gif.13 These terms were used by Albert and Bernard Broadhead, who sang carols at Lodge Moor. See Russell (Citation1977, 1: 119).14 For audio recordings of these two carols, see The Bells of Paradise (Citation1990) and English Village Carols (Citation1999) under Musical Recordings.15 In Thorpe Hesley near Rotherham the coalminers at Barley Hall Colliery stayed underground after the last shift on Christmas Eve to sing their local carols (Russell Citation1995, 161).16 Ralph Vaughan Williams, ‘Derbyshire Carols’, British Library, Add. MS 54189, ff. 100–103.17 The song was written by Henry Clay Work in 1876.18 Brightmore-Maltby MS, c.1820, Tideswell, Derbyshire, Village Carols Archive MS101.1.1-2.19 See the booklet accompanying the CD/tape On This Delightful Morn, p. 36. Here, records of payments at Christmas made by a wealthy farmer (William Wyatt) to the ‘Foolow Methodist Singers’ are recorded from 1849 to 1856. See Bagshawe Collection, 558 and 3412, Sheffield Archives.20 Gillian Armitt, daughter of Brian Armitt and parish administrator at Eyam Parish Centre, confirmed this date.21 The original, formerly owned by Clarence and Cecily Daniel, is in Eyam Museum.22 The eight carols are: ‘Peace o’er the World’ (all villages), ‘Sons of Men’ (Castleton), ‘Joy to the World’ (Foolow), ‘Hail Delightful Sacred Morn’ (Eyam), ‘Victorious Love’ (Eyam), ‘On the Dew Besprinkled Lawn’ (Dore), ‘Awake my Harp’ (Dore), and ‘Let Sorrow and Darkness’ (Dore).23 See Eyam Village website: https://www.eyamvillage.org.uk/history.24 Mrs Pat Robinson’s grandfather, Percy Willis, was the bandmaster before the Second World War (interview, 8 January 1998).25 I have written extensively on the performance dynamics of Christmas carollers (see Russell Citation2017).26 Bill Brookes, interviewed 11 January 1986.27 See, for example, https://www.choraegus.com/learn/choral-diction/.28 Editha Taylor, interviewed 14 December 1985.29 Joseph Bown, interviewed 4 January 1986 (original emphasis).30 Bella Hardy has promoted the carols of the Peak District in Edale. See Folk on Foot podcast, ‘Bonus Xmas Episode’, with Jon Boden, Bella Hardy, and The Melrose Quartet, hosted by Matthew Bannister, 12 December 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWR19Q17o0c.31 See ‘Festival of Village Carols’, https://www.facebook.com/villagecarols/ and ‘Village Carols’, http://www.villagecarols.org.uk/.32 See, for example, the Fishpond Choir (https://www.fishpondchoir.com/About), the Baslow Choir (https://baslowchoir.co.uk/), and the locally based Garden Singers. All three include carols from the Hope Valley in their repertoires.33 A website that provides extensive data is Village Carols: http://www.villagecarols.org.uk/. Local Carols provides a listing or diary of events in South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire: http://www.localcarols.org.uk/.Additional informationNotes on contributorsIan RussellIan Russell MBE, emeritus professor, was former Director of the Elphinstone Institute (1999–2014), University of Aberdeen, Scotland. His current research is focused on the traditional culture of Northeast Scotland, including singing, instrumental traditions, and festivalization. Since 1969 he has conducted extensive fieldwork into singing traditions in the English Pennines and has published widely. He is Director of the Festival of Village Carols and President of the North Atlantic Fiddle Convention.
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