Examples of 'Cumbrian' folk melodies, including scores

peter-relph
4 days ago
3 min read

Ullswater, marked public domain, sourced here.

Throughout my compositional life I have consistently listed folk music from my home in the Lake District as a key inspiration for my compositions. I've never really defined what I mean by this, so I thought it might be useful to share a small list of melodies as exemplars of the tradition.

'Cumbrian' folk music is a rather nebulous genre: the music from this area can (and should) be considered part of a wider folk music tradition; sharing much particularly with Northumberland and the Scottish Borders (Cumbria itself didn't exist in it's modern form until the late 20th century).

Melodies

A relatively small number of folk music melody manuscripts collated in Cumbria or containing 'Cumbrian' melodies have survived to the present day.

Due to the fact that most of the melodies in these collections are anonymous, it is almost impossible to know with precision their origin or writer. It is, however, possible to infer either a Cumbrian composer or influence from the title of the melody in a few cases (using Cumbrian place names, notable local people, or groups, for example). I have listed a selection of these below complete with transcribed scores, notes and links to view the original manuscripts: click the arrow to see the score.

Alstone Slow March

Source: From the Harrison Manuscript, Score sourced here

Composer: Mr B Hodgson - unusually this melody has a named composer.

Notes: Alston (spelled Alstone in the source material) is a small market town in Eastern Cumbria. Structurally, this is similar to many others on this list with two repeating musical sections.

Canny Cummerlin

Score: From the Rook Manuscript, Score sourced here

Notes: Canny (shrewd), Cummerlin (Cumberland). This melody, like many others, features modal shifts.

Ennerdale Bridge

Score: From the Rook Manuscript, Score sourced here

Notes: Ennerdale Bridge is a village in Western Cumbria. Whilst marked as 6/8 in the original manuscript (copied here), it has an unusual variable meter.

East Curthwaite

Score: From the Rook Manuscript, Score sourced here

Notes: East Curthwaite is a village located South-West of Carlisle.

John Peel

Score: From the Rook Manuscript, Score sourced here

Composer: Noted in the score as 'from memory'.

Notes: John Peel was a notable figure in Cumbria in the 19th century. This melody is really an adapted Cumbrian variation of a Scottish tune 'Where wad Bonnie Annie Lie?'. The better known melody would be later composed by William Metcalfe.

Keswick Jigg

Score: From the Rook Manuscript, Score sourced here

Notes: Keswick is a town in the Northern Lake District. The final two quavers in bar five have been copied as in the original score, but it may be a copying mistake on the copyist's part - all other phrases end with two crotchets. This is one of the longer melodies in this list, with four repeating phrases rather than the more usual two.

Kendal Lilt

Score: From the Rook Manuscript, Score sourced here

Notes: Kendal is a market town in the South of Cumbria.

Kendal Gills

Score: From the Rook Manuscript, Score sourced here

Notes: Kendal is a market town in the South of Cumbria. Note the introduction of triplets in the final section adding an increased rhythmical complexity.