Sound Files

A small number of ballads have music notation. Where this is present and musically coherent a sound file (MIDI file) has been added which plays the notation. The frequent minor errors in the notation (e.g. missing dots for dotted notes) have been silently corrected; more major errors or inconsistencies in the notation are rendered as given. All items have been recorded at = 96.

In the database, sound files are indicated by . Some examples are given below, with the date and shelfmark of the sheet in which they appear.

An excellent ballad upon a wedding [1698] G. Pamph. 2226(9) and Vet. A3 c.10(13)

The virtuous country lass [no date; probably eighteenth century] MS. Ballard 47(f. 114)

The Oxford ramble [no date; probably eighteenth century] Firth b.28(42a)

The Oxfordshire match [17--] Antiq. c. E.9(109)

Duke upon duke, an excellent new play-house ballad [1720] Pamph. 357(11)

The Infallible doctor [c. 1720] Firth c.15(51)
One of the earliest examples of the quack doctor's patter, and the only one known to give a tune.

John Blunt 1785 Douce Prints S 9(p. 208)
This is a song still well-known today as 'Get up and bar the door'.

Doctor Jeremy Snob 1798 Harding B 38(11)

Dicky Gossip's visit to Wakefield [no date but early 19th century] Harding B 2(55)
An early example of the kind of song which was to develop into the music-hall repertoire later in the century.

Easter anthem [c.1840 ] Harding B 45(4)
This is the hymn Jesus Christ is risen today, on a profusely illustrated sheet typical of the 'improving' popular literature of the nineteenth century.

The land song (Marching song for land reformers) (to the tune of Marching through Georgia) [c. 1900] Johnson Ballads 1295b
The land song (to the tune of Marching through Georgia) [c. 1910] Johnson Ballads 1294
These two sheets, from similar sources, illustrate the use of well-known tunes for political ends. The second of them is the only example in the collections of the use of sol-fa rather than staff notation.

© Bodleian Library 2000, M. Heaney/T. Lipinski