Christmas Carols and Their Stories
Puzzle 30 · Collectors and the Carol Revival · Page 48 in print
Cecil Sharp
In the introduction to English Folk-Carols (1911), Cecil Sharp told of one old singer coaxing another to stand up and think he had snow in his boots, and the carol would come. It did.
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The words
Adelaide
The Australian city where Sharp co-directed a college of music.
Tradfolk (opens a new tab) · A Cambridge Alumni Database (opens a new tab)
Appalachian
The American mountains where Sharp made four collecting trips.
Bitter Withy
A carol in Sharp’s English Folk-Carols (1911).
Charles Marson
The vicar of Hambridge, Sharp’s friend and host.
Clare College
Sharp’s Cambridge college, entered in 1879.
Hambridge
The Somerset village where Sharp collected his first folk song in 1903.
Hampstead
The London district where Sharp ran a conservatoire and later died.
Tradfolk (opens a new tab) · A Cambridge Alumni Database (opens a new tab)
Headington
The village near Oxford where Sharp saw the morris men on Boxing Day 1899.
John England
The vicarage gardener who sang Sharp The Seeds of Love.
Maud Karpeles
Sharp’s assistant and biographer.
Morris Men
The Headington Quarry dancers whose tunes Sharp noted.
Regent's Park
Regent’s Park Road, the address of Cecil Sharp House.
Seeds of Love
The Seeds of Love, the first folk song Sharp collected.
Somerset
The county where Sharp began collecting folk songs.
William Kimber
The Headington Quarry musician who played tunes for Sharp.
Sources
- Tradfolk, ‘Who was Cecil Sharp and why does everyone want to go to his house?’ by Jon Wilks (2022)tradfolk.co
- A Cambridge Alumni Database (Venn, Alumni Cantabrigienses), University of Cambridgevenn.lib.cam.ac.uk
- English folk-carols : with pianoforte accompaniment and an introduction and notes : Sharp, Cecil James, 1859-1924Cecil J. Sharp, English Folk-Carols (London: Novello; Taunton: Barnicott and Pearce, 1911); Internet Archive scan
- Cecil Sharp’s People (David Sutcliffe’s research site on Sharp’s singers, linked to VWML records), ‘England, John’cecilsharpspeople.org.uk