In order to distinguish between Folk-songs and songs like those of Schubert and Schumann, musicians call the latter "Art" songs. The folk-song is a naïve product, springing almost unconsciously from the hearts of simple people, and not intended to convey any such definite expression of the meaning of the words as is conveyed in modern songs. While there are specimens[2] of the art song that closely approach the simplicity and beauty of the folk-song, the art song in general is not only of wider range and of wider application to men's thoughts and feelings, but it also has, as an integral part of it, an accompaniment of which the folk-song, in its pure state, is entirely devoid.
A further distinguishing characteristic of the folk-song is that it is often composed in one of the old ecclesiastical "modes."
These modes were old forms of the scale that existed before our modern harmonic system came into use. The following English folk-song, called "Salisbury Plain," is in the "Aeolian" mode.
This song is written in the scale represented by the white keys of a pianoforte beginning on A, and the peculiarly quaint effect of it is due to the unusual intervals of that scale as compared with our common scale forms. There are various modes[3] called "Phrygian," "Dorian," etc., each having its own peculiar quality. This quaintness and characteristic quality to be observed in modal folk-songs almost entirely disappears when an accompaniment of modern harmony is added, as is often done.
Folk-songs occupied a much more important place in the lives of the people who used them than is commonly supposed. When we consider that at the time the earliest of them were written few people could read or write, that books were printed in Latin, and that there were no newspapers, railways, or telegraphs, we can understand how large a part these old songs played in the scheme of life. The strolling singer was the newspaper of the time. Furthermore, the general illiteracy of the people made of the folk-song a natural vent for their feelings. With a limited vocabulary at their disposal, it was natural that they should use the song as a medium of expression for their joys and sorrows. Gesture was also part of their language, and in a modified way, as a means of expression, may be said to have performed something of the function of song. Many of the oldest melodies existed as an adjunct to dancing and religious ceremonials, and were, therefore, to some extent utilitarian. But so intimate was their relation to the ideas and feelings of the people who used them that, in spite of the crudeness and simplicity of the medium employed, the songs of the various nations are entirely distinct from each other, and to a remarkable degree express the characteristics of the people who produced them.