Folk music has been a part of every culture since the beginning of mankind. It expresses who and what the culture is, their likes and dislikes, and shows how they like to have fun. These folk songs used to be passed down through the generations through singing, sometime they still are. Over the years, however, much of the culture has disappeared. This is due to advances in technology, the increase in populations, and the ever increasing number of people who move to places outside their culture.
In the early 20th Century, a few composers sought to record, catalogue, and write out fok music before it disappeared forever. Percy Grainger was one of these people. He took his cue from two famous composers who were already preserving folk music for generations to come, Edvard Grieg and Ralph Vaughn Williams.
Like Ralph Vaughn Williams, Grainger took an interest
in British folk music. Edvard Grieg, however, took interest in the
music of his homeland Norway.
Ralph Vaughn Williams
Take a look at these two websites to learn more about these great composers.