manx celtic music and dance

RESEARCH ARTICLE - THERE OCCUR SEVERAL ERRORS - article by Stephen Miller

12 Jul 2016

“THERE OCCUR SEVERAL ERRORS”

TWELVE MANX FOLK SONGS

MONA DOUGLAS IN DISPUTE WITH THE MANX LANGUAGE SOCIETY (1928)

In 1928, Margaret Creer of the Manx Language Society sent a letter to Mona Douglas, the full text of which reads as follows:

Baldwin Schoolhouse

May 1th 1928

Dear Miss Douglas,

The Executive C’tee desire me to draw your attention to the song in Manx recently published by you, and in which there occur several errors. They request that you submit the text to an authority via the Executive so that the errors may be avoided in your future editions.

With best wishes for your success in your new sphere.

Yours sincerely, | Margaret Creer

The “new sphere” refers to her Twelve Manx Folk Songs with Manx Gaelic and English Words, the first number (or Set as it was so designated) which had appeared that same year published in London by Stainer & Bell. There was a further issue of another twelve songs the next year. The trilogy of titles as it became was completed only as late as 1957, with a final batch of twelve songs.

The tone of the letter strikes one as being somewhat high minded, especially as the song text in question is not named nor the nature of the errors pointed out, and then there is the injunction to pass in any future work “to an authority via the Executive.”  It certainly struck Mona Douglas as being high minded as her reply shows, a copy letter of her response is fortunately extant amongst her personal papers. Written from London, where she was then living and working, she comes straight to the point in the opening paragraph:

I am in receipt of your letter of the 1st inst. re a Manx song recently published. Although you do not say so, I presume that you mean the arrangement of “Graih my Chree” with Manx and English words just published by Messrs. Stainer & Bell.

After pointing out that it would have been cheaper (and easier) for Stainer & Bell to have simply omitted the Manx texts, they had appeared at her insistence, “because I think that the more things published in Manx the better for the language movement […].” She then came to the point with a wonderful sucker punch:

In the case of Graih my Chree, I may perhaps point out that the Manx words were simply reprinted from a leaflet version of the song published by the Manx Society a number of years ago, of which I have a copy at Ballarragh, but not here.

In the letter she also describes her approach overall as regards the texts, in large part taking as source material those to be found in Moore’s Manx Ballads and Music (1896), and that:

my manipulation of the Manx words only consists of omitting certain verses and in some cases combining two or more good half-verses and in some cases combining two or more good half-verses into one whole; and in one or two cases I may have to alter or add a very few words in a particular part (say bass) to make them fit the arrangement without sacrificing the sense.

This is slightly more than the phrase “only consists of” would perhaps suggest, but in any case the textual policy was made explicit in the Preface itself to Twelve Manx Folk Songs :

It is true that several sets of words are sometimes recorded as having been sung to one air; but in such cases I have tried to choose the best words available. I have also, in some cases, found it desirable to select the best verses from songs which had too many for all to be printed.

Turning to the issue of having the texts looked over further, she wrote that “I am afraid that your demand […] would take too long in operation, as the proofs have to go through quickly.” She was, however, willing to make a concession, that if either J.J. Kneen or H.P. Kelly were willing to “return the proof to me within three days of its receipt, I should be very pleased for either of them to do so.” Her letter then concludes with the final paragraph:

I should like to say in conclusion that I feel it would be a gracious act on the part of the Society to give any support in their power to this effort on behalf of our Manx songs. Their attitude so far seems to be one of strict neutrality rather than of approval.

Earlier in the letter, she had mentioned a more specific reason for having the Manx texts appear:

I had an idea that the Manx words and the arrangements might prove useful to the Cruinnaght Committee, who I know are sometimes at a loss for satisfactory test pieces in their choral classes, particularly with Manx words.

This suggestion was taken up and it was passed on to Kneen to come up with an opinion as to their suitability. An undated typescript of his remarks survives, though it is not to found amongst his own personal papers, but in a scrapbook held by the MNHL, and only recently come across by accident. His attitude was not one of approval but the very opposite: “Most of the Manx would be useless for the Cruinnaght. The whole lot would require to be modified and reconstructed.”

Read the full article and letters

 

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