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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZCHILD, Francis James(b 1 February 1825, Boston MA; d there 16 September 1896) Ballad collector, scholar. The son of a sail-maker, his ability was recognised early: he received a BA at Harvard 1846, became a lecturer, then professor; at Harvard all his life except for a two-year leave of absence to Europe; received D. Phil. from Göttingen in 1854 despite irregularities in studies, also higher degrees from Harvard 1884, Columbia 1887. He published Four Old Plays in 1848; he was general editor of a 150-volume series of British Poets from 1853, Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser 1855, wrote paper Observations on the Language of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales; but he was best known for ten-part (five volumes) English and Scottish Popular Ballads 1882, codifying tales and texts of 305 songs, recovering fragments and comparing variants, work that is still mined today by folksingers, so highly regarded that ballads are referred to by the numbers he gave them. He collected more verses of 'Greensleeves' than anyone wants to sing, as Pete Seeger humorously pointed out at Weavers concerts; Joan Baez included Child ballads in her first several albums. Bertrand Harris Bronson published Tunes of the Child Ballads (four volumes, 1959). |