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PETE COOPER

 

John Clare, Thomas Hardy and English Fiddle Music

by Pete Cooper [London Fiddle School]

SUMMARY: The manuscripts of John Clare (1793-1864) and Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) are typical of tune collections from the late 1700s and early 1800s, and reveal the breadth and vitality of English fiddle music in its heyday. Their writings describe rural music-making, painting a picture that is all the fuller for their differences of period and social class. Clare, the son of illiterate parents, and an agricultural labourer, collected over 250 tunes before or during the 1820s, some ‘pricked down’ from the playing of gypsy fiddlers, others copied from printed sources. Despite considerable overlap of repertoire, Hardy’s family belonged to the established rural class of artisans, tradesmen and tenant farmers. Such musicians constituted the parish ‘quire’ on Sundays, as well as performing for local balls and dances. Their portrayal in novels like Under The Greenwood Tree (1872) and Far From The Madding Crowd (1874) is, however, already retrospective, while Clare’s writings represent contemporary reportage. By 1850 England had become the first country in history where more than half the population lived in industrial cities, and Clare and Hardy stand on either side of a watershed for rural society and its musical traditions.

CV: Pete Cooper teaches, plays, composes, and writes about fiddle music, especially English, Irish and Scottish, but also American, Scandinavian and East European styles. He performs with Richard Bolton in Cooper and Bolton (‘The Savage Hornpipe’, 2006), and with Rattle On The Stovepipe (‘Eight More Miles’, 2006). His books include ‘The Complete Irish Fiddle Player’ (Mel Bay, 1995), ‘Irish Fiddle Solos’ (Schott, 2004) and ‘English Fiddle Tunes’ (Schott, 2005). As well as teaching at Folkworks and Hands On Music weekends, he directs fiddle courses at Wigmore Hall, and runs his own London Fiddle School.

For upcoming concert performances, workshops etc. please visit www.petecooper.com