Lucy Broadwood facts for kids
Lucy Etheldred Broadwood (born August 9, 1858 – died August 22, 1929) was an English expert who collected and studied traditional folk songs. She was the great-granddaughter of John Broadwood, who started the famous Broadwood and Sons piano company. Lucy was a very important person in the British folk revival movement of her time. She helped create the Folk-Song Society and was the editor of its journal.
Lucy was also a talented singer, composer, and piano player. She wrote some poems too. Many music festivals in England asked her to be a judge for singing groups. She was also one of the main organizers of the Leith Hill Music Festival in Surrey from 1904 until she passed away in 1929.
Contents
Life and Work
Early Life and Family
Lucy Broadwood was born early in the morning on August 9, 1858. Her family was staying at a summer home called the Pavilion in Melrose, Scotland. Her father, Henry Fowler Broadwood, was a piano maker, and her mother was Juliana Maria Birch. Lucy was the youngest of eleven children.
Her father's mother was from Scotland. He used to sing a Scottish song called "The wee little croodin' doo" to young Lucy. She later remembered this song as her very first musical memory. She said her father sang it to her when she was just two years old.
For many years, her family had a home in London, where the Broadwood piano factory was. In 1864, after her uncle John Broadwood died, her family moved to Lyne House. This house was in Capel, Surrey, near the village of Rusper.
Sussex Songs
Lucy's uncle, John Broadwood, had published a collection of English folk songs in 1847. This book is now known as the first real collection of English folk songs. It included both the words and the music of songs he gathered from people in Surrey and Sussex.
Lucy learned about her uncle's work around 1870, several years after he died. She was inspired by his example. In 1890, a new version of her uncle's collection was published. It was called Sussex Songs. Lucy helped with this new edition and added sixteen more songs that she had collected herself. It seems her father also collected at least one of these songs. Even though Lucy worked on the book, her name was not listed as a contributor.
English County Songs and English Traditional Carols and Songs
Lucy was also very involved in the early music movement. She helped edit the works of a famous composer named Purcell. Through this, she met J.A. Fuller Maitland, a music critic and musician. They became good friends and worked together for the rest of her life.
Because of her work on Sussex Songs, Lucy was asked to work with Fuller Maitland on a new book. This book was called English County Songs. This time, Lucy was fully credited as a joint editor. She and Fuller Maitland arranged the songs. The book was published in 1893 and was very popular. Ralph Vaughan Williams, another famous composer, said it was the start of the modern folk song movement.
Soon after the book came out, Lucy's father died. She and her mother moved to a flat in London in 1894. After her mother passed away, Lucy continued to live in London until her death in 1929.
In 1906, Lucy wrote a section for a book called Jamaican Song and Story. Her other main book was English Traditional Carols and Songs, published in 1908. For this book, Lucy arranged all the songs herself, and she had collected all of them too. Many of these songs came from a shoemaker named Henry Burstow in Horsham. She collected her first song from him in 1892.
Folk-Song Society
Because several folk song books were successful in the late 1800s, people decided to create the Folk-Song Society. At its first meeting in 1898, Lucy Broadwood was chosen to be on the committee.
In 1904, she became the Honorary Secretary of the society. She worked with Cecil Sharp and Ralph Vaughan Williams to help the society grow again. Their efforts worked, and the society continued until it joined with the English Folk Dance Society in 1932. This new group became the English Folk Dance and Song Society, which still exists today.
Lucy also became the editor of the Folk-Song Journal around this time. She stayed as editor until 1926. Her work as editor and her research were known around the world. Vaughan Williams said that her work was key to keeping the society alive.
During her time collecting songs, Lucy traveled to many places. She collected songs from her home area of Surrey and Sussex, and from Hertfordshire. In 1906 and 1907, she went to Arisaig in Scotland. There, she used a phonograph (an early record player) to collect Gaelic songs. She also collected songs in Peebles in 1907, Lincolnshire in 1906, and Devon in 1893.
In 1929, Lucy was chosen as the President of the Folk-Song Society. However, she held this position for less than a year. She died suddenly on August 22, 1929, at the age of 71. She was visiting relatives in Kent to attend an arts festival.
Other Activities
Besides collecting and researching folk songs, Lucy Broadwood was also a performer. She gave many concerts, singing both classical music and folk songs. She was a skilled piano accompanist, playing for both professional and amateur singers. She also composed her own music, with some of her works published when she was in her early 20s. She edited works by Purcell and translated works by Bach and Schütz. She also wrote poetry.
Legacy
Lucy Broadwood was buried in the churchyard at Rusper. Her family ordered a special plaque from Thomas Clapperton. It is on the wall inside the church entrance. Every year on May 1st, the Broadwood Morris men, a dance group named after her, dance inside the church and hang a wreath on her plaque to honor her.
In January 2000, Lucy Broadwood's diaries were given to the Surrey History Centre. To celebrate, the archivists created an exhibition. It showed her songs, diaries, and papers, helping people learn about her life and personality through her own words and those of her friends.
