Maud Karpeles facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Maud Karpeles
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| Born | 12 November 1885 London, United Kingdom
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| Died | 1 October 1976 (aged 90) London, United Kingdom
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| Relatives | Helen Karpeles Kennedy (sister) |
Maud Karpeles OBE (born November 12, 1885 – died October 1, 1976) was a British expert who collected old folk songs. She also taught traditional dances.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Maud Pauline Karpeles was born in London, England, in 1885. She was the third of five children. Her father, Joseph Nicolaus Karpeles, was from Germany. He became a British citizen in 1881. He worked as a tea merchant and stockbroker. Her mother, Emily Karpeles, was born in London. Both her parents were Jewish but did not practice their religion.
When Maud was about ten, her family moved to Paddington. Like her sisters, Maud went to a boarding school in Royal Tunbridge Wells. There, she learned to play the violin and piano. She also studied German. In 1906, she spent six months in Berlin, Germany. She took piano lessons and went to many concerts.
Helping Others: Volunteer Work
After returning to England, Maud Karpeles became a volunteer. She worked with the Invalid Children's Aid Association. For several days each week, she visited children with disabilities. She helped their families in East Ham and Barking. She helped them with hospital visits and supported their development.
The Guild of Play
Once a week, Maud volunteered at the Mansfield House Guild of Play. This was in Canning Town. The Guild was started to teach girls "vigorous happy dances." The idea was to use songs and dances from "Merrie England." This would help balance the effects of city life. Maud's piano skills were very useful for teaching music and movement. Her younger sister, Helen, also started to help. Around this time, Maud Karpeles also joined the Fabian Society.
Learning with Cecil Sharp
In May 1909, Maud and Helen Karpeles went to the Shakespeare Festival. This festival was held in Stratford-upon-Avon. Folk dancing competitions were taking place there. They met Cecil Sharp, who was a judge at the competition. Sharp had been teaching Morris dances and folk songs. He taught them to girls working in the dressmaking trade in London.
The Karpeles sisters were very impressed by the folk dancing. In September, they started attending Sharp's classes. These classes were at the School of Morris Dancing. Their first goal was to teach these dances to children. They wanted to share them at the settlement in Canning Town.
Working with Cecil Sharp
Starting the English Folk Dance Society
In 1910, the Karpeles sisters started a Folk Dance Club. They practiced every week at their parents' house. On April 3, 1911, they held a fundraiser. It was for the Invalid Children's Association. The Folk Dance Club performed for 500 people. Cecil Sharp gave a talk, and Mattie Kay sang. The event was very successful. It raised £60.
The Folk Dance Club quickly became popular. Maud Karpeles and her dancers gave more public shows. Sharp traveled to promote folk dancing. Maud and Helen Karpeles soon taught Morris, sword, and country dancing classes. They taught five hours a day as part of Sharp's team.
In December 1911, the Folk Dance Club became a new national group. This group was called the English Folk Dance Society (EFDS). Helen became the Honorary Secretary of the EFDS. Maud took over this role from 1922 to 1930.
Maud as Sharp's Assistant
In 1913, Maud Karpeles began working for Sharp as his assistant. Sharp had developed a problem with his right elbow. At first, she wrote his letters by hand. But she quickly learned to type and use shorthand. In May 1914, Karpeles helped with a play. It was A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Savoy Theatre. The play featured folk music and dancing. Sharp arranged the music and dances. Karpeles trained the dancers.
Karpeles lived with the Sharp family in Hampstead starting in 1915. Sharp often called Karpeles "the faithful Maud." When they traveled, he introduced her as his "adopted daughter." She continued to work closely with him until he died in 1924.
Work in America
When World War I began, folk dancing activities stopped. Sharp decided to work in the United States. He wanted to support his family. In the summer of 1915, Maud Karpeles went with him. She was one of three British teachers helping Sharp at a summer school in Maine. During this trip, Sharp met Olive Dame Campbell. She had collected 200 old songs from the Appalachian Mountains. This inspired Sharp to start his own song-collecting trip.
Collecting Appalachian Folk Songs
Between 1916 and 1918, Karpeles helped Sharp. They collected Anglo-American songs in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. They visited 281 singers. These singers often lived in remote places. Karpeles wrote down the words of the songs. Sharp wrote down the tunes. They collected 1,612 tunes. These tunes represented 500 different songs. They also found a country dance now called the "running set."
From July to September 1916, they spent nine weeks in Madison County, North Carolina. John C. Campbell joined them at first. He introduced them to many singers. One was Edith Fish, a teacher who also collected songs.
Projects in England After the War
On Armistice Day, Karpeles and Sharp were in Cleveland, Ohio. A month later, they went back to England. From 1919, Karpeles and Sharp worked to restart the English Folk Dance Society. They traveled a lot. They continued their previous activities. They also collected songs and dances whenever they could.
In September 1922, Karpeles and Sharp collected Morris dances and folk songs. They visited 45 villages in the Midlands. In 1923, the EFDS was reorganized. It had 43 local branches. Sharp was often sick with asthma and bronchitis. He relied more and more on Karpeles. She helped him with his many events.
In May 1924, Karpeles traveled with Sharp. They went through many cities. Sharp was going to Newcastle to judge a competition. But he became too sick. Karpeles had to take his place. On their way back to London, Sharp had a seizure. By the third week of June, he was barely conscious. He died peacefully on June 23, 1924.
Protecting Sharp's Work
Maud Karpeles became the person in charge of Sharp's writings after he died. She worked to protect his collections. She later had disagreements with the EFDSS about who owned the rights to the songs. Some people thought it was strange that she claimed ownership. This was because the songs had been shared freely by people for a long time.
Collecting Songs in Newfoundland
Before he died, Sharp wanted to find songs in Newfoundland. He believed that people who moved there from Scotland and England would have brought folk songs with them. He thought these songs could still be found there.
From 1929 to 1930, Karpeles took on this challenge. She spent about 14 weeks collecting songs. In 1934, she published her collection. It was called Folk Songs from Newfoundland.
Later Life and Achievements
The English Folk Dance Society (EFDS) joined with the Folk Song Society (FSS) in 1932. They became the "English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS)." The EFDSS chose Karpeles for its Board of Artistic Control in 1932. She worked with Douglas Kennedy and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Kennedy later said that Karpeles helped the EFDSS survive during this time.
She continued to edit Sharp's old papers. She was also a very active organizer of international festivals. Karpeles organized the International Folk Dance Festival and Conference in London in 1935. This event was a success. It helped Karpeles become known around the world. In 1936, she traveled to Yugoslavia to watch dances.
In 1950 and again in 1955, she returned to the Appalachian Mountains. She was 65 and then 70 years old. This time, she brought a heavy recording machine. She recorded singers for the BBC. Some people she met remembered meeting Sharp the first time. When the folk singer Phil Tanner was found in Wales, Karpeles made sure he was recorded.
Helping Refugees
During the Second World War, Karpeles helped musicians who were refugees. She also worked with the Red Cross. In 1962, refugees from Tristan Da Cunha came to Britain. Karpeles visited them and recorded their dances.
Her Books and Writings
Cecil Sharp's book "English Folk Song: Some Conclusions" was a very important book. Karpeles added new material to later editions. She always believed that folk songs should be pure. She thought they should be free from being too commercial or common.
In 1967, she published "Cecil Sharp: His Life and Work." In 1974, she published two large books. They were called "Cecil Sharp's Collection of English Folk Songs Vol 1 & 2." "The Crystal Spring" (1975) is a shorter version of this collection.
Awards and Honors
Karpeles received the OBE award in 1961. This was for her work in folk music. She also received two special degrees. One was from Université Laval in Quebec (1961). The other was from the Memorial University of Newfoundland (1970).
Death and Legacy
Maud Karpeles died in 1976. In 2000, the English Folk Dance and Song Society released trading cards. They had a "flicker book" celebrating folk-song heroes. The flicker book showed a Morris dance. It featured Cecil Sharp, Maud, and Helen Karpeles. This can also be seen on a DVD released in 2011. It is also on YouTube. The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library has her private papers and diaries.
See also
- Jane Hicks Gentry
- Women in musicology
