King Orfeo- Joseph J. MacSweeney 1918
King Orfeo
by Joseph J. MacSweeney
Folklore, Vol. 29, No. 4 (Dec. 30, 1918), pp. 321-323
"KING ORFEO."
"KING ORFEO " is the name of a ballad that relates the story told in the mediaeval romance of Orpheus. That the story of Orpheus could have become popular without the aid of a romance is possible, for it is told in Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, which, as is known, was translated by King Alfred. We can thus point to a source for the ballad independent of romance, and it is remarkable that this fact was not referred to by Child when considering the origin of the ballad. Boethius' work was popular before the mediaeval romance properly existed, whilst in later days its circulation was wide. As Guizot remarked: " Ce petit volume de Boece eut un grand role, et se maintint pendant pres de mille ans au premier rang parmi les manuels favoris de l'Europe barbare et feodale. C'etait en l'an I300 un des quatre classiques de la bibliotheque de Paris."
In the American Journal of Philology, vii., I76-202, Professor Kittredge made a study of the romance of Orpheus, particularly in regard to its relation to the Irish tale of the Wooing of Etain. In regard to the ballad there is, with the exception of the substitution of Ferrie for Tartarus in the classical story, but one trait that is perhaps distinctively Celtic. It is found in the following lines:
And first he played da notes o noy,
And dan he played da notes o joy.
An dan he played da ged gabber reel,
Dat meicht ha made a sick hert hale.
These lines recall the three types of music frequently mentioned
in early Irish literature, namely, goltraighe, geantraighe,
and suantraighe. In the Irish tale Cath Muige Mucrime, Fer
fi mac Eogabail plays these three latter kinds of music. (Vid.
Silva Gadelica, p. 3II, ed. S. H. O'Grady.) In the Irish tale
the first type of music produces weeping, the second laughter,
the third sleep. It would seem, therefore, that the ballad, as
recorded, supports to a great extent Professor Kittredge's
theory of Celtic origins in regard to the theme in its romance
setting. Despite, however, the Celtic traits in the ballad, as
it is recorded, attention has to be paid to the story's relation
to the Danish ballad " Harpens Kraft." (Sophus Bugge: Arkiv
for nordisk Filologi, vii.) The theory of Celtic influence on the
ballad is rather strengthened by the fact that there is a lack
of Continental ballad versions dealing with the Orpheus theme.
In fact, in view of the theme, as told in the ballad and the
romance, bearing such a distorted resemblance to the classical
story of Orpheus and Eurydice, the very name of the ballad
might be questioned. To do so would, however, betray a
lack of temperate criticism; but the suggestion bears very
much on the importance which we should attach to the presence
in a ballad of an historical or a classical character, as giving
an indication of either its age or origin. To illustrate this point
I shall quote what M. Pol de Courcy has written concerning the
Breton ballad, "Les Aubrays et le More du Roi ": "Les
Aubrays est le nom d'une seigneurie du pays de Retz apportee
en mariage, en I455, a Roland de Lannion, par Guyonne de
Grezy, dame des Aubrays. Le ballade ne peut pas, par consequent,
etre ant6rieure a cette 6poque, et nous la croyons bien
plus modere." (Child, The Eng. and Scot. Pop. Ballads,
Introd. to Johnie Scott.) "The ballad," wrote Child, "can
be no older, unless the Seigneur les Aubrays has displaced an
earlier hero; but what means have we of deciding that question ?"
The real question is, Can such displacement take place?
Clearly yes; and a study of ballad variants helps forward, in
many cases, the solution of the question, because versions of
the same ballad often differ in regard to the person whom they
make the hero. Now, if this displacement can take place in
the variants of a ballad, it is not impossible to imagine a case
in which only those versions survive in which the displacement
of the earlier hero has taken place. Therefore to consider a
ballad's origin or date from evidence such as that to which I
have referred, is not always conclusive; for it is the action or
plot that gives to the ballad its place in a comparative setting,
and not merely the accidental circumstances of place or person
which, whether through literary influence or through a process
of localisation, it may possess.
JOSEPH J. MACSWEENEY.
Bailey, Howth, Co. Dublin.