|
YFA: News
The Frank Kidson Memorial Fund |
|
|
Patrons: Norma Waterson MBE & Kate Rusby |
|||||
| Navigation |  |
promoting folk arts through partnership | |||
Home
News index Information Regional folk arts directory Site search |
 |
||||
| The Frank Kidson Memorial Fund | |||||
The Frank Kidson Memorial Fund has been set up by Dr John Francmanis (secretary) of Harrogate and Dr Vic Gammon (chair) of The School of Music, University of Leeds.
The single aim of the Fund is to raise sufficient money to erect a commemorative plaque (blue plaque) to the memory of Frank Kidson. Any surplus funds generated will be used to make available work by and about Frank Kidson. The fund will be wound up when its object has been achieved. The Unveiling The Frank Kidson Plaque has now been officially unveiled at 5 Hamilton Avenue, Chapeltown, Leeds, on Tuesday May 20th 2003. The event was organised by the Leeds Civic Trust Historic Plaques Scheme. The unveiling was followed by a speech from Dr Vic Gammon of the School of Music, University of Leeds and chair of the Frank Kidson memorial Fund, and a reception at the Host Media Centre where tunes and songs collected by Frank Kidson were sung and played. 
Why commemorate Frank Kidson? Frank Kidson (1855-1926), who lived the whole of his life in Leeds, was a man of many achievements. He was an artist, antiquarian, photographer, journalist, bibliophile, local historian, editor, songwriter, playwright, poet, lecturer and broadcaster. His travels throughout northern England and the Scottish Borders, as a landscape painter, introduced him to traditional song. Kidson became one of the first people in England to collect, study and publish these songs and tunes. His friend and fellow folksong pioneer, Lucy Broadwood, acclaimed Kidson's Traditional Tunes (1891) as the first published collection of unharmonised and unembellished traditional airs and texts to be accompanied by the annotations of a scholarly collector. His expertise in traditional song ensured that Kidson was invited to join the Folk Song Society as a founder member in 1898. Stubborn in challenging the excesses of romantic nationalism, Kidson championed the idea that "folk music" was nothing more or less than old popular music. This anti-mythologizing stance ensured that he was less well known to the general public than might otherwise have been the case. Kidson's interests embraced the whole history of British printed music. His extensive research resulted in the publication of British Music Publishers in 1900. In his lifetime Kidson was considered the greatest authority in the field and this book his most important publication. It remained the standard work for over half a century and formed the basis for all succeeding work on the subject. Frank Kidson was a scholar of great modesty and integrity. His considerable achievement was attained without the benefit of any institutional support. Late in his life his work was recognised by the University of Leeds with the award of an honorary MA. Leeds Civic Trust has agreed that Frank Kidson warrants commemoration by a blue plaque on one of his former homes. Thank you to all who have supported the Frank Kidson Memorial Fund. Vic Gammon 5th February 2003 Updated 17th June 2003 In Search of Frank Kidson The search for Kidson's missing notebooks: from South Riding Folk Network News, autumn 2000. Frank Kidson: his "Grove"' contributions A selection of entries written by Kidson for the 1904 edition of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians: archived at Musical Traditions. A facsimile edition of Kidson's book Traditional Tunes is available from Llanerch Press (Note: unfortunately, older browsers can no longer access this site.) Roy Palmer's A Checklist of Manuscript Songs & Tunes collected from Oral Tradition by Frank Kidson is available from EFDSS at £1.25 plus p&p, while stocks last (see Publications Sale). The Female Highwayman A song collected by Kidson in Yorkshire, and published in A Garland of English Folk-Song, 1926. With piano accompaniment by Alfred Moffat. (pdf file: requires Adobe Acrobat Reader) |
|||||
| News Index Home Top of page | |||||