For those who joined the Folk Music revival of the 1960s some came to it via singers like Bob Dylan, Peter Seeger and Joan Baez.
And that struck a chord when I saw the wireless programme on Plaisir d'amour in the Radio 4 series In Time to the Music.*
“In Time to the Music is the story of a piece of music, song, an air or melody travelling through time as a folk tune, a theatre melody, a hymn, a composition, a symphony - reinterpreted across years, centuries or millennia through revival, musical revolution, social fashions or archaeological discovery.
We examine why certain tunes have managed to reach out over time, across genres, class, race and continents, how some are reimagined by oppressors even though they were written by its oppressed, how melodies from earlier periods are borrowed by subsequent composers, and how these illusive musical engravings change genre - from hymn to reggae, from court song to rock and roll - all with the passage of time.
The second episode explores the journey of Plaisir d'amour, starting out as a love song for Marie Antoinette to sing, through various revivals to its reworking as a 1961 hit for Elvis Presley. The programme also examines other music that has travelled through time.Featuring musicologists Laura Tunbridge, Professor Richard Dumbrill, Julia Doe, jazz pianist and educator Gareth Williams and singer Ian Shaw.Written and Presented by Andrew McGibbon
Assistant Producer: Saul Sarne Producer: Nick Romero
A Curtains For Radio production for BBC Radio 4”.
*Plaisir d'amour, In Time to the Music, Radio 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001hp31
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