This volume studies the status and reception of the professional, semi-professional and amateur singer in England from the earliest time for which records are available, the later Middle Ages, up to the present. It also offers a principled examination of their songs and why particular songs were taken into singers' repertoires while others remained printed street ballads without ever becoming part of the oral tradition. The structure is broadly chronological, although the nature of evidence from oral and ephemeral sources makes this impossible to adhere to strictly.

Autorentext
The Author: Andrew C. Rouse was born in Wessex. In 1979 he was offered a teaching contract at the Hungarian colleges at Pécs and Eger, and soon became involved in the Hungarian folk scene both on and off campus, and as performer and organiser. He has been lecturing at the English Department of the University of Pécs since 1982. His passion and academic profile have gradually fused over the past 15 years, and in 2004 he was awarded a Ph.D. for his research into England's remunerated vernacular singers. Rouse has also written several related academic and disseminating papers, articles, studies and essays, which have been published in a number of countries.

Inhalt
Contents: An Embarkation «I saw her through a whummil bore» - Soap-box Operas of the Middle Ages? From Minstrel to Ballad-Singer: Social Change and the Vernacular Singer in the Sixteenth Century William Hogarth and the Street Singer of the 18th Century Maritime and Military Matters The Factory Lass, the Serving Maid, and the Farm Labourer The Remains of the Revival: Post-War English Vernacular Singers and their Politics.