Haunting Songs of the Condemned: Singing The News of Executions with Una McIlvenna

Step into the streets of Europe from the sixteenth to the twentieth century, where news of criminals' deeds and their ultimate fate was delivered through compelling songs. These execution ballads, often sold on bustling streets and marketplaces, turned crime and punishment into melodic tales; haunting melodies that once carried tales of compassion, violence, and humanity itself. Our guest, Una McIlvenna takes us through her research on this intriguing tradition.

Songs featured in the podcast with guest permission, and obtained from the website (links below.)

My Special Guest is Una McIlvena  

Una McIlvenna is Honorary Senior Lecturer in English at the Australian National University, and has held positions at the Universities of Melbourne, Sydney, Kent and Queen Mary University of London. A literary and cultural historian, she researches the early modern and nineteenth-century pan-European tradition of singing the news, and the history of crime and punishment, looking at songs in English, French, German, Dutch and Italian. Her monograph Singing the News of Death: Execution Ballads in Europe 1500-1900 (OUP, 2022) explores the phenomenon of the execution ballad, songs that spread the news of condemned criminals and their often ghastly ends. This is accompanied by her website ExecutionBallads.com which features recordings of some of these songs. She has published articles on news-singing in Past & Present, Renaissance Studies, Media History, Parergon, and Huntington Library Quarterly, and is a co-founder of the international Song Studies Network.

Contrafactum

Execution ballads intertwine music, emotion, and history, using 'contrafactum' or 'parody' to re-purpose well-known melodies. Identified with phrases like 'to the tune of...,' these melodies acquired intricate emotional associations. 'Fortune My Foe,' a somber melody, resonated across early modern northern Europe, accompanying songs of death and disaster. Surprising contrasts emerged as lively tunes like 'Row Well Ye Mariners' satirically celebrated John Felton's execution in 1570. Italian ballads deviated, employing metrical forms like ottava rima and terza rima. Notably, terza rima expressed nobles' remorse in the first-person voice during executions. This fusion of melody and verse crafted poignant narratives, embodying compassion, satire, and reflection through time.

The Business Of Singing The News

Printers meticulously inked the tales onto single-sheet broadsides and pamphlets, ready to be sold by the street singers who transformed words into melody. These itinerant vendors often bought songsheets wholesale, their lives hand-to-mouth as they navigated various trades. As they sang the contents of the ballads, they not only promoted their wares but also propagated stories that would resonate through the ages. Thus, execution ballads merged commerce and culture, leaving an indelible mark on the historical fabric.

In this episode, you will be able to: 

1. Uncover the significance of singing the news.

2. Explore aspects of crime and punishment.

3. Examine commonalities and differences between ballads.

4. Examine messages, themes and elements- including elements of the supernatural.

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