Singing the News of Death: Execution Ballads in Europe 1500-1900

Many of the ballads in this database are discussed in my forthcoming book with Oxford University Press, Singing the News of Death: Execution Ballads in Europe 1500-1900. Here are recordings of some of those ballads. They are performed by a few different singers: Jenni Hyde, Molly McKew, Hannah Sullivan and myself.

The tunes are those indicated on the ballad sheets and, in certain cases, abridged versions are performed where the songs are very long (over five minutes). As individual performances they are only one interpretation, rather than an exact replica, of how execution ballads might have sounded on the streets of Europe.

Click on the image to go to the ballad page where you can hear the recordings, and enjoy these songs of the news of death.

 

Singing the News of Death: Execution Ballads in Europe 1500-1900