“Matty Groves”

E515343

“Matty Groves” is a traditional English folk ballad, widely performed and recorded in the folk revival, that tells a tragic story of adultery and violent revenge.

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Observed surface forms (1)

Surface form Occurrences
Matty Groves 0

Statements (46)

Predicate Object
instanceOf murder ballad
traditional English folk ballad
traditional song
featuresCharacter Matty Groves (a young man) NERFINISHED
a lord or noble husband
a nobleman’s wife
hasAlternativeTitle Little Musgrave NERFINISHED
Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard NERFINISHED
hasForm narrative ballad
hasGenre ballad
folk music
hasLanguage English
hasMoralElement warning about consequences of jealousy
warning against adultery
hasNotablePerformer Doc Watson NERFINISHED
Fairport Convention NERFINISHED
Joan Baez NERFINISHED
Martin Carthy NERFINISHED
hasNotableRecording Fairport Convention’s 1969 recording on the album "Liege & Lief"
hasRoudNumber Roud 52
hasStructure strophic form
hasTheme adultery
class conflict
infidelity
jealousy
violent revenge
hasVariant versions with altered ending
versions with different names for the lord
versions with different settings
influenced later interpretations of murder ballads in the folk revival
isCataloguedAs Child Ballad 81 NERFINISHED
isCataloguedBy Francis James Child NERFINISHED
isPartOfTradition British folk music tradition
English folk song tradition
isPerformedIn various melodic variants
isStudiedIn folk song scholarship
isTransmittedBy oral tradition
narrativeFocus duel between lover and husband
tragic love affair
originatesFrom England NERFINISHED
plotEvent adulterous affair is discovered
death of Matty Groves
death of the lady
duel between Matty and the lord
wasCollectedIn 19th century
wasPopularizedDuring 20th-century folk revival

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

album "Joan Baez in Concert" hasPart “Matty Groves”
subject surface form: Joan Baez in Concert