DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2022.4.38875

Abstract: The article characterizes the musical tradition of Russian singers-wanderers, recorded by collectors in the north-western, northern and central provinces of Russia. For the first time, a comparative study is being carried out of the variants of memorial and zazdravny chants performed by the crossing kaliks and beggars. The study summarizes various sources – auditory recordings of the XIX century, publications of the XX century, unpublished folklore materials. The author draws attention to the little-known recordings of memorial and health chants recorded in the Novgorod, Yaroslavl, Tver, Pskov regions. The objectives of the article are to conduct a comparative study of the tunes of the "poor brethren", to identify their typological properties and intonational origins. The author considers the health and memorial chants as a special phenomenon of Russian folk music culture. The core of this tradition was a chant, which served as a musical formula, to which the calics of the transition sang various texts. On the basis of the facts given in the article, it can be concluded that the main version of the tune of the kalik of the transients is characterized by a one-verse composition and a 10-time basis of small-scale construction. In Russian folklore, the existence of this musical-structural type is limited only to the health and memorial songs of Kalik, spiritual poems and the ballad "Prince Mikhailo", and is not found in other genre spheres. However, the close intonation, rhythmic, compositional relationship of the tune with a wide range of folklore genres indicates that it was formed on the basis of compositional and melodic techniques developed in the practice of peasant song culture. The intonational affinity of the chant with church hymns, especially with the forms of liturgical reading, is an indicator of the closeness of the singing culture of the Kalik of the transients and the church musical tradition as a whole, and also reveals those properties that can be attributed to the category of universals of the Old Russian musical language based on speech intonations.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2021.1.35025

Abstract: The author is the first to raise the problem of reconstruction of the musical-epic traditions of Novgorod region. The research object is chant-declamation forms of folklore, typologically related to the bylina tradition. The research subject is their structural and stylistic peculiarities. For the first time, all facts of existence of musical epos, recorded in Novgorod region by various collectors, are gathered in one source - from the auditory notations of A.K. Lyadov (1890) to the latest evidence of existence of the musical-epic tradition (the recordings of Leningrad - St.Petersburg conservatory of the 1980s - 1990s). As the materials for comparison, the author uses the folklore images from Vologda, Arkhangelsk and Tver regions. Some musical texts are published for the first time. The author defines the genre composition of the musical-epic area of Novgorod folklore (buffoonery and takes, ballads, spiritual poems and memorial songs), describes the forms of composition of the main samples (one-line verses, long speeches and strophical). The research material gives reasons to assume that in Novgorod folklore traditions of the late 19th - the 20th centuries, the forms of recitation of music were widespread, typologically related to two North-Russian styles - the symbolic brief-chant and rhapsodical. The author concludes that the lake Ilmen basin and the adjacent territories was one of the places where these styles had been forming. On the one hand, the discovery of the typological relation of Novgorod and the North-Russian forms of musical narration helps define the structure and evaluate the style of single facts of Novgorod folklore. On the other hand, the parallels found are of key importance for the confirmation of Novgorod origins of the North-Russian bylina traditions.   

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2020.6.33571

Abstract: The article focuses on calendar-ceremonial folklore of Novgorod region as an important component of folklore song traditions of the region. The musical and poetical forms of the calendar are considered in terms of type, genre and realm. The author is the first to systematize the data about calendar folklore recordings made in Novgorod region by various collectors in the 1960s - 1990s. The author gives special attention to the results of field studies of Saint Petersburg Conservatory named after N.A. Rimski-Korsakov. The author introduces into scientific discourse a range of items of calendar folklore from the archive of the Conservatory (Maslenitsa, Christmas and Easter carols and yells). The specificity of Novgorod calendar traditions is connected with a special role of intoned yells serving a function of calling over ceremonial characters, and Christmas carols combining the features of folk and church melodics. Some folklore forms, recorded in Novgorod region, can be considered unique (the North-East Maslenitsa chants, the “Piper” song, the Easter callings). Taking into account the peculiarities of a genre composition of the calendar, the types of chants and the style features, the author outlines three historical-cultural zones in Novgorod region - the North-East, the South-West and the Central. The research results can be used for mapping  the calendar folklore chants of Russia’s North-West, and for the further study of music folklore traditions of Novgorod region together with other folklore genres.   

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2020.6.40364

Abstract: The article focuses on calendar-ceremonial folklore of Novgorod region as an important component of folklore song traditions of the region. The musical and poetical forms of the calendar are considered in terms of type, genre and realm. The author is the first to systematize the data about calendar folklore recordings made in Novgorod region by various collectors in the 1960s - 1990s. The author gives special attention to the results of field studies of Saint Petersburg Conservatory named after N.A. Rimski-Korsakov. The author introduces into scientific discourse a range of items of calendar folklore from the archive of the Conservatory (Maslenitsa, Christmas and Easter carols and yells). The specificity of Novgorod calendar traditions is connected with a special role of intoned yells serving a function of calling over ceremonial characters, and Christmas carols combining the features of folk and church melodics. Some folklore forms, recorded in Novgorod region, can be considered unique (the North-East Maslenitsa chants, the “Piper” song, the Easter callings). Taking into account the peculiarities of a genre composition of the calendar, the types of chants and the style features, the author outlines three historical-cultural zones in Novgorod region - the North-East, the South-West and the Central. The research results can be used for mapping  the calendar folklore chants of Russia’s North-West, and for the further study of music folklore traditions of Novgorod region together with other folklore genres.