Bulgarian-Macedonian Folk Music

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BULGARIAN-MACEDONIAN

FOLK MUSIC

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KREMENLIEV

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY AND LOS ANGELES

1952

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

BERKELEY AND LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON, ENGLAND COPYRIGHT, 1952, BY

THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DESIGNED BY JOHN

B.

GOETZ

FOR

GREGOR AND ELENA, WHO

INTERFERED, BUT NOT TOO

MUCH

PREFA CE

PREFACE is, in a much more real sense, a conclusion; like the overture music drama, it is written after the work has been completed, and properly contains a clue to the material which follows. I feel that in the present study some preparation of the reader is essential, since there have been very few works on the subject written in languages other than Bulgarian and, to my knowledge, none in in

The responsibility of being the first to acquaint the reader of English with Bulgarian folk music is a heavy one, especially since the non-Bulgarian sources have in part proved to be based on misconceptions of the fundamental characteristics of the folk music under examination. Thus, for instance, Dr. Peter Panoff, in his otherwise scholarly study, "Die Alt-

English.

slavische Volks-

und Kirchenmusik," which appeared

in 1930 in

Handbuch

der

Musikwissenschaft, makes no mention whatever of the metric patterns of Bulgarian folk music which differentiate it sharply from the music of other European nations.

These irregular meters are unique within the Slavic family and

totally dissimilar

geographic and ethnological neighbors. Dr. Panoffs musical erudition is beyond question. He had access to authentic sources; he listened to actual Bulgarian folk songs and notated them for future study. But it is exactly here that the difficulty lies: his training in the music theory of western Europe made no allowance for the asymmetric structures which he encountered structures which cannot be accurately reproduced under standard metric signatures and the present method of music notation. With Panoffs work as source material, the Harvard Dictionary of Music, some to the metric structures of Bulgaria's closest

Bulgarian folk music as "mostly dance-like, though irregular meters are frequent" This quotation alone contains two inaccuracies: dance songs cannot be said on statistical analysis to constitute the major portion of the music; and, moreover, most of the typically Bulgarian dance songs are actually

fifteen years later, describes

built

upon

irregular meters.

cannot be mentioned too often that this lack of symmetry in the construction meter and rhythm especially distinguishes Bulgarian folk music from any other. of It had long been considered, as Sir Hubert Parry argued, that as music-making It

nations

rise in the scale of

musical development, the relation of phrase to phrase

As far intelligible and the order of occurrence more symmetrical. back as 1912, when the statement was made, 'such a premise was already. -open to question. In all the arts, an examination of modern trends reveals that exact sym~ becomes more

viii

Preface

and being discarded in favor of relations in pictorial art, of line, color, word groupings, and structure; in music, of tonality, timbre, and rhythm which could' scarcely be described as symmetric in the sense in which Sir Hubert Parry applied the term. I do not mean to suggest that Bul-

metry

is

mass; in literature, of ideas,

and oppressed people, is an unusugarian folk music, the product of an unlettered the However, fact that it does display individual very ally sophisticated expression. traits of a strictly contemporary nature makes it worthy of the closest analysis. Throughout

this

book the term "Bulgarian"

is

commonly employed

to indicate

the music of both Bulgaria and Macedonia. There is no ethnological distinction between the folk of Bulgaria and Macedonia. Whatever political divisions have been established by various treaties are, from the point of view of folk art, altogether artificial.

All the English versions of the poetic texts are my own. The translations make as possible the original meanliterary claims, but aim rather to follow as closely literal translations ing and poetic stress. In order to retain an authentic folk flavor,

no

have occasionally been replaced by phrases which will achieve the same impact in English more powerfully than a word-for-word rendition. Certain songs have not been translated, some because the lyrics are irrelevant to the discussions which they illustrate, others because they are quoted in fragmentary others because they lose their meaning in translation.

form

only,

and

still

me personally this work has been intensely nostalgic. I was born in Buland spent the most impressionable years of my childhood there, but long garia apprenticeship and practice of music in the United States had somewhat dimmed For

my memory of the distinctive quality of Bulgarian folk music. In 1931 I began compiling my own collection of Bulgarian folk songs, adapting some of them for choral

and instrumental performances. Both conductors and instrumentalists drew

my attention to the difficulty of the metric structures for the Occidental musician. Original orchestral works bogged down at rehearsal and others remained unperformed because of their rhythmic and metric complexities. I refused to believe that the patterns which seem quite natural and simple to the Bulgarian peasant must remain a closed mystery to the musician in any branch of the art

who

has spent years in the study of music. It

is this conviction, perhaps which me to inaugurate this study. single factor, encouraged In the course of a comprehensive analysis of the folk music on the basis of form, melody, type classification, and so on, a rather startling situation was revealed. In contrast to inquiries into the origin and history of Greek music, where books on the theory of music exist in large numbers, but where the surviving music exam-

more than any other

ples

and fragments

total less than a dozen, I

twelve thousand folk songs

found myself confronted with some

and but two or

three detailed analytical publications. The fabulous number of songs which such musicologists as Dobri Christov, Vasil Stoin, Raina Katzarova, Ivan Kamburov, and others have managed to get down

on paper and subsequently into print

is a tribute to their perseverance and dedication to the cause of recording the native it before song disappears from the daily life of the people as civilization advances. however, their

Unfortunately, efforts have not assured the preservation of the music for posterity: metal is precious and scarce and printing plate may easily be melted down for more utilitarian purposes.

Preface

IX

An

indication of this precarious future was seen in the difficulty of obtaining, within Bulgaria itself, the publications on which the ensuing study was based. I am deeply indebted to my brother Atanas Kremenliev for his unfailing persistence in securing material for me. When music and books which were out of print and thus not available contained some necessary scrap of information., he

somehow managed to persuade Bulgarian musicologists and research assistants to make transcripts of articles, music, and excerpts from books. Without his assistance this project could not have been completed for many years to come. The editors of the University of California Press and the author acknowledge the courtesy of the following musicologists in permitting the use of copyrighted material from their collections (listed in the Bibliography): losif Cheshmedjiev, Ivan Kamburov, and Raina Katzarova. The Committee of Science, Art, and Culture (Komitet za nauka, izkustvo, i kultura) of the Bulgarian government has kindly to quote from collections published under government sponavailable to us by their efforts. cooperation in this country from Americans of Bulgarian and Macedonian

extended permission sorship

The

and made

birth has been most helpful. In performing for recording, they have been able to recreate for me the atmosphere of their native villages through song, dance, and

legend. I gratefully acknowledge the competent advice of my colleagues in the Music Department of the University of California at Los Angeles: Dr. Robert U. Nelson,, Dr. Laurence A. Petran, Dr. Walter H. Rubsamen, and Dr. John N. Vincent, Jr. In the matter of bibliography, Dr. Wayland D. Hand has been most helpful. Klaus Brill and Richard Hoffmann rendered invaluable assistance with the German translations. Robert Erich Wolf read the technical passages carefully and offered numerous suggestions for clarification. Louise and Richard Fish have graciously performed a number of essential tasks in connection with the preparation of the manuscript. It would be difficult indeed to find a more congenial editor than Glenn Gosling. He has been capable, cooperative, thorough, and patient above and beyond the call of duty.

wife has tirelessly assisted with advice and suggestions concerning style and presentation. She has devoted many hours to reading and rereading the manuscript, when her time and energy could have been more pleasantly spent. The realization of this book is in large measure the result of her efforts as well as mine.

My

Los Angeles, California February, 1952

C

ONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

1

CHAPTER TWO

HISTORIC BACKGROUNDS

7

CHAPTER THREE

METER

H AFTER ONE

16

Regular Meters Asymmetric Meters

Unmeasured Meters Combinations

CHAPTER FOUR

MELODY

51

Scales

Intervals

Cadences

Ornamentation Anacrusis

Modulation

Range

Harmony CHAPTER FIVE

STRUCTURE

82

Monorhythmic Melodies Symmetric Structures

Asymmetric Structures Incomplete Structures

CHAPTER SIX

TYPES Songs of the Past Songs of Everyday Experience

Songs of the Supernatural

108

xii

CHAPTER SEVEN

Contents

INSTRUMENTS

135

The Gusla The Bulgaria The Kavdl The Gdida CHAPTER EIGHT

CONCLUSION

143

BIBLIOGRAPHY

145

INDEX

157

ILL USTRA TIONS

Diagrams of conductor's beat for a 9/16 measure Diagram of conductor's beat for an 11/16 measure

Diagram Diagram Kavdl

of conductor's beat for an 8/16 measure of conductor's beat for a 9/16 measure

30 35

36 38

138

Gusla

140

Gdida

140

PRONUNCIATION:

Certain Bulgarian sounds, some of which have no English to approximate the original as closely as pos-

equivalents, have been represented sible, thus:

Written % i ii

English Equivalent

English Equivalent

u

oo in "food"

ts

ts

y in "may"

ch

in "union"

iu

u

ia

ya in "yacht" u in "submit"

u

Written

sin "pleasure" ee in "meet"

SYMBOLS: The

sh sht

in "puts" ch in "church"

sh in "sharp" sh as above, plus

t

in "time"

following symbols have been used to indicate intervals smaller

than a half tone: Half sharp

Half

flat

P

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

ANYONE with a medicum of experience in the collecting and study of folk songs can recognize, classify, and analyze a folk song when he finds one, but very few of us should like to state unequivocally that we have achieved an absolute understanding of the source of any given song, its evolution, and its exact place in the musical life of the people who gave it birth. This aura of uncertainty which surrounds the study of folklore

is

transmitted.

all folk art

Where

is

a natural outcome of the

preservation

is

method

in

which

accomplished by oral means, without impossible to determine scientifically

written record of the transitional steps, it is the exact origin of the material with which the folk artist has dealt. The folk song, as has been pointed out frequently, is never finished; it is in a state of un-

However, while the many variants simultaneously in use exhibit the ideational basis of a specific folk song remains essentially the same. There exists no absolute criterion to determine the authentic, right, or uncorrupted version. Such judgments are, in fact, irrelevant, since they would superimpose a cultivated and civilized taste upon a natural emotional expression. ending

flux.

individual

traits,

Let us suppose for a moment that a particular setting or wording of a well-loved song proves to be the work of a twentieth-century peasant. Will the musicologist's discovery invalidate the song as folklore, or persuade the villagers to discard the way of singing it that is preferred and familiar for an older, more authentic manner? The collecting of folk songs came about as a result of the rise of nationalism. The internal evidence of the folk music which has been recorded in some countries indicates that melodies popular among the people date back many centuries. A fallacious deduction from these facts would lead to the untenable assertion that older is more authentic and thus closer to the spirit of the folk. Actually, must be the final test of the true folk song and, in this volume, where any usage have arisen, this has been the determining factor. questions The origin of music, and thus of folk music, has always been a challenging study

what

is

to the anthropologist as well as to the music historian. Among ancient nations the explanations were chiefly mythological: the Hindus believed that the origin of music must be credited to a divine agency; the Chinese, that they inherited the scale from a miraculous bird; the Nahua (North American Indians), that music

came from the sun; the Javanese,

that

it

came from heaven.

2

.

Introduction

The French were 1767, Jean-Jacques

Dictionnaire de

la

the first to show an interest In primitive music. As early as Rousseau had already included material on the subject in his musique. The English followed his example. More recently the 1

Germans have joined the United

in the pursuit of the comparative science of music. In States, musicology has become an established branch of study only in the

past few years.

A

complete catalogue of the various theories on the origin of music is neither necessary nor desirable here, since the student of folklore should be well acquainted with them. A brief mention, therefore, is made of the more important contributors only. The speech theory of Spencer and the bird-call theory of Darwin have each had numerous adherents. The Berlin philosopher Carl Stumpf traces the origin of music to the signal calls primitive men employed in communicating with one 2 another. Karl Biicher, the political economist, believes that song started as the accompaniment to rhythmic bodily movements. He points out that long and labo-

rious activities are kept

up more

easily if disguised as play,

and that rhythm sim-

work. "Rhythm," he wrote, "springs from the organic nature of man"; 8 it 4 is automatic, instinctive. Early research makes little or no distinction between the beginnings of poetry and the beginnings of song. For this reason, writers on both subjects must be consulted if a rounded picture is to be obtained. In the Balkan villages with which plifies

I am familiar, even in modern times the birth of melody, words, and dance is often a simultaneous creative process. One of the oldest theories concerning the song of primitive peoples and its begin5 ning is that of communal authorship. Although it was A. W. Schlegel who originated this theory, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm6 generally receive the credit. For is a mystic yet acceptable possibility. The folk can be created by the entire nation. Early in the study of folklore, this belief met with opposition, for it places a severe strain upon the scientific mind

them a

collective creation

a poet; folk song

is

imagine a genuine spontaneous and simultaneous communal utterance which

to

would

result in folk creation.

An

ardent supporter of the collective theory is Francis B. Gummere, who has stated that there is adequate evidence that expression of emotion in primitive man could have been collective and that it is in the festal throng rather than the author's solitude that poetry, and therefore song, is born. "The ballad is a song made in the dance," he writes, "and so by the dance." 7 This statement is not original with 1 2 8 *

Carl Nef, History of Music (New York, 1946), p. 3. Carl Stumpf, Die Anfange der Musik (Leipzig, 1911), pp. 23-34, Karl Biicher, Arbeit und Rhythmus (Leipzig, 1924), p. 17. Ibid., p. 25.

"Now it is a fact, overlooked by German scholars, that A. W. Schlegel laid down a theory of communal origins almost identical with that of the Grimms, at a time when Jacob was barely fifteen and Wilhelm fourteen years old." Francis B. Gummere, The Beginnings of Poetry (New York, 1901), p. 34. Professor Gummere quotes Schlegel 's essay on Burger, found in A, W. Schlegel,, Werke (ed. by 5

Bockling), Vol. VIII, pp. 64

written in 1800, with particular reference to pp. 79 ff. Grimm wrote in collaboration, Deutsche Sagen and Kinderund Hausmdrchen, became immensely popular in Germany, and it was through the writings of the Grimms, certainly, that the communal authorship theory became known. 7 Gummere, op. cit+, p. 321. *

Two

ff.,

volumes which the brothers

Introduction Professor earlier.

Gummere;

it

simply

restates

what

F.

3

M. Bohme had recorded

thirty years

8

George Lyman Kittredge also subscribed to the communal composition theory, but found it difficult to accept Grimm's declaration that das Volk dichtet; he could not figure out the actual production of a ballad without the agency of an individual

He proceeded, instead, on what he termed just grounds of anthropological evidence. "Different members of the throng, one after another, may chant each author.

composed on the spur of the moment, and the sum of these various conmake a song. This is communal composition, though each verse, taken by itself, is the work of an individual. A song made in this way is no man's property and has no individual author. The folk is the author" 9 Dr. Louise Pound opposes this theory of communal authorship, which she considers absurd. She asks, "Did primitive man sing, dance and compose in a throng, while he was unable to do so as an individual?" 10 And she answers her own question thus: "Surely the individual does everything he can do, or chooses to do, as an individual before, or contemporary with, his ability to do the same as a member his verse,

tributions

of a throng." 11

Another much-quoted authority on folklore is Dr. John Meier, whose views were set forth early in the century. In his opposition to collective authorship he contends that not only have the so-called folk songs always come from the upper classes and been preserved by the peasant, but that they will continue to do so, in spite of our more complex civilization. "The process according to Meier is now what it always has been, first an individual composition, then oblivion of the individual and popularity for the song, which is felt by the people 'a necessary condition of folk poetry' to be their own, with manifold changes due in no case to 12 any artistic purpose or deliberation." This belief in the origin of folk music

as the art

and handed down sunkenes Kulturgut, which I will refer to by the lettered classes

Naumann

argues that folk poetry

is

song which has been outgrown

to the illiterate masses

is

known

as ge~

hereafter as the "seepage" theory. Hans transmitted by the lower strata of a civilized

whose tastes lag far behind those of the higher strata. He does admit that uneducated authors (Leute aus dem Volke) can be creators as well; however, they write in the style of earlier periods. These folk songs derive from the art song, but from the art song of a past era. On this basis a unification of hostile points of view may be achieved. It is, then, a biogenetic law that folk poetry not the nation,

communal

poetry in its way recapitulates the stages of preceding art in this sense particularly that Hoffmann-Krayer's statement, Day Volk 18 produziert nicht, es reproduziert nur, may be applied, Naumann suggests. This view was elaborately enunciated by Moses Gaster in his presidential address primitive,

poetry. It

is

to the Folk-Lore Society of 8 9

London

in 1909.

On

the subject of the source of folk

M. Bohme, Altdeutsches Liederbuch (Leipzig, 1877), p. xxxv. Helen Child Sargent and George Lyman Kittredge (eds.), English and

F.

(Boston, 1904), p. xix. 10 Louise Pound, Poetic Origins

* Ibid., 12

18

and the Ballad (New York,

1921), p. 9.

p. 11.

Gummere, op. cit.f p. 165. Hans Naumann, Primitive Gemeinschaftskultur (Jena,

1921), pp. 4-5.

Scottish

Popular Ballads

Introduction

4 art

he asserted,

"No one

will

deny

that, irrespective of date or place of origin, the 14 matter what the social first

originator/' No status of the creator, "strictly speaking, these men did not belong to the masses. 35 more or less what may be called the cultured classes of that time."

individual and not the mass was the

They represented

In the United States, Phillips Barry, like Professor Louise Pound, has opposed communal authorship theories and postulated instead a process which he terms "communal re-creation." According to Barry, "songs created by individuals and tradition become remodeled and changed by practically each handed down the

by

Bela Bartok, authority on Hungarian folk music, he contends that folk music which has been also. the Thus, seepage theory supports transmitted orally from generation to generation, village to village, is actually a in the towns corruption of the art music of some earlier period, long forgotten who the but trained where it was musicians, by peasants preserved by individual

who sang them

lfl

.

.

."

composed

adapted

it

own emotional contour and incorporated it into the great body 17 which forms the folk art of a nation. an unmistakable flavor of condescension implicit in this theory, since

to their

of tradition

There

is

artistic efforts of the simplest presupposes a peasant class incapable of original Those who hold this view also seem to place strong emphasis on the assumption that the peasant is of an inferior order, an indication of either historic or

it

nature.

the distortion of thinking. It might professional prejudice that goes far to explain indeed be embarrassing for a person who had spent a lifetime of concentrated and

arduous study in the acquisition of the art of composition to discover that an uneducated peasant could create a beautiful melody without formal training.

Apparently having examined

among them Ralph Vaughan

the evidence, the leading British folklorists, 20 19 18 Williams, Cecil Sharp, and Sir Hubert Parry, all

have arrived at the conclusion that somewhere a folk poet-singer composed a song and sang it to his fellow villagers. Others sang the song after him, changing what they did not like. The changes which begin as soon as another singer performs the song are minor ones from individual to individual, yet in time they may alter the original so much that its inventor would not recognize it for his own. Nor is it, by that time, the property of any single author-composer, but rather a communal product which contains an indication of the soul and character of the folk who sing it and listen to it with pleasure. This hypothesis takes into account the natural musical ability of untrained folk

and reasons that any national art music must be based upon a previously existing body of folk music. Otherwise, it is believed, the resulting art music would be unconvincing for listeners and performers alike and destined to an early death. Unless, within the early history of a people, some natural demonstration of an instinct for music, pictorial art, or storytelling is present, the superstructure of 14

Moses Caster, "Presidential Address," Folk-Lore (London), Vol.

XX (1909), p. 23.

"George Herzog, "Phillips Barry/' Journal of American Folklore, Vol. LI, No, 202 (OctoberDecember, 1938), p. 439. 17 Bela Bart6k, Hungarian Folk Music (London, 1931), p. 28. M Ralph Vaughan Williams, National Music (London, 1934). 19

Cecil Sharp, English Folk Song,

80

C.

Some Conclusions (London, 1908). of Music (New York and London,

Hubert H. Parry, The Evolution of the Art

1912).

Introduction civilized art will

practice, there

is

5

be erected on an extremely shaky foundation. Thus, in actual no nation which does not possess the rudiments of its artistic

The character of the people, the geographic, political, traceable in a nation's history, all affect the shape and civilized expression; just as the people are the foundation in mere

future from the very

start.

and economic elements emphasis of

its

numbers of a national

life, so,

in art potentials, they constitute the building stones

of the national culture.

That geographic conditions affect musical expression is probable. An isolated and lonely people sings in plaintive fashion; a gregarious and neighborly one sings lively

dance tunes; a coastal population echoes the music of the sea. In countries may be ascribed, at least in part, to differing

of large area, regional differences

topography. Political organization of the country's government

is

influential in a

controls the level of learning among the masses. Where large numbers of people are peasants, farmers, and workers, folk song abounds and endures to ease the burden of uneventful living. Economic conditions, which

different

manner, since

it

stem from the political, determine to a large extent the types of songs which will be found and the relative proportion of work, dance, and religious songs. All these factors can be seen to have affected Bulgarian folk music. Another prime factor which is especially noticeable in the history of folk song in Bulgaria is the impact of the country's history upon the nature of the folk song. For five hundred years the Bulgarian people were ruled by the Turks, who destroyed every vestige

of native learning, permitted no schools, and eliminated native intellectual leaders early in their occupation. And yet, as is amply demonstrated in the history of all oppressed peoples, tradition is the staff upon which people lean in time of need.

Folk song offers, together with folk tales and ballads, a way of preserving national culture. Events of local importance, deeds of folk heroes, romances which seemed particularly appealing, were all recorded in song and thus remembered and transmitted to succeeding generations. Inaccurate and nonfactual though the accounts thus preserved may be, they are one of the few ways of building a national tradition

where written

histories are denied.

problem of passing along a nation's history without benefit is the problem of communication with friends in a country inhabited by enemies. I was interested to observe during the Second World War that the French Resistance employed this method most effectively. For song, in a tongue unknown to the occupying army and with no strong emotional overtones of anger, sarcasm, or revolutionary feeling, seems an innocent pastime. The singer from the next village who gathers a modest crowd in the village square presents no serious threat to armed guards. Nor can there be much danger from the songs of Closely related to this of scribe or native cleric

working people in the fields, of small groups who gather in the evening for working bees, or of the wedding celebrants who sing throughout the festivities. Folk song as communication is an almost unnoticed weapon of a conquered people, because singing and music are invariably an important part of the daily life of the peasant. It is almost inconceivable to find a small country village without singers, fiddlers, flutists, and others who perform on native instruments. They do not have the diversions of the large city to while away their tim&. Music is their theater, their nightclub, their double-feature movie. It

is

the emotional core of

6

Introduction

their religion, the solace which makes hard labor bearable, the magic that leads their weary feet into dance patterns after a long day's work. higher levels of civilization the musician has been made a social pariah with discouraging fre-

On

quency; simple folk, however, look up to the musically gifted among themselves and hold them in high esteem. Bela Bartok, who follows the seepage theory of the origin of folk song, justifies it on the ground that peasants may be considered incapable of composing new tunes. One may wonder, then, where civilized man learned how to do what natural man is unable to accomplish. Must one suppose that the extensive theories of scales and harmony, for instance, were formulated from thin air before music of any kind could be created? It is highly improbable that authorities on the origin of music would endorse a hypothesis which insists that a man must write before he can sing. This specific study of Bulgarian folk song would have been abandoned midway had evidence pointed to the music as being what I should like to call secondhand. In investigating what has held the popular imagination over long periods of time, one gains a definite respect for the taste of the peasant. Setting aside some earthy crudities which may offend the delicate, one concludes that music which has survived and been sung many times over is certain to display intrinsic value. There is an unfailing dignity in the simplest of folk melodies that cannot help but be instructive to the schooled musician and especially appealing to the listener whose ears have been assailed with every novelty of auditory experience that the modern composer has been able to invent. Although strict analysis is the prime object of this study, the lasting quality of the folk music included here is not the least rewarding discovery that has been made.

CHAPTER TWO

HISTORIC BACKGROUNDS

) LA VIC-SPEAKING peoples, of whom the Bulgarians are a part, represent the largest linguistic group in Europe today, with a population totaling well over 200,000,000. The early history of the Slavs as a whole is rather obscure. According to Samuel Hazzard Cross, the presence of the Slavs in Russian territory, "if the

Neuri as Slavic is correct, reaches well back toward the beginning of the first millennium before Christ/* 1 Historians have traced Slavic origins to the ancient Scythians, Sarmatians, Thracians in fact, to virtually every nomadic tribe that inhabited eastern Europe during the formative stages. Pliny the identification of Herodotus's

23-79) was the first to identify the Slavs as Venedi in his Naturalis was not, however, until around A.D. 550 that the name "Slav" appears in written records (De rebus Getica of Jordanes). It seems certain that sometime during the first century of the Christian Era, tribes which later proved to be Slavic crossed the present Carpathian Mountains and, moving gradually westward, settled eventually where now we find the three main

Elder

(ca. A.D.

historiae. It

geographic divisions of the Slavs: eastern (Russians), western (Poles, Czechs or Bohemians, and Moravians), and southern (Slovenes, Serbs, Croats, and Bulgarians). From ethnological and philological points of view the Bulgarians are one of the

most interesting of

all Slavic peoples, since their culture is a curious amalgamation of the Slav tongue with traits they do not share with the remaining members of the Slav family.

From the first to the seventh century, the territory now kno'wn as the Balkan Peninsula was in a constant state of flux, politically, economically, and ethnologiWaves

of nomadic invasions ebbed and flowed, tribes prospered and disBalkan Peninsula thus became alternately cradle and grave to the appeared; various cultures, religions, and races. Because no static core of population existed, cally.

historic records are understandably meager. The information we ever contradictory, serves to give a picture of even greater unrest

do have, how-

and

instability

usual in the forming of national boundaries. Among the tribes that came either to colonize or to pillage were the Goths, the Huns, the Ostrogoths, and, somewhat later, the Slavs. The Thraco-Illyrians, who had inhabited the territory through all the previous invasions, were totally absorbed by the Slavs.

than

1

is

Samuel Hazzard

Cross, Slavic Civilization

Through

the Ages (Cambridge, Mass., 1948), p. 11.

Historic Backgrounds

8

Some of the invaders were advanced in culture and peaceful in nature; others were crude and warlike. After many decades the region gradually acquired a certain amount of prosperity. When the Bulgar hordes appeared at the end of the seventh century, they were attracted by what they saw between the Danube and the Aegean Sea, and decided to settle there.

The origin of the primitive Bulgars has never been definitely stated to the satisfaction of modern historians. Authorities have described the Bulgars as "nomadic people of Ural-Tsud or Finnish extraction," as "people of Turkish origin/' as a nation of "Scythian or Slavo-Tartar extraction," as "Finno-Ugrian." Theophanes (ca. A.D. 758-817) identifies them as Huns; Constantine Porphyrogenitus (A.D. 905-

known as Onogundors at one time. Other names given to were Ohogurs, Sanagurs, Kuturgurs, Hunugurs, Avars, Pet-

959) believes they were their predecessors

chenegs.

Byzantine writers in the second half of the sixth century tell us that the primitive Bulgars were not Slavs, and from the numerous sources available we are able to

more complete picture. The Bulgars were a military tribe which "through perfect organization and iron discipline imposed its will upon tribes more numerous and more cultured than itself." 2 The arguments advanced by Dr. Ivan Shishmanov (who is the leading authority on the subject in Bulgaria) seem piece together a

no doubt that the Bulgars are of Turkish-Tartar origin, and that the name "Bulgar" comes from the river Volga on whose banks the Bulgars settled at one 8 time, calling themselves "Volga people." to leave

Toward the middle of the seventh century, hordes of wild Bulgar horsemen, led by Isperikh, swept across the Danube into the Balkan Peninsula to conquer the more cultured Slavic inhabitants. Although their military strength and skill presented a continuous menace to the Byzantine emperors, the internal relations between victor and vanquished were somewhat more peaceable. Within the next two centuries, while waging wars that extended Bulgarian territory far beyond its early boundaries, the Bulgars adopted the language, customs, and cultural patterns of the Slavs and effected such a complete assimilation through

intermarriage

that only the Bulgarian

name and

political organization remained.

The

first Bulgarian kingdom was founded in 679 by Isperikh. Boris I, whose extended from 852 to 884, introduced Christianity into Bulgaria; his people reign were evangelized by disciples of the Macedonian missionaries St. Cyril and St.

Methodius.

originated the Cyrillic alphabet specifically for the Bulgarians in use in Bulgaria as well as in Russia and Yugoslavia. Boris hesitated a long time in making his choice between the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Church, but finally chose the latter.

and

They

it is still

The

Bulgarian empire was established by Simeon (893-927), under whose leadership great progress was made in arts and letters, but the glory of the empire he founded was short-lived. After his death, the Bogomil heresy, which denied the divinity of Christ, split Bulgaria disastrously. A separate western empire, including Albania and Macedonia, was founded at Ohrid under Shishman of Turnovo. 2

first

E. J. Dillon, "The Origin and Language of the Primitive Bulgars/' (London, 1904), p. 278. 3 Ivan D. Shishmanov, Kriticheski pregled (Sofia, 1900).

The Shade

of the Balkans

Historic Backgrounds

9

The

division proved fatal, and distracting wars on the eastern borders made it possible for Greece to conquer the eastern empire in 967. The western empire survived until 1014, when the Greek Basil II (known in Bulgarian history as

Bulgaroktonos, or "Slayer of Bulgarians") committed one of the most barbaric atrocities of historic record. He blinded 15,000 Bulgarian prisoners of war, leaving one soldier in five hundred with one eye to lead the men back to their own camps. A few years later the first Bulgarian empire collapsed completely and Bulgaria

remained subject to Byzantium for more than a century and a half (1018-1186). Ivan and Peter Asen of Turnovo led a combined insurrection of Vlachs4 and Bulgars to regain Bulgarian independence in 1186. The capitol of this second empire was at Turnovo, which the Bulgarians of today consider their traditional capitol. Of the line of Asen emperors, who traced their origin to Shishman, Ivan Asen II was the greatest, and indeed perhaps the greatest of all Bulgarian monarchs in history. During his reign (1218-1241) he brought Albania, Epirus, Macedonia, and Thrace into the Bulgarian empire; he governed justly and well and saw a flowering of the arts and of commerce and a prosperity hitherto unknown to his people. With the dying out of the Asen line in the middle of the thirteenth century, the decadence of the country terminated in surrender to Serbian forces. The Bulgarian nobility never again recovered its former power, and in 1396 the last Bulgarian dynasty was annihilated by the Turks. For five centuries, under Turkish yoke, Bulgarian independence remained a memory and a myth to the Bulgarian peasantry.

This was the darkest epoch in Bulgarian history. "The invaders carried fire and sword through the land; towns, villages and monasteries were sacked and destroyed, and whole districts were converted into desolate wastes." 5 The inhabitants of the plains fled to the mountains, where they founded new settlements. Many of the nobles embraced the creed of Islam and were liberally rewarded for their apostasy; others, together with numbers of the priests and people, took refuge across the Danube.

The

Christian population was subjected to heavy imposts, the principal ones being the haratch, or capitation tax, paid to the imperial treasury, and the tithe on agricultural produce, which was collected by the feudal lord. Among the most cruel forms of oppression

was the requisitioning of young boys between the ages of ten and twelve, who were sent Constantinople as recruits for the corps of

to

6

janissaries.

The

long era of subjection left the Bulgarian peasants without aristocracy or any kind. Because of this lack of literate spokesmen, the existence of the Bulgarian people was almost unknown in Europe as late as the beginning of the nineteenth century. Even students of Slavonic literature were unaware of the ethnic group which comprises the Bulgarian nation. As a matter of fact, most of the peasants themselves did not know that they were Bulgarians; for intellectual leaders of

centuries, kept in ignorance

by the Turkish war lords and Greek

clergy, they

had

Vlachs, or Ruman race, are a Latin people, the majority of whom live in Rumania. The Vlachs involved in the revolt of 1186 were settled in Thrace, Haemus, and the Moesian lands. 4

The

Especially heavy taxes levied in 1185 provoked the rebellion. B James David Bourchier, "Bulgaria," Encyclopaedia Britannica (llth ed.;

IV, p. 780. 9 Loc. cit.

New York,

1910), Vol.

i

o

Historic Backgrounds

been referring

to themselves as Greeks. In 1762, Father Paisii, a

Athos, wrote a history of the Bulgarian tsars and saints which

volume of Bulgarian literature still extant, tematically burned by the Turks. The works

is

monk

of

Mount

actually the

first

writings having been sysof Father Paisii mark the awakening all earlier

of national consciousness in Bulgaria. With the dawn of the nineteenth century, the national revival heralded by the writings of Father Paisii spread widely. Several works in modern Bulgarian appeared, and in 1835 the first Bulgarian school at Gabrovo began instruction in the native language. As consciousness of their national entity stirred among the

a strong reaction against the Greek clergy set in. Although there were it was by the pen rather than by the sword that of was achieved. In 1870, perhaps as a sop to their recognition Bulgaria finally restless Turkish the slaves, increasingly government recognized an autonomous Bulgarians,

scattered military uprisings,

Bulgarian Church. Encouraged by this forward step, a premature revolution broke out in 1876, and was savagely suppressed by the Turks.

Word of the attendant atrocities reached western Europe and aroused the sympathy of the outside world. Russian forces invaded Bulgaria in 1877 and liberation came

last in 1878. At the Treaty of San Stefano (March 3, 1878), Bulgaria's fondest hopes were realized and an independent Bulgaria was established with generous boundaries. The triumph was brief, however. The role which Russia

at

had played in the turn of events caused uneasiness among the greater European powers who remapped the Balkan Peninsula in Berlin on July 13 of the same year. Bulgaria was then divided into three sections, separating Eastern Rumelia and almost the whole of Macedonia from Bulgaria proper. In April, 1879, the assembly at Turnovo elected, as the first sovereign of the third Bulgarian kingdom, Prince Alexander of Battenberg, member of the grand ducal house of Hesse and nephew of the Russian tsar. The monarchs who ruled Bulgaria from that date until the establishment of the Bulgarian National Republic in 1944 were related to all the

major royal houses of Europe and in no way connected with the native Bulgarian dynasties, which became extinct in 1396.

The boundaries

no means final. The country now conabout 40,000 square miles, -and is bounded by Rumania on the north, Yugoslavia on the west, Greece on the south, and the Black Sea on the east. Macedonia, after the First World War, was divided between Bulgaria, Greece, and Yugoslavia. With the end of the Second World War, Bulgaria has gradually been gathered into the group of Balkan nations now effectively contained behind the Iron Curtain. tains

set

up

in 1878 were by

some 6,000,000 Bulgarians

in.

The ancient Slavic peoples, according to the information we have been able to piece together, had a superstitious faith in the power of sound. As a pagan race, they believed in powers superior to man who controlled the destiny of the universe and directed human affairs. their was rich in water Consequently,

mythology or chanted at sacrificial ceremonies, at funerals and weddings, at work and at play. Music was a highly respected art, and talented members of the community were trained in its mysteries. The nymphs, wood

sprites,

and strange

ritual.

They sang

gusla, a primitive instrument still in use in Bulgaria, supplied the musical accompaniment for the folk singer, who was thus known as a or

guslar

gaduldl Although

Historic Backgrounds

1 1

his songs were never written and his music frequently stemmed from requests or suggestions of his fellow peasants, the guslar can be said to be the prehistoric predecessor of the Slavic composer. The manner of performance of music exhibiting

a distinctly spiritual tone is still popular among the Bulgarian peasants; in certain isolated parts of the country they still practice rituals which date from very early 7 centuries.

The

existence of pre-Christian folk music is barely discernible in the mass of Bulgarian folk songs still available for examination. In the songs of ritual and

legend, of 8

myth and

fantasy, there are, however, certain faint echoes of ancient

From

the remaining examples we may assume that the music of the early Slavs was purely melodic, with strong diatonic foundations; the melodies were monotonous and void of wide intervals. They closely followed the text, forming times.

two-verse couplets. Duple meter was the most frequent, although irregular five, and similar measure units which appear in later Bulgarian folk songs were

seven,

sometimes used. 8

With

the conversion of Bulgaria to Christianity in the ninth century, folk music to strong antagonism from the clergy. The unmistakably pagan

was subjected

flavor of the folk

song was naturally censured by the Christian leaders

who were

attempting to bring the light of their own religion to the Bulgarian peasant. And, since the records of all things Bulgarian were totally, destroyed in a later epoch, it not altogether clear how successful were these attempts to suppress the spontaneous musical expression of the natives. The Bulgarian clergy, perhaps as a countermeasure, began to sponsor and em-

is

ploy a Bulgarian liturgy which differed from the then-accepted Greek Orthodox or Roman liturgy in use elsewhere. As late as the twelfth century, influences from the music literature of both churches are apparent, although the Greek Orthodox connections, always stronger than the Roman, were of greater importance in the

formation of an independent Bulgarian church music. Bulgarian musicians in turn have played an important role in the establishing of church music in Russia. Toward the end of the tenth century, Vladimir, Prince of Russia, took Bulgarian Archbishop Mihail from Constantinople to Kiev. With Mihail were many bishops and priests, as well as many church singers and their assistants, all chosen from among the Bulgarian Slavs and sent to Russia in order that they might teach the newly Christianized Russian people the Christian liturgical songs according to the Eastern Church tradition. Mihail, himself a learned man and well versed in religious matters, converted many thousands, selected 10 church officials, and built new churches throughout Russia, 7 The most primitive of all rituals among the Bulgarians of today is the fire dance. The details vary with local customs. However, the many versions all have one theme in common: whether the customary fire dance takes place before sunrise, during the day, or late in the evening, the parand sickness. They will be immune to ticipants will be protected against evil powers, magic, and their avoid will snakes. crops will not suffer from fire, flood, unhappy marriage, They poisonous or hailstorms. On this occasion old grudges are forgiven and friendships are renewed. The ceremony

includes not only dancing but singing, shouting, by young and old alike.

and the

firing of guns.

The

fire

dance

is

attended

8 Among them are songs for rain, songs dealing with the creation of the world, the "wedding of the sun/' Others resemble Greek odes to heroes and the gods of many centuries before Christ. D. B. Radev, Obshta istoria na muzikata (Sofia, 1948), pp. 33-34.

10

nintavp T*fp. Musir. in the Middle Aires fNew York. 194CN. D. 95.

1

2

The

Historic Backgrounds Bulgarian composer of whose music we have any

tangible record is the Orthodox church Eastern of the In Kukuzel. Ivan musician, history twelfth-century music, contemporary Bulgarian musicologists place Kukuzel second only to St. John of Damascus (d. 754), famous Syrian composer-poet who has been credited first

with the invention of the eight echoi of the Byzantine chant. Ivan Kukuzel was born in the village of Dzermentzi, Debur, in western Macedonia, in all probability toward the middle of the twelfth century. There is considerable disagreement about his exact dates. One source gives them as 1227-1279, and others place 'him even later. From various accounts of his life it is obvious that he lived in the time of the First Crusade, and that he was educated in the courts of Constantinople, where he remained for some time, composing and writing books on church music. Emperor Alexius I (1048-1 118) commissioned him to create a new type of chant, "more impressive and more solemn than that of St. John of Damascus, a chant

The result, notated in neumes own invention, is known as papadikai. Thus Ivan Kukuzel is reputed to have had much influence on Greek church music. In his church compositions Kukuzel employed folk-song melodies. One of these,

worthy of the splendor of the Byzantine Empire." of Kukuzel's

na Bulgarkata (example 1), notable for its polished, formal structure and melodic beauty, is still sung during Passion Week in the Eastern Orthodox services in Bulgaria. With its unusual range (almost two octaves), daring modulations, and developmental approach, Kukuzel's Polieleiat na Bulgarkata is an exceptionally advanced composition for the epoch in which it was composed. Other compositions of Kukuzel's which are sung in the Eastern Orthodox services are Pridvorna Heruvimska pesen, S'vishe prorotzi, and Vladiku i SviashtennonaPolieleiat

chalnika nashego.

Example I

E

1.

Polieleiat

J ei

na Bulgarkata. Ivan Kukuzel. Transcribed by Peter Dinev."

Jjjj Gos

J

-

J

JJ JJ. J'JJ JTJ'J po

-

ho

-

J

J

II

di

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries a distinctive Bulgarian church singing,

from that of the Greeks, and known as the Bulgarian chant, Three main influences played a part in the formation of this characteristically Bulgarian church music: the importation of bishops and priests from Rome, where the rise of the polyphonic style was already under way; the ascendancy of the Greek Orthodox Church in the political structure of the Bulgarian Church; and, last, the authentic Bulgarian chant, which undoubtedly flourished in the famous school at Turnovo and which was enriched by the cplorful folk songs of the times. Unfortunately, except for music in Kukuzel notation, no other records of such early music have been uncovered in Bulgaria; together with other native cultural achievements, they were destroyed by the Greek clergy after the Bulgarian Church was placed by the Turks under Byzantine control. A few remnants of Bulgarian church music have been preserved in manuscript significantly different

evolved.

11

Peter Dinev,

Duhovni muzikalni

tvorbi na Ivan Kukuzel (Sofia, 1938).

Historic Backgrounds

1

3

in Russia, whither fled the leaders of the Bulgarian Church during the fifteenth century. Russian musicologists have thus had an opportunity to study the Bulgarian

chant;

it

is

from

their research that

characteristics, for they

have praised

we may its

sketch even briefly

its

distinctive

construction, originality of concept,

and

12

beauty. Barsky, a traveler, author, and Russian authority on Eastern church music, writes that the Bulgarian chant of the seventeenth century was much more

and melodious, and had a more religious, spiritual content than the Byzantine chant. The Greek clergy obtained permission from the Turkish conquerors to assume complete control over the Bulgarian Church. From the time of the Turkish in-

beautiful

vasion, then, the written record of Bulgarian life is nonexistent. The spiritual and political conquerors undertook to wipe out every trace of whatever was Bulgarian

and to keep the native population in ignorance and subjugation so abject that at no time would there be a threat to the power of the oppressor. There were no large gatherings of the people except in church; there were no schools, no village meetings, none of the usual group efforts through which a peculiarly national art or culture

And

is

normally preserved.

not only did the national music not continued to actually develop and evolve into a "poetic and musical treasure, an expression of the thought and the creative genius of the folk." 33 There are few Bulgarians and, indeed, few students of Bulgarian history and culture who would agree with the poet Pencho Slaveikov, an authority on Bulgarian folk art, when he says: "The Bulgars should be very grateful to their five hundred years of slavery. It is due to this, in the first place, that they have remained Bulgars, yet, despite these difficult conditions,

disappear, but

for the

it

after suppressing every class distinction left them long to conjure up a soul, to

Turkish overlords

enough

in peace

and gave them ample opportunities

14

generate a body, to subdue themselves in circumstance." In this highly colored statement, however, lies an important clue to the understanding of the folk music which we shall examine. Without unduly laboring the point,

it

must be remembered that when the Turkish conquest had subdued

all of

Bulgaria, the Bulgarian people were without leaders, aristocracy, intellectuals. Only peasants remained, and these fled from the plains and cities to the relative is therefore a mountain people, unlettered and isolated one community from another, that is responsible for the enormous body of Bulgarian folk music under consideration here. Most Macedonians and Bulgarians live in villages, away from the distractions,

safety of the mountains. It

danger, and sophistication of the cities. (The danger of living in big cities, in Bulgaria at least, has been actual and physical through the centuries of constant since the little country has always been strategically important for the pressure,

Drang nach

Osten.)

Cut

peasant has created a

life

off

from commerce and the ruling which knows few

of his own, a life

class,

the Bulgarian

virtues, chief

among

A. Voznesenski, Bolgarskii rospev (Kiev, 1903), records this impression of the music. Among many use of Bulgarian chant, Tebe odeiushtagosia religious compositions of Russian composers making and Blagoobrazni losif of Bortnianski are among the best known. 12

18

Radev, op.

14

Pencho Slaveikov, "The Folk Song of the Bulgars," The Shade of the Balkans (London,

p. 59.

cit.,

pp. 89-90. 1904),

1

Historic Backgrounds

4

them those of work and song. In song the peasant exposes his innermost feelings of sorrow and exaltation, of reverence and superstition. It is a catharsis for the experiences of a person, a community, a race. It is in the song that we find the spirit of the nation. Macedonians and Bulgarians sing alone, in groups, in the fields, returning home from the harvest, at working bees during the winter months.

For many centuries the

social life of the

Bulgarian has revolved around work,

and dance.

music,

It is not strange, therefore, that the folk music of the Bulgarian is closely connected with dance and song. All musical forms have felt the influence of the rich cultural heritage of the various peoples who have crossed the tiny country of the

Bulgars, leaving behind new and frequently strange ideas, customs, and skills. In thirteen centuries, however, the Bulgarians have assimilated all foreign influences in a national tonal art which embraces the elegance, the tenderness, and the creative impulse of the Slav, his

more Oriental

pre-Slav

historic preparation

an

and the angular,

the daring, the harsh qualities of from this type of

predecessors. It is inevitable that

art should evolve that

is

tremendously complex despite

its

primitive appearance.

Systematic collection of national folklore in Bulgaria is a comparatively recent accomplishment. In fact, there was no serious effort on the part of Bulgarian scholars to assemble the folk song of their native land until the Ukrainian historian lurii Venelin (1802-1839) stimulated interest in that direction. 15 Since then, within a mere century and a quarter, the collections of Bulgarian folk songs have

grown richer and richer, new collections being constantly compiled. Thus between 1816 and 1878 alone, more than 2,000 songs containing 74,166 verses were collected."

When

the nineteenth

was published in 1900,

volume of Sbornik za narodni umotvorenia it

contained 3,000 additional folk songs.

i

narodnopis

The number

of

notated folk songs to date is difficult to estimate, but it is certain that the total exceeds 20,000. The excellent collections of Vasil Stoin contain several thousand

The younger

generation of musicologists and composers is aware of the of such importance preservation of the national song. As a result, most of the in the musical life of Bulgaria have collections which people prominent they themsongs.

selves started

and are constantly enlarging.

For the present study

I have consulted collections containing some 12,000 folk these sources, examples have been chosen most frequently from the following volumes (see Bibliography): Vasil Stoin, Narodni pesni ot Sredna Severna ot Iztochna i Bulgaria^ Narodni pesni ot Timok do Vita, Bulgarski narodni

songs.

Of

pesni

15

Venelin (Venelovich), who was born Georgi Hutza, studied religion, history, and medicine. Delayed by the Greek revolution of 1823, while on a trip through eastern Europe, he was so impressed with Bulgarian folk art that he immediately commenced the study of their language, history, and culture. Upon completion of his study of medicine in Moscow, Venelin published his Drevnie i nineshnie bolgare . a book which had (Ancient and Modern lurii

. .

Bulgarians), far-reaching highly respected in Bulgaria for having thus resurrected the hopes of her people. 18 The first Bulgarian folk song to appear in print seems to be the one in Vuk Stefanovich Karadjch's Narodna srbska pesnarnitza, published in 1815. According to Professor Mihail Arnaudov, it was a lyric song from Razlog, which Karadjch had heard a Macedonian sing in Vienna , p. 77). (Ocherki .

effects.

Venelin

.

.

is

Historic Backgrounds

1

5

Zapadna Trakia, Bulgarskata narodna muzika; Ivan Kamburov, Illustrovan muzikalen rechnik, Bulgarski narodni pesni, Muzika i narod; Dobri Christov, T echnicheskia stroez na bulgarskata narodna muzika; Mihail Arnaudov, Ocherki po bulgarskia folklor; Sbornik za narodni umotvorenia i narodnopis, Volume XXVII and Volume XXXIX. '

CHAPTER THREE

MET ER

^_^J NE OF THE most folk music

difficult

and

at the

same time one of the most fascinating

its meter. It is difficult because in the which are not found in Western elements must introduce to be as logical at metric the because patterns will prove music, and fascinating the end as they would appear strange at the beginning. Following are the metric schemes which appear in Bulgarian folk songs: regular; asymmetric; unmeasured;

that of

is

as'pectTof Bulgarian discussion of meter we

combinations of regular, asymmetric, and unmeasured.

REGULAR METERS most common of most frequent forms are:

Simple duple meter folk music.

The

4JA In

fast

tempo

(

by

is

J J

far the

J

>

=

J

>

J

nn >

130-160), 2/4

is

all

regular meters in Bulgarian

J >

- li

gn

-

In

-

be.

Example 14. Turchin sldza iz gord zelena (A Turk Descends from the Green Forest). Sung by Ninka K. Rampelska, 58, of Staliiska-Mahaia, Lorn, January, 1927. Notated by Christo Iliev.

13

^^

M.M.h=60

^

(A 120)

ftfe

dflb

za

Tur-chin sla

iz (

go

-

ra

A 120)

^

r tu

The 6/8

-

tun

iz

pi

as triplets

is

lu

la

cher

-ve-

na.

found only in instrumental music; in slow tempo

be considered nonexistent. Of

it is

so

the folk songs in regular rneter may which have been examined in the course of this study, more than half are in 2/4; approximately one-tenth are equally divided between 3/4 and 4/4; and the remainder are in combinations of the above. Most folk songs in regular meter (with the exception of a certain number in 2/4 which are dance-inspired) stem from

rare that

lyric folk

it

all

poetry and are not associated with the dance.

ASYMMETRIC METERS A

great

many

of the Bulgarian dance songs bear such metric signatures as 7/16,

9/16, and 15/16. These tunes are by far the most interesting, since the combinations of seven, nine, and fifteen in these instances are not septuple, compound triple, and compound quintuple time, respectively, but are, instead, measures which contain three, four, and seven asymmetrically combined beats, each beat containing two or three sixteenth notes. Whether this conception of metric grouping is of purely Slav origin has not

been established. Further research into the history of Bulgaria before the seventh century might uncover data on the possible influence of Tartars, Thraco-Illyrians, and Petchenegs all of pre-Slav origin. Greek writers have emphasized the fact that the origin of their music is chiefly Asiatic. It is possible, therefore, that centuries ago both Slavs and Greeks drew from the same source Arabs, Persians, and 14 other races. In the music of present-day Turkey and Greece these asymmetric 12

M 14

five,

Stoin,

Ot Timok do

Vita, p. 73,

No. 300.

JWdL,p. 333, No. 1384.

The

theory of Hindu music acknowledges metric patterns, or angas, with one, two, three, four, and nine units of time.

seven,

Meter

2

1

meters are found only In isolated instances; in Bulgarian music, however, they are widely and consistently used. Bulgarian musicologists in recent years have written extensively on the unique rhythmic and metric patterns of their native music. Professor Dobri Christov, Dr. 16 17 Stoian Djudjev, and Vasii Stoin have done outstanding work. Dobri Christov (1875-1941) assumes that in Bulgarian music the sixteenth note 115

is

a basic time unit (the chronos protos of Greek theorists) and as such is indivisible. such notes result in one measure unit, which lends itself to a dance step.

Two

Three such basic time units result in an elongated measure unit, J*5""J - JX with approximately 400 sixteenth notes per minute. The relationship between the

(0

and the elongated measure unit ( JX) is therefore 2:3 (Irrational relationship). The elongation is mathematical and not agogic. Thus 5/16, 7/16, 8/16, and so on are merely results of the combination of regular and elongated measure units. Christov refers to the theory of Aristoxenus, and speculates on the origin of these metric groups as possibly being of Dorian, Phrygian, ordinary measure unit

)

18 Thracian, or Hindu derivation.

Stoian Djudjev (1902also takes as a point of departure the Greek theorists ) and philosophers. He maintains, however, that Dobri Christov's theory In regard to Irregular Bulgarian and Macedonian meters is based on a misinterpretation of the Greek terminology. Since the prime unit (chronos protos) Is a unit of measurement, It cannot possibly be altered from regular to elongated and so have different values within the same measure. This would be as impractical and as illogical as, for instance, stating the dimensions of an object partly In centimeters and partly

We may measure

by either system, but never by both at once. Thereof regular and elongated measure units, but only of regular and elongated beats. The basic unit of measurement remains the same, while the beat might change so that two or three measures in simpler meter make one measure of higher order, as ritmo di ire battute and ritmo di quattro battute (e.g., the development section of the Scherzo of Beethoven's Choral Symphony). And since even the most metrically complex measures may be broken in inches. fore,

concludes Djudjev,

it

we may not speak

down Into various combinations of simple duple and simple triple time, the Bulgarian so-called irregular meters are nothing more or less than various combinations of such meters, which could be Interpreted as ritmo di tre battute, ritmo di 15

Dobri Christov, Technicheskia stroeZ . (Sofia, 1928). Stoian Djudjev, Rhythme et mesure dans la musique populaire bulgare (Paris, 1931). 17 Vasil Stoin, Bulgarskata narodna muzika, .

.

16

18

Christov, op. dt.f p. 28.

Djudjev apparently refers to the conductor's beat, which, in fast tempo, he believes to correspond to a measure of either 2/16 or 3/16. He bases his conclusions, as does Louis Laloy (Aristoxene de Tarente et la musique de I'antiquite) on the distinction which Aristoxenus makes between xP OJf0i 18

wpovot (chronos protos, or temps premiers} and xpouot Troditjot (temps rhythmiques), the unit for measuring time duration. Aristoxenus further divides time into double (Sio^^os) and triple (rploTjfjiOs).

In the opinion of Djudjev, Dobri Christov

calls

a group of two sixteenths

JTJj

(

00

)

an

an elongated unit. But these units ordinary unit, and a group of three sixteenths ( ) cannot be used as measures of time duration, since they are not equal. Stoian Djudjev, Bulgarska

narodna horeografia

(Sofia, 1945), p. 215.

Meter

22

quattro battute > and so on. Viewed in this light, Djudjev concludes, Bulgarian meters would be easily understandable and there would be nothing irregular, irrational,

abnormal, or mysterious about them.

Vasil Stoin (1880-1939),

who

20

has compiled several of the most remarkable colby far the most reasonable explana-

lections of Bulgarian folk songs, believes that

tion of the

of the elongated metric unit found in Bulgarian folk

phenomenon

that Bulgarians naturally think in terms of phrases which are a combination of duple and triple meter. From the many examples in his Bulgarskata narodna

music

is

muzika, only four are given here (examples 15-18) to illustrate his point.

Example

15.

\^ & m\ & i

Each measure of

not

A

this

I

I

rJ

flf

[

It is

21

I

I

'-\

I

i i

g?

-HMf

^

.a

f^

di

f

f If



J^

J^R

.

The third

heavily accented, giving the measure a feeling of 2/16 + 3/16.

Among

of the dances of other Slavonic countries resemble certain Bulgarian dances in metric

formation.

Thus

the Czech Strashak Rhythmic pattern

J J J J

Bulgarian Ruchenitza pattern

mazurka (rhythmic pattern

^

J7"^

|

^

,

J

J JJ

)

is

not very different from the

nor are the dance steps dissimilar.

J7""3

|

/^ /^ f%

|

The

X

Polish

II

)

resembles the Bulgarian dance, the Paidushka:

lnfact,n,any of the Chopin mazurkas are played with an elongated

asymmetric

first

or third quarter, thus almost achieving

effects.

Alfred Korzybski, Science and Sanity (3d ed.; Lakeville, Conn., 1948), p. 58. 25 From the Old Slavic paiddm, "to limp." The dancers bencl their knees as if limping. The dance which are more often than not accompanied by singing figures usually demand five-measure phrases, 24

and clapping of hands.

Meter the

25

melodies to which the Paidushka

many

(Here Comes

Example

Silly

lana)

is

one

of the

is danced, Ot dolu ide ludata Idna most widely known (example 20).

20.

M.M. J= 400

do-lu

Ot

x-y

p

The beats

i

-

de

J) and **

times the

first

-

da-ta

la

-

ua,

etc.

-^

5/16 in the Paidushka (

lu

) ,

is

a meter in

which each measure

consists of

the second beat being elongated to equal one

two

and one-half

Tunes which accompany the Paidushka are, for made up of five-measure phrases. The melody in example

(ratio of 2:3).

choreographic reasons, 20 consists of four-measure phrases only; therefore, Dobri Christov has proposed a two-measure extension between measures four and five.

Christov quotes the melody in 5/8 instead of in 5/16. In a moderate tempo, quintuple meter (as 2 -f 3) is found also in Turkish music, where it is called usul tiurkaksak.

During the first few years after liberation from the Turks, many of the musicians prominent in the musical life of Bulgaria were imported from western Europe. Collections of their notation betray a lack of understanding of the principle of The Paidushka has been notated in 3/8 frequently, as in example 21.

hemiolia.

Meter

26 Example

21. etc.

20 on superficial This version may appear similar to that in example 16 a dactylic measure 2/16 + 3, but the second notation does, nevertheless, change demands. the meet does not choreographic 3 r 24/8 into a tribrach, which old ritual and religious The 5/16 is also the metric signature for a great many falls in the latter category. 22 carols. Christmas Example songs, especially

Example

22.

Tebe peiem, chorbadzine (We Sing

Sta-ni

ni-ne,

go-spo

-

di-ne,

to You,

Our Master).

26

dzi-ne. pe-iem, chor-ba-

te-be

use the identical metric pattern, In different parts of the country, dances which J>. = 70 ) and Kldteno horo but in other tempos, are known as Zad-Krdk (

(NX =40).

,

tempo J -200) is used frequently, and does not differ from the 5/16 pattern, of which it seems to be an augmentation. The essentially difference between the two is in the number of accents contained within the meas-

The

5/8 in moderate

ure: 5/16 has only units,

one of which

two accents is

J*-)? whereas in 5/8 there are four stressed

(H

twice as long as the others:

J^J^J

J^J^J^J

(

J^J^orJ

J^J^J

note equals two eighth notes (J

-

J^

).

J^J^J^in

each the quarter

In 5/16, on the other hand, the

rela-

The percussion beats in the accompanying diagram JX). between the two meters. the difference further illustrate tionship

is

2:3

Melody Bass

drum

(

5

J\o

J>

J)

^

J

,

Jl

j>

J) etc..

8,

LJ* LJL-T 'C-T C-JU"

n.

Melody Bass

drum

etc.

16

The 7/16 vorite national dance, the

serves as a metric

Ruchenitza* Virtually

within the measure: J> J> Jl 28

,

J>

fl Jl

,

all

framework

for Bulgaria's fa-

metric variations are possible

J~)

&

,

fl /3 fft

,

Ivan Kamburov, Bulgarski narodni pesni (Sofia, 1940), p. 18. 27 From ruchenik, "a handkerchief." A solo dance or one executed by couples. It is accompanied by joyous motions of hands and body. One of the dancer's hands is placed on the hips, while the other waves a handkerchief. Thus, Ruchenitza, "a handkerchief dance."

Meter

27

and

so on. In all of them, 7/16 is a triple meter, with an elongated last unit which receives the strongest accent in the measure. The melodies in this group ordinarily consist of four-measure phrases.

There are a number of popular melodies to which the Ruchenitza is danced. Example 23 is one of the favorites. The percussion instruments emphasize the first, third, and fifth sixteenths of the measure, or the three distinct beats.

^

^ > J

]3 i-l-J is

I

J

It is interesting to note that, although the septuple meter with 2 + 2 + 3 grouping used in distant Oriental countries, it is totally unknown in the music of countries 28

contiguous to Bulgaria Yugoslavia, Greece, and Turkey. The Serbian composer G. Marinkovich, for instance, gives the notation of the Bulgarian folk song / dz beh ednd na mdika (I Too Was the Only Child of My Mother) 29 in 3/4 (example 24) instead of in 7/16, as in example 25.

Example

24.

A

Example

,

Lively

25.

I

az

beh

ed - na

na

mai

-

ka

The notation of example 24 displays a total disregard of the principle of hemiolia and shows no awareness

of Bulgarian rhythmic, metric,

and

linguistic peculiarities.

altogether incorrect to change a three-measure phrase into a phrase of two measures, because, first, the setting becomes entirely melogenic, that is, the melody It is

is

treated independently of the words. 28

According

to

also speculates

poetic stress

falls

on the adverb

i,

and

is found in Russian songs of Tartar origin. He and Hindu origin of 7/16. Christov believes that the Bulgaria from the Orient through the Turkish -Tartar tribe which

Dobri Christov,

on the

The

this

metric pattern

possible Egyptian

Ruchenitza might have come to came to the Balkans with Isperikh in the seventh century. Christov, op. tit., pp. 31-32, 29 This melody was taken from the collection by Franjo Saver RunaC, Sudslavische Volkslieder (1885), pp. 30-31.

Meter the preposition na ("too" and "of"), hardly important enough to merit special emphasis in the sentence, "I too was the only child of my mother." Even if the i were misconstrued for its homonym, which means "and" (as it might easily be

misunderstood by those who are not intimately familiar with the language), the emphasis would fall on the wrong syllable. The melody in example 25 follows natural speech, with the stress falling thus:

u

u I

The word

u

u

%J

beh ed-nd na mai-ka.

az

mdi-ka, in the third measure, with two stressed syllables, has been

so that the syllables will receive the

two strong

beats:

J)

^sft

mai

But the

first

syllable requires a

not necessarily a stronger one.

somewhat longer

stress

set

J).

-

ka

than the second, although

And since in 7/16

the elongated third beat is accented the inevitable one tying the first two eighth notes

most, the logogenic solution is of the measure in order to balance the poetic with the metric accents. The poetic strophe consists of eight syllables, not 5 + 3 as example 24 indicates, but 3 + 3 + 2.

Second, the dance figure would require three measures instead of two. Therefore, a setting like

3/4

J

J

would

beh

az

I

U

J

-^

J

J

-

ed

-

na

na

N mai

J -

J ka

have met the choreographic demands, where Marinkovich's

at least partially

setting does not. Dr. Peter Panoff does not 30

come any closer to interpreting the Ruchenitza rhythm Like Marinkovich and the Czech musicologist Ludvik Kuba, 31 Dr.

authentically. Panoff shows that he

is not acquainted with additive meters as practiced in Oriental music. Thus, in his study on Bulgarian rhythm and form, he has notated the Ruchenitza in 3/8, as in example 26, instead of in 7/16 (example 27). Pan6ff's

Example

26. etc.

Ot

Example

do

-

1ft

i

-

de

ma -mo mom -che

lin

-

che,

etc.

study of Bulgarian folk music seems to lose some of such obvious deviations from fact.

In some parts of the country

this

dance

is

its

known

authenticity in the face of

as

Obiknovenna (ordinary)

und Kirchenmusik," Handbuch der Musikwissenschaft The melody was taken down apparently from records available at the

Peter Pan6ff, "Die Altslavische Volks-

(Wildpark-Potsdam, 1930). time at the Staatliches Phonographisches Archiv-Berlin. 81

-

27.

s 80

do

Ludvik Kuba, Slovanstvo ve Svych Zpevech (Prague,

n.d.).

Meter

29

or Zenska (feminine) Ruchenitza. Other folk dances which employ the same metric schemes are Chepnitza, Povurnato horo, Vetrensko horo. Not all melodies in 7/16 are dance settings; many religious folk songs bear this time signature. The Christmas carol (example 28) is based on an old folk legend.

Example

Samodiva grdd gradila (A

28.

Built a City). 32

Nymph

Ruclienitza tempo

Ko

Ko

The 9/16

-

le -

-

le

do

-

do

le,

-

mo

ba

-

ne,

Da-ne

le,

mm mm mm

(

Sa

f*f

is

)

-

di

-

va

grad gra

Dan voi-vo

-

da,

Ko

-

-

di

le -

-

la t

do*

one of the most commonly used meters in

Bulgarian music. (See example 29.) Its origin is undoubtedly Oriental. It is found in Turkish music under the name aksak. 33 In a slow tempo 9/16 serves as the metric

danced by wandering gypsies. nine equal notes within the measure are not grouped as a

basis for the Kiuchek,

The

pattern

(

JjJ JjJ JJJ

four beats with an elongated effect of

and

3/8 + 3/16: J

fifth sixteenths.

(

Example

j

J

but

as 2

+2+2+

last beat.

The

strong accent

)

3,

compound

triple

which makes a measure of

?

JjJ

;

falls

on

there are weaker accents

seven, giving the

on the

first,

third,

Other possible interpretations are 4/16 + 5/16

/J /J Jd jJJ :

and

4|/8

JjJj-

).

29.

Background rhythm

Dance step Conductor's beat

Jf)

J*)

Ji

1234

The graphic presentation of the conductor's beat will further simplify the concept of the subdivision which makes the 9/16 a measure of four or four and a half beats rather than of either three or five. (Diagrams of conductor's beat are given only where metric structures are unusual.) 82

Kamburov, op. cit., p. 39. There are three types of aksak in Turkish music: agur aksak, orta aksak, and slow, moderate, and fast. Djudjev, Bulgarska narodna horeografia, pp. 262-263. 38

iurtik aksak

Meter

*,*

The attempt 3

J 1

J

^"2^ J J

to interpret

J*

*s

9/16

as a

syncopated regular triple meter

not accurate, since the dance demands four, instead of three,

3

J J . It is also logical to explain an unusual pattern like 4-|/8 the through principle governing alia breve; if 4/4 meter could be accelerated to or two beats to the measure, and 6/8 to two beats to the measure, it is at least

steps:

,

(j;

possible that a

measure of nine, similarly

treated,

would

result in four

and

a half

beats.

Pan6ff, in the study mentioned, gives a metric signature of 5/8 to the folk tune Boll Idna belo gurlo (lana/s Fair Throat Aches).

Example

30.

Bo-li

Having

la-na

be-lo

gtir-lo,

be-lo

gur-lo

med-jan gar-no.

measure consists of nine rather than ten basic give an altogether inaccurate version of the folk

failed to realize that each

time elements, Panoff proceeds to song, depriving it of all the charm,

vitality, grace, and distinction which the authentic asymmetric structure contributes to the simple melody (example 31).

Example

31.

JI(T

Meter It will readily to,

31

be seen that the notation in example 30 is as different from, and the actual folk song as it would be to consider the paeonically

inapplicable conceived 9/16 as three groups of three. The confusion in the notation of example 30 is not uncommon. It must be remembered that there are many Bulgarian folk

songs that are notated in 5/8, in moderate tempo. That notation is not much different from that of the Hymn to Apollo or from the notation of the Greek song in

example

32.

Example n

32.

Song

to St. Sofia

u Minologa.

S

As in the famous

Hymn

to

Apollo, the Scmg to $. Sofia Minologa contains four

syllables in each measure, rarely three or five. The difference between the Greek and the Bulgarian quintuple meter lies in the position of the three eighth notes

which assume the

may appear folk music

either at

it is

an elongated unit. In Greek music that elongated note the beginning or at the end of the measure, but in Bulgarian

role of

generally at the end. Thus, 5/8

may

easily

be confused with 9/16:

The

9/16, then, differs from the 5/8 meter only in the last group, there being one sixteenth less in 9/16 than in 5/8. And it is that one sixteenth which changes a

measure into a measure of four, or, to be exact, of four and one-half beats. Dances in 9/16 are executed by two rows of dancers forming straight lines which face each other, with the columns advancing and retreating as the dance steps change, moving swiftly to the right at the end of each phrase. In tempo

five-beat

M.M. H = 320 -420 the horo is known as Radomirska igrd, Tropliva igrd, Hoiisa. 5 In certain parts of the country it is called Ludoto, Povurnushka, Izrichdnka.* ,

The

11/16

J^

^ ^

4*

J^

is

quite similar to the 9/16 meter of

the previous section; an additional group of two sixteenth notes is inserted before the elongated unit. Such a combination is by no means theoretical; it is found in folk songs in Bulgaria and Macedonia, although it is less another 11/16 pattern with different grouping. (See example 42.)

many 34

i

Dobri Christov, "Ritmichnite osnovi na narodnata ni muzika," Sbornik za narodni umotvorenia

narodnopis 35

common than

(Sofia),

Vol.

XXVII

(1913), p. 41.

Djudjev, Bulgarska narodna horeografia, p. 265.

HF

r

F

:

"

^

:

j>

Each measure here consists of five beats, of which four are of equal value and the last is one and one-half times longer. Again, the chief stress falls on the last beat (the ninth sixteenth note), while the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth six-

The remaining sixteenths are rhythmically The combination may be viewed as 2/16 + 2/16 + 2/16 -f 2/16 + 3/16 or as

teenths receive secondary accents.

weak.

The ing of (

j

$ $ /

y fLfbe y y seems

13/16 meter all

those treated thus far. It

Jj

J

:

J J^ ^ k u t

to

/'

one of the most

is

fascinat-

a combination of 4/8 4-5/16

since the strong accent falls

on the

sixth rather

than on the fifth beat, such a subdivision is not altogether convincing. A dynamic folk dance in this pattern is Mama, mila mdmo (Mother, Dear Mother, Who Knocks at the Gate?).

Example

34.

3^

E r

(or:

Ma- ma, mi

-

la

ma

-

mi

-

lo

che

-

Tzo- ne

koi koi

mo, do,

chu chu

-

-

ka ka

na na

p6r por

-

-

etc.

ti,

ti.)

Because of its unusual appearance and nature, melodies in 13/16 have often undergone a slight change while being notated: the elongated note is treated as a group of four sixteenths. Such further stretching of the already elongated eighth results in a

measure of 7/8 J

the last three notes

which

is

J

_

J^

J

w ^^

an

i rr

^g u l ar grouping of

altogether foreign to Bulgarian music.

curiously enough,

is

not

found independently as a metric scheme for an entire song. In a few examples, however, it is combined with other asymmetric groups, chiefly with 9/16. In all instances the melodies begin with 15/16, and the 9/16 is of the type in which the hemiolic unit appears at the end. (See example 35; notice the unusual treatment of the paeon ic beat in measure four.)

Meter

33

Example 35. Sung by Vata Matkova, 75; Tota Velkova, 60; Ignata Prokopova, Mina Tzanova, 70; of Dolni-Lukovit, Orehovo, January, 1928. 38

ka

Tfin

in - ze

-

mi

za

ia

P. E, Stefanov.

za

The

Sung by Todora A.

36.

Example

ze

-

17/16

-

-

ram - chi

Ilieva, 45, of

87

se

ni

Mar

-

ia

as in

.

example

ko

pod

)

Ea cd Bl Ba

sSs

35,

or

it

may

alternate

PrauMa, Belogradchik, September, 1926.

(

CS3

and

pfisli-ka

The 15/16 may either appear only once, with 9/16, as in example 36. Notated by

55;

-

mo

-

raf

-

ko.

metric signature

is

very

B3 Bsca

example quoted is the only one that I have found in print. It taken from Vasil Stoin's Bulgarskata narodna muzika. The other Bulgarian musicologists do not even mention this metric combination. The measure consists rare; in fact, the

is

of eight beats, the strongest emphasis being on the

Example

last

one (example

37).

37.

t

J>

tOlJ*

^

Ve-no ga-lie-na, Vd-no le, Ve-no ga-lie-na. le, ELONGATED NOTE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE MEASURE

Ve-no

The 5/16

(

t

)

pattern with the elongated note at the beginning

is

much

r~*m*m*mm

less

common

than the one given in the previous section, where the order of the results in duple meter, with

grouping was reversed. Here again the metric scheme strong 80

first

Stoin,

and fourth

Ot Timok do

"Ibid., p. 186,

sixteenths (example 38).

Vita, p. 897,

No.80L

No. 3369.

Meter

34

Example 38. Poshli devoiki na sechki (The Maidens Have Gone to Gather Firewood). Sung by Maria Ivanova, 60, of Kladorub, Belogradchik, December, 1926. Notated by P. E. Stefanov.

38

Lively

&

fc=E* Posh-li

The 7/16 example

( i'

sech

-

etc.

ki,

the metric framework of the

especially popular in Dobrudja.

is

39

Muzki ruchenik,

Another interesting example

39.

same meter

Example

na

m f p f 9 p) ;

39, which,

Example

of the

de -voi-ki

40.

is

the song for rain (example 40).

Sung by Gena Vluchkova, of Borovan,

Bela-Slatina,

December, 1927. 40

M.M.J ^-=50

Po li-va-di

po gra-ma-di,

Bo-e

dai

diish,

dai Bo-ze

dtish.

In western Macedonia, songs in 7/16 are performed in somewhat slower tempo, such meters exist in Albanian music possibly reflecting Albanian influence, since half as in as fast executed but are Bulgarian music. Frequently, melodies only which are in 7/16 meter are erroneously notated in 7/8. The adjustment is made while setting the initial tempo; the results, therefore, are identical. This practice is

widely accepted in choral music, where 41

The Makedonsko horo with

its

it is

lively steps

believed that 7/8

and

is

intricate figures

easier to read. is

among

the

most graceful of all Balkan dances. Example 41 gives one of the many melodies * Example 41. Makedonsko horo. 4

M.M. 4^=240

etc.

88

Ibid., p. 54,

No. 211.

is also known as MuZka Ruchenitza, a Ruchenitza for men. Dobrudja is a region in the northeastern part of the Balkan Peninsula, bounded on the east by the Black Sea, on the north and west by the Danube. It has been a disputed area between Bulgaria and Rumania for 88

The Muzki ruchenik

many years. 40 41 42

Ot Timok do Vita, p. 199, No. Macedonian national dance.

859.

The

tekna, Pileto

Stoin,

group.

national dances

Mori shto mi

mi pe, and Kovaddrche belong

to the

same

Meter

35

Music written in septuple meter, asymmetrically grouped, is also Turkish (usul devr-hindi) and in modern Greek folk music. However,

for that dance.

present in it is

only in Bulgarian music that 7/16 with

The

11/16

(

W fm Ip

Tm

{T*

btrtrtrb

)

M.M. is

H S 400

is

found.

a q uintu P le meter with only one

note. In the Christmas carol primary accent, which falls on the dotted eighth are third and second the consistently connected for poetic eighths (example 42) four contains measure each hence reasons; syllables. only of MarashkiExample 42. Nadpevat se (The Singing Contest). Sung by43Ivan Anchov, 56, Trustenik, Pleven, March, 1928. Notated by P. E. Stefanov.

360

M.M.

-

Nad-pe

do

se

vat

dva

ko

slaf-tza

-

-

le

do

le.

much more common

than that described earlier. This grouping of the 11/16 is in this Of the many dances meter, the better-known ones in (See example 33.) and Gdninata mdika. The Bulgaria are Krivo horo, Haidushka igrd (Orhaniiska), a in is conductor's beat for this type of 11/16 diagram in order to clarify expressed the grouping.

FIRST AND LAST NOTES ELONGATED

The 8/16

(

J>f I

fjp

CB

t'l'iiilil

p'| I

"HI

f

).

meter

is

handled in Bulgarian folk music in a

I'ii'i'il"'"!

from the treatment in Western music, where very unusual manner, quite different a measure of 8/16 consists of merely two beats

a measure of three. 13

Stoin,

Thus

Ot Timok do

it

(

I

I *

forms a measure of triple time,

Vita, p. 30,

No.

126.

3

rfrT +2+

3,

)>

here

it:

*s

with accents on

Meter

36 the

first

J

and third beats

J'

J

This asymmetric grouping cannot and

should not be construed as a syncopated measure of four beats,

4

^2*.

=*

i

2+3

4

JTT15r"JT71 =-

5*

4

not only because it is confusing in appearance and inaccurate in feeling, but also because of the choreographic requirements, which, as in the 7/16 (examples 23, 25,

and

39), call for three steps.

have

is

as are

that

it

3/4 and 4/4.

Some

The

only virtue which the syncopated version might

displays a familiar time signature; otherwise the two are as dissimilar

The

pattern 2

4-

3

-f

3

is

also possible.

theorists believe that melodies notated in

8/16 (3/16 + 2/16 + 3/16) are in in meter in as 2 -f 4reality (3 2), examples 40 and 41. Although a melody septuple in 7/16 may easily be converted into 8/16 by merely the last elongating

eighth

and although occasionally the same song may appear in both forms, the grouping 3 + 2 + 3 is at least as frequent as 3 + 2 + 2. The diagram of the conductor's beat is especially helpful in illustrating the subdivision of an 8/16 measure, as it makes clear the triple grouping, with indications on the manner in which it may be conducted. note,

>,/,*

A measure

in 10/16

(

i* )

consists of ten sixteenth notes

of equal value,

grouped with an elongated eighth note at each end; thus the subThe strong accents are on the dotted first and last the weaker, on the second and third. A measure of 10/16 so coneighth notes; structed may easily be subdivided into two measures of 5/16 with the second division results in four beats.

j3

measure in rhythmic retrogression: J J J ** J"3~J is 43 taken from Vasil Stoin's example Bulgarskata narodna muzika, and was quoted from an unpublished collection of Dobri Christov.

repeating the

first

The melody

in

j

||

Meter Example

37

43.

j).

The

12/16

)

(

pattern

is

similar to the one above,

with one more group of two sixteenths in the middle. As the measure is rather complex rhythmically, the singers usually have some percussion, such as the tambourine, accent the background rhythm. A measure of 12/16 consists of five beats, the

first

and

last beats

The measure is Example

44.

having the strong accents. readily subdivisible into two groups (7/16 + 5/16), as example 44

Eleno

Ne ga-zi

mome

(Elena,

Young Maiden).

tre-va

le-na,

(se-no)

(le -no)

ne

gra-zi

tre-va

ze

(se-no)

le-na. (le-no)

Each measure consists of two patterns 7/16 (3/16 + 2/16 + 2/16), example 39, and 5/16 (2/16 + 3/16), as in example 22. A dance figure in this instance consists of six dance motifs, three in 7/16 and three in 5/16 repeated,

illustrates.

grouped

as in

so that the complete periods consist of twelve simple dance motifs in

all.

ELONGATED NOTE WITHIN THE MEASURE

The 9/16

(

This uneven formation of 9/16

is

similar

to the one given in example 31, but because of the placement of the elongated unit it cannot be considered to be a measure of four and a half beats, as in the first instance. The present metric scheme again gives us measures in asymmetric quadruple meter, but this time it would necessarily be conducted in four, as 2 + 3 + 2 + 2.

Meter

3,4,$ In example 45 45.

Example

it is

the second, paeonic beat that has the strongest accent.

Sung by Gena

Zao-bla-g-a-la

On rare

E-

se

se

zao-bla-ga-la

Vasileva, 25, of Tolovitza, Belogradchik, February, 1927.

E

-

leu-

-

len

ka,

ka y

che shte mo-*e -to

pre-plu-va,

che shte, mo-re -to

pre-plu

Zaoblagala se Etenka

Elenka had made a bet

Che shte moreto prepluva^ Za de-vet pola zultitzi Darove da si napravi, Ta mlada da se o2e"ni, i t.n.

That she would swim the ocean** For nine bags of gold coins So that she could earn a dowry, So that she could marry young,

occasions the two types of 9/1 6

(

J J> J> JX and

44

-

va.

etc.

P Jt J>

P) are

used in the same folk melody, with very unexpected and graceful results (example 46).

Example

46.

Sung by Nena

February, 1928.

P.

Nachova, 50; and Raina N. Ivanova, 40; of Rakita, Lukovit,

4'

ro

^^

r/J' P Trug-na-la chu-ma

o

-

di

-

da

mo

-

elm

la

"I&iU,p.807,No.3020. 45 46

The italicized lines repeat. Stoin, Ot Timok do Vita, p.

351,

po se-lai

ri

No. 1439.

-

ma

mo

- ri

po

-

gra-do

la.

-

ve,

Meter The

11/16

(

trtrtutrfr

39 This grouping

is

more frequent

than either of those given in examples 33 and 42. It again represents a measure of with the elongated eighth in the middle. The distribution, however, is

five beats,

not symmetric (4 + 3 + 4),

as

one might expect, but rather 7/16

(as

in

example 23)

and an ordinary subdivision of 4/16: 11/16: (2/16 + 2/164-

/l6)

+ (2/16 + 2/16) or (7/16 + 4/16)

There is only one strong accent, which comes on the elongated third beat. The dances for which 11/16 provides a metric frame recur throughout Bulgaria under different names.

The dance ishte, in the

given in example 47 is popular in the vicinity of historic PanagiurSredna Gora mountains, midway between Sofia and Plovdiv. This is

an important cultural center, and stands as a symbol of liberty in Bulgarian history. At Oborishte, in the near-by oak forest, the first shot of the April Rebellion was fired. (This uprising is also known as the Rising of 1876, or the Rebellion of Panagiurishte.)

Example

47.

M.M.

The

J>=

13/16

Krivo Panagiursko horo. Played by Pencho Pushtinakov of Panagiurishte. 47

340-380

(

So unusual

is

this

metric pat-

tern that for some time authorities doubted whether examples existed in Bulgarian folk music. However, in recent collections the grouping appears (example 48) as a sextuple meter with a strong accent on the second beat (third sixteenth note). 47

Djudjev, Bulgarska narodna horeografia, p. 274.

Meter

4o Example Stefanov.

Sung by Mladen Kartalev,

48.

34, of Berkovltza,

October, 1927. Notated by P. E.

48

.M.

Ac.i

Do-ma - ki

nu

-

m

domdoi-do-mo,

do-ma-ki

-

ne nai-do-mo

tm

MORE THAN ONE IRREGULARLY DISTRIBUTED ELONGATED NOTE WITHIN THE MEASURE

The

10/16

This

(

is

a quadruple measure, with

ea accents

on the

Example

49.

Sung by Nikola Dimitrov,

76, of

49).

Komarevo, Pleven, March, 1928. Notated by

48

P. E. Stefanov.

M.M.

s

Iz

The

two elongated beats (example

first

12/16

-

360

m -

iaz

dil

may appear

do

e

-

bur

iu

-

nak,

ko

-

le -

do

le

in two other forms besides the one in example 44:

Example 50 Example 51

A

measure of the former classification is obviously neither a compound quadruple (3 + 3 + 3 + 3) nor a compound triple meter (4 + 4 + 4). It is, instead, a measure of five beats, the second and last beats being hemiolic. The additive form, therefore, is 12/16: (2 + 3 + 2 + 2 + 3). One measure thus derived may be subdivided into two smaller groups, one of 5/16: (2 + 3), as in example 22, and another of 7/16: (2 + 2 + 3), as in example 23. There is only one accented beat in each 5/16 and 7/16; therefore, a measure of 12/16 meter, being a sum of these two, would have only two accented beats, the second and the last. The five beats of which a measure of 12/16 in this category consists may be presented graphically as 5:2(2+3) +

+ 2 + 3). In example 50 the complex structure is a direct result of the poetic text. The verb sedna, "sat down," and the noun momche, "young man/' may be pronounced 3(2

with the accent on either the dialects. Since this 48 46

Stoin,

first or the last syllable, depending on the regional comes from the northwestern song part of the country (city of

Ot Timok do

Ibid., p. 10,

No.

47.

Vita, p. 5,

No.

23.

Meter Ferdinand), the accent, as in literary Bulgarian, falls words, thus making the paeonic scheme necessary.

Example maidens of

50.

41 on the second

syllable of both

Sednd momche da vechera (A Lad Sat Down to Dinner). Sung by young Notated by P. E. Stefanov. 50

Vidlitza, Ferdinand, October, 1927.

M.M.P=:

p

Sed-na

sed

-

na

mom -che

da

ve

da

mom-che

-

che

ve

-

che

ra.

Sedna momch^ da veche*ra, Da vechera mrena riba,

A young lad sat down to dinner, A dinner of fresh salmon,

Mre"na riba morunova. Pa se setl za momite, Za momite na sednkia.

Then all of a sudden Remembered the party,

A gathering of beautiful maidens.

Pa si stegna vrano konche Pa mu turna sedlo srebr6,

With

Sedlo srebro, iuzda zvezdi, Pa ukachi vrano k6nche.

Pa otide pri momite, Pri momite na sed^nkia, Ta si r^che: "dobur v^cher, D6bur v^cher, malki momi." "Dal Bogdobrd,

mMdo momch."

He saddled his horse swiftly his saddle

made of silver,

Grasped the reins that shone

And rode off into

like bright stars

the dark.

To the party he rode swiftly, To the party of young maidens, Where he called, "Good evening to you, Good evening, young and pretty girls." "May God bless you," they replied.

This love song (example 50) relates colorfully an ordinary event in the village, from the male point of view in this instance. The first stanza immediately focuses the attention of the listener on the forthcoming sedenka (party, working bee) which he considers important enough to forego

his delicious

"dinner of salmon, dinner

of codfish," as the original reports. The action is accelerated in the second stanza, but when he arrives at the party nothing startling or dramatic happens. After the

suspense of a hurried departure, he merely greets the young ladies, in reply to which they utter "May God bless you." The understatement here is most effective; behind it lies the thought that the lad is well thought of by the young ladies of the community and that he is joyously received in the gathering. The song implies an entire evening of song, laughter, and gaiety, worth many times the sacrifice of his fine dinner.

The

distribution of the hemiolic beats within the measure in the second type of meter reverses the order of the subdivisions: thus 7/16: (2 + 2 n- 3) is followed 12/16 -f by 5/16: (2 3), and the five beats may be subdivided into 3 + 2. The stress falls on the third and fifth beats (See example 51; notice the unusual treatment of the first

elongated beat in measure 80

J&tU, p. 448, No. 1758.

six.)

Meter

42

Example 5L Played by Tzeno Dinolov, 67; 44; all of Novo-Selo, Vidin, September, 1926. 51

and Marin K. Tutzov,

14/16 appears in two groupings:

Examples 52 and 53 Example Ktila.

56;

A 460

HOC.

The

Nashko Pervulov,

Koi

52.

ti

Each measure in

illustrate these sextuple combinations.

kupi?

(Who Bought You

From

the Pretty Present?).

Tzar-Petrovo,

52

M.M.

J's

Koi

304

ku-pi Ve-lo

ti

svi-le

-

no

ba-ri

-

shche, svi-le

-

no ba-ri-shche.

example 52 may be subdivided into two groups: 5/16 (2/16 + 3/16) and 9/16 (2/16 + 2/16 + 2/16 + 3/16), corresponding to examples 20 and SI, respectively. The accents fall on the second and last beats, thus: E53 1

Example

M.M.

53. Alt

J^r

V

V

V E"

V

2345

TI

'

C3

BBJ

B3

*

**

f

6

kdnche vodi (AH Leads His Horse). 58

304

A-li kon-che

^

\i

vo-di

iz rav-ni

dvo-ro-ve,

iz rav-ni

dvo-ro-ve

The

subdivision in this instance is in reverse order, 9/16 + 5/16 instead of 5/16 + 9/16 as in example 52. In example 53 the fourth and the last beats are accented. The 19/16 is a much more complex meter than any thus far discussed. As in

Hindu music, where a vibagha (metric pattern of an entire period) consists of several angas, so in Bulgarian folk music a measure of 19/16 constitutes a musical sentence consisting of three smaller groups of 7/16, 3/16, and 9/16. The last group, of the variety discussed in connection with example 31, may further be subdivided 51 52

Ibid., p. 1088,

No. 4075. The horo Gdnchitze is danced to No. 35.

Stoin, Bulgarskata narodna muzika, p. 29, 54 Ibid., p. 30, No. 36.

this

melody

also.

Meter into 2/8 (2/16 + 2/16) and 5/16 (2/16 strophe of the text (example 54).

Example

54.

3/16).

A

measure of 19/16

sets a

complete

Kiten Dever (The Adorned Brother-in-Law). Sung by Arso Nestorov, of

Dzeraienitza, Debur.

Vivo

5*

.i&ft,

"Ki

mi

koi

+

43

ten

na-ki

tol-ko

te

-

-

ml

ti,

ki-ten

ta mi te

de

ve

-

-

tu-ka do-pra

re,

-

ti

112

u

na-she

se-lo

za

mo - ma?

u

za

na-she se-lo

mo

-

ma?'*

tune in example 54, known also as Deversko horo (brother-in-law's dance), The ballad describes a local wedding custom. especially popular in Macedonia.

The is

brother of the prospective groom calls on the bride-to-be before the wedding ceremonies and brings her presents. Often this visit is the first official news of the romance, which might have been kept a secret for many months. Even if the girl to live in another village a few kilometers away, the emissary covers the

The

happens

distance afoot. In Bulgaria, walking has been the favorite

mode

of transportation

for centuries.

"Kiten mi kiten devere, Koi mi te tolko nakiti, Ta mi te tuka doprati tr ndshe selo za moma?"

"Who

D^verche veli gov6ri: "Dev6ike mori, dev6ike,

"Maidens, maidens, young and pretty/ Deverche replied a-blushing, "I have at home a younger sister, It is she who did adorn me."

Imam si sstra p6-mala, Ona me tolku nakiti."

AH si bilo u g6ra, li si

g6rsko

tzve*ke,

"G6rsko tzv^ke, zel

Ferdinand, October, 1927.

f strun

ma

kia

f

zan klutz-niak drun-dar (Stoian

-

ski,

.

-

-

be.

Was in Debt). From Krusta, Lukovit.58

M.M.J1304

Sto-ian

za-bor-chlia,

Stoin, Ot Timok.do Vita, p. 928, No. 3521.

.Ql^No. 58

b ei ol-mish

57

I

f

li -

Za-dul-2a 55

Ji |

Example 58. Zadulzd Stoidn A

J>

se-dut,

i

Sung by lordana Vurbanova,

-

~^

"

Laaaj

-

|

P. E. Stefanov.

:

^~^

""^

''

j,

57.

Example Notated by

f

ter-zi

3435.

Stoin, Bulgarskata

narodna muzika,

p. 74,

No.

184.

pet-de-se

i

pet

i-lia-di.

Meter

45

due to the variety of dance steps and figures, or, when those songs are not derived from dance motifs, they are grouped in these unique patterns because of the lyrics.

The preceding illustrations demonstrate how painstakingly accurate the Bulgarian and Macedonian folk have been in adapting the music to the metric requirements of either lyrics or dance steps. For that reason it might seem desirable to many of these songs as one measure for each phrase. The metric signatures thus obtained (and there are examples of each) would be most extraordinary: 18/16, 20/16, 21/16, 23/16, 29/16, and others. Most of these meters seern strange, and for an Occidental musician they are. But they are not so strange today as they were before the turn of the century. Stravinsky,

notate

Schonberg, Bartok, and others have made it possible for most musicians to admit new metric and rhythmic groupings into the vocabulary of daily experience. Unlike his colleague of one hundred years ago, the twentieth-century composer has adopted various technical devices which present certain problems Milhaud in polytonality, Schonberg in the manipulation of his own passacaglia-like Reihe, Scriabine with chords built on fourths, Debussy with strange scales he learned in Russia.

Schonberg and Strauss introduced and developed complexity of rhythm, foreshadowed by the restlessness of Brahms' syncopation. Stravinsky set the musical world on fire almost half a century ago and the smoke has not yet cleared. He introduced, among other things, varied rhythms and meters which gave his music an exotic quality, a quality perhaps not all his own but inspired by Russian folklore and the works of Moussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov. Milhaud, Stravinsky, Bart6k, Britten, and their contemporaries no longer consider the bar line as a solid stone wall over which one must climb, to land heavily on both feet on the other side. They have worked in a new direction, toward rhythmic virtuosity. But there remains a wide range of metric and rhythmic devices to be explored. The alien metric patterns in the works of these composers are usually short-lived within the entire structure of a given composition, but the fact that contemporary composers have been reaching toward new and experimental

usages of rhythm is in itself significant. In Le Sacre du print emps [score no. 41] Stravinsky has used 9/8 as an asymmetric structure,

first

as

4/8 + 5/8 and then as 5/8 + 4/8. I

J J J J J

IS-t-

-

J J J J J

In Jen de cartes the paeonic conception of a septuple meter ways: 3/4, 3/8 (two measures before 10); and 7/8

is

.etc.

expressed in two

Jj Jj JJjl

(two measures after II), with instructions in the score: battre a 3. In the same work, two measures before 11, we find the two asymmetric measures in succession.

in battre

These two measures

nm\*n n n

a3

y

battre a

4

m

are obviously based on metric patterns which are identical 31, as the last three eighths in each measure are not

with those in examples 23 and triplets.

'

Meter

46 For the "Third Negro Dance" in

his Legend of Joseph, Richard Strauss accomthe additive plishes septuple feeling by breaking down a 7/4 measure into two measures with different metric signatures, composing his musical sentence of two-

measured phrases:

*!

J

H

J

J

_

, i

J

|J

J.

i

_|J

i

J

J

etc. | i

In Tz'ZZ Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (main subject), he again achieves an asymmetric septuple formation, or a triple effect with a duple meter, through syncopation.

g 7

n

-h

j^ji /i JT3jy>

This passage would, however, be

much

clearer

if

etc.

notated in 7/16.

Tibor Harsanyi, to escape the squareness of the 4/4 and 3/4 meters in his Violin Sonata, adds 1/8 to each measure.

JTT3J

J

J

J

Ernesto Halffter simply follows a 4/4 measure with a 3/8 in his Sinfonietta. score of Stravinsky's Dumbarton Oaks Concerto includes a similar treatment:

The

o

a '

/H \3 ffi

and

later

lo

o J=3 :/3 ID

:

J3 j/79

the latter with instructions for the measure to be performed "in four." In the Sonata for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, and Piano, Darius Milhaud used a direct i**. approach four and a half beats:

4

Bassline

.H

"horse."

1920. Hereafter cited as

Ot

Structure

86

semicadence (example 150) falls a perfect fourth below the opening note of the songs with similar conperfect fourth above the final. The majority struction seem to divide into two equal sections of two measures each.

The

and a

Three measures each. Virtually all the metric combinations mentioned under the groups having two measures are found here: 10/16, which did not appear before,

now

is

present,

i.e.,

in

example 152. vrdni konie (There Are the Dark Horses). Sung by Nikola 6 10/16: (3 +

3), as

Example 152. Vrdneiat se Dimitrov, 76, of Komarevo, Pleven, March, 1928. Notated by P. E. Stefanov. k

MJNL

* =

*

360

Example 152

clearly illustrates

an exact repetition of the

first

group by the

The

musical ingenuity is further demonstrated by the economy of means, since the first half of the second measure is identical with the corresponding two beats of the first, and since the third measure is only a slightly varied repetition of

second.

Thus the first measure provides the musical material for the entire song. three-measure group is a result of the addition of a third measure, the words of which, although connected with the text as a whole, are not important to it. That measure, however, does help the form and provides the musical sentence with greater interest by giving each group twelve beats instead of the usual eight. the

first.

The

of 10/16 in this instance is not divided into 8 + 2 or 7 + 3, and so 4, which according to the Greek principle of hemiolia is more virtue of the 3:2 ratio between the two divisions. acceptable, by Four measures each. There is nothing unusual about this subdivision. Example

The measure

on, but into 6 +

153

is

triple

unique not because of its formal structure, 3/8: (4 + 4), but because it is in meter, which is extremely infrequent in Bulgarian folk music. The iambic

Example

M.M.

153,

^

fr-*

1

six, and eight) is also unusual. Compare measures four and eight and notice how in the first phrase the feeling of finality is avoided by the introduction of the note G which began the melody but which is a major second below the final.

meter (measures two, four,

Five measures each.

+

In the love song, example 154, we see such a structure as

The Bulgarian

folk poet-musician has frequently expressed preference for phrases which consist of odd numbers of measures. Sometimes he has

8/16: (5 6

Stoin,

5).

Ot Timok do

Vita, p. 34,

No.

141.

Structure

87

extended regular four-measure phrases by inserting an otherwise unnecessary syllable within the sentence or by prolonging the two cadences. 154. Bonka sa liubi sus Shdnko (Bonka Has Been in Love with Shanko). Sung 7 Nikolova, 26, of Izvor-Mahala, Kula, July, 1926. Notated by P. E. Stefanov. by Spasa

Example

go

The

-

na

di-

i

po

-

lo

-

vi

*

iia.

(example 154) is extremely rare in 8/16. Curiously enough, it in here measures two, seven, and nine. Measure seven is almost identical appears with measure two, but there is sufficient difference between them to avoid motriplet figure

notony. The ninth measure seems to confirm the basic idea of the fourth measure, but at the same time skillfully evades a sequential treatment. Unity and variety are thus achieved by other than the obvious

means

to

which the trained technician

resort. The thirty-second note is also rare in 8/16. Six measures each. This type is not very common. The few examples available are in 2/4, 5/8, and 8/16.*

might

Seven measures each.

Example May,

1.927.

which are

In example 155 these groups appear as 2/4: 7(3 +

155. Blaze na Dona (Lucky Dona). Sung by Zorka Notated by P. E. Stefanov. 8

Ilieva, of

4)

+

Erden, Ferdinand,

_T

M.M: J s 120

-4-

na

Bla-ze

Shte

vze

-

me

Do- na

Sto-ian, ma-ri,

I -

Pet

va-no

-

ro

-

va

via.

Note the F sharp in the first group and the F natural in the second, both approached from above. It is also interesting to observe that the seven-measure group is subdivided into 3 + 4, thus: 7(3 + 4) + 7(3 + 4). The unifying effect achieved by the first three measures of the second phrase, which are almost identical with the 7(3

7

+

4).

Ibid., p. 704,

No. 2658.

8

Six-group units are unusual in all other categories. Note that, like metric relationships, those of form closely follow asymmetric patterns. e Stoin, Ot Timok do Vita, p. 933, No. 3549. The first line of the song is, "Lucky Dona IvanoVa to be marrying Stoian Petrov." In each community, young people substitute names from the group, linking couples who are rumored to be interested in each other. Either the rumors are accurate or the suggestions potent, for marriages often result. Musicologists customarily refer to these songs as

matchmaking songs.

88 last

Structure three measures of the

In measures five

and

eight,

first

phrase,

but they

is

excellent.

differ in

The

notes are the same in pitch

number.

THREE-GROUP STRUCTURES found in almost all the meters discussed

Folk songs in

this classification are

earlier

In this chapter. Each of the three groups may consist of two, three, four, five, or six measures each: 2/4: (2 + 2-4- 2); 7/16: (3 + 3 + 3); 8/16: (4 + 4 + 4); 5/16: (5 + 5 + 5); 2/4: (6 + 6 + 6), and so on. Melodies with three such groups may be two-part strucor form. tures with a repetition of either part, the result being either an ABC. musical see three unrelated also consist of However, periods, They may example 47, where a three-group structure is of larger dimensions, 11/16: (4 + 4) 4music. (4 + 4) + (4 + 4). Such instances are more usual in instrumental

AAB

ABB

FOUR-GROUP STRUCTURES Like the folk songs under the previous heading, these may contain two, three, four, five, or six measures in each group. The most usual extension device is, naturally, that of repetition. In example 156 the melody, which consists of five measures in each group, 7/16: 5(2 + 3) + 5(2 + 3), has actually four groups when repeated: 7/16:

Example

Purva). Sung by Tzena Georgieva, Podzgni si devo, Purvo (Lift Your Veil, 10 March, 1927. Notated by Ivan Kamburov.

156.

Voinitzi, Lorn,

M.M.

Po

da

"=48

-

di-

ti

si

g;n

vi

-

dia,

de

-

vo Pur-vo,

fe

de-vo Pur-vo,

be

-

re - dze,

- lo

li

-

tze.

FIVE-GROUP STRUCTURES

Two

measures in each group. 7/16: (2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2), as in example 157. The unexpected recurrence of melodic fragments in dance songs (example 157, measures threefour, seven eight), instead of producing the monotony one might expect of identical repetitions and a temporary disruption of the unfolding of the melody, achieves instead a peculiar tension which is difficult to explain. Such persistent 10

No. 2693. This love song, like many others, comes from the time when Bulgarian forced to accept the Mohammedan faith and to wear dark gowns and veils like Turkish women. "Lift your veil, Purva, maiden, so that I may see your fair face," sings the young man. "I cannot [lift my veil]/' laments Purva, "for my face has already been sold; it has been bought for a thousand and five hundred" (sic). Ibid.f p. 714,

women were

Structure Trunchitza sa obronila. Sung by

157.

Example Golemanovo, Kula, December,

M-M. J

89

Neda Dikova and Nonka Tzakova,

50

=

j> Triin-chi-tza sa

repetition

is

ob-ro-ni-ia,

Three measures

-i'

effect

on

na

-

5/16: (3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3) (example 158).

ti

ka-zah

ti

li

J

gaz'da and the kavdl listener and performer

kdzah (Did I Not Warn You?). Sung by Stoianka Example Dolno-Tzerovene, Lorn, December, 1926. Notated by Christo Iliev. 12 158. Id noli

-i'

i

performed on the

and has an almost hypnotic

in each group.

ji

etc.

especially typical of the music

(see chapter seven), alike.

la

of

1946. 11

I

da

-van-ke, Geor-gi

ne

Iv.

Gergova, of

liu-bish,

r ne

da

Geor-gi

liu-bish I- van-ke,

che toi

dru-g-a

liu-bi,

rfj drii -

me-ras

ga

-

chii-ka.

Did I not warn you, Ivanka, Not to fall for Georgi, Not to fall for Georgi, For he loves another.

The melody consists 6(3 +

3)

in the

+ 6(3 +

3)

+

3.

of three phrases, two of six measures each and one of three: Each of the groups of six measures set fifteen syllables, nine

three measures, plus six in the second. as compared with the measure grouping is first

r6

-i

Thus

the distribution of syllables

r 6-1 3=15

Measures

3 + 3+ 3 +3 +

Syllables

9 + 6 + 9 + 6 + 6 = 36

Such strophes in Bulgarian folk music lend themselves to 9/16 meter frequently set thus:

la l

2

/6id v p.875, No. 3265. Ibid., p. 491,

No. 1934.

na-li

ti

ka-zah, I

*

van-ke,

etc.

and are

Structure

go The

pattern of one sixteenth note to a syllable, five to a measure, has been established in the third and ninth measures to provide the setting for [did I not] "warn you, Ivanka," and [not] "to fall for Georgi." Such a proceciure is very unusual for a measure of 5/16. Ordinarily the text would have been set as follows:

and

Ka

zah

-

Hii

-

bish

The

sixteenth-note motion in example 158, including the word "Ivanka," which by no means essential to the text, has been introduced for the sake of greater rhythmic variety and a more graceful melodic curve. Four measures in each group. 8/16: (4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4), as in 159. is

example

Example

159.

Vasilovtzi, Lorn,

M.M,

s

Kapndla mi e kdpchitza (A Raindrop 13

.

.

Sung by Toma Videnov,

61, of

September, 1926.

320

na

si- tza,

.

Fell).

ma-mo

raz

-

na-sha

bu-di,

.

.

da

.

ma-mo na

mi

ia

.

.

.

li -

da mi se

tze,

ma-mo po

-

liu-bi.

A raindrop fell, and a dewdrop fell,

And wakened a beautiful maiden. Here

each strophe consists of eight syllables, spread over four measures. The relationship between poetic stress, rhythm, and meter is noteworthy. There are three syllables in the first measure, two in the second, only one in the third, and two syllables in the fourth measure. The pattern of the first group repeats' four

12 times. In measures ten, fourteen, the insertion of various names of

and eighteen the melody makes provisions for boys and girls of local prominence and interest.

SIX-GROUP STRUCTURES

Two

measures in each group.

Ibid., p. 906,

No. 3412.

9/16: (2

+2+2+2+2+

2), as

in

example

160.

Example

Structure nema (There's No One

Kato Gana nide

160.

Like Gana). Sung by

Vuna

P.

14 Pelovska, 42, of Vidrare, Teteven, March, 1929.

Za-tri-la si Ga-na

kri-vo pe-ro,

-vo pe-ro Ga-na ^

kri

j

j Gan-chi-tze

9

le

Ga-no,pi-

le

K 1

-^

~f

Pfrl'JTJlH

Gan-chi-tze Zatrila

si

le

Ga-no,

Gana

pi

p

EJ*''P

le

ra

-

-

'I

8

I

[j

na

es

ra-no,

^ JT

go-re Ga-no,

>

p

pa-u

-

nio-vo.

K

J

1

na do-le,

es

pjl.J'JiJL^Efe

es na go-re Ga-no ? es na do-le.

no,

Gana stuck a feather in her hair, Feather of a peacock.

krivo pero,

Krivo pero, Gana, pauniovo, Ganchitze le Gano, pile rano, Es na gore Gano, es na dole. Hodih gore/Gano, hodih dole, I po Tiirsko, Gano, i po Vlashko; ViMaii momi, Gano, viMaii bulki, Kato t^be Gano, nide ne"ma.

I

traveled east

and

I traveled west,

To the land of the Turks, To the land of the Vlachs; I

looked at

And

all their girls at all their womenfolk,

Found none

fair as

Gana.

There are several striking features in this spritely melody besides the melodic and tonal peculiarities. Ordinarily, the treatment of the elongated unit at the end of the

Tl or as J J J , providing a measure in 9/16 appears as one beat, as one and three syllables, respectively. Here, however, the three sixteenths

setting for

are so divided as to

accommodate two

syllables (measures

one and three),

<J

J J

;

Ga-na variant in measures

five,

seven, nine, eleven: j\ J^

Ga-na be noted that

treatment

linked constantly to the girl's name, Gana, which is mentioned in every strophe of the original, a common practice in folk verse. The division of the last three sixteenths in 9/16 of the type discussed It sjiould

this

is

on pages 29 and 30 is not so frequent as J J J or J^ P . Three measures in each group. 7/16: (3 + 3 + 3 + 3 -+ 3 + 14

Ibid., p. 1056,

No. 3946.

5),

as in

example

161.

Structure

g2 Example 16L Libe

le,

libe

denguba (Sweetheart, Daydreamer, Sweetheart). Sung by 1927. Notated by P. E.

Giurgia Atanasova, 20, of Karbintzi, Belogradchik, January, Stefanov.

15

M.M. J Ji=50

Li-be

le,

li-be den

no-shtemza

ne gu-bi

-

-

-

gu

le,

-

dfi,

ne tro-pai stol-che na-praz-no.

lu - du,

Libe

no-shtemza- lu

ne gu-bi

ba,

libe

denguba

Ne gubi noshtem zaludu, Ne tropai stolche naprazno. Mama me za tb ne dava Che

rni se

Na moite

sm^la maika ti, tunki darove.

her suitor a song (example 161) the maiden who is being courted calls his days and nights wooing her in vain. She wastes for he a dengub, daydreamer; does not commit herself. Instead, she reports the sentiments of her mother. Among the peasants, the mother has a great deal to say about whom her daughter shall marry and when. Says the girl in the song:

In

this

My mother refuses

to give

me

to

you

Because your mother has made fun of me,

And she has called my dowry slim. Four measures Example

in each group.

2/4: (4

+4+4+4+4+

4), as

in

example

162.

162.

M.M. J

=

140

Ta-fri se, Rat-Ice,

-

gi

zdi

che

se,

J da-no

-

sto

mi-na-vai

krai

na-ze,

J te

ma -ma

ha

-

da -note

ma -ma

ha-

sta- nesh, na me-ne

bul-ka

da

re

-she,

re - she,

3 na ma-ma sna-ha

da

Tafri se, Ratke, gizdi se, Ch(sto minavai krai naze,

mdma harshe, Na mama snaha da stanesh Na m^ne bulka da stanesh. Dan6

15

Ibid., p. 652,

te

No. 2478.

sta-nesh.

Fix yourself up, Radka, sweetheart,

And pass by our house often.

My mother may come to like you, And want you for a daughter-in-law As

I

want you for a

bride.

Structure

93

SEVEN-GROUP STRUCTURES

Two 163

measures in each group.

is

7/16: (2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + usually sung by two groups of singers responsively.

Da kugd

163.

Example

Toma Videnov,

by

First

ni drugdr ddvash

61, of Vasilovtzi, Lorn,

2).

The song in example

(How Long Can Our Friend Be with

Us?).

Sung

16 September, 1926.

group of singers

M.M. J

Da ku

-

dru-gar da

ni

ga

-

vash, dai

ni

dai.

ga,

Second group |i

J.

|i

Du ku First

-

ga

[!

vi

|

m

|

dru- gar

da

-

vam

na

vi

g-a,

J

J>

J>

na.

group of singers

^5 -Stvo- ri

de

-

u sus

-

voi

-

pa

-

Ji

mu ke zu

nie- ga

-

gle- da-

-

ga

o

ga

ku

hfi

pu va po- no -si -

se

po-gled-va--

-

-

-

lo,

:||

J |

6

-

che-mo,

6

-

che-mo.

le, le,

le.

The first two measures of the last line (third group) repeat four times in each stanza, every time with different lyrics. Four measures in each group. 7/16: 8(4 + 4) + 8(4 + 4) + 8(4 + 4) + 4, as in example 164. Example

164.

Played on the kavdl by Petko

S.

Todorin, of Mekresh, Kula, February, 1927,"

EIGHT-GROUP STRUCTURES

Two (See 18 17

measures in each group.

example

These are usually repeated four-group

3.)

/bid., p. 892, No. 3349. 1 bid., p. 1083 (erroneously printed in the original collection as p. 1803),

No. 4052.

structures.

Structure

94

Three measures in each group. Some of these are the result of repetition of broader sections; others are constructed more concisely, repeating smaller groups, as in

165.

example 165.

Example

M.M. J

^

=

Hdrd

igrde.

Sung by Vuna

t52

E^ Ho

ro

-

-

i

gra-

m5^ -

gle

da

mo

is

na

-

-

E& P

^

e

pod mo

U

J

U

-

na

sti -

-

ka

ra,

~

lu

ger

b^^-f

ka-lu

|j?

j

m

5 -

"J'.MJ

sti-ra,

=1

-

ger

gle

da

t

mo

is

N U

ir j.J

r

-

J

444 4444 na

The (2

18 Teteven, March, 1928.

P. Pelovska, of Vidrare,

-

sti - ra,

structure

+ 2 + 2) +

in

+2+

(2

2)

mo

is

165

Example

+

(2

+2+

na

-

2)

is

-

sti

ra

-

is

-2 + 2) +

2/4:

+ (2 + 2 + 2). The

pen- dzu

-

+2+

+

(2

2)

structural designs

-

li

re- to.

(2

+2+

may

2)

also

+

be

represented as 2/4: 12(6 + 6) + 12(6 + 6), or 2/4: 6(3 + 3) 6(3 + 3) + 6(3 + 3) + 6(3 + 3). The tied note over the bar line at the end of measure twelve and the upbeat in the following measure are not at all usual, especially since they disturb the poetic meter. The melodic structure reveals an A-A-A-B-C-A-A-B pattern. i.

2.

j ro

-

&

Ka

.

u

.n Ho

*

J

I

I

"~

lu

ger

-n

i

Ka-lu

-

n

gra

J

**

-

i

i

J stress

ASYMMETRIC STRUCTURES These may be constructed in four different ways: by combining groups of similar measures; by combining groups of dissimilar measures; by incorporating ordinary and paeonic meters; by the insertion of exclamations, caesuras, or syllables un1

related to the text words.

SEVERAL GROUPS OF SIMILAR MEASURES COMBINED are perhaps more numerous and songs which are grouped under this heading more varied than those of any other single category mentioned in this chapter. A song may consist of a simple two-group scheme such as 2/4: (2 + 4) or of a much more complex one, as, for instance, 7/16: (3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3), The illustration quoted in example 180 contains nine groups: 5/16: 6(4 + 2) + 6(4 + 2) +

The

Example 180. Izlidzla na piitia (She Came Out on the Street). Sung by Velka Christova, of 31 Malka-Brestnitza, Teteven, March, 1928. Notated by Raina D. Katzarova.

M.M.

*

Ji =

60

ife

....

Iz-liaz-la

kri-vo

sus

pe

-

Ba

pu

-

-

pet -lio

ro

na

tia,

pu

pet- lio

vo,

-

-

tia,

vo,

PP sus kri-vo

pe-ro

pet -lio

-

ve-ter

vo,

veil,

^ ve-tur

veii,

PP liu

-

le

pet

-

lio-vo

pe

-

TiT^ -

e

ro

>.

siir-tze

liu

I

-

J

le

1

kup-ne

She came out on the street, on the street, With a crooked cockerel's feather, cockerel's, With a crooked cockerel's feather. 3i

Ibid., p. 937,

No. 2574.

} -

e.

Structure

103

The wind blows, the wind blows, And the cockerel's feather sways, feather sways, And hearts are yearning.

The form the

of the

melody in example 180 may be considered a double period,

of sixteen measures

(five groups), the second of fourteen (four groups). construction of the second period does not resemble that of the first. The pattern of the poetry is also different in the second group. In measures two and first

The

twenty-seven, where in the Bulgarian version the name or names occur, they would vary with the occasion and the locale. This is typical of songs of the refrain or type. The complex rhythmic scheme of the melody will become acceptable after study of the detailed analysis of the poetic pattern:

burden

First

more readily

period

Iz-lia-zla

na pu-tia/ na

6-syllable strophe, 3 syllables repeated. 8 syllables, 3 syllables repeated. 8 syllables.

pu-tia, (9)

Sus kri-vo pe-ro pet-lio-vo/ pet-lio-vo, Sus kri-vo pe-ro pet-lio-vo. (8)

(1 1)

Second period Ve-tur

ve-ii,

ve-tur

ve-ii, (8)

Pet-lio-vo pe-ro liu-le-e

Sur-dtze kup-ne"-e.

4-syllable strophe repeated. 8 syllables, 3 syllables repeated.

(1 1)

5 syllables.

(5)

Poetic pattern (9

+

ll

+

8)

+ (8+ll+5)

See also example 33, with the following structural pattern, 11/16: (2 + 2) + (4 + 4); example 43, 10/16: (2 + 2) + 3; example 51, 12/16: (2 + 2) + (2 + 2) + (4 + 4); example 88, 8/16: (4

-f

4)

-f

6;

example

89, 2/4: (5

+

5)

+

(4

+

4)

+

(4

+

4)

+

(4

+

4).

GROUPS OF DISSIMILAR MEASURES COMBINED Here again there are a great many examples. The structures may consist of anywhere from two to ten groups, with different numbers and kinds of measures. Some of the structural formulas are: (3/4 + 2/4) + (3/4 + 3/4)

+ 3/8) + (4/8 +4/8 + 4/8) (3/4 + 4/4 + 3/4 + 3/4) +(3/4 + 4/4 + 3/4 + 4/4) + (3/4 + 4/4 + 3/4 + 4/4) + (3/4 + 4/4 + 3/4 + 3/4)

(4/8 + 4/8

(5/16 + 5/16 + 3/16) +(5/16 + 5/16 + 5/16) + (5/16 + 5/16 + 5/16) +(5/16 + 5/16 + 5/16 + 5/16) + (5/16 + 5/16) + (5/16 + 5/16 + 5/16) '+(11/16 +11/16) +(11/16 + 5/16)

On extremely rare occasions the asymmetric schemes are interrupted by unmeasured fragments. In example 62 (p. 49) such an insertion appears twice. This folk song, which has about forty strophes, tells of an epidemic which has taken the sister, the brother, and the brother's wife. The mother of the household beseeches her only remaining son to put on the best clothes of his dead father, for she does not know how long either of them will live. Since this same story, always connected with the name Stoian, appears throughout Bulgarian folk song and folk tales in many variants, it is possible that it is based on an actual incident, otherwise un~ remembered and unrecorded.

Structure

104 The two unmeasured

different words of phrases are identical musically, but set the text; each phrase sets five syllables. The setting as a whole is very free and there is no attempt at repetition of any of the musical Ideas until the twenty-first measure.

See also example 57, which has an interesting structural formula, 5/16: (4 + (9/16

9/16

-f

4-

ORDINARY AND PAEONIC METERS INCORPORATED consist usually of quarter and eighth

Such combinations (example 181) quarters and

sixteenths, the sixteenth note retaining

181.

Example

M.M.

Pav

4)

H-

5/16 + 5/16).

Sung by Tasa Georgieva,

notes, or

value throughout.

its

44, of Chorlevo, Lorn,

82 December, 1926.

P=

-

la

le

-

no

Sta

gel,

-

BO

INSERTION OF EXCLAMATIONS, CAESURAS, OR WORDS UNRELATED TO TEXT

The exclamation may

occur anywhere, and there may be more than one. It may be combined with a caesura. Such insertions usually occur on strong tonal points, as in example 182. The word hei in measures five and fourteen does not belong to the text but serves as an extension of the melody. (See also examples 107, 110, 131, IBS, 135, 186.)

Example

182,

Notated by P, E. Stefanov, in RuSintzi, Belogradchik, January, 1926. 83

'

T

'

ge-ni, be-ni

o

ge *

-

gun go

-

ni

ni,

No. 3584. zU,p. 850, No. 3164.

Ibid., p. 938,

'

I

var-dim

se,

*

kur-shim ple-tu

var-dim se,

bu-kli ka-rai, ka-rai du-sho de,

- ri

be-

'

I

Kur-shim ple-tu

u

ku- shti- tza

f bu~kli

o

-

u

gun

go

-

rai

du

-

hei.

ku-shti-tza

ri,

hei

sho

de.

* ka-

rai,

ka

-

Structure

105 The caesura within the phrase is as effective in lyric as in dance-inspired songs. In many of the examples available, the text is interrupted temporarily and may be taken up again immediately after the caesura. It is possible that the words may have become overfamiliar and the omission is thus aimed at greater variety; or perhaps the omission has been made at strategic points to give the remaining words a double meaning. The catalectic verse is frequently found in dance as in songs,

the

Macedonian tune from Razlog (Mehomia), example

183.

The

peasants sing as they daijce; in the middle of measure six the singing suddenly stops, while the dancing continues to the end of the phrase. The singing is then resumed.

Example

183. Tri

dni

i

tri

noshti (Three Days and

Three

Nights).

M.M. J =160

m

CT

m Tri dni

i

tri

no-shti,

le-le

tri

dni

i

tri

no

Three days and three whole nights, Le-le, three days and three ni .

In his Illustrovan muzikalen rechnik, Ivan Kamburov gives an interesting mel184) taken from Dobri Christov's collection of Macedonian folk songs.

ody (example

Example 184. LiYely *

3*

_

I will I will

^

buy her slip buy her slippers,

So she won't go bare

Won't go barefooted. Elliptic verses are especially

sense songs.

common among

the humorous, burden,

and non-

INCOMPLETE STRUCTURES

Songs incomplete as musical ideas are usually crude and may be only one measure in length, or perhaps two or three measures long, repeated in whole or in part

(example

Example

185). 185.

So - ki

kre - kat

*Ivan Kamburov, Illustrovan mtizikalen rechnik

gran

-

gan-gar

(Sofia, 1933), p. 108.

io6 The

Structure

last note of the fragment is usually on some weak tonal degree and is so short that the ending is abrupt when the last poetic line is sung. The range of melodies thus conceived is extremely narrow, and the turtes generally are of improvisatory character. At times an exclamation may be added at the end (example 186).

Example

186. Zlatokrila

(Gold-plumed Partridge). Sung by Maria Tzekova

idrebitza

35 Peniashka, 84, of Caliche, Orehovo, October, 1927.

M.M.

J=60

/7s

,

|T

Zla

-

to

-

kri

-

ia - re

la

-

bi

-

tza

ko

Gold-plumed partridge, gold-plumed partridge, Sing not early in the meadows, For they plan to take you captive

And cut off your golden Fragments as brief Example

IS?.

as three

feathers.

measures (example 187) are often so constructed

as

38

Allegro i

r

J

'i

J"J

J'J

and a period. The structural-aesthetic and psychoprotasis-apodosis seem to be met satisfactorily in this song. Other melodies, with similarly simple construction, represent a more extended phrase (example 188), which repeats many times, setting each couplet twice. 37 Example 188. Potdino Rdda godia (Rada Was Secretly Engaged). to represent a motif, a phrase,

logical

demands of

M.M. J

=

12O

Po-tai-no

Ra - da go

-

di

-

a,

po-tai-no

Ra- da go-di

-

a.

The repetition of one degree of the scale, or the repetition of a single pattern, is often characteristic of the songs studied. Most of the melodies are rather short, in one part, sometimes in two. Melodies with three distinct phrases frequently have material which is common to all three parts, as in example 176, but it is not infrequent to find the three phrases entirely independent of one another, in ABC relationship.

The 189,

is

ternary form is virtually unknown. In fact, the humorous song, example one of the few in which the first group is identically repeated after the

second. (See also example 176.) 33 The syllable ko here does not belong to the text. This song is one of many everyday songs. According to Vasil Stoin, it is sung in southwestern Bulgaria. The singers climb to the rooftop, circle the chimney, and pour wine down the chimney. Until the twentieth century most village houses were low, one-story buildings with thatched roofs. Stoin, Ot Timok do Vita, p. 170, No. 734.

^Dobri 87

Christov, Technicheskio stroel . . (Sofia, 1928), p. 41. Vasil Stoin, JKuin bulgarskite narodni napevi (Sofia, n.d.), p. 74. .

Structure Example 189. Sung by Maria Notated by Christo Iliev. 38

M.M.

"=

107

Iv. Gonchova, 60, of Staliiska-Mahala, Lorn, January, 1927.

FINE

420

E Po-shei e ta-to che koi shtedoi-de

na vo-de-ni-tza, na vo-de-ni-tza sus ko-les-ni-tza, se-ga da doi-de, che ne-ma ma-ma, che ne- ma ta-to. D.C. -

\f sus

ko-les-m-

s ku-sa

tza

ma-ga-

ri- tza

sku-sa

lu

-

zi-tza.

Father has just gone off to the mill, So come, my young friends, and make merry, While neither Father nor Mother is home.

a

Identical musical repetition is quite usual, and may repeat the same text or set strophe or strophes. In the former, the repetition may consist of:

new

Repetition Repetition Repetition Repetition

first phrase only, as in example 153. of the second phrase only, as in example 90. of both phrases, as in examples 34, 101. of the first phrase after the second, which is extremely rare (example 189).

of the

Less usual structures may have any one of the sections repeated an indefinite of times, as in example 163 (p. 99), thus resulting in an extraordinary

number

design. (See also

example 165, p. 94.) Raina D. Katzarova has found the following

epic recitative alone:

AB AAB ABB ABC AAAB AABB ABAB ABAC

different formal structures in the

89

ABA (transposed a fourth lower) C ABBB (slightly altered) ABBC ABCB AABAB 1

ABB, B B 3

ABCBCand ABCBC, ABCA,D

ABCDD, AA X BCBC

ABACCD ABCC CD ABCDCD ABBCBBC ABBCDEF X

In his conception of rhythmic architecture, as in his concept of meter, the Bulgarian peasant has shown that he is guided only by the desire to express himself in a way natural for him. The raison d'etre for the tremendously complex forms is the textual content and not the formal scheme. With his honesty, naivete, and craftsmanship, the Bulgarian folk musician achieves his artistic ends by methods

which are 88

as instinctive as they are

Ot Timok do

unorthodox.

No. 1914. 88 Raina D. Katzarova, "Dneshnoto sustoianie na epichnia narodnia etnografski muzei v Sofia. Stoin,

Vita, p. 486,

recitativ

v Bulgaria," Izvestia na

CHAPTER

SIX

TYPES

categories is at best an artificial one, and like of simplification may be open to divergent interpretations. The processes classifications offered here are to be considered chiefly as an aid in the presentation of the songs. It is inevitable that many will fall simultaneously into more than one ?

HE TASK of determining

all

category. In fact, this very complexity of subject matter and device adds much to the interest of Bulgarian folk music. The thousands of folk songs examined in this survey have been divided into the following main types: songs of the past, songs of

everyday experience, and songs relating to the supernatural.

SONGS OF THE PAST Although Bulgaria may not possess a detailed and accurate record of her past, she rich in colorful folklore which tells the story in song of brilliant victories, heroic struggles, and valiant deeds of her leaders. Despite some unavoidable fictionalization which results when information is passed on by word of mouth, from one generation to another, in a poetic form to aid memory, the picture of is

the past

is

essentially accurate.

Significantly, folk songs in this category do not, as a rule, date back earlier than the fourteenth century, which marks the beginning of the Turkish occupation. 1 Nationalism in Bulgarian folk music can thus be seen to have been expressed most

strongly in periods when national freedom no longer existed. The oppression which deprived the people of their leaders, their literary spokesmen, and the whole intellectual superstructure fostered a natural resurgence of chauvinistic feelings the peasant folk, in their desperate struggle for survival.

among

Songs of the past include historic songs, hero songs, heiduk songs.

HISTORIC SONGS

These move in the realm of reality and depict concrete events. They deal with actual names King Shishman, Botio Voivoda, Hadji Dimitur; locales and events from the history of the country "The Siege of Pleven/' "The Fall of Varna," "The Dream of Tsar Ivan Shishman," "The Battle between the Turks and the Moskovites," "The "War of 1885." 1

Pencho Siaveikov, "The Folk Song of the Bulgars," The Shade of the Balkans (London,

pp. 58-66.

1904),

Types

109

These songs are sung with pride by the Bulgarians because directly or indirectly they reveal what for them is the glorious past of a people who ruled the Balkans and showed courage and hope in the face of desperation at one time and doom at another. At the sedenka* at school and on patriotic holidays, the historic songs find their way into the hearts of the people, in much the same way that the music itself kept alive, through many centuries of enslavement, the memories of days of freedom.

Example 190. Obsddata na Pleven (The Siege of Pleven). Sung by Anto 3 Gorni-Lom, Belogradchik, November, 1926. Notated by P. E. Stefanov.

Po Bul-gar-sko

fariif

se

le-e,

po krai

Ple-ven

i

2. Beliasin, 55,

So

-

fi-a.

Po Bulgarsko kruf se lee,

In Bulgaria there

Pokrai Pie" ven i Sofia, A ot Pleven glas se chuva, Osman Pasha de tuguva,

Around Pleven and in Sofia. From Pleven comes the latest news,

Tu2i Osman,

Pa vuf ruka"

sulzi roni,

pe"ro vze*ma.

Ta sultdnu sitno "Slushai, tzariu,

pishe:

dumite mi,

Pokrdi Pleven rusi stoiit, Me'setzite za dni broiat. Po krai Pleven rusi mnogu

A ia, tzariu, ve'ch ne m6gu. "Prati p6mosht, hrabri tzirui,

Na Osmana, gospodariu, Ne*man hrand, ni dzepana, na rusi sMgam glava" ."

I

Abie" turtzi svi ahmdti, Ta zashto ste svi glupitzi.

is

of

bloodshed,

Osman Pasha is most unhappy, Osman worries and sheds tears, While he struggles with a message.

He is writing to the Sultan: "Listen to my words, O Sultan, Russians have surrounded Pleven Counting months as we count days. My troops can resist no longer And the Russians will seize Pleven.

"Send some help to me, brave Sultan, Send help to Osman, my lord. We've no food, no ammunition, And the Russians overwhelm us."

O you Turks, O foolish people, You will

all

pay for your

folly.

the attempted rhyming, an poetic text is unusual in two ways: because of and because of several excepfolk in occurrence rare song; Bulgarian extremely tional expressions and words. Osman Pasha, the Turkish defender of besieged Pleven against overwhelming odds, merely grieves (the verb used is tuguva); he is

The

"most unhappy/' an understatement made obviously for

artistic reasons.

A military

and himself might be expected to show more emotion than is conveyed in the word tuguva. This word was selected because it rhymes with chuva ("to be heard"), and still gives a picture of the sad,

leader

who

faces the destruction of his troops

depressed Pasha. So well are the Russians equipped that they can last as many months as their The idea is opponents can last days almost indefinitely, it seems to the Pasha. 2 8

Sedenka,

literally,

Vasil Stoin,

a "sitting"; in

villages,

a working bee.

Timok do Vita (Sofia, 1928), p. 777, No. 2916. Hereafter cited as a city in the Danube Valley of southern Bulgaria, was a strategically

Narodni pesni

ot

Ot Timok do Vita. Pleven, important stronghold during the Russo-Turkish War.

no

Types

expressed graphically "counting the touch to the Pasha's plea, the Turkish

months as days." To give a further realistic word for ammunition, dzepand, is used. The

word not only adds realism and color to the entreaty, since presumably the Pasha would have written his message in Turkish, but it seems to bring life to the

poem

as a

whole. Moreover, dzepand rhymes with the last word of the line which follows to form a couplet and at the same time it provides an internal rhyme within its

own

line:

Neman hrana, ni dzepand 1

What

establishes

na rusi slagam glavd*

beyond doubt that

that the singer from words in question

this device

is

not a coincidence

is

the fact

whom

the folk song was recorded had accented the three (italicized) as indicated. It would have been equally correct

in Bulgarian to have placed the accent

and equally fall

in the

on the first syllable in both hrana and glava, from a musical point of view, since both words easier, of the on the measure, part primary accent,

easy, if

first

not even

HERO SONGS The

songs which

of the favorite heroes of the people are a mixture of two elements: the historic, because they do frequently correspond to actual events, and the fictitious, because also recount the exploits of a person of rare, if not they abilities and achievements. Some of the stories give definite places supernatural, and names of the characters, whereas others mention neither. The subject matter tell

and communal welfare, the solutions resulting from uningenuity on the part of the hero, often through the use of The magic power. majority of these songs came into existence during Bulgaria's often deals with justice usual bravery and

5 struggle for national independence. Among the heroes of these songs, Krali

Marko is the chief protagonist. Claimed Serbians and he is by Bulgarians alike, part of the national folklore of both countries. It is probable that he was Serbian by birth and was a leader of Bulgarians. He is mentioned in history only in that he became a Turkish vassal of his free will. Tradition has it that as a Turkish vassal he was able to help and

own

protect the people under his rule. He is supposed to have been killed in the battle of Rovina, Rumania, on October 10, 1394, while fighting with the Rumanian leader Mircea.*

Because there were no leaders to help them in their dark hours, the Bulgarians distorted the actual facts about the heroes they did have, to glorify them as truly magnificent leaders. There is no doubt that with Krali Marko, as with other heroes, the songs originated immediately after some actual event, but as succeeding generations transmitted the poetic account, authentic facts were the

gradually altered, truth was transformed into legend, and, so that the heroes might capture the imagination of the simple folk, considerable embroidery was added to the original. Eventually, the name Krali Marko emerged as a symbol of Slavic courage, power, *

Glavd, "head/' The literal translation of this line is, "And to the Russians Mihail Arnaudov, "Folklor ot Elensko/' Sbornik za narodni umotvorenia Vol. XXVII (1913), pp. 106-109.

I

bow my

i

narodnopis

5

8

Slaveikov, op.

cit.,

pp. 57-58.

head."

Types and

7

what manner

glory. Just

of hero

1 1 1

Marko was may be seen from

the following

account:

Example

191. Krali

Marko. 8

Moderate

^ '

m

i*

Kra-li

Mar-ko, Mar-ko,

-

ia

desli,

pi

-

esh

puk

"Marko, Marko Krali Marko,

Mar-ko,

ne

zna

You

Puk

Little

iadesh, iadesh, piesh, ne znaesh, Krali Marko,

su zakolili,

ti

And

su r6b robili, Libe ti su v plen plenily." Che mi stana Krali Marko, ti

-

desh,

Mar-ko.

are loafing, eating, drinking, knowing, Krali Marko,

imprisoned your

own

sister,

captive."

To his feet sprang Krali Marko And he donned a long black cassock, Long black cassock such as monks wear. Marko mounted his swift horse, then, Girding on his sharpest saber,

Ch^rno raso kalugersko,

Ta vuzsedna burzo k6nche, Ta pripdsa ostra sabia

Fast he rode back to his village,

otide v tehno sdo,

Che

Kra-li

Your sweetheart they've made

Ta obleche ch^rno raso,

I

ia

That your village has been ravaged By three hundred Turks of Anadoli. They have slaughtered your old mother,

Sel6to su bastisali

Trista turtzi anadoltzi.

Maika

esh,

mi

"Marko, Marko, Krali Marko,

?

Ti mi

Sestra

-

ti

All three

izkoli trista turtzi.

hundred Turks beheaded.

it cycle is best known in southwestern Bulgaria, where is gradually disappearing in other regions, in Marko of legend originated. fact throughout the country. In many songs his chief virtues are those of cunning and trickery. The Bulgarian proverb, "Where heroes are scanty, there Marko is

The

Krali

Marko song

The

hero/' shows a tendency to regard his powers with some cynicism. The songs tell of wholesale burnings, torture, and pillage; in all clashes, Marko emerges victorious.

The hero song follows

the epic tradition, and as such is objective. It is the poetic folk tale, which also deals with adventures of

and musical counterpart of the heroes and heroines.

HEIDUK SONGS heiduk songs have historic implications. because the peasants witnessed the feats the to are closest however, people, They of the heiduk; suffered with his failures, rejoiced at his successes, mourned at his crossless grave. To them the heiduk was a hope for deliverance from slavery, a

Like the other songs in

this section, the

its appreciaprotector against the brutality of the heterodox. And the folk showed tion with the most precious creation of its soul with its song, which even today is heard throughout the land like an echo of a long-vanished epoch.

Who 7 8

9

is

this

heiduk?

The

dictionary describes

Arnaudov, "Folklor ot Elensko," p. 107. Ivan Kamburov, Bulgarski narodni pesni

Arnaudov, "Folklor ot Elensko,"

p. 252.

him

(Sofia, 1940), p. 96.

as "robber, brigand, thief,

1 1

2

Types 10

bandit, outlaw, revolutionary/' The meaning which occupies the least preferred position in the dictionary is, to the Bulgarian, the only correct one. When a Bulgar

could no longer endure conditions under the Turks, he took to the mountains, where he joined other citizens like himself, who, under the leadership of a voivoda, 11

many years presented the only organized resistance to the foreign lords. The heiduk was therefore a liberator; he helped his people wherever he could, seeking revenge when opportunity offered itself, and showing no mercy to the oppressor. Because of their powerful sentiment and sincerity, heiduk songs represent some of the most beautiful creations of Bulgaria's spirit, comparing favorably with the for

more

sophisticated art song. 12 chronicler Nikifor Gregoras, who traveled widely on the Balkan Peninsula, relates that in 1326, while traveling to Serbia across the Macedonian

The Byzantine

mountains, one evening he heard his guides singing songs which he described as sad and monotonous, dealing with names not known to him. Those were the songs

which told the

stories of

many

present time, six centuries later.

national heroes whose names have survived to the 13

192. Zaradi Indje voivoda (Weeping for Indje voivoda). Sung by Christo Niko1* Gurkovo, Vidin, December, 1926. Notated by K. Zagorov.

Example lov, 78, of

M.M.J

s

120

Za-pla-ka-la e

go-ra-ta

go-ra-tai

s

The The

Zaplakala e gorata, Gorata i planinata, Zaradi Indje voivoda: "De"ka e Indje da doide, Da doide da ni oslobodi."

forest has

forest

and

pla

-

ni-na-ta.

begun to weep, the mountain,

Weeping for Indje voivoda: "Where is Indje? He must come, Come and liberate us."

The close alliance between the mountains and the Bulgarian people has always been emphasized in the folk song. The forest, which has given refuge to the heiduk, here laments his sudden disappearance. A strong nature element is characteristic of the heiduk song; in many of the heiduk songs the suggestion of forest and mountain, of sky and earth, is so predominant that it amounts to a sort of pantheism.

There

is

some

justification,

however, for the misunderstanding of the term

heiduk, even

among Bulgarians. As the Ottoman Empire began to degenerate gradually, many of the pashas and bets severed their connections with the central government in Istanbul. With whatever army they could entice away, they struck out for themselves. There followed 10

11

many

years of violence, plunder,

and

Constantine Stephanove, Pulen Bulgaro-Angliski rechnik (Sofia, 1914), p. 830. Voivoda, a chieftain, a leader. There are instances of women who became voivodi;

virtual

many

folk

songs tell of their courage and valor. 12 Slaveikov gives the name as Gregor Nikeforos and places the incident in 1325. Both Slaveikov and Ivan Kamburov have taken the story from Konstantin Jierecek's authoritative book, Kniazestvo Bulgaria. ls

Singing in the mountains is a Bulgarian tradition. Throughout the year, and especially at mountains carry the echo of folk songs over ravines, summits, and forests.

night, the 31

Stoin,

Ot Timok do

Vita, p. 790,

No. 2963.

Types

113

anarchy, marked by skirmishes between the central Turkish forces and those of the independent feudal lords. All this made life so intolerable for the native

many of them took to the mountains and from there sought to avenge the sufferings and bloodshed of the defenseless. Among these mountain heiduks (or haramias) were some who could not resist the temptation of exercising their new-found liberty and in power unscrupulous ways, and thus became real bandits, adding to the terrors of the peasants. And, although there are many songs relating the misdeeds and cruelties of such criminals, the concept of the heiduk on the whole stands for something very like the French Resistance of the Second World War or the Balkan guerrillas who protected their fellow countrymen from population that

the oppressors

and more often than not gave

their lives in the cause.

SONGS OF EVERYDAY EXPERIENCE This classification includes love songs, songs of family life and national customs, Christmas carols, songs for time of drought, songs about nature, humorous songs,

work songs, and children's songs. Here we find the widest variety of subjects, moods, and emotions described: stories of love and work, of satire and nature; comments on the life and character of the people

the shepherd, the peasant, the housewife; themes dealing with hossongs which tell as accurately as possible of the man and his occupation, of his relations with his family, his kinsmen, his fellow men; songs of infidelity, seduction, marriage. Many of the songs tell of specific events which have broken the prosaic daily routine of the village. Such songs were popular locally as long as the event itself was of interest. A few generations later, as the vivid details grew pitality,

fell into disuse and were supplanted by others which told of contemporary incidents. Therefore it must be borne in mind that many of these songs are of more recent origin than those in the other two categories. Songs which have continued to hold the interest of the folk for many generations are obviously of broader scope and more universal appeal, or have come down to us because of the unusual beauty of the melody, the poetry, or both,

dim, those songs

fresh or

LOVE SONGS Like the love songs of other countries, those of Bulgaria are more numerous than 15 any other kind of folk song. They are "the most poetic for the intimacy of their 10 emotion, for the versatility of their expression, for their tender melancholy/' Conspicuous numbers of songs call attention to the more unusual manifestations of passion love. It

is

love acquired through bribery or kidnaping, suicide pacts, unrequited important, however, to note that the unorthodox aspects are treated with

extreme dignity and discretion. In singing of extramarital love,

as

he must

if

he

a true and impartial historian of his village life, the folk singer invariably presents his story in a manner that will not offend his audience. The realism with is

which the stories are related is, nevertheless, extraordinary. In the normal phases of love, the songs are saturated with idealism and passion. 13

Of the

5,500 folk songs which Christo Obreschkoff

examined for

his study,

about

1,800,

approximately 33 per cent, were love songs. Das bulgarische Volkslied (Leipzig, 4937), p. 3L 18

Slaveikov, op.

cit.f

p. 70.

or

ii4 One

Types does not have to look far for the reason, since most love songs are composed

and sung Example

by the younger men and women of the community. Sung by Ivanka BL Brusova, 32, of Butan, Orehovo, September,

chiefly 193.

1927."

M.M. J =$0

na

zve

zdi

Stoian sus svirka svireshe

na zvezdite dumashe: "Zvezdo le, vechernitze le, Kato si tolko visoko, I

VIdish

"Sedut

li

li

dole shiroko?

kak

Momite na I

si

tarn

li

Sedut

si

be*?"

dumashe: mlado ovcharche,

kak

si

Stoian played

on

ma

sede*a

she.

the shepherd's flute,

And thus to the stars he spoke: "O evening star, O evening star, While you're shining high above us, Can you see the world below you? they

still

meet

at sedenkas?

And my sweetheart

Zve*zda Stoiano

"Stoiane,

-

"Do

sedea

sede*nkite

moito libe

du

- te

With

is

she with them,

the

young girls as they gather?" The star replied to young Stoian: "Stoian, young shepherd, lone Stoian,

They still gather as

they used

to,

I tvoito libe tarn be"she,

And your sweetheart is among them,

Sresheno, neoblecheno, Za te"b Stoiane 2ale*e."

Deeply grieving for your absence, She is plain and unadorned."

This pure, unpretentious composition is one of many in which separation has emotions of nostalgia and longing. Although most of the love songs are composed from the feminine point of view, those which tell of the separation of two lovers are usually sung by the young men. This is partly because it is the men who are most frequently away from home, but also because the women by stirred tender

more reserved in their protestations of love. deal of the color in this melody is due to the interval of the augmented great second, around which the melody is woven. It gives a sentimental and haunting quality, a feeling of gentle melancholy, modified by anticipation and hope. subjective intensity runs through the Bulgarian love songs and, when heightened by a traditional reticence, differentiates these songs unmistakably from those of other eastern and middle European countries. The musical thought is concise; the tradition are

A

A

slightly

modified repetition further emphasizes

its

logic.

SONGS OF FAMILY LIFE AND NATIONAL CUSTOMS

*

SONGS FOR ENGAGEMENTS the day chosen to announce an engagement, often the Thursday Thursday before the wedding, since long engagements are not popular in Bulgaria. On that day the young couple go to the nearest town to shop for the bride's wedding a PP are * ve ** flowers, dress, shoes. The prospective groom pays for these articles and takes them home with him. That evening, relatives assemble at the groom's is

1T

Stoin,

Ot Timok do

Vita, p. 463,

No. 1822.

Types woman

115

Then they go to the home wedding costume with them. There they have dinner, during which there are ceremonies which vary with the locale. The to-be receives gifts, and there is much merrymaking, drinking, and singing of kisty village version of a bridal shower, for mixed company. home, each

bringing a loaf of bread.

all

bride-to-be, carrying her

Example

194. Gosti

go deznitzi (Engagement Guests).

of the a late bride-

a sort

18

Allegro

go-stl

go-dez

Gosti mi su doshli, Gosti godeinitzi, i t.n.

I

-

ui

tzi.

have guests

this

evening,

Guests for the engagement,

etc.

This is one of the older melodies connected with these festivities. In addition to obvious melodic and intervallic characteristics, it is worth calling attention to the unusual structural design: there are ten measures in the melody, divided into three groups of three measures each with an extra measure after the second group (measure seven), which has an exclamation that is not part of the text. Measure seven is an echo of the third measure. The half cadence (measure six) is identical with the final cadence, so that there are only five melodically different measures in a total of ten. WEDDING SONGS

The

songs sung during the preparation for the wedding and throughout the day of the ceremony are among the most colorful of all Bulgarian folk songs. They differ from region to region, since wedding customs follow local patterns. But the marriage celebrations always last for several days, in the course of which a whole group of traditional songs will be sung. Often there are as many as thirty to forty songs in such a cycle. Examples 195204 depict some of the highlights of the weeklfl

long 18 19

festivities.

20

Narodna pesnopoika (Sofia, 1930), p. 84. Most wedding ceremonies take place in winter, long Stoin,

after the

work

in the fields has been

com-

pleted. Ecclesiastical doctrine dictates the setting of the date according to the church calendar; hence the actual ceremony invariably falls on a Sunday. Usually a full week of complicated ritual

precedes the event. 20 The names in the songs are given as they have been recorded. bridal couple are of course inserted to fit the occasion.

The

appropriate names of the

n6

Types

Thursday: announcement of the engagement and preparation of food Example 21 house of the bride-to-be. Sung by Ivanitza Ivanova Doncheva, 19, of Mindia, Elena. 195.

at the

M.M. J >80

Vuf mo -ma

-

bul

ta

Vuf momata bulgur chistiat, Vuf ergenia haber niamat "Mari Tz^no, luda mlada,

Kogo pitash da se znish, Dal Borisa mlad gidia? Toi te luze, toi te mami, Kushtata mu na bairia, PleVnika mu, zad bairia." Istekla mi ii tunka elha, Vuf Tznino ravno dvore, Koi kak mine klonche chsne,

Mina

Boris, istrugna

Zanese

"Na

ti

ia

na mdika

mamo,

gur

chis

-

tiat,

At the girl's house they plan a wedding, But at the boy's nobody knows it. "Ah, thou Tzena, young and playful, Who do you think you will marry? Is it Boris, young and valiant,

Who deceives you with false pledges? His house is the wooded hill, His barn and silo behind the hill." There was a tender alder tree In Tzena's garden.

Whoever

passed by plucked off a branch. Boris passed, he uprooted the whole tree carried it to his mother:

When

ia,

And

si:

tuzi elha,

Presadi ia vuv gradinka

Pod iabulka moruianka, S ruino vino ia polivai, S ruino vino trigodishno." Prepadnala ii tiimna mugla, Vuf Tz^nino ravno dvore, Biala Tz^na po dvor h6di, Po dvor hodi Boga moli;

den godina, D