The variety of genres of Russian folk songs reflects the multifaceted world of the soul of a Russian person. In it - dare and lyrics, humor and heroism. The Russian song is the story of our people.
Genres of Russian folk songs
The song and the word were probably born at the same time. Gradually, with the development of his emotional and spiritual world, a man realized the beauty of objects and phenomena surrounding him and wanted to express it with colors, sounds, words. The melody was born from the soul. She fascinated, merged with the singing of birds, the murmur of water. The mother’s magical voice reassured the child with a monotonous affectionate song, a cheerful melody lit a fire inside, aroused the joy of unrestrained fun, a lyrical song cured a disturbed soul, gave peace.
The genres of Russian folk songs reflect the versatility of the soul of our people. People always sang songs, glorified heroes in them, described historical events, told about the beauty of their native land, about feelings, troubles and joys. Not every person could lay down a song, sing it. But talented people have always had enough in Russia. Therefore, so many folk songs have come to us from the depths of centuries. Sometimes a melody was born before the verse, but more often the meaning of the song, its lyrics dictated the character, mood, tempo, timbre of the music.
Song is the basis of folklore
A folk song is a song composed by a folk unknown author, which, transmitted orally, has been modified, improved, and has acquired new melodic and textual turns. In each province, they sang the same song in their own way, in a special dialect. Her character depended on what was said in her. So, the songs were comic, funny, sad, lyrical, serious. They touched the soul more than a long detailed story about the event. The songs were both comfort and joy.
So, the poet Ivan Surikov wrote: "How anyone breathes, lives, such is the song he sings."
The genres of Russian folk songs are diverse. They sing about everything that excites a person. The song depicts the life and lifestyle of a Russian person, customs and traditions. The heroes of the folk song are ordinary people, glorious defenders of the motherland. Human life was closely connected with the natural cycle of the farmer, with family church rites.
Obryadovo - calendar songs
Even in pre-Christian times, pagan calendar holidays were accompanied by songs in which the farmers turned to the forces of nature, asking them to bestow good weather and a plentiful harvest. These were cries, glorifications of the gods of the sun, wind, rain. Rituals of worship were accompanied by ritual songs, dances, and offerings of gifts. The days of the winter and summer equinox, the beginning of spring and harvesting are the main significant events in the life of the farmer. They were accompanied by folk songs.
Pagan rites gradually lost their magical meaning and became a thing of the past, and the traditions associated with them adapted to Christian holidays and continued to live. The calendar cycle began with the feast of the Nativity of Christ, Christmas time, the celebration of the New Year. They coincided with the winter solstice on the pagan calendar and were accompanied by songs according to the day and rite. For example, the ritual of caroling consisted in glorifying the generous owners, wishing them good health, adding to the family, harvest and all the benefits important to the villager. During this ritual, carols, magnanimous, voloological songs were sung. Russian composers used folk songs in operas, instrumental works. So, recorded in the Saratov province “Kaleda-Maleda”, was used in the opera “The Snow Maiden” by Rimsky-Korsakov in the scene of the Pancake Week. During Holy Week, girls and women divined the events of next year, accompanying fortune-telling with obscure songs. Winter was seen off noisily, cheerfully, rejoicing in the imminent warmth. Pancake week preceded Lent. Seeing Shrovetide turned into festivities with games. The spring meeting - Larks, celebrated the arrival of the first birds. Mistresses baked gingerbread cookies in the form of larks and distributed them to children and guests. In the song “Oh, the sandpiper-larks”, calls for spring are recitatively heard.
The summer holidays of Ivan Kupala, the Russian week, carry within themselves echoes of pagan rites associated with witchcraft and magic. On Kupala night, a rite of purification from diseases and filth was performed, jumping over a fire. Unrestrained by boldness and fun, similar to ritual pagan dances, were accompanied by Kupala songs. Important in the village was the harvest festival. Peasants in folk songs thanked the forces of nature for abundant gifts, rejoiced at the end of hard work. Songs of this period are called roast songs. After the harvest, funny fairs were noisy with ditties and dances.
Calendar ritual songs - the closest to pagan, the oldest. Their language is full of epithets and comparisons, symbols and metaphors. The melodies of these songs are simple and even primitive. They are like cries, praises and prayers. The uneven rhythm is close to the dialect, and not to the music.
Family Ritual Songs
Homeland, christening songs were sung to the child and parents by heart. They wished the baby health and happiness. Family holidays were significant and joyful milestones in the life of a Russian person. They celebrated their birth, seeing off to the army, a wedding, and even a fever. Each event corresponded to a certain melodic accompaniment. In the genres of Russian folk songs, ritual songs have a special status. According to legend, they bore a magical meaning.
Wedding songs were very diverse. The wedding was a complex phased ceremony of matchmaking, bride, hen party and the wedding celebration itself.
Dressing the bride and groom to the crown (braid weaving) traditionally took place under the lament of the bride and the singing of sad songs, which spoke of the lost girlish freedom and relocation to another family.
The wedding feast was preceded by the ransom of the bride from the parental home. The girlfriends sang funny comic songs and ditties, pushed friends of the groom. To the wedding, the young people were escorted to congratulatory great songs ("In the upper room, in the room"). In them the heroes of the occasion were compared with a white swan and a swan, with a prince and a princess. The wedding feast was cheerful, noisy, with dances and ditties. The second day was celebrated in the house of mother-in-law and father-in-law. Mother-in-law welcomed the son-in-law, treated with pancakes. On the third day, they extinguished the wedding. The holiday was over.
Not only joyful events happened in Russian families. After all, rituals were observed not only on holidays. After all, they are, in fact, certain magic rituals designed to protect, protect from harm, damage, etc. For example, when a young man left for service, he was taken out of the house with his back forward, so that his face looked into the house. Then, it was believed that he would return from the war or from the army alive and healthy. At the same time, prayers and special lamentations were read.
Cries and lamentations also accompanied the funeral of loved ones. In them, the deceased was mentioned as a worthy person, by whom the living mourn and grieve. His best qualities were listed, even if there were none. There were even special singers - mourners, who were invited to accompany the funeral.
Family ritual songs are distinguished by touchingness, sincerity, deep meaning. They contain all life, human experiences.
Lullabies
Numerous genres of Russian folk songs. Lullabies in them occupy a special place. They belong to the family, but are not ceremonial. These songs are the most tender, affectionate and simple. Mother’s voice is the first thread connecting the baby with the world. In the lullaby, the mother determines his place, tells the story of the world into which he came. The monotonous soothing motifs of the lullabies were passed down from generation to generation, being family property. The first songs of the mother introduced the little one to the surrounding objects and images. They opened to him a great world, served as a kind of protection, a talisman for him. It was believed that lullabies drove off evil spirits from the baby.
Lyric songs
In the genres of Russian folk songs, lyric songs are included in a large group. They are associated with the emotional experiences of a person and have a bright emotional coloring. They sound topics of a heavy female share, soldier's life, bondage. Lyrical songs can be divided into national and social. The first are songs about separation from the Motherland, about unhappy love, a difficult peasant life. The nature of the songs animated. Her images were compared with human types. Thin mountain ash or white birch personified gentle female girlish images. A mighty lonely oak - a hero, a support, a strong man. Often in the songs there is a red sun as a symbol of warmth, hope, joy. The dark night, on the contrary, carries with it doubts, fears, emotional experiences. The dying splinter is compared to a woman fading from overwork. Wind, oak forest, blue sea - each image of nature carries its hidden meaning, allegorically tells of experiences.
The second group - Yamshchitsky, recruiting, robber songs. They mention other themes and images. Yamshchitsky songs are depicted by dull fields, endless dusty roads and a lonely bell. These endless lingering songs are singing about the tragic fate of lonely cab drivers, about dangerous roads. The bandit songs are sung famously, widely, loosely. The people did not always hate robbers, dashing people. After all, both Stenka Razin and Emelyan Pugachev were supported by bandits. And they plundered, mainly merchants and landowners, without touching the poor people. Therefore, the songs composed about them tell not so much about robberies, but about heroic acts. They tell about the history of the people, about strong and courageous people. All that the soul yearned for, poured out in a lyrical song a wide singing melody. Slow lingering motifs of lyrical songs were surrounded by polyphonic chants. They were sung during feasts, in chorus and solo.
On the verge of lyric and dance songs are round dances. The smooth flow makes them alike with lyrical songs. But they are sung with movement. Perhaps this is the most significant layer of folk songs in terms of breadth of themes and images.
Labor songs
Exploring the genres of Russian folk songs, labor songs cannot be ignored. A difficult matter was easier to argue with her, she set the pace of work. The famous "Club" is an example of a labor song. Chorus spoke about the hard life of the working people, and the chorus helped the coordinated actions of the whole artel. Burlatsky strap songs had a measured rhythm (“Hey, let’s go!”). Labor songs, along with rituals among all genres of Russian folk songs, are the oldest, they served to facilitate the labor process. To encourage workers, many songs had comic humorous content.
Chastooshka, chorus
The most democratic, popular and tenacious genre of Russian folk songs are Russian ditties. They combined all the wit, talent of the people, the accuracy of the Russian word, the laconicism of melodic accompaniment. A short well-aimed quatrain, like an arrow, shot into the very essence of the meaning, a perky rhythmic melody, repeated many times, made us pay attention to the verse, the content of the ditty. She was sung with dancing. More often she performed solo, and the right to perform passed in a circle among the singers. Sometimes competitions were held, who would last longer in the circle, performing ditties, who knew them more.
The Russian ditty was called in different ways: refrain, misery, mischief, lure, chatter, etc. According to the type of addition, the following types are distinguished: suffering - slow refrains on love themes, dance ones - funny endless comic repercussions ("Semenovna").
Russian ditties ridiculed social and human vices, expressed the true mood and opinion of the people on political and social issues.
They were not politicized, but, on the contrary, expressed skepticism about many “excesses” in public life.
The genres of the Russian folk song as a mirror reflect the being of the people, their mentality and spiritual essence. The whole life of a simple person from birth to death was reflected in the folk song. The heavy peasant share, the disenfranchised existence of a woman, the soldier’s lifelong burden, the hard labor of hopelessness - everything has a place in the songs. But the strength of spirit of the Russian people is manifested in rollicking dance, robbery, daring songs, sharp ditties. The tenderness of a soul that has not become stale is reflected in lyrical and lullaby songs. To this day, lovers and connoisseurs of folk music collect these pearls of folk talent with care and love, because even now, in the backwoods of the Russian provinces, they sing unrecorded folk songs heard from grandparents.