Intonational Elements of the Spasovskaya Chastushka Song (Honoring the Legacy of Evgeny Gippius)

Main Article Content

Yuri E. Boyko

Abstract

The outstanding Russian ethnomusicologist Evgeny Vladimirovich
Gippius turned his attention to the music of the
Russian chastushka song long before it attracted the attention
of the following generation of folk music scholars. This article
demonstrates the melodicism in the analysis of folk music with
its numerous variants on the example of the local “Spasskaya”
form of chastushka song. The “Spasskaya” chastishka is based
on a symmetrical harmonic formula of S–T–D–T, however, the
shift of the melody in regards to the tune brings in a characteristic
asymmetry. The melody and the tunes are exclusively varied.
The different variants of the tune when brought together into a
vertical sonority present almost a complete “cluster” set, i.e. on
each position practically any scale step is possible. Analogous
“clusters” are resulted from the variants of the melodies of the
tunes upon their vertical projections. On this account, it becomes
appropriate to examine the chastushka song only in regard to two
parameters: the overall ambitus and the consonant sounds of the
phase endings.

Keywords: Evgeny Gippius, chastushka, Russian folk
instrumental music

Article Details

How to Cite
Boyko, Y. E. (2013). Intonational Elements of the Spasovskaya Chastushka Song (Honoring the Legacy of Evgeny Gippius). Music Scholarship / Problemy Muzykal’noj Nauki, (2), 68–70. Retrieved from https://musicscholar.ru/index.php/PMN/article/view/119
Section
Commemorating the Anniversary of Evgeny Gippius
Author Biography

Yuri E. Boyko, The Russian Institute for the History of the Arts (St. Petersburg)

Candidate of Arts,
Senior Research Assistant
at the Instrumentation Theory Department

References

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[Discoveries from Folk Music Expeditions of Recent Years].
Saint Petersburg, 1996, pp. 115–144.
2. Gippius E. V. Intonatsionnye elemtenty russkoy
chastushki [Intonation Elements of the Russian Chastushka
Song]. Sovetskiy folklor [Soviet Folklore], 1936, no. 4–5,
pp. 118–142.
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