The Incantations of the Veps People: Issues of Learning a Musical Language
Main Article Content
Abstract
The article is devoted to research of incantations of the Veps people – an ancient genre of oral ritual poetry of the peoples
of Northern Europe, one that is the least studied at the present day. There have been various kind of incantations in
existence: the ritual (pertaining to weddings, funerals and recruits) and non-ritual (“ad hoc” incantations). The article
gives an idea of the earliest notated incantations of the Veps peoples and, in general, of the history of research of
Veps incantations from the point of view of their musical specificity in Russia and in other countries. While revealing
the specificity of this musical and poetical genre of the Veps ethnicity, the author examines issues of researching the
language of music, in particular, the vocal technique. Most of the Veps’ funereal incantations are characterized by
their gradual rise of tessitura, which is obviously caused by the intensity of intonating, connected with a heightened
emotionality. This, in its turn, stipulates the instability of the vocal technique, assembled from stable and mobile
segments of the sound fabric. The research of the Veps musical culture, in particular, the analysis of the pitch structures
and the vocal techniques in the incantations (which cannot be expressed by our established system of musical notation),
have been carried out with the aid of contemporary research methods of ethnomusicology with the application of
computer technologies (with provision of programs making it possible to carry out a detailed analysis of the temporal
structure of any type of musical signal).
Keywords: the culture of the Russian North, Baltic-Finnic folk music, incantations of the Veps people, ritual
communication, the vocal technique of incantations.
Article Details
Copyright
The rights on the results of intellectual activity and equated means of individualization are protected in accordance with Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. The authorship, author's name, executor’s name, inviolability of the work and result of execution are protected by the rules of Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation of the author or executor, regardless of providing legal protection of such results of intellectual activity at the time of their forming.
Copyright laws regulate the civil legal relations for using works of science, literature and art. Such relationships are formed as the result of the author’s writing his or her texts. In this case the author can rightfully claim copyright of the work.
The author has certain rights to reuse the work (see: “Ethical Aspects in Terms of Multifold Publications).
Licenses
All copyrights on the articles belong to their authors. The author transfers the rights on using the article the publisher.
PDF versions of scholarly articles of the journal PMN are published by using the license Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives cc by-nc-nd, allowing loading and distributing works on the assumption of indicating the authorship. The works may not be changed in any way or used for commercial interests.
Criteria for Authorship, Co-authorship
The term “author” refers to all persons (co-authors) who have made a substantial contribution to conducting the research and creation of the manuscript and responsible for its content. The person (author) who has submitted the manuscript to the editorial board shall bear responsibility for the complete list of the group of authors and the changes made to the manuscript in accordance with the results of the peer reviewing and editing.
1. Authorship is based on the following criteria:
1) The author made a substantial contribution to the research activity and development of concept, collected the data, made analysis and interpretation of the data.
2) The author carried out the writing of the text of draft articles and edited it attentively and substantially.
3) The author approved the final version of the article prior to its submission.
4) The author bears responsibility for the integrity of all parts of the manuscript.
2. The authors shall guarantee that the submitted manuscript is the original work.
3. Scholarly reviews for some issue or other should be objective, present material in a wide range and at the same time take into account the views of the author of the review.
4. The authorship of scholarly publications is obligated to reflect accurately the contribution of individuals to the research activity, with specific information about the authors.
5. The authors may not mislead the readers by publishing acknowledgements of gratitude to people who were not actually involved in writing the work. Other persons who made contribution to the work, but are nevertheless not the authors, may be listed in the rubric of “Acknowledgements,” with indications of the type and extent of their activities.
6. Authors are obligated to provide a description of their contribution to the publication.
7. The order of authorship must be a joint resolution of co-authors. The authors should be ready to explain the order of their enumeration and listing.
8. The authors shall be entirely responsible for the correct definition of authorship acting in accordance with the rules adopted in their institution.
9. Investigators must ensure that only those persons who meet the criteria for authorship (that made a significant contribution to the work), shall be considered the authors, and the researchers who do not merit authorship will be excluded from the list of authors.
References
2. Vasil’eva E. E. Vepsskaya melostrofa v mezhduzhanrovykh otnosheniyakh prichetnoy traditsii [The Veps Melo-strophe in Inter-Genre Relations of the Tradition of Incantations]. Simpozium-79 po pribaltiysko-finskoy filologii [Symposium-1979 on Baltic-Finnish Philology]. Petrozavodsk, 1979, pp. 131–133.
3. Vasil’eva E. E. Vepsskaya prichetnaya melostrofa v mezhduzhanrovykh i mezhetnicheskikh otnosheniyakh [The Melo-strophe of Incantations of the Veps People in Inter-Genre and Interethnic Relations]. Sovremennoe finno-ugrovedenie [Modern Ugro-Finnic Studies]. Leningrad, 1990, pp. 170–177.
4. Zhukova O. Yu. Istoriya sobiraniya vepsskikh prichitaniy [The History of Compilations of Incantations of the Veps People]. Istoriko-kul’turnoe nasledie vepsov i rol’ muzeya v zhizni mestnogo soobshchestva [The Historical and Cultural Heritage of the Veps People and the Role of the Museum in the Life of the Local Community]. Petrozavodsk, 2008, pp. 191–195.
5. Zhukova O. Yu. Yazykovye osobennosti vepsskikh obryadovykh prichitaniy: avtoref. dis. … kand. filol. nauk. [Lingual Features of the Veps Ceremonial Incantations: Thesis of Dissertation for the Degree of Candidate of Philology]. Petrozavodsk, 2009. 21 p.
6. Zhukova O. Yu. Vepsskie obryadovye prichitaniya: ot poetiki zhanra k poetike slova [Veps Ceremonial Incantations: from the Poetics of Genre to the Poetics of the Word]. Petrozavodsk, 2015. 156 p.
7. Zemtsovsky I. I. Slavyano-finno-ugorskiy prichetnyy melos: teoreticheskie aspekty problemy [The Melos of the Slavic and Ugro-Finnic Incantations: the Theoretical Aspects of an Issue]. Iz mira ustnykh traditsiy (Zametki vprok). [From the World of Oral Traditions (Notes for the Future)]. St. Petersburg, 2006, pp. 147– 160.
8. Yoalayd M. Pokhoronnye prichitaniya vepsov – sposob obshcheniya s potustoronnim mirom [Funereal Incantations of the Veps People – a Means of Communication with the Other World]. Iz istorii Sankt-Peterburgskoy gubernii. Novoe v gumanitarnykh issledovaniyakh [From the History of St. Petersburg’s Province. New Developments in Humanitarian Researches]. St. Petersburg, 1997, pp. 17–24.
9. Kondrat’eva N. M. Kriterii opredeleniya stupeney zvukoryada pri realizatsii skol’zyashchikh vysotnykh segmentov v vokal’nykh traditsiyakh Severnoy Azii [Criteria of Definition of Steps of a Tone Set upon Realization of Gliding Pitch Segments in the Vocal Traditions of Northern Asia]. Traditsionnye muzykal’nye kul’tury na rubezhe stoletiy: problemy, metody, perspektivy issledovaniya: materialy mezhdunar. nauch. konf. [Traditional Musical Cultures at the Turn of the Centuries: Issues, Methods, Prospects of Research: Materials of the International Musicological Conference]. Mowcow, 2008, pp. 117–123.
10. Kuznetsova V. P. Prichitaniya v severno-russkom svadebnom obryade [Incantations in Northern Russian Wedding Ceremonies]. Petrozavodsk: KarNC RAN, 1993. 180 p.
11. Kuragina I. B. O nekotorykh osobennostyakh ritmicheskogo stroya prichitaniy srednikh i severnykh vepsov [About Some Features of the Rhythmic Structure of the Incantations of the Middle and Northern Veps People]. Finno-ugorskiy muzykal’nyy fol’klor: problemy sinkretizma (tez. dokl.) [Ugro-Finnic Musical Folklore: Issues of Syncretism (Theses of Reports)]. Tallinn, 1982, pp. 32–33.
12. Kuragina I. B. Prichetnaya traditsiya severnykh vepsov [The Lamentation Tradition of the Northern Veps]. Mestnye traditsii material’noy i dukhovnoy kul’tury narodov Karelii: tez. dokl. [Local Traditions of the Material and Spiritual Culture of the Peoples of Karelia: Theses of Reports]. Petrozavodsk. 1981, pp. 22–23.
13. Lapin V. Russkaya pesnya u vepsov (K voprosu o genezise narodnogo muzykal’nogo myshleniya) [The Russian Song among the Veps Peoples (Concerning the Question of Genesis of National Musical Thinking)]. Muzykal’noe nasledie finno-ugorskikh narodov [The Musical Heritage of the Ugro-Finnic Peoples]. Tallin, 1977, pp. 183–216.
14. Ryuytel I. K probleme vzaimosvyazi muzykal’noy struktury vepsskikh i severno-russkikh prichitaniy [Concerning the Issue of the Interrelation of Musical Structure of the Veps and North Russian Incantations]. Simpozium-79 po pribaltiysko-finskoy filologii [Symposium-1979 on Baltic-Finnish Philology]. Petrozavodsk, 1979, pp. 131–133.
15. Ryuytel I., Remmel’ M. Opyt notatsii i issledovaniya vepsskikh prichitaniy [An Attempt of Notation and Research of Incantations of the Veps People]. Finno-ugorskiy fol’klor i vzaimosvyazi s sosednimi kul’turami [Ugro-Finnic Folk Music and Interrelations with Neighboring Cultures]. Tallin, 1980. pp. 169–195.
16. Salve K. O funktsiyakh, poetike i sposobakh ispolneniya srednevepsskikh svadebnykh prichitaniy [About the Functions, Poetics and Means of Performance of the Wedding Incantations of the Middle Veps]. Muzyka v svadebnom obryade finno-ugrov i sosednikh narodov [Music in the Wedding Ceremony of the Ugro-Finnic and Neighboring Peoples]. Tallinn, 1986, pp. 253–271.
17. Semakova I. B. K probleme muzykal’nogo yazyka traditsionnoy kul’tury vepsov [Concerning the Issue of the Musical Language of the Traditional Culture of the Veps People]. Fol’klor i sovremennaya dukhovnaya kul’tura finno-ugrov [The Folklore and Modern Spiritual Culture of Ugro-Finnic Peoples]. Saransk, 1993, pp. 85–89.
18. Semakova I. B. O slogakh, stoyashchikh pod slovarnym udareniem v muzykal’no intoniruemykh prichitaniyakh vepsov [About the Syllables Accented in the Dictionary in the Musically Intoned Incantations of the Veps Peoples]. The manuscript is preserved in the author’s personal archive.
19. Käte-ške käbedaks kägoihudeks “Obernis’-ka miloj kukushechkoj”: Vepskie prichitaniya [“Turn Into a Lovely Cuckoo”: Incantations of the Veps People]. Compiled by N. G. Zaytseva, O. Yu. Zhukova; notated by S. V. Kosyreva. Petrozavodsk, 2012. 228 p.