The genre of folk song arrangements: the synthesis of composing and performing interpretations
Authors: Zhang Ling 
Published: March 2020

Logical reason for research. The current state of music science indicates that for the vocal and instrumental performing there are both, a number of general questions and problems, and many specific ones. The theme of performing in musicology has both, practical and theoretical projections, the interaction of which in a single research process gives the most valuable scientific result. A serious issue in terms of the musical interpretation for a musician-vocalist is the specificity of vocal genres. One of the most common and popular vocal genres is the folk song genre, which in all world musical cultures is a source of the development of the national component – the intonation, genre, and figurative. In turn, a folk song now exists and sounds both, in an authentic form, and in the form of the composer’s arrangement. Innovation. The article is devoted to the genre of the folk song arrangement in the aspect of the synthesis of composers’ and performing interpretation. The genre of the folk song arrangement is the result of the processing of the folklore source by a composer; hence, it is the composing interpretation that understood as a genre indicator. The performance of any musical composition as a process and as a result also is an interpretation; therefore, the mentioned genre acquires yet another interpretative level – the performing one. Thus, the genre of the arrangement of a folk song in the aspect of musical interpretation is the product of the synthesis of the composers’ and performing interpretation, and in the process of the performance is a kind of interpretation of the interpretation, which dictates new aspects of its study. Objectives. The purpose of this study is to identify the specifics of the genre nature of the folk song arrangement in the aspect of the synthesis of composers’ and performing interpretations. Methods. The main methods of the presented research are the genre and interpretological ones. The genre method is necessary to characterize the main indicators of the genre of the folk song arrangement. The interpretological method allows to identify those features of the folk song arrangement genre that are associated with its interpretative nature, and to give an idea of its multilevel structure. Results and Discussion. As for today, a lot of attention is paid to the issues of musical interpretation in both theoretical and practical terms. On the chamber-vocal stage, the arrangements of folk songs sound quite often, they are loved and in demand by the public. Folk music is a concentrated embodiment of folk images and intonations, the features of worldview, and more broadly – the national picture of the world. The external form and content of folk songs, as a rule, are accessible to the widest public. Folk songs in terms of their vocal complexity are designed for the average performer, which allows extending the life of such songs in the folk everyday life. The bright and explicit genre affiliation of folk songs also contributes to their easy perception. However, the folk song in its authentic form on the concert stage sounds extremely rare, as it is tightly connected with special conditions and manner of the performance. A modern listener is most often familiar with a folk song in the genre of its arrangement. The question of preserving the intonational and figurative content of the original source in the genre of the folk song arrangement has been raised by scientists more than once. The analytical and composing work with the genre of the arrangement of a folk song, also related to referring to an authentic source, in practice encounters several serious questions, the answers to which must be identified for any further study of this genre in both theoretical and practical areas. The arrangement of a folk song is, in its essence, a kind of interpretation. The genre of the folk song arrangement combines the both subspecies of the composing interpretation (according to the classification by Moskalenko, V., 2013), being an interesting and promising material for any analyst both, in the field of theoretical and the practical performing musicology. The synthesis of musical and non-musical factors in a folk song is also one of the types of interpretation. This is another level of interpretation in the genre of the folk song arrangement, which relates to the original source. The oral tradition of the existence of a folk song gives rise to a huge number of its variants – the performing interpretations. The genre of a folk song is characterized by qualities that give it its original interpretative freedom. This is a collective authorship of both, music and verbal text; the oral and “variation” tradition of a folk song existence is, essentially, a tradition of interpretation. The genre of the arrangement of a folk song by a composer with the appropriate musical notation is another level of interpretation. The next level of interpretation is the performing one, where the vocalist is faced with additional tasks, since he/she deals with a musical object having the special multi-level interpretative nature. Conclusions. The genre of the arrangement of a folk song is associated with several levels of interpretation, coming both, from the nature of the original source and from the existence conditions of the composer arrangement of a folk song in the conditions of the vocal performance. This plurality creates new goals and opportunities for both the researcher and the composer and the performer. The special genre nature of the arrangement of a folk song, which was established in the process of the historical development and incorporates the interpretation nature of its composers’ and performing levels as a genre indicator, allows us to talk about the need to scientifically identify its genre characteristics in a projection on the needs of the composing and performing creative art in the modern cultural conditions. Prospects for any further research in this direction are associated with the consideration of the special genre nature of the folk song arrangement. It poses a number of special tasks for the composer, the performer and the listener, which should be solved in specific conditions, while taking into account the peculiarities of the composers’ and performing interpretation of the folklore original source.