WEDDING SONGS IN THE MIDDLE DNIEPER REGION: MORPHOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF ONE TYPE OF STROPHIC MELODIES WITH 6-BEAT METRICS
Authors: Khanis Nadiia 
Published: December 2023

The results of a morphological research of the Middle Dnieper (Dnipro) collection of wedding melodies of a lyrical function are presented, which are based on a six-metre rhythm-scheme with second-generation rhythms and verses, arranged in a three-line stanza (conditional macromodel ‹V*63 ›). This genre sub-group has the established definition of «lyrical wedding songs» (LWS), its key functional characteristics: lyrics of lyrical content (conveying the emotions of the Bride and her mother) and melo-intonations of «lyrical stylistics».

About 350 samples (recorded in the years 1985–2023 in the current Cherkasy and Kirovohrad regions) were involved in the research, 80 of them were studied in detail, using multi-level analysis (toolkit – modeling of rhythmicsyllabic formulas, intonation contours, mode and sound-scale analysis). The constructed typical local models were mapped, the results are shown on six maps according to individual morphological parameters: differences in rhythm and composition (maps B2, B3); tempo deviations (B3); texture differences (B4); differences in the mode and soundscale organization (scale, key tones, their syntactic positions, B5 and B6 maps).

The purpose of the publication is to identify the features of the Middle-Dnipro region subspecies of the polyethnic (Ukrainian-Belarusian) macrotype ‹V*63 › and to present the areology of its morphological varieties on the territory of the Middle-Dnipro region. Several important structural positions have been established:

a specific Middle-Dnipro verse formula prevails in the studied area – V{456} with the possibility of its expansion to V{567} due to the mechanism of superfragmentation;

the basic three-line composition has a traditional full and local reduced form;

in the areas adjacent to the Dnipro, polyphonic textural developments of the musical canvas and the related specific textural composition of the stanza with the special role of the soloist in the opening part of the stanza are recorded;

most of the samples belong to the three-base wedding mode with a characteristic system of final tones (SFT) of melodic lines, where the second and third melodic lines have fixed cadences on 1 and 2 stairs, and in the first line three pitch options are allowed – 2, 3 or 5 stairs (degrees). According to the degree of prevalence, these are the following SFTs – ‹2;1;2› (widespread, including Podillia, Polissia), ‹5;1;2›, ‹3;1;2›. The permanent ending of the stanza with an open cadence on the 2d stair, formed using the apocope, is the most characteristic feature of the studied melotype.

A summary analysis of the localization of a series of morphological markers revealed the specificity of the spatial attribution of the studied meloform in territories located on both banks of the Dnipro (within the studied areas – map B7). Different combinations of morphological parameters formed 6 local groups of melodies, which can be combined into 4 varieties, opposite in terms of their basic habitats – two from Podillia (Gnyly Tikich and Sinyukha basins) and two from Middle-Dnipro region.

Arguments have been made in favor of the fact that at least the western border of the Middle Dnipro region can be drawn quite clearly (although, as it is expected, in the form of a blurred border).

The areals created are guidelines for further research steps: the perspective of the functional study of LWS is opened – the identification of a complete corpus of poetic texts with lyrical content and melodies of the corresponding stylistics; the search for terrains on which the lyricization of songs of the six-metre three-line form could unfold, attempts to outline the hypothetical chronology of these processes.

The article is accompanied by tables of sources, notations (10 examples), maps.