The Bad Lands cow boy. [volume] (Little Missouri, Dakota [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-1886, 1886-09-02
= $500
I IAN MUSIC.
The Popular Airs Mostly in Minor y
Keys-Nfelodies That Inf luenced @

6
iS5 Queer Instruments. 81
Il Russia has SO distinct an Individual
'ty among the nations, says 81. James,
Gazette, that 3one naturally expects
that its national music should have Q
peculiar and interesting character. Ex'
pectations of this kind are often disap
pointed, but in the case Of Russia they
happen to be fulfilled. Russian music
has its characteristic coloring, its gou
de terrai'a-things not easily to be de-
scribed; and it has also general char
acter less difficult Of definition. Rus
sian music is, as a whole, melancholy,
and1mnch of it is marked, at the same
time, by IN unusual degree Of earnest
ness and elevation. One might apply
to it the words Gilbert White uses il
speaking of the song Of the blackcap
It is full, sweet, deep, and wild. Ye'
its melancholy is relieved, too. by out.
bursts of sparkling sprightllness and
an unrestrained gayety.
The Russian popular airs are notice
able-as those Of Norway, of Finland.
and of Hungary being mostly in
minor keys; other European nations
having favored the major mode-the
Germans so much so, indeed, that
there are only 2 per cent. of minor
tunes among their Uolks1seder. That
the minor keys lend themselves readily
to.the expression of either the abandon-
ment of grief or of joy, according to
the rate Of movement with which they
are associated, is a commonplace Of
musical aesthetics. Karamsin attribut-
ed this melancholy in Russian music to
the sufferings Of Russia under the Mon
golian yoke; writers of the school Of M.
Taine would point to the landscape
and climate of the country, to the MOS
notony of the forest land, and to, the
wide, dreary plains, now frozen and
now sun-bnked. The fact is, however,
that the Russian is one of the most
cheerful of mortals, easily moved to
mirth and unwilling to depart from it,;
nor is there any reason to believe his
cheerfulness to be a modern develop
ment. The general character of nation
and the character of its national mu-
sic have really but little relation; the
causes which led to the formation of a
national style being both numerous
and complex in their working. Anoth-
er point that the student of folk-music
should not forget is that in Russia,
owing to the comparative isolation of
the Russian ".people'' from the cur
rents Of civilization, the popular music
has not been much adulterated and in
fenced by modern met hods, but retains
q good deal 81: its wild graces and its
native dress. i5a5 \ !,
Willie the direct influence of Russia
in the world of music has been but
small. if measured by the rank its COM
posers hold, it has produced some fine
exec utants, and its melodies have gain
ed o Wide acceptance. Beethoven owed
something to them, and Chopin used
the airs Of Lithuania and Little. Russia
freely in the composition of his marvel
GUS "Preciosities.n Field and Hummel
elaborated them; Haydn did not dis
dain them, and Rossini, who took the
..Zittl. zitti'' of I'll Barbiere, from
Haydn's Seasons, appropriated a
Russian air for the ~ vecchiotto'' OF
the same opera.
Nor are the Russians careless Of their
fine body Of national music, with its
wealth Of "occasional' songs. :TheI
are q singing people; they have the
musical temperament, and their excel
lent gifts amply repay any cultivation
bestowed upon them. Borrow, with
characteristic exaggeration, declares
them to be the only people who know
how to sing. Their keen sense of har-
mony seems the more remarkable be-
cause harmonized music is q thing of
comparatively modern times in Russia.
for even in the church nasal unison
held its own until the time of Catherine
u, and is still sustained by the old be-
LEVERS Certain parts of the country
the Ukraine, for instance ARE as fam
GUS for singing as Yorkshire and Ian
cashire in our own country. The Rus
sian vocalists are remarkable for tho
production of soft and sweet effects.
and for the extraordinary depth and
volume OF their bass voices; but their
soprani and tenors do not seem to bo
above the European average in quality
OF voice. Their ecclesiastical music
sung by male voices only. imnressas
deeply all who hear it, The bassos
who take the double G and D, and even
lower notes with ease, are, however
limited in compass, and it was partly
this. perhaps, tlatled to the institution
OF those singular one-note choirs I II
which each singer comes in upon HID
particular note after the fashion: ~ a
hand-bell ringer. A phenomenal bass
voice in the Slaviansky choir now "a
England would appear only 10 be nsed
for "a few notes. This method Of div;s-
ion has, it may be mentioned, its parcel
lei lei IN the savage music of Guiana, and 81
some parts OF central Africa. Among tic
peasantry there still remains a peculiar
mode OF singing or chanting Chat I ia
associated with certain of the mora
ancient melodies. These q times ara
built up principally with the tonic and
dominant of the scale; and when tho
other notes of the scale occur il tl,en,
they are lightly passed over,with 5$iittIa
sound or accent. The Russian snld ;ares
songs, in which unframed male soprano
sing to the accompaniment Of d peda]
note sustained BY the BASES, are said
not TO be pleasant to western ears L a
popular otiicerli is sometimes tossed ~
the music of these songs; an odd way
OF showing affection. The Rnssia =
gypsy music Is one Of the things nc
traveller is allowed to neglect, and IT.
fame has consequently been spread ints II
ali lands, AZ present itwouid appea,
e nave lost It's old qualities, and to
nave become q somewhat theatrica
commodity cooked up to suit, tia a.. do
mand for it. ~ ~ r
We can get a glimpse Of Russian in
strumental music at an early date. II
59l some Russian ambassa dors we :,
captured by the Greeks, and each wa,
found to have q gnitar.l like instrument 4
with which no amused himself bv II.
way. In southern Russia in the seven
fQanfL