SLAVONIC MUSIC. The music of the Slav peoples, of whom those of importance are the Russians, Poles, and Bohemians.
RussiA. Just as the hymns of the Church of Rome exerted a. powerful influence upon the music of Western Europe. so a similar influence was exerted upon the music of Eastern Europe through the hymns of the Greek Al though both the Greek and Roman hymns can be traced to a common origin. a differentiation took place in the earliest centuries of the Christian era, and thenceforward the music of the East and the \Vest developed separate characteristics. In the East the folk music became strongly tinged with characteristics of the music of the Greek liturgy, and these characteristics have found their way through the folk music into the art music of the modern Russian composers. All the emotions of the Russian peasant find expression either in songs or primitive dance times, and every season of the year has its particular songs. The return of spring. for instance, is greeted by the girls and boys in the Russian villages with a choral dance known as the Khororod. which is somewhat simi lar to the old May-day festivities in England. The Dumas were improvisations upon some epic subject, and were recited in irregular rhythm and in a slow monotonous chant. But the real folk songs of Russia are always metrical. al though the poetry does not rhyme. The words are most. frequently sung without any instru mental accompaniment. In a general way the national are either lively or slow. The former, which are mostly of gypsum origin, are generally dance tunes in the major keys. They are sung in unison, the rhythm being marked by the feet. The latter—and these are the best and most popular—are in minor keys, and are sung in harmony.
When during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Italian opera practicalh• ruled all Eu rope it also found its way into Russia. The few Russian musicians were completely under Italian influences. The first distinctly Russian music was that of Glinka (1804-57) (q.v.). Like his predecessors, this master had been trained by German and Italian musicians, hut during a stay in the South of Russia in 1829 he was attracted by the national element in the music of his coun try. In 1834 he met the famous theorist S. Dehn in Berlin. Upon his suggestion Glinka began to work with a conscious purpose toward the estab lishment of a national Russian school. By the end of 1S34 he had returned to Saint Petersburg with the almost completed score of the first opera written in Russian upon a Russian subject, The Life for the Czar. The succeF.s of this work was in stantaneous, and to this day it is a standard work in the repertoire of every Russian opera house.
In 1842 his second national opera. Raslan and Lvdmilla, appeared. and was enthusiastically hailed by Liszt. Two years later Glinka pro duced a number of his compositions in Paris, where they called forth the unqualified admira tion of Berlioz. The approbation of two such men spread Glinka's fame beyond his native land. Whereas Glinka wrote in a naive manner, in accordance with a natural bent of his genius, the works of his immediate successors show evi dence of careful study. Dargomyzhsky (1813-69) (q.v.) began his career under French influences, but soon became an enthusiastic follower of Wag ner's reforms. The result was a national opera Ru saiko (1656), which was followed by two others. But the most powerful influence Dargomyzlisky exerted not so much through his own composi tions as through the interest he inspired in some of the younger composers. Five of these organized themselves into a society called The Innora_tors. They were Cni, Balakireff, Mussorgsky, Borodin, and Rimsky-Korsakoff. While their instrumental works are well known. their national operas have not succeeded in gaining friends outside of Russia. The more recent of the prominent Russian compos ers are Count Vussupoff, Sokoloff, Arensky, Glazunoff. TaneyelL and Rebikoff. Among all the Russian composers Rubinstein and Tschai kowsky (qq.v.) stand forth preeminent. Russia has also produced sound theorists who have clone much to preserve the old folk music and to estab lish the qualities that constitute the specific na tional characteristics upon a theoretic scientific basis. Faminzin published several collections of Russian folk songs, and translated many of the famous theoretical works of German authors into Russian; Arnold showed the influence exerted by the old church modes upon Russian melodies; Melgunoff published many Russian folk songs with characteristic national harmonization; Li senko collected and edited many folk songs and popular dances, and Shafranoff wrote a valuable book, The Structure of Russian Folk Melodies. The principal characteristics of Russian music are archaic harmonies reminiscent of the old church modes; peculiar grace notes; intervals pertaining to the pure minor scale (see MINOR), which are expressive of deepest melancholy; frequent use of melismas ; augmented and chro matic intervals; strongly accented rhythm; a marked tendency toward the employment of bassi ostinati. Although the classic masters favor periodic structures of an even number of meas ures (two, four, eight, sixteen), the Russians manifest a strong leaning toward periods of three, five, or seven measures.