Icelandic duet
Icelandic double chants ( Icelandic tvísöngur, plural tvísöngvar ) are the only surviving form of improvised popular polyphony in Europe, which is based on the principle of voice leading in parallel fifths . The main part, sung by a male choir, is supplemented by a solo improvised “follow-up part”. Peculiarities are crossings of the following voice in relation to the main voice from the lower fifth to the upper fifth and vice versa.
The most important collection and written record of the chants comes from the Icelandic pastor Bjarni Þorsteinsson , which appeared from 1906 to 1909. Bjarni þorsteinsson's (1861–1938) book can be found online at “m.baekur.is”. The article on the Zwiegesänge begins on page 764 and ends on page 803. The notes of the Zwiegesänge can be found from page 776.
exploration
Erich Moritz von Hornbostel , one of the founders of comparative musicology, was able to investigate double chants recorded on wax cylinders by the Icelander Jón Leifs in the 1930s . In his essay Phonographierte Icelandische Zwiegesänge he wrote "All phonographed Zwiegesänge - and 30 of the 42 in Bjarni Þorsteinsson - are in Fa mode" and later "it would be misleading to call them Lydian. The tones have different functions depending on the context : In addition to the tonic, f is also a (descending) leading tone to the secondary dominant e; e is now a secondary dominant, now a leading tone. "
In the mid-1970s, Gerhard Annewanter came to the conclusion that the changing function of the tones, as correctly described by von Hornbostel, can be explained more conclusively by postulating a semitone pentatonic with the tones efahc as the basic structure of the Zwiegesänge. The reasons for the intersection of voices were now understandable through the description of a pentatonic basic structure in which there is always a perfect fifth from the pentatonic series at the end of the verse line. In the original Icelandic Zwiegesänge, a line ending on a is always answered with the upper fifth e in the following voice and not with the lower fifth d, which is usually more comfortable to sing (this does not belong to the pentatonic series). The unison tones of the crossed voices (a or h) also belong exclusively to the pentatonic series, as does the special form of voice swap when changing the following voice to the upper or lower fifth with the tones f and c. The semitone pentatonic as the main feature can be demonstrated in the 13 cantons with Icelandic main voices and in three cantons with completely sung, formerly church main voices. We also find essential structural features of these 16 Zwiegesänge in the 26 Zwiegesänge with ecclesiastical or not originally intended Icelandic main voices. In 14 melodies related to F, the b (originally F major) has already been completely replaced by the note b, four Zwiegesang are still in F major and one Zwiegesang cannot choose between b and b. The pentatonic voice crossings via the unison notes a or b can still be demonstrated in two of three cases.
Musicological relevance
Compared to the rules of the ecclesiastical organ, the compositional rules of the Zwiegesänge are very complex. The importance of these polyphonic chants cannot be overestimated for the question of the origin of polyphony in Europe. It is very unlikely that polyphony developed from comparatively simple constructs such as the church organum, after a detailed study of the Icelandic examples. It is more probable that real polyphony emerges from popular and, for a long time, only orally cultivated forms such as B. are handed down in the Icelandic Zwiegesänge.
In 2003 a more recent study of the Icelandic Zwiegesänge by the composer and musicologist Árni Heimir Ingólfsson appeared as a dissertation at Harvard University , which, according to the author, deals more with church manuscripts and less with oral tradition.
Sound carrier
- Tvísöngur: íslensk fjölröddun í fimm aldir = five centuries of Icelandic two-part polyphony. Smekkleysa, Reykjavík 2004, 1 CD (67 min.) With booklet (with lyrics in Latin, Icelandic and English).
literature
- Bjarni Þorsteinsson: Íslenzk þjódlög. Bjarni Þorsteinsson hefur safnað lögunum 1880–1905 and samið ritgjörðirnar. Møller, Copenhagen 1906-1909. P. 995. (3rd edition, reprint: Siglufjarðarprentsmiðja, Reykjavík 1993, Icelandic).
- Gerhard Annewanter: On the structure of the Icelandic Zwiegesänge. In: Yearbook for musical folklore and ethnology. Eisenach, 8, 1977. pp. 12ff. ISSN 0075-2703 , ZDB -ID 2675-x .
The author's website is down. The structure of the Icelandic Zwiegesänge (Gerhard Annewanter)
- Árni Heimir Ingólfsson: "These are the Things You Never Forget": The Written and Oral Traditions of Icelandic Tvísöngur. Harvard University, Diss. 2003. 754 pp.
- Árni Heimir Ingólfsson: Íslenkst tvísöngslag og maríusöngur frá Montserrat. In: Gripla . Stofnun Arna Magnussonar, Reykjavík, Vol. 15, 2004, pp. 195-208, ISSN 1018-5011 , ZDB -ID 428022-2 .
- Erich von Hornbostel: Phonographed Icelandic Zwiegesänge. In: Deutsche Icelandforschung 1930 .
- http://baekur.is/bok/000042130/Islenzk
Individual evidence
- ^ Copy of his contribution on the structure of Icelandic Zwiegesänge 1977 on the author's website
- ^ Copy on the author's website .
- ^ Abstract at www.musik.is , English, accessed on February 26, 2012.