Sutartinė

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The Sutartinės (plural of Lithuanian sutartinė [ s̪ʊt̪ɐrʲˈt̪ʲɪn̪ʲeː ]) are polyphonic folk songs native to northeast and east Lithuania with a centuries-old tradition. They are sung, sometimes combined with dance steps, or played on old Lithuanian instruments. A special feature of the Sutartinės is the independence of the individual voices ( polyphony ) in melody, rhythm and text, combined with rhythmic syncopation and the meeting of the voices in the pitch of the second , which makes the songs exciting and expressive and gives them an unmistakable character. The term is derived from the Lithuanian verb sutarti with the meaning get along, agree , but also agree, harmonize .

In 2010 the Sutartinės were registered by UNESCO in the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. As a sign of national importance, Lithuania dedicated a commemorative coin to these folk songs in 2019. The polyphonic melodies of the Sutartinės are symbolically depicted on the coin image of the 2 euro commemorative coin .

History and dissemination

The Sutartinė tradition was not cultivated in the whole of Lithuania, but only in the northeast and east of the country. Their distribution area extended to the part of the country north of Vilnius and east of Panevėžys to the national borders with Latvia and Belarus . In this rural and rural area, the melodies and lyrics of the Sutartinės were passed on orally from generation to generation.

The history of this tradition goes back well before the time of written records. There are indications that the Sutartinės were part of pagan customs. The earliest printed reference to the existence of the Sutartinės can be found in the chronicle of Maciej Stryjkowski from 1582. However, the form of the song was probably several centuries old at this point in time - it may go back to the Baltic Selonen tribe , the lived in the northeastern border area of ​​Lithuania. Recent comparative music-ethnological studies indicate a musical similarity to other European folk song traditions, for example in the Balkans.

The songs were performed on the occasion of important events such as weddings, baptisms, harvest and other annual celebrations, but also when doing work, such as spinning or in the field. Some people danced to. Sutartinės sung and danced were reserved for women; the instrumental sutartinės were mainly performed by men.

The first written evidence for the word "Sutartinė" comes in 1829 together with the first copy of a song text. Even at that time, the songs were considered outdated and archaic. Nonetheless, interest in written recording grew in the course of the 19th century, and sound recording with phonograph and tape recorder was added in the 20th century. Today's knowledge of the Sutartinės is based on transcriptions , sound recordings and the accounts of contemporary witnesses. The most important collections and transcriptions were made by the Lithuanian folklorists Adolfas Sabaliauskas (1873–1950) and Zenonas Slaviūnas (1907–1973). Its collection includes 1820 songs that had previously been collected in over 300 locations throughout the rural area.

In this way, the songs could be saved from final oblivion, because the tradition began to decline in the middle of the 19th century and it has been considered extinct since the 1930s. One of the main reasons is that the harsh, seconds-long songs no longer corresponded to musical tastes and, due to the social change in the course of industrialization, they no longer found support in the rural population.

In the last few decades there has been a renaissance, the songs are being performed again and their origins are being scientifically researched.

Musical characteristics

Sutartinės are polyphonic and polyphonic , which means that the voices in the song are independent, equal and independently linear. In the majority of the pieces (84%) this applies equally to melodies, rhythms and texts. The polyphonic melodies are designed in such a way that there is a constant change of consonant and dissonant harmony of the voices, with the second as the predominant dissonant chord . The usual resolution of the dissonance expected by our European listening habits is missing. The second was not perceived as unpleasant, but as harmonious.

Usually two voices sound at the same time. When Sutartinės are sung, the main voice (lit. rinkinys from the verb rinkti “collect, collect”) carries the lyrics, while the second voice (lit. pritarynis from the verb pritarti “consent”) provides a refrain . Often this consists of onomatopoeic words. The two voices are “interwoven”, with the chorus voice rhythmically creating an effective rhythmic accentuation and pulsation throughout the song ( polyrhythmics ), independently of the first voice, among other things through syncopation . The tempos are consistently moderate, 82% of the songs are in 2/4 time , quarter and eighth notes are predominant . The melodies are simple and with only two to five pitches of a small range .

Traditionally there was no difference between vocal and instrumental sutartinės, the same pieces could be sung or played. Traditional Lithuanian wind instruments were used for the instrumental versions: the single-tone flutes made of reed (lit. skudučiai ), 1.4 to 2.3 m long wooden trumpets (lit. daudytės ), beak flutes (lit. lumzdelis ) or the birbynė , a Lithuanian horn pipe . The pieces for Lithuanian box zither (lit. kanklės ) are special because they were played by a single person.

Categories

The Sutartinės are difficult to typify, their structure is too diverse. So far, a total of 29 main and 9 secondary variants have been classified in research.

In the village tradition, however, a distinction was traditionally made between only three categories, simply named after the number of voices, whereby one voice could also be sung or played by several people.

  • Dvejinės (from lit. dvejos "two"): two-part Sutartinės. In the version as duet chants, two people or groups perform the same text with different melodies at the same time, whereby the parallel seconds characteristic of all Sutartinės arise in the harmony of the two voices. About 10% of all songs can be assigned to this category.
  • Trejinės (from lit. trejos "three"): three-part Sutartinės, performed as a canon by three people or groups. However, only two voices should sound at the same time. This is achieved by staggering the three voices from verse to verse and pausing each voice at the end of the verse until the next voice has finished with the verse. This is what happens until the end of the song. The Trejinės are very popular and, with a share of around 60%, form the largest category among the Sutartinės.
  • Keturinės (from lit. keturi "four"): four-part Sutartinės, performed as alternate chants for four by two couples or groups. Each verse is sung in turn by the first and second pair. Each couple will sing two different texts and melodies at the same time. The Keturinės make up 25% of all Sutartinės.

Revitalization and modern reception

The Sutartinė tradition died out in the first half of the 20th century. Since the middle of the 20th century, however, interest in her has grown again and there has been an intensive preoccupation with the Sutartinės. The traditional songs have been analyzed and have become a subject of music-ethnological research. The modern Lithuanian folk music movement has ensured that the songs are increasingly performed again. Today they are highly valued and occupy an important place

  • as part of modern compositions, such as Alfred Schnittke's “Sutartinės for Percussion, Organ and Strings” (1991) and works by well-known Lithuanian composers. These include the work “Sutartinė op. 35” by the composer Stasys Vainiunas (1909–1982) from 1968 and the 1982 cantata “Cantus ad futurum” by Algirdas Martinaitis.
  • in the repertoire of Lithuanian folk music as it is cultivated today in the cities of Lithuania and at folklore festivals. The polyphony of the Sutartinės with their parallel seconds is no longer perceived as disturbing nowadays; the pieces are considered meditative and enchanting.
  • as a valued cultural asset of Lithuania. In 2010, the Sutartinės were included in the UNESCO list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity as a special form of cultural expression .

literature

  • Martin Boiko: The Lithuanian Sutartinės. A study of Baltic folk music. Hamburg 1996, DNB 950319910 , (dissertation Uni Hamburg 1995, 393 pages).
  • Daiva Račiūnaitė-Vyčinienė: Sutartinės - Lithuanian polyphonic songs. Translated from Lithuanian by Vijolė Arbas. VAGA Publishers, Vilnius 2002, ISBN 5-415-01630-9 .
  • Adolfas Sabaliauskas: Lietuvių dainų ir giesmių gaidos. ("Musical recording of Lithuanian songs and hymns") . Imprimerie de la Société Littéraire de Finlande, Helsingfors 1916 (Lithuanian).
  • Zenonas Slaviūnas: Sutartinės. Daugiabalsės lietuvių liaudies dainos. ("Sutartinės. Lithuanian polyphonic folk songs") . 3 volumes, Valstybinė grožinės literatūros leiykla, Vilnius 1958–1959 (Lithuanian; contains the transcription of music and text of almost all known Sutartinės, available online on the website of the Lithuanian Institute for Literature and Folklore ).

Audio samples

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Maciej Stryjkowski: Kronika Polska, Litewska, Żmódzka i wszystkiéj. ("Chronicle of Poland, Lithuania and All Russia") . Königsberg 1582. Reprinted by Glücksberg Verlag, Warsaw 1846.
  2. ^ Timothy Floyd Rice: Polyphony in Bulgarian Folk Music. Dissertation, Univ. of Washington 1977.
  3. ↑ D. Račiūnaitė-Vyčinienė: sutartines - Lithuanian polyphonic songs. Translated from Lithuanian by Vijolė Arbas. VAGA Publishers, Vilnius 2002, ISBN 5-415-01630-9 , pp. 239-262.
  4. ↑ Simonas Stanevičius: Dainos Žemaičių. ("Schemeitic songs") . B. Neumano, Vilnius 1829. Reprint, Valstybinė grožinės literatūros leiykla, Vilnius 1954 (Lithuanian).
  5. ^ Adolfas Sabaliauskas in the Lithuanian Wikipedia
  6. ↑ Description of traditional Lithuanian wind instruments with audio examples
  7. ↑ D. Račiūnaitė-Vyčinienė: sutartines - Lithuanian polyphonic songs. Translated from Lithuanian by Vijolė Arbas. VAGA Publishers, Vilnius 2002, ISBN 5-415-01630-9 , pp. 204-206.
  8. ^ Stasys Vainiūnas in the Lithuanian Wikipedia
  9. ↑ Algirdas Martinaitis in the Lithuanian Wikipedia
  10. ↑ Audiovisual presentation of the Sutartinės on the UNESCO website