Types and genres of folk songs

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Folk songs are those legends whose music and words appeared during the development of a certain culture. In most cases, these songs do not have an author, as they were composed by folk. It is impossible to enumerate all existing genres of folk songs. But you can learn about the most basic ones from this article.

At school, children are given the basics of folklore in music and literature lessons. It is there that the 4th grade learns about what genres of folk songs are. Teachers conduct general education lessons, at each of which children get acquainted with a certain type of folk art. Particular emphasis is placed on the genres of folk songs, examples of which the students are trying to find in reality.

About homeland

Probably the very first songs that appeared on Earth are songs about the motherland. They head the "genres of folk songs" section. Examples of such creativity can be found in the culture of the peoples of France, Germany, England and Scotland.

Songs about the motherland, in turn, are divided into:

- ballads;

- epics;

- historicalsongs;

- Fables.

The first type of folk songs has a certain gloomy character. Their content was crisp, clear and consistent. The appearance of the very first ballads is attributed to the Middle Ages, while in Russia this genre appeared only in the 19th century.

The most famous examples of this type of song are: "Thunderstorm", "Lyudmila", "The Sun and the Moon", "Airship", "Song of the Prophetic Oleg".

Epics also appeared in the Middle Ages and mean "a story according to facts." A striking example is The Tale of Igor's Campaign. The basis of such songs were stories about household items and some facts of history.

The content of historical songs included all sorts of historical events that happened to the people. But this type of creativity ended its existence in the 19th century, as it was supplanted by new emerging folk forms of folklore. These songs reflected the events from the second half of the XIV century. (“The Capture of Kazan”, “The Oversight of the Cossacks”, “Poltava”) and until the end of World War II.

The tales were a kind of song that combined all the previous ones, only they were written in a comic form and had no real relation to the story.

Workers

Working or labor songs were created a very, very long time ago to facilitate the work of workers. In the same spirit, people composed some other genres of folk songs. Labor tunes were performed with a certain rhythm and intonation, which encouraged people to work actively. Most often, certain cries and repetitions were present in them. The song had some jokes in it.who cheered people up.

The brightest and most memorable example of this genre "Oh, wow!". The rhythm of the song itself is made in such a way that it is connected with the uniformity of movements during work.

About love

The type of love songs is included in a special section "genres of folk songs". The lyrical motifs of this type of creativity are most often performed by the female gender, only in the rarest cases it is a male choir. Main types of love songs:

- wedding;

- lamentations;

- chickadees.

Wedding songs were the basis of every family, because everyone knew them. Such a great holiday was accompanied by various songs, both sad, about the separation of the daughter from the parental home, and cheerful, which prophesied the young happy life. They started singing songs about love at a bachelorette party.

The lamentation genre is songs that carried a tragic content and were accompanied by a sad melody. This type of folk art combined not only songs about unrequited love or love at a distance, but it could also be songs-stories about some deplorable event.

Pestushki can be attributed both to the genre of love songs and to the genre of lullabies, as mothers began to sing them to their children in the cradle. These songs praised the child, wishing him he alth and happiness in his life.

Round dance and dance

Round dance and dance creativity are the most fun and favorite genres of Russian folk songs. Examples of this type have been preserved in veryin large quantities: "Millet", "On Ivanushka chapan", "No thanks to those, Igumnu you", "At the gates, father's gates", "Merry Katya".

Round dance and dance songs consist of an invitation to dance (round dance), the action itself and its final part.

These genres of folk songs carried a satirical content that was associated with dance and poetry. For a while, this type of creativity was a kind of magical ritual ritual. But over the years, these songs have lost their relevance and have become just a way of entertainment during the holidays. Most often, round dances were led in the spring, since it was believed that it was possible to call for warmth in this way, much less often people had fun in the summer, since there was already enough work. But the winter gatherings ended with very fast dances and songs.

About nature

The nature of Russia is very rich and diverse, respectively, and songs about it simply cannot be counted. Farmers and plowmen came up with these songs in their free time, as they wanted to take a break from work, and they were always among wildlife.

Many genres of folk songs, calendar-ceremonial, labor, soldier, attribute this kind of songs to a subsection of their main one. But this is not a correct judgment at all. There are a lot of songs about nature, they draw a parallel between nature itself and the existence of man, as well as the created world around him. There is no place for work or military showdowns, or any celebrations. They were created only to tell about all the beauty around the working people.

Therefore, songs about nature are an independent phenomenon and cannot bepart of none of the sections "genres of Russian folk songs". Examples of songs about nature simply cannot be counted: “Snowballs are white, fluffy”, “Listen, lark”, “The sun is going down behind the steppes”, “Spring. Big Water”, “Evening Bells”.

Ritual

Calendar-ritual songs accompanied the Russian people for a very long time, as they were performed in all seasons and regardless of holidays or weather. This type of folklore has existed for more than two thousand years. There are a lot of subspecies of this genre:

- winter songs (carols);

- spring (stoneflies);

- summer (songs on Ivan Kupala);

- songs of plowing and sowing, harvesting;

- Ascension songs;

- Maslenitsa.

This list can be continued for a long time, because these are the most common genres of Russian folk songs. Examples of ritual songs have survived to this day; they are taught at music lessons in the 4th grade. These are “Koleda-Moleda”, “The girls sowed flax”, “Zaviu wreaths”.

Chatushki

Russian culture is characterized by various funny motifs and a wide variety of genres of folk songs. Grade 4, for example, without fail learns ditties and does it with great pleasure, as these are very light quatrains that have musical accompaniment. In ancient times, these songs were composed by rural youth and performed at various festivities to the balalaika or accordion. Over time, ditties acquired a more everyday character and havedisplay even in today's culture.

There is an opinion that the first ditties appeared in the 17th century. But they were more like satirical poems than songs.

Chatushki includes other genres of folk songs:

- lyrical (with a variety of content);

- suffering (about love);

- matanya (appeal to beloved / new);

- dance (the most common satirical version of ditties).

Lullabies

The most lyrical genre of folk song is considered to be a lullaby. Since ancient times, it has been customary that they are performed either by mothers or nannies for children to lull them to sleep. All previous genres of folk songs require musical accompaniment. Lullabies are performed a cappella.

This genre of song is a kind of guardian of a child from evil forces. It was believed that in a dream one could see scary creatures, ghosts, or simply unpleasant events, but when the child opened his eyes, all this disappeared. That is why in some lullabies you can hear frightening words, for example, “a gray top will come and bite on the flank.”

Soldiers

Soldier's songs are part of a larger genre - otkhodnik songs. They also include barge haulers, Chumatsky, workers (if this work is far from home) and coachmen.

The first soldiers' songs appeared together with the Cossacks in the 17th century. Since this phenomenon was new (new living conditions and traditions), the songs were able tofully reflect the events of those years. The main themes of such songs are military-historical events that describe everything that happens in colors, the creation of images of heroes. Soldiers' folklore told about military operations truthfully and harshly, but this did not mean that soldiers and Cossacks did not come up with humorous songs.

These genres of folk songs with examples have survived to this day in very large numbers. These are “Lights lit up across the Liaohe River”, “The Turks and the Swedes know us”, “Poltava battle”, “Hurrah for the Tsar - the Father of Russia”, “Black horses are torn”.