Song genres: description and examples

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

Song is one of the most common genres of vocal music, it combines a poetic text with an easy-to-remember melody. Songs can be performed by one performer, as well as by a group or choir, with instrumental accompaniment and a cappella.

What is a song?

The most popular genre of vocal music is the song. The main genres of songs: folk and composer. Their main difference is that the composer's one has at least one author, while the folk one does not have an author, its creator is the people.

Folk songs are passed down from the older generation to the younger. They spread throughout the country thanks to itinerant musicians who replenished their repertoire and moved from city to city, bringing them to different listeners. The common people were not taught to read and write, they did not know how to write down music and texts, so the songs were memorized. Naturally, in different cities they could sing the same piece with different words or melody. In addition, each performer could change the text or motive at will, so in our time you can find several different versions of one song. At first, people sang at weddings, funerals, on the occasion of the birth of a child, duringritual time. Then people began to sing when they worked and rested when they were sad or happy.

Composed songs appeared around the 16th and 17th centuries, with the development of secular culture. These are compositions that have at least one specific author and must be performed as intended by the creator. The song creativity of composers reaches the listener in its original form, even if several centuries have passed since its creation.

Types of songs

The following song genres exist:

• author's (or bardic);
• Neapolitan;
• hymns;
• folk;
• historical;
• rock ballads;
• variety;
• country;
• romances;
• chanson;
• chastushki;
• lullabies;
• children;
• combatants.

This lists both long-established and contemporary song genres. Examples of some of them: “It's great that we all gathered here today” O. Mityaeva (bardovskaya); "Oh, frost, frost" (folk); “I remember a wonderful moment” by M. Glinka to the words of A. Pushkin (romance); "Return to Sorrento" by E. de Curtis and J. de Curtis (Neapolitan); “Soldiers, brave kids” (combatant) and so on.

Russian folk songs

Folk songs are divided into ritual and non-ritual. Ritual accompanies any ritual: a wedding, a funeral, the birth of a child, harvesting, etc. Non-ritual - performed not on any particular occasion, but at gatherings, during conversations and evenings, theyare sung for mood, express emotions and experiences of people. The themes of folk songs can be anything: love, a hard peasant or recruit share, historical events or real historical figures…

Russian song genres:

• wedding;
• recruit;
• lullabies;
• rhymes;
• cockerels;
• calendar ritual;
• cry;
• coachmen;
• chastushki;
• funeral;
• robbers;
• bourgeois;
• lyrical;
• round dance;
• dance;
• calls.

Chatushki, by the way, is not a very ancient genre, they appeared a little over a hundred years ago and were sung in them about love. Initially, only boys performed them.

The lyrical genre of the folk song includes works that express the feelings and moods of those who sing them. Such songs are divided into family and love. They can be different in character, even reckless and unrestrainedly cheerful. But for the most part, Russian folk lyrics express sadness and longing. Often in the lyrics, a person's mood is compared with natural phenomena.

Folk songs can be performed by a soloist, group or choir, accompanied by instruments and a cappella.

Romances

There are song genres where accompaniment is no less important than words and melody. Romance belongs to this category. This genre originated in Spain in the Middle Ages. The word "romance" was used to refer to works performed in Spanish.style. Later, all secular songs began to be called that. Russian composers wrote romances based on poems by Alexander Pushkin, Afanasy Fet, Mikhail Lermontov and other poets. In our country, this genre was at the peak of popularity in the 19th century. Many great composers composed romances, the most famous works of this type of song creativity belong to M. I. Glinka, P. I. Tchaikovsky, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, S. S. Prokofiev, S. V. Rachmaninov, A. Alyabyev.

Bard song

The genres of songs that appeared in the 20th century are variety, chanson, bard song and others. In our country, this type of musical creativity arose in the second half of the 20th century. The bard song is different in that, most often, the author of the text, the composer and the performer are one and the same person. That is, the author himself performs his work with his own guitar accompaniment. In this genre, the dominant role belongs to the text. Initially, these songs were divided into student and tourist, later the subject expanded. Bright representatives of this genre: V. Vysotsky, Yu. Vizbor, B. Okudzhava, S. Nikitin, O. Mityaev, V. Dolina. The performers of such songs were often called "singing poets". In the 50-60s of the 20th century, this genre was called "amateur song", since often bards are not professional composers, poets and singers.