ABSTRACT
An analyst approaching the subject of Russian folk music should first of all fully comprehend the problems involved in the classification of folk melodies. Each popular song consists of three inseparable elements: the text, the tune, and the rhythm. The text determines the tune as much as the tune determines the word sequence, and the rhythm is the quotient of the text and the melody. The analyst’s problem is to find the laws governing the relationship among the words, tones, and rhythms, and determine the implied harmony. The widest division of opinion exists among authorities on the subject of homophonic or polyphonic essence of the Russian song. The composer Serov, one of the first who urged a scientific approach to the popular melos, states dogmatically that Russian modes are not only similar but identical with the Greek modes. P.Sokalsky, in his monumental work Russian Folk Music in Its Melodic and Rhythmic Structure and Its Differences from the Foundations of Contemporary Modern Music (1880) agrees fully with Serov in the belief that Russian melos is homophonic by nature. Sokalsky goes even further; he maintains that the modes of Russian song had come directly from ancient Greek modes through the agency of Byzantine priests who penetrated Russia during the country’s Christianization in the 11th century. It is needless to insist how unsupported such a theory is. In opposition to Serov and Sokalsky, two other notable theorists and collectors of Russian songs, Melgunov and Paltchikov, conclude that Russian songs are polyphonic, and that harmony is an integral part of their structure.
