ABSTRACT
Russian music, as a separate, individual and recognizable entity is at least one thousand years old. The first folk melodies originating in European Russia (Asiatic Russia was not incorporated into the national and cultural complex until centuries later) date from the tenth century. The most ancient Russian folk songs are entirely sui generis; the Byzantine influence was marked chiefly in Russian religious music, and was clearly an alien importation. Thanks to the intelligent work of Russian folksong collectors, an enormous amount of authentic musical material has been gathered and published in Russia during the last century and a half. It is now possible to reconstruct the principal elements of original Russian folk songs as preserved by tradition through many generations.
