Cayce Pollard

Music

The musical durations in this rhythmic scheme are the same, for they are nothing else than the durations of the syllables of verses constructed according to the rules of syllabic syllabism, syllabic versification, in which (at least in languages like French) no distinction is made between short and long syllables. But since the syllables in syllabic verse are of equal length, the rhythmic units they form in melody are also of equal length to each other. And these equal durations will in turn form isochronous rhythmic schemes. This rule applies only to texts consisting of syllabic verses. However, in texts based on the quantitative principle, the rhythmic schemes of syllabic lines are formed by unequal (short and long) durations corresponding to the short and long syllables of the text.

One can see how far this lyric has come in the process of its musical formation. Nevertheless, it has not yet arrived at a fully formed melody, but only at a recitative, however strong the musical element may be. It resembles a song in its musical rhythm and cadence, and differs from a true song-melody in its recitative character, its speech-like intonation. The fact that a verbal text is written in measured language is already an indication that its author intended to sing it, compose it, or adapt a melody to it, for there is no song in Bulgarian folk music whose verbal text is not written in measured language.

Conversely, there is no text in measured speech in Bulgarian folk literature that is not suitable for singing, that does not contain a chant, albeit a rather simple one. Measured speech itself, as we have seen, is a form of speech based on the laws of music. In the above benediction, as sung by the calendar choir, the transition from speech to song is not yet complete. Regardless of the chant, the text is in a state of primitive recitative with a musical intonation that is still unstable, though edvg firm. Not that there is no intonation. But its intonation is shaky, unstable, and short-lived, with no firm hold on a tonal centre. The voice does not remain at a fixed pitch for a moment, but moves from one tone to another through constant portamenti.

If we were to mark the speaker's intonation with special signs for pitch, these signs would only represent points between which the voice makes uninterrupted glissandi." And in singing a melody, however simple a recitative, the voice pauses for a moment and remains unchanged at a certain pitch for a longer or shorter time, making a rapid leap without perceptible glissando as it passes from one note to another.

Fixation-initially on only one or two fundamental notes-may be effected in two ways: either by means of a musical instrument, as ancient orators were wont to do when they wished to strike a certain keynote at the beginning of their speech, and as performers of epic recitative do today, beginning or ending each stanza of the narrated text with a brief instrumental introduction; or or, as in the case of a text repeated several times, but especially in the case of its choral utterance by a vocal ensemble, where each speaker is obliged to adapt his pronunciation, breathing, rhythm and intonation to the other speakers. When the performers perform the text of their recitative in chorus, their intonation is regulated, unified and stylized. And in this way it acquires a more permanent, stable form, because it gradually becomes fixed in the mind of each performer. The memorization of the sustaining notes is facilitated in choral singing when the participants control each other's intonation, the stronger voices imposing themselves on the ensemble, and the weaker and more uncertain reciters striving to adapt and imitate the best.

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