UKRAINIAN FOLK SONGS
UKRAINIAN FOLK SONGS
_A Historical Treatise_
By
REV. HUMPHREY KOWALSKY
1925
THE STRATFORD COMPANY, _Publishers_
+Boston, Massachusetts+
Copyright, 1925
By
REV. HUMPHREY KOWALSKY
Contents
Chapter Page
Foreword i
I What are the Folk Songs in General and
the Ukrainian Folk Songs in Particular? 1
II The Influence of the Ukrainian Folk Songs 4
III The Theme of the Ukrainian Folks Songs
and Their Kinds 6
IV A Brief Review of Ukrainian Folks Songs 10
V Historic and Political Songs 20
VI Songs of the Cossack and of Haydamaki
Era 32
VII Historic and Political Songs, Continued 40
VIII Professional Songs 46
IX Songs of Family and Private Life 49
X Wandering Songs, Ballads 59
XI Conclusion 62
Bibliography and Sources 67
Ukrainian Folk Songs
FOREWORD
It is the opinion of most scholarly critics that there are no other
Slavic people so rich in folk lore as the Ukrainians. The Ukrainian
songs and airs are innumerable. A Ukrainian peasant is a singer in
the full sense of the word; singing is his daily bread; no work, no
walk, no family, social entertainment, no engagement of any kind goes
without singing or “ex tempore” improvisation of some air and words;
the proverb is well known that “a Cossack (a Ukrainian) laughs and
sings through his tears,” which means that even in time of his woes
and worry a Ukrainian sings: sighs and sings! A Ukrainian, provided
he be not depraved and deprived of his original native intuition by
a foreign, and especially the modern urban culture (and thanks be
to the Providence the aboriginal feeling, the poetry of soul still
predominates and is the express characteristic of every Ukrainian of
all social and cultural degrees), is a singer, nature’s own musician of
no base quality. He has hundred-fold ways of expressing his hilarity or
sadness in every instance, corresponding to and depicting every motion
of body and soul: whether he be bringing the muck out of his stables to
his fields, or the cattle to pasture in the spring, or thrashing his
corn, or his wife weaving her cloth in winter; whether he be mowing,
reaping, or at some trade in fall, or resting and merry-making amid the
heat, verdure and fragrant Ukrainian nature in summer--he constantly
sings, alone or in company; even his prayers are mostly performed
through singing.
A student well acquainted with Ukrainian geography and the beauties
of her nature, will agree with the author that nature herself prompts
the Ukrainian to express his very soul in spontaneous singing; by
the fragrance of meadows rich with the odors of a thousand flowers;
by the song of the nightingales that wake the infants from their
slumber in the early morning; by the rich black earth, plains, wide
steppes, balmy forests and lofty hills of the Carpathians and the
Caucasus; by the gentle, sweet Slavonic temper educated in the bosom
of nature’s luxuries; and last but not least--by the history which
fortune, otherwise so bounteous with the Ukrainians, has made so harsh
and strenuous for them, making the Ukrainians a subject of almost
continuous struggle with foreign invaders--Tartars, Turks and the Poles
and the Russians especially.
It is to be lamented that many of us do not understand or sufficiently
prize the value of the folk songs of whatever origin or language they
may be; we fail to see their beauty and meaning in the life of every
living national organism; we can not see why so much stress is put on
them by the educators. Some regard these songs as merely a pastime
or extravagant folly of youthful revelry. True, that some original,
charming, pensive songs are and have been adulterated and the effect
soiled by wanton pornology and perverted sentences--yet these ought to
be easily eliminated from the sacred treasury of the people.
It very seldom happens that the Ukrainian songs are changed in meaning
and effect except it be by some foreign, usually Polish or Russian,
words; sometimes even a whole, new worthless song is introduced among
the Ukrainians, but on tracing its origin it is found out that it was
of Polish, Russian or other foreign source brought about by men serving
in foreign armies, or being in contact with other nationalities;
such songs are commonly avoided with care, and traditional Ukrainian
compositions are sung exclusively. This is true also regarding other
Ukrainian folklore such as rural tales, ritual songs and ballads.
A noticeable decline in purity and beauty of Ukrainian folklore is
observable where Polish or Russian influences have gained their access.
The author of this study himself saw this decline twenty-two years ago
in the western Ukrainian government of Kholm and Podlakhia, where he
was born and brought up in his early childhood. He well remembers how
in that part of the country the two foreign cultures wrangled with
each other in an attempt to strangle the ancient Ukrainian culture.
The Russian culture, by way of the state school system, and the Polish
culture by means of the Polish Latin Catholic church wherein Polish
national propaganda had its mainstay; both endeavored to deprive the
Ukrainian peasantry of their nationality by forcing on them silly
imitations of the alleged “higher” culture. It causes the author great
pain to recall how the Polish landlords and priests have gradually
made the good-natured Ukrainian peasants abandon their “pagan” ritual,
Easter and Christmas folk songs and hymns; their beautiful out-of-door
ceremonials, weddings, and christenings, which are inseparably
connected with singing, changed their aspect to a great extent in the
above mentioned Ukrainian territories. Polish religious songs may
be more numerous, but the Ukrainian folk-songs thus lost under the
forceful introduction of the Polish “Kultura” is a whole treasure
lost to the local population--because the Ukrainian folk songs are
unequalled, incomparable with any others in the world.
CHAPTER I
What are the Folk Songs in General and the Ukrainian Folk Songs in
Particular?
Various peoples have different traditions and beliefs as to the origin
of the folk songs. The ancient Greeks thought that songs were composed
by the gods themselves, and all the famous singers claimed their
parentage from the gods.
The author of the ancient Ukrainian-Ruthenian[1] poem--“Slovo o Polku
Ihorevi” (The Lay of the War-Ride of Ihor[2]) relating the expedition
of Prince Ihor upon the Mongolian Polovtzi--mentions some great singer
Boyan,[3] “the grandson of god Veles,” who composed beautiful epic
poems about the activities of the ancient Ruthenians. The renowned
Ukrainian Kobzar[4], that is, a singer (composer) and player on the
bandore, Ostap Veresay, who sang with profound emotion the beautiful
historic songs, was wont to say that songs come from God Himself.[5]
Even in most recent times the Kobzars and singers, whether feeble old
men or cripples, when they appear at bazars and church festivals are
treated with highest respect. The people believe that the singers,
especially the composers, are exceptionally beloved and endowed by God
with talent to express the feeling of a rational human soul, common to
all mankind; to move men to pity, charity and love of God and one’s
neighbor; to proclaim the manifold human activities and thus instruct
and educate weak human nature, uplifting men mentally and morally.
There is something in Ukrainian songs that attracts the entire being
of those who understand the words; nay, those who happen to hear
Ukrainian melodies are captured by the force of their expression of
mirth and gayety, but principally by that of sadness and resignation.
They teach us meditation concerning ourselves and appreciation of
others’ dispositions and ailments; they teach us to love the truth and
abhor falsehood; they teach us to love mankind, one’s native tongue and
country; they produce noble aspiration, a spiritual conception of man’s
existence; they develop the sense of beauty and art.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Ruthenian or Ruthen is the Greek form for Rusin or Rusitch--the
original name for Ukrainian; for the last few decades it was applied
to the Ukrainians of Galicia, Bukovine and Hungary. It now becomes
obsolete.
[2] Translation of the Word of Igor’s Armament was made by Prof. A.
Petrunkevitch of Yale University; published in “Poet Lore,” 1919.
[3] Prof. John D. Prince of Columbia University wrote a dissertation on
Troyan-Boyan, published by Am. Phil. Society.
[4] Kobzar is a player on kobza or bandura which is a Ukrainian
national instrument being used most frequently in the accompaniment of
recitations; derived from Lat. pandura, Gr. πανδοῦρα; an instrument of
the god Pan. Usually a blind elderly man, lover of the people, nature
and song, gifted with great talent for emotional singing. Kobzars knew
the songs by heart.
[5] Ostap Veresay, one of the many famous Kobzars from whom Kulish,
Rusov, Chubinsky, Lysenko, etc.--the Ukrainian scientists, ethnologists
and composers--copied the historic songs--epics, called Dumy in
Ukrainian. Dr. Filaret Kolessa: “Ukrainski Narodni Dumy,” Lviv, 1920,
p. 58.