Well, now I have Lithuania to add to the list of countries whose folk music to be obsessed with. In a discussion with my teaching colleague Arkadi Serper about what folk music traditions might have influenced Stravinsky’s ear in his youth, I brought up the amazing vocal music of the Caucasus region, particularly Georgian table songs. Arkadi agreed, and then went on to alert me to several others from within Russia and the former Soviet Union, including Lithuanian sutartinės.
Sutartinės are little polyphonic vocal gems performed by two, three or four singers. Melodies generally consist of little repeating figures, usually syncopated and containing only a few pitches. Counterpoint is derived in different ways, depending on how many parts there are. What interests me so much about this tradition is that the very specific counterpoint rules that it follows results in very beautiful combinations of intervals, including lots of parallel seconds. If written down and presented to highly trained singers, these would be a real bear to put together, but peasant women have been singing them in this one little corner of Lithuania for centuries.
There’s quite a bit written about this, so I won’t go into more detail about the theory stuff. The following audio examples come from a Lithuanian folklore web site, where you can also see a transcription corresponding to each one.
A dvejinė is a two-part sutartinė consisting of two short repeating sections. In this example, the second part is sung concurrently with the first, but a faux canon is achieved by delaying the second part’s entrance. Listen
This three-part example, or trejinė is closer to what we think of as a normal canon. There are two sections, only one is longer than the first. The second voice enters after the first voice has sung the first section. The third voice enters after the second has completed the first section. Here’s where it gets really interesting. (Steve Reich, are you listening?) Since the second section is slightly longer than the first, voice one is still on the last part of the second section when voice three enters. The result is a constant shifting, such that the harmony and texture are slightly different with each iteration after all three voices have entered. It’s hard to explain…. Listen
Here’s another trejinė that’s structured a little differently. Listen
In the keturinė, or four-part sutartinė, two pairs of singers take turns singing a repeating two-part passage. In this example, as seems to be typical of these pieces, the two parts are offset by seconds, making for some interesting harmonies. Listen
The harmonies and rhythms that occur in these pieces certainly make one wonder if Stravinsky was familiar with this tradition as he developed his unique sound. The phasing technique that Steve Reich is famous for is also a component here. I wonder if he knows this music.
