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There is probably nothing more complex and monumental in the world than the customs of a real Russian wedding, rooted deeply in Slavic traditions and rituals. Moreover, the entire ceremony, which lasted quite a long time, was completely, from the very beginning to the end, accompanied by authentic songs that perfectly reflected the way of life, as well as the feelings of the people. Moreover, the bride plays a key role in the Slavic wedding ceremony, and the groom rather modestly lingers on the sidelines, but let’s take things in order.
Today, many couples want to turn to their roots and enlist the help of their ancestors, so they prefer to hold celebrations as close as possible to the original, filling every second with meaning and deep feelings. Russian folk songs for weddings are truly inexhaustible material for study; they contain sorrow and melancholy, pain and love, as well as a little irony towards themselves. Let's figure out which songs and when are appropriate at a Russian wedding.
Where does the holiday begin: wedding ritual songs of the Russian people
Photo from the site: folklore-ensemble.rf
Whatever one may say, imagining a Russian wedding ceremony without folk songs and dances, so different both in character and mood, is not only difficult, but also impossible. They can be sad and mournful, touching and pitiful, as well as cheerful and lively, perky and even ironic. Russian folk songs about weddings have been formed among the people for many millennia, therefore they fully reflect the way of life, and even, one might say, a certain folk ideology.
Important
In the Russian tradition, weddings begin long before the bride and groom walk down the church aisle. The newlyweds are considered a couple from matchmaking, after which neither party can break the agreement and refuse the marriage. It is clear that this ritual also had its own song accompaniment, which reflected its essence - a break with the old life, leaving the father’s house, and entering a new life with hope for the future.
Russian folk poetry, and even more so wedding poetry, is extremely diverse in its thematic focus, so it is worth understanding it in more detail. Moreover, one can make a conditional division into those wedding songs of the Russian people that have become ritual and into separate ones that are not directly related to rituals, but indirectly, still related to the wedding as such. We can say that in ancient times, Russian weddings consisted of several main traditions and rituals, which can be roughly designated:
Photo from the site: slavkreml.ru
- First of all, from our ancient ancestors, we have come to believe in magical rituals that will help young people protect themselves, and at the same time their future offspring, from the influence of evil forces, and sometimes even force them to be useful.
- Legal and everyday rituals consisted of weddings and marriage registration, which was previously held in the church itself, where similar records were kept in special books.
- The third type of traditional chant can be called ritual and playful; they were designed to satisfy aesthetic needs, but simply, they decorated the ceremony, made it beautiful, touching, gentle, and also funny and cheerful.
Modern people will have difficulty remembering the names of Russian folk wedding songs, if they remember them at all, yet they played a colossal role in this truly mysterious and mystical rite that clothed a girl with a symbolic death in order to immediately be reborn for her chosen one.
Rituals and customs in folklore and in the works of composers
Sections: Music
Goal: through the creative union of teacher and student in musical and aesthetic education, to contribute to the formation of a highly spiritual personality.
Objectives: educational: familiarization with folklore through the works of composers whose work is focused on folk music, familiarization with the history of wedding ceremonies in Russia; developmental: development of listening, vocal and choral skills, ear for music, memory, thinking, ability to listen and analyze musical works; educational: instilling in schoolchildren respect and interest in their native folklore and the music of Russian composers.
Equipment: presentation for the lesson, multimedia projector, screen, laptop, button accordion, lyrics of the song “Mother, Mother, it’s dusty in the field...”.
During the classes
I. _ Organizational moment (Appendix 1.slide1) Hello guys. The topic of today's lesson is “Rituals and customs in folklore and in the works of composers,” write it down. (Appendix 1. slide 2) And the epigraph of the lesson will be the words of our great Russian poet A.S. Pushkin:
Deeds of days gone by, Traditions of deep antiquity.
II . Repetition of covered material. (Appendix 1. slide 3) So, let's return to the topic of today's lesson. Let's remember what folklore means? -Folklore is folk art, most often oral. (Appendix 1. slide 4) Musical folklore? — Folk music – vocal, instrumental, vocal-instrumental and dance creativity of the people. (Appendix 1. slide 5) So what helps us penetrate the culture of the past, understand the soul of the people? -Acquaintance with folk songs, epics, ancient legends. -What are they telling us about? — About important moments in a person’s life, about folk traditions captured in various rituals. Yes, all significant events in human life - be it the birth of a child, the change of season, the beginning and end of agricultural work, or marriage - were accompanied by rituals.
IV . Summing up the lesson. (Appendix 1. slide 16) What did we talk about today? What does folklore mean? Musical folklore? The most beautiful ancient Russian rite? What is the name of the Tula folklore ensemble? What can you say about the repertoire of this ensemble? Name the composer and his opera, where the wedding game is vividly presented. What plays a big part in the opera “Rusalka”? What do choirs recreate in opera? What is important to us? After all, we are Russian people! (Appendix 1.slide 17)
— It is very important that folk songs are accessible to everyone. We must remember that we are Russian, that we have the Russian word, we have fairy tales, we have traditions.
Matchmaking is the time to agree and obtain a marriage license: Russian folk songs for a wedding, text
Photo from the site: scenki-monologi.at.ua
Since the whole wedding always began with matchmaking, we should begin studying wedding folklore from this very moment, although after matchmaking until the wedding itself, sometimes not one or two days passed, but two, three, or even four months. Initially, the bride had to wait for the matchmakers in the house every day, as soon as the girl “came of age,” since it was not customary to agree on this in advance. Nevertheless, the house always had to be clean and the table not empty, since guests could arrive at any time, and they had to be fed and watered.
Most often, matchmaking lasted several days, and its essence, as already mentioned, was to carry out a conspiracy, that is, to agree on a wedding. Moreover, most often no one asked the girl whether she wanted to marry this or that candidate. Therefore, in ritual songs, the unfortunate fate of women was very often played out, when a girl is taken from her father’s house and sent to live with strangers. In addition, the wedding for the bride was a symbol of the fact that she was dying to her maiden life and was reborn again in her husband's house.
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That is why many ritual songs were even called chants, akin to funeral ones. Russian folk wedding songs, the lyrics of which are varied, are all aimed at deceiving fate, because the girl-bride had to, as it were, die for her father’s family, entering a new life in a new family, the family of her betrothed.
The matchmaking ended with an agreement, then the wedding day was set, so all that remained was to thoroughly prepare. However, even before the wedding train with the groom entered the gates of the bride's house, she had to work hard, undergo a cleansing ritual in the bathhouse and hold a bachelorette party.
At the same time, and sometimes on the wedding day from early morning, a youth party was held for the groom; in a modern manner, it can be called a bachelor party, when the guy also prepared for the ceremony. The wedding genre of Russian folk song itself implies a certain theatricality of the action, because it was necessary to deceive fate by tearing the bride away from her father’s house and introducing her into the groom’s family, which often became the main thread of all ceremonies and chants. All pre-wedding tales are mournful and sad, filled with anxiety and worries, but also with hope that she will not be lost with her husband.
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Oddly enough, the Soviet stage could not boast of an abundance of hits dedicated to wedding themes. I don’t even know why art workers didn’t plan to cover such a rewarding topic. But the fact remains that I was able to remember only two wedding hits that gained all-Union popularity.
Muslim Magomayev - “Wedding” (1971)
The first, of course, is a catchy song about a rural wedding, which
... she sang and danced, and her wings carried this wedding into the distance. There was not enough room for this wide wedding, And there was not enough sky and earth!
It was composed by one of the outstanding Soviet “hitmakers” - Arno Babajanyan - especially for his favorite singer Muslim Magomayev, with whom they had already released many popular songs - including the popularly loved twists “Beauty Queen” and “Best City on Earth”. It is interesting that Magomayev not only performed “The Wedding” wonderfully, but also, as they would say now, set its concept.
Arno Babajanyan: “As you know, a song consists of three components - a composer, a poet and a performer. But Muslim can safely and rightfully be called a co-author of the composer and poet. Let me give you a simple example with the song “Wedding”. It was written by me for a new music hall performance in a satirical sense and was called “Monday is a Hard Day.” Robert Rozhdestvensky and I showed it to Muslim. Having heard it, he said that this song should be solved in a different way, it should be ringing and dashing, in general, festive. We liked Muslim's thought, we remade it, made it the way it is known today. Muslim is a singer who, with his skill, turns songs into a holiday.”
Magomaev and Babajanyan.
It must be said that for “The Wedding” Babajanyan did not reinvent the wheel and practically repeated the structure of his previous hit, “Ferris Wheel.” It is easy to notice that in both songs, thoughtful, unhurried verses are abruptly replaced by rollicking choruses with a truly gypsy scope.
The poems of Robert Rozhdestvensky also added contrasts. The song was sung from the perspective of an outside observer - a lonely man who accidentally meets a wedding procession and regrets that he himself is still not married. In general, everything is as it should be - sadness and fun in one bottle! Of course, the text made no mention of alcohol abuse and drunken fights. And why is this necessary? Those wishing to see the unsightly underside of such events could listen to Vladimir Vysotsky’s satirical song “Smotriny”:
...Then they had fish soup and jellied offal, Then they caught the groom and beat him for a long time, Then they went to dance in the hut, Then they fought not out of malice - And they destroyed everything good in themselves...
The first public performance of “Wedding” by Magomayev took place at the television competition “Song of the Year - 71”, and the jury awarded it the prize “for the best song”.
The only thing Magomaev regretted was that Babajanyan was too frequent with his songs, sometimes not allowing them to really take off.
Muslim Magomayev: “Disadvantages are a continuation of our advantages. Arno's temperament, his haste in self-expression bordered on what can be called literary greed. And at the same time, it was as if he was robbing himself, ahead of events. Therefore, he “sank” quite a few of his good songs: as soon as they were born, they remained beyond popularity. ... Arno didn’t even let the “Ferris Wheel” spin to its full potential: he didn’t wait for it to reach the peak of its popularity, and immediately “gave out” “The Wedding.” Babajanyan’s impatient talent seemed to be stepping on its own toes. The melodies “pressed” him, born one after another. Arno looked at me from under his bushy eyebrows and explained with the naivety of a teenage genius: “You see, old man, I went and wrote another melody.” And she is better! Surely it’s better?.. Each time he believed that it was precisely this that was his immortal melody. And he left the old topic, which even the young one didn’t have time to be around, unattended.”
Rumor has it that Magomayev himself did not like “The Wedding” too much, but invariably performed it as an encore at persistent requests from the audience. The song was also performed by other Soviet singers, such as Joseph Kobzon and Lev Leshchenko. The latter even performed it together with Magomayev at his birthday.
Among more modern performances of “Wedding,” one can recall Valery Meladze’s version and a completely unexpected cover from the rock band KUKRYNIKSY.
LEISYA, SONG - “Wedding Ring” (1980)
The second wedding hit, “Wedding Ring,” appeared at the end of the Brezhnev era. I’ll admit right away that I never liked this song. I was irritated by both her touching performance and Mikhail Ryabinin’s text, which did not shine with poetic merits.
Young people will have to wander along steep roads in life, Let their hands be golden, Let their character be golden too...
It got to the point where the boys would compose all sorts of obscene things to the tune of the song - for example, where the wedding ring did not fit on the rhyming part of the male body. However, this song suited the mood of wedding events much better than Magomaev’s “Wedding”, and incessantly accompanied them throughout the 1980s and even the 1990s. “Wedding ring” can also be heard in films of that time - “4:0 in favor of Tanya” and “Rooks”. In the latter, the song was performed twice - and at a much more energetic tempo...
The first and canonical performers of the song were members of the vocal and instrumental ensemble LEISYA, PESNYA. It is unlikely that this VIA, which in the 1970s recorded such popular songs as “The carriage is rocking”, “Farewell”, “Where have you been”, “You’ll see”, “In the wake of my memory”, “Shoemaker’s song”, “ Native Land,” guessed that “Wedding Ring” would be the last hit in their career. Although previously songs for LEISYA, SONG were mainly written by Vyacheslav Dobrynin and David Tukhmanov, “Wedding Ring” was composed by another Soviet “hitmaker” - Vladimir Shainsky.
As often happened in Soviet ensembles, the composition of LEISYA, PESNYA was very fluid. In 1980, Vitaly Kretov became the artistic director of VIA (instead of Mikhail Shufutinsky), who, in fact, made the arrangement of “Wedding Ring”. And it was performed by two opposite-sex vocalists - Vladimir Efimenko and Marina Shkolnik (which is quite logical for a song about “two hearts”).
Vocalists LEISYA, SONG: Boris Platonov, Marina Shkolnik, Vladimir Efimenko.
According to Marina’s recollections, the song was supposed to be a screensaver for some television program. Therefore, they recorded it in the Ostankino studio on Korolev, 12. At that moment, the ensemble was touring the USSR, so the musicians recorded “Wedding Ring” in haste (literally in one take), after which they left to perform in Kyiv. None of them then suspected that the song would take off like that.
She fired, though not right away. According to the same Shkolnik, “The Wedding Ring” was not broadcast on air for about six months, which gave rise to some rather strange myths.
Marina Shkolnik: “They told us, either jokingly or seriously, that gold had risen in price in the country, and therefore for six months no one could hear or see the recorded song.”
Moreover, in the same 1980, the song was released on the giant record “For You, Women,” which sold millions of copies throughout the USSR. And in 1981, “Wedding Ring” really became the theme song for the “Newlyweds Club” program...
After the fall of the Soviet system, there seemed to be a lot more wedding-themed pop songs. But how many of them are played at weddings? Well, perhaps, except for “Wedding Flowers” by Irina Allegrova...
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Author: Sergey Kuriy July 2022
Wedding train and princely table: the best Russian folk wedding songs for the feast
Photo from the site: svadbavrusskomstile.ru
After the final preparations, the groom and his groomsmen, led by the main one, boarded the wedding train, which was supposed to consist of several carts and set off at the bride’s house, from where she had to be delivered to the church. Here the groom was again relegated to the background, and the main role belonged to the groomsman, who should guide the young man unhindered to his destination. Today everything has become much simpler, but obstacles can still arise, just like in the old days, only today grooms mostly solve their problems themselves.
In the girl’s house, the entire procession was greeted by peace and quiet, and most importantly, no signs of wedding preparations. It would not hurt to pay attention to the text of the wedding songs of the Russian people, which were supposed to be sung at this moment. When the groom urgently knocked on the gate, the bridesmaids appeared, led by her sisters and brothers. After the bride price satisfied everyone, and he himself passed all the tests, and there could be quite a few of them, the girl was finally taken to the groom under beautiful ritual chants, symbolizing how much the guy loves the girl, that he is ready to leave everything, for her sake.
But the bride had to go to church herself, that is, in a separate carriage. The groom rode first, followed by the groom, and only then the bride. Under no circumstances should the parents of the young man go to church; this was considered a bad omen; they had to prepare a celebration, refreshments, and also a family bed for the newlyweds.
