Czech
and Moravian Folk Music
Folk music culture in the Czech Republic can be roughly
divided into two parts that are more or less coterminous with the
historical division of the Czech Lands into Bohemia and Moravia. In
terms of melody, the folk music of Moravia is often defined as the
eastern or also the vocal type, while that of Bohemia is characterised
as an instrumental type. This distinction is useful only for purposes
of general orientation, however, since music of both types can be found
in both regions and there are also regional difference on the
north-south axis.
Music in Bohemia is akin to the music of Austria and Germany. It also
shares a number of melodies with these areas. It is rhythmically more
regular and harmonically simpler, mainly keeping to major scales. The
melody is influenced by the form of instrumental performance and it is
often possible to identify from the character of a melody whether it
was originally pipes dance melody or, for example, a bugle signal. The
melodies are derived from the harmony and are based on broken chords
and scale progressions. Song texts were created to already existing
melodies, with the result that there are more texts than melodies. The
instrumental origin of melodies is also often evident in the frequent
adjustment of the text by drawing out or repetition of the syllables.
Originally most songs were in three-time, but during the 19th century
two-time became more frequent in association with the rise of new kinds
of dance. Almost without exception the songs are structured in
eight-bar or four-bar phrases. In Bohemia stronger mutual influence
between folk music and composed music developed as a result of the
larger concentration of towns. The influences of the Baroque and
Classicism can therefore be heard in Bohemian folk songs. From the
nineteenth century there was increasing overlap between the folk music
of the Bohemian countryside, urban folklore and popularised composed
music.
The folk music of Moravia and Silesia is closely related to the music
of Slovakia, Poland and Hungary. The lesser degree of industrialisation
and so weaker connection between rural and urban culture has meant that
melodies of a more archaic type have survived here. In contrast to
Bohemia, minor or modal melodies are strikingly frequent. In
consequence of the fact that the melody is adapted to the text, we more
often find irregularity and asymmetric structure. In slow songs, a
rubato style without fixed measure is typical. An irregular rhythm can
also be found in dance songs. In the melodies we find less repetition.
The harmony is determined by the melody and is characterised by many
peculiar progressions, such as change from major to minor within one
song. In Moravia folk music maintained its original context and place
in everyday life for longer.
In the first decades of the 20th century what is known as the New Hungarian style,
spread mainly by Gypsy bands, has been beginning to reach Moravia. With
the new style there is also an emphasis on soloist virtuosity.
Dance songs make up a large part of the repertoire in both Bohemia and
Moravia. In this sphere too there has been mutual influence between
urban and rural culture and also the adoption of dances from
neighbouring countries. Thus in Bohemia, we find besides polka for example the ländler from Austria or the Polish mazurka, and the csárdás
has penetrated into Moravia from Hungary. Besides dance songs there
also songs associated with particular ceremonies, above all the
wedding, work songs or children's songs. One special example is the verbuňk, a male solo dance originally danced by recruits conscripted into the army. Vendor's ballads
(broadsheet ballads), which continued the long tradition of music
written by itinerant musicians, have a special place. These songs also
disseminated news, often relating important or remarkable events.
In general, folk music in Bohemia can be said to be more homogenous in
terms of style, while in Moravia the individual regions can differ
strikingly. In Bohemia the distinctive regions are in the south and
west, above all Chodsko and Blata, where the traditions of bagpipes
music have been preserved. On the Bohemian-Moravian border there is the
distinctive area of Horácko with fiddle bands. In Moravia regions with
a highly specific folk music are Slovácko in the south-east, Wallachia
to the north and the Haná in Central Moravia. Silesia and Lašsko, which
are under the influence of Polish folk music, are markedly different
from
Moravia.
Musical Instruments and Ensembles
In the earliest times the main instrument was the bagpipes, which
were the principal musical accompaniment at all festive occasions
(weddings, fairs). From the end of the 16th century there are records
of ensembles in which the pipes were combined with a flute (fife) or a
drum. From the mid 17th century stringed instruments, primarily the
violin, spread into the Czech Lands. In the earlier 18th century the
clarinet appeared in folk music. At this period substantial differences
also began to emerge in instrumental ensembles in the different
regions. In Bohemia, especially the south, we find what was known as
the small peasant band,
consisting of bagpipes, clarinettist and violinist. Other favourite
instruments were the hurdy-gurdy harp or zither, which were widespread
mainly among Germans settled in Bohemia.
In East Moravia the bagpipes also known as gajdas were the most important instrument up to the 1860s. The gajda band was made up of piper and fiddler. From the mid-19th century the hudecká muzika (string band),
appears, in which there is no longer a piper. This usually consisted of
several fiddlers, one of them playing the melody while the other
created a rhythmic and harmonic accompaniment. In the course of the
century this ensemble stabilised in the form of first violin, second
violin (the so-called terc), the violin or viola accompaniment known as
contra, clarinet and double bass.
The dulcimer band is regarded as a typical Moravian folk formation.
From the beginning of the 18th century the dulcimer was a popular
instruments not only in Moravia but also in the Bohemian-Moravian
Highlands and in South Bohemia. This was a small dulcimer hung round
the neck by a strap, however, which appeared in groups with fiddle and
bass up to the beginning of the 19th century but subsequently
disappeared from the instrumental array. A large modern dulcimer was
constructed in 1800 by the Budapest instrument-maker, originally from
Říčany near Prague, J. V. Schunda. In Eastern Moravia this instrument
started to appear in folk music ensembles only much later. in the
1930s. It became very popular particular for its dynamic and pitch
range.
Sources. Collectors and the Revival of Folk Traditions
Thanks to the but that folksong melodies were used for sacred songs, we
have indirect records of several melodies from as early as the end of
the 15th century. The first known collectors of folksongs were often
country vicars and teachers and they appear in the latter 18th century.
The collection of the miller A. FRANCL-SÝKORA, for example, has
survived from 1708. At the turn of the 18th/19th centuries the nobleman
Jan JENÍK OF BRATŘICE recorded a large number of Czech folk songs and
in defiance of the prevailing trends among national revivalists who
idealised folk art, he did not, exclude obscene and "dissolute" songs
from his records. What was known as the Gubernial collection
organised by the Austrian authorities in 1819 provided the first
stimulus for a more systematic and professional collection and
classification of folk music. In the course of the 19th century a whole
series of collections were made that map Bohemian and Moravian folk
song. The most important collectors included Karel Jaromír ERBEN in
Bohemia, and in Moravia František SUŠIL, whose efforts were carried on
by František BARTOŠ in collaboration with the composer Leoš JANÁČEK.
At the turn of the 19th-20th century folk specialists began to employ a
new invention – the phonograph. In Bohemia the first to do so was the
expert in aesthetics and musicology Otakar ZICH, who in 1909 recorded
the piper František Kopšík from Blata region on wax cylinder. At the
same time, František POSPÍŠIL started to use the phonograph in Moravia,
as did Leoš Janáček and others later.
The Czechoslovak Ethnographic Exhibition in 1895, which presented the
way of life of the different regions, awoke the wider public to an
interest in folk culture. Folk culture played an important role in the
formation of the identity of Bohemia and Moravia in the
Austro-Hungarian era and later when the independent state was born.
At the beginning of the 20th century we start to see efforts to revive
and preserve folk culture even outside its original context. The 1930s
saw the formation of what were known as circles
devoted to folk music and dancing of specific regions (Slovácko,
Wallachia, Chodsko) and to reconstructing folk customs. After the 2nd
World War amateur and professional folk dance ensembles sprang up
throughout the republic and the movement was supported by the state.
The Czech State Song and Dance Ensemble and the Brno Radio Orchestra of
Folk Instruments were founded, as were various displays and festivals,
the oldest held since 1946 in Strážnice. Since 1989 the government has
reduced subsidies, but many ensembles and festivals still survive and
flourish.
Mgr. Matěj Kratochvíl
(Translation: Anna Bryson)