Svadobne noty: Ceremonial wedding tunes in the context of Slovak traditional culture
by Vazanova, Jadranka, Ph.D., CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, 2008, 421 pages; 3300699

Abstract:

Within the varied repertoire of songs sung in the course of the traditional wedding ceremony in Slovakia specific songs were performed—usually by women without instrumental accompaniment—at particular, mostly ritual moments with context-appropriate texts to one or two recurring, locally identified wedding tune(s), called svadobné nôty. This phenomenon of a common local wedding melody seems to be central to the whole genre of wedding songs and is spread among the wedding traditions of central, southern, and eastern Europe, sharing the name (svadobný hlas, svadbarski glas, svatovski glas) and similar features.

As one of the most stable elements of the wedding ceremony, recognized as such by village performers and remaining a part of the traditional repertoire even after the disappearance of the ceremonial moments they were formerly associated with, svadobné nôty trigger a number of questions that have not been addressed in previous studies of wedding songs. Socio-cultural, musical, poetical, and melodic-typological aspects of svadobné nôty are explored in order to hypothesize on the functions these melodies may have played in the traditional wedding ceremony and in the context of patriarchal village culture, the principles and values of which were, in turn, embodied in and articulated through that ceremony as the most crucial family and community event.

Several functions of svadobné nôty can be identified: (1) they are ritual means of confirmation of the matrimony; (2) they communicate meanings and messages accumulated in the semantic field of the traditional village wedding ceremony; (3) they symbolize the bride's personal identity during the process of her change in status; (4) they manifest a local/regional identity of the community; (5) as melodic symbols of stability, they complement the transitional character of the wedding ceremony as a rite of passage; and (6) as the wedding ceremony was an arena for symbolic articulation of the principles of the patriarchal system, svadobné nôty may have alleviated contradictions of the patriarchy.

 
AdviserStephen Blum
SchoolCITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
SourceDAI/A 69-01, p. , May 2008
Source TypeDissertation
SubjectsFolklore; Music; Women's studies
Publication Number3300699
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