The Study of Lullaby Genre and its Subtypes: Since Komitas to Nowadays

Abstract

The presented article is focused on the study of the lullaby and grounds for the existence of subtypes within the genre, which clearly differ from each other in their structure and composition principles. Observations on this subject can be seen in the works of Komitas, later in the works of musicologists Robert Atayan, Margarita Brutyan, Mushegh Aghayan, Hasmik Apinyan, as well as in the works of ethnographers Roza Grigoryan and Hripsime Pikichyan. We attempted to combine their observations and propose our own approach, as well as to classify these groups of lullabies by type, based on a comprehensive analysis. Among other academic achievements of Komitas, it should be noted that he made the first attempt at genre classification of Armenian traditional music, in which, however, the lullaby is not yet recognized as an independent phenomenon. Komitas divided the lullabies into two groups; one of which he considered a component of women’s lyrical song and the other a component of the women’s work song․