«Psalm» of the Doukhobors Javakheti «Uzrekh Mnogo Narodu» as a Typical Example of the Genre

Abstract

Psalm «Uzrekh mnogo narodu» is the most important in the liturgical and funeral practices of the Doukhobors of Javakheti. Its text, containing nine Evangelical Beatitudes, borrowed from the Orthodox Typicon, conveys the most important Christian values, which observance helps to achieve the Heavenly Kingdom. The features of musical style of the psalm (composition, scale, intonation, rhythmic) are characteristic also of other samples of a genre. The musical stanzas are of considerable length. The composition is characterized by the complexity of the principles of coordination of poetic text and melody. The wide chant of syllables is one of the genre and style features. In the development of the tune, the trichord musical phrase (a-c1-d1) plays a leading role, which varies and repeats many times. The question of the origin of the Dukhobor psalm genre is still open, but its links with Orthodox culture at the level of texts and of principles of inclusion in ritual, at the level of tune with narrative genres of musical folklore are obvious