The Folk Song of the Ashkenazim: The Problem of Genre Definition

Abstract:Preparing the first collection of Jewish folk songs for publication (1901), S. M. Ginsburg and P. S. Marek divided the material into groups according to genres. These methods of classifying largely determined the further development of folklore research both in Europe and Russia. New generations of scholars were brought up in accordance with this tradition, and perceived it as the basis for further research. Over the past century, the classification of genres proposed by Ginzburg and Marek has never been the subject of reflection and critical analysis. We could see that the compilers were looking for new, more convenient approaches to systematize the song material, but the scholars who were engaged in research of the Jewish musical tradition after World War II tried to adhere to the canon set at the beginning of the twentieth century. The purpose of this article is, first, to determine what has served as a model for genre classification, and second, to follow subsequent changes in the criteria in the definition of genres and in the approaches to the publication of song collections. An overview of a collection of folk song in Yiddish, published in the period from 1901 to 2007, as well as comparative analysis of their structures, allows the author to find "missing links" and to shed light to the reason for these changes.