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EASTERN EUROPE 81 |
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Around Trebon, around Trebon Horses are grazing on the lord's field. Give the horses, Pm telling you, Give the horses oats. When they have had their fill They will carry me home.
Often they concern love among young peasants. For example:—
Come, young man, to our house in the morning. You shall see what I do. 1 get up in the morning, I water the cows, And I drive the sheep to pasture.
The fruits of agriculture may be used as special symbols in the text: —
Under the oak, behind the oak
She had one or two
Red apples; she gave one to me.
She did not want to give me both,
She began to make excuses,
That she hasn't, that she won't give, that there are too few.
Many of the Czech lyrical songs deal with or mention music, such as this—
In the master's meadow I -found a dtfvat*
Who will change it for me? My sweetheart is not at home.
If she won't change it Yll give it to the cimbal {dulcimer) player.
The music will play until dawn.
The rhythm of Czech and Slovak songs is relatively simple, with the meters typically an isometric duple or triple. Hungarian folk songs are frequently in similarly simple meter, but there are also many Hungarian songs with irregular metric patterns, and some that move steadily in 5/4 or 7/4 meter. One of the common features of Hungarian rhythm is the use of dotted figures— J. J) or, even more typically, J)J.—with heavy stress on the first note. Perhaps, again, the rhythmic structure of the language is evident here, for in Hungarian, as in Czech, there are no articles, and the first syllable is automatically accented. Also common in Hungarian and some other Eastern European folk styles is the use of isorhythmic structure. This means that a rhythmic pattern is repeated for each line. The meters may vary and the measures may have irregular numbers of beats, but the sequence of note values remains the same from line to |
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