Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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SONG 565
The rpayoiSta rov x^P^^t or choral songs,
are ballads in the original sense of the word,
for they are sung as an accompaniment to a
complicated set of steps and mimic evolutions.
At weddings, Christmas, on May -Day, and
similar festivals, men and women may be seen
dancing together in a ring, hand in hand, outside
their country inns. The leader of the
dance as he sweeps on, waves a. handkerchief
and sings a verse, accompanying it with appropriate
gestures, while the rest of the dancers
sing alternate verses in chorus. There are also
other dance-songs, which are sung antiphonally
by distinct sets of voices. This music is of a
light and gay kind, consisting of short phrases
which often end on the high octave ;
Serenades and aubades are most in vogue in the
large towns, and each province has its owm
special songs ; but there are some ancient sohgs
of great celebrity, such as The ' Fall of Constantinople,'
which are the common heritage of
all the provinces.
The Fall of Constantinople.^
Ex. 3.
To - ira-via ^w - - ijm 'irdp - - SifKev, To
Ex. 2.
with little or no variety in melody or rhythm.
The words of the many Greek cradle-songs are
of great beauty, but the melodies are monotonous
and limited in compass.' Greater interest is
imparted to the lyric folk-songs belonging to
the eastern parts of Greece and the adjacent
islands (where the melodies are naturally of an
oriental character), by tiie irregular rhythms
and constant change of time, such as alternate
2-4 and 3-4 time.
The Greeks have a gift for improvising or
reciting in verse, and the preponderance of
open vowels and the facility of rhyming in
the Romaic language ^ render their task easy.
Also they are keenly sensitive to emotions
roused by striking events, and incidents both
of past and present history. Many of theiisongs
have reference to the customary periods
of absence from home, when the villagers, who
follow the professions of merchants or pedlars,
descend from their hills to ply their trades in
foreign lands. ^ Thus a youth who quits his
home for the first time is accompanied a certain
distance on the road by his family and friends.
Before taking final leave of her son the mother
laments his departure in a song either improvised
or traditional, and in response the youth
bewails the hard fate which drives him from
his home.* There is proof that among the
mass of folk-poetry still extant, much of it
dates back to old classical times. For example,
the famous swallow-songs, when boys go about
the streets greeting in song the reappearance
of the swallows, embody a very ancient custom.'
In the Greek folk-songs, as among other
nations, the last words or lines are often repeated,
or the words are broken up into meaningless
syllables, recurring three or four times before
the word is completed. Or it may be that the
words are interrupted by interjections or refrains.
It should be noted also that the accents of
the words and music do not always agree, which
clearly proves that different words were set to
already extant melodies. It is difficult to
represent these Eastern songs in our present
notation, but the following example, of which
a few bars are given, is a love-story from the
Island of Samos,' and shows many of the abovementioned
features, including the peculiar
tonality, limited compass, changing time and
deep melancholy, inherent to them. Stringed
Ex. 4.
Andante, Sav et vat. va - trav
^^^^^^^g
- eT - - i/at i/a-
irov - At, av-pe irov -At . . ^ov orb Ka-Ad<
J5=
1 The lullabies are called BavKoAij/iara, Ntn^pur/Aara, Nai/apt