gerald florian mesneri (avstralia) karinTiis mravalxmiani simReris ...

212gerald florian mesnerimosaxldnen sxva xalxebi, romelTa Soris iyvnen mebrZoli da agresiuli centraluri azi–is xunZebi (Avars, avarelebi) da SedarebiT mSvidobiani slavebi. aq dasaxlebuli slavuritomebi Camovidnen daaxloebiT Cveni welTaRricxvis 550 wels. isini iyvnen slovenebi (Slo–venci, arsebobs sxva dasaxelebebic). isini gamoeqcnen xunZebs da, sabolood, bavarielebisdaxmarebiT gadarCnen.dResdReobiT, aq gamoyenebul adgilobriv enas Tu gamovikvlevT, Cven vipoviT sityvebsda sityvis fuZeebs, romlebic ukavSirdeba arqaul slavonurs da bavariuls, agreTve Zvelkeltur lingvistur Zirebs.karinTiaSi gavrcelebuli musikaluri stili aris vokaluri polifoniuri musika. ga–moiyofa simReris sami ZiriTadi kategoria: saweso simRerebi, Tanzboden (sacekvao moednis)simRerebi da gasarTobi simRerebi. or-, sam- da zogjer oTxxmiani saweso simRerebi srul–deba gansakuTrebuli SemTxvevebis dros, wlis religiuri sezonis ganmavlobaSi, TanzbodensimRerebi, rogoricaa G’stanzeln (germanizebuli italiuri sityva, romlis fuZea stanza, racniSnavs leqss, strofs) sruldeba qorwinebis, sakarnavalo festivalebis, axali wlisa dasxva saxis Sekrebebze. am responsoruli simRerebis teqstebi spontanuradaa Seqmnili da Sed–geba daaxloebiT 10-13 marcvliani taepisgan. es iumoristuli an ironiuli leqsebi sruldebacnobil, martiv melodiaze leqsebis avtoris mier. mas mohyveba saerTo mravalxmiani sim–Rera, romelic pasuxobs 10-marcvlian abarakadabras.sawesCveulebo da Tanzboden simRerebs gasarTobi simRerebisgan ganasxvavebs metri (xSi–rad, orwiladi, xandaxan samwiladi), rac Zalian mkafioa da, ra Tqma unda, sityvieri teqs–ti. simRerebi aris neli, umetesad, samwiladi metriT da sruldeba Tavisufali maneriT, bev–ri rubatoTi. zogjer simReris safuZvelSi arsebuli metri, romelic miTiTebulia teqs–tSi, bundovani da TiTqmis Seucnobelia, ris gamoc simRerebis transkripciisas zogierTieTnomusikologi mas arasworad aRniSnavs. zogjer isini iZlevian rTul zomebs, romlebicsinamdvileSi arasworia. es simRerebi, umetesad, sxvadasxva saxis sasiyvarulo da samij–nuro simRerebia, romlebSic poeturadaa asaxuli sasiyvarulo Temis variaciebi an cxovre–biseuli siamovneba da gaWirveba. bolo asi wlis ganmavlobaSi gasarTobi simRerebi metadaagavrcelebuli.maTi yvelaze daxvewili, srulyofili da saintereso saxea originalurad improviza–ciuli oTx- da xuTxmiani simRerebi. xuTxmian simReras asrulebdnen kacebi, magram Semdeges Seicvala da axla miRebulia misi Sesruleba mamakacTa da qalTa Sereuli Semadgenlo–biT, radgan maRali falcetis anu kontrtenoris praqtika TandaTan daikarga. mas amJamadcvlis qali (Stajnar, 2000: 92). es iSviaTi, oTx- da gansakuTrebiT xuTxmiani simReris stili,romelic zogierT mezobel regionSi TandaTanobiT daviwyebas eZleva, aq kvlav ganagrZobsarsebobas. igi cocxlobs agreTve samxreT tirolSi (South Tyrol), romelic dRes italiisnawilia (Deutsch, 2000: 27-38). oTx- da xuTxmiani improvizaciebi asaxavs polifoniuri Sesru–lebis stils, sadac xmebi Semofarglaven mTavar melodias, Sesrulebuls solistis, umete–sad baritonis mier. qalebi umetesad asruleben or-, samxmian simReras. oTx- da xuTxmianistili Tavisi Seulaxavi formiT aRar arsebobs, magram igi dasturdeba Zvel CanawerebSi dawerilobiT wyaroebSi, rac miuTiTebs Zlier msgavsebaze Zvel musikasTan, romlis saxel–wodebaa cruburdoni (falsobordone) an foburdoni (fauxbourdon). es ukanaskneli miekuTvnebodaodnav gansxvavebul tradicias. samwuxarod, karinTiis Soreuli warsulis xalxuri musi–

216GERALD FLORIAN MESSNER (AUSTRALIA)SIGNIFICANT ASPECTS OF CARINTHIAN MULTI-PART SINGING.PART OF THE DIVERSE POLYPHONIC VOCAL TRADITION IN THESOUTH EASTERN ALPINE ADRIATIC REGIONA remarkable variety of unique and very persistent musical traditions still exist in the Alpine AdriaticRegion. In some remote areas astonishingly archaic forms have been maintained and are being performed upto this very day. An omnipresent vocal polyphonic tradition plays a dominant role despite major acculturationsof various kinds. This beautiful region is today shared mainly by Austria, Slovenia, Italy/South Tyrol andSwitzerland. Due to the frequent shifts of empires and governments with their particular national poweragendas, the various peoples of this region were frequently forced to undergo major changes in politicaland cultural identification. However, its shared ancient cultural substratum is still alive and can easily berecognised. For hundreds of years the ‘Alpine Adria Region’ was an ethno-cultural melting pot and is todaysometimes, jokingly, referred to as the United States of the Alps. In Antiquity the pre-historic settlers graduallyembraced the Celtic culture with a strong Etruscan input, especially in the southern regions and, finally, theywere all further acculturated by the Roman latecomers. All this left a distinctive mark in the cultural matrix ofthe settlers of this wide-spread region which the later arrivals e.g. some Southern Slavonic and Germanic clansintegrated into their own ethnic cultural weave, which can still be readily identified.A unique and ancient polyphonic musical culture, a signifier of the region, still displays some interestingstructures such as drone part-singing as well as two, three, four and five part vocal features. In general femalesand males sang separately and had different repertoires according to the functional character of certaincustomary as well as recreational songs. But, nowadays, singing in a mixed choral formation has also becomequite prevalent.Today, I wish to zoom in on one regional zone, which is Southern Carinthia, the bilingual part of the stateof Carinthia in today’s Federal Republic of Austria where I was born and raised. Here the dominant culture oflate Antiquity was clearly Romano-Celtic. This is obvious and documented by the archaeological findings ofurban centres such as e. g. the Celto-Roman oppidum on the Magdalensberg (St. Magdalen’s mountain) whichis still in excavation, the Roman towns Virunum on the Zollfeld (Slov. Gosposvetsko polje) near Klagenfurt(Lat.: Queremoniae vadus, Slov. Celovec) and Juenna on the base of Hemmaberg (St. Hemma’s mointain)with its Celtic relics and excavations of a large Arian-Christian pilgrimage centre from around 400 AD. Allthis is solidly supported by archaeological and ethnographic findings. Many names of rivers, landmarks,settlements, mountains and customs in the region, now known as Carinthia, can still be traced back to Celticdeities. Later in the 5 th and 6 th century several other people moved into this area amongst whom were themilitant and aggressive central Asian Avars and the more peaceful Slavs. The Slavonic clans who settled here,arrived around 550 AD. They were Slovenes (Slovenci, but also other names have been considered). Fleeingfrom the Avars they were ultimately rescued and supported by the Bavarians.If we investigate the vernaculars spoken here today, we can find words and roots of words that can betraced back to an archaic Slavonic and Bavarian, as well to an older Celtic linguistic substratum.The preferred musical style in Carinthia is vocal polyphonic music. Three major categories of songs can

Significant Aspects of Carinthian Multi-Part Singing. Part of the DiversePolyphonic Vocal Tradition in the South Eastern Alpine Adriatic Region217generally be recognised, such as the customary songs, Tanzboden (a kind of dance hall) songs and recreationalsongs. The two, three and sometimes four part customary songs are performed on specific occasions duringthe religious seasonal cycle of the year, the Tanzboden songs such as G’stanzeln (Germanised Italian wordfrom stanza=verse, strophe) are sung at weddings, carnival festivities, New Year’s celebrations and othergatherings. The texts of these responsorially performed songs are spontaneously created and consist of acouplet of approx.10-13 syllabic lines. These humorous or mocking verses are sung to a well known, simplemelody by the creator of the verses, and are then followed by the multipart singing of the community, whoresponds with a couplet of 10 nonsense syllables.What distinguishes the customary and Tanzboden songs from the recreational ones are the measures(often two or four but, occasionally, three) that are more vivid and, of course, the text. In contrast, therecreational songs are slow and, predominantly follow a measure of three, but in an unbound free flowingmanner with a lot of rubato. Sometimes the underlying meter, indicated by the text, becomes blurred andalmost unrecognisable and some of the ethnomusicologists have been tempted to over-interpret this fact whentranscribing these songs. They do sometimes provide complicated bar measures, which are, in fact, misleading.These songs are predominantly love and courtship songs of all kinds, playing with variations of the love themeor poetical reflections of life’s pleasures and hardships. During the last hundred years or so, more emphasishas been placed on recreational songs.Their most elaborate and interesting feature is the originally improvisational four and five part song.Five part singing was originally a male domain but this has changed and a female-male mixture is now verycommon because the high falsetto or counter tenor practice is beginning to be lost and females are replacing it(Stajnar, 2000: 92). This particular four and especially the five part style that seems to have vanished in someof the neighbouring regions is here still very much alive, as well as in South Tyrol now part of Italy (Deutsch,2000: 27-38). The four and five part improvisations reflect a polyphonic performance-style that moulds itselfaround a leading melody sung by a lead singer, preferably a baritone. Females tend to perform two and threepart songs. Originally the four and five part style in its untampered form which no longer really exists but hasbeen documented in older recordings and written reports, indicates a strong affinity, to what in early art musichas been termed falsobordone or even fauxbourdon. The latter, again, belonged to a slightly different tradition.Unfortunately we have only very few historical records concerning Carinthia’s folk-music practice from themore distant past but some notations and descriptions based on the observation of 19 th century researchersas well as older recordings help us to infer how the old folk music may have been structured. Notations ofearly folk polyphony produced prior to the early 20 th century ought to be dealt with cautiously (compare withLešnik), as they probably reflect the tradition of the learned notator whose chief motivation was to providea written version of his own idea of how he thought the music should be structured rather than to echo thestructure of the original folk tradition of that time. Some 15 th century notations of Lombardian polyphonycertainly seem to demonstrate this (Messner, 2008).The Austrian musicologist Franz Eibner quotes Thomas Koschat, a prominent 19 th century Carinthiancomposer, choir master, collector and creator of Carinthian songs who also wrote about the typical Carinthianfive part song-style: “A very distinctive feature of the typical Carinthian song [Slovenian and German] is thatthe main melody is not performed by the upper voice but by the lead singer for whom a Baritone range seemsto be most suitable. The second most important part is the Überschlagsstimme (German, meaning falsetto orcountertenor voice). This part performes a third or sixth above the melody and therefore has to make use of theso called falsetto range” (Eibner, 1972: 39-84). Mentioning the use of the falsetto or counter tenor range, he

218Gerald Florian Messnergives us a hint of the age and longevity of this practice, which obviously indicates an affinity with the ancientcantus firmus technique in so called early art music. Support for this assumption comes from the names givento the different parts, such as der Grade (Engl. the straight) or Aushalter (Engl. somebody sustaining a note)these are all alternative names for the tenor voice in some four part songs, a part that sings the 5 th above thetonic which strongly indicates to be a remnant of a central drone. The part that mainly sings the leading middlevoice an octave lower had also a name that varied from region to region. In South Tyrol it still s called die tiafeSekund (Engl. the lower second). Another support for the above mentioned assumption is the use of paralleloctaves, fourths and fifths that can occasionally still be observed especially when the songs are performed byfolk singers who have had no formal musical training. One of the main feature is that these songs are started bythe lead singer and joined in by the other vocal parts. This responsorial practice is not always strictly followedespecially in the contemporary folk song creations. The parts did not always move in a parallel progression butdid show independent counter-pointal tendencies. This too is vanishing.Today, by contrast, the style has become polished and harmonically cleansed. It is quite possible that thedecline of the five part polyphonic vocal style of Renaissance art music towards the end of the 16 th centuryand the rise and acceptance of the basso continuo fashion had an impact on folk music practice especiallyin the vicinity of urban areas. This would explain the adoption of the well known four part homophonicchoral harmony, which has now become the all-permeating structure of both folk and main stream Westernmusic. This development must, of course, have had a strong impact on folk polyphonic traditions that initiallyfollowed a different musical aesthetic. This seems to have been the case with the Alpine folk polyphonyunder discussion.However, the vocal parts have retained their specific names and still follow models and rules well knownto the people of the communities that were living in this area.Singing together essentially was and still is occasionally improvisational in nature. It has, of course,nothing to do with free improvisation but is rather an improvisational practice in which rules, flexible thoughthey may be, are applied in order for a song to sound satisfying for the performers. These performances are,generally speaking, not meant to please only an audience but were primarily created for the enjoyment ofall participants. Some sounds especially those produced in unplanned, improvisational performances were,indeed, not always pleasant for academically trained musicians. Their ears would detect so-called discords,parallel fifths and octaves and other features that are forbidden in the voice-leading practice of art music.This kind of ‘uncontaminated’ singing is, nowadays, almost extinct as the omnipresent equal temperamenttuning system (12-TET) has swept through all our ears and brains and has cleansed and eliminated all so-called“unmusical” and alien deviations from the now dominant tuning and audio reference system of our globalisingmusical fusion-music culture. It appears that people living in remote areas that were difficult to access havebeen able to maintain archaic traditional forms over a much longer period of time. This, however, is nowchanging because of the digitalisation of our world.The polyphonic style of Carinthia has survived but occurs now, predominantly, within the ‘proper’ frameof an academic homophonic four part harmonic make-up. Here and there old hexachordal patterns and socalled “wild” interval formations and polyphonic progressions can still be detected although quite scarcely.Well known melodies are handed down from generation to generation and do pre-exist but the polyphonicweave produced by musicians with no formal training singing together without sheet music is, on someoccasions, still a spontaneous creation of the music makers. Each singer contributes to the harmonic wholeand sings a part that is not pre-set but exists conceptually and is found to suit his or her voice as it comes into

Significant Aspects of Carinthian Multi-Part Singing. Part of the DiversePolyphonic Vocal Tradition in the South Eastern Alpine Adriatic Region219being. Thus it is a collective creation and the people who live in this region have assimilated the polyphonicskills since their early childhood. The Voice production is considered to be soft even when singing with fullcapacity. It is a voice production in the vicinity of what is commonly known as bel canto style. Here the soundenergy is evenly distributed over the whole spectrum and a wide range of so-called overtones or harmonicsis appreciated by the performers.Here are some audio samples of Carinthian singing styles (audio ex. 1-4):1) An audio sample of a contemporary five part song. It is polished and rehearsed, without improvisationalsurprises and represents the present day choral performance tradition. The language, typical for these kind ofsongs, is a middle-Carinthian dialect, promoted by the local poet Gerhard Glawischning. The various GermanCarinthian dialects are generally based on an old Southern Bavarian idiom;2) Here are audio samples of a Slovenian four part and a five part song, the four part song is from DolgaBrda, a Slovenian village right on the border with Carinthia, recorded 1964 (Stajnar, 2000: 86) and the fivepart song is from Zell Pfarre (Slov. Sele pri Fari) recorded 1969. The language of these songs is in a CarinthianSlovenian dialect that also displays regional variants;3) Here is a 5 part audio sample from South Tyrol, recorded 1992. The same song is also performed inCarinthia, sung in several Carinthian German regional dialects.ReferencesDeutsch, Walter. (2000). “Interpretationsformen im Tiroler Volksgesang” (“Interpretation of forms in the Tyrolean folk song”). In:Der authentische Volksgesang in den Alpen (The Authentic Folk Singing in the Alps). P. 27-38. Editors: Haid, Gerlinde, Josef, Sulz,Nußbaumer, Thomas. Anif/Salzburg: Müller-SpeiserEibner, Franz. (1972). “Vom Wert und der Qualität der volkstümlichen Mehrstimmigkeit in Kärnten”. In: Volkslied – Volksmusik– Volkstanz, Kärnten und seine Nachbarn (Folk Song - Folk Music - Folk dance, Carinthia and its Neighbors). KärntnerMuseumsschriften (Carinthian Museum publications), 51: 39–84. Klagenfurt: Beiträge zur Volksmusikforschung in KärntenKohl, Franz Friedrich. (1899). Echte Tiroler Lieder, S. V.Lešnik, Ivan. Slowenian Multipart Singing:http://www.mdw.ac.at/ive/emm/index.php?id=109Messner, Gerald Florian. (2008). “They Howl Like Wolves”… (“ululant ad modum luporum…”)A new look at an old persistent Lombardian polyphonic oral tradition loathed by medieval and Renaissance music scholars. In:1973 Frühlingsbräuche und Frühlingslieder in Südkärnten (1973 Spring Practice and Spring Songs in Southern Carinthia). Journ.Makedonski Floklore, VI, 12:171-77Pohl, Heinz Dieter. (2000). “Kärnten – deutsche und slowenische Namen” (“Carinthia - Slovenian and German Names”). In:Österreichische Namenforschung (Austrian Onomastics), 29. Issue 2–3. ViennaStainar, Julijan. (2000). “Gesangstile in Slowenien” (“Vocal Styles in Slovenia”). In: Der authentische Volksgesang in den Alpen(Authentic Folk Singing in the Alps). P. 81-99. Editors: Haid, Gerlinde, Josef, Sulz, Nußbaumer, Thomas. Anif/Salzburg: Müller-Speiser

220Gerald Florian MessnerAudio ExamplesAudio example 1. Waht da Schnee von da Laitn (German dialect; in English: When the snow disappears from the meadow…), it isa five part male song (From the archive of Dieter Fleiss)Audio example 2. Jaz sem pa snuč n en kraju biwu (Carinthian Sloveinian dialect; in English: Yesterday I have been at a place...).(Gerlinde Haid, Josef Sulz and Thomas Nussbaumer (editors). (2000). DER AUTHENTISCHE VOLKSGESANG IN DENALPEN, Überlegungen und Beispiele, publisher: Verlag Müller-Speiser, Anif/SalzburgAudio example 3. Je pa davi swanca padla (Carinthian Slovenian dialect; in English: Yesterday fell frost…). (Gerlinde Haid, JosefSulz and Thomas Nussbaumer (editors). (2000). DER AUTHENTISCHE VOLKSGESANG IN DEN ALPEN, Überlegungen undBeispiele, publisher: Verlag Müller-Speiser, Anif/SalzburgAudio example 4. Da Summa isch aussi (Tyrolian dialect; in English: the summer has left…). (Gerlinde Haid, Josef Sulz andThomas Nussbaumer (editors). (2000). DER AUTHENTISCHE VOLKSGESANG IN DEN ALPEN, Überlegungen und Beispiele,publisher: Verlag Müller-Speiser, Anif/Salzburg