Dumka (, ''dúmka'', plural думки, ''dúmky'') is a musical term introduced from the

Ukrainian language Ukrainian (, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language, spoken primarily in Ukraine. It is the first language, first (native) language of a large majority of Ukrainians. Written Ukrainian uses the Ukrainian alphabet, a variant of t ...

, with

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

s in other

Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavs, Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic language, Proto- ...

. The word ''dumka'' literally means "thought". Originally, it was the

diminutive A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment, and sometimes to belittle s ...

form of the Ukrainian term ''

duma A duma () is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were formed across Russia ...

'', pl. ''dumy'', "a Slavic (specifically Ukrainian) epic ballad … generally thoughtful or melancholic in character".Randel: ''Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music'', p. 148. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978 Classical composers drew on the harmonic patterns in the

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

to inform their more formal classical

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

s. The composition of dumky became popular after the publication of an

ethnological Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural anthropology, cultural, social anthropology, so ...

study and analysis and a number of illustrated lectures made by the Ukrainian composer

Mykola Lysenko Mykola Vitaliiovych Lysenko (; 22 March 1842 – 6 November 1912) was a Ukrainian composer, pianist, conductor and ethnomusicologist of the late Romantic period. In his time he was the central figure of Ukrainian music, with an ''oeuvre'' tha ...

in 1873 and 1874 in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

and

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. They were illustrated by live performances by the blind

kobzar A ''kobzar'' ( ; ) was an itinerant Ukrainian bard who sang to his own accompaniment, played on a multistringed kobza or bandura. Tradition The professional kobzar tradition was established during the Hetmanate Era around the sixteenth cen ...

Ostap Veresai Ostap Mykytovych Veresai () (1803–April 1890) was a renowned minstrel and kobzar from the Poltava Governorate (now Chernihiv oblast) of the Russian Empire (now Ukraine). He helped to popularize kobzar art both within Ukraine and beyond. He is n ...

, who performed a number of dumky, singing and accompanying himself on the

bandura A bandura ( ) is a Ukrainians, Ukrainian plucked string instrument, plucked-string folk-instrument. It combines elements of the zither and lute and, up until the 1940s, was also often called a kobza. Early instruments () had 5 to 12 strings and ...

. Lysenko's study was the first to specifically analyse the melodies and the accompaniment played on the bandura,

kobza The kobza (), also called bandura () is a Ukrainian folk music instrument of the lute family (Hornbostel-Sachs classification number 321.321-5+6), a relative of the Central European mandora. The term ''kobza'' however, has also been applied to ...

lira Lira is the name of several currency units. It is the current Turkish lira, currency of Turkey and also the local name of the Lebanese pound, currencies of Lebanon and of Syrian pound, Syria. It is also the name of several former currencies, ...

of the epic dumy. A natural part of the process of transferring the traditional folk form to a formal classical milieu was the appropriation of the dumka form by Slavic composers, most especially by the Czech composer

Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8September 18411May 1904) was a Czech composer. He frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia, following the Romantic-era nationalist example of his predec ...

. Thus, in classical music, ''dumka'' came to mean "a type of instrumental music involving sudden changes from melancholy to exuberance". Though dumky are generally characterized by a gently plodding, dreamy duple rhythm, many examples are in

triple metre Triple metre (or Am. triple meter, also known as triple time) is a musical metre characterized by a ''primary'' division of 3 beats to the bar, usually indicated by 3 (simple) or 9 ( compound) in the upper figure of the time signature, with , a ...

, including Dvořák's Slavonic dance (Op. 72 No. 4). His last and best-known

piano trio A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in European classical music, classical chamber music. The term can also ...

, No. 4 in E minor, Op. 90, has six movements, each of which is a dumka; the work is often referred to by its subtitle, ''Dumky Trio''.

Examples

Major examples in the classical repertoire include:

Stanisław Moniuszko Stanisław Moniuszko (; May 5 (17), 1819 – June 4, 1872) was a Polish composer, conductor, organist and pedagogue. He wrote many popular art songs and operas, including '' The Haunted Manor'' and '' Halka'', and his music is filled with patr ...

* Jontek's aria from the opera ''

Halka ''Halka'' is an opera by Polish composer Stanisław Moniuszko to a libretto written by Włodzimierz Wolski, a young Warsaw poet with radical social views. It is part of the canon of Polish national operas. Performance history The first perfor ...

'' (1858) * Jadwiga's aria from the opera ''

The Haunted Manor ''The Haunted Manor'' () is an opera in four acts composed by Polish composer Stanisław Moniuszko in 1861–1864. The libretto was written by . Despite being a romance and a comedy, it has strong Polish patriotic undertones, which made it ...

'' (1865)

Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8September 18411May 1904) was a Czech composer. He frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia, following the Romantic-era nationalist example of his predec ...

*''Dumka in D minor'' (Elegy), Op. 35 (1876) for piano solo *String Sextet in A, Op. 48 (1878), mvt. 2: "Dumka: Poco allegretto" * String Quartet No. 10 in E-Flat Major, Op. 51 – B. 92 (1878–79): II. Dumka. Andante Con Moto *''Dumka in C minor'', Op. 12a No. 1 (1884) for piano solo *

Slavonic Dances The ''Slavonic Dances'' () are a series of 16 orchestral pieces composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1878 and 1886 and published in two sets as Op. 46 and Op. 72 respectively. Originally written for piano four hands, the ''Slavonic Dances' ...

, Op. 46 (1878) and 72 (1887), (Three of the sixteen) * Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53 (1879/80), mvt. 3 – though based on a

Furiant A furiant is a rapid and fiery Bohemian dance in alternating 2/4 and 3/4 time, with frequently shifting accents; or, in "art music", in 3/4 time "with strong accents forming pairs of beats". The stylised form of the dance was often used by Czech ...

, the middle part is a dumka * Piano Quintet No. 2 in A, Op. 81 (1887), mvt. 2: "Dumka: Andante con moto" * Piano Trio No. 4 in E minor, Op. 90 (1891) — the ''Dumky-Trio''

Sofia Mavrogenidou

*Dumka for piano solo *Dumka for flute, cello and piano *Dumka for cello and piano *Dumka for accordion and flute

Leoš Janáček Leoš Janáček (, 3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, Music theory, music theorist, Folkloristics, folklorist, publicist, and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian folk music, Moravian and other Slavs, Slavic music, includin ...

*''Dumka'' for violin & piano

Bohuslav Martinů Bohuslav Jan Martinů (; December 8, 1890 – August 28, 1959) was a Czech composer of modern classical music. He wrote 6 symphony, symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber music, chamber, vocal and ins ...

*''Dumka'' (unnumbered), H. 4 (1909 – Polička, Czechoslovakia), for solo piano *''Dumka No. 1'', H. 249 (1936 – Paris, France), for solo piano *''Dumka No. 2'', H. 250 (1936 – Paris, France), for solo piano *''Dumka No. 3'', H. 285bis (1941 – Jamaica, NY, USA), for solo piano Katalog skladeb Bohuslava Martinů
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Pyotr Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular ...

*''Dumka'', Op. 59 (Scenes from a Russian village) for solo piano (1886)

Others

* Anatoly Kos-Anatolsky, Dumka and kolomiyka from the opera ''Sojchyne krylo'' *

Mily Balakirev Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev ( , ; ,BGN/PCGN romanization of Russian, BGN/PCGN romanization: ; ALA-LC romanization of Russian, ALA-LC system: ; ISO 9, ISO 9 system: . ; – )Russia was still using Adoption of the Gregorian calendar#Adoption in E ...

, Dumka in E flat minor (1900) *

Vasyl Barvinsky Vasyl Oleksandrovych Barvinsky () (20 February 1888 – 9 June 1963) was a Ukrainian composer, pianist, conductor, teacher, musicologist, and music related social figure. Barvinsky was one of the first Ukrainian composers to gain worldwide recog ...

, Dumka (1925) *

Alexander Borodin Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin (12 November 183327 February 1887) was a Russian Romantic composer and chemist of Georgian–Russian parentage. He was one of the prominent 19th-century composers known as " The Five", a group dedicated to prod ...

, Dumka (from the piano quintet nr.2 in A Major, op. 81) *

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period who wrote primarily for Piano solo, solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown ...

, Dumka, Op. 74 No. 19, KK IVb/9, CT. 147 * Rebecca Clarke, ''Dumka'', Duo Concertante for Violin and Viola, with Piano (1941) *

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

, Dumka, S 249B *

, 2nd piano rhapsody (1877) *

Modest Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (; ; ; – ) was a Russian composer, one of the group known as "The Five (composers), The Five." He was an innovator of Music of Russia, Russian music in the Romantic music, Romantic period and strove to achieve a ...

, Paraska's aria from the opera ''Sorochynsky fair'' *

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...

, Dumka in A minor (published posthumously) * M. Shneider-Trnavsky, Dumka and dance for symphony orchestra (1909) * M. Zawadsky, 12 dumky and 42 shumky * V. Zaremba * S. Zaremba * Nikolai Budashkin, Dumka (Träumerei) in the Andante from the 'Concerto for Domra and Orchestra' Op.8 (1943).

Notes

References

* S. I. Gritsa (Hrytsa) Dumi vidayushcheyesya dostoyaniye ukrainskoy kulturi (Dumy a remarkable product of Ukrainian culture) Musica anticqua Europae orientalis II Bydgosz, 1969.(In Russian) * M. Antonowych Dumka and Duma in MGG {{Authority control Kobzarstvo Song forms Russian styles of music Ukrainian styles of music Musical terminology