Observations on Lutsi oral tradition

This article examines Lutsi intangible culture in an attempt to clarify the origins of this language island. Historical stories about coming from “Sweden” refer to southern Estonia, but such stories are also widespread in areas that were never under Swedish rule. The Christian tradition is based on the church language and literature of Estonia. Lutsi laments or lament-like songs are unique, different from Seto laments, but also from the lament-like orphan songs of southern Estonia. Work songs and ritual songs (tavandilaul) as well as narrative songs are related to traditions found in both Võromaa and Setomaa. Oskar Kallas’s documentation contains an impressive number of children’s songs and readings, short verses, and other peripheral material. Their proportion only increases in later collections. The influence of Latvian songs is striking and can be seen from direct translations to texts where original and borrowed material intermingle. The Lutsi tradition was also probably influenced by their Slavic neighbours. Comparisons with the folklore of the other South Estonian language islands and that of the Tver Karelians shows both commonalities and differences. Kokkuvõte. Kristi Salve: Tähelepanekuid Lutsi maarahva suulisest pärimusest. Artiklis on vaadeldud Lutsi maarahva vaimset kultuuri, püüdes selgust tuua keelesaare kujunemisloosse. Ajaloolised jutud „Rootsi“ päritolust viitavad küll Lõuna-Eestile, kuid sellised jutud on levinud ka aladel, mis pole Rootsi võimu alla kuulunudki. Lutsi kristlik pärimus lähtub Eesti kirikukeelest ja -kirjandusest. Lutsi itkud või itkulaadsed laulud on omapärased, erinedes setu itkudest, aga ka Lõuna-Eesti itkulaadsetest vaeslapselauludest. Töö- ja tavandilaulud, samuti jutustavad laulud seostuvad nii Võrumaa kui ka Setumaa traditsiooniga. Juba Oskar Kallase kogus on silmapaistvalt palju lastele mõeldud laule ja lugemisi, lühikesi (pilke)salmikesi ja muud perifeerset rahvaluule ainest. Hilisemates kogudes nende osakaal suureneb. Silmapaistev on läti laulude mõju alates otsestest tõlgetest kuni tekstideni, milles genuiinne ja laenuline segunevad. Ilmselt on Lutsi traditsiooni mõjutanud ka naabruses elavad slaavi rahvad. Võrdluses teiste vanade eesti keelesaarte, aga ka Tveri karjalaste rahvaluulega hakkab silma mõndagi ühist, kuid samas ka erinevat.

Faces of the Captives: Aesthetic Distance and Emotional Absorption in Young Children's Engagement with Theatre

<p>When Captain Hook has the lost boys tied up on his ship he cannot recognise that the sparkle on the ‘faces of the captives’ is the thrill of mimesis. It has been suggested that if young children cannot distinguish between reality and illusion then instead of suspending disbelief in the stage world, they will actually believe and therefore experience a dangerous level of emotional absorption. Using Peter Pan as a frame of reference, this thesis examines responses to three contemporary theatre works, Capital E National Theatre for Children’s Songs of the Sea and Boxes and Scottish company Catherine Wheels’ White to challenge the idea that aesthetic distance provides a necessary protective function. Instead, it will be argued that the imagination, empathy and emotion contagion provide the conditions in which children can capably enter the aesthetic space of fictional worlds on stage.</p>

Faces of the Captives: Aesthetic Distance and Emotional Absorption in Young Children's Engagement with Theatre

<p>When Captain Hook has the lost boys tied up on his ship he cannot recognise that the sparkle on the ‘faces of the captives’ is the thrill of mimesis. It has been suggested that if young children cannot distinguish between reality and illusion then instead of suspending disbelief in the stage world, they will actually believe and therefore experience a dangerous level of emotional absorption. Using Peter Pan as a frame of reference, this thesis examines responses to three contemporary theatre works, Capital E National Theatre for Children’s Songs of the Sea and Boxes and Scottish company Catherine Wheels’ White to challenge the idea that aesthetic distance provides a necessary protective function. Instead, it will be argued that the imagination, empathy and emotion contagion provide the conditions in which children can capably enter the aesthetic space of fictional worlds on stage.</p>

“Yiddish Songs” of Mieczyslaw Weinberg: Finding a Jewish Idiom

Два цикла Мечислава Вайнберга с одинаковыми названиями «Еврейские песни» (op. 13 и op. 17) были написаны в 1943 и 1944 годах. В обоих сочинениях Вайнберг обратился к поэзии на идише, выбрав стихи Ицхока Лейбуша Переца и Самуила Галкина. Первый цикл дважды был опубликован при жизни композитора, однако в программах концертов и на дисках он звучал в основном на русском языке. О его содержании тоже судили по переводам. Второй цикл до недавнего времени оставался в рукописи. Циклы объединяет также обращение композитора к модусу Adonoy Molokh, в котором звучат молитвы некоторых праздничных дней - Субботы и Новолетия. Вайнберг не цитировал синагогальные песнопения, но создавал новые мелодии по тем же законам, по которым возникали их многочисленные варианты в ашкеназ-ской культуре. Музыка «толкует» текст, в некоторых случаях заставляя его переосмысливать. Одновременно композитор использует арсенал средств из европейского академического словаря и отсылает к музыке классиков. Two cycles of Mieczystaw Weinberg with the same title “Jewish Songs” (op. 13 and op. 17) were written in 1943 and 1944. In both works, Weinberg turned to Yiddish poetry, choosing poems by Itschok Leibush Perets and Samuel Halkin. The first cycle was published twice during the composer's lifetime, but in concert programs and on CD's it sounded, mainly in Russian and was called “Children's Songs.” The second cycle remained in the manuscript until recently. These cycles are also united by the composer's use of the Adonoy Molokh modus, in which the prayers of Saturday and High Holidays are sung. Weinberg did not quote synagogal chants, but created new melodies under the same laws that gave rise to their numerous variants in Ashkenazic culture. His music “interprets” the lyrics, in some cases causing it to rethink. At the same time, the composer used techniques from European academic music and gave references to the music of the classics.

Roses Strewn Upon the Path: Rehearsing Familial Devotion in Late Eighteenth-Century German Songs for Parents and Children

Intra- and inter-generational family singing is found throughout the world’s cultures. Children’s songs across many traditions are often performed with adult family members, whether simultaneously (in unison or harmony) or sequentially (as in call-and-response). In one corpus of printed children’s songs, however, such musical partnering between young and old was scripted, arguably for the first time. Children’s periodicals and readers in late eighteenth-century Germany offered a variety of poems, theatricals, riddles, songs, stories, and non-fiction content, all promoting norms around filial obedience, virtue, and productivity. Readers were encouraged to share and read aloud with members of their extended families. But the “disciplining” going on in this literature was as much emotional as it was moral. Melodramatic plots to dialogues, plays, and Singspiele allowed for tenderness and affection to be role-played in the family drawing room. And the poems and songs included in and spun off from these periodicals constituted, for the first time, a shared repertoire meant to be sung and played by young and old together. Duets for brothers and sisters, parents and children—with such prescriptive titles as “Brotherly Harmony” and “Song from a Young Girl to Her Father, On the Presentation of a Little Rosebud”—not only trained children how to be ideal sons, daughters, and siblings. They also habituated mothers and fathers to the new culture of sentimental, devoted parenthood. In exploring songs for family members to sing together in German juvenile print culture from 1700 to 1800, I uncover the reciprocal learning implied in text, music, and the act of performance itself, as adults and children alike rehearsed the devoted bourgeois nuclear family.