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ЛИТЕРАТУРОВЕДЕНИЕ
UDC 811.112.5+783 Maria Dmitrieva
St. Petersburg State University
VERBAL AND MUSICAL TEXTS: INTERACTION OF SEMIOTIC CODES
For citation: Dmitrieva M. Verbal and musical texts: Interactions of semiotic codes. Scandinavian Philology, 2023, vol. 21, issue 1, pp. 96-106. https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu21.2023.106
The purpose of the paper is to identify the mechanisms of interaction between two sign systems: the verbal text of the Dutch rhymed psalms of the 19th century and the musical text of the melodies. The text is broadly understood as an ordered set of semi-otic codes that carry certain information. The discussion of both linguistic and musical material with the use of musicological and linguopragmatic analysis is innovative. In the course of the study, an attempt was made to establish the relationship between the type of rhyme and the way of musical arrangement of the text. For poetic texts with a cross rhyme, there is a tendency to use repetitions of the melody in accordance with the rhyme. Texts with a more complex rhythmic organization of the verse are decorated with variations or author's reworking of the original melody. At the same time, the processing of musical material obeys the generally accepted patterns of melody development within the range of one octave. With a more detailed analytical review, different types of ways of using the original melodies and adapting them to the needs of choral church singing can be identified. The determining factor in the choice and interpretation of the original folk melody is the text of the psalm. Melodies do not have independence, but are completely subordinated to the verbal text. At the same time, the musical arrangement serves as an auxiliary means of accentual articulation and enhances the aesthetic function of the poetic text.
Keywords: semiotic code, musical text, music and word, Lutheran psalm, semiotics, Dutch.
1. INTRODUCTION
An important initial theoretical concept for this study is the concept of text. The text, as is known, is one of the central concepts of modern linguistics and, depending on theoretical approaches, the interpretation of the concept may be different; see more about this, for example [Filip-pov, 2016, p. 13-20]. One of the classical definitions of the text defines the text as a coherent sequence of sentences. See further generalizations regarding the above and other definitions of the text in the work of K. A. Filippov [Filippov, 2003, p. 65-69]. This definition of the text is due to the actual subject of linguistics research in a narrow sense and is based on the material of a written, and in some cases orally recorded set of texts, the volume of which is limited according to certain research tasks.
But a number of modern works on linguistics and semiotics suggest understanding the text in the broadest sense. For the purposes of this study, the text is considered as a "meaningful... sequence of any signs" [Nefedov, 2022, p. 298]. In the framework of this study, signs are understood as verbal texts of psalms and a set of musical signs, including the notes themselves, the designation of the key, signs of lowering or raising the note by half a tone, signs of the beginning and ending of the musical string.
Within the framework of this article, the following issues are considered. How do the verbal and musical texts of the psalms interact? Which of the texts is given a dominant role in the transmission of dictal and modus meanings? What types of rhymes are used in the texts of the psalms and how do they combine with the musical pattern? What factors influenced the selection of melodies for use in prayer practice and the principles of processing musical material for the verbal texts of psalms in the Dutch language of the 19th century?
2. METHODS AND MATERIAL
To achieve the tasks set, a comprehensive method of interpretive analysis is used, including: 1) communicative-pragmatic analysis, which has already become one of the dominant methods of modern linguistic science; 2) elements of musicological analysis; 3) linguosemiotic analysis, an attempt to develop which was made, in particular, in the work of V. T. Sadchenko [Sadchenko, 2009].
The material of the study is the verbal texts of the Dutch gospel psalms in verse form and their single-voice musical arrangements for vocal performance, published in a single collection in Amsterdam in 1806. For cultural and historical information about the origins of Protestant choral music, see the following works [Vorobjeva, 2012; Zorina, 2014].
This article uses a reprint of the 2013 Collection of Psalms [EG, 2013], posted on the website of the Netherlands Electronic Library [Digitale bibliothek voor de Nederlandsche letteren].
The Collection has the following structure. The Collection opens with a Preface in Dutch, followed by an extensive 351-page text block of poetic psalms. The following eight pages contain a list of all the psalms in alphabetical order of the letters with which the first line of the text begins, which is reflected in the title Lijst van alle gezangen, naar rang van het A. B. C. [EG, 2013, p. 352] 'A list of all the chants, in order, which has an alphabet'. The final part Wijzen der gezangen 'Motives of chants' is 40 pages and consists of scanned musical scores of the 18th century, which, when reissued in 2013, were assigned through numbering in Roman numerals.
As a rule, several psalms were performed for one melody, so the notes are not given for each individual poetic text, but for several. Within the framework of this study, only scores with a mark are discussed eigene zangwijze 'own chant. Scores referring to the melodies of German and French psalms are not involved in the analysis. In quantitative terms, native Dutch melodies make up about 15 percent of the total number of musical parts included in the Collection.
Own chant is a generally accepted terminological phrase traditionally used in sacred music to denote native folk melodies selected and then integrated into liturgical practice. Although folk music as a whole has a number of common internal patterns, it is processed for the purposes of church singing. The methods of melody processing depend on the level of musical literacy and aesthetic taste of the author-compiler. The desire to use folk song motifs is quite understandable. The musical arrangement of a poetic text to melodies widely known among the masses is one of the ways to promote Christian values. In addition, it turns out to be much easier to memorize the text itself and the motive by heart, which is especially important for members of the church community who do not have the skills to read letters and notes.
3. DISCUSSION
In general, the discussion of the interaction of musical and verbal texts is a related field of linguistics, musicology, cultural studies, semiotics and philosophy. As an example of such a plan of work, the following can be cited: [Denisenko, 2012; Lavilina, Skripnik, 2014; Silinskaya, 2014].
In addition to the general semiotic nature of poetic and musical texts, they are united by another important feature — it is rhythmicity. In the very title of the poem — vers < lat. versus < vertere 'twirl, rotate, drive in a circular motion' — the semantics of repeatability is concluded.
But this rhythmicity is of a completely different plan. The rhythm of the verse, as can be seen in the language material of the Collection, consists in alternating a certain number of stressed and unstressed syllables within a line. A stanza of six lines united by a final rhyme according to the scheme 1) a-b-a-b-a-b, including two rhymes, or according to one of the complicated schemes with three rhymes, is widely used: 2) a-a-b-c-c-b; 3) a-b-b-a-c-c.
As an example of the rhyme of the first type, the initial text fragment of the Psalm LVI can be cited:
(1) Geen dwaze vrees beklemm' uw harte; / Of wanhoopt ooit een kind? / Gevoelt het niet in al zijn smarte, / Dat hem zijn vader mint? [EG, 2013, LVI, p. 376].
'Let no foolish fear oppress your heart; / and the child never despair? / Does he not feel in all his sorrows / that his father loves him?'
(Here and further on, the translations of the examples are made by the author of the article and are in the nature of a subscript.)
The final rhyme combines denotatively the most significant ones located at the end, that is, in the so-called strong textual position of each line of the concept: harte — kind — smarte 'heart, child, smart, like'. Poetic rhyme is also supported by musical means.
The rhythm of music is its organization in time; moreover, such that the pulsation fills the entire space of the musical fragment. The rhythm of the musical accompaniment of the psalms under discussion is primitive and is not intended to play a decisive role. This can be explained by the fact that when publishing the Collection, they sought to preserve authenticity and adherence to an earlier musical tradition. In addition, there was not yet a developed system for graphically recording the duration of notes.
But the main reason for the simplicity of the chosen musical rhythms can be explained by the orientation of the Collection to a wide audience of parishioners, and not to professional singers. Thus, it should be assumed that the quality of performance strongly depended on the level of musical training and skill of the performer, his singing experience, and even on his mood and spiritual state at the time of singing psalms and prayers.
In the Preface to the Collection, the following characteristics of the selection and processing of melodies are given:
Wat de Melodijen aangaat; wij hebben ons alleen bediend van de aangenaamste onzer gewoone psalmwijzen, maar ook van de meest bekende zangwijzen in de Hoogduitsche Kerken gebruikelijk [EG, 2013, p. VIII-IX]. 'As far as the melodies are concerned, we have used only the most pleasant of our usual melodies of psalms but also the most well-known types of chants in the High German churches.'
From this quote it can be seen that only the best and time-tested samples of spiritual vocal music have compiled the Collection.
Next, we turn to the analysis of empirical material in order to trace the diversity of poetic rhythmic and musical patterns.
4. RESULTS
Examples of melodic drawings of psalms of their own chant, which made up the Collection, do not show an absolutely clear structure. The repetition of the melody often takes place only in the first three or four lines, which depends on the structure of the verbal text and its general pragmatic attitude. For example (1) above, the melodic pattern completely coincides with the rhythmic one. This form of interaction between text and music can be taken as the original, simplest form: rhyme a = melody a, rhyme b = melody b.
In order to present the results of the study more clearly, all the psalms discussed can be divided into three groups. The first group consists of examples whose poetic text has a cross rhyme a-b-a-b.
Along with example (1) above, the same type of rhyme can be observed in example (2). But here, with the help of a melodic pattern, the cross rhyme is "colored" differently. Consider an example:
(2) Op bergen en in dalen, / En overal is God! / Waar wij ook immer dwalen, / Of zitten, daar is God [EG, 2013, VII, p. 362].
'In the mountains and on the plains, and everywhere there is God. Wherever we go astray and [wherever] we are, God is there.'
It can be seen from the example that the rhyme of lines 2 and 4 consists in repeating the word God. The musical phrases of the musical score are also constructed according to the a-b-a-b scheme. Melody b contains a sequence — a sequential repetition from another note, which allows you to additionally combine the second and fourth lines, the rhyme of which is only conditional.
In example (3), the stanza includes five lines, the rhyme pattern turns out to be complicated a-b-a-a-b. Here is this example:
(3) Als de nacht van bange zorgen / 't Uitzigt uwer hoop bedekt/ Als de lichtstraal van den morgen / Ons, uit dezen nacht van zorgen, / Slechts tot nieuwe zorgen wekt [EG, 2013, XXIV, p. 367].
'When the night of anxious worries / hides the horizon of hope, / when the ray of light of the morning / only awakens us from this night of worries / to new worries.'
The melody here partially shows the song form: it repeats for lines 1 and 3. Note that these lines contain syntactic parallelism, which is also supported by melodic means.
The second group consists of examples whose rhyme type is a-a-b-c-c-b. Such a rhyme has, for example, the text of Psalm XXXV. Here is its initial fragment, including three lines:
(4) Almagtig God! door waar berouw bewogen / Belijden wij voor uwe heilig oogen, / Dat w' onrein stof, rampzaalge zondaars zijn [EG, 2013, XXXV, p. 370].
'Almighty God! Sincerely repenting / we confess before Your holy eyes / that we are unclean dust, disastrous sinners.'
The melody here is as simple as possible and repeats the rhyme pattern: a-a-b. The maximum range is one octave, which is convenient for singing. This example of a melody clearly illustrates the utilitarianism of music in relation to the text, its absolute lack of independence.
Example (5) has the rhyme a-a-b, but a different melodic pattern is superimposed on it: a-b-c.
(5) O zonde! bron van al d' elende, /Die't vlugtigmenschdom, sints 't u kende, / Verzinken doet in leed [EG, 2013, XXXVII, p. 371].
'O sin! source of all d'ellende, / who makes 'T fleeting humanity, sints 't U knowne, / sink into suffering.'
Thus, the melody makes the poetic rhyme more diverse.
The third group includes examples with the rhyme a-b-b-a-c-c. They illustrate a deeper, more complex form of interaction between language and music. Consider as an example a fragment of Psalm XLIX:
(6) Verlosser, Vriend! o hoop, o lust / Van die U kennen, neem het lied, / Dat U in ' t stof een stervling biedt, / Een zondaar, die uw voeten kust: / Een zondaar, een verlost\ o Heer!/En nugeen zondaar meer [EG, 2013, XLIX, p. 375].
'Savior, Friend! Oh, hope! O grace! / From those who know You, / accept the song that You give in the dust to the mortal / sinner who kisses Your feet, / the redeemed sinner, / and from now on he is no longer a sinner.'
The scheme of poetic rhyme: a-b-b-a-c-c; rhyme a is complete (lust — kust). The scheme of the melodic pattern looks like this: a-a1-b-x-b1-x. The letters a and b here denote the song fragments of the original melody; a1 and b1 are the variational development of the original melody; the letter x stands for phrases based on new musical material. The poetic final rhyme is superimposed on the melodic pattern, and, being in a relationship of complementarity and mutual integration, the semantic codes of language and music are combined into a single whole according to the following scheme: a-a, b-a1, b-b, a-x, c-bb c-x. Such a complex interaction undoubtedly enhances the overall aesthetic impression produced by the poetic text.
Example (7) below is similar in terms of poetic rhyme to example (6); the verse is also organized according to the scheme a-b-b-a-c-c:
(7) Een ander zij vervuld met schrik, / Wanneer hij God hoort noemen; /Ik mag m' in Hem beroemen, / Ik vrees voor Hem geen' oogenblik: / En waarom zou ik vreezen? / Hij wil mijn Vader wezen [EG, 2013, LXXX, p. 380]. 'Another may be seized with horror / when he hears the name of God; / I can glorify Him. / I am not afraid of Him for a second. / And why should I be afraid? / He will be my Father.'
But the scheme of the melodic pattern reveals a greater independence of melody development in comparison with the example (6). Song repetition is used only for the first and second lines: a-a1-x-x-xT-xt. As can be seen from the diagram, the structure of the musical text here is mainly not in the repeatability of the melody, but in its motivic development, in covering an ever larger range: from the third in the first line to the octave in the fourth. The fifth and sixth lines represent
the so-called pinning, showing the tonic (xT). Thus, the last two lines differ not only melodically, but also in terms of rhyme. They represent a question-and-answer unity, united intonationally, rhythmically, as well as through musical design. On the top notes inside each line, the most significant words are sung denotatively: in the second line, God 'God'; in the third, beroemen 'boasting' and so on.
The results of the discussion of empirical material can be presented in the form of a table.
Poetic dimensions and schemes of their melodic design
Example number in the text of the article The number of the psalm in the Collection The scheme of the verse size Melody scheme
1 LVI a-b-a-b a-b-a-b
2 VII a-b-a-b-c-b-c-b a-b-a-b
3 XXIV a-b-a-a-b-c-d-c-c-d a-b-a-b
4 XXXV a-a-b-c-c-b a-a-b-x-x-b
5 XXXVII a-a-b-c-c-b a-b-c-a1-b1-c1
6 XLIX a-b-b-a-c-c a-a-b-x-b1-x
7 LXXX a-b-b-a-c-c a-a1-x-x-xT-xT
For melody schemes, the letters a, b, c denote song fragments of the original melody; ai, bi, Ci — variational development of the original melody; the letter x stands for phrases based on new musical material; xT — fixing, showing tonics.
In general, it can be assumed that if the chosen melody (for example, melody a-b) suited the further text of the psalm in mood and meaning, then it was used further. If not, then the melody could undergo significant processing (variation ai-bi) or be replaced by another motive (motive x). At the same time, all the psalms of the "own chant" still have at least elementary signs of a musical form and do not represent a spontaneously composed scale. And even those lines that at first glance do not create an integral logical structure within themselves are often clearly organized. They include standard melodic techniques: a jump with subsequent filling, the movement of the melody by the sounds of the chords of the main functions of the fret and other techniques in accordance with the internal laws of the musical language.
5. CONCLUSION
The main conclusions can be summarized as follows. The melodies of their own chant combine the motifs of folk music and their processing, depending on the pragmatic attitudes of the verbal text and the type of rhythmic organization of the verse. Comparative analysis of rhymes and melodies allows us to observe various types of interaction between music and text: from simple correspondences to complex relations of complementarity and enhancement of the function of aesthetic impact. In all cases, the determining factor in the choice of melodies and methods of their processing is the verbal text.
SOURCES
EG — Evangelische Gezangen, om nevens het Boek der Psalmen bij den open-baren godsdienst in de Nederlandsche Hervormde Gemeenten gebruikt te worden. Available at: https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_eva005evan01_01/index. php (accessed: 13.01.2023). Digitale bibliothek voor de Nederlandsche letteren. Available at: https://www.dbnl. org/tekst/_eva005evan01_01/index.php (accessed: 13.01.2023).
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Мария Дмитриева
Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет
ВЕРБАЛЬНЫЙ И НОТНЫЙ ТЕКСТЫ: ВЗАИМОДЕЙСТВИЕ СЕМИОТИЧЕСКИХ КОДОВ
Для цитирования: Dmitrieva M. Verbal and musical texts: Interactions of semi-otic codes // Скандинавская филология. 2023. Т. 21. Вып 1. С. 96-106. https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu21.2023.106
Целью статьи является выявление механизмов взаимодействия двух знаковых систем: вербального текста нидерландских рифмованных псалмов XIX в. и нотного текста мелодий, на которые исполнялись псалмы во время церковной службы или домашней молитвы. Текст в широком смысле понимается как упорядоченный набор семиотических кодов, несущих определенную информацию. Обсуждение как языкового, так и нотного материала с применением музыковедческого и лингвопрагматического анализа является новаторским. В ходе исследования предпринята попытка установить взаимосвязь между типом рифмы и способом музыкального оформления текста. Для стихотворных текстов с перекрестной рифмой наблюдается тенденция использования повторов мелодии в соответствии с рифмой. Тексты с более сложной ритмической организацией стиха оформлены с помощью вариаций или авторской переработки исходной мелодии. При этом переработка музыкального материала подчиняется общепринятым закономерностям развития мелодии в рамках диапазона одной октавы. При более детальном аналитическом обзоре могут быть выявлены разнотипные способы использования исходных мелодий и их адаптации под потребности хорового церковного пения. Определяющим фактором выбора и интерпретации исходно народной мелодии является текст псалма. Мелодии не обладают самостоятельностью, а полностью подчинены вербальному тексту. Одновременно музыкальное оформление служит вспомогательным средством акцентного членения и усиливает эстетическую функцию поэтического текста. Языковые средства выразительности в совокупности с ритмическими возможностями формы псалма получают дополнительную окраску в многомерном пространстве литургического дискурса и проявляют свою прагматическую природу еще более ярко.
Ключевые слова: семиотический код, нотный текст, музыка и слово, лютеранский псалом, семиотика, нидерландский язык.
Maria Dmitrieva
PhD in Philology, Associate Professor,
St. Petersburg State University,
7-9, Universitetskaya nab., St. Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Дмитриева Мария Николаевна
кандидат филологических наук, доцент, Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет,
Российская Федерация, 199034, Санкт-Петербург, Университетская наб., 7-9 E-mail: [email protected]
Received: December 30, 2022 Accepted: January 16, 2023
