Ukrainian stress

[Ralph Cleminson]

Since the sentence is Russian, the question of stress in Ukrainian (on what would anyway, in that case, be моєю), does not really arise.  

What is relevant, however, is that Musorgskij, like other composers of the period, consciously drew on popular traditions, and that the metrical structure of folksong is frequently at odds with the normal spoken stress of the words (there are many examples in Russian and English as well).  This line is, moreover, very typical metrically of Ukrainian popular verse (trochaic heptameter with caesura after the fourth foot).  The music follows the notional metre rather than the stress of speech, and this is no doubt a deliberate element of "folk" colour in the opera.


>>> Dan Newton <danewton at U.WASHINGTON.EDU> 05/02/08 08:17 AM >>>
Dear all,

I have a question for anyone familiar with Ukrainian.

In Musorgskii's opera Soroschintsyi Fair, there is this line: "Razve  
mozhno s moei dochkoi takto obrashchat'sia?"  The musical line is  
such that the word "moei" is stressed on the first syllable, contrary  
to Russian speech.  I'm wondering whether this is a case of the late  
stages of alcoholism (i.e., bad composition) or simply a  
Ukrainianism.  Would Ukrainian stress the first syllable?

Thank you in advance.

Dan

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