Ukrainian stress

[Olga Meerson]

Even Russian would (stress the -o-, in moej), in the folksy trochaic scheme to which Mussorgsky subjects the lines! At any rate, what happens is that the word gets equal stresses on every syllable, and therefore no reduction (this happens in RUSSIAN folklore as well).
Mussorgsky's stages of late, or early, alcoholism never affected his impeccable ear, for music OR language, esp. when concerning what he chose to treat as a dialect (that was the case with Gogol himself, who often betrayed the standards of Russian Grammar for dialectism, but never, its true spirit. We owe it to him that Ukrainian, for a Russian, sounds now like a Russian dialect--not historically, of course, but culturally, in contemporary perspective; and Shevchenko used this "dialectizing" attitude of Gogol to Ukrainian as his main point bof accusing Gogol of being a national renegade). 
I think one ought to treat Mussorgsky with utter respect and with even less condescension than Rimsky-Korsakov did, when he re-orchestrated M.'s works, more "gramotno" and therefore with standartization, more blending, and, proportionately, more blanding. But R-K at least was a composer, not a researcher. For a researcher, the presumption of intent in an author is a must and is therefore incompatible with a condescending attitude towards the researched author's lack of control of his own material. Russians often provoke sucha a pedantic condescension even amongst their immediate colleagues and compatriots, I agree (including Gogol himself--amongst, say, the Aksakov family, not merely Mussorgsky with R-K, and there are hosts of others, on whom I often write), but for a researcher, this smarter-than-thou attitude is unproductive, to say the least. The idolatrous reverence of Russian researchers towards the figures they research and the near-obligatory fad of condescension towa
rds Russian authors amongst Western scholars, especially Americans, are both equally questionable. If an author says something, s/he probably means it, consciously or because that meaning is typical for the author's culture. Herein lies the difference between studying rats or Guinea pigs and human cultures and especially, genius authors in them. I happen to be not merely a Slavist but a Russian by my own native culture, and have seen both ends of the attitude. But Mussorgsky is not merely a Russian but a genius composer AND dialect-stylizer. (His Varlaam/Misail song in "Boris Godunov", should dispel all doubt, but there are other instances). 
So much for alcoholism amongst authors and "crude physiologism" (a.k.a. "vulgar sociologism") amongst researchers.

----- Original Message -----
From: Dan Newton <danewton at U.WASHINGTON.EDU>
Date: Friday, May 2, 2008 3:17 am
Subject: [SEELANGS] Ukrainian stress

> 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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