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A ( rus, были́на, p=bɨˈlʲinə; pl. ) is an
Old Russian Old East Slavic (traditionally also Old Russian; be, старажытнаруская мова; russian: древнерусский язык; uk, давньоруська мова) was a language used during the 9th–15th centuries by East ...
oral The word oral may refer to: Relating to the mouth * Relating to the mouth, the first portion of the alimentary canal that primarily receives food and liquid **Oral administration of medicines ** Oral examination (also known as an oral exam or or ...
epic poem An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. ...
. Byliny narratives are loosely based on historical fact, but greatly embellished with fantasy or hyperbole. The word derives from the past tense of the verb ''to be'' ( rus, был, r=byl) and implies 'something that was'. The term most likely originated from scholars of
Russian folklore Folklore of Russia is folklore of Russians and other ethnic groups of Russia. Russian folklore takes its roots in the pagan beliefs of ancient Slavs and now is represented in the Russian fairy tales. Epic Russian bylinas are also an important ...
(
folklorists Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...
); in 1839,
Ivan Sakharov Ivan Petrovich Sakharov (russian: Иван Петрович Сахаров, September 10, 1807, Tula, Russian Empire, — September 5, 1863, Valdai region, Tver Governorate, Russian Empire) was a Russian folklorist, ethnographer, archeologist a ...
, a Russian folklorist, published an anthology of Russian folklore, a section of which he titled "Byliny of the Russian People", causing the popularization of the term. Later scholars believe that Sakharov misunderstood the word in the opening of the ''Igor Tale'' as "an ancient poem." The folk singers of called their songs ( rus, ста́рины, p=ˈstarʲɪnɨ, ; ) or ( rus, старинки, p=), meaning 'stories of old' ( rus, старый, r=staryj).


History

Most scholars adhere to the version expressed by
Vsevolod Miller Vsevolod Fyodorovich Miller (russian: Все́волод Фёдорович Ми́ллер) (7 April ( N.S. 19 April) 1848, Moscow – 5 November (N.S. 18 November) 1913, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian philologist, folklorist, linguist, anthropo ...
that as an old genre originated in the
Russian North Russian North (russian: Русский Север) is an ethnocultural region situated in the northwestern part of Russia. It spans the regions of Arkhangelsk Oblast, the Republic of Karelia, Komi Republic, Vologda Oblast and Nenets Autonomous ...
. According to Miller, the prototype of the Old Russian were sacred northern legends, read according to a certain "bylinic technique", passed "from generation to generation, by the teacher to the student».Orest Miller.
Historical School of Folklore Studies
(in Russian).
Regarding the time of the origin of the ,
Leonid Maykov Leonid Nikolaevich Maikov (Russian: Леонид Николаевич Майков; 1839–1900) was a prominent researcher in the history of Russian literature, a full member of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences, president of the Russian B ...
was most definitely expressed, who wrote: Finally, according to Orestes Miller, the great antiquity of is proved by the fact that they depict a defensive policy, not an offensive one. Anthologists played an important role in the narration and preservation of . After Sakharov, there were numerous other anthologists who contributed to its development, particularly during the eighteenth century. For example, Kirsha Danilov produced a compilation of seventy . His sources were believed to be miners living in the
Perm Perm or PERM may refer to: Places *Perm, Russia, a city in Russia ** Permsky District, the district **Perm Krai, a federal subject of Russia since 2005 **Perm Oblast, a former federal subject of Russia 1938–2005 **Perm Governorate, an administra ...
area. The works of these folklorists provided insights into the transition of the Russian literary tradition from one that was focused on religious subjects to secular literature. The first transcriptions of are attributed to Richard James, an Englishman who traveled to Russia from 1617 to 1619. The texts that he was able to record are now preserved in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. There was also a known German translation of the and this was published anonymously in 1819. Overall, interest in these epic poems continued to the point that comprehensive and wide-ranging materials were sourced from virtually all of Great Russia. Although these were preserved, according to Kahn et al., only those from "northern Russia, the areas of
Arkhangelsk Arkhangelsk (, ; rus, Арха́нгельск, p=ɐrˈxanɡʲɪlʲsk), also known in English as Archangel and Archangelsk, is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies o ...
, Olonetsk, the Onega region, and parts of
Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
" were actively preserved into the twentieth century.


Collections

have been collected in Russia since the seventeenth century; initially they were published for entertainment in prose paraphrases. The Cossack
Kirsha Danilov Kirsha Danilov (Russian: Кирша Данилов) was the supposed compiler of a collection of Russian heroic, religious and humorous folksongs that made its first appearance in print in 1804. The anthology is entitled ''The Ancient Russian Poem ...
compiled the most notable of the early collections in the Ural region for the mill owner
Prokofi Demidov Prokofi Akinfiyevich Demidov (1710–1786) was a Russian industrialist and philanthropist. The eldest son of Akinfiy Demidov, Prokofi inherited the enormous Demidov family fortune on his father's death in 1745. He gave freely to charitable works, ...
in the middle of the eighteenth century. In the middle of the nineteenth century
Pavel Rybnikov Pavel Nikolayevich Rybnikov (Павел Николаевич Рыбников, 6 December 1831, Moscow, Russian Empire, – 29 November 1885, Kalisz, Poland, then part of the Russian Empire) was a Russian ethnographer, folklorist and literary h ...
traveled through the region of Lake Onega and rediscovered that the tradition, which was thought to be extinct, still flourished among the peasants of northwest Russia. A storm stranded Rybnikov on an island in
Lake Onega Lake Onega (; also known as Onego, rus, Оне́жское о́зеро, r=Onezhskoe ozero, p=ɐˈnʲɛʂskəɪ ˈozʲɪrə; fi, Ääninen, Äänisjärvi; vep, Änine, Änižjärv) is a lake in northwestern Russia, on the territory of the Repu ...
where he heard the sound of a being sung; he persuaded the singer to repeat the song and wrote down his words. He proceeded to collect several hundred , all of which he recorded from spoken paraphrase, and published them from 1861 to 1867 in several volumes entitled ''Songs Collected by P. N. Rybnikov''. Another influential collector,
Alexander Gilferding Alexander Hilferding also spelled Aleksandar Fedorovich Giljferding (russian: Александр Фёдорович Гильферди́нг; 14 July 1831 in Warsaw, Kingdom of Poland – 2 July 1872 in Kargopol, Olonets Governorate, Russian Empi ...
, published one collection entitled ''Onega Bylinas Recorded by A. F. Gilferding in the Summer of 1871''. He improved upon Rybnikov's work by transcribing the directly from the sung performance rather than the spoken retellings. He noticed that the rhythm differed between the sung and spoken versions, and asked the performers to pause for a longer period of time between lines to allow him time to record the words from the song itself. He also organized his collection by singer rather than subject and included short biographical sketches of the performers with their collected songs, thus focusing on the singer's role in the composition of the song. Following the work of Rybnikov and Gilferding, many more scholars searched for everywhere in northern Russia, and obtained from the shores of the White Sea and the rivers flowing to the north.


Classifications

There are several ways to categorize , and scholars disagree on which classification to use. Scholars from the mythological school differentiate between about 'older' and 'younger' heroes. The 'older' heroes resembled mythological figures, while the 'younger' heroes resembled ordinary human beings. The historical school classifies based on the principality in which the story took place, as in Kievan, Novgorodian, and Galician-Volhynian cycles. The mythological of giants and the like probably originated long before the Kievan state was founded, and cannot be classified easily by principality. Scholars of the historical school often consider mythological separately. Other scholars group based on content, including heroic, fairy tale type, novella type and ballad-. Most scholars prefer classification based on principalities.


Structure

Because of their nature as performed pieces, singers employ basically linear and easy to follow structure. structure typically includes three basic parts, introduction, narrative portion and epilogue. The introduction sometimes includes a verse to entice the audience to listen. Introductions often describe heroes at a feast being given a task or setting out on a mission. The narrative portion relates the adventure with exaggerated details and hyperbole to make the story more exciting. The epilogue refers to the reward for the mission, a moral or a reference to the sea, since byliny were often performed to attempt to calm the sea. To help listeners grasp the story, singers used 'tag lines' to preface speeches or dialogues, setting up for the audience who is talking to whom.


Common themes

Scenes common to include a hero taking leave of his mother, saddling a horse, entering a council chamber, bragging, departing over the wall of a city, going on a journey, urging on his horse, in battle, dressing in the morning, exchanging taunts with an enemy, becoming blood brothers with another hero, and asking for mercy. Singers may use their telling of these scenes in many of their songs, incorporating different elements in song after song. Themes in many include the birth and childhood of a hero, father and son fighting, battling a monster, the imprisoned or reluctant hero returning in time to save his city, matchmaking or bride taking, a husband arriving at the wedding of his wife, and encounters with a sorceress who turns men into animals. Christian beliefs mixed with pre-Christian ideas of magic and paganism in , for instance, saints would appear to defend mortals against darkness.


Major characters and prototypes


Adaptations

Vasily Kalinnikov Vasily Sergeyevich Kalinnikov (russian: Васи́лий Серге́евич Кали́нников; 13 January 1866 – 11 January 1901 ) was a Russian composer. His body of work consists of two symphonies, several additional orchestral wo ...
, a famous Russian composer from the nineteenth century composed an
overture Overture (from French ''ouverture'', "opening") in music was originally the instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn composed overt ...
on this theme, '. The music of the
State Anthem of the Soviet Union The "State Anthem of the Soviet Union" was the national anthem of the Soviet Union and the regional anthem of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1944 to 1991, replacing "The Internationale". Its original lyrics were written b ...
and the
Russian national anthem The "State Anthem of the Russian Federation" is the national anthem of Russia. It uses the same melody as the "State Anthem of the Soviet Union", composed by Alexander Alexandrov, and new lyrics by Sergey Mikhalkov, who had collaborated with ...
is also said to be inspired by the ' tradition.


References

{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2017


External links


A collection of folk bylin in Russian
Epic poetry Kievan Rus culture Medieval poetry Russian folklore Russian poetry Ukrainian literature Medieval legends Russian legends