Dumka ( ua, думка, ''dúmka'', plural думки, ''dúmky'') is a musical term introduced from the

Ukrainian language Ukrainian ( uk, украї́нська мо́ва, translit=ukrainska mova, label=native name, ) is an East Slavic language of the Indo-European language family. It is the native language of about 40 million people and the official state langu ...

, with

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...

s in other

Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic, spoken during the Ear ...

. The word ''dumka'' literally means "thought". Originally, it was the

diminutive A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A (abbreviated ) is a word-formati ...

form of the Ukrainian term ''

duma A duma (russian: дума) is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were for ...

'', pl. ''dumy'', "a Slavic (specifically Ukrainian) epic ballad … generally thoughtful or melancholic in character".Randel: ''Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music'', p. 148. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978 Classical composers drew on the harmonic patterns in the

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

to inform their more formal classical

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

s. The composition of dumky became popular after the publication of an

ethnological Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). ...

study and analysis and a number of illustrated lectures made by the Ukrainian composer

Mykola Lysenko Mykola Vitaliyovych Lysenko ( uk, Мико́ла Віта́лійович Ли́сенко; 22 March 1842 – 6 November 1912) was a List of Ukrainian composers, Ukrainian composer, pianist, conductor and ethnomusicologist of the late Romantic mus ...

in 1873 and 1874 in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

and

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. They were illustrated by live performances by the blind

kobzar A ''kobzar'' ( ua, кобзар, pl. kobzari ua, кобзарі) was an itinerant Ukrainian bard who sang to his own accompaniment, played on a multistringed bandura or kobza. Tradition Kobzars were often blind and became predominantly so by ...

Ostap Veresai Ostap Mykytovych Veresai ( uk, Остап Микитович Вересай) (1803–April 1890) was a renowned minstrel and kobzar from the Poltava Governorate (now Chernihiv oblast) of the Russian Empire (now Ukraine). He helped to popularize ko ...

, who performed a number of dumky, singing and accompanying himself on the

bandura A bandura ( uk, банду́ра) is a Ukrainian plucked string folk instrument. It combines elements of the zither and lute and, up until the 1940s, was also often referred to by the term kobza. Early instruments (c. 1700) had 5 to 12 strings ...

. Lysenko's study was the first to specifically analyse the melodies and the accompaniment played on the bandura,

kobza The kobza ( uk , кобза), also called bandurka ( uk , бандурка) is a Ukrainian folk music instrument of the lute family ( Hornbostel-Sachs classification number 321.321-5+6), a relative of the Central European mandora. The term ''kobz ...

lira Lira is the name of several currency units. It is the current currency of Turkey and also the local name of the currencies of Lebanon and of Syria. It is also the name of several former currencies, including those of Italy, Malta and Israe ...

of the epic dumy. A natural part of the process of transferring the traditional folk form to a formal classical milieu was the appropriation of the Dumka form by Slavic composers, most especially by the Czech composer

Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czechs, Czech composer. Dvořák frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravian traditional music, Moravia and his native Bohemia, following t ...

. Thus, in classical music, ''dumka'' came to mean "a type of instrumental music involving sudden changes from melancholy to exuberance". Though generally characterized by a gently plodding, dreamy duple rhythm, many examples are in

triple metre Triple metre (or Am. triple meter, also known as triple time) is a musical metre characterized by a ''primary'' division of 3 beats to the bar, usually indicated by 3 (simple) or 9 (compound) in the upper figure of the time signature, with , , ...

, including Dvořák's Slavonic dance (Op. 72 No. 4). His last and best-known

piano trio A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music. The term can also refer to a group of musi ...

, No. 4 in E minor, Op. 90, has six movements, each of which is a dumka; the work is referred at times by its subtitle, ''Dumky Trio''.

Examples

Major examples in the classical repertoire include:

Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czechs, Czech composer. Dvořák frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravian traditional music, Moravia and his native Bohemia, following t ...

*''Furiant with Dumka'', Op. 12 (1884) for piano solo *''Dumka'' (Elegy), Op. 35 (1876) for piano solo *

Slavonic Dances The ''Slavonic Dances'' ( cs, Slovanské tance) are a series of 16 orchestral pieces composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1878 and 1886 and published in two sets as Op. 46 and Op. 72 respectively. Originally written for piano four hands, t ...

, Op. 46 and 72, (Three of the sixteen) * Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53, mvt. 3 – though based on a

Furiant A furiant is a rapid and fiery Bohemian dance in alternating 2/4 and 3/4 time, with frequently shifting accents; or, in "art music", in 3/4 time "with strong accents forming pairs of beats". The stylised form of the dance was often used by Czech ...

, the middle part is a Dumka *String Sextet in A, Op. 48 (1878), mvt. 2: "Dumka: Poco allegretto" * Piano Quintet No. 2 in A, Op. 81 (1887), mvt. 2: "Dumka: Andante con moto" * Piano Trio No. 4 in E minor, Op. 90 (1891) — the ''Dumky-Trio'' * String Quartet No. 10 in E-Flat Major, Op. 51 – B. 92: II. Dumka. Andante Con Moto

Sofia Mavrogenidou

*Dumka for piano solo *Dumka for flute, cello and piano *Dumka for cello and piano *Dumka for accordion and flute

Leoš Janáček Leoš Janáček (, baptised Leo Eugen Janáček; 3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist, and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and other Slavic musics, including Eastern European fol ...

*''Dumka'' for violin & piano

Bohuslav Martinů Bohuslav Jan Martinů (; December 8, 1890 – August 28, 1959) was a Czech composer of modern classical music. He wrote 6 symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental works. He bec ...

*''Dumka'' (unnumbered), H. 4 (1909 – Polička, Czechoslovakia), for solo piano *''Dumka No. 1'', H. 249 (1936 – Paris, France), for solo piano *''Dumka No. 2'', H. 250 (1936 – Paris, France), for solo piano *''Dumka No. 3'', H. 285bis (1941 – Jamaica, NY, USA), for solo piano Katalog skladeb Bohuslava Martinů
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Pyotr Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

*''Dumka'', Op. 59 (Scenes from a Russian village) for solo piano (1886)

Others

* Anatoly Kos-Anatolsky, Dumka and kolomiyka from the opera ''Sojchyne krylo'' *

Mily Balakirev Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev (russian: Милий Алексеевич Балакирев,BGN/PCGN transliteration of Russian: Miliy Alekseyevich Balakirev; ALA-LC system: ''Miliĭ Alekseevich Balakirev''; ISO 9 system: ''Milij Alekseevič Balakir ...

, Dumka in E flat minor (1900) *

Vasyl Barvinsky Vasyl Oleksandrovych Barvinsky ( uk, Василь Олександрович Барвінський) (20 February 1888 – 9 June 1963) was a Ukrainian composer, pianist, conductor, teacher, musicologist, and music related social figure. Barvinsk ...

, Dumka (1925) *

Alexander Borodin Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin ( rus, link=no, Александр Порфирьевич Бородин, Aleksandr Porfir’yevich Borodin , p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr pɐrˈfʲi rʲjɪvʲɪtɕ bərɐˈdʲin, a=RU-Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin.ogg, ...

, Dumka (from the piano quintet nr.2 in A Major, op. 81) *

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leadin ...

, Dumka, Op. 74 No. 19, KK IVb/9, CT. 147 * Rebecca Clarke, ''Dumka'', Duo Concertante for Violin and Viola, with Piano (1941) *

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

, Dumka, S 249B *

, 2nd piano rhapsody (1877) *

Stanisław Moniuszko Stanisław Moniuszko (; May 5, 1819 – June 4, 1872) was a Polish composer, conductor and teacher. He wrote many popular art songs and operas, and his music is filled with patriotic folk themes of the peoples of the former Polish–Lithuania ...

, Jontek's aria from the opera ''

Halka ''Halka'' is an opera by Polish composer Stanisław Moniuszko to a libretto written by Włodzimierz Wolski, a young Warsaw poet with radical social views. It is part of the canon of Polish national operas. Performance history The first perf ...

'' *

Modest Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky ( rus, link=no, Модест Петрович Мусоргский, Modest Petrovich Musorgsky , mɐˈdɛst pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈmusərkskʲɪj, Ru-Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky version.ogg; – ) was a Russian compo ...

, Paraska's aria from the opera ''Sorochynsky fair'' *

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...

, Dumka in A minor (published posthumously) * M. Shneider-Trnavsky, Dumka and dance for symphony orchestra (1909) * M. Zawadsky, 12 dumky and 42 shumky * V. Zaremba * S. Zaremba * Nikolai Budashkin, Dumka (Träumerei) in the Andante from the 'Concerto for Domra and Orchestra' Op.8 (1943).

Notes

References

* S. I. Gritsa (Hrytsa) Dumi vidayushcheyesya dostoyaniye ukrainskoy kulturi (Dumy a remarkable product of Ukrainian culture) Musica anticqua Europae orientalis II Bydgosz, 1969.(In Russian) * M. Antonowych Dumka and Duma in MGG {{Authority control Kobzarstvo Song forms Russian styles of music Ukrainian styles of music Musical terminology