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Johann Gottfried Herder and the Latvian Voice Christina Jaremko

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Johann Gottfried Herder and the Latvian Voice Christina Jaremko Johann Gottfried Herder and the Latvian Voice Christina Jaremko-Porter Ph.D. University of Edinburgh 2008 Dzimtene (Motherland) 1901 How should I describe my motherland? High mountains and steep waterfalls Those may wrap other lands in silver flowing ribbons, She has none. One would not find magnificent and splendid panoramas. She has few roses, and her nettles sharply sting. And yet—in exile far away from home, Each day dawns and sets as if in tears, Beyond the grey and heavy fog-filled clouds, She is a far-off isle of light — I see her entwined with stars. Aspazija (Elza Rozenberga, 1865—1943) iiiii INTRODUCTION A leading thinker and critic of the Enlightenment era in Europe, Johann Gottfried Herder (1744—1803) wrote prolifically on comparative philology, oral poetry and its translation. These facets of his scholarship define the international anthology that he entitled Volkslieder nebst untermischten andern Stücken [Folksongs with other Miscellaneous Pieces] and published anonymously in two volumes (1778-79).1 Implicit in Herder’s neologism, which is usually translated as “folksongs,” is a breadth of meanings, although, as will be seen below, the interdisciplinary nature of Herder’s work is prone to conflicting interpretations. Given the example of the present work, Herder’s concept has spanned many disciplinary boundaries, such as Latvian cultural history, European ethnology, German literary theory and history, ethnomusicology, folkloristics, historiography, aesthetics, and philosophy. The early chapters of this work will consider the defining features of a “folksong” that unfold not only in Herder’s published works and unpublished 1 See Illustration 12. Volkslieder, (Leipzig, in der Weygandischen Buchhandlung . Erster Theil , 1778; Zweiter Theil, 1779). All future citations from Herder will refer to Herders Sämmtliche Werke (SW ) herausgegeben von Bernhard Suphan, Carl Redlich, Reinhold Steig [u. a.] in 33 Bd. (Berlin: Wiedmann’sche Buchhandlung. Reissued Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1967-68): Alte Volkslieder (1773-74), Volkslieder, poetical works and manuscripts, edited by Carl Redlich, comprise SW, XXV. The reader may consult Werke in zehn Bänden, a recent series of Herder’s selected works, in which the volumes are edited and catalogued individually (Frankfurt am Main: Bibliothek Deutscher Klassiker, 1985-2000). See for example Volkslieder, Gaier, 1990. 2 Jaremko-Porter correspondence, but also pertain to his biographical circumstances in Riga, Bückeburg, and Weimar, which these sources encapsulate. Above all, Herder’s conceptualization presents an idealized view of oral poetry that is part of the immediate present, and distinct from mechanical and lifeless words upon paper. To a certain degree, which will be debated in this work, Herder’s early career reflects the methods and practices of his close association with the Baltic German Lutheran clergy, whose observations of Latvian parishioners approximate the practices of present-day ethnography. It is debatable whether this prevailing influence also laid the groundwork for Herder’s conceptualization of a “folksong” (see Chapter Three). Nonetheless, Herder searched for a culturally representative sample of verses and texts for publication with difficulty, being reliant upon the fieldwork observation, description, and interpretative history of his correspondents and contacts in Baltic Russian territory. Despite the delays and difficulties in his correspondence, Herder eventually would gain the local, experiential knowledge of his Lutheran colleagues in the Latvian-speaking regions of Tsarist Russia – among whom, it should be added, he may have imparted the meaning of the Volkslied . In the process of grouping culturally representative examples Herder categorized verses in the primary Baltic languages of Latvian and Lithuanian. He appended readings on Latvian group songs, round dances, games, and ritual processions (SW XXV, 391-7). Yet it is not generally known that several Latvian fragments of verse within the published collection of his Volkslieder examples are sung today. Having roots in the familial and ritual song cycles of the peasantry, they testify to a remarkable continuity. 2 Comparable ethnographic styles of ritual singing became widespread in 2 Of the seventy-nine Latvian verses that are listed in Herder’s posthumous papers Introduction 3 the modern era, for example, during the folklore revival movement (folkloras kust ba) that achieved prominence during the final decade of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (see Chapter Five). Latvians adapted into performance practice an older layer of declamatory singing, thereby resurrecting national symbols and values, which were derivative of their early national history. The present ethnographic fieldwork inquiry (which I define as the collection of data, their analysis, and representation) pertains to Latvian families and communities, who have preserved their dialectal and regional folksong traditions. From 2000 to 2007 the author, a participant observer in this setting, gathered personal life history narratives in order to explore the meaning of cultural individuality according to language, dialect, and musical culture among kopa members.3 In Chapters Five and Six I discuss aspects of a day-to-day chronicle of qualitative fieldwork analysis that is based entirely on participant observation and membership within numerous domestic contexts and informal performance settings of the kopas .4 In this dynamic research exchange my role varied from the marginal observer, on the one hand, to the full commitment of an active musician, who attempted to learn of the kopa’s musical interpretation of familial customs and calendar holidays. 5 Returning to the frame of Herder’s philosophical ideas, the approximately one quarter have been maintained in Latvian singing traditions. On Herder’s Nachlass see Chapter Three. In regard to Latvian orthography, texts dating from the nineteenth century have been transcribed from an older (pre-1908) phonetic German system of spelling and Gothic lettering. I have adhered to the modern system of orthographic reforms, in which single Roman letters, diacritics, and macrons indicate vowel length. See Arturs Ozols, Veclatviešu rakstu valoda , 1965, 17-18; Anna Bergmane and Aina Blinkena, Latviešu rakst bas att st ba, 1986, 80-172. 3 On Herder’s notion of “community,” see Berlin, 2006, 236. 4 On the diverse membership roles in field research see Adler and Adler, 1987, 36. 5 The field study was the equivalent of eight research trips, October 2000 to 4 Jaremko-Porter regional kopa arguably shares attributes of the Volk, who bear the distinguishing characteristics of a family, community, or societal group: “every Volk has a mission, a peculiar contribution, which it is equipped to perform,” according to Sir Isaiah Berlin’s influential interpretation. 6 It may be useful to review the etymological context of the term “ kopa,” whose root is cognate with the Latvian adverb " kop " (“together”). A folk arts administrator from the University of Latvia explained that a “group-like song” (“ kop ga dziesma” ) is “concrete, pertinent, and topical,” rather than being overtly national, Romantic, or illusory. 7 Because they attain aesthetic standards of performance unity, the kopa may be envisaged as an anonymous collective voice that is perfectly in tune, “ saska ots kopums.” In a recent demonstration on the expanse of Rga’s vast Cathedral Square a programme of street festivities was held on 18 August 2001 to commemorate the eight hundredth anniversary of the founding of the city. The recurring kop ga dziesma, Rga iešu es, m mi a (“I’m going to R ga, dear mother”) became a prominent means of organizing the day’s festivities. Secondary school students from the Ropaži district near R ga (kopa P rkon tis) presented the kop ga dziesma , which became their staple repertoire. Although the Centre for Ethnic Culture, University of Latvia, prepared a model recording of the folksong (see listing of sound recordings), the thematic presentations varied freely according to their age November 2007, and incorporates many forms of communications to the author, which intervened. Recorded interviews constitute seven hours, and videocopies of Hi 8 films constitute 140 minutes. See Appendices. 6 Berlin, 2006, 226. There are numerous references to the Volk in Herder’s collected works, among the earliest of which he formulated in Riga in Über die neuere deutsche Litteratur , Riga: bey Joh. Friedrich Hartknoch, 1766, Herder, SW, I, 392. On the concepts of the Volk and Volkslieder see also Baumann, 2006, 183, Bernard, 1965, 73-75, and Chapter Three passim. 7 Interview with Ernests Sp s, Centre for Ethnic Culture, University of Latvia, 29 Introduction 5 and background of the kopa participants. 8 The International Folk Music Council (or IFMC), a product of the post-war era, produced a statement of purpose in 1954 that distinguished folk music repertoires according to their affinity with the past. Supplementing a belief in the continuity of folksong was a statement on defining the creative individual and the group, but particularly the community that determines the form or forms in which the music survives. 9 A shift away from this methodology, involving a greater number of studies of individual and ethnic group singing and the parameters that have shaped folksong scholarship. 10 Members implemented reforms in 1982 from which the renamed body, the International Council for Traditional Music, 11 promoted the music of groups, large and small,
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