Dojrana Prokopieva

Choral works by the first generation of Macedonian composers

The choral compositions by the first generation of Macedonian composers is the foundation of contemporary Macedonian music culture. Bearing in mind the pioneering importance of this generation of composers which includes Stefan Gajdov (1905-1992), Zhivko Firfov (1906-1984), Todor Skalovski (1909-2004), Trajko Prokopiev (1909-1979) and Petre Bogdanov-Kochko (1913-1988), the purpose of this paper is to present these authors’ choral opus, their stylistic features and manners of expression.

From left to right: Todor Skalovski, Trajko Prokopiev, Petre Bogdanov Kochko,

Stefan Gajdov

This paper only partially covers the complex roles (of performance, education and management) these composers played in attempting to bring Macedonian music culture nearer to the West-European tradition. Our central interest regards the stylistic features of their choral works, and we have endeavored to answer some of the multitude of questions.

Macedonian music initiates its development through these first professional musicians. This development does not follow the path of evolution of western art. Macedonian music lacks the music forms that have marked entire centuries of European music – Baroque, Classicism and Romanticism. When the first generation of Macedonian composers wrote in the spirit of national Romanticism, Europe was dominated by dodecaphony and serial music. Although these composers were introduced to the European music avant-garde during their studies in Belgrade, upon their return to Macedonia they turned towards this style and folklore. At the time, Belgrade, as a significant center of culture, established a connection with other centers of European avant-garde, especially with Prague. Thus, during their studies, with the aid of their professors, the composers met the opportunity of learning about the masterworks of composers such as Shostakovich, Schoenberg and Haba. Nevertheless, upon their return, they had to adapt to the conditions and possibilities of the environment, which developed their interest for the conservation of national identity, i.e. continuing the tradition of folklore.

The first imposing question is: why is it that these authors were primarily inspired to write choral works? The answer lies the problem of the lack of professional instrumental ensembles and performers during the period between the World Wars, when these composers first began to write music. On the other hand, there were financial advantages for working with choirs rather than orchestras. The latter required purchasing instruments and preparing professional musicians to play these instruments. Also, the urban population was quite interested in singing in choirs, so the number of choirs continued to grow and new choir societies emerged. As the number of choirs grew, so did the need for enriching their repertoire.

As far as form and technique are concerned, the choral music by these authors is usually in the form of miniatures with a homophonic texture, whereas harmony is presented through the basic functions. With time, the music expression of the composers evolved, as they began to include non-chordal tones, new chordal verticals, as well as new modal relations. Rhythm retained its authentic features. Works incorporating folklore changed the rhythm. In relation to form, these works were strophic and progressively composed forms, analogous to songs. (Karakash 1970). The choral expression of the first composers corresponds with the needs and means that were available at the time, as well as the aesthetic perception and the capacity of performance of the amateurs that made the choirs.

If we analyze these composers individually, we find that the earliest representative Stefan Gajdov excels in his teaching activities and choral performance. The choral compositions by Gajdov are mainly based on simple arrangements and harmonizations of folk songs. During the 1930s, these songs were on the choirs’ repertoires. Their publishing in various collections initiated the process of the cultural upheaval of the Macedonian people.

Zhivko Firfov is mostly known as a folklorist – ethnomusicologist, collector and transcriber of folk songs, their interpreter and promoter. Most of his works regard this field of interest. Even Firfov’s original compositions are stylistically oriented towards folklore. The choral opus of this composer includes the compositions Drotar and Humoresques.

Trajko Prokopiev devoted most of his life to composing for and working with choirs and opera orchestras. His music language is based on the rural folklore from the region of Kumanovo, whereas his monodic structures are harmonized. Many of Prokopiev’s choral works are arrangements of folk songs and stylizations of folk elements. He also composed secular and spiritual music.

Trajko Prokopiev and Petre Bogdanov-Kochko

Todor Skalovski is noted for his work as composer, choir and symphonic conductor. Similarly to the other composers, he also used archaic folklore in his compositions. In the use of harmony, tonal and modal systems, pedal and lyricism he resembles Prokopiev, although in some works such as Macedonian Dance Skalovski uses dramatic elements. He also wrote spiritual music.

Petre Bogdanov-Kochko contributed to Macedonian music history with his work as composer and vocal soloist. His works are dominated by the revolutionary themes, whereas the predominating genre is that of mass songs.

Most of the premiere choir performances were interpreted by choirs conducted by the composers themselves. These composers conducted most of the choirs for a longer period of time, from the establishment of the amateur singing groups in the 1930s, throughout World War II when music life began to thrive under the new professional institutions. In Veles, in 1922, Stefan Gajdov and Zhivko Fifov established the singing group “Grom” (Thunder), which promoted folk songs. In 1939 in Veles, Gajdov formed a choir which he conducted until the beginning of the war. He was also active after 1945, when he conducted the Culture and Art Society “Kocho Racin” in Skopje. Todor Skalovski began his career as a conductor during his studies at the Music School in Belgrade. After his arrival in Skopje in 1936, he conducted the Music School Choir. He also worked in Belgrade and Sremska Mitrovica. Upon liberation, Skalovski conducted symphonic and opera orchestras. During his studies, Trajko Prokopiev assisted professor Milojevic in working with the First Belgrade Singing Group. In 1934 in Skopje he became the conductor of the singing group “Mokranjac”. Later he conducted the Skopje choir “Obilic” and spent 5 years in Sarajevo where he was the conductor of the Serbian Society “Sloga”. During World War II he conducted the Army Choir. In the period following the war, Prokopiev continued working with choirs, as well as with the Symphonic and Opera orchestras. During the war, Petre Bogdanov formed Partisan choirs and culture teams. After the liberation he worked in professional music institutions.

The choral pieces by all these authors are based on several similarities regarding the lyrics, as well as the rhythmic and melodic features. Our classification combines two principles: of the lyrics and of the music materials which are at the core of the pieces. We distinguished the following groups of compositions:

- compositions based on folklore

- compositions based on the Church Slavonic tradition

- compositions based on revolutionary and WWII themes

- compositions based on social and other themes

- compositions based on the original texts by the authors

Compositions based on folklore

The folk origin of the first generation of Macedonian composers’ creative thought plays a key role in the development of choral music. Folk elements constitute the essence of each composer’s individual expression. There are two ways of treating folklore in music: arrangements, and original works based on folk themes.

a). The first method usually involves harmonization of melodic fragments. The strophic structure of folk songs requires variation development – including imitation of the motif, as well as passing tones to the basic harmonies. The melodies are simple and of a narrow range. The harmonic syllable moves within the range of the three basic functions (T, S and D). The folk arrangements feature tonal-modal relations of an oriental sound (Ortakov 1982). The authors preserve the characteristics of folk melodies: gradual melodic movements without large leaps, use of downward intervals, melodic gradation, use of diminished intervals and augmented seconds (Proshev 1986). The meter used are almost all types of regular and irregular types. An example of such pieces for choir are Stefan Gajdov’s compositions: Lele Jano (Oh Jana), Junak i gora (The Hero and the Mountain), Ejdi Nedo (Hey Neda), Tri narodni pesni (Three Folk Songs), etc. An example of choral pieces which feature a more liberal use of music parameters with an introduction of new chordal relations are Trajko Prokopiev’s songs from the pre-war period: Otvori go Kate pendzhercheto (Open your window Kate), Si zaljubiv edno mome (I Fell in Love with a Maiden). Skalovski manages to paint a realistic scene from everyday life, filled with humor and satire in the arrangement of the song Samo se karame, samo se tepame (All We Do Is Argue and Fight). The composer adds a new fragment to the famous urban tune from the first part, thus marking the tendency to freely arrange the folk material (Ortakov 1982: 98-99).

It should be noted that the choral pieces by Macedonian composers were particularly influenced by the works of the famous Serbian composer Stevan Mokranjac. This author was especially popular during this period, and his Rukovets were standard repertoire not only for choirs in Serbia, but also for all the regions of former Yugoslavia. Inspired by the Rukovets, Macedonian composers preserved the regional speech and dialect of the folk melodies they used. The treatment of music matter and form also resembles Stevan Mokranjac’s methods.

Zhivko Firfov

b). The second method involves compositions with an individualistic approach to folklore. Separate melodic, harmonic and rhythmic segments allude to folklore. Such are the pieces by Prokopiev and Skalovski. Unlike the arrangements, apart from homophonic, this music also includes polyphonic parts. As far as the vertical sounds of these compositions are concerned, apart from the classic chords of thirds, second and fourth verticals are also present. This classification includes the pieces: Macedonian Dance, Macedonian Humoresque, the cycle of five Rhapsodies with the subtitle Niz mojot roden kraj (In My Homeland), all based on lyric folk melodies, as well as the pieces Bitolka, Setolka, Ovchepolka, Svadbena and other music by Todor Skalovski.

The most important work of this kind is Macedonian Dance, illustrating the atmosphere of the dramatic Macedonian dance Teshkoto (The Heavy One). This work musically depicts the lyrics in the spirit of folklore, with an atmosphere that resembles the dance in the beginning of the composition. During the arrangement, after the choral lines announce the basic intonations, they collide with the dissonance of seconds, fourths and fifths which depict the course of the dance. In the first part, the piece changes its rhythm, whereas in the second part the 7/16 rhythm beats in different combinations (Ortakov 1982: 97). At the same time with dynamics, the tempo grows, affirming the culmination of the dance.

The arrangement of the folk material includes the use of linking several melodies in larger thematic segments. This type of link exists in some of the movements from Trajko Prokopiev’s cycle Kumanovki, which contains folk themes from the birthplace of the author. The harmony is of a tonal and modal character, whereas the melody is of a fragmented structure (Kostadinovski 1983).

Kumanovka no. 3 yields an example for the features of the melodic structure. Here Prokopiev merges two folk melodies, stylizing, rhythmically modifying and harmonizing them in his own individual way. The archaic song Dimitrie vino pie (Dimitrie Drinking Wine) is noted for its recitative character, whereas citations from the song Angelino verna ljubov (Angelina, My True Love) exuberate with a lively, dance rhythm. Regardless of the contrasts, these citations act as a whole. The composition includes the modal element. During the process of imitation within the male and female vocalist there is a clash of various harmonies. The melodies used by the composer in Kumanovka are stylized and modified, yet they still preserve their folk character. Old Church Slavonic moduses are also found in Kumanovka no.5, as well as polyphonic elements – imitations of the melodic motifs.

Compositions based on the Old Church Slavonic tradition

This category includes the works based on liturgical texts, thus attempting to maintain the region’s link to spiritual music. Macedonia is where the two Church Slavonic traditions appeared – the older, monodic one, i.e. the Byzantine-Slavonic tradition, and the newer one, influenced by the Octoechos, i.e. the Karlovac Chant by Mokranjac. Consequently, Macedonian composers use both. The works that strive to preserve the continuity with the spiritual music tradition in these regions are: Velichanija Sv.Kirilu i Metodiju a composition for mixed choir by Todor Skalovski, founded on an adapted Church-Slavonic text and on melodies related to spiritual and folk tradition; Prijdite poklonimsja and Tropar za Sv. Kliment Ohridski by the same author, Kondak Klimentu, Tropar, and Heruvimska pesna by Trajko Prokopiev.

Choral works based on revolutionary and WWII themes

In the new social and political framework following World War II, the new socialist government especially urged composers to write works based on Macedonian revolutions during Ottoman rule (Ilinden 1903) and during fascist occupation (1941-45). Such works are the ballad Goce by Todor Skalovski inspired by the poem Crna se chuma zadade; also Ilindenska balada (Ilinden ballad), Todorka mlada robinka (Todorka the Young Slave). Along with folklore, partisan songs from the 1941-1945 period were employed. They were stylized and arranged for the newly-formed choirs (Golabovski 1999). The works by these composers is strongly linked to Macedonian poetry. Macedonian poets mainly focused on the dramatic situation during the war. They yielded grounds for composing music based on a historical point of transition. Petre Bogdanov-Kochko wrote many choral works related to this issue.

Compositions based on social and other themes

The compositions based on social and other themes note different compositional-technical and stylistic relations. The major-minor system dominates in the first works with a literary basis, but later on this system makes room for modal thought, second-fourth harmonies and cluster constructions. The poems to a great extent covering social themes by Macedonian poets such as Kocho Racin, Blazhe Koneski, Cane Andreevski, Mateja Matevski and Ante Popovski inspired the composers. Such is the choral ballad Lenka dedicated to Kocho Racin by Trajko Prokopiev. This miniature was written in a romantic manner, without strong dynamic contrasts corresponding to the elegiac mood of the poem. The melody stresses the psychology of the text by means of dramatic emphasis and chromatics, disregarding the main tonality (Ortakov 1982). The compositions Denovi (Days) and Pechal (Grief) are also based on poems by Kocho Racin. The dramatic social motif in the poem Kopachite (The Diggers) is musically depicted in the composition bearing the same title by Stefan Gajdov. Petre Bogdanov-Kochko’s music is notable for the merging of several texts in one musical piece. The composition Vezilka by Blazhe Koneski is such an example, containing five shorter parts with poems by this poet. The works inspired by contemporary poems treat harmony with greater freedom.

Compositions based on original texts by the authors

This classification includes the pieces Drotar by Zhivko Firfov, where realistic elements and scenes from everyday life are musically structured, Macedonian Dance and Zora zori (Dawn is Dawning), both written for mixed choir by Todor Skalovski.

Conclusion:

Even though many text have been written regarding the first Macedonian composers, their works and the conditions and reasons for their opus, this field remains a challenge for further musicological analysis. The passing of time creates a necessary historical space for the objective evaluation of the position of these works in Macedonian music culture. Thus, this paper is another attempt to contribute to the complete elucidation of this important phase in the development of Macedonian music.