Istrian scale
{{Short description|Musical scale}}
{{Infobox music genre
| name = Istrian scale
| native_name =
| image = Image:Istrian mode on C.png
| caption = Istrian mode on C.Van der Merwe, Peter (2005). Roots of the Classical, p.227-8. {{ISBN|978-0-19-816647-4}}. [heptatonic] {{audio|Istrian mode on C.mid|Play}}
| stylistic_origins = Croatian music
| cultural_origins = Istria and Kvarner
| instruments =
| derivatives =
| subgenres =
| fusiongenres =
| regional_scenes =
| local_scenes =
| other_topics =
}}
{{Infobox intangible heritage
| Image =
| Caption =
| ICH = Two-part singing and playing in the Istrian scale
| State Party = Croatia
| ID = 00231
| Region = ENA
| Year = 2009
| Session = 4th
| List = Representative
}}
File:Istrian scale Schubert Symphony No. 8 in B minor (1922), 1st mvt., bars 13-20.png
"Istrian scale" refers both to a "unique"Thammy Evans, Rudolf Abraham (2013). Istria: Croatian Peninsula, Rijeka, Slovenian Adriatic, p.17. {{ISBN|9781841624457}}. musical scale and to the folk music genres from Istria and Kvarner which use that scale."[https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/two-part-singing-and-playing-in-the-istrian-scale-00231 Two-part singing and playing in the Istrian scale]", UNESCO.org. It is named for the Istrian peninsula. Istrian folk music is based on a distinctive six-tone musical scale (the so-called Istrian scale), and the peninsula's two-part, slightly nasal singing. The two-part singing and playing in the Istrian scale, a traditional singing practice characteristic of the Istrian region and the north Adriatic coastal area and islands, was inscribed in UNESCO's List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2009.Antos, Zvjezdana; Fromm, Annette B.; and Golding, Viv (2017). [https://books.google.com/books?id=_zPZDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA78 Museums and Innovations], p.78. Cambridge Scholars. {{ISBN|9781443862561}}. Cites: [https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/two-part-singing-and-playing-in-the-istrian-scale-00231].
Genres include kanat and tarankanje; techniques include nasal tone, variation and improvisation, and resolution to the unison or octave; and instruments include double reeds such as sopele, shawms, bagpipes, and other instruments such as flutes and tambura lutes. It was first named by Ivan Matetić Ronjgov early in the twentieth century, assisting his study and notation of Croatian music.
Description
Non-equal-tempered,Marušić, Dario. "[http://www.komunikacija.org.rs/komunikacija/casopisi/muzikologija/VII_7/09/html_gb Reception of Istrian Musical Traditions]", Musicology 7/2007 (VII) ("[http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/1450-9814/2007/1450-98140707185M.pdf Reception of Istrian Musical Traditions]", doiSerbia). the scale could approximately be notated as: E-F-G-A{{music|b}}-B{{music|b}}-C{{music|b}} [hexatonic] (see: enharmonic), the first six notes of an octatonic scale on E. It may be thought of in various ways, such as the Gregorian Phrygian mode with lowered 4th, 5th, and 6th degrees (on E: E-F-G-A{{music|b}}-B{{music|b}}-C{{music|b}}-D [heptatonic]).{{cite book|title=Hrvatske narodne pjesme i plesovi|volume=1|editor1-first=Vinko|editor1-last=Žganec|editor1-link=Vinko Žganec|editor2-first=Nada|editor2-last=Sremec|year=1951|location=Zagreb|publisher=Seljačka sloga|page=228}} Performances feature diaphony and the Phrygian cadence (in E: F and D moving to E).
Though, "relative intonation var[ies] considerably from example to example [and between instruments]," the scale has also been described as derived from just intonation: subharmonics seven to fourteen (approximately D, E, F, G{{music|b}}, A{{music|b}}, B{{music|b}}, C, D')({{audio|Istrian mode subharmonics 14 through 7 on C.mid|Play with one voice}} and {{audio|Istrian mode subharmonics 14 through 7 on C with two voices.mid|with two voices}}).Ruland, Heiner (1992). Expanding Tonal Awareness, p.43. Rudolf Steiner. {{ISBN|9781855841703}}. Described by Kathleen Schlesinger on the Greek aulos
In Haydn's String Quartet in F minor, Op. 20 No. 5, something like the Istrian mode, but without its top note, is found. Uroš Krek's Inventiones ferales (1962) uses the scale, "in a disguised manner".(2001). Muzikološki zbornik: Musicological annual, Volumes 37–39, p.86. {{full|date=June 2014}} Tartini may have studied the scale, and Bartók took note of the scale. Karol Pahor's cycle of 15 pieces, Istrijanka (1950), was the result of study of the Istrian mode, as was Danilo Švara's Sinfonia da camera in modo istriano (1957).Ray Robinson, Regina Chĺopicka, eds. (2003). Studies in Penderecki: Penderecki and the avant garde, p.137. {{ISBN|9780911009118}}. The Istrian mode occurs in Josip Štolcer-Slavenski's Balkanofonija (1927).Samson, Jim (2013). [https://books.google.com/books?id=yJ60SHL4R-0C&pg=PA381 Music in the Balkans], p.381. Brill. {{ISBN|9789004250383}}.
Throughout the areas of Istria and the Kvarner Gulf the distinctive vocal singing has spread, consisting of alternating half and whole steps, which, particularly in older singers' and instrumentalists' renditions, are untempered. The songs are sung by pairs of singers (male, female, or mixed) in a characteristic two-part polyphony in minor thirds (or major sixths) with a cadence to a unison or an octave. Singers distinguish the higher (na tanko "thin") part from the lower (na debelo "fat").Rice, Timothy; Porter, James; and Goertzen, Chris (2017). [https://books.google.com/books?id=Gh03DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT1547 The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: Europe], unpaginated. Routledge. {{ISBN|9781351544269}}.
See also
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- Bezić, Jerko. "Yugoslavia, Folk Music: Croatia", New Grove Dictionary 2:594.
External links
- "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4MMVAl7fFo Two-part singing and playing in the Istrian scale]" (UNESCO), YouTube.com.
- "[http://www.smrikve.com/istria/books/smrikve/istrian-music/ Few words about traditional Istrian Music and Dance]", Istria from Smrikve.
- "[https://web.archive.org/web/20161101225603/http://goldandsilverdots.studio8585.com/index.php?____option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=15&option=com_content The folk music of Krk Island]", Gold and Silver Dots.
{{Scales}}
{{Intangible heritage of Croatia}}
{{UNESCO Oral and Intangible music}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Istrian Scale}}
Category:Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity