On the surface the genre of the lullaby in art music seems to have a
limited purpose. In instrumental music, particularly piano works, and in song
literature, individual lullabies act as quaint character pieces. Similarly,
in large musical dramatic works lullabies offer a pleasant diversion from the
action while usually at the same time serving the additional dramatic function
of putting someone to sleep (preferably not a member of the audience!).
However, when one compares two lullabies such as those from Tchaikovsky's
Nutcracker and Berg's Wozzeck, significant extremes become
apparent: the lullaby may turn out to be a purely ornamental expression on
the one hand, barely necessary to the story, or an intensely moving emotional
highpoint on the other. Furthermore, there are limitless possibilities
between these two extremes.
The range of musical and dramatic expression in the lullaby may be demonstrated in the operas of Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, of whose fifteen operas no less than nine, spread fairly evenly over his operatic output, contain lullabies or lullaby-like sections that demonstrate different kinds of musical style, form, and text [see Table 1]. This study is intended to analyze the musico-dramatic purpose of these lullabies on an individual and comparative basis.
It must first be noted that these lullabies as a whole differ from the definition of the genre as found in standard reference sources which describe the lullaby as a kind of character piece in triple or compound meter, in relatively slow tempo, and with some sort of rocking accompaniment pattern. This definition seems to be most often coupled with a citation of Chopin's "Berceuse" of 1843; but not all lullabies in western art music match the definition or Chopin's example. The operatic lullabies of Rimsky-Korsakov in particular differ from the model in several features which, in addition to characteristic melodic and harmonic turns, seem to point to a particularly Russian kind of lullaby in art music (However, this particular study is not specifically directed toward a typography of the Russian lullaby, which would entail a much larger study that would be more worthy of the fanciful title of this one.)
All but two of Rimsky-Korsakov's operatic lullabies are in 2/4 time, emphasizing eighth-note motion in the vocal line and syllabic setting of text; a few are in the minor mode or in sharp keys; several modulate rather extensively; and a couple of them do not even have the rocking accompaniment pattern. Despite their digressions from the dictionary "norm," these pieces all remain lullabies because of the action and text with which they are associated. The texts, in fact, contribute as much to the Russian character of the lullabies as the purely musical features. The recurring expression "bajushki-baju" (with variants thereof), meaning "hushaby", and related to the verb "bajukat'," meaning "to lull," seems almost indispensable in these pieces. Also, a trochaic quatrameter usually in rhymed couplets as used, for instance, in Pushkin's fairy-tale poems Tsar Saltan and The Golden Cockerel, occurs in many of the lullabies. Although this kind of meter, which may be considered "standard" for the present purpose, is present in several of the texts presented here, a few of the pieces deviate slightly from this norm or use other patterns entirely.
Almost all of the lullabies are sung by a soprano soloist or a female chorus. (This association no doubt has significance in gender-studies of musico-literary genre.) Furthermore, most of the lullabies are continuous with the surrounding music, although the composer supplies concert endings in a few cases. Also, as will be seen, the relationship of the lullabies with the musical material of the operas varies: some have no thematic connection with the rest of the music, some recall leitmotifs associated with certain ideas, and some actually recur bodily later in the respective opera. Finally, although most of the lullabies represent substantial sections of music, two of them are extremely brief.
Some but not all of the characteristics described thus far may be seen in the lullaby from Rimsky-Korsakov's thirteenth opera, Pan Wojewoda [see Ex. 1]. This lullaby represents the totally pointless extreme of the genre's possibilities and also differs in several ways from the other pieces. The libretto was tailor-made for musical setting by Tiumenev, who had already made a name for himself by translating Wagner's music dramas for publication in Russia[1] and had collaborated with Rimsky-Korsakov on the libretto of The Tsar's Bride. Because Pan Wojewoda was tailor-made, its drama lacks much genuine power and interest compared to other librettos which the composer used. Rimsky-Korsakov in this opera had a specially musical desire to emulate Chopin, whose influence the composer freely and gratefully acknowledged.[2] Certainly with such a libretto on a Polish subject Rimsky could carry out this desire by indulging in a mazurka, a polonaise, a krakowiak, a nocturne, a funeral march, and, of course, a lullaby, regardless of their dramatic purpose.
At the very beginning of the first act a young Polish nobleman named Czaplinski appears in a forest near a mill, expecting to meet his fiancee, Maria. He hears her approaching with her girlfriends and decides to play a trick on them by pretending to be asleep. The girls come across him, and Maria asks them to help her with a joke of her own: she will sing him a lullaby. Of course, the action thus far, and this number in particular, have contributed nothing to the unfolding of the plot. But, despite its dramatic flaws, the music here, as in the rest of the opera, is perfectly delightful. The melody, rocking accompaniment, and tonic-dominant harmony are Chopinesque, but the piece does not resemble the key, tonal design, and form of Chopin's own "Berceuse"; furthermore, unlike the other lullabies to be discussed here, the text of the this pieces is intentionally humorous, the vocal line is highly melismatic, and the poetic meter is not the "standard" type.
The lullaby in Rimsky-Korsakov's one-act opera The Noblewoman Vera Sheloga is somewhat extraneous to the plot, but has more of an emotional connection with the rest of the drama [see Ex. 2] than the superficial number in Pan Wojewoda. This piece has a rather complicated history. It began in 1867 as a setting of the lullaby in the first act of Lev Mei's melodrama The Maid of Pskov and was published in 1869 as Op. 2, No. 3. By 1871 the composer had written an opera based on Mei's play, but omitting the first act of the play from the libretto. In 1878, however, Rimsky-Korsakov revised the opera to include the first act of the play. But this version of the opera was never performed, and in 1898 he revised The Maid of Pskov again, redesigning the first act of the play as a separate one-act opera called The Noblewoman Vera Sheloga. In this form the shorter work may be used as a prologue to the opera The Maid of Pskov or may be performed as an independent work.[3]
The drama of The Noblewoman Vera Sheloga is definitely more interesting than that of Pan Wojewoda. The opera, set in the sixteenth century, tells of a noblewoman, Vera, who during her husband's absence on a campaign has an affair with none other than Ivan the Terrible. The maritally uncomfortable result of this relationship is a child, Olga, to whom the mother sings a lullaby offstage near the beginning of the opera. This is one of the loveliest and most unaffected melodies in Rimsky-Korsakov's works, conveying in its mood both Vera's love for the child and her desire for comfort in her bleak situation.[4]
The lullaby (if it may be so designated) in the third act of May Night, based on Gogol, provides a pleasant diversion, but it also has a somewhat significant relationship to the action [see Ex. 3]. The hero, Levko, temporarily hiding by a lake at night from the village police who are chasing him, strikes up his bandura and sings an aria to his absent beloved. Besides the fact that this music appears in the overture, the significance of the number is that it tempts him to fall asleep himself; but he resolves to remain awake, only to witness a fantastic appearance of water-nymphs from the lake. Although the episode is real, Levko afterwards wakens as if from sleep. One could interpret this entire scene with its magical evocation of a Ukrainian night and supernatural events as an extended dream sequence, preceded by the lullaby and concluded by an orchestral sunrise.
In the last scene of Sadko [see Ex. 4] a lullaby is sung by Volkhova, the Princess of the Sea, who must say farewell to Sadko, whom she has just married in a raucous ceremony at the bottom of the ocean; and she prepares to transform herself into a river. Like Vera she sings a simple folk-like melody in the "standard" verse pattern. Unlike the other lullabies, however, this one lacks the moderately rocking accompaniment pattern. The piece is constructed in a manner borrowed from Glinka and used by Rimsky-Korsakov in several other vocal numbers in Sadko and other operas. In this structure, commonly called "changing background," the vocal line is set strophically, and upon each succeeding strophe (usually 3 in all) the orchestral accompaniment changes, typically with more rhythmic and contrapuntal activity. The somewhat fantastic and contrived harmonies in the orchestral transitions of this number recall the octatonal leitmotif associated with the aquatic characters of the opera. In this way the lullaby is somewhat related musically to the rest of the opera, whereas the lullabies from Pan Wojewoda and Vera Sheloga have no such thematic significance.
The same kind of strophic construction but with stronger thematic significance and severe chromatic harmony may be seen in Rimsky-Korsakov's twelfth opera, Kashchei the Immortal, a fairy-tale opera in three scenes [see Ex. 5]. The harsh story of Kashchei[5] is reflected in the music by two prominent elements typical of Rimsky-Korsakov: unusual but artificial harmonic devices; and dry, rather mechanical transformations of leitmotives. These characteristics may be heard in the "Wicked Lullaby" which begins the third scene. While the evil Kashchei is sleeping nearby in his palace, the Princess, whom he holds captive, sings a lullaby to him, not in comfort, but in a justified wish for his demise. Unlike Vera Sheloga, who is responsible for her own misery, the Princess is at the mercy of supernatural forces. Hence it is no wonder that the music of her lullaby takes on a noticeably different treatment. The opening phrase of the lullaby transforms her first phrase of the opera from a simple Dorian tune into a tonally mobile unit that leads to some stark harmonic machinations. Even the rocking accompaniment pattern in the orchestra becomes harshly distorted here to the point of being made part of the vocal line itself in the "baju-baj" refrain. The Princess' hatred of her captor thus is aptly expressed in this piece.
The chromatic style of Kashchei the Immortal and the diatonic style of the other lullabies discussed so far are combined in the sleeping scene of Act I of The Golden Cockerel, a scene which is familiar from the orchestral suite [see Ex. 6]. The lullaby music occurs twice in the act. In the first instance Tsar Dodon in his palace is sleeping with the peaceful blessing of the cockerel, represented by the transformation of the cock's cry into an accompaniment for a simple tune. As Dodon begins to dream vaguely of a beautiful woman, the tune changes to the chromatic theme of the Queen of Shemakhan harmonized by fully diminished seventh chords. After being awakened by a false alarm of enemy attack and the restoration of peace, Dodon again falls asleep and has a clearer dream in which the Queen's theme is combined with the earlier simple tune. In this opera then the lullaby not only has a thematic relationship to the rest of the opera, as in Kashchei, but also recurs in the course of the action of the act with greater significance to the recurrent musical structure and development of the plot. Unlike the other lullabies, this one is in 3/4 time and is almost completely orchestral, with only brief interjections by the housekeeper Amelfa and the guards.
A somewhat different integration of dramatic and musical elements may be found in the two separate lullabies of The Tale of Tsar Saltan [see Ex. 7a and 7b]. In the first act, which takes place in Tsar Saltan's palace, a group of nurses offstage sings to the sleeping infant tsarevich. This lullaby occurs three times in the act, each time in a different key (C-B-Bb) and different accompaniment, defining a clear rondo structure with other musico-dramatic elements while also employing the "changing background" technique. The lullaby not only helps to define the large structure of the act but also in the first two statements overlaps with the voiced thoughts of other characters: as the nurses sing, the old woman Babarikha mumbles under her breath her wish that the child die; and the mother, Queen Militrisa, asks Babarikha what she is mumbling. The contrast of the simple lullaby melody with Babarikha's malicious-sounding flatted sixths and chromaticisms is an effective if naive device. In fact, the childlike quality of the scene and the opera as a whole is emphasized not only in the lullaby tune, which was sung in Rimsky-Korsakov's house by a favorite recently deceased nanny,[6] but also by the verse pattern used here and throughout the opera in imitation of Pushkin's original poem.[7]
The other lullaby from Tsar Saltan, such as it is, occurs in the second act, after Queen Militrisa and her now grown-up son have been stranded on a barren island. This lullaby, only a few bars long, frames a narration in which she tells her son as he falls asleep about the unfortunate things which have happened to them. Thus, both lullabies in Tsar Saltan, although they are not thematically significant, are strongly integrated into the musical structure, with especially notable interaction of characters in the first of the lullabies.
The lullabies in The Golden Cockerel and Tsar Saltan recur within a given act; but there are two other operas in which musical relations with lullabies traverse the bounds of act division. A very brief four-line lullaby occurs in the last act of The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia [see Ex. 8a and 8b], where Fevronia, left alone in the forest, comforts herself in the cradle of nature. The music for this brief lullaby recalls a melody which she sang as early as Act One in praise of the earth. There does not seem to be a connection between these two occurences. They merely represent variants of one of many musical motives associated with the character of Fevronia. A good deal of her music, in fact, employs the duple meter and folk-like patterns of lullabies thus far described.
A more concrete relationship can be demonstrated in the last lullaby to be considered here. It is unusual for two reasons: it is the only lullaby in Rimsky-Korsakov's operas to be in compound meter; and the music occurs twice, not within the same act, but in outlying acts, the second time with a new but related text. The work is Mlada, a fairy opera-ballet set in ninth- century Baltic lands and employing a host of ancient Slavic rituals and dieties.[8] The lullaby [see Ex. 9a and 9b] appears for the first time in Act I, when the bright spirits of Lada, goddess of love, lull Prince Yaromir into a dream so that Lada can reveal to him the murder of his former love, Mlada, by his new fiancee, Voislava. This lullaby, sung in unison by a female chorus, possesses a certain harmonic and melodic richness, yet avoids the artificial complexities of a number like the Princess' lullaby in Kashchej.[9]
The return of the music in Rimsky-Korsakov's version of Mlada occurs at the end of the opera after a devastating flood has destroyed the temple of Radegast and a rainbow has appeared in the sky, where the specters of Yaromir and Mlada are reunited by Lada, and a procession of Slavic gods passes across the clouds. While the tableau may recall scenes in Wagner, the music does not. Rimsky-Korsakov resets the lullaby for full chorus with an orchestration considerably more elaborate than in Act I; and in the text the promise of reward for faithfulness mentioned in the original lullaby has been fulfilled.[10]
After examining all of these lullabies, the question arises as to why this composer included so many of them in his operas. A partial explanation may be the fact that Rimsky-Korsakov (like some other composers) in his music relies to a great degree on well-tested formulas: melodic motives, harmonic devices, formal schemes, musical genres, and conventional plot elements. He seems to rely on the lullaby as a dramatic and musical convention as he does with choruses, dances, narrations, etc. Furthermore, the lullaby as a genre in folk music, like round-dances, wedding songs, etc., may have had some significance to him for representation in his operas. No doubt a study of folk lullabies and the lullabies as character pieces and songs in the 19th century Russia [see Table 2] should reveal some insights. In general, though, the "kolybel'nye pesni" in the operas of Rimsky-Korsakov show a high degree of musical and dramatic variety which attests to the flexibility of a genre as apparently insignificant as the lullaby.