Features of Folklore in the Religious Music of the Roman Catholic Tradition in Belarus

Abstract

Religious folklore in Belarus exists on two levels: folklore sung directly in the homes and folklore sung in the church. “Home” folklore frequently permeates the church’s liturgical chants. The specificity of folklore performance in religious music can be traced through the text (the transformation of the literary text by dialectal and borrowed words), directly through the music (the adaptation of variation elements to the melody, folk ornamentations, very slow tempo, etc.), and through the manner of performance (breaking up the sung phrase, chest resonance singing, transposition of the key, etc.). The text of this article describes the specificity of the performance of religious works in Belarus, both liturgical and domestic. It distinguishes and describes the methods of performance, and shows their similarities based on the examples of specific pieces of music. The relationship between folklore and church art is shown not only by their general features, but also by their interrelationships. It manifests itself in the general properties of the genre, the means of expression, and the singing style, which consists of a synthesis of words and melodies, modal-melodic structures, phrasing dictated by breathing, a unity of time and rhythm, and elements of polyphony (heterophony).