Ethnomusicological terminology of Mykolas Biržiška (1882–1962).

Straipsnis skirtas etnomuzikologinės terminijos, vartotos vieno žymiausių XX a. pirmosios pusės mokslininko, visuomenininko, lietuvių tradicinių dainų tyrinėtojo profesoriaus Mykolo Biržiškos (1882–1962) studijoms. M. Biržiškos mokslinė veikla buvo labai plati. Jis tyrinėjo senąją lietuvių literatūrą, rašė vadovėlius, paskelbė daug straipsnių. Tai „Donelaičio gyvenimas ir raštai“, „Lietuvių dainų literatūros vadovėlis“, „Mūsų raštų istorija“, „Rinktiniai mūsų senovės raštai“, „Iš mūsų kultūros ir literatūros istorijos“, „Senasis Vilniaus universitetas“, „Lietuvos geografija“ ir kt. Jį itin domino lietuvių kultūros ir literatūros istorija, jis bandė susisteminti lietuvių literatūrą, pateikti bendrą jos apžvalgą, taip pat susisteminti visas surinktas lietuvių liaudies dainas. Savo raštuose jis yra atkreipęs dėmesį į įvairias svarbias lietuvių liaudies dainų ypatybes. Svarbi vieta šiuose tyrimuose skiriama lietuvių liaudies dainų žanrinės sudėties analizei, jų klasifikavimo sistemos kūrimui. M. Biržiškos laikų lietuviškosios etnomuzikologinės terminijos žodynas dar nebuvo suformuotas, tad jam teko kurti naujus terminus ir tikslinti naujas tokių terminų sampratas. Jo etnomuzikologinės terminijos studijos yra aktualios ir nūdienos mokslininkams – etnomuzikologams, lietuvių tradicinės muzikinės kultūros tyrėjams bei puoselėtojams.The article is devoted to presenting and analysing the ethnomusicological terminology used by Professor Mykolas Biržiška (1882–1962), an outstanding scholar, publicist, and researcher of traditional Lithuanian songs. The scientific activity of Biržiška was very extensive. He researched old Lithuanian literature, wrote textbooks, and published many articles. They include ‘The Life and Writings of Donelaitis’, ‘Textbook of Lithuanian Song Literature’, ‘The History of Our Literature’, ‘Our Ancient Writings’, ‘Old Vilnius University’, ‘Lithuanian Geography’, and others. He was particularly interested in the history of traditional Lithuanian culture, and tried to systematise Lithuanian literature, provide a general overview of it, and systematise all collected Lithuanian folk songs. He drew attention to various important features of Lithuanian folk songs in his writings. An important place in his research was devoted to the analysis of the composition of Lithuanian folk songs and the development of a system for their classification. The main sources for researching Biržiška’s ethnomusicological terminology are his textbook for secondary schools on Lithuanian folk songs, the three editions of the ‘Lithuanian Song Literature History Textbook’, ‘Song Memoirs from Lithuanian History’, and other textbooks. Although he was primarily interested in the poetic lyrics of folk songs, his writings also reveal great erudition in musical writing. First of all, it is necessary to acknowledge Biržiška’s attempts to create a comprehensive compilation of the composition of Lithuanian folk song genre. He their performance. The second thematic chapter of Biržiška’s ethnomusicological terminology reflects the quest in the first half of the 20th century to define interpretations of the concepts of simple regional folk songs and traditional polyphonic sutartinė singing. This was especially true in his day, when the term sutartinė was not yet established. The conventions of the term ‘singing’ at the time often referred to religious hymns, ritual calendar-based folk songs, and were thus prone to erroneously blending it into one whole set of terms from completely different origins and structures. Biržiška paid much attention to definitions of monodic and polyphonic melodies of traditional Lithuanian songs. His writings also bear testimony to the variability of traditional song tunes. He was not indifferent to the terminology of traditional musical instruments and their construction: he listed a whole collection of such names. The dictionary of Lithuanian ethnomusicological terminology was not yet formed in Biržiška’s times, so he had to create new terms and propose new concepts for these terms. His work on the creation of ethnomusicological terminology is also of interest to contemporary scholars: ethnomusicologists, folklorists, and all researchers of traditional Lithuanian singing and instrumental folklore