Dumky

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Dumka (plural: Dumky) is musical term introduced from the Russian language, with cognates in other Slavic languages. Originally, it was "a Slavic (especially Ukrainian) folk ballad . . . generally thoughtful or melocholy in character." ^[1] Russian and other Slavic classical composers drew on the harmonic patterns in the folk music of their countries to inform their more formal classical compositions. A natural part of this process was the appropriation of the Dumka form, most especially by Antonín Dvořák. Thus, in classical music, it came to mean "a type of instrumental music involving sudden changes from meloncholy to exuberance." ^[2] Dvořák's final and best known Piano Trio (E minor, Op. 90) has six movements, each of which is a Dumka; the piece is sometimes called the Dumky-Trio ("Dumky" is the plural of "Dumka").^[3] Examples of in the classical repertoire include:

Antonín Dvořák

• Furiant with Dumka, Op. 12 (1884) for piano solo

• Dumka (Elegy), Op. 35 (1876) for piano solo

• String Sextet in A, Op. 48 (1878), mvt. 2: "Dumka: Poco allegretto"

• Piano Quintet in A, Op. 81 (1887), mvt. 2: "Dumka: Andante con moto"

• Piano Trio in E minor, Op. 90 (1891) — the Dumky-Trio

Leoš Janáček

• Dumka for violin & piano

Pyotr Tchaikovsky

• Dumka, Op. 59 for solo piano

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Randel: Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music, p. 148. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978
2. ^ ibid.
3. ^ http://www.fuguemasters.com/dvorak.html