Sutartinės are little polyphonic vocal gems performed by two, three or four singers.  Melodies generally consist of little repeating figures, usually syncopated and containing only a few pitches.  Counterpoint is derived in different ways, depending on how many parts there are.  What interests me so much about this tradition is that the very specific counterpoint rules that it follows results in very beautiful combinations of intervals, including lots of parallel seconds.  If written down and presented to highly trained singers, these would be a real bear to put together, but peasant women have been singing them in this one little corner of Lithuania for centuries.

There’s quite a bit written about this, so I won’t go into more detail about the theory stuff.  The following audio examples come from a Lithuanian folklore web site, where you can also see a transcription corresponding to each one.

A dvejinė is a two-part sutartinė consisting of two short repeating sections.  In this example, the second part is sung concurrently with the first, but a faux canon is achieved by delaying the second part’s entrance.  Listen:

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This three-part example, or trejinė is closer to what we think of as a normal canon.  There are two sections, only one is longer than the first.  The second voice enters after the first voice has sung the first section.  The third voice enters after the second has completed the first section.  Here’s where it gets really interesting. (Steve Reich, are you listening?)  Since the second section is slightly longer than the first, voice one is still on the last part of the second section when voice three enters.  The result is a constant shifting, such that the harmony and texture are slightly different with each iteration after all three voices have entered.  It’s hard to explain…. Listen:

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Here’s another trejinė that’s structured a little differently.  Listen:

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In the keturinė, or four-part sutartinė, two pairs of singers take turns singing a repeating two-part passage.  In this example, as seems to be typical of these pieces, the two parts are offset by seconds, making for some interesting harmonies.  Listen:

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The harmonies and rhythms that occur in these pieces certainly make one wonder if Stravinsky was familiar with this tradition as he developed his unique sound.  The phasing technique that Steve Reich is famous for is also a component here.  I wonder if he knows this music.

I have on my shelf what seems to be an original copy of the first full score of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, published in 1921 by Édition Russe de Musique.  (Prior to that, only the four-hand piano version had been published.)  I found it around 1990 in a Budapest antikvárium, a used book store.

[dcs_lb_link url="/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/Rite-of-Spring-Cover-Ferencsik-Signature.jpg" title="Rite of Spring cover with conductor János Ferencsik's signature"]
[/dcs_lb_link]The title page of this score bears the handwritten name “Ferencsik” and the year 1929, leading me to the conclusion that in 1929 it was a possession of the great Hungarian conductor János Ferencsik, who led the Hungarian National Philharmonic from the Fifties into the Eighties.

Click the thumbnail to the left to see where Ferencsik wrote his name on the cover page.

Not only that, there’s an indication that markings in red were supplied by Stravinsky himself.  In the large image at the top of this post, you can see where Ferencsik (presumably) wrote “Piros: Straw.”, indicating that the red markings were from Stravinsky. (“Piros” = “Red” in Hungarian)

I’m no expert on the various revisions of The Rite of Spring, nor do I have handy a copy of a more recent printing, so I have no idea if there’s any great significance to these markings. I’m assuming not, but here are a few examples:

Dynamics in the strings at rehearsal 32

Apparently rethinking the time signature notation at rehearsal 39

Rebeaming the trombones accordingly, also at rehearsal 39