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SONGS: Narrative Songs and Ballads

The most wide-spread songs in Lithuania are narrative songs, closely related in character, plot and style to the ballad genre. They tell of extraordinary events and peoples' tragic fates. These are lyrical, epic songs, often closely related to themes found in the ballads of other cultures. Ballads are found throughout Lithuania and are sung to this day. A notable characteristic of the Lithuanian ballad is the fragmentation of the plot, unexpected transitions from narrative to dialogue or from dialogue to a lyrical commentary. Dialogue carries an important function, since it energizes the action.
Wartime ballads are poetic transformations of wartime historical songs. The songs depict specific wartime events, victories and defeats in a relatively succinct manner. Ballads, on the other hand, pay greater attention to the soldier's life and death. From an artistic standpoint, one of the most exceptional examples of this genre is a song which begins with the text, "Oi lekia lekia gulbiø pulkelis" (There flies, there flies a flock of swans). The most developed variants of this song are considered to be masterpieces of folk poetry. The second most popular category of wartime ballad, in terms of the number of extant variants and geographic dissemination, is the ballad about the soldier who was felled from his steed. His death and the heartbreak of his loved ones is presented through symbolic imagery.

(karo baladës pavyzdys: tekstas ir garso áraðas)

Family ballads can tell a variety of stories. They are characterized by harsh dramatic conflicts and tragic endings. Lyrical ballads are considered most consistent with the cultural character. The most common ballad in this category is the story of a young man who drowned at sea, searching for his maiden's lost ring. Another favored ballad in this category is about the homesick bride who turns into a cuckoo and flies to visit her loved ones. Other ballads sing of the illness or death of family members, of the hard lot of women, or about orphans.

(ðeimos baladës pavyzdys: tekstas ir garso áraðas)

Many ballads are closely related to agricultural chores (such as haymaking, harvesting rye or pulling flax) or rituals in the calendar cycle (Advent-Christmas, Shrovetide, Lent, and Easter).
Ballads are typically three or four line strophic forms. Musically they are much more developed than other vocal forms. The meter is usually in three, they employ a question-answer type phrase structure and the meandering melodic line is plastic. There is evidence that some ballads were sung as dialogues.

Compiled by Skirmantë Valiulytë

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