Re: Slow hora, slowing down...

[Joshua Horowitz <horowitz...>]

-- Budowitz Home Page: http://www.merlinms.dircon.co.uk/budowitz/

Joe Kurland wrote:
>  1.  "Firn di mekhutonim aheym"  means leading the parents of
> the bride and the groom home.  Presumably these are people old enough
> to be a bit tired after dancing through a wedding and so might be
> walking rather slowly. Feels kind of good to walk at one step per
> measure.

Just some comments on the "firn" tunes and horas: Joe's explanation about
adapting to the old folks sounds pretty realistic. Earlier I'm sure
march-type rhythms were used in 2/4 which would explain the few examples in
this meter found in Beregovsky for the gas nigunim. Greeting and escort
tunes (Dobridens, Firns and gas nigunim) in the Ukraine began to use a 3/8
or 3/4 meter probably in the second half of the 19th cent. A processional
rhythm of short-short-long, short-short-long may have been used as a
processional rhythm, as it echoes a funeral march rhythm. Creating a solemn
mood was just as important as breaking that mood. In the Budowitz CD we use
that rhythm as the basic rhythm for the kale bazetsns (track 3 onward) and
the Bney Heykhlo (3rd to last piece) as symmetrical "pillars" of the
khasene.

However, in some regions the khosn-kale were whisked off straight after the
mitzve tants. In this case, the klezmorim probably stayed with the guests,
and did not accompany the khosn-kale. East European Jewish musical customs
were quite varied. For every step of the wedding you will find different
things which were done, in different orders, which should get you to ask,
what is tradition, anyway? Even the khosnmol (groom's meal) often took place
prior to the wedding. Here's a quote from the new Budowitz CD booklet, some
portions of which I thank Paul Gifford for his materials:

There was a tradition in the Ukraine following the wedding whereby the
groom¹s mother and other female relatives would invite the bride and her
female relatives to a party where the mother-in-law would serve refreshments
of spirits, pastry, and assorted jams, and would give the bride a present
such as a ring or brush, which in Yiddish was called sheyn-gelt [beauty
money] The klezmorim would accompany the women with an escort tune called,
firn di mekhutonim [Leading The In-Laws], which was also known as fir¹n
ulyashchiny. Typically, the firn tunes were in 3/8 meter (see track one),
though there are some found in 2/4 as well. Regardless of the progressively
joyful mood of the wedding celebration, the recurrence of a sad mood,
especially at the end, ³like yom kippur,² was expected and cultivated,
though typically, the lively Korohod dance would reinstate the happy mood,
but also serve to move the guests on home. When the groom was being led to
bed, there was also a Hasidic custom of dancing a lusty dance in front of
his home, at which time they would also sing all kinds of merry tunes.

Joe Kurland wrote:
>  2.  In Yidl Mitn Fidl, in the wedding scene, the bride does
> her seven circles around the groom under the khupe to a Roumanian
> Hora.

Another quote from the new Budowitz CD dealing with music under the khupe,
which was rare:
Unter Der Khupe [Under The Wedding Canopy]
If one of the newlyweds were an orphan, a special piece could be played as
an invocation of the souls of the dead parents, called unter der khupe.
Possibly, the invocation of the souls of the parents was only performed in
non-orthodox weddings, as the orthodox believe that the souls of the
deceased are already present. It was, however, common for the bride, the
groom or a family member to go to the grave before the wedding to invite the
parents to the celebration. In Piotrkow, if either the bride or the groom
had a deceased parent, the El Mole Rakhamim [Heb. The Lord Shall Have Mercy]
would be sung under the khupe. In Orhei/Dubasari ³...Petru Tsigayner (Petru
Gypsy) played with great depth of feeling...the El Mole Rakhamim at the
weddings of orphans.² In Gliniany, this type of piece could be called a
gevayn [Yid. a cry]...
    We know of only two written examples of the unter der khupe genre: one
notated by the composer and folklorist Moshe Bick at Orhei, Bessarabia in
the first half of this century, which Merlin Shepherd has elaborated upon in
the Budowitz CD; and the second, notated by Herman S. Shapiro in 1902
containing a dance-like march in 6/8 meter. See Bick, Moshe, Khatunah
Yuhudit [Heb. Jewish Wedding], Haifa Music Museum and Library, Haifa, 1964.
    The wedding vows were taken under the canopy generally right after noon,
when the minkha [afternoon service] is prayed, so as not to make the
newlyweds wait too long, as their fasting obligations and the strain of the
day would make them weary otherwise. In Nowa Sol, Poland, the women
accompanying the bride would normally circle three or sometimes seven times
around the groom under the canopy. Commonly, however, the bride circles the
groom under the canopy, a practice which derives from Jeremiah 31:22 ³... A
woman shall compass a man.² The circling of seven times around the groom is
probably associated with the magic circle to ward off evil spirits.
Encyclopedia Judaica, Ibid., p. 1037. Another interpretation says that it is
to represent that the marriage is to be as strong as the walls of Jerico.
Seven times is the number of times it took to circle Jerico whilst playing
shofars and carrying Torah scrolls to make the walls tumble.

Joe Kurland wrote:
> Khupe marches (e.g. by the Boiberike Kapelye) were much more lively
> than what a lot of people like  for processionals these days.

Often, the tsu der khupe (to the canopy march) was more stately and reserved
than the fun der khupe (from the canopy march), for the simple reason that
there was a lot of tension prior to the actual sealing of the marriage. The
fun der khupe was often also march, mazl tov and mitzve tants all in one.
There were differences in different regions.
Josh Horowitz

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