Edward Alekseyev – founder of Yakut ethnomusicology

In the section Хроника
Edward Alekseyev – founder of Yakut ethnomusicology
Авторы (текстом)
A. S. Larionova
Institute for Humanities Research and Indigenous Studies of the North of the SB RAS, Yakutsk, Russian Federation
Ключевые слова
Eduard Alekseev, scientific works, Yakut ethnomusicology, musical folklore, scaled modes, genre, style, timbre, editing, field research
Abstract

The paper studies the life and creative path of the outstanding Russian ethnomusicologist E. E. Alekseev. He was
born in 1937 in Yakutsk. He studied at the Moscow State Conservatory, named after P. I. Tchaikovsky. He wrote a
large number of scientific papers. To a great extent, he explored the mode-scale and mode-intonation sphere of Yakut folk song and early folklore traditional music. He created models of the mode-intonation basis of archaic singing. He also studied various aspects of the traditional singing of Yakuts: genres and styles, the connections of the word and music of Yakut folk songs, the heterophonic polyphony of the Yakut ritual osuokhai, and the Yakut folk instrument khomus. Together with N. N. Nikolaeva, he published the collection of Yakut folk songs of various
styles and genres (“Samples of Yakut song folklore”). He conducted the editorial work on the publication of other
researchers’ works. He edited the piano works of G. A. Grigoryan. He participated in the release of the record “Ustin Nokhsorov Sings” and the creation of the documentary “Times of dreams” about shamans of Siberia and the Far
East. As a composer, he created romances, choirs, and treatments of folk songs. He composed “Sergelyakhsky
sketches” comprising 4 piano pieces. Together with composer G. N. Komrakov, he created the opera “Song of
Manchary” on a historical plot. His research work is being developed by Russian and foreign researchers of musical
folklore. A lot of statements put forward by E. E. Alekseev have further prospects for study.

Bibliography

Alekseyev E. Ye. Est’ li u yakutov mnogogolosie? [Do the Yakuts have polyphony?]. Sovetskaya muzyka
[Soviet music]. 1967, no. 5, pp. 97–105. (In Russ.).

Alekseyev E. Ye. Problemy formirovaniya lada. Na materiale yakutskoi narodnoi pesni [Problems of
formation of a harmony. On material of the Yakut national song]. Moscow, Muzyka, 1976, 288 p. (In Russ.).

Alekseyev E. Ye. Rannefol’klornoe intonirovanie. Zvukovysotnyi aspect [Early folklore intonation. Pitch
of sound aspect]. Moscow, Sov. kompozitor, 1986, 240 p. (In Russ.).

Alekseyev E. Ye. Folklor v kontekste sovremennoi kul’tury [Folklore in the context of modern culture].
Moscow, Sov. kompozitor, 1988, 237 p. (In Russ.).

Alekseyev E. Ye. Notnaya zapis’ narodnoi muzyki: Teoriya i praktika [Musical notation of folk music:
Theory and practice]. Moscow, Sov. kompozitor, 1990, 168 p. (In Russ.).

Alekseyev E. Ye. Vargan: neraskrytye issledovatel’skie perspektivy [Vargan: undisclosed research perspectives]. In: Vargan (khomus) i ego muzyka (Materialy I Vserossijskoi konferentsii, 1988 g. [Vargan (homus) and his music (Materials of the I All-Union Сonference, 1988]. Yakutsk, 1991, pp. 6–14. (In Russ.).

Alekseyev E. Ye. O muzykal’nom voploshchenii olonkho [About the musical embodiment of olonkho].
In: Yakutskiy geroicheskiy epos “Moguchiy Er Sogotokh” [Yakut heroic epic “Mighty Er Sogotokh”]. Novosibirsk, 1996, pp. 42–72. (“Pamyatniki fol’klore narodov Sibiri i Dal’nego Vostoka” [Series “Monuments of
folklore of the peoples of Siberia and the Far East”; vol. 10]. (In Russ., in Yakut).

Alekseyev E., Nikolaeva N. Obraztsy yakutskogo pesennogo fol’klora [Samples of Yakut song folklore]. Yakutsk, Kn. izd, 1981, 100 p. (In Russ.).

Charina O. I. Russkie pesni Prilen’ya [Russian songs of Prilenye]. Novosibirsk, Nauka, 2009, 160 p. (In Russ.)

Grigor’eva V. G. Narodnyi skazitel’ Ustin Nokhsorov [Folk storyteller Ustin Nokhsorov]. Yakutsk,
SMIK-Master, 2012, 112 p. (In Russ.).

Larionova A. S. Muzyka yakutskikh skazok [Music of the Yakut tales]. In: Yakutskie narodnye skazki
[Yakut national tales]. V. V. Illarionov, Yu. N. Dyakonova, S. D. Mukhopleva, etc. (Comps). Novosibirsk,
2008, pp. 57–97. (“Pamyatniki fol’klore narodov Sibiri i Dal’nego Vostoka” [Series “Monuments of folklore
of the peoples of Siberia and the Far East”; vol. 10]. (In Russ., in Yakut).

Muzykoved Nadezhda Nikolaeva: trudy, pis’ma, vospominaniya [Musicologist Nadezhda Nikolaeva: works,
letters, memoirs]. The Institute for Huvanities Research and Indigenous Studies of the North Russian Academy of
Sciences Siberian Branch. A. S. Larionova, Z. I. Kirillina, N. I. Nikolaev; editors E. E. Alekseev, A. S. Larionova
(Comps). Yakutsk, Media-kholding Yakutiya, 2019, 320 p. (In Russ.).

Varlamova A. V. Eduard Alekseev: polifoniya tvorchestva [Eduard Alekseev: polyphony of creativity].
In: Geterofoniya tvorchestva Eduarda Alekseeva [Heterophony of Eduard Alekseev’s work]. Ministry of
Culture and Spiritual Development of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), The Higher School of Music of the
Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) (Institute) named after V. A. Bosikov. A. S. Larionova, A. D. Khaltanova
(Сomps.). Yakutsk, 2021, pp. 254–274. (In Russ., in Eng.).

Zhirkov M. N. Yakutskaya narodnaya muzyka [Yakut folk music]. Yakutsk, Kn. izd, 1981, 176 p. (In Russ.).

Bibliographic reference
A. S. Larionova Edward Alekseyev – founder of Yakut ethnomusicology // Языки и фольклор коренных народов Сибири. 2021. № 1. Pp. 163–172. DOI: 10.25205/2312-6337-2021-1-163-172.