Hopak Music
Music for the Hopak is not standardized by tempo or melody, although 2/4 time predominates most arrangements. The dance is supposed to evoke a sense of improvisation, so the pace of the music changes from segment to segment, allowing dancers to distinguish themselves. The melodies of the songs Hop, moyi hrechanyky (Ukrainian: Гоп, мої гречаники) and Vid Kyiva do Lubny (Ukrainian: Від Київа до Лубни) can be found in many Hopak arrangements. Hopaks usually end on a fast and furious pace, with some incorporating boisterous Ukrainian marches, such as Zasvystaly kozachen'ky (Ukrainian: Засвистали козаченьки).
A number of composers have composed a Hopak as part of an opera or ballet:
- Operas
- Modest Mussorgsky, in The Fair at Sorochyntsi
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, in Mazepa
- Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, in May Night
- Semen Hulak-Artemovsky, in Zaporozhets za Dunayem
- Ballets
- Aram Khachaturian, in Gayane
- Vasily Solovyov-Sedoi, in Taras Bulba
- Cesare Pugni, in The Little Humpbacked Horse
- Anatoliy Sviechnikov, in Marusia Bohuslavka
Read more about this topic: Hopak
Famous quotes containing the word music:
“Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid.”
—Frank Zappa (1940–1993)