Terra sebv s acta mvsei sabesiensi s

 

 

521

Vizantiysky vremennik  - Vizantiysky vremennik. Institute of General History of 

the Russian Academy of Sciences. Moscow. 

Voprosy Istorii 

- Voprosy Istorii. Russian academic journal for historical 

studies. The Institute of Russian History of the Russian 

Academy of Sciences. Moscow. 

Voprosi Literatury 

- Voprosi Literatury. Writer’s Union of the USSR. 

Moscow. 

Voprosy filosofii 

- Voprosy filosofii. Russian Academy of Sciences. 

Moscow. 

VTP 

- Istoricheskiye, filosofskiye, politicheskiye i 

yuridicheskiye nauki, kul’turologiya i iskusstvovedeniye. 

Voprosy teorii i praktiki. Tambov. 

WASJ 

- World Applied Sciences Journal. International Digital 

Organization Scientific for Information 

“IDOSI 

Publications” UAE. Dubai. 

Zapiski 

- Zapiski Vostochnogo otdeleniya Russkogo 

arkheologicheskogo obshchestva. Archaeological Society. 

Saint Petersburg. 

ZDMG 

- Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen 

Gesellschaft. Berlin Magazine of the German East 

Society. Berlin. 

 

 

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Terra Sebus: Acta Musei Sabesiensis, Special Issue, 2014, p. 45-53 

 

 

REVISITING THE COLLECTION OF TATAR MUSICAL-

ETHNOGRAPHIC MATERIALS BY THE TEACHERS OF THE 

KAZAN ECCLESIASTICAL ACADEMY IN THE CONTEXT OF 

THEIR MISSIONARY-EDUCATIVE ACTIVITY  

(19TH CENTURY) 

 

 

Elmira Ilgamovna SAFIULLINA



 

 

 

The history of the Kazan Ecclesiastical Academy has been academically 

interpreted in the works of famous historians such as P. V. Znamenskiy,

1

 K. 

V. Kharlampovich,

2

 Russian theologian I. S. Berdnikov,

3

 and historian M. Z. 

Khabibullin,

4

 who dedicated his career to the studies made by teachers of 

Kazan Ecclesiastical Academy of the Volga region and the Transurals. 

Active work on the religious conversion of non-Russian nations of 

the Russian Empire was carried out by notable academics within the 

Academy, such as E. A. Мalov, N. F. Katanov, N. I. Ilminskiy, G. S. 

Sablukov, N. P. Ostroumov, M. A. Mashanov, M. G. Ivanov, P. K. Zhuze, 

Y. D. Koblov, N. V. Nikolskiy

5

 and others. 

The activity of ecclesiastical writer Protoiereus E. A. Malov

6

 was 

especially significant. For the purpose of his ecclesiastical-educative work, 

                                                 



 Kazan Federal University, Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation; e-mail: 

[e-mail].  

1

 Znamenskiy 1891-1892. 

2

 Kharlampovich 1907. 

3

 Berdnikov 1892. 

4

 Khabibullin 2009. 

5

 Nikolay Vasilyevich Nikolskiy (1878-1961) was a Doctor of Historical Sciences and a 

professor of Kazan University, the Eastern Pedagogical Institute and the Mari Pedagogical 

Institute. He made great contributions to the understanding of the history, ethnography, 

folklore and language of Chuvash and other Volga region nations. From 1903 to 1917, 

Nikolskiy worked in the Kazan Ecclesiastical Academy as a teacher of history, ethnography 

and language of Chuvash. His works were highly significant within the ethnographical field 

and were of great academic and practical value for their time. 

6

 Evfimiy Aleksandrovich Malov (1835-1918) was a prominent member of the clergy as a 

churchman, academic and missionary. He was a distinguished professor of the Kazan 

Ecclesiastical Academy in the department of anti-Muslim missionary subjects. In 1884 

Malov became an associate member of the Society for Archaeology, History and 

Ethnography in the Imperial Kazan University. He wrote a great number of works on 

theology (in the sphere of missionary work), church history, the study of Turkic languages, 

and the ethnography of the Tatar nation. 

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E. I. Safiullina 

 

46

he stayed in various villages of the Kazan district.

7

 Based on the materials he 

collected, Malov published several academic works on Tatars in which he 

presented accounts of national holidays. In the article, Chetyire dnya sredi 

musulman, he observes the Jien

8

 celebration with great interest: 

“Here are [seen] games, fights, songs ... mainly young people gather together 

for Jien ... Towards evening you can hear Tatar songs, mainly with sad, 

monotonous motifs, in the houses; or young people gather in crowds, walk 

through the village, sing, play the violin and clap their hands.”

9

 

It is notable that Malov paid attention not only to the peculiarities of 

this holiday celebration, but also to the role of music and the character of 

folklore melodies. The songs, as characterised by Malov, corresponded to 

plangent melodies,

10

 which differ from other genres of Tatar musical 

folklore thanks to their lyrical, monotonous content. Frequently, the singing 

of plangent songs is connected with phenomenon such as “mon” (literally 

grief, sadness) which is associated with an ability to sing melodiously, with 

lyricism.

11

 As Khurmatullina and Salpykova describe: 

“When listening to Tatar music, one can feel the opulence of the national 

flavour, the tunefulness of folk songs, the beauty and splendour of Tatar 

villages, the tender sadness of folklore. When you listen to the masterpieces 

of these centuries-long traditions, you feel like a part of eternity. Folklore is 

something very natural, like spring water or flowers.”

12

 

It is hard not to agree with this statement, as the music of any nation 

has its basis in that nation’s spiritual and moral culture, in the national 

mentality. 

In the 19

th

 century, plangent lyrical songs were an important part of 

the everyday musical life of Tatar, but in the 20

th

 century, due to the 

development of urban folk styles, short melodies gained greatly in 

popularity.

13

 Malov’s observations regarding national instruments are also 

                                                 

7

 Kazan district: a territorial-administrative unit within Kazan province. The capital city of 

the province is Kazan. 

8

 Jien: a Tatar national holiday at the end of the spring agricultural work. 

9

 Malov 1892, p. 6. 

10

 Plangent songs in Tatar folk music are typically solo lyrical and lyrico-epic songs. They 

are characterized by undulating melodic development, rhythmic freedom

, 

and asymmetrical 

structures. Melismatic chants improvised by the singer play an important role in plangent 

songs. On the whole, the melody is developed calmly, smoothly, with deep breath and 

without accentuation. 

11

 Saydasheva 2007, p. 101. 

12

 Khurmatullina, Salpykova 2014, p. 29. 

13

 Within Tatar folk music, short melodies songs present a genre opposition to plangent 

songs. Short songs are typically gay in character, fast-paced, with a certain squareness to 

their melodic and metrorhythmic structure, characterised by periodicity and equal 

alternation of rhythmic parts. 

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