Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/281

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235
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SLAVIC LANGUAGES. 235 SLAVONIC MUSIC. i., iii., and iv. in 2d ed., ib., 1879, 1876, 1883) ; id., Eti/mologisches Worterbuch dcr slaicischen iilifacJien (ib.. 1886) ; Berneker, Slawische Chres- tomathie ( Strassburg, 1902), extracts in all Slavic languages, with special vocabularies for each section; Jagic, ed., Archiv fur shiicische Philologie (Berlin, 1876 et seq. ). See also the s])ecial articles on the individual languages and literatures. SLAVO'NIA. The northeastern part of the autonomous province of Croatia and Slavouia (q.v. ) in Austria-Hungar}". SLAVONIC ENOCH. A pseudepigraphical ■work extant only in a Slavonic version to which this name has been given in order to distinguish it from the Ethiopic Enoch. (See Enoch.) In the manuscripts it bears the title The Book of the Secrets of Enoch. The existence of this ■work seems to have been unknown in niodern times until 1880, when the South Russian recen- sion was published by Popoft". The more com- plete version of ilortill and Charles was based on five manuscripts, of which two contain the complete text in Russian and Bulgarian recen- sions of the seventeenth and sixteenth centuries, one is an incomplete but vahuible Servian codex of the sixteenth century, and two are fragmen- tary copies. Other manuscripts are known to exist. The Bulgarian text contains five addi- tional chapters on ilelchizedek. The book was translated into the Old Church Slavic from the Greek, possibly in the ninth century. It is evident that the author was iniluenced by Hellenistic thought. Charles thinks it probable that he lived in Egypt, since he believed in the preexistence and immor- tality of the soul, the seven natures of man, the egg theory of the universe and such monsters as the Phoenixes and Chalkadri, cherished no JIcs- .sianic hope, and used the Book of Ecclesiasticus. On the other hand, Hellenizing Jews, Essenes, and others in Palestine seem to have cherished views similar to those found in the Slavonic Enoch. The conception of the human soul as preexistent and immortal, the opposition to oaths, the indifl'erence to the sacrificial cult were characteristic of the Essenes. ilany circles were e'idently untouched by the political hope of a Messiah (q.v.). The idea of a world-egg had ex- isted in Syria at least since the Persian period, and Eg^■ptian ni-thological figures found at all times ready entrance there. The Greek Bible was luiquestionably used by Hellenizing .Jews in Palestine in the first century a.d. If the Greek original of the Slavonic Enoch had been known in Alexandria in the beginning of our era it would be very strange that it was not translated into Ethiopic with the rest of the Enoch litera- ture, while its survival only in the Slavonic churches would be natural if it found its way from Syria. Asia Minor, and Constantinople into Bulgaria. It is possible that this work is quoted in the Testaments of the Twelve Patrinrchs. but the date of the latter work is far from certain. Nevertheless, there is much that favors a date for the Slavonic Enoch earlier than a.d. 70, es- pecially if a Palestinian origin be assinned. It is a most important document of the .Tudaism of the first century, apparently untouched by Chris- tianity. In it we have the most complete de- scription of the seven heavens, the doctrine of the millennium (q.v.), the conception that God Vol. XVIII. —16. requires no sacrifices but a pure heart (xlv. 3), the idea that the souls of animals as well as men survive the shock of death (Iviii.), and beati- tudes, curses, and admonitions reminding in a very striking manner of the ethical precepts and ideals found in the Synoptic Gosiwls. Consult: Morfill and Charles, The Book of the Secrets of Enoch (Oxford, 18!.t0) ; Bon wetsch, Das «iat'isc/ie Ueiiochbueh (Gfittingen, lS9ti). SLAVONIC MUSIC. The music of the Slav peoples, of whom those of importance are the Russians, Poles, and Bohemians. Russia. Just as the hymns of the Church of Rome exerted a powerful inlluence upon the music of Western Europe, so a similar influence was exerted upon the music of Eastern Europe through the hymns of the Greek Cliurch. Al- though both the Greek and Roman hymns can be traced to a common origin, a differentiation took place in the earliest centuries of the Christian era, and thenceforward the music of the East and the "'est developed separate characteristics. In the East the folk music became strongly tinged with characteristics of the music of the Greek liturgy, and these characteristics have found their way through the folk music into the art music of the modern Russian composers. All the emotions of the Russian peasant find expression either in songs or primitive dance tunes, and every season of the year has its particular songs. The return of spring, for instance, is greeted by the girls and boys in the Russian villages with a choral dance known as the Khoro rod, which is somewhat simi- lar to the old May-day festivities in England. The Dumas were improvisations upon some epic subject, and were recited in irregular rhythm and in a slow monotonous chant. But the real folk songs of Russia are always metrical, al- though the poetry does not rhyme. The words are most frequently sung without any instru- mental accomjianiment. In a general way the national melodies are either lively or slow. The former, which are mostly of gypsum origin, are generally dance tunes in the major keys. They are sung in unison, the rhj'thm being marked by the feet. The latter — and these are the liest and most popular — are in minor keys, and are sung in liarmony. When during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Italian opera practically ruled all Eu- rope it also found its way into Russia. The few Russian musicians were completely vmder Italian influences. The first distinctlv Russian music was that of Glinka (1804-57) "(q.v.). Like his predecessors, this master had been trained by German and Italian musicians, but during a stay in the South of Russia in 1829 he was attracted by the national element in the music of his coun- try. In 1834 he met the famous theorist S. Dehn in Berlin. Upon his suggestion Glinka began to work with a conscious purpose toward the estab- lishment of a national Russian school. By the end of 1834 he had returned to Saint Petersburg with tlie almost completed score of the first opera written in Russian upon a Russian subject. The Life for the Czar. The success of this work was in- stantaneous, and to this day it is a standard work in the repertoire of every Russian opera house. In 1842 his second national opera. Riislan and LiiflmiUa. appeared, and was enthusiastically hailed by Liszt. Two years later Glinka pro- duced a number of his compositions in Paris,