The Volga-Kama Stage of the History of Chuvash Music: Sources and Methods of Reconstruction

The paper discusses the main features of the musical culture of the ancestors of the Chuvash people at the Volga-Kama stage of its history - the third of the four largest ethnogenetic stages, identified on the basis of the study of the migrations of its Bulgar-speaking ancestors. It is indicated that, in the absence of written and other data on the music of that era, it is possible to reconstruct its main features with the help of comparative-historical and historical-typological studies of the oral musical and poetic heritage of the Chuvash in comparison with the data on the music of related or contacted peoples of that era. Thanks to the research of historians, the idea was established that the Turkic-speaking ancestors of the Chuvash at this stage reached a high level of social organization, housekeeping and musical culture. The significant influence of the musical culture of the Turkic Bulgars on the musical system of the songs of the ancient Magyars, noted in the sources, testifies to the depth of its foundations. Well-preserved forms of pentatonic scale, structural regularities of quantitative rhythmics and plot composition of ritual folk song lyrics of the Chuvash, in the author’s opinion, testify that at the third stage under consideration there were still known intonation and structural foundations of vocal music, as well as musical instruments inherited from previous stages and developed in new conditions. According to historical science, the third ethnogenetic stage of the history of the Chuvash people was the time of formation and crystallization of the main features of the Chuvash people. It is concluded that among them are the properties of the Chuvash musical and poetic system revealed with the help of comparative-historical and historical-typological methods. Adapted to the spatial and temporal conditions of the Volga-Kamya, the music of the Chuvash continues to live.