Lyrics in music: galician folk songs

Abstract

Poetry and music in oral tradition form the indissoluble unity of song. Although the song may be studied through its constitutive parts, those parts need to be assembled together in order to examine both their shared traits and specific features. Interrelations are first addressed from the perspective of music and its influence on language and verse, and then vice versa. The influence of music can be perceived in matters as varied as memory, the altered experience of time or the highlighting of the text’s character, whereas prior musical characteristics may also conflict with prosody. From the point of view of poetry, syllabic and accentual versification systems affect musical rhythm in different ways, and prosody superficially transforms rhythm and melody, rendering aspects of the independence of lyrics and music debatable. Finally, several open questions and possible research topics concerning the contact between language, poetry and music are discussed.