Boyan the Prophet is a singer and storyteller. Heroes of Slavic mythology: Boyan
"THE WORD ABOUT IGOR'S CAMPAIGN"
You can't keep up with Boyan in song!
That Boyan, full of wondrous powers,
Starting to the prophetic chant,
He circled the field like a gray wolf,
Like an eagle, he soared above the tree.
Thoughts spread throughout the tree.
He lived in the thunder of his grandfather's victories,
I knew many feats and fights,
And it’s barely light on a flock of swans
He released about a dozen falcons.
And, meeting the enemy in the air,
The falcons began to massacre,
And the swan flew into the clouds,
And she trumpeted the glory of Yaroslav...
But he didn’t let in ten falcons
Our Boyan, remembering the days of yore,
He raised his prophetic fingers
And he placed live strings on them.
The strings trembled, trembled,
The princes themselves rumbled glory.
This is how the unknown author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” sings of the legendary 11th century singer Boyan.
The name and character of the singer are associated with the words “6aya(i)t” - talk, tell, “fable” - fairy tale, “bayun” - talker, storyteller, talker, “pribautka” - joke, “lull” - rock a child to a song, “to charm” - to seduce, to enchant.
The ancient “obavnik”, “charmer” means a sorcerer, “balstvo” means divination.
In the same way, the epithet “prophetic” contains the concept of foresight, divination, supernatural knowledge, magic and even healing. From here it is clear that Boyan, also called “Veles’s grandson,” knows everything, composes songs about everything - about gods, about heroes, about Russian princes.
It is possible that the word “boyan” is based on the word “fight”. And then this is a synonym for the word “warrior”. That is, this Boyan was not just a storyteller, but he sang of military feats.
It is not for nothing that his name begins not just a legend, but a word about Igor’s campaign against the Polovtsians, a legend about battles, exploits, victories and defeats.
Boyan’s ancestor is the animal and “bestial” god Beles, so the prophetic singer can hear the voices of birds and animals, and then translate them into human language.
The strings of his harp are living, his fingers are prophetic. Boyan is one of the few who can hear the prophecies of the bird Gamayun, to whom Alkonost brings sweet dreams, who is not afraid of the deadly chants of the Sirin.
By the way, in the old days the Slavs also had a god named Bai or Bayun (this second name of his was reflected in the nickname Kota-Bayun, who knows how to put a person to sleep with songs and fairy tales). Bai was famous for his talkativeness - or rather, eloquence. Magpies, crows and other noisy birds served him.
Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov. Guslyary
It is impossible to definitely indicate the time of appearance of the harp in Eastern Slavs. It is assumed that the ancestor of the gusli was a hunting bow with a stretched bowstring that sounded like a string.
The first mention of the presence of gusli in Rus' dates back to the 6th century. By the 10th century, the time of Vladimir the Red Sun, not a single princely Sunday feast was complete without the playing of the guslar.
The art of playing the gusli was mastered by such epic heroes, like Dobrynya Nikitich, Vasily Buslaev, Sadko, Stavr Godinovich and his wife. Gusli were depicted on icons and frescoes.
More complex helmet-shaped harp had from 11 to 36 strings and was an accessory professional musicians, singer-storytellers.
Boyan, the legendary hymnist from “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” had helmet-shaped harps, who “didn’t let ten falcons descend on a flock of swans, but laid his prophetic fingers on the living strings.”
Simple, wing-shaped harps were found in many peasant houses; lullabies were sung to them, fairy tales were told, people danced and danced in circles. Parents made toy goosenecks for their children. Wing-shaped harps were four-, five- and seven-stringed.
Many winged harps from the 13th century were found in Novgorod.
IN XVII-XVIII centuries at the court of the Russian tsars, at evenings and receptions, they sang and danced in circles to the harp in the same way as young people did in the villages.
V.F. Trutovsky, court guslist at the court of Catherine II, was the first to publish a collection of Russian folk songs for performance accompanied by table-shaped gusli, which originated from helmet-shaped gusli, enclosed in a wooden case, placed on legs.
Efim Chestnyakov
IN peasant environment, especially in the north, epic storytelling developed.
There are two known Zaonezhsky traditions of performing epics, which can be traced back to the 18th century: the first comes from Ilya Elustafyev, the second from Konon Neklyudin.
They gained numerous followers, including women, and both have survived to this day. Storytellers were very popular among the peasants. Entire volosts invited them and listened with bated breath. Epics were performed while walking, sailing on boats, or doing long manual work.
Ryabushkin, Andrey Petrovich. A blind psaltery player singing the old fashioned way. 1887
Oleg Korsunov
Boris Olshansky. Prophetic legend
***
Slavic mythology
Gods
Meaning of BOYAN (BAYAN) in Brief biographical encyclopedia
BOYAN (BAYAN)
Boyan or button accordion is a singer whose name is mentioned several times in The Tale of Igor's Campaign. The very word “boyan” or “bayan” (these two forms have been used indifferently since ancient times; the same person is called either Boyan or Bayan) is well known among all Slavs: Russians, Bulgarians, Serbs, Poles, Czechs. It comes from the Old Slavonic “bati”, which meant, on the one hand: “to bewitch”, “to speak”, on the other - “to tell a fabulous”. Hence the Old Slavonic words: “baalnik”, “baalnitsa”, “magician”, “witch”; "baanie", "banie" - divination, "fable"; "banik", "ban" - bayatel, "incantator". Hence the later Russian forms: “bayan”, “boyan”, “balyan” - talker, baishchik, knowledgeable of fairy tales, fables; Belarusian "bayun" - hunter of chatter, storyteller. Along with the common noun meaning among all Slavs, the word “bayan”, “boyan” is also found as a proper name, as the name of a river, locality or person. So, for example, the Bulgarian Tsar Simeon had one of his sons called Boyan; in Bulgaria there is a locality called Boyanovo. Boyanya Street has long been known in Novgorod; The village of Boyanovka still exists in the Kaluga province. The author of "Zadonshchina", a scholar of the early 15th century, recalls "the prophetic Boyan in the city of Kyiv, a much better man" who "girded glory to the Russian prince" ... Based on actual references to Boyan in the "Tale of Igor's Campaign" the name was given by the first publishers This monument was also included in Russian science as the name of a historical figure, “the most famous Russian poet in antiquity.” At the same time, in the "Pantheon" Russian authors“It is introduced by Karamzin. “We do not know,” he notes, “when Boyan lived, and what was the content of his sweet hymns.” From some places in the Lay, Karamzin concludes that Boyan lived under the Prince of Polotsk Vseslav I (“Pantheon of Russian Authors ", 1801). Later, in the "History of the Russian State", outlining "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", Karamzin considers "heroic tales", songs of Boyanov and many other poets who disappeared in the space of seven or eight centuries as its sources and models for the author." Metropolitan Eugene energetically rebels against any doubts about the historical authenticity of Boyan and includes his name as an ancient Russian singer in his “Dictionary of Secular Russian Writers” (1845). Doubt about the existence of Boyan as a historical figure was expressed by Pushkin. In "Ruslan and Lyudmila" he used the word "accordion" in the common noun sense, in general, "singer"
Brief biographical encyclopedia. 2012
See also interpretations, synonyms, meanings of the word and what BOYAN (BAYAN) is in Russian in dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference books:
- ACCORDION in the Brief Biographical Encyclopedia:
Bayan, see Boyan... - ACCORDION
or Boyan - a mythical singer whose name is mentioned several times in The Tale of Igor's Campaign. The Bayan form has now become popular... - ACCORDION
or Boyan? a mythical singer whose name is mentioned several times in The Tale of Igor's Campaign. The Bayan form has now become popular... - ACCORDION in the Dictionary of Thieves' Slang:
- 1) a liter of vodka, 2) a fingerprinting machine, 3) a saw, 4) an injection syringe... - ACCORDION in the Slang Dictionary of Sevastopol:
Car brand... - ACCORDION in the Dictionary of meanings of Kazakh names:
(male) (Old Turkic) endlessly happy (female) (Old Turkic) strong, powerful, ... - BOYAN in the Directory of Characters and Cult Objects of Greek Mythology:
to the east Slavic mythology epic poet-singer. Known from the “Tale of Igor’s Campaign” (B.’s name is also found in the inscriptions of Sophia of Kyiv and ... - ACCORDION in the Literary Encyclopedia:
see “A Word about the Shelf... - BOYAN
- ACCORDION in the Big Encyclopedic Dictionary:
- BOYAN V Encyclopedic Dictionary Brockhaus and Euphron:
village of Elisavetpol province. and the county, on the river. Kochkara-chay, with an Armenian population in 1995. floors, houses - 274. Through... - BAYAN GAS. in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
weekly newspaper; see Musical... - BOYAN
- ACCORDION in the Modern Encyclopedic Dictionary:
Russian chromatic harmonica. The name is named after the ancient Russian singer-storyteller Bayan (Boyan). Used as a solo and ensemble instrument, part of the folk orchestra... - BOYAN
(Bayan), Russian songwriter of the 11th - 12th centuries, composed songs of glory in honor of the exploits of princes. First mentioned in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”... - ACCORDION in the Encyclopedic Dictionary:
Russian chromatic harmonica. The name is named after the ancient Russian singer-storyteller Bayan (Boyan). Used as a solo and ensemble instrument, part of an orchestra... - ACCORDION in the Encyclopedic Dictionary:
, -a, m. A type of large harmonic with complex system frets II prsh. accordion, oh, oh. Russian button accordion... - BOYAN
BOYAN, archaeol. Neolithic culture (4th millennium BC) in the territory. Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova. Named after the settlement on the lake. ... - ACCORDION in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
BAYAN, one of the most perfect and common types of chromatic. harmonics. Named after the legendary ancient Russian. singer-storyteller Bayan (Boyan). ... - BOYAN in the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedia:
? village of Elisavetpol province. and the county, on the river. Kochkara-chai, with an Armenian population in 1995. floors, houses? 274. … - ACCORDION in the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedia:
? weekly newspaper; see Musical... - ACCORDION in the Complete Accented Paradigm according to Zaliznyak:
baya"n, baya"ny, baya"na, baya"nov, baya"well, baya"us, baya"n, baya"ny, baya"nom, baya"us, baya"not, ... - ACCORDION
-a, m. Reed musical instrument, manual push-button accordion with a full chromatic scale on the right keyboard, bass and ready-made chord accompaniment... - BOYAN in the Popular Explanatory Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Russian Language:
= Ba "yan, -a, m. Legendary ancient Russian singer and poet XI - beginning of XII c., who composed songs of glory in honor of exploits... - ACCORDION in the Popular Explanatory Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Russian Language:
cm. … - ACCORDION
Accordion... - ACCORDION in the Dictionary for solving and composing scanwords:
Big... - ACCORDION in the Dictionary for solving and composing scanwords:
Not simple... - ACCORDION in the Dictionary for solving and composing scanwords:
Why does he need a goat, she already... - ACCORDION in the Dictionary for solving and composing scanwords:
Russian … - ACCORDION in Abramov's Dictionary of Synonyms:
cm. … - BOYAN
accordion, singer, ... - ACCORDION in the Russian Synonyms dictionary:
boyan, harmonica, instrument, singer, poet, ... - ACCORDION in the New Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language by Efremova:
1. m. 1) Legendary ancient Russian singer-storyteller. 2) Poet, performer of songs and tales. 2. m. Large harmonic with a complex system ... - ACCORDION
ba`yan, ... - ACCORDION in Lopatin’s Dictionary of the Russian Language:
Bayan, -a (legendary... - ACCORDION in the Complete Spelling Dictionary of the Russian Language:
button accordion... - ACCORDION in the Spelling Dictionary:
ba`yan, -a (legendary... - ACCORDION in the Spelling Dictionary:
ba`yan, ... - ACCORDION in Ozhegov’s Dictionary of the Russian Language:
a type of large harmonic with a complex system... - BOYAN
archaeological culture of the Neolithic era (4th millennium BC), on the territory of Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova. Name after the lake Boyan (Romania). ... - ACCORDION in Modern explanatory dictionary, TSB:
one of the most perfect and widespread types of chromatic harmony. Named after the legendary ancient Russian singer-storyteller Bayan... - BOYAN in Ushakov’s Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language:
Cm. … - BOYAN in the New Dictionary of the Russian Language by Efremova:
m.; -... - BOYAN in the Large Modern Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language:
m.; = ... - PENEV BOYAN NIKOLOV
Boyan Nikolov (27.4.1882, Shumen, - 25.6.1927, Sofia), Bulgarian literary scholar, critic, corresponding member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (1918). Graduated from Sofia University (1907). Associate Professor (since 1909) ... - BOYAN (NEOLITHIC CULTURE) in big Soviet encyclopedia, TSB:
(Boian), a Neolithic culture widespread in the modern territory of Romania and Bulgaria (4th millennium BC). Named after the settlement on the lake...
Boyan(XI century) - Old Russian poet-singer. B. is named as a “creator of songs” in the beginning of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” (see.
Author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”): “The prophetic boyan, if someone wants to create a song, then his thoughts spread across the tree, like a gray fork along the ground, like a crazy eagle under the clouds...” The author of “The Lay” recalls B. seven times in his work. In addition to “The Lay”, B. is mentioned in “Zadonshchina”. In the interpretation of the name B., from the very beginning of the discovery of the Lay, two main trends emerged: 1) this is the proper name of a specific ancient Russian poet-singer; 2) this is a common noun denoting a singer, poet, storyteller in general. In the first edition of the Lay, in the note. b to p. 2 B. is called “the most famous Russian poet in ancient times.” In the original form of this page it was said that “under Rurik and Svyatoslav his lyre thundered, and there was no way to recognize it”; after the reprint, her thoughts about the time of B.’s life were formulated even more vaguely: “when and under which sovereign the lyre rattled, he cannot be recognized by anything.” A characterization of B. similar to this, but in a highly romanticized form, was given by N. M. Karamzin in the “Pantheon of Russian Authors” (1801): “We do not know when Boyan lived, and what was the content of his sweet hymns; but the desire to preserve the name and memory of the oldest Russian poet forced us to depict him at the beginning of this publication. He listens to the singing nightingale and tries to imitate him on the lyre" ( Karamzin N. M. Op. St. Petersburg, 1848, vol. 1, p. 653). However, already in the notes to the “Tale” in the papers of Catherine II, B.’s name, on the one hand, was perceived as his own (here it was even noted that “from the consequences of this story it is clear that he sang the exploits of Prince Vseslav”), but, on the other hand, was immediately interpreted as a common noun: “This name Boyan comes, as one must think, from the ancient verb bayu, I say: for this reason Boyan is nothing more than a talker, a wordsmith, a vitiator” (see: Dmitriev L. A. The history of the first edition of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” M.; L., 1960, p. 326). The idea of B. as a specific “development” of antiquity and at the same time a generalized image of the poet-singer in general was characteristic of early XIX V. A. Kh. Vostokov, in the notes to his poetic story “Svetlana and Mstislav” in “Lyrical Experiments” (1806), wrote that he, following V. T. Narezhny, believes that Russian poets who “should have been at the court of ancient sovereigns” were called “Bayans”. Vostokov notes that “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” does not speak about this, mentioning only one Bayan, as own name; but is it not possible to assume that the mentioned songwriter is named by superiority common name Bayan, i.e.: a fabulist, a storyteller, a storyteller” (quoted from the ed.: Vostokov A.X. Poems. L., 1935, p. 391 (B-ka of the poet)). B. Pushkin understands the name in the same way in “Ruslan and Lyudmila” - it is both a proper name and a common noun for him: “Everyone has fallen silent, listening to Bayan...”, “And the loud strings of Bayan / Will not talk about him!” ( Pushkin A. S. Full collection Op. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1937, vol. 4, p. 7, 42). Only poetic symbol considered B. Vs. Miller: “Boyan replaces the author of “The Lay” with the muse of epic poets” ( Miller. Look, p. 123-124), “At the beginning of the “Lay” Boyan is introduced as a poetic decoration, and not as historical figure: the name of a prophetic poet, a descendant of a deity, should decorate the author’s work, elevate it in the eyes of readers” (p. 125). According to Miller, “there is not a single feature that could be real characteristic a historical singer, and a Russian one at that, the predecessor of the author of “The Lay”” (p. 121). B. Miller considers the name itself not Russian: “Boyan is a Bulgarian face and got into the Lay from a Bulgarian source” (p. 130). Assumption about Bulgarian origin B.'s name was expressed before Sun. Miller: Yu. Venelin believed that B. “Tales of Igor’s Campaign” was the Bulgarian prince Boyan Vladimirovich (died in 931), who was popularly known as a sorcerer ( Venelin YU. A critical study of the history of the Bulgarians. M., 1849, p. 263-265). However, back in 1844, V. G. Belinsky, in the sixth article about Pushkin, analyzing “Ruslan and Lyudmila,” wrote that Pushkin, considering the word B. “equivalent” to such words as “skald, bard, minstrel, troubadour, minnesinger “, “shared the delusion of all our literati, who, having found in the “Tale of Igor’s bayan” “a prophetic button accordion, a nightingale of the old time...” concluded from this that the Homers of ancient Rus' were called button accordions.” Belinsky argued that “from the meaning of the text of the Lay it is clearly clear that the name Bayan is a proper name, and is by no means a common noun.” At the same time, Belinsky noted that “the Bayan of the Lay is so vague and mysterious that it is impossible to build even witty guesses on it” ( Belinsky IN. G. Collection Op. M., 1955, t. 7, p. 365-366). At present, it can be considered generally accepted that B. is a proper name that belonged to the poet-singer, the predecessor of the author of the Lay. At the same time, there is every reason to assert that we have a whole series of not only guesses, but witty and very convincing hypotheses about B. Doubt about the existence old Russian name B. was the basis of the assumption first expressed and substantiated by A. Veltman in 1842, according to which the name B. is a distorted name of Jan. In the Tale of Bygone Years, the name of Jan Vyshatich is mentioned several times: reporting in 1106 about his death in the 90th year of his life, Nestor writes that he heard many stories from Jan Vyshatich, which he wrote down from his words in his chronicle. Veltman believes that in the original text of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” there was a particle “bo” in front of the name Ian; at some stage of rewriting the text of the “Tale”, the copyist combined this particle with the name “Ian” and it turned out “Boyan”. The possibility of distortion of the name of Yan Vyshatich in B. “Words” was admitted by A. V. Loginov and L. V. Cherepnin ( Loginov A. IN. Historical research Legends about the campaign of the Seversky prince Igor Svyatoslavich against the Polovtsians in 1185 Odessa, 1892, p. 89-91; Cherepnin L. IN.“The Tale of Bygone Years”, its editions and the chronicle collections preceding it. - IZ, 1948, No. 25, p. 328-329). However, there is no reason to see in B.’s name a distorted spelling of some other Old Russian name or to look for this name in other than Russian sources (besides what was indicated, a number of Bulgarian characters with the name “Boyan” were supposed). E.V. Barsov, who sharply opposed the Sun hypothesis. Miller, cited a number of data indicating that the name B. in Ancient Rus' existed (see: Barsov. The Word about Igor's Campaign, vol. 1, p. 338-339). Recent historical and archaeological finds have not only confirmed the existence of the name B. in Ancient Rus', but also indicate its fairly wide distribution. The NIL mentions “Boyanya” street, in the Row Charter of Teshata and Yakim (1261-1291) the name of the servant Boyan is named (Charter of Veliky Novgorod and Pskov. M.; Leningrad, 1949, p. 317). The name “Boyan” is found in three Novgorod birch bark documents (one from the 80s of the 11th century, two from the 12th century) (see: Artsikhovsky A. V., Yanin IN. L. Novgorod letters on birch bark: From excavations 1962-1976. M., 1978). Finally, an inscription (graffito) was discovered on the wall of the Kyiv Sofia, which presumably can be identified directly with B. “Tales of Igor’s Campaign.” This inscription reports the purchase by princess “Vsevolozha” (i.e., the wife of Prince Vsevolod) of the “land of Boyanya” (land that once belonged to some Boyan). S. A. Vysotsky, who discovered the inscription, dates it to the second half of the 12th century. and suggests that this land “once had something to do with Boyan’s “Tales of Igor’s Campaign”” ( Vysotsky WITH. A. Old Russian inscriptions of Sophia of Kyiv, XI-XIV centuries. Kyiv, 1966, issue. 1, p. 71). B. A. Rybakov dates the graffito to the end of the 11th century. and suggests that the recording could have been made in close time to his supposed year of death B. True, the researcher notes that “the text of the graffito itself does not give us the right to identify Boyan the songwriter with Boyan the landowner” ( Rybakov. Russian chroniclers, p. 417). N. Grammatik wrote in 1809 about B. as a poet who lived during the time of Prince Vseslav (d. 1101) in “Discourse on Ancient Russian Literature.” B. Evgeniy (Bolkhovitinov) considered him an Old Russian singer, including him in his “Dictionary of Russian Secular Writers” (1845). “Famous Russian poet” XI - beginning. XII century named B. F. I. Buslaev. He dates the time of B.'s creativity based on the list of names of those princes to whom B. sang his songs of glory. In addition, this list leads Buslaev to the idea that “Boyan’s connection with the princes of Tmutorokan and Chernigov probably deserves some attention” ( Buslaev. Russian poetry, p. 382). Buslaev believes that the text of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” brought to us several passages from B.’s works, quoted by the author of the “Tale”. These are two refrains by B., which have the character of a parable - “Neither much, nor much...” and “It’s hard on your head...”, and five excerpts from B.’s songs: “TiboOlegmechem sedition forge...”, “Then at Olz "Gorislavlichi...", "Already, brethren, a sad time has risen...", "On Nemiz the sheaves are laying down with their heads...", "It is not a storm that the falcons have swept across the wide fields..." E.V. Barsov, who emphasized the close connection of the author of “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign” with the work of B., at the same time believed that the author of “The Lay” “introduced very little of Boyanov’s words into his work” ( Barsov. The Word about Igor's Campaign, vol. 1, p. 308). If the above assumptions about insertions in the “Tale of Igor’s Campaign” from B.’s works meant individual small phrases, then the writer A. L. Nikitin went much further than his predecessors. He believes that in general most of the text of the “Tale” is not that other than a reworking, in relation to the events of Igor’s campaign, of B.’s work, dedicated to Svyatoslav Yaroslavich and his sons and written by B. a hundred years before Igor’s campaign - at the end of 1084 - beginning. 1085 According to Nikitin, the main reason that prompted the author of “The Lay” to turn to B.’s work, which, according to him, “served as a kind of matrix for the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”” ( Nikitin A. L. Test “The Word...”, No. 6, p. 226), “were solar eclipses, preceding the start of both campaigns” (ibid., No. 7, p. 183). According to Nikitin, it turns out that everything that the author of “The Lay” talks about was already in B.’s work: “a depiction of a campaign, perhaps with ominous omens, pictures of a battle with the “filthy steppe inhabitants,” the death of heroes or captivity, followed by grief.” land” and, possibly, an appeal to the princes with a request for help” (ibid., No. 6, p. 226). Nikitin’s hypothesis, thus, turns “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” into a secondary monument of ancient Russian literature. In his constructions there are many obvious stretches, arbitrary interpretations of the text of the Lay, and gross errors.In 1912, A. S. Arkhangelsky, in an encyclopedic article, gave detailed review all the hypotheses about B. that existed at that time, and summarized the results of studying this issue. B.’s connection with the Tmutarakan and Chernigov princes was emphasized by A. S. Orlov ( Orlov A. WITH. A word about Igor's regiment. M., 1923), which attributed B.’s life to the 11th - beginning. XII century and believed that B. was the same princely singer as the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” As an indisputable fact, N. M. Shlyakov wrote about B.’s Tmutarakan origin and his close connection with the Chernigov princes, who to a certain extent tried to recreate B.’s biography. According to his hypothesis, B. was born no later than 1006 and died soon after his death Vseslav (1101). B.'s first work was a song about the single combat between Mstislav and Rededey. According to Shlyakov, “in the chronicle we have traces of Boyanov’s songs, and the chronicler used them as a source for his information” ( Shlyakov. Boyan, s. 495). Having begun his song-writing activity in Tmutarakan, B. then moved to Chernigov. Shlyakov suggests that at one time B. was at the court of Rostislav Vladimirovich (d. 1066), then went into the service of Svyatoslav Yaroslavich (d. 1076), chanting the deeds of him and his family, “closely linking his fate especially with the fate of his eldest son, the energetic Oleg” (ibid., p. 498). M. N. Tikhomirov wrote that B. was a songwriter or court poet of Svyatoslav Yaroslavich and his son Oleg. He notes that all borrowings from B.’s “praiseworthy words” in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” “relate to a specific and relatively narrow period of time. They talk about the stay of the Polotsk prince Vseslav on the Kiev table (1068), about Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, who replaced Vseslav on the Kiev throne (died in 1076), about the death of the “red” Roman Svyatoslavich (1079), about the death of Boris Vyacheslavich (1078). Oleg Svyatoslavich himself is spoken of as a young and brave prince, whose grandson was Igor Svyatoslavich, the hero of the poem. Consequently, Boyan wrote about the young Oleg when he was still “Gorislavich,” i.e., before 1094. From this year, Oleg was already firmly seated on his father’s table and the struggle for Chernigov ended ( Tikhomirov. Boyan and Troyan's land, p. 175-176). M. N. Tikhomirov believes that the author of the “Lay” could have known the works of B., from which he drew information about the events of the 11th century, both in oral transmission and in written form. The “unquestionable” connection between B. and the “house of the Chernigov-Tmutarakan princes” is emphasized by B. A. Rybakov, who devotes a lot of space to B. in his study “Tales of Igor’s Campaign.” Early period B. Rybakov dates the songwriting to the reign of Mstislav the Brave (died in 1036), whose military exploits B. sang. After the death of Mstislav, B., as Rybakov believes, passed to the court of the Kyiv Grand Duke Yaroslav, to whom the Chernigov and Tmutorokan possessions passed Mstislav, who died childless. Then B. returned to Tmutorokan again. Most researchers, relying on B.’s refrain about Vseslav of Polotsk - “Neither a trick, nor a great deal, nor a bird of a great deal will pass the judgment of God,” believe that B. died after the death of Vseslav (1101). B. A. Rybakov believes that this “chorus” does not have a dating meaning: “From these words, firstly, it is not clear that God’s judgment has already overtaken Vseslav, and secondly, it should be taken into account that “predicting” the death of Vseslav it was possible without waiting for the fact of his death" ( Rybakov. Russian chroniclers, p. 414, note. 14). In his opinion, the last “chorus” of B. in “The Lay” “It’s hard for your head except your shoulder, it’s hard for your body except your head” “was probably taken from some kind of solemn ode on the occasion of the return of Oleg with his young wife and his confirmation in father’s and brother’s possessions in Tmutarakan” (p. 414), which happened in 1083. B., writes Rybakov, “was connected with Mstislav, then with Yaroslav the old, then with his son Svyatoslav and Svyatoslav’s sons - Roman and Oleg, the ancestor Olgovichey. Boyan’s gusli sounded even before 1036 and continued to rumble the glory of the princes until 1083, that is, for about half a century” (p. 415). Rybakov associates with the name B. the creation of an epic about Solove Budimirovich, which, according to the assumption of A.I. Lyashchenko, tells the story of the matchmaking of Harald of Norway to Yaroslav’s daughter Elizabeth in the 1040s. ( Rybakov B. A. Ancient Rus': Tales, epics, chronicles. M., 1963, p. 78-85). Unlike most researchers, V. F. Rzhiga objects to the association of B.’s creativity with the Chernigov branch princely family: “In fact, he was a songwriter of a wider scope and deeper historical continuity” ( Riga. A few thoughts, p. 430). By his definition, B. is a singer-poet with a broad political outlook, “not limited by the glorification of any one princely branch” (ibid., p. 431). No less than B.'s personality, researchers were interested in the question of the nature of his poetic creativity. According to Buslaev, B.’s poetry met the requirements folk epic that time. “Boyan,” he wrote, “sang his songs himself, like other folk singers, and accompanied his songs string instrument» ( Buslaev. Russian poetry, p. 394). A folk singer, similar to “the later bandura players, kobza players and guslars, who walked through the villages and market places and holiday games sang folk thoughts to the sounds of a musical instrument,” believed B. A. N. Afanasyev ( Afanasyev A. N. Poetic views of the Slavs on nature. M., 1865, vol. 1, p. 408). E.V. Barsov also believed that B.’s “live and fast” creativity “had the character not of book works, but of a living folk song: it was string creativity” ( Barsov. “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” vol. 1, p. 303). At the same time, however, Barsov writes: “The basis, plan and stylistic devices Boyanov’s creations indicate that his songs, like “The Lay,” for all its internal and deepest connection with living folk songwriting, were significantly different from this latter... It was poetry that rose above folk poetry, suggesting artistic development druzhina historical epic on a heroic basis” (ibid., p. 307). The article by G. N. Pospelov is specifically devoted to the poetics of B.’s creativity. Linking B.’s work with epic traditions, Pospelov emphasizes that “Boyan’s songs and epics are two different stages in the development of Russian heroic epic» ( Pospelov. On the question of style, p. 43). He characterizes the style and genre of this ancient Russian poet-singer as follows: “Boyan was, apparently, the most talented in Kievan Rus the creator of lyric-epic cantilenas as the second stage in the development of the song heroic epic, which had already once emerged from the ritual choir, but had not yet acquired that “epic schematism” that is characteristic of its next, “epic” stage” (p. 43). The connection between B.'s creativity and techniques folk art noted V.F. Rzhiga, who especially emphasized that B. was “not only the famous Kyiv songwriter of the 11th century, but also an outstanding musician of his time” ( Riga. A few thoughts, p. 431). D. S. Likhachev, agreeing with the point of view of I. U. Budovnitsa that B. was a court poet, speaks of the “bravura” nature of his songwriting and notes: “Obviously, Boyan was not truly national poet» ( Likhachev. Historical and political outlook, p. thirty). At the end of the last century, M. G. Khalansky suggested the skaldic nature of B.’s creativity. He noted that the definition of B. “Veles’ grandson” given by the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” “finds its closest parallels in the images of the poetry of the Scandinavian skalds” ( KhalanskyM. South Slavic tales about Prince Mark. Warsaw, 1894, p. 214). This point of view was developed by D. M. Sharypkin. B.'s songwriting in a stage-typological sense is similar to the poetry of the skalds. Songs of praise to the rulers-princes “both of the skalds and Boyan represent a stage intermediate between folklore and literature” ( IIIArypkin. “The Boyan and Khodyna Rivers”, p. 196). B. was either directly “familiar with the Scandinavian skaldic tradition, and, perhaps, studied with the Varangian skalds” (ibid.). Of significant interest, in connection with the skaldic traditions of B.’s work, is the interpretation of one of the “dark” passages of the “Lay”, which in the first edition is conveyed as follows: “The river Boyan and the passages to Svyatoslavl, the pest creator of the old time of Yaroslavl...”. Now most researchers of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” accept the conjecture proposed in 1894 by I. Zabelin, according to which this place should read like this: “The rivers Boyan and Khodyna, Svyatoslavl, the songwriter of the old days of Yaroslavl...”. “Boyan and Khodyna” are the names of two singers Svyatoslav Yaroslavich. Namely, in the traditions of skaldic poetry, “the singers exchanged proverbs in amoebic alternation, improvising in the formulas given by tradition” ( Sharypkin. “The Boyan and Khodyna Rivers”, p. 199). This fully confirms the correctness of I. Zabelin’s reading of this passage in the “Lay” and it becomes clear why an aphorism consisting of only two phrases belongs to two persons: the second singer, during this kind of poetic improvisation-competition, completed what was unsaid by the first performer.
Lit.: VeltmanA. The “bo Yan” mentioned in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” is the elder Yan, mentioned by Nestor. - Moskvityanin, 1842, No. 1, p. 213-215; Buslaev F. I. Russian poetry of the 11th and early 12th centuries. - In the book: Buslaev F. Historical essays on Russian folk literature and art. St. Petersburg, 1861, vol. 1. Russian folk poetry, With. 377-400; Miller Sun. A look at “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” M., 1877; Barsov E. V. The Word about Igor's Regiment as an artistic monument of Kievan druzhina Rus. M., 1887, vol. 1, p. 299-390; Zabelin I. A note about one dark place in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” - Archaeol. Izv. and notes, 1894, No. 10, p. 297-301; Arkhangelsky A. Boyan. - New. enz. dictionary. SPb., (1912), vol. 7, stb. 754-759; PeretzVol. A word about the regiment I will commemorate the feudal Ukraine - Rus' of the 12th century. In Kiïvi, 1926 p. 135-136; Shlyakov N. M. Boyan. - IpoRYAS, L., 1928, vol. 1, book. 2, p. 483-498; Ainalov D. IN. Notes on the text “Tales of Igor’s Campaign.” III. What instrument did Boyan play? - TODRL, 1940, vol. 4, p. 157-158; Pospelov G. N. On the question of the style and genre of Boyan the Prophetic's work. - Moscow State University. Dokl. and message Philol. f-ta. M., 1947, issue. 2, p. 42-45; BudovnicaI.U. Ideological content"Tales about Igor's Campaign." - In the book: Izv. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1950, vol. 7. Ser. ist. and philosopher No. 2, p. 154-156; Likhachev D. S. 1) Historical and political outlook of the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” - In the book: “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”: Sat. research and articles edited by V. P. Adrianova-Peretz. M.; L., 1950, p. 5-52; 2) In defense of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” - Question. lit., 1984, No. 12, p. 80-99; Tikhomirov M. N. Boyan and Troyan's land. - In the book: The Word about Igor’s Campaign: Collection of studies and articles, ed. V. P. Adrianova-Peretz. M.; L., 1950, p. 175-187; Rzhiga V.F. A few thoughts on the question of the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” - IOLYA, 1952, vol. 11, issue. 5, p. 428-438; Adrianova-PeretzV.P.“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” and monuments of Russian literature of the 11th-13th centuries. L., 1968, p. 13-21, 51-52; BorovskyI WOULD. 1) The person of the great Boyan in the memorials of ancient writing. - Radyanske literary studies, 1970, No. 6, p. 49-53; 2) VishyBoyaniz “Tales about the regiment I will burn.” - Ukr. language and lit. at school Kiev, 1981, No. 10, p. 26-31; Rybakov B. A. Russian chroniclers and author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” M., 1972, p. 410-417; SharypkinD.M. 1) “The Rivers Boyan and Khodyna...”: (On the issue of the poetry of the skalds and “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”) - In the book: Scandinavian collection. Tallinn, 1973, vol. 18, p. 195-202; 2) Boyan in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” and the poetry of the skalds. - TODRL, 1976, vol. 31, p. 14-22; Sokol M. T. Biographical note about Boyan. - In the book: Some problems of domestic historiography and source study. Dnepropetrovsk 1976, p. 23-34; Nikitin A. L. 1) Boyan’s legacy in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”: Svyatoslav’s Dream. - In the book: Research and materials on ancient Russian literature: “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” Monuments of literature and art of the XI-XVII centuries. M., 1978, p. 112-133; 2) Test “Word”. - New world, 1984, No. 5, p. 182-206; No. 6, p. 211-226; No. 7, p. 176-208; Robinson M. A., Sazonova L. I. Failed discovery: (“Poems” by Boyan and “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”). - RL, 1985, No. 2, p. 100-112; Dmitriev L. A. Test "Word". - Sov. culture, 1985, 17 IX, p. 6.
All peoples in the world have their own national instruments. For Russians, the button accordion can rightfully be considered such an instrument. It has become especially widespread in the Russian outback, where, perhaps, more than one event, be it a wedding, or any folk festivals, can't do without it.
However, few people know that the ancestor of everyone’s favorite button accordion was the oriental musical instrument “sheng”. The basis for extracting sound, as in the button accordion, was the reed principle. Researchers believe that more than 2000-3000 years ago it appeared and began to spread in China, Burma, Laos and Tibet. Sheng was a body with bamboo tubes on the sides, inside of which there were copper reeds. In Ancient Rus', shen appeared along with the Tatar-Mongol invasion. From here it began to spread throughout Europe.
In creating the button accordion in the form in which we are accustomed to seeing it in different time Many masters had a hand. In 1787, a master from the Czech Republic F. Kirchner decided to create a musical instrument in which sound would appear due to vibrations of a metal plate in an air column, which was pumped by a special bellows chamber. 
Kirchner even designed the first models of his instrument. At the beginning of the 19th century, the German F. Buschman made a mechanism for tuning the organs he served. In the 2nd quarter of the 19th century in Vienna, an Austrian with Armenian roots, K. Demian, taking Bushman’s invention as a basis and modifying it, produced the first prototype of the button accordion. Demian's instrument included 2 independent keyboards, between which there were bellows. The keys on the right keyboard were intended for playing a melody, the keys on the left keyboard produced bass. Similar musical instruments (harmonicas) were brought to Russian Empire in the first half of the 19th century, where they gained great popularity and distribution. In our country, workshops and even entire factories began to quickly be created for the production of all kinds of harmonics.
In 1830, at one of the fairs in the Tula province, master gunsmith I. Sizov bought an outlandish foreign musical instrument - a harmonica. The inquisitive Russian mind could not resist disassembling the instrument and seeing how it worked. Having seen a very simple design, I. Sizov decided to assemble his own version of a musical instrument, which was called the “accordion”.
Tula amateur harmonica player N. Beloborodov decided to create his own instrument with big amount musical possibilities compared to harmony. His dream came true in 1871, when he, together with master P. Chulkov, designed a two-row accordion. 
The accordion became three-row in 1891, thanks to the master from Germany G. Mirwald. 6 years later, P. Chulkov presented to the public and musicians his instrument, which made it possible to obtain ready-made chords with one press of a key. Constantly changing and improving, the accordion gradually became a button accordion.
In 1907 musical figure Orlansky-Titorenko placed an order with master P. Sterligov to produce a complex four-row musical instrument. The instrument was named “accordion” in honor of a storyteller from ancient Russian folklore. The accordion has been improved after 2 decades. P. Sterligov creates an instrument with an elective system located on the left keyboard.
IN modern world the button accordion has become universal musical instrument. A musician, when playing it, can perform both folk songs, as well as classical musical works transcribed onto it.
Boyan, in East Slavic mythology, an epic poet-singer. Known from the “Tale of Igor’s Campaign” (the name Boyan is also found in the inscriptions of Sophia of Kyiv and in the Novgorod chronicler): “Boyan is a prophetic one, if anyone wants to create a song, his thoughts spread across the tree, like a gray fork along the ground, like a sizzling eagle under the clouds.” . Boyan's songs thus reflected the shamanic tradition associated with the idea of the world tree, and the skills of early Slavic poetry, dating back to the common Indo-European poetic language (cf. the German-Scandinavian myth of the Honey of poetry). The epithet Boyan is characteristic - “Veles’s grandson” (see Veles).
In “The Lay” Boyan also appears as a historical singer of the 11th century, who sang about “the strife of the first times.” He sent “ten falcons into a flock of swans,” and the caught swan sang a song, laid “prophetic fingers on the living strings,” and they themselves rumbled glory to the princes.
The author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” told us about this legendary ancient Russian singer and songwriter. When depicting people or describing events, the author of the Lay often resorted to allegory, used symbols and metaphorical language, so that his descriptions are complete for us various riddles. There is a lot of mystery in Boyan’s personality. The epithet “prophetic” takes us back to those times when the singer-poet was considered endowed with special wisdom, secret knowledge and the ability to predict, anticipate, and even cause events with his songs. On the other hand, Boyan is the “nightingale of old times.” This emphasizes the beauty of his songs, perhaps even the sophistication and impeccability of his poetic manner. Probably, Boyan was characterized by a breadth of ideas, a free flight of imagination” and a play of fantasy: “if he wanted to sing a song to someone, then his thoughts spread across the tree, like a gray wolf on the ground, like a gray eagle under the clouds.” We learn that Boyan not only composed and performed his songs, but also played the harp himself, and this playing was just as extraordinary. The author compares it to falconry: information from the site http://site
“Then he let loose ten falcons on a herd of swans: whichever one caught up, she sang the song first... Boyan, brothers, did not let ten falcons loose on a herd of swans, but placed his prophetic fingers on the living strings; They themselves roared glory to the princes.” The gusli seemed to be playing magically under the poet’s fingers! The author of the “Lay” seems to try on the events of his poem for Boyan and comes up with two chants for him, with which he would begin the song about Igor’s campaign: “It was not a storm that carried the falcons across the wide fields - flocks of jackdaws are running to the great Don”; “Horses neigh beyond Sula - glory rings in Kyiv; Trumpets are blowing in Novgorod - banners are standing in Putivl.” When did Boyan live? This can be guessed from the names of the princes, whom, as the author of the Lay testifies, the singer sang.
This is “old Yaroslav,” that is, Yaroslav the Wise (died in 1054); “brave Mstislav, who stabbed Rededya in front of the Kasozh regiments.” These words need comment. Mstislav Vladimirovich, Prince of Chernigov and Tmutarakan (died in 1036), brother of Yaroslav the Wise, became famous for his heroic feat, which was described in the chronicle in 1022: the prince went against the Kasogs (Circassians), and when the regiments converged, the Kasozh prince Rededya proposed to resolve the matter martial arts; Rededya was “great and strong,” and Mstislav began to grow weak, then he turned to the Mother of God for help and immediately gained strength, “he hit Rededya on the ground and, drawing a knife, stabbed Rededya, and went to his land, took all his property and his wife and his children, and laid tribute on the Kasogs.” It was to this prince that Boyan sang the glory. And the third hero mentioned is “Red Roman Svyatoslavich,” Prince of Tmutarakan, grandson of Yaroslav the Wise, killed in 1079. If we add to this that, according to the “Tale of Igor’s Host,” Boyan “remembered the early times of strife,” that is, the beginning of princely strife, then most likely he lived in the middle or second half of the 11th century (at least at this time his poetic creativity declines).
Boyan was later remembered in other works of Ancient Rus', and in the 19th century, but everyone had the same source - “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” Was there really such a singer-poet or did the author of “The Lay” “invent” him, creating poetic image, in which he embodied the real features of the court singers of Kievan Rus, will remain forever a mystery. However, thanks to the “Word”, Boyan entered the consciousness of the people of Ancient Rus' as a great composer and performer of oral songs to the glory of princes.
