Dumka (, plural , ) is a musical term introduced from the Ukrainian language, with cognates in other Slavic languages. The word dumka literally means "thought". Originally, it was the diminutive form of the Ukrainian term duma, pl. dumy, "a Slavic (specifically Ukrainian) epic ballad … generally thoughtful or melancholic in character".Randel: Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music, p. 148. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978 Classical composers drew on the harmonic patterns in the folk music to inform their more formal classical compositions.

The composition of dumky became popular after the publication of an ethnological study and analysis and a number of illustrated lectures made by the Ukrainian composer Mykola Lysenko in 1873 and 1874 in Kyiv and Saint Petersburg. They were illustrated by live performances by the blind kobzar Ostap Veresai, who performed a number of dumky, singing and accompanying himself on the bandura. Lysenko's study was the first to specifically analyse the melodies and the accompaniment played on the bandura, kobza or lira of the epic dumy.

A natural part of the process of transferring the traditional folk form to a formal classical milieu was the appropriation of the dumka form by Slavic composers, most especially by the Czech composer Antonín Dvořák. Thus, in classical music, dumka came to mean "a type of instrumental music involving sudden changes from melancholy to exuberance". Though dumky are generally characterized by a gently plodding, dreamy duple rhythm, many examples are in triple metre, including Dvořák's Slavonic dance (Op. 72 No. 4). His last and best-known piano trio, No. 4 in E minor, Op. 90, has six movements, each of which is a dumka; the work is often referred to by its subtitle, Dumky Trio.

Examples Major examples in the classical repertoire include:

Stanisław Moniuszko

Jontek's aria from the opera Halka (1858) Jadwiga's aria from the opera The Haunted Manor (1865)

Antonín Dvořák

Dumka in D minor (Elegy), Op. 35 (1876) for piano solo String Sextet in A, Op. 48 (1878), mvt. 2: "Dumka: Poco allegretto" String Quartet No. 10 in E-Flat Major, Op. 51 – B. 92 (1878–79): II. Dumka. Andante Con Moto Dumka in C minor, Op. 12a No. 1 (1884) for piano solo Slavonic Dances, Op. 46 (1878) and 72 (1887), (Three of the sixteen) Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53 (1879/80), mvt. 3 – though based on a Furiant, the middle part is a dumka Piano Quintet No. 2 in A, Op. 81 (1887), mvt. 2: "Dumka: Andante con moto" Piano Trio No. 4 in E minor, Op. 90 (1891) — the Dumky-Trio

Leoš Janáček Dumka for violin & piano

Bohuslav Martinů

Dumka (unnumbered), H. 4 (1909 – Polička, Czechoslovakia), for solo piano Dumka No. 1, H. 249 (1936 – Paris, France), for solo piano Dumka No. 2, H. 250 (1936 – Paris, France), for solo piano Dumka No. 3, H. 285bis (1941 – Jamaica, NY, USA), for solo piano Katalog skladeb Bohuslava Martinů

Pyotr Tchaikovsky

Dumka, Op. 59 (Scenes from a Russian village) for solo piano (1886)

Others Anatoly Kos-Anatolsky, Dumka and kolomyika from the opera Sojchyne krylo Mily Balakirev, Dumka in E flat minor (1900) Vasyl Barvinsky, Dumka (1925) Alexander Borodin, Dumka (from the piano quintet nr.2 in A Major, op. 81) Frédéric Chopin, Dumka, Op. 74 No. 19, KK IVb/9, CT. 147 Rebecca Clarke, Dumka, Duo Concertante for Violin and Viola, with Piano (1941) Franz Liszt, Dumka, S 249B Mykola Lysenko, 2nd piano rhapsody (1877) Modest Mussorgsky, Paraska's aria from the opera Sorochynsky fair Sergei Prokofiev, Dumka in A minor (published posthumously) Adam Wronski, Dumka i kolomyjka, Op. 93 (1900) M. Shneider-Trnavsky, Dumka and dance for symphony orchestra (1909) M. Zawadsky, 12 dumky and 42 shumky V. Zaremba Sigismund Zaremba Nikolai Budashkin, Dumka (Träumerei) in the Andante from the 'Concerto for Domra and Orchestra' Op.8 (1943). John Brothers Piano Company, Dumka (2019) Sofia Mavrogenidou, Dumka (several versions : for piano solo, for flute, cello and piano, for cello and piano and for accordion and flute)

Notes

References S. I. Gritsa (Hrytsa) Dumi vidayushcheyesya dostoyaniye ukrainskoy kulturi (Dumy a remarkable product of Ukrainian culture) Musica anticqua Europae orientalis II Bydgosz, 1969.(In Russian) M. Antonowych Dumka and Duma in MGG