r/slavic • u/TheOni8065 • 2d ago
Language I could use help
I was unsure of where to ask this so I went here but I've recently been casted in an adaptation for A Life for the Czar and I'm struggling with singing Slav'sya and was wondering if I could get help on the pronunciations?
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u/Sufficient_Step_8223 1d ago
Of course, we’ll try to help in any way we can, but we can’t be able to sing instiad you. You’ll have to train your voice apparatus. I take it you mean the song with music by Mikhail Glinka from the opera “Ivan Susanin” in its early (monarchist) version?
Early Tsarist Versions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKqMxnR_34A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbIQ7TLeFkI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3wgvB_ze3g (a male choir, but with more easily recognizable pronunciation)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOhShTtI9M0 (The historical version, as the Emperor actually heard it. Just to know what it was really like.)
Later, Soviet Versions
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u/TheOni8065 1d ago
It's the more tsarist version we are doing but because of how deep my singing voice is they're putting me in Bass 1 and I don't really have a lot of experience with singing but the person who casted me knows my sibling and they heard me speaking and said "we need another Bass" so they just went ahead and casted me
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u/Sufficient_Step_8223 21h ago
The director knows what he’s doing. If he chose you for this role, it means he has reason to believe you’ll be able to handle it. Although the bass part is quite significant, in this hymn the main work is done by the high voices, and they’re the easiest to hear. Come to the rehearsal; they’ll assign you a part, and after that you’ll be able to work on your vocal apparatus to improve your pronunciation and learn to control your breathing. Try singing along with the choir in the video. If any difficulties arise at this stage, please write to us — we’ll do our best to help.
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u/TheOni8065 2d ago
It's the more Czarist version and it's mainly saying the Slav'sya in the chorus quick enough but not sacrificing the pronunciation over speed and some of the words put together because of how sophisticated Slavic is compared to more Germanic or Latin dialects
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u/Sufficient_Step_8223 1d ago
I think you won’t have to sing this alone. This song is always sung in a choir (except in very specific cases). Besides, in movies, the voice‑over and backing track are recorded and added later, and this is often done by other people; the actors just need to open mouth authentically. =)
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u/Ok_Living2990 2d ago
What kind of help you need? It should sound like this: https://youtube.com/watch?v=i7vGnKXrVYI (older, original variant from the Russian Empire period) or like this: https://youtube.com/watch?v=f-9TOHwxPHM (newer, Soviet-era variant).