Hasanaginica

Hasanaginica, also Asanaginica, (first published as The Mourning Song of the Noble Wife of the Hasan Aga

The ballad was transmitted for years in oral form until it was written and published in 1774 by Italian traveler and ethnographer Alberto Fortis in his book Viaggio in Dalmazia ("Journey to Dalmatia") after his travel through Dalmatia in 1770.^[2] During his travels, he discovered what he called a "Morlach ballad", the Morlachs being a people from the region. Fortis's book was criticised by Croatian writer Ivan Lovrić, who accused Fortis of many factual errors in his response, Notes on 'Travels in Dalmatia' of Abbe Alberto Fortis, which he then attempted to rectify.^[3]

It was translated to German by

It was translated into Russian (Pushkin, 1835, a beginning part, and Akhmatova, 1950s, in full), French (Mérimée, 1827 and Mickiewicz, 1841), and other languages, becoming an integral part of the world literary heritage already in the 18th century. Eventually Hasanaginica has been translated into more than 40 languages. It is considered a part of the shared Serbo-Croatian (Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian) literary heritage.^[6][7]

Setting and plot

Hasanaginica, "The Mourning Song of the Noble Wife of the Hasan Aga" is a ballad about the Muslim family Arapović in Dalmatia.

The poem's language is Serbo-Croatian, termed by Fortis as "Illyrian" (meaning South Slavic). The version published by Fortis was probably copied from an ikavian text and changed in accordance with the style of language spoken in Dubrovnik. It combines mostly jekavian and some ikavian forms, and includes misspellings.^[8] Serbian philologist and linguist Vuk Karadžić (1787–1864), who never actually heard the poem sung by a folk singer, changed Fortis's transcription to create a more Serbian version which would reflect his codification of the language.^[2]

The meter of the ballad is classical South Slavic

• Hasan-aga Arapović – An Ottoman aga and Ottoman Bosnian frontiersman
• Fatima Arapović (née Pintorović) – Hasan-aga's wife
• Pintorović-beg – An Ottoman bey and Fatima's brother

As concluded by Bosnian writer Alija Isaković (1932–1997) in his 1975 monograph, the poem originated in the Imotski frontier.^[9] This area was known as Morlachia during the 15th century.^[10] Hasan-aga held courts in Vrdovo (today's Zagvozd) and Župa (villages on the Biokovo northern slopes), and belonged to the Arapović clan, whose descendants still live in Ljubuški, Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[9]

Legacy

Adaptations

Hasanaginica was the only authentic ballad included into

.

A movie entitled Hasanaginica was made in 1967 starring Milena Dravić and Rade Marković. This was followed in 1983 by a Yugoslav television movie featuring Žarko Laušević and Aleksandra Nikolić.^[11]

In 2000, an opera based on Hasanaginica premiered at the

National Theatre of Sarajevo and was later released on CD. The libretto was written by Nijaz Alispahić and the composer was Asim Horozić.^[12]

Hasanaginica by TV Sarajevo was a TV film with Nada Đurevska in the title role, Josip Pejaković as Hasan Aga and Miralem Zupčević as Beg Pintorović.^{[citation needed]}

In 2006, Hasanaginica premiered at the

Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. Mustafa Nadarević directed and played the lead role while Ljupco Konstantinov composed it.^[13]

In 2009, Hasanaginica premiered at the Serbian National Theatre. It was directed by Ivana Dragutinović Maričić, conducted by Mladen Jagušt, and composed by Rastislav Kambasković.^[14]

References

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Asanaginica

Bosnian Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Hasanaginica

Croatian Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Asanaginica

Serbian Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Хасанагиница

1. ^ Naimark, Norman M.; Case, Holly (2003). Yugoslavia and Its Historians: Understanding the Balkan Wars of the 1990s. Stanford University Press. pp. 44–45.
2. ^
   ISBN 0-8047-3946-3
   .
3. ^ Maggs, Barbara W. (October 1989). "Three Phases of Primitivism in Portraits of Eighteenth-Century Croatia". Slavonic and East European Review. 67 (4): 546–563.
4. ^ ^{a b} Ćurčin 1932, p. 126.
5. JSTOR 4202114
6. ^ "Serbian Studies". North American Society for Serbian Studies. July 9, 1986 – via Google Books.
7. ISBN 9780804780292
   – via Google Books.
8. ISBN 0930042328
   .
9. ^ ^{a b} Isaković 1975, p. 232.
10. ^ Caciur 2015, p. 59.
11. IMDb
12. ^ "Hasanaginica, prva opera na CD-u". Radio Free Europe. 24 January 2006.
13. ^ "Zagreb: jubilarna 50. izvedba 'Hasanaginice'". Culturenet. 14 March 2009.
14. ^ "Dan Narodnog pozorišta". RTS. 22 November 2009.

Sources

• Caciur, Dana (2015). "Considerations regarding the Morlachs migrations from Dalmatia to Istria and the Venetian settlement policy during the 16th century". Balcanica Posnaniensia Acta et Studia. 22 (1): 57–70.
  doi:10.14746/bp.2015.22.5
  .
• Matejka, Ladislav (1986). Serbo-Croatian Oral and Written Verbal Art: Contacts and Conflicts. Edizioni dell'Ateneo.
• Michael Branch; Celia Hawkesworth (1994). The uses of tradition: a comparative enquiry into the nature, uses and functions of oral poetry in the Balkans, the Baltic and Africa. School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London.
  ISBN 978-0-903425-38-4
  .
• Ćurčin, Milan (1932). "Goethe and Serbo-Croat Ballad Poetry". The Slavonic and East European Review. 11 (31). Modern Humanities Research Association and University College London,
  JSTOR 4202745
  .
• Isaković, Alija (1975). Hasanaginica. Svjetlost.
• Burkhart, Dagmar (2006). "Paradoxical communication: The Bosnian oral ballad 'Hasanaginica' as a pretext for literary texts". Russian Literature. 59 (1): 25–39.
  doi:10.1016/j.ruslit.2006.01.002
  .