A comparative analysis of the theme of separation in Emin Sabitoğlu’s songs “Payız geldi” and “Aman ayrılıq”: Lyrics and musical structure

Abstract

This study compares the treatment of separation in the poetic texts of Emin Sabitoğlu’s songs “Payız gəldi” and “Aman ayrılıq” and examines the musical characteristics of their available score arrangements. Adopting a qualitative research approach, the study draws on the texts by Fikrət Qoca and Nigar Rəfibəyli and two score arrangements published on MuseScore. The poetic texts were examined through thematic analysis, while the scores were analyzed in terms of their melodic, rhythmic, tonal-harmonic, and formal characteristics. In “Payız gəldi,” the principal themes are longing, nature imagery, memories, helplessness, and social support. The poem associated with “Aman ayrılıq,” by contrast, centers on memories of past togetherness, difficulty accepting separation, loss, and hope. The musical analysis identifies a 6/8 meter and verse–chorus structure in the first arrangement, whereas the second, a piano arrangement in 3/4 meter, features contrasting textures across different registers. The endings, based respectively on a G minor chord and an F octave, reveal differences in the final sonorities of the two scores. Direct relationships between poetic lines and musical measures could be examined in passages of “Payız gəldi” where the lyrics appear in the score. The piano arrangement of “Aman ayrılıq,” which contains no lyrics, does not permit an equivalent prosodic analysis. The findings indicate that the two poets approach the shared theme of separation from different narrative perspectives. They also underscore the need to limit musical comparisons to what can be established from the selected arrangements. The study contributes a comparative reading of two distinct narratives of separation—one shaped by nature imagery and social support, the other by memories of togetherness and hope—while distinguishing observations supported by direct lyric–score correspondences from those derived solely from the arrangements. This distinction provides a basis for examining poetic meaning alongside compositional and arranging decisions in Azerbaijani lyrical songs.