Hasanaginica, also known as ”The mourning song of the Noble wife of Hasan aga” is a Bosniak Muslim folk ballad created in the period from 1646–49 in Imotski (present day Croatia) at a time, part of the Bosnia eyalet of the Ottoman Empire.
It was passed down in oral form, knee to knee for a period of time before it was written down in 1774, by the Italian traveller Alberto Fortis. After the first translation to Italian, it was translated in several other languages as well.
The most notable translation was into German by Goethe in approximately 1775. (Klaggesang von der edlen Frauen des Asan Aga).
First translation into English appeared in 1798, by W.Scott, and later as well it was translted to Russian by Pushkin, French and other world languages, becoming an integral part of the world literary heritage already in the 18th century.
The ballad relates that following a battle, whilst lying wounded, Hasan-aga summons his wife, Fatima Arapović, who was unwilling to accompany him to the battlefield. Deeply angered and in pain, Hasan-aga sends his wife a message ordering her to leave his castle without their children. Despite pleading with her brother, who brings her the message and the divorce papers, Hasan-aga’s wife is ousted from her home and her brother arranges her to be married to a wealthy kadı. As a last wish before the marriage, she asks her brother for a long veil so that she does not see her children as the wedding procession passes by her old castle. Ultimately, her children see her and call out for her. As she stops to bid them farewell one last time, she dies of sorrow.
Today, Hasanaginica is often performed in theaters across Bosnia and Croatia, as well as operas.
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