State Duma (Russian Empire) denying responsible government at the executive level. Furthermore, the Tsar had the power to dismiss the Duma and announce new elections whenever he wished; article 87 allowed him to pass temporary (emergency) laws by decrees. All these powers and prerogatives assured that, in practice, the Government of Russia continued to be a non-official absolute monarchy. It was in this context that the first Duma opened four days later, on April 27, 1906. The first Duma opened on 27 April 1906 after the 1905 revolution and was established by Nicholas II in his October Manifesto, with around 500 deputies; most radical
Duma (epic) from Poltava, no melodies are played with the voice during the performance of the duma. Melodic instrumental playing is confined to preludes, interludes and postludes. No transcriptions or recordings of authentic duma performance by members of the Chernihiv tradition have come down to us. Discussion regarding other traditions of duma recitations have shown a significant amount of contamination in the 20th century from non-traditional sources which has rendered many of their recordings atypical and unauthentic according to the traditional style in which the kobzari performed dumy. Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 7 (1965): 247-251. Slavic Review 50 (1991): 566-575. Duma (epic)