"Utushka lugovaya" (, A Little Meadow Duck) is an ancient Russian folk song.
A young woman or maiden, also called utushka lugovaya, spends a night in the wood (or in the meadow), near a willow. Several young men pass by and make several gudocheks â each makes one for himself. The maiden asks the gudocheks not to tinkle, not to wake her (however, in some versions, her father) up.
According to Alexander Tereshchenko, â³Utushka lugovayaâ³ could be performed during traditional Russian marriage celebrations. Pavel Svinyin wrote that the Don Cossacks used the song in matchmaking.
Some researchers consider that image ("Utushka lugovaya"/ "Young duck") as a traditional image of the young woman or bride.
A number of sources mention the song as a plyasovaya or a khorovodnaya. Alexander Potebnja regards it â for its time signature â as an example of the so-called summer or spring songs.
Before 1792, Vasily Pashkevich created for his third opera a theme based on the song. In the following two centuries, many composers (such as P. I. Tchaikovsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Anatoly Lyadov, Alexander Ivanov-Kramskoi) arranged "Utushka lugovaya".
The song appeared in the repertoires of Lidia Ruslanova, Lyudmila Zykina, Alexandra Strelchenko, and other famous Russian folk singers.