The 20th century is an era of great transformations in world culture, in particular music. On the one hand, both world wars and many revolutions influenced the overall turbulent situation in the world.
On the other hand, technological development progressing before our eyes has led to the creation of radically new genres, styles, trends, and methods of musical expression. Despite this, some composers of the 20th century did not abandon traditional classical forms and developed and enriched this type of art. Within the framework of this article we will talk about such innovative composition schools and composers as
- New Vienna School and its representatives
- Composers of the "French Six"
- Avant-garde composers
- Composers of the "French Six"
New Vienna School
One of the first innovators at the beginning of the 20th century was the Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg, who headed the New Vienna School and created the dodecaphone system. His students followed - Alban Berg and Anton Webern - completely abandoned the tonal system, thus creating atonal music, which means the rejection of the tonic (main sound). The exception is the latest works of A. Berg. Atonalist composers mainly composed in an expressionist style, which bears the imprints of the cruel shocks of humanity from the loss of loved ones during war, famine, cold, and poverty. The atonal system has exhausted itself for some time, however, later, throughout the 20th century and to this day, many composers try their hand at using this technique.
"French Six"
Almost simultaneously with Schoenberg’s group, the composers of the “French Six” began to act in France, united by a common worldview. These are A. Honegger, D. Milhaud, F. Poulenc, J. Auric, L. Durey, J. Taillefer. The Six composers wanted to make the art of music accessible to representatives of all segments of the population. However, their music was on par with many classical works. The composers of “Six” in their works promoted the direction of urbanism associated with the growth of cities and high-tech progress of the 20th century. The use of various noise effects in the works (especially in the works of A. Honegger) - whistles, the rhythm of a steam locomotive, etc. - is a kind of tribute to the direction of urbanization.
Avant-garde 50s
In the 50s of the last century, avant-garde composers P. Boulez (France), K. Stockhausen (Germany), L. Nono and L. Berio (Italy) appeared on the scene. For these composers, music turns into a field for experimentation, where more attention is paid to the design of the sound series than to the very content of the musical canvas. A special place in their work is occupied by the serial technique, which originates from the dodecaphone system and is brought to its apogee. Total serialism is created - in this writing technique, seriality is reflected in all elements of the musical whole (rhythm, melody, dynamic shades and etc.). Avant-garde composers are also the founders of electronic, concrete, minimal music and pointillism techniques.
Above is a small list of musical styles, trends, and musical expression, so you can imagine the diversity this interesting, multi-layered and multifaceted 20th century brings.
Shchedrin, Rodion Konstantinovich (December 16, 1932) - one of the largest and most famous composers of the second half of the 20th century.
National artist THE USSR,
laureate of Lenin
and State Prizes
When asked what he dreams of, Rodion Konstantinovich replied: “So that the Lord gives me another life - so many interesting and wonderful things in this world.”
Born on December 16, 1932 in Moscow. Father - Konstantin Mikhailovich Shchedrin, musician-theorist, teacher, musical figure. Mother - Shchedrina Concordia Ivanovna (nee Ivanova). Wife: Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya, prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia, People's Artist of the USSR, Lenin Prize laureate.
Shchedrin is one of the largest and most famous composers of the second half of the 20th century. Possessing a sharp modern musical language, he was able to create works that are accessible wide circles listeners. A deliberate anti-avant-garde attitude towards the listener permeates Shchedrin’s work throughout his life: “great music must have a large audience.” At the same time, he developed Russian themes in his work more widely than any of the composers of his generation: his operas and ballets were written almost exclusively based on the plots of major Russian writers - N. Gogol, A. Chekhov, L. Tolstoy, V. Nabokov, N. Leskova, he is the author of the choral Russian liturgy “The Sealed Angel”, concerts for orchestra “Mischievous Ditties”, “Rings”, “Round Dances”, “Four Russian Songs”, etc.
Rodion Shchedrin, as a future musician and Russian composer, was decisively influenced by his family. His grandfather was an Orthodox priest in the city of Aleksin, Tula province, and the path to the church where he held services was dubbed “Shchedrinka” by parishioners. The composer's father, K. M. Shchedrin, was born in the village of Vorotsy, Tula province, and spent his childhood in Aleksin. He was gifted with rare musical abilities - “tape-recorder” memory (memorized music at once), absolute pitch. His abilities were noticed by actress V.N. Pashennaya, who came to the city, and at her own expense sent the boy to Moscow, where he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory.
R. Shchedrin was surrounded by music from childhood: he heard his father play the violin, an instrumental trio consisting of his father and his brothers. In 1941 he was sent to the Central ten-year music school at the Moscow Conservatory. In fact, he began to study piano privately with M. L. Gekhtman. But the Great Patriotic War began, and many schools in Moscow were closed. In October 1941, the Shchedrin family was evacuated to Kuibyshev, a city that had strictly classified administrative significance. D. Shostakovich was also there, completing his famous Seventh Symphony; young Rodion had a chance to hear it at a dress rehearsal under the direction of S. Samosud. The Bolshoi Theater was also evacuated there. D. Shostakovich and K. Shchedrin worked in the Union of Composers, the first as chairman, the second as executive secretary. Shostakovich carefully helped the Shchedrin family in difficult domestic and other circumstances.
When the opportunity arose to return to Moscow, Rodion was again sent to the Central Music School (1943). But the boy had already formed his own ideas about life: he was not interested in scales in music school, but in real, serious matters. He ran away to the front twice, and the second time he got from Moscow to Kronstadt. After this, the parents did not find anything better than to enroll their son in the Nakhimov Naval School in Leningrad - and sent his documents there.
Meanwhile, an event occurred that ultimately led to the appearance of the composer Rodion Shchedrin. At the end of 1944 - beginning of 1945, a new educational institution— Moscow Choir School (boys). Its creator and first director, the famous choirmaster A. Sveshnikov, invited Father R. Shchedrin there to teach music history and musical theoretical subjects, and he, in turn, asked to accept his son to study. Rodion had absolute pitch, a fairly acceptable voice, and he was finally assigned a music major (December 1944).
At the Choir School, for the boy, who had already seen something, a sphere opened up that he did not suspect. Later, R. Shchedrin recalled: “Singing in the choir captured me, touched some deep inner strings... And my first experiences as a composer (like the experiences of my comrades) were connected with the choir.” (Rodion Shchedrin. Conversation with L. Grigoriev and J. Platek // Music life, 1975, No. 2, p. 6). In the choir class, the entire history of this art was sung: from the masters of the “strict style” of the 16th century Josquin des Pres, Palestrina, Orlando Lasso to Russian sacred music - Chesnokov, Grechaninov, Kastalsky, Rachmaninov.
Music composition was not specifically taught at the school, but the high total musical training allowed students to experiment in musical composition. To encourage their creativity, Sveshnikov gave them the opportunity to immediately perform their compositions. In 1947, a composition competition was held at the Choir School. The jury, headed by A. Khachaturyan, awarded the first prize to R. Shchedrin, and this became his first notable success in this field.
At the Choir School. Sitting (from right to left): I. Kozlovsky, director of the school, A. V. Sveshnikov with the teachers of the school. Far right (standing) is the composer’s father, K. M. Shchedrin. At the piano is the future composer. 1947
Students of the Choir School were given the opportunity to meet with major musicians: D. Shostakovich, A. Khachaturian, I. Kozlovsky, G. Ginzburg, S. Richter, E. Gilels, J. Flier. “In our school there was an intoxicating passion for music, including piano music,” Shchedrin recalled. His piano teacher was the famous teacher G. Dinor, who assigned his students pieces of deliberately high complexity. As a result, upon graduating from college, Rodion had a program worthy of a concert pianist (Bach fugues, virtuoso pieces by Chopin and Liszt, Rachmaninov’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini”), but not done properly. The teacher, thinking about his student’s admission to the Moscow Conservatory, decided to show him to Professor J. Flier. He was not delighted with the performance of the program, but approved of Shchedrin’s compositions and agreed to take him on as his student.
In 1950, Shchedrin entered the Moscow Conservatory simultaneously into two faculties - piano, in the class of Y. Flier, and theoretical composition, in the class of Professor Yu. Shaporin in composition.
Classes with Yakov Vladimirovich Flier, where a “feast of music” reigned, fascinated Shchedrin so much that he was thinking of parting with his specialty as a composer, but the pianist teacher did not advise this. In piano class, the growing musician not only acquired first-class skill as a pianist, but also made significant progress in his general musical tastes and knowledge. Shchedrin trusted his teacher so much that he was the first to show him his new opuses both during his student and college years. later years. According to the composer, Flier's piano withstood the "blows" of all his major works. Shchedrin remained a professional pianist all his life, successfully performing on the concert stage performing his technically difficult works.
In the composition class of Yuri Aleksandrovich Shaporin, what was attractive, first of all, was his human personality - an erudite in Russian literature and poetry, a storyteller and wit, a man who communicated with A. Blok, A. N. Tolstoy, M. Gorky, K. Fedin, A. Benois , K. Petrov-Vodkin. He did not impose any one single path on his students, believing that in music there could and should be any kind of opposites.
Such a fundamental area of Shchedrin’s interests as Russian folklore also developed intensively at the Moscow Conservatory. Fundamentally alien to the ethnographic approach, Shchedrin managed throughout creative path highly original use folklore elements, organically fusing them with the latest composer discoveries in the musical world. And in such synthesis he has no equal in his generation. The compulsory subject for student composers “Folk Art” required participation in folklore expeditions, with independent recordings folk songs to a tape recorder. R. Shchedrin made a trip to the areas Vologda region, which turned out to be extremely rich in ditties (the leader of the expedition recorded over a thousand of them). After all, the ditty not only entertained and developed the ability to instantly improvise, but was a biting feuilleton, a people's newspaper - everything that lived among the people, not fitting into the official ways of expressing opinions. Shchedrin carried his love for ditties throughout his life: he called his First Concert for Orchestra in 1963 “Mischievous Ditties”, and in 1999 he presented a version of it - “Ditties”, a concert for solo piano.
The entire sound environment of folklore turned out to be deeply close to Shchedrin, which he perceived through trips to Aleksin, a city above the Oka River, and through various trips “to the outback,” hearing peasant singing and playing pipes. “For me, folk art is a shepherd’s cry, the monophonic strumming of an accordion player, inspired improvisations of village mourners, tart men’s songs...” (Rodion Shchedrin. Conversation with L. Grigoriev and J. Platek // Musical Life, 1975, No. 2 p. 54).
The first piano concerto, created by Shchedrin during his student days (1954), was, in turn, the work that created Shchedrin. It highlighted everything that was the personality of the author in his youth and that later grew into him. further creativity, including motor skills of rhythm and tartly pointed “Russianisms”. At the conservatory he seemed too “formalistic”. But one of the professors recommended that the Union of Composers include the concert in the program of the next plenum. The author performed it brilliantly and soon received a letter that he, a 4th year student, had been accepted into the Union of Composers (even without an application).
Shchedrin graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1955, with honors, in two specialties - composition and piano. Then, until 1959, he completed postgraduate studies in composition with Yu. Shaporin.
The year 1958 in Shchedrin’s life was described as the most romantic and truly fateful: he married the ballerina Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya, who had already gained fame. The story of their acquaintance was as follows. The composer visited the house of Lily Brik, Mayakovsky's former muse, and her husband, writer and literary critic V. Katanyan, for whose play “They Knew Mayakovsky” he wrote music. One day, as a curiosity, the owners of the house gave him a chance to listen to a tape recording of Plisetskaya singing (!) the music of Prokofiev’s ballet Cinderella. The composer was amazed: the most difficult melodies were reproduced absolutely accurately and in the appropriate keys.
Rodion and Maya first met in person when J. Philip was received in the same house. Shchedrin played a lot of his music, which captivated the audience. He, a rare owner of his own car at that time (purchased with a fee for the film “Height”), had the gallant duty of taking the guests of honor home. Plisetskaya, saying goodbye, asked him to write down the theme from the film “Lights of Footlights” with notes from the record for a ballet number (the number later did not work). They were finally brought together by the ballet “The Little Humpbacked Horse,” which the Bolshoi Theater decided to stage in 1958. Here, 25-year-old Shchedrin first saw Plisetskaya at a rehearsal, where she, for her part, unleashed a “hurricane of Freudian motives” on him. Although Plisetskaya had already gained significant artistic fame, she was under great suspicion in the KGB, and a surveillance vehicle constantly followed Shchedrin's new acquaintance. But no force had the power to separate them. After a heavenly summer in Sortavala (House of Composers' Creativity) on Lake Ladoga, their honeymoon was a trip by Rodion's car from Moscow to Sochi via Tula, Kharkov, Rostov-on-Don and other cities. Due to their unregistered marriage, they were denied access to all hotels, and only a car served as shelter. The marriage of Plisetskaya and Shchedrin was registered in Moscow on October 2, 1958. There were no children in this marriage - such was the great sacrifice of the great ballerina. But the unique “marriage of art” remained for life. All Shchedrin’s ballets are connected with Plisetskaya’s dance - and this is a whole ballet culture.
Upon completion of graduate school in 1959, Shchedrin had in his creative assets the ballet “The Little Humpbacked Horse” (1955), piano works, choirs, and the First Symphony (1958). And these are not only milestones of his biography. “The Little Humpbacked Horse,” in which Plisetskaya danced the Tsar Maiden, became a regular performance for children and is still performed at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater. In 1999, for a production at the Bolshoi Theater, the author made a new version ballet, which turned it into a dazzling Russian extravaganza (artist - B. Messerer). "Humoresque", infecting with Shchedrin's purely cunning "cunning", almost half a century later became a favorite concert encore (also in arrangements for various instruments). Thanks to such plays, at one time the image of Shchedrin even began to take shape as the embodiment of ebullient vital energy, humor, and jokes in music. Shchedrin's song from the music for the film "Height" (1957) - "The Cheerful March of High-Rise Installers" - sounded in this tone and became widely known, firmly entrenched in mass hearing. These ideas about the composer were unexpectedly destroyed by the First Symphony, with its breakthrough into a harsh war tragedy, which caused great displeasure among critics (“we’ve had enough of one Shostakovich”).
The turbulent 60s of the domestic “sixties” have arrived. During this decade, Shchedrin created his most performed work - the ballet "Carmen Suite", turned to opera for the first time ("Not Only Love"), began a series of works in the genre to which he gave a new meaning - concerts for orchestra ("Mischievous Ditties" and "Rings"), composed two large oratorios ("Poetory" and "Lenin in the People's Heart") and his most ambitious work for solo piano - 24 preludes and fugues, and carried out a bold stylistic synthesis in the Second Piano Concerto. At the same time, he worked especially carefully on polyphony, series technique, and combinations of many musical themes. At the same time, he performed as a pianist and taught at the Moscow Conservatory.
The opera “Not Only Love” (1961, 2nd ed. - 1971) was written based on the stories of S. Antonov, with the inclusion of ditty texts in the libretto; dedicated to M. Plisetskaya. “I am writing the collective farm Eugene Onegin,” the author said and compared the main character even with Carmen. In devising the opera for the Bolshoi Theater, he sought to move away from the monumental crowds with banners that were then accepted on this stage into the chamber sphere, with the experiences of ordinary people. But although premiere performance designed by the artist A. Tyshler, and conducted by E. Svetlanov, it was still not possible to change the customs of the theater. However, synchronous productions of “Not Only Love” took place in Perm and Novosibirsk. The adequacy of the concept and implementation of Shchedrin’s first opera was achieved much later - in chamber, studio, and student implementations. An important milestone was its appearance on the new theater stage- Moscow Chamber Musical Theater directed by B. Pokrovsky, as the first performance of this theater (1972).
In Shchedrin’s work, a bright streak of humor and satire, characteristic of him by nature, began: in 1963, the aforementioned “Mischievous Ditties” (First Concert for Orchestra) and “Bureaucratiada” (Resort Cantata) came from his pen. In “Mischievous Ditties,” the author used symphonic means to reproduce the ditty style of the alternate entry of a new participant against the backdrop of continuous harmonica playing. And it was a new musical form with a complex combination of not two or three themes, but about seventy. Although not to the taste of academic orchestral musicians, "Ditties" aroused great delight among the general public, especially in the periphery. From foreign musicians they were played by the American conductor and composer L. Bernstein. The cantata "Bureaucracy", written on the text of "Memo to a Vacationer", full of fresh wit, was a satire on something more than the restrictive order in the boarding house. At the same time it was an encyclopedia modern composition— absorbed techniques that remain new to this day.
The center of the composer's polyphonic work was a huge cycle for piano - 24 preludes and fugues (1963-64 - volume 1, 1964-70 - volume 2). Shchedrin imbued the purely academic genre, established in his time by J. S. Bach and continued by D. Shostakovich, with modern virtuosity and sophisticated writing techniques. He himself became its first performer.
And just as before, the composer crossed out his humorous line with the purely tragic Second Symphony (1965), with echoes of the war (the roar of airplanes, the grinding of tank tracks, the groans of the wounded), with an epigraph from A. Tvardovsky “On the day the war ended” . At the same time, he again introduced a new symphonic form: 25 preludes (author’s subtitle).
In 1966, Shchedrin embarked on an experiment that surpassed everything in Soviet music in its boldness. Having mastered modern dodecaphonic technique, he decided in the Second Piano Concerto (1966) to combine it with its diametric opposite - the music of jazz improvisation. The Union of Composers supported neither one nor the other, and combining them together gave such a glaring contrast that even the most left-wing colleagues began arguing about it. Life has proven the author right: the Second Concerto has become a classic studied in the history of music. The very technique of polystylism (and collage) used there then became the spirit of the times for many domestic authors. Shchedrin also resorted to it later.
Great Hall of the Conservatory. Premiere of the Second Concerto for Piano and Orchestra. Soloist - author. 1966
In 1964-69, Shchedrin taught composition at the Moscow Conservatory. Among his students were O. Galakhov (eventually the chairman of the Moscow Investigative Committee), B. Getselev, and the Bulgarian G. Minchev. The teacher knew how to accurately “diagnose” the students’ works, and taught, among other things, how to skillfully build the dramaturgy of the whole. It is noteworthy that he considered the speed of composition to be an important ability. Shchedrin stopped working at the conservatory, coming into conflict with party leaders in the theoretical and composition department.
Maya Plisetskaya - Carmen Suite (1978)
The ballet "Carmen Suite" (1967) appeared outwardly as a result of the composer's emergency assistance to his wife, when she was fired with an irresistible desire to embody the image of Carmen in the choreography of the Cuban choreographer A. Alonso. In 20 days, Shchedrin created his famous transcription of numbers from J. Bizet's opera "Carmen", using not a symphony orchestra, but strings and 47 percussion instruments, achieving a fresh, modern sound coloration. Plisetskaya danced the ballet about 350 times. “Carmen Suite” still reigns all over the world, being performed on stage, in concert or on the radio almost every day.
Shchedrin's long-standing friendship with the poet A. Voznesensky, who was the idol of Soviet youth in the 1960s, and the kinship of their artistic worldview led to the appearance of "Poetory" - a Concerto for the poet, mixed choir and symphony orchestra based on his texts (1968). The poet himself acted here as a reader. Voznesensky’s innovative, richly alliterated poems (“I am Goya, I am Grief. I am the voice...”) were answered by Shchedrin’s innovatively interpreted orchestra and choir, whose techniques were close to the most left-wing Polish finds. But Shchedrin deepened the style and concept of the work with his own personal musical techniques, especially the introduction of a kind of folk lament based on the famous singer L. Zykina. Discussion in the UK revealed the most contradictory opinions about the work.
He was also in a difficult situation as a public figure. In 1968, he (like K. Simonov and A. Tvardovsky) refused to sign a letter in support of the entry of troops of the Warsaw Pact countries into Czechoslovakia. The Voice of America radio station began regularly broadcasting about this, naming their names. Shchedrin was forced to compromise - in the form of the oratorio “Lenin in the People’s Heart” (1969), just as Shostakovich wrote “Song of the Forests” in his time. But unlike Shostakovich, Shchedrin never joined the CPSU. Avoiding a pompous tone, Shchedrin used everyday prose in his oratorio - the story of a Latvian rifleman, a factory worker, and, in addition, the words of the modern storyteller M. Kryukova. And in musical language he continued “Poetry”. The talented oratorio for the 100th anniversary of V.I. Lenin so improved the official position of the non-party author that for it and the opera “Not Only Love” he was awarded the USSR State Prize (1972). Abroad she had big success in Paris, London, Berlin.
Shchedrin's work in the 1970s and 80s was marked by his inherent constant artistic inventiveness, but did not contain those sharp stylistic turns depending on the changing fashion that became the lot of many composers in the West and in the USSR (leaps from the avant-garde to the “new simplicity” and to attempts to synthesize extremes). Elements of both avant-garde sophistication and folk simplicity have always coexisted in his music, and he constantly synthesized them. Back in the 60s, he formulated a thesis about his path: “In art you must follow your own path. It can be short and long, wide and narrow, but it must be your own” (Soviet Music, 1963, No. 6 , p. 12). In accordance with his own composer's individuality, Shchedrin stood firmly in the center, still invisibly towering above the seething streams of opposing currents.
In 1973, Shchedrin was elected to an important leadership post - chairman of the Union of Composers of the Russian Federation, to which he was blessed by D. Shostakovich, its founder and first chairman. He worked in this capacity until 1990, voluntarily leaving it, after which he was left in the role of honorary chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia. The fact that for so many years a serious composer of innovative orientation stood at the head of a huge Russian composers' organization played an extremely progressive role. His personal assistance to composers, musicologists, and conductors was also great. “For a long time, Shchedrin headed the Union of Composers of Russia, and few people know how many young talents, rejected, persecuted by the authorities, this man helped,” says Vladimir Spivakov about him (Rodion Shchedrin. Self-portrait. Booklet of the music festival for the 70th anniversary of the composer. M ., 2002).
The composer writes dozens of literary works, revealing a strong sense of words. He creates librettos for his stage works: operas " Dead Souls" (later "Lolita"), ballets "The Seagull" (together with V. Leventhal), "Lady with a Dog". Published dozens of articles - about Y. Flier, Y. Shaporin, O. Messiaen, L. Bernstein, A. Sveshnikov, K. Eliasberg, A. Borodin, A. Webern, I. Stravinsky, preface to V. Orlov’s novel “Violist Danilov”.
His collaboration with M. Plisetskaya continues: the ballets “Anna Karenina”, “The Seagull” and “The Lady with the Dog” are dedicated to her. In "Anna Karenina" after L. Tolstoy (1971), only the love affair was selected and the subtitle "Lyrical Scenes" was given - like P. Tchaikovsky in his opera "Eugene Onegin". The thought of Tchaikovsky was also reflected in the musical style of the ballet, right down to the appliqués of his works, written at the same time that Tolstoy was working on this novel. In the ballet “The Seagull” based on A. Chekhov (1979), Shchedrin appeared both as a composer and as a librettist (co-author), and Plisetskaya danced the main character, Nina Zarechnaya, and embodied the symbolic Seagull, and for the first time became the sole choreographer of the performance. The composer, using the orchestra, created a highly expressive “cry of a seagull”, which carried through the entire ballet, giving it increased tragedy. In it, the “shot” fates of the heroes were well guessed, and the stage drama projected the “cry” in time. The musical form of the ballet became innovative - a cycle of 24 preludes with the addition of three interludes and one postlude. When one English film group was preparing a television program about the development of musical art, it filmed “The Seagull” for the part “Music of the Future.”
Anna Karenina - Rodion Shchedrin (film-ballet)
A significant milestone in Shchedrin’s musical and theatrical work was the opera “Dead Souls” based on N. Gogol (1976, staged in 1977), with a libretto by the composer. The author introduced such an innovation into the opera as replacing the violins of the orchestra with a chamber (second) choir, and most importantly, dividing the stage into two parallel scenes, stratifying the opera into two autonomous operas - “folk” and “professional”. This parallel dramaturgy of the performance, first performed at the Bolshoi Theater, formed the core of the semantic concept of the work: the opposition of folk Rus' and the “dead souls” of the landowners. In the “folk opera,” the composer used Russian folk texts and folk voice timbres, but did not quote original melodies. He gave symbolic meaning to the men’s phrases, especially to the question “will he get there or won’t he get there?” At the same time, he saturated the folk elements with the most acute modern dissonances and clusters. "Professional Opera" - the grotesque world of Gogol's landowners - Shchedrin maintained a style similar to the work with vocals in Rossini's operas. If the folk music of Rus' was performed in smooth, drawn-out legato singing, then in the parts of the parodied landowners, bouncing staccato was quite noticeably used. Their arias are sophisticated and extremely difficult to sing: Chichikov’s virtuoso passages, Korobochka’s patter, Sobakevich’s sweeping leaps of melody, etc. The vocal ensembles are impressive - seven, eight, ten and twelve voices. In the guise of two antithetical operas, essences of a higher order appeared: the contrast of the eternal, unchanging and the vain, mortal.
"Dead Souls" staged by the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow on June 7, 1977 was a masterpiece of theatricality. The director was B. Pokrovsky, the stage designer was V. Levental, the choirmaster was V. Minin, the singers participating were A. Voroshilo (Chichikov), L. Avdeeva (Korobochka), V. Piavko (Nozdrev), A. Maslennikov (Selifan) and other. Conductor Yu. Temirkanov conducted 42 rehearsals, after which he transferred the opera to the Kirov (Mariinsky) Theater in Leningrad. The domestic performance conducted by Temirkanov, recorded by Melodiya, was released abroad by BMG and received a critics' award. "He extraordinarily accurately embodied the unique Gogolian intonation in music and at the same time managed to write sharply modern work. This was the music of the country in which we then lived: sharp, angular and incredibly hopeless,” writes A. Voroshilo (Rodion Shchedrin. Self-portrait. Music festival booklet. M., 2002).
Menuhin and Schedrin
1981 was marked by Shchedrin with the creation of masterfully honed choral and piano works: “Stanzas of Eugene Onegin” - six choruses to the verses of A. S. Pushkin from his novel in verse, “The Execution of Pugachev” - a poem for choir a ca-ppella to words from "Stories of Pugachev" by A. S. Pushkin, "Notebook for Youth", 15 pieces for piano. The choral opuses also include "Concertino" of 1982 (without words). The composer is still immersed in Russian literature and Russian themes. , the idea of Russian bells runs through all the works: at the end of the “Strophes of Onegin”, in the episodes of “The Execution of Pugachev”, in No. 11 “Russian Bells” from “Notebook for Youth” and in the finale of “Concertino” - “Russian Bells”.
Shchedrin's plans in 1983-84 were particularly large-scale and serious, which was also associated with dedications to his holy name - J. S. Bach on the 300th anniversary of his birth (1985). In 1983, in his honor, he erected a musical monument in the form of an extra-long work - 2 hours 12 minutes - "Musical Offering" for organ, three flutes, three bassoons and three trombones. This was an innovative concept of musical meditation, where people were not only supposed to listen to music, but also carry out an act of collective worship to the one to whom it was dedicated. In the first version, due to its extreme length, the work went far beyond the usual norms of concert perception. The author himself was convinced of this, speaking as an organist at the premiere in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory (1983): the audience gradually began to leave the hall. In other conditions it was perceived adequately (for example, at the Bach Marathon in Germany). The author made a compact version of “Offering” - an hour and a half long, with a recording of the sound of the work on a disc in the Riga Dome Cathedral (1987). By its title, Shchedrin’s work was deliberately associated with Bach’s “Musical Offering,” which he made to the Prussian king and composer Frederick II in 1747. Shchedrin’s respect for Bach was expressed in many analogies with the great composer and his era: direct quotation of the master’s two organ preludes, a texture like Bach’s preludes, various polyphonic techniques, a clever “shaking form”, Bach’s monogram motif - B-A-C- N. In the spirit of Bach's times, "Offering" is permeated with symbols - like no other work by Shchedrin: the names Bach, Berg and Shchedrin are encrypted in the form of letter notes, even the date of birth and height of the composer, the melody of R. Ale's chorale, used by both Bach and Berg, is quoted, at a certain point in the score it is indicated to “kiss the instrument” (for bassoons and trombones). The organ solos running through the entire work create a reminiscent and prayerful mood, and three wind trios (3x3 are also sacred numbers) paint some pictures of a religious plot. Shchedrin's gigantic musical fresco has no equal among famous musical dedications.
Another composition by Shchedrin for the 300th anniversary of Bach was “Echo Sonata” for solo violin (1984). The real echo here was expressed in the form of a technique of playing the violin, with the separation of his quiet sound “shadow” from the musical “speech” of the violinist, and short appliqués from the famous works of Bach appeared as a symbolic echo - crystals of harmonious classics, peeled off from the sharply dissonant modern musical sonority. The sonata became a repertoire for violinists from different countries - it was performed by U. Hölscher, M. Vengerov, D. Sitkovetsky, S. Stadler and others.
In 1984, Shchedrin wrote "Self-Portrait" for a symphony orchestra. Psychologically, he is diametrically opposed to the established image of Shchedrin as a bearer of exciting energy, a master of humor and jokes. This is the author’s most darkly tragic work, so its premiere at the opening ceremony of the II Moscow International Music Festival (1984) ran counter to the atmosphere of the composer’s holiday. In the title of the play, Shchedrin proceeded from the experience of painting: “I was inspired by the example of painters. Almost all of them painted their portraits: perhaps this reflected the need they realized to know themselves. Sometimes this is how an artist comes to understand a person, life, time” (Yakovlev M. Instead frames for a portrait // Music in the USSR, 1985, April - June, p. 15). In the author's annotation, he talks about “the imitation of the melancholy sounds of a lonely balalaika, the drunken muttering of a bassoon (as if humming an ancient chant of passers-by), ... the endless, flat and sad landscape of my country.” Shchedrin reacted to what was happening around him with all the strings of his soul. 1984 was the extreme point of Soviet stagnation, which seemed insurmountable. A year later, the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee M. Gorbachev came up with the idea of perestroika under the threat of economic and general collapse of the country.
The ballet "Lady with a Dog" created in 1985 story of the same name A. Chekhov was inspired by the 60th anniversary of M. Plisetskaya. The libretto was written by R. Shchedrin and V. Leventhal, M. Plisetskaya was both the choreographer and the performer of the main role - Anna Sergeevna, for whose role the costumes were created by the famous Parisian couturier P. Cardin. The pure lyricism of the plot was realized as a one-act ballet of 45-50 minutes, consisting of five extensive dance duets - pas de deux. The musical structure of the ballet is permeated with a captivating melody, embodying the overflow of the lyrical feelings of the characters, the orchestra is transparent - only a string group with the addition of two oboes, two horns and a celesta, the musical form of the whole is harmonious. This is Shchedrin's most poetic and lyrical ballet work.
Gorbachev's perestroika that came in 1985, which radically changed the life of the entire Soviet intelligentsia, in particular, opened up unprecedented opportunities for contacts with foreign countries. In 1988, a new type of event took place - the Soviet-American festival “Making Music Together”. At first, the Americans wanted to hold a festival of Shchedrin alone, but the USSR Ministry of Culture did not give consent to this. Then an international forum was organized with maximum representation from the USSR. About 300 people arrived in Massachusetts, including A. Schnittke, S. Gubaidulina, A. Petrov, G. Kancheli, B. Tishchenko, V. Laurusas. In the production" Dead souls"Black singers participated in Shchedrin. The worldwide resonance of the festival, both artistic and political, was enormous.
The wave of perestroika led people as active as Shchedrin to come to power. The composer also became an effective politician. In 1989, from the Union of Composers, he was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In addition, having his own political program, he joined the well-known Interregional Group of People's Deputies for Perestroika in the USSR, whose members included academician A. Sakharov, the future first President of Russia B. Yeltsin, the future mayor of Moscow G. Popov, and the philosopher Yu. Afanasyev. In particular, they demanded a multi-party system and alternative elections, which did not suit the party authorities at all. On television one could watch the fight between Shchedrin heading to the podium and Gorbachev not giving him the floor. Shchedrin participated in the rehabilitation in the homeland of M. Rostropovich and G. Vishnevskaya, who were expelled from the country.
With the advent of another significant date - the 1000th anniversary of the adoption of Christianity in Rus' - Shchedrin wrote essays that showed the deep meaning of this topic for him, the grandson of a priest and himself, who was baptized in childhood: “Stichera for the Millennium of the Baptism of Rus'” (1987) and "Sealed Angel" (1988).
The orchestral "Stichera for the Millennium of the Baptism of Rus'" was written on the basis of an ancient source written in hooks - stichera for the holiday Vladimir icon authorship of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, which the composer presented in his interpretation. Shchedrin recreated the world of ancient Russian singing - its quietness, unhurriedness and tranquility, the reflection in it of the Russian flat landscape, which affected the smoothness of the melody, flowing without pauses, and the variability of the sing-alongs. The score indicates the moments when the musicians' voices sing along with their parts. The composer sent the work for the first performance in the USA to Rostropovich, to whom he dedicated it. He regarded such an act as a civic feat and was able to premiere it at the Washington Kennedy Center (1988). The first Russian CD was released at home - with a recording of Shchedrin's "Stichera" and the stichera of Ivan the Terrible.
The Russian liturgy “The Sealed Angel”, or choral music according to N. Leskov on canonical Church Slavonic texts for a mixed choir a cappella with pipe (flute) in 9 parts, was first performed in Moscow, by two choirs - the Moscow Chamber Choir and the Academic Russian Choir under directed by V. Minin. The 60-minute work is a choral masterpiece, having an impact not only musically, but also spiritually and ethically, like a service for parishioners. It was also officially noted: in 1992 it was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation, one of the first in the new Russia.
Leskov’s story “The Sealed Angel” did not serve as a program for Shchedrin’s music; individual elements were taken from it: the title, the text for No. 1 (“Angel of the Lord”), the image of a flute player, the plot’s “circle of purification” - a clean icon, burned with a seal and clean again. At the conductor's request, text from Leskov could be inserted (this is the recording on the CD in the USA). And in relation to the liturgy, the composer did not set out to reproduce its entire sequence, but selected only a number of texts (from the Obikhod, Menaion, Triodion) with rearrangements and abbreviations. Stylistically, the music uses the principles of Russian Znamenny chant—smooth singing, “flatness” of the melody, and absence of pauses. In terms of choral techniques, this is an encyclopedia of Russian choral writing, which, in addition to znamenny type melodics, also included folk subvocality, sonorous chord structure, the color of octavist basses, a treble boy solo, the effect of a “temple echo” and imitation of bell ringing. "The Sealed Angel" became an outstanding choral work of the 20th century and Russian sacred music.
Since the late 1980s, Shchedrin began to receive more and more creative proposals from abroad, responding to them by creating works on his favorite Russian theme, thereby widely distributing it in different parts of the world: his musical “Nina and the 12 Months” was staged in Japan. (1988) and performed "Round Dances" (Fourth Concert for Orchestra, 1989), for the 100th anniversary of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, wrote "Ancient Music of Russian Provincial Circuses" (Third Concert for Orchestra, 1989), composed chamber pieces for Finland and Paris. Regarding “Circus Music,” Shchedrin pointed out (in the annotation): “In this work, I deliberately strive for colorfulness, for musical painting, humor, to the spectacular, external, entertaining.... “Circus” was written during the years of perestroika, during the years of hope and faith in the emancipation and reconstruction of Russian society. Maybe it was the feeling of hope for good changes that charged me with energy and optimism?..” (As a Russian element, he introduced the song “Black Eyes,” which the orchestra members sing along with the game.) “Professionals call him the king of the modern orchestra, meaning "maximum sound expressiveness with maximum concentration and cost savings" - this is how M. Rostropovich speaks of Shchedrin (Rodion Shchedrin. Self-portrait. Music festival booklet, 2002).
The beginning of the 1990s, along with the disruption in the entire social structure of the country - the collapse of the USSR, the formation of a new state - the Russian Federation - brought significant changes in Shchedrin’s life. The weakened economy and serious material problems created such a clear threat to creativity that the composer was forced to go to live in Germany, in Munich (1991-92). He was followed by his wife, M. Plisetskaya. Both retained Russian citizenship. Ties with Western publishers and performers began to strengthen. At the same time, the composer preserved and strengthened the most important properties of its style - the democratic breadth and Russian orientation of the topic. But the choice of musical genres became different: no new ballets appeared (only group music), one opera appeared - “Lolita”, but concerts for soloists with orchestra - for piano, violin, viola, cello, trumpet - flourished unusually as a result of contacts with major musicians peace. The overwhelming majority of the works turned out to be related to the Russian theme, and the importance of the lyrical principle increased. In connection with Shchedrin's anniversaries, large festivals were held in his honor - in his homeland and in many countries around the world. He became a recognized classic of Russian and world music.
The opera "Lolita" based on the novel of the same name by V. Nabokov with a libretto by the composer himself (1994) could not be staged in major world languages due to copyright problems, and then the idea arose of staging it at the Royal Swedish Opera - in Swedish. The premiere took place in Stockholm on December 14, 1994: conductor - M. Rostropovich, Lolita - L. Gustafson, Humbert Humbert - P.-A. Walgren, Quilty - B. Haugan. The atmosphere of scandal that always accompanied this plot by Nabokov was expressed here in public demonstrations for the cancellation of the performance and calls for artists to refuse to participate in it. But the production was a great success, with reviews in the press all over the world.
Although opera has the ability to remove the naturalism of any plot, Shchedrin tried to deepen the moral side of the novel both in the libretto and in the music. In the Prologue, Humbert is already sitting in a prison cell, and a chorus of Judges passes through the entire opera, accusing him, and in contrast, the chorus of Boys in the church sings an enlightening prayer. To defuse the tragic tension of the drama, by contrast, there are inserts of animated duets from Advertising. The high spirit of the opera reigns in the long, slow love scenes of the two main characters, in the sublime musical sound scenes from Humbert's Sin. Shchedrin created bright vocal parts - the young Lolita, with her singing in a high silver register, the aging seducer Quilty with his falsetto or animal cry. The opera ends with a cathartic Epilogue, deepening Nabokov's finale. According to the writer’s son, D. Nabokov, “if my father had seen this, he would have been happy.”
Anxiety and pain for the hardships of Russia brought to life the string music “Russian Photographs”, dedicated to the “Moscow Virtuosi” orchestra conducted by V. Spivakov (1994). These are pictures of Russian life in different time. 1 hour - "The Ancient Town of Aleksin", in memory of my grandfather and childhood, 2 hours - "Cockroaches in Moscow", when the attack really took place, although the music is not graphic, 3 hours - "Stalin-cocktail", with the image of trills drums, groans of victims, echoes of executions, with quotes from the cantata about Stalin by A. Alexandrov and “March of Enthusiasts” by I. Dunaevsky, 4 hours - “Evening Bells”, with a mood of desolation, turmoil in the heart and singing along with the words “Eternal Memory”.
At the center of the period of the 90s are three significant concerts - for cello, violin and viola, dedicated to outstanding contemporary musicians.
The concerto for cello "Sotto voce concerto" (dedicated to M. Rostropovich, 1994) in concept belongs to works with eternal theme- life and death. The subtitle refers to Shchedrin's favorite idea - drama heard through the wall, as well as the special pianissimo performed by Rostropovich. The music depicts vivid tragic episodes, but provides an innovative way to overcome earthly tragedy - as an exit to the extra-human world through the use of recorders with their reed sound, like a Russian pipe.
Concerto for violin and string orchestra “Concerto cantabile” (dedicated to M. Vengerov, 1997) is a neo-romantic work, stylistically not similar to the “early” and “middle” Shchedrin. It is comparable only to the lyrics of his “Lady with a Dog.” “By the word “cantabile” I mean, first of all, the tone of the state of mind, partly the manner of sound. And also interweaving, crossing, merging, agreement, argument, countermovement of the singing lines of the soloist and orchestra” (from the author's annotation). The composer described his concert in the Swiss film about him as “my diary of feelings” by J. Gachot.
"Concerto dolce", a concert for viola accompanied by string orchestra and harp (1997), was prepared both by his father's playing on this instrument, and by Shchedrin's preface to V. Orlov's "Violist Danilov", and, of course, by the unique skill of Yu. Bashmet, to whom the dedication is made. Although the concert is called "Dolce", it does not begin or end with this character. The large dolce episode is located in the center of the form and is especially significant reserved for the reprise. Purely Russian elements are inlaid into the music, designated as “balalaika” and “bells” - both were included in a work for viola for the first time. It is characteristic that Shchedrin ends the concerts “Dolce” and “Cantabile” with an energetic, strong-willed coda.
Chamber works of the mid-90s are marked by Shchedrin's inventions in character musical sound: “Music from Afar” for two recorders and the Second Piano Sonata (1996), “Balalaika” for solo violin without bow (1997), continuing the idea of “Russian tunes” for solo cello (1990).
In 1997, on the occasion of the composer’s 65th birthday, festivals of his music were held in Finland, France, Germany, and in Russia the celebrations took place over 19 days in four cities: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara.
At the Edge of the Millennium (1999), Germany received Shchedrin an honorable offer: to write an orchestral Prelude to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, a landmark work for the entire German culture. For its anniversary, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra commissioned a composition, which became the “Symphonie con-certante” (Third Symphony) “Faces of Russian Fairy Tales” (2000), reflecting the images of “The Samogudka”, “Sister Alyonushka and Brother Ivanushka”, “Princess- frogs" and others. In 1999, Shchedrin created one of his most impressive concerts - the Fifth Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (dedicated to the Finnish pianist O. Mustonen), which, after the premiere in Los Angeles (1999), began a confident path across the world's stages. Thanks to a commission from the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, "Lolita Serenade" from the music of the opera (2001) arose.
The composer's 70th birthday in 2002 was celebrated with a magnificent festival in Moscow and St. Petersburg, which demonstrated the vitality of his work over all the years and the inexhaustible potential in creating new works (among the Russian premieres are "Parabola concertante", "Concert Parable" for cello, string orchestra and timpani, 2001). The premiere of the symphonic etudes for orchestra “Dialogues with Shostakovich” (2002) took place at Carnegie Hall. The world premiere of Shchedrin's opera for the concert stage "The Enchanted Wanderer" based on the story by N. Leskov took place at Lincoln Center in New York (December 19, 2002): New York Philharmonic orchestra, chorus, singers - A. Anger, L. Paasikivi, E . Akimov, conductor L. Maazel.
“I am a Russian person, all my roots are here. Even if I were somewhere on Tierra del Fuego, I would remain so,” Shchedrin says about himself (R. Shchedrin. Someone planned to re-educate the Russians... Conversation with S. Biryukov. // Labor, 12/22/95). With great ingenuity, he knew how and knows how to introduce Russian elements into his musical language, reproducing stichera, prayers, ditties, shepherd's tunes, bell ringing, mourners' voices, circus music, the strumming of a balalaika, gussel picking, gypsy song, applications from Tchaikovsky, etc. At the same time, the whole aura of his compositions is typically modern: the sharpness of dissonant sound combinations, the play with the spaces of the musical stage, the technique of collage, extremely diverse articulation and innovative ways of performing on all instruments.
Shchedrin's music is charged with that sunny vitality that the art of the 20th century largely lacked in people. That is why the human response throughout the world to his “musical offering” is so great. Having followed his own path all his life, he took a stable position at the very center of musical culture, and, in the words of R. W. Emerson, “he is the hero who stands motionless in the center.”
COMPOSERS: Rodion Shchedrin (Video)
The creative merits of R. K. Shchedrin were awarded numerous honorary titles and prizes: People's Artist of the USSR (1981), Lenin Prize (1984), State Prize of the USSR (1972), State Prize of Russia (1992), Order of Merit for the Fatherland III degrees (2002). Winner of the D. D. Shostakovich Prize (Russia, 1992), Crystal Award of the World Economic Forum (Davos, 1995), honorary professor of the Moscow Conservatory (1997), “Composer of the Year” of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (2002).
Corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts (1976), honorary member of the F. Liszt Society (USA, 1979), honorary member of the Academy of Fine Arts of the GDR (1982), honorary member of the International Music Council (1985), member of the Berlin Academy of Arts (1989).
Books are dedicated to him: I. Likhachev. Musical Theater of Rodion Shchedrin (M., 1977); V. Komissinsky. On the dramatic principles of R. Shchedrin (Moscow, 1978); M. Tarakanov. The Work of Rodion Shchedrin (M., 1980); H. Gerlach. Zum Schaffen von Rodion Schtschedrin (Berlin, 1982); Yu. Paisov. Choir in the works of Rodion Shchedrin (M., 1992); V. Kholopova. Path through the center. Composer Rodion Shchedrin (M., 2000); she is also in the German version - V. Cholopova. Der Weg im Zentrum (Mainz, Schott, 2002) and others. In 2002, a book by the composer himself was published: R. Shchedrin. Monologues of different years (Moscow, 2002).
6. (1872 - 1915)
Alexander Nikolaevich Scriabin is a Russian composer and pianist, one of the brightest personalities of Russian and world musical culture. Scriabin's original and deeply poetic creativity stood out for its innovation even against the backdrop of the birth of many new trends in art associated with changes in public life at the turn of the 20th century.
Born in Moscow, his mother died early, his father could not pay attention to his son, as he served as ambassador to Persia. Scriabin was raised by his aunt and grandfather, and showed musical talent from childhood. At first I studied at cadet corps, took private piano lessons, after graduating from the corps he entered the Moscow Conservatory, his classmate was S.V. Rachmaninov. After graduating from the conservatory, Scriabin devoted himself entirely to music - as a concert pianist-composer he toured in Europe and Russia, spending most of his time abroad.
Peak composer's creativity Scriabin became the years 1903-1908, when the Third Symphony ("Divine Poem"), the symphonic "Poem of Ecstasy", "Tragic" and "Satanic" piano poems, 4 and 5 sonatas and other works were released. "Poem of Ecstasy", consisting of several theme-images, concentrated Sryabin's creative ideas and is his brilliant masterpiece. It harmoniously combines the composer's love for the power of a large orchestra and the lyrical, airy sound of solo instruments. The colossal vital energy, fiery passion, and strong-willed power embodied in the “Poem of Ecstasy” makes an irresistible impression on the listener and retains the power of its impact to this day.
Another masterpiece of Scriabin is “Prometheus” (“Poem of Fire”), in which the author completely updated his harmonic language, departing from the traditional tonal system, and for the first time in history this work was supposed to be accompanied by color music, but the premiere, for technical reasons, was held without lighting effects.
The last unfinished “Mystery” was the plan of Scriabin, a dreamer, romantic, philosopher, to appeal to all of humanity and inspire it to create a new fantastic world order, the union of the Universal Spirit with Matter.
Quote from A.N. Scriabin: “I’m going to tell them (people) - so that they... do not expect anything from life except what they can create for themselves... I’m going to tell them that there is nothing to grieve about, that there is no loss So that they are not afraid of despair, which alone can give rise to real triumph. Strong and powerful is the one who has experienced despair and defeated it."
Quote about A.N. Scriabin: “Scriabin’s work was his time, expressed in sounds. But when the temporary, transient finds its expression in the work of a great artist, it acquires permanent meaning and becomes enduring.” G. V. Plekhanov
A.N. Scriabin "Prometheus"
7. (1873 - 1943)
Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov is the world's largest composer of the early 20th century, a talented pianist and conductor. The creative image of Rachmaninoff the composer is often defined by the epithet “the most Russian composer,” emphasizing in this brief formulation his merits in uniting the musical traditions of the Moscow and St. Petersburg schools of composition and in creating his own unique style, which stands out in the world musical culture.
Born in the Novgorod province, at the age of four he began studying music under the guidance of his mother. He studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, after 3 years of study he transferred to the Moscow Conservatory and graduated with a large gold medal. He quickly became known as a conductor and pianist, and composed music. The disastrous premiere of the innovative First Symphony (1897) in St. Petersburg caused a creative composer's crisis, from which Rachmaninov emerged in the early 1900s with a formed style that united Russian church song, leaving European romanticism, modern impressionism and neoclassicism - and all this is full of complex symbolism. During this creative period, his best works were born, including the 2nd and 3rd piano concertos, the Second Symphony and his most favorite work - the poem "Bells" for choir, soloists and orchestra.
In 1917, he was forced to leave our country and settle in the USA. For almost ten years after leaving, he did not write anything, but toured a lot in America and Europe and was recognized as one of greatest pianists era and the greatest conductor. For all his hectic activity, Rachmaninov remained a vulnerable and insecure person, striving for solitude and even loneliness, avoiding the annoying attention of the public. He sincerely loved and missed his homeland, wondering if he had made a mistake by leaving it. He was constantly interested in all the events taking place in Russia, read books, newspapers and magazines, and helped financially. His last works - Symphony No. 3 (1937) and "Symphonic Dances" (1940) were the result of his creative path, incorporating all the best of his unique style and a mournful feeling of irreparable loss and longing for his homeland.
Quote from S.V. Rachmaninov:
“I feel like a ghost wandering alone in a world that is alien to me.”
"The most high quality All art is its sincerity."
"Great composers have always and first of all paid attention to melody as the leading principle in music. Melody is music, the main basis of all music... Melodic ingenuity, in in the highest sense this word is the main life goal of the composer.... For this reason, the great composers of the past showed so much interest in the folk melodies of their countries."
Quote about S.V. Rachmaninov:
“Rachmaninoff was created from steel and gold: Steel is in his hands, gold is in his heart. I can’t think about him without tears. I not only admired the great artist, But I loved the person in him.” I. Hoffman
"Rachmaninov's music is the Ocean. Its waves - musical - begin so far beyond the horizon, and lift you so high and lower you so slowly... that you feel this Power and Breath." A. Konchalovsky
Interesting fact: during the Great Patriotic War Rachmaninov gave several charity concerts, the money collected from which was sent to the Red Army Fund to fight the Nazi occupiers.
S.V. Rachmaninov. Piano Concerto No. 2
8. (1882-1971) 
Igor Fedorovich Stravinsky is one of the most influential world composers of the 20th century, a leader of neoclassicism. Stravinsky became a "mirror" musical era, his work reflects a multiplicity of styles, constantly intersecting and difficult to classify. He freely combines genres, forms, styles, choosing them from centuries of musical history and subjecting them to his own rules.
Born near St. Petersburg, he studied at the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University, independently studied musical disciplines, took private lessons from N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, this was Stravinsky’s only composer school, thanks to which he mastered compositional technique to perfection. He began composing professionally relatively late, but his rise was rapid - a series of three ballets: “The Firebird” (1910), “Petrushka” (1911) and “The Rite of Spring” (1913) immediately brought him to the ranks of composers of the first magnitude.
In 1914 he left Russia, as it turned out, almost forever (in 1962 there were tours in the USSR). , forced to change several countries - Russia, Switzerland, France, and ended up living in the USA. His work is divided into three periods - “Russian”, “neoclassical”, American “mass production”, the periods are divided not by the time of his life in different countries, but according to the author's "handwriting".
Stravinsky was a very highly educated, sociable person, with a wonderful sense of humor. His circle of acquaintances and correspondents included musicians, poets, artists, scientists, businessmen, and statesmen.
Stravinsky's last highest achievement - "Requiem" (Funeral Hymns) (1966) absorbed and combined the previous artistic experience composer, becoming the true apotheosis of the master’s creativity.
One unique feature stands out in Stavinsky’s work - “unrepeatability”, it was not without reason that he was called “the composer of a thousand and one styles”, constant change of genre, style, plot direction - each of his works is unique, but he constantly returned to designs in which Russian origin is visible, audible Russian roots.
Quote from I.F. Stravinsky: “I have been speaking Russian all my life, I have a Russian syllable. Maybe this is not immediately visible in my music, but it is inherent in it, it is in its hidden nature.”
Quote about I.F. Stravinsky: “Stravinsky is a truly Russian composer... The Russian spirit is indestructible in the heart of this truly great, multifaceted talent, born of the Russian land and closely connected with it...” D. Shostakovich
Interesting fact (fable):
Once in New York, Stravinsky took a taxi and was surprised to read his last name on the sign.
-Are you a relative of the composer? - he asked the driver.
- Is there a composer with such a surname? - the driver was surprised. - Hear it for the first time. However, Stravinsky is the name of the taxi owner. I have nothing to do with music - my last name is Rossini...
I.F. Stravinsky. Suite "Firebird"
9. (1891—1953)
Sergei Sergeevich Prokofiev is one of the largest Russian composers of the 20th century, pianist, and conductor.
Born in the Donetsk region, he became involved in music from childhood. Prokofiev can be considered one of the few (if not the only) Russian musical “prodigies”, from the age of 5 he was engaged in composing, at the age of 9 he wrote two operas (of course, these works are still immature, but they show a desire to create), at the age of 13 he passed the exams at St. Petersburg Conservatory, among his teachers was. The beginning of his professional career caused a storm of criticism and misunderstanding of his individual, fundamentally anti-romantic and extremely modernist style; the paradox is that, while destroying academic canons, the structure of his compositions remained true and subsequently became a restraining force of modernist all-denying skepticism. From the very beginning of his career, Prokofiev performed and toured a lot. In 1918, he went on an international tour, including visiting the USSR, and finally returned to his homeland in 1936.
The country has changed and Prokofiev’s “free” creativity was forced to give in to the realities of new demands. Prokofiev's talent blossomed with renewed vigor - he wrote operas, ballets, music for films - sharp, strong-willed, extremely precise music with new images and ideas, laid the foundation for Soviet classical music and opera. In 1948, three tragic events occurred almost simultaneously: his first Spanish wife was arrested on suspicion of espionage and exiled to camps; a Resolution of the Poliburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was issued in which Prokofiev, Shostakovich and others were attacked and accused of “formalism” and the harm of their music; There was a sharp deterioration in the composer's health; he retired to his dacha and practically never left it, but continued to compose.
One of the brightest works Soviet period became the operas "War and Peace", "The Tale of a Real Man"; the ballets “Romeo and Juliet” and “Cinderella”, which have become a new standard of world ballet music; "Guardian of the world"; music for the films "Alexander Nevsky" and "Ivan the Terrible"; symphonies No. 5,6,7; piano works.
Prokofiev's work is striking in its versatility and breadth of themes; the originality of his musical thinking, freshness and originality constituted an entire era in the world musical culture of the 20th century and had a powerful influence on many Soviet and foreign composers.
Quote from S.S. Prokofiev:
“Can an artist stand aside from life?.. I adhere to the conviction that a composer, like a poet, sculptor, painter, is called upon to serve man and the people... He, first of all, is obliged to be a citizen in his art, to glorify human life and lead people to a bright future..."
"I am a manifestation of life, which gives me the strength to resist everything unspiritual"
Quote about S.S. Prokofiev: "... all facets of his music are beautiful. But there is one completely unusual thing. Apparently, we all have some failures, doubts, just a bad mood. And in such moments, even if I don’t play or listen to Prokofiev, but just think about him, I receive an incredible charge of energy, I feel a great desire to live and act.” E. Kissin
Interesting fact: Prokofiev loved chess very much, and enriched the game with his ideas and achievements, including the “nine” chess he invented - a 24x24 board with nine sets of pieces arranged on it.
S.S. Prokofiev. Concerto No. 3 for piano and orchestra
10. Dmitry Dmitrievich SHOSTAKOVICH (1906 - 1975)
Dmitry Dmitrievich Shostakovich is one of the most important and performed composers in the world, his influence on modern classical music is immeasurable. His creations are true expressions of the inner human drama and chronicle of the difficult events of the 20th century, where the deeply personal is intertwined with the tragedy of man and humanity, with the fate of his native country.
Born in St. Petersburg, the first music lessons received from his mother, graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory, upon entering which its rector Alexander Glazunov compared him to Mozart - so he amazed everyone with his beautiful musical memory, a keen ear and a gift for composition. Already in the early 20s, by the end of the conservatory, Shostakovich had baggage own works and became one of the best composers in the country. World fame came to Shostakovich after his victory in 1927.
Until a certain period, namely before the production of the opera "Lady Macbeth" Mtsensk district“, Shostakovich worked as a free artist - an “avant-garde”, experimenting with styles and genres. The harsh demolition of this opera, organized in 1936, and the repressions of 1937 marked the beginning of the subsequent constant internal struggle Shostakovich for his desire to express his views by his own means in the conditions of state imposition of trends in art. In his life, politics and creativity are very closely intertwined, he was praised by the authorities and persecuted by them, held high positions and was removed from them, he and his relatives were awarded and were on the verge of arrest.
A gentle, intelligent, delicate person, he found his form of expressing creative principles in symphonies, where he could speak the truth about time as openly as possible. Of all Shostakovich’s extensive creativity in all genres, it is the symphonies (15 works) that occupy the central place; the most dramatically intense are the 5, 7, 8, 10, 15 symphonies, which became the pinnacle of Soviet symphonic music. A completely different Shostakovich reveals himself in chamber music.
Despite the fact that Shostakovich himself was a “home” composer and practically never traveled abroad, his music, humanistic in essence and truly artistic in form, quickly and widely spread throughout the world and was performed by the best conductors. The magnitude of Shostakovich's talent is so immense that full comprehension of this unique phenomenon of world art is still ahead.
Quote from D.D. Shostakovich: “True music is capable of expressing only humane feelings, only advanced humane ideas.”
D. Shostakovich. Symphony No. 7 "Leningrad"
D. Shostakovich. Waltz No. 2
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The melodious singing of birds, the quiet whisper of trees and the roar of mountain streams have accompanied the human race since the beginning of time. People grew up in the harmony of natural music and over time began to play music, imitating nature. The baton of creating musical works in the 18th century was taken over and achieved unprecedented heights in creating musical masterpieces.
The first began to appear with the development of the Russian school of composition at the beginning of the 18th century. When describing this period, there is no need to talk about one’s own composer’s achievements, since for the most part Russian composers imitated and copied the achievements of Western culture. Thus began the first stage in the formation of a national composer tradition. A representative of this period was Bortnyansky, who copied the work of Vivaldi in his works.
In the first half of the 19th century, Glinka made an invaluable contribution to the development of the Russian school of composition, for which he is considered the first great Russian composer who managed to introduce musical works Russian national tradition. Russian melodies and intonations are skillfully combined in his brilliant works with modern compositional trends in Europe at that time. The biography of the Russian composer deserves to be immortalized for centuries and studied by all generations of the Russian people.
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the traditional Russian school of composers was represented by Rachmaninov, Stravinsky and many others. They picked up the Russian tradition and, as befits a new generation, made their own amendments to the art of music. Now Russian melodies were no longer expressed so clearly in the works, but their spirit was still clearly visible in the compositions.
At the time, symphonic music was influenced by many objective factors. There was a tendency towards more complexity musical compositions with simultaneous absorption cultural traditions other nationalities. Famous representatives of this era are Shchedrin, Denisov and Gavrilin.
Russian composers have enriched the country's cultural treasury, giving us many brilliant musical works. The whole world listens in fascination to the compositions of our compatriots to this day. These works and those who wrote such masterpieces are destined immortal life in the hearts of people.
Alexander Varlamov is a famous composer who created about 200 works during his 47 years of life.
He directed all his creative energies to writing romances and songs that fully reflected the soul of the Russian people.
In his works, based on the poems of Russian classics, he expresses the rebellious spirit, which is placed in the lines of poetic poems.
Childhood
Alexander Egorovich was born in Moscow in November 15 (27), 1801. His father was a minor official, and his origins went back to the Moldavian nobles. Already in his youth he showed interest in the art of music. He could play the violin and guitar by ear, without knowing notation.
Gurilev Alexander is a great Russian musician, whose lyrical romances have endured two centuries.
The music that flowed in his veins and was reflected on paper still amazes with its sincerity and sensuality. Vocal works written on the basis of poems by great Russian poets express the national spirit and rich soul of the composer.
Childhood
The boy was born in Moscow in the family of a serf musician in 1803 on August 22 (September 3). Therefore, his childhood and adolescence passed in difficult conditions of a hard life. Alexander's father served as head of the orchestra of Count V. Orlov. So the love for music arose in the soul of a small child.
When he was seventh year old, his father became fully involved in his son’s musical education.
Cesar Cui is a gifted composer who created his first piece of music as a teenager.
In addition to the fact that he shone in the cultural sphere, he made a significant contribution to military affairs. He left his mark in both areas.
Childhood
The child was born in 1835 on January 6 in the territory of modern Vilnius. His father was French, he remained in Russia after in 1812 the remnants of Napoleonic troops, in which he was listed, did not return to their homeland.
Alexander Borodin is a talented person. He is definitely talented in everything, and left a deep mark on Russian culture of the 19th century.
Its prints can be found in completely different areas. Alexander participated in the scientific, political, pedagogical and cultural activities of the country. However, the whole world knows this man as a great composer.
early years
Alexander was born on November 12, 1833. His father was Prince Gedianov. The boy was an illegitimate child. Therefore, he was recorded under the name of the serf serving in their house - Borodin.
When the child was 8 years old, his father died, having previously given him his freedom. Alexander grew up in a luxurious house donated by Gedianov.
Anton Grigorievich Rubinstein is a personality of global scale. Composer, conductor, teacher, pianist, public figure.
His amazing energy forced him to create, do charity work, and devote himself to musical and educational work.
Childhood
On November 16 (28), 1829, a baby who was named Anton saw the world. The event took place in a wealthy Jewish family in the village of Vykhvatinets, Podolsk province (now the Dnieper Moldavian Republic). When the child was three years old, the Rubinsteins came to Moscow.
The boy began to show interest in music early. He listened carefully when his mother played music and hummed the tunes he liked.
Alexander Dargomyzhsky had a huge influence on the development of Russian musical art. Sitting down at the piano, this man was completely transformed. He delighted everyone with his passion for music and easy playing, although Everyday life he didn't produce vivid impression on people.
Music is precisely the area where he revealed his talent and then gave the world great works.
Childhood
Alexander was born in the village of Troitskaya in 1813 on 2/14.02. His family was large, besides him there were five more children. Little Sasha did not speak until he was five years old. His voice was late formed. Throughout his life, he remained tall with a slight hoarseness, which was not considered a disadvantage, but helped him touch the hearts of listeners while singing.
Sergei Taneyev is a little-known classic of Russian music. Once upon a time his name was well known among the educated public in all parts of the vast Russian Empire. Today only music historians and students of the few music schools and colleges named in his honor know about him.
The early years of Sergei Taneyev
Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev was born in provincial town November 13, 1856. His father Ivan Ilyich belonged to the ancient noble family, which traced its history back to the time of Ivan the Great. Since childhood, Sergei’s parents taught him to play the piano, as was the custom in many noble families. When the boy was ten years old, his parents moved to Moscow and sent their son to a newly opened educational institution - a conservatory.
Childhood and youth
The future composer was born in small town Yelets (now Lipetsk region) May 28, 1913 in a merchant family. Tikhon was the youngest of ten children. Very early, the boy showed a talent for music. At the age of nine he began playing the piano. When Tikhon was eleven, he had a new teacher - the capital's pianist Vladimir Agarkov.
After Agarkov left Yelets, Anna Vargunina began training the young talent. At this time, Khrennikov began writing music. At the age of fourteen he went to Moscow to show his first works to Agarkov. The teacher praised the gifted young man, but advised him to graduate from the nine-year school hometown and only after that think about a career in music.
A.P. Borodin knows how outstanding composer, author of the opera “Prince Igor”, the symphony “Bogatyrskaya” and other musical works.
He is much less known as a scientist who made an invaluable contribution to science in the field of organic chemistry.
Origin. early years
A.P. Borodin was the illegitimate son of the 62-year-old Georgian prince L.S. Genevanishvili and A.K. Antonova. He was born on October 31 (11/12), 1833.
He was recorded as the son of the prince's serf servants - the spouses Porfiry Ionovich and Tatyana Grigorievna Borodin. Thus, for eight years the boy was listed in his father’s house as a serf. But before his death (1840), the prince gave his son his manumission, bought him and his mother Avdotya Konstantinovna Antonova a four-story house, having previously married her to the military doctor Kleineke.
The boy, in order to avoid unnecessary rumors, was presented as Avdotya Konstantinovna’s nephew. Since Alexander’s background did not allow him to study at the gymnasium, he studied at home all the subjects of the gymnasium course, in addition to German and French, receiving an excellent education at home.
The 20th century was quite fruitful for music. Music underwent various changes and was influenced by many events that happened at that time. Wars and revolutions had a significant impact on musical works. In addition, another important factor was the emergence of cinema. In this regard, many Soviet composers of the 20th century took up writing music for various films and achieved excellent results in this area. Many Soviet composers of the 20th century became real professionals in the field of writing music for films. True, most of them have not yet passed the sufficient test of time to be classified as “classical music”. At this time, the Soviet composer M. Tariverdiev was working. The composer wrote musical accompaniment for such films as, for example, “The Deer King”, “Love”, “The Irony of Fate”. Doga was working at the same time. E.D. Doga is a Moldovan Soviet composer who wrote music for many famous films. Among them: “The Camp Goes to Heaven”, “Boulevard Romance”, etc. However, composers of the 20th century are by no means only composers famous for film music. The names of such composers as Kalman, Khachaturian, Puccini, Prokofiev, Debussy, Rachmaninov are known to many connoisseurs of good music.
Only the Moscow City Council Theater has such a rich repertoire, although other theaters are also fine.
Rachmaninov's talent manifested itself early and brightly. By the time he graduated from the conservatory, he was already the author of several works, including the famous Prelude in C sharp minor, the First Piano Concerto, and the opera "Aleko". The Fantasy Pieces that followed, the Suite for Two Pianos, “Musical Moments,” and romances confirmed the opinion of Rachmaninoff as a strong, deep, original talent. Decisive and powerful in his performance and creativity, Rachmaninov was a vulnerable person by nature and often experienced self-doubt. The severe shock caused by the failure of his First Symphony in 1897 led to a creative crisis. Rachmaninov did not compose anything for several years, but his performing activity as a pianist intensified and he made his conducting debut. Only in the early 1900s did Rachmaninov return to creativity. The new century began with the brilliant Second Piano Concerto. Contemporaries heard in him the voice of Time with its tension, explosiveness, and sense of impending change. A new stage begins in Rachmaninov’s life. Rachmaninoff's pianistic and conducting activities received universal recognition in Russia and abroad; in 1909 he composed his brilliant Third Piano Concerto. At the end of 1917, Rachmaninov and his family left Russia, as it turned out, forever. He lived in the USA for more than a quarter of a century, and this period was mainly filled with grueling concert activities, subject to cruel laws. music business. During the first years of his stay abroad, Rachmaninov was haunted by the thought of his loss. creative inspiration: “Having left Russia, I lost the desire to compose. Having lost my homeland, I lost myself.” Only 8 years after leaving abroad, Rachmaninov returned to creativity, creating the Fourth Piano Concerto, the Third Symphony, and “Symphonic Dances.” These works are Rachmaninov's last, highest rise. A mournful feeling of irreparable loss, a burning longing for Russia gives rise to art of enormous tragic power, reaching its apogee in the Symphonic Dances. Thus, through all his work, Rachmaninov conveys the inviolability of his ethical principles, high spirituality, loyalty and inescapable love for the Motherland, the personification of which was his art.
Unlike many of his predecessors and contemporaries, Chopin composed almost exclusively for piano. He did not leave a single opera, not a single symphony or overture. All the more amazing is the talent of the composer, who managed to create so much bright and new in the field of piano music.
