Health 09/22/2012
I don’t watch TV that often now, but I have my favorite shows that I try not to miss. One of them on the “Culture” channel is “Romance of Romance”. Once upon a time it was hosted by Lyubov Kazarnovskaya, and now it is hosted by Maria Maksakova and Igor Belza. Extraordinary presenters, always an extraordinary atmosphere. If you have not seen these episodes, I sincerely advise you to do so as soon as possible.
Today I want to talk about romance. A little reflection and music. Why did I choose this topic? Because romance contains all life, all trepidation, all the soul of a person. And I like to talk about the soul, as you noticed. Without this there is no our mental health.
Now we are preparing for a new competition, which will be held in our city in December. Romance is a must. This is what determines a person’s spiritual culture; this is something where you cannot deceive the audience. After all, if there is no soul and sincerity in him, then there is no real singer.
I often publish romances in my spiritual gifts. I have already introduced you to many of you. I hope that today you will also listen and, perhaps, rediscover something for yourself, just relax your soul and be filled with new impressions. Good romances always awaken new good thoughts. I really hope that this will be the case. The romance of a romance - you just need to think about these words and everything becomes clear...
ROMANCE FRESH BREATH…
Gone are the elegies and stanzas,
But their times will come...
The tune of a Russian romance
My soul is conquered...
Lisyansky M.
Romance. What is its charm and charm? This is always a song - a revelation, a song - a sigh. This is what hurt my heart and has now poured into music. The main thing in it is intonation. Moreover, the intonation is always very confidential, otherwise all its charm disappears.
Did you know that the word “romance” came to us from Spain? They were sung there by singers - troubadours in their native Romance language. Collections of songs were called “romancero”. Then romances came to us. Everyday romances, gypsy romances, of course, classical romances, acting romances and some others appeared.
Romances are not only vocal works. There are also instrumental romances - romances without words. Just a melody written for some instrument, as if a human voice were performing it. Glier, Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky, Glazunov have such beautiful romances.
You know, it always surprises me how people who touch the performance of romances can change. At our Theater Institute, students are sure to immerse themselves in this amazing atmosphere of romance during one of the semesters. But there are often students who don’t sing. And how they are imbued with music, how they can find their colors and at the same time transform themselves - all this must be seen. Moreover, even the masters working with the course themselves say that the guys are unrecognizable. An internal culture emerges and develops. They begin to notice other colors of life.
Therefore, I strongly advise you all from the bottom of my heart: “Listen to good romances more often.” With them we become cleaner, kinder, wiser and more touching. I repeat this thought again and again.
People often argue, what is the most important thing in a romance? Music or poetry? Probably, such disputes are not necessary. Everything is important here. It is the combination of music and poetry and touching performance that resonates with us.
It's very difficult to even begin to imagine romance. Which romance is best to do this with? Honestly I do not know. After all, there are so many worthy performers, and the article cannot be very voluminous. There are so many performers. And I really want to write about many of them and give them the opportunity to listen. I even came up with the idea of making another page in my living room with romances. Now I’m working on a page with Chopin, and then, perhaps, I’ll do a page with romances.
From Anastasia Vyaltseva, Keto Japaridze, Varvara Panina, Lydia Ruslanova, Vadim Kozin, Pyotr Leshchenko, Nadezhda Obukhova, Isabella Yuryeva, Tamara Tsereteli, Elena Obraztsova, Irina Arkhipova, Zhanna Bichevskaya, Nani Bregvadze to Irina Razumikhina, Elena Kamburova, Dmitry Hvorostovsky, Alexandra Malinin, Lyudmila Senchina and many, many others.
Today I'm not at all afraid
Temporarily part with the twentieth century -
Let me explain to you in love
In the high syllable of Russian romance:
Vadim Kozin. Autumn.
He was a singer, composer, poet. A lyric tenor whose voice was heard by many. His voice is similar to that of Sergei Lemeshev, only more intimate. In pre-war times, Vadim Kozin was one of the most popular performers. His unusual gypsy timbre drove many people crazy. And the tango “Autumn” was sung in almost every home. Listen to this tango.
Peter Leshchenko. Tell me why.
When you listen to Pyotr Leshchenko, you probably remember elephants on dressers (I remember everything from my grandmother), painted swans on the walls and kissing couples in hearts. Yes, what a clean time it was. Songs that everyone loved to relax and dance to. An elegant, handsome man with a special languid gaze and a caressing voice.
Victoria Ivanova. You don't understand my sadness.
I introduced you to this singer. Those who visit me already know her very well and recognize her by her extraordinary, unearthly, angelic voice. I managed to find very rare footage where you can see the singer and listen to A. Gurilev’s wonderful romance. Stills from the television program “Kinopanorama”. 1989
It is no coincidence that the singer’s voice was compared to a flute. The upper register is of the same crystal purity, the same soulfulness. Victoria has always stood out, in addition to her voice, with her radiant blue eyes, snow-white skin, disarming smile and special aristocracy and intelligence in the highest sense of the word.
But her life was very difficult. Hard life, endless tours. As a soloist of the Moscow Philharmonic, she traveled a lot. I had to perform in the most unsightly places, sing Schumann and Schubert in “shabby halls,” as Viktor Astafiev, a friend of the singer, writes about this.
He once recalled that the singer sang her program at a meat processing plant and, seeing people in bloody aprons and jackets, thought only that she would not feel sick from the smell and sight of blood. Can you imagine this? Such a voice and such, including scenes? And also the illness of my daughter, who became disabled at the age of 16. Here's a little sad prehistory before we listen to the romance. Perhaps even the words will sound different for us, or rather, we will hear something new in them. “You will not understand my sadness” is one of my favorite romances.
Galina Kovaleva Lovely eyes . Romance by P. Bulakhov based on poetry by N. Dobrolyubova.
Galina Kovaleva's voice was compared to Maria Callas. She sang at the Mariinsky Theater for most of her creative life. Galina was called the “Kuban nightingale”, called the best voice in the world. She sang since childhood. Not knowing the notes, she sang complex opera arias by ear. Singing helped her overcome a terrible disease in her youth - an open form of tuberculosis. Listen to the romance performed by the singer. Such a miniature, but how exciting it all is.
Tamara Sinyavskaya. Dark cherry shawl . An old romance.
A woman of stunning beauty and talent. Their creative and family duet with Muslim Magomayev can only delight everyone. At the age of 20, only a very talented person can get to the Bolshoi Theater without a conservatory education and perform the most difficult roles there.
And her talent really comes from childhood and from God. I saw her master classes (lately she has been paying a lot of attention to her teaching activities). This is where professionalism meets simplicity, sincerity and sincerity. Master classes were held at RATI (Russian Academy of Theater Arts). It's just that many stars always behave a little arrogantly. And here the sincerity shocked me. Her romances are the same. Listen to one of the most famous romances. Dark cherry shawl.
Dmitry Hvorostovsky - No, only the one who knew... Romance P.I. Tchaikovsky to the words of L. May. One of my favorite romances. Footage from the concert at the Russian Museum. Dmitry was called the “Siberian bear.” For me, a singer is an intellectual, a philosopher with a subtle soul and a great romantic.
It's surprising that he was unlucky in love for so long. Divorce and a very difficult relationship with his first wife, the need to see his twins for a long time did not give Dmitry real happiness. And only a meeting with the Italian Florentz melted his disbelief and distrust of women. The Italian, herself a pianist and opera diva, left her career for Dmitry, learned to cook borscht and make dumplings, who read all of Chekhov and Dostoevsky in the original and gave him two children.
Lyudmila Senchina - Fragrant bunches of white acacia...
Everyone remembers the singer. Probably, it all started with “Cinderella” at the New Year’s light. Listen to a touching performance of the romance. The softness and grace are simply mesmerizing. Lyudmila Senchina is that “good quality” pop singer who will be known and remembered. The singer approaches each song as if it were a gift from fate. And we feel it. All the trepidation and sincerity are all in the songs.
Elena Frolova - Romance of a lucky man. I. Brodsky.
I also already introduced you to this singer. It was hard not to post my favorite songs by Elena, “I lulled the pain” and “Don’t demand my confessions from my lips,” but I already published them. Therefore, here is another song of Elena’s dear to me.
It's funny how and what can happen to a person throughout life. You know that at school Lena wasn’t even accepted into the choir. She came and was kicked out. There is no hearing and that's it. And only the new teacher, seeing something extraordinary in Lena, began to study with her, and so gradually everything came. Apparently, everything was just hidden within itself. It happens.
When Lena turned 12, she was given a guitar. This is where it all began and continues to this day. And now she has also mastered the harp. Now Lena tours a lot as part of the Trilogy trio, performs with the Creole Tango Orchestra, travels abroad a lot, many new songs and her own poems have been written. Her latest collection is called “Song for Eurydice.” If possible, buy it, find it, read it.
Inna Razumikhina - Fallen leaves.
I don't know, this is such an amazing song for me. I listen to her and listen. There are no words for how Inna performs. To be honest, I don’t remember if I introduced you to this amazing singer. There is already so much music on the blog.
I will definitely please you again. It is impossible to ignore this creativity. Elena Kamburova, Elena Frolova and Inna Razumikhina - they are all so close to me. They are close in their sincerity, naturalness and sincerity, in their present.
The singer herself is from Rzhev. She started singing with a children's competition song about a scarlet flower. Then there was the guitar, participation in festivals in Yalta, study at the Gnessin School.
This is the kind of romance I got from romances for today. I would really like to hear your opinion about my articles. Is this interesting to you, or is it better to write about something else? If interested, I would really like to ask you about further topics that you would like to hear. I always have a lot of music. If I know what is close to you, it will be easier for me to navigate.
I wish everyone romance in their hearts, health, new joys of life. Don't pass by your happiness.
see also
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RUSSIAN ROMANCE
A word to the reader
“THERE IS A GREAT POWER
IN CONCORDANCE OF THE WORDS OF THE LIVING..."
We are talking about the verse that is sung, about the verse as the source of a song, a romance.
The task of collecting textual material from romances is significant and necessary, because the printed word can always do a good job, allowing one to resort to the original source if necessary. True, this process is complex, since, according to L. Tolstoy, language changes every quarter of a century. Both the song and the romance are modified as well.
The work that went into publishing the book “Russian Romance” is important. Poems often have independent value in isolation from music. The musical fabric has its own laws, so they often resort to inevitable cuts, which is why the meaning of dramaturgy, embedded, for example, in Nekrasov’s “Peddlers”, is not revealed. Let's take Pushkin's "Confession". When recording this romance, I decided to use the poem in its entirety. And yet it was difficult to fit the text into the rhythm of the music of Yakovlev, a contemporary of Pushkin and his comrade at the Lyceum.
The poetic material presented here can serve a good purpose for the coming generation, especially since almost no one writes about the stars, the sun, the moon, the rustling reeds, or how the heart beats. Today they no longer resort to words such as “I’m wondering at the sky and thinking about that thought...”. If a person has already been to the Moon, then the material world is looking for a time-tested artistic word. This will bring you into poetic balance.
Previously, man was closer to nature, felt its beneficial influence, often, in a fit of happiness or misfortune, resorted to a weeping willow or shining poplar and conducted a dialogue with them. Suffice it to remember “Oh, what the hell, dubi, he was stolen in the ravine...”.
And one more consideration about the need to publish such a collection. After all, Gogol is represented by both Rimsky-Korsakov - “Christmas Night” and Tchaikovsky - “Cherevichki”. Consequently, the same theme, the same verses give rise to a new poetic creation in music. Because of this, the proposed collection will certainly be useful for both historians and composers. The composition of the book, in my opinion, reflects the diversity of romance creativity, and the article preceding the book introduces the reader to the world of Russian romance.
I. Kozlovsky,
People's Artist of the USSR,
Hero of Socialist Labor
"Beautiful Suffering"
Notes on Russian romance
This strange juxtaposition of beauty and suffering was introduced to us by Sergei Yesenin, turning to a Khorossan Persian woman from border Persia, which he so wanted to visit, but never visited:
Goodbye, peri, goodbye,
Even if I couldn’t unlock the doors,
You gave beautiful suffering,
I can sing about you in my homeland...
Yesenin wrote the poems of this cycle in Baku. Next door to Persia, but still not in it. S. M. Kirov, addressing Yesenin’s friend, journalist Pyotr Chagin, who accompanied the poet during his Baku business trip in the spring of 1925, said: “Why haven’t you yet created Yesenin’s illusion of Persia in Baku? Look how I wrote it, as if I was in Persia...” “In the summer of 1925,” recalls Chagin, “Yesenin came to my dacha. This, as he himself admitted, was a genuine illusion of Persia: a huge garden, fountains and all sorts of oriental undertakings...”
This comment confirms the illusory-romantic pathos of “Persian Motifs”. Deliberately illusory, when it is clear that the roses with which the threshold of the unrealizable Persian woman is strewn were grown in the ethereal gardens of Babylon, and the mysterious doors, which remained unopened, did exactly the right thing, strictly following the poetics of the genre. But what genre?
MAYBE,
"SUFFERING BEAUTY"?
So, the poems themselves are a product of pure imagination. After all, all this happened before the Chagi gardens and fountains. The poet imagined everything. On the border with the non-existent. But inside the poem, “beautiful suffering” is a derivative of a different kind, designed to “beautify” the pain, but in such a way that this pain is compassionate. The boundary between an authentic chant and the decorative object of this chant.
Let's change the semantic emphasis - instead of beautiful suffering let's say suffering beauty, - and the peri will disappear from Khorossan. It’s true, perhaps the Persian princess Stenka Razin will emerge from the Volga depths. Let's remove suffering, and Pushkin’s “I drink to Mary’s health” will remain, also peri, only different, powerless to bestow not only beauty, but any kind of suffering at all. And beauty - ringing and light - yes. Boundaries within lyrics, within its genres.
Please note: “I can sing about you in my homeland.” Sing someone else’s image of “beautiful suffering”; while maintaining this foreign image, but in their homeland.
Isn’t it true that we are little by little getting used to this strange juxtaposition of suffering and beauty? We have almost gotten used to how, from the depths of historical memory, a terrible ancient Roman legend emerges about one local music lover who invented a monstrous musical instrument - a golden box with iron partitions in it. This musical maestro drove the slave into the box, battened down the shutter and began to heat his torture organ over low heat. The inhuman screams of the man being roasted alive, repeatedly reflected from the specially placed partitions there, were transformed into captivating sounds that delighted the ears of aesthetically sophisticated listeners. Suffering incomprehensible to the mind has become beauty comprehensible to the ear; chaos of scream - harmony of sounds. The aesthetic, which is on the other side of the ethical, is obvious. The artistic boundary has been irrevocably crossed.
But beautiful suffering“in the days... of people’s troubles” or in memory of these troubles should be supplanted by a different aesthetics that does not tolerate verisimilitude, but demands truth:
...And the soldier drank from a copper mug
Half the wine with sadness
on the ashes of a hut burned by the Nazis;
Friends can't stand in the area,
The movie goes on without them
that is, without Seryozha and Vitka with Malaya Bronnaya and Mokhovaya.
Wine with sadness, cinema with sadness. But from the position of a poet-chronicler with lyrical-epic vision.
These tragic poems are also sung, but they are sung differently, just like Simon’s “yellow rains” of expectation. Here beauty is of a different kind - the beauty of an act that conceals the particularity of a beautifully suffering gesture. Once again, the genre boundary: between the epic song and the elegy romance. An essential boundary for defining the romance genre as an ethical and aesthetic reality at the same time, corresponding to the “Russian-Persian” Yesenin formula, which paradoxically combined suffering and beauty.
“...Every cultural act essentially lives on boundaries: this is its seriousness and significance; abstracted from boundaries, he loses ground, becomes empty...”
So is romance, which is on the border of the aesthetic and ethical, artistic and social. To understand this, it is necessary to leave the “sounding” space into another, “listening” space.
What are they, the boundaries of perception of the romance lyric word (if, of course, a modern listener is able to hear in the lyrics the root lyre, which can be plucked, tested for sound and put to the voice)?
Without exaggeration, the most famous singer from Kazan in the world can be called Yulia Ziganshina, performer of ancient and modern Russian romances, domestic and foreign songs, Honored Artist of Tatarstan. She has been developing and supporting such a unique genre as “Russian romance” for many years, visiting various parts of the world with concerts and running the “Kazan Romance” salon in her hometown. “Russian Planet” talked with the singer about what changes the genre has undergone over the past few centuries, and what it can give to modern people.
- Julia, how has Russian romance changed over the course of its history?
Romance came to Russia at the end of the 18th century from Spain, where street musicians began to sing not in Latin and not about the love of God, but in their native Romance language and about love for a woman. In our country, romance fell on fertile soil; society felt the need for sentimental personal experiences. The romances fell into the reliable hands of the great poets and composers of the Golden Age - Pushkin, Glinka, Lermontov, Dargomyzhsky. The next surge is at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, when the salon, everyday romance is born. It is interesting that during this period, romances, with some exceptions, were written based on poems by semi-professional poets. The high poetry of the Silver Age was ahead of its time; it was sometimes incomprehensible to the average person. And romance is a human genre, earthly in every sense of the word. Romances began to be written based on Silver Age poems at the end of the 20th century. And cinema played an important role in the history of romance of this time. In the 1920s, the government decided that romance was an alien, bourgeois genre; performing and writing it was life-threatening. And he returned to the masses only along with the poetry of the Silver Age through films such as “The Irony of Fate” and “Cruel Romance.”
- What happened to the romance in terms of plots and the range of feelings it expresses?
Musically, intonationally, of course, something changes. Human thinking develops and vocabulary expands. We began to think more complexly, although this is not always necessary. Romances today are often performed with orchestras, previously mostly with guitar and piano. The range of feelings in the romance is from categorical hatred to deep love. Moreover, we are talking about earthly love in all its nuances - the expectation of love, love as a memory, bright or sad, love in the process.
- What kind of sensory experience and what technique should a performer of a romance have?
All genres require labor and work from the performer. But I am sure that romance is the most complex genre despite its apparent simplicity. There is still an opinion that romance is a trinket that is easy to perform. Many dramatic, opera and jazz artists think that singing a romance is very simple: “If I sing an opera, won’t I really sing a romance?” But you won’t sing! There are catastrophically few real romance singers.
Let me explain. Opera, in my opinion, is about vocals. Jazz is freedom. An author's song is a text. Folklore is a state. Rock music is about rhythm. Pop music is show and exterior. But romance is a sense of proportion. And with this feeling, as you know, the greatest tension is not only in music. A romance also requires vocals, and competent and delivered ones, however, if there is too much of it, then, as a rule, the text disappears. When there is not enough vocals, this is also bad, because romance is still a vocal genre, without vocals it turns out to be an amateur performance. The text should also be in moderation: you can’t have too little: a romance is a dramatic work, and you can’t have too much - there is a danger of going into the author’s song.
The state is necessary, but just enough so that in three or even two verses you have time to immerse yourself in the work, immerse the listener, and come out of there together - impressed, inspired. Show and exterior are necessary. A concert costume, and not a simple one, but an appropriate one, is an integral part of the romance program. A show, or better yet, a mini-theater, is the basis of a romance concert, but again in moderation so that the spectacle does not overshadow the romance itself; after all, romance is a fragile, easily vulnerable genre, and the “interior” in it is no less important than the exterior.
Russian romance is a brand, it is unique, says Yulia Ziganshina. Photo: from personal archive
As for personal experience, it is not required. The singer must be observant and imaginative, able to arouse feelings - from his past, present and imaginary life, from the memory of ancestors, and so on. This is called memory of the heart.
- WhatAre you a fan of romance today?
This is a person who has life experience. Of course, these are mostly people who are... How much? Hard to tell. I sang romances to a children's audience, and the children listened with interest. Who didn’t fall in love in the first grade or experience feelings in the seventh? Experience that is beyond the control of years, which can be gained at 7, and at 25, and at 70. There is a person who has lived his whole life and has not understood anything. Listeners belong to different social strata. There are more women at concerts: I think because they are not afraid to show their feelings, men tend to be reserved.
- What does romance give to modern man?
An opportunity to feel like a person, to remember your feelings. Many people say that romance heals their soul. What kind of treatment is this? Tension is relieved, feelings and thoughts come into harmony, and the heart is cleansed.
- How is Russian romance received in the world?
I often perform abroad - not only for Russian audiences, but also for foreigners. For example, I recently returned from Italy, there was a concert in Parma for an Italian audience, there we worked with translators of Russian literature: before each romance, I talked a little about the romance itself, conveyed its brief content so that the audience would understand where to direct their feelings. And it works.
Russian romance is a brand. He is unique. There is no analogue to this genre anywhere. Everything that is sung with a guitar abroad is more like an art song than a romance. The genre of everyday salon romance cannot be found in any other country. However, as often happens with us, we treat our loved ones badly.
- In romanceIs continuity important?
Now there are a number of singers who have taken the style of performers of the early 20th century and joyfully sit on it. I think this is unacceptable. When they tell me that it’s the same as Vertinsky or Piaf, I answer that I’d rather listen to the original. Singers who copy achieve some success, they have fans, but they do not need fresh experiences, but the past, memories, antiques.
There is the other side of the issue - a complete denial of what was done before you. As they say, nothing is sacred. And again, the viewer can be attracted by such “innovation”, but, alas, not for long, because this speaks more of the artist’s stupidity than of originality: without taking into account the experience accumulated over centuries, he shows either lack of education or laziness. Here again the question arises about a great sense of proportion - where is the line so as not to fall into copying, but also not to leave the source? And here it is important to find guidelines.
- Why did you choose romance in your life?
Professionally, it all started when I became a laureate of the 1998 Romansiada competition. But long before that I was interested in this genre; in my early youth I tried to sing romances, but I could not learn the words by heart - I did not see the point in them. I was attracted to romances by their melody, a kind of languid melancholy, which, of course, was familiar to me, but I could not understand what they were about. And suddenly - the film “Cruel Romance”! An exact hit on me with an incredible combination of words, melody, guitars, keys, matching my condition, modernity of sound with the general surroundings of the 19th century! And most importantly - the voice! A voice where the text and experience were in the foreground. I can’t even say that it was the voice that struck me: real romance singers do not have a voice in its pure form - it is always a combination of sound, words, meaning and feeling. Then I bought a vinyl record and listened to it until I stumbled and scratched. And a strange thing - after some time, through the modern romances that were heard in the film, there came an understanding and awareness of what was happening in the ancient romances - they acquired meaning, they found logic, development, and an idea!
The folk legend about Genoveva of Brabant, which should not be confused with St. Genoveva, patroness (patronne) of Paris, who saved ancient Lutetia from Attila, is one of the very ancient ones. Its content is as follows: Paladin Siegfried goes on a crusade. Before leaving, he entrusts his friend, the knight Golo, with his wife Genoveva and transfers to him the management of his possessions. Golaud is in love with Genoveva; taking advantage of her husband’s absence, he pursues her with his love; but, despite the false news of her husband’s death, she rejects his obsessive seeking with contempt. Then persecution and oppression begin; Golo removes all her servants, and then a son is born to the abandoned Genoveva. Meanwhile, Siegfried returns from the campaign. Golo fears his revenge and does not know what to do. One old woman advises him to accuse Genoveva of infidelity, confirming this accusation with the birth of a child in the absence of her husband. Gullible Siegfried orders murder
Genoveva and her son. Golo instructs his servants to drown them in the lake. But the servants feel sorry for the innocent victims: they take them into a dense forest, leave them there, take a promise from Genoveva that she will not leave her wild refuge, and Golo reports that they have carried out his orders. Exhausted, weak Genoveva is not able to feed the child, but a doe appears here, which replaces the child's mother, and Genoveva herself feeds on plant roots and forest fruits. So six years and three months passed.
One day, while hunting, Siegfried, chasing this doe, was carried away into the thicket of the forest, among which he saw a naked woman, covered only with her luxurious hair, and near her a charming boy. This woman boldly stepped forward in defense of the doe. Struck by this sight, Siegfried began questioning her and soon recognized her as his wife, and recognized the boy as his son. The matter has been clarified. Siegfried ordered Golaud to be brutally executed. They tied him by the arms and legs to four wild bulls and tore him to pieces. Genoveva, fulfilling her promise, returned to her husband’s castle only with the permission of the bishop, and a chapel was erected in the forest. In the castle, Genoveva, unaccustomed to ordinary food, continued to eat plant roots and forest fruits and soon died quietly, surrounded by the reverent care of her husband and everyone around her. This legend served as the theme for several folk songs, several dramas, an opera by Schumann and an operetta by Offenbach.
In the libretto of Schumann's opera, based on the dramas of Tieck and Goebel, the legend is developed and something is added to it.
Golo is not an absolute villain. There is a strong struggle between passion and a sense of duty. If he succumbs to temptation, it is at the instigation of the old woman Margareta, and he decides to take revenge on Genoveva after the insult inflicted on him, when Genoveva, rejecting his quest with indignation, calls him a batard. He takes revenge more difficult than in the legend. He assures Siegfried's faithful servant Drago that Genoveva is unfaithful to her husband, and hides him in her bedroom to waylay her lover. Then he calls the entire court and assures that Drago is Genoveva’s lover. Indeed, he is found in her bedroom, killed, and Genoveva is taken to prison. Then Golaud goes to Siegfried with a letter from his confessor informing him of Genoveva’s betrayal, and in order to finally convince him of this, Golaud resorts to the help of Margaretha. Margaretha is Golaud's mother, and perhaps even her mother; Siegfried once kicked her out of the castle, so she takes revenge on him; she treats the wounded Siegfried, who for some reason does not recognize her; She is also a sorceress and shows Siegfried three times in the mirror how Genoveva is being nice to Drago. Then Siegfrsch orders Golo to kill Genoveva, but she is saved from death by the same Margareta, to whom the ghost of Drago appeared and ordered to reveal the whole truth to Siegfried. Genoveva is saved, but Golo and Margareta disappear to an unknown location.
From this it is clear that the libretto was compiled ineptly, by an inexperienced hand; much in it is unclear, unsaid, confused, incomprehensible. But there are many dramatic situations in it, many scenes that provide an excellent canvas for music. In any case, it is a pity that Siegfried finds his wife not hunting, in rags, alone with his son, but with his murderers; and it is even more unfortunate that the opera does not end with the touching death of Ge-ioveva, which would have made a stronger impression than her solemn return to the castle.
Who among those who love and are interested in music does not know R. Schumann and does not admire him? Who does not admire his inspired works, full of thoughts, deep, strong, tender, cheerful, playful, capricious, always expressed in impeccable forms, always individual, sincere, sincere? Schumann is especially great in symphonic and chamber music, in the broadest sense of the word. Indeed, in addition to sonatas, trios, quartets and one quintet, he created a new type of small, picturesque, characteristic piano pieces (“Carnival”, “Phantasie-stucke”, “Waldscenen”, etc.), wrote many excellent romances (vocal chamber music). His large vocal works (“Paradise and Peri”, “The Wanderings of the Rose”, “Scenes from Faust”, etc.) are less perfect: it is difficult to maintain inspiration at the same height throughout such voluminous works. His only opera, Genoveva, is even less perfect because, apart from the reason just given, Schumann did not have the qualities necessary for an opera composer with an eye to effect and success. One must think that Schumann himself was aware of this (like Beethoven, like Schubert, like Chopin), since, despite his need to continuously create, despite the irresistible temptation of the stage, he wrote only one opera.
The main drawback of Genoveva as an opera is its gray coloring. It looks like old tapestries with faded colors, like old paintings with worn out, vague outlines. Many reasons came together to give rise to this gray coloring of Schumann's opera. There are almost no contrasts or oppositions in the opera; the lyrical element almost entirely predominates, and the few dramatic scenes are expressed by Schumann insufficiently vividly due to the inappropriate symphonic style in this case. The music of Genoveva, with the exception of a few bright flashes, lacks sparkle and effect. Everything harsh and crudely decorative was contrary to Schumann’s delicate, noble nature. He had a strong feeling, a passion, but he hid them in the depths of his soul and did not show them outwardly with uncontrollable impulses, which alone act on the masses; he protected his intimate world from contact with the vulgar and indifferent outside world; Therefore, we always find in Schumann great restraint in expressing the strongest feelings - restraint, which, however, does not exclude either the depth or warmth of feeling. In Genoveva there is no characterization of the characters. The only exception is Margareta, who is more clearly outlined; but even she, in her monologue, in the 2nd scene of Act III, turns into the generally beautiful lyricism of all the characters in the opera. The instrumentation of "Genoveva", with the most minor exceptions, is monotonous. Schumann belonged to a very to a limited number of major composers (Dargomyzhsky, Brahms), who had poor command of the orchestra: 1 the constant doubling of string instruments with wind instruments not only deprives his orchestra of a variety of colors, but even makes it difficult to convey shades. To this we must add the abuse of the symphonic style, which Schumann then did not do in Genoveva. wanted to abandon it - this is understandable: he was afraid of the hackneyed, afraid of the idealess; therefore, in “Genoveva” we see a continuous, uninterrupted series of musical thoughts that Schumann was accustomed to express symphonically. And so, instead of the phrases of the characters appearing in relief in dramatic scenes. unconstrained by anything, he arranges them measuredly against the music of the orchestra, cools them down and increases the monotonous color of the opera
As for operatic forms, although Genoveva is already about fifty years old, they are still almost impeccable. Everywhere the music follows the text and obeys its demands. The entire opera consists of short scenes, mostly interconnected, occasionally completed musically where the stage situation allowed it. It is also worthy of special attention that Schumann in “Genoveva” attached special importance and development to melodic recitative. So, "Genoveva" belongs to the less perfect works of Schumann; As an opera, it is not without significant shortcomings, but there is so much excellent music in it!
The overture is magnificent in the full sense of the word. This is Genoveva's best performance. It combines all the high qualities of Schumann’s work: the charm of the themes and their inspired development. The introduction to the overture is distinguished by its depth and calmness; the first theme is lyrically nervous; the second is a love affair with a knightly character; the middle part is widely developed, the conclusion is passionate and extremely exciting. The first choir, or rather chorale, is not particularly inventive, but it is characteristic and solemn. It is interrupted by rather ordinary recitatives from the bishop and repeated again, which gives this scene a rounded harmony. The only pity is that it is repeated in its entirety: the impression would have been stronger if Schumann had repeated it in a more condensed form. Golo's aria and the following duet between Siegfried and Genoveva are beautiful (especially the first) and imbued with genuine feeling.
The march choir, to the sounds of which Siegfried goes on a campaign, is just as characteristic as the first chorale, and could have made a great impression with a better use of voices. The arrival of the knights on stage and departure from the stage evokes a natural, effective crescendo and diminuendo, but Schumann does not and cannot have it, because he entrusts the main theme only to the basses, and he entrusts individual counterpoint exclamations to the tenors and women. This may be very true, but it obscures the main idea, which is repeated many times and therefore somewhat annoying. It would be a completely different matter if the remaining voices gradually joined the bass. Further, in the first act there is a beautiful scene in which Golaud kisses Genoveva, who is in oblivion; Margaretha's appearance is typical, brilliant and superbly orchestrated; her scene with Golaud is carried out passionately and ends with a magnificent, although overly symphonic, coda.
The beginning of the second act is charming: Genoveva's monologue is sympathetic and full of content; the wild, colorful chorus of riotous servants makes an excellent contrast with it. The duetist who sings Genoveva with Golo is very sweet in his naive simplicity; it's slightly reminiscent of Schubert and has a folky, old-time feel to it. It is interrupted dramatically, and the entire subsequent scene between Golaud and Genoveva is not devoid of magnification; the only pity is that in it harmonic interest prevails over melodic interest. The short monologue of the offended Golo left alone is simply brilliant - there is so much beauty, expressiveness and deep feeling in it. It consists entirely of recitative phrases, and it should be noted that there is even more inspiration in the recitative phrases of “Genoveva” than in its formal themes. Genoveva’s prayer is very delicate and with a subtle poetic flavor, especially its conclusion. The beginning of the finale - the appearance of the choir - is original and bright. In the further development of the finale there is fire, strength, energy. Maybe due to its stage position it is a little long.
In the first scene of the third act, the song of Siegfried, dreaming of returning to the castle, is effective; Golo's arrival is amazingly depicted in the orchestra; the recitative phrases of Siegfried, struck by the news of his wife’s infidelity, are heartfelt and sympathetic to a high degree. In the second scene, Margaretha's initial monologue along with the monologue
The holos in the previous act constitute the most sublime pages of Genoveva. It is difficult to convey in words all the charming charm of this heartfelt, inspiring, ideally beautiful music. The vision scene is unfortunate: there is nothing fantastic in its music. Her choruses, especially the first two, are beautiful, but this is earthly beauty, not magical. And it must be said that the charm of the music of these three choirs should be enhanced, but this is not the case, and the last choir does not even correspond to the mood of the text.
The latter effect is much weaker. And in it we find almost entirely beautiful, general Schumann music, but much less outstanding episodes, which abound in the previous actions. These should include in the fourth act only: the typical, rude, maliciously mocking song of Siegfried’s servants, whom Golaud instructed to kill Genoveva; Genoveva’s address to these servants, for some reason reminiscent of Beethoven’s dervish choir in its triplets: a beautiful, soft end to the duet of Siegfried’s meeting with Genoveva and the choir merging with the chorale of the first act. On the whole, as has been noted, the fourth act is weaker than the previous one, and since it is the last, the final impression is less favorable than that which the listener makes after the three preceding acts.
From what has been said it is clear that Genoveva is not a completely successful and not at all spectacular opera, but a noble work of a noble and highly talented artist, in which there is a lot of excellent music. It will not appeal to those who admire the latest Italian musical insanites; those who need vocal, at least hackneyed voice effects, high notes, fermata; those who want brilliance in staging and orchestration; but it will be dear to those who love good music in all its manifestations, even the most intimate and delicate, and it will be all the more dear to them the more often they listen to it, the closer they become acquainted with it.
Consequently, we should be extremely grateful to the St. Petersburg Society of Musical Collections for staging this major, little-known work by Schumann, especially since its staging presented many difficulties, and by the very nature of the work one could not count on its resounding success.2 [ .]
