Program music kind of instrumental music; musical works that have a verbal, often poetic program and reveal the content imprinted in it. The title can serve as a program, indicating, for example, the phenomenon of reality that the composer had in mind (“Morning” by Grieg from the music for Ibsen’s drama “Peer Gynt”), or to the literary work that inspired him (“Macbeth” by R. Strauss - a symphonic poem based on Shakespeare's play). More detailed programs usually compiled according to literary works (symphonic suite"Antar" by Rimsky-Korsakov based on the fairy tale of the same name by Senkovsky), less often - without connection with the literary prototype ("Fantastic Symphony" by Berlioz). The program reveals something that is inaccessible to musical embodiment and therefore not revealed by music itself; in this it is fundamentally different from any analysis or description of music; only its author can give it to a piece of music. Musical figurativeness, sound writing, and concretization through the genre are widely used in musical composition. The simplest kind P. m. - pictorial programming (musical picture of nature, folk festivals, battles, etc.). In plot-program works, the development of musical images to one degree or another corresponds to the contours of the plot, as a rule, borrowed from fiction. Sometimes they only give musical characteristic basic images, general direction plot development, initial and final ratio active forces(generalized plot programming), sometimes the entire sequence of events is displayed (sequential plot programming). Musical music uses developmental methods that make it possible to "follow" the plot without violating proper musical patterns. Among them: variation and the related principle of Monothematism a ,
put forward by F. Liszt; the principle of leitmotiv characteristics (see Leitmotiv), which was one of the first to be applied by G. Berlioz; combining in a one-part form the features of sonata allegro and sonata- symphonic cycle, characteristic of the genre of symphonic poem created by F. Liszt. Programming was a great conquest of musical art, stimulated the search for new means of expression, contributed to the enrichment of the range of images of musical works. Musical music is equal in rights with non-programmed music and develops in close interaction with it. P. m. has been known since ancient times ( ancient greece). Among the program works of the 18th century. - harpsichord miniatures by F. Couperin and J. F. Rameau, "Capriccio for the Departure of a Beloved Brother" by J. S. Bach. A number of program compositions were created by L. Beethoven - “ Pastoral symphony”, overtures “Egmont”, “Coriolanus”, etc. The heyday of P. m. in the 19th century. largely associated with the romantic direction in musical art(see Romanticism),
who proclaimed the slogan of renewing music by uniting it with poetry. Among the program works of romantic composers are Berlioz's "Fantastic Symphony" and the symphony "Harold in Italy", the symphonies "Faust", "K" Divine Comedy"Dante", symphonic poems"Tasso", "Preludes" and others. Liszt. Russian classical composers also made a major contribution to classical music. Great fame enjoy the symphonic painting "Midsummer Night on Bald Mountain" and piano cycle Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition”, Rimsky-Korsakov’s symphonic suite “Antar”, the symphony “Manfred”, the fantasy overture “Romeo and Juliet”, the fantasy for orchestra “Francesca da Rimini” by Tchaikovsky and others. Glazunov, A. K. Lyadov, A. I. Skryabin, S. V. Rakhmaninov and others. National traditions in the field of P. m. find their continuation and development in the work Soviet composers- N. Ya. Myaskovsky, D. D. Shostakovich and others. Lit.: Tchaikovsky, P.I., About program music, Izbr. excerpts from letters and articles, M., 1952; Stasov V.V., Art XIX century, fav. soch., vol. 3, M., 1952; List F., Selected. articles, M., 1959, p. 271-349; Khokhlov Yu., O music software, M., 1963; KIauwell O., Geschichte der Programmusik, Lpz., 1910; Sychra A., Die Einheit von absoluter Musik und Programmusik, "Beiträge zur Misik-wissenschaft", 1, 1959; Niecks Fr., Program music in the last four centuries, N. Y., 1969. Yu. N. Khokhlov.
Big soviet encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1969-1978 .
See what "Program music" is in other dictionaries:
Academic music that does not include a verbal text (that is, purely instrumental), but accompanied by a verbal indication of its content. The minimum program is the title of the essay, indicating any phenomenon ... ... Wikipedia
The latest "descriptive" or "pictorial" music (Wagner and his followers), which strives to convey movement, various actions, etc. in sounds, needs a program in order to be completely understandable to listeners; hence the software... Dictionary foreign words Russian language
Musical works that the composer provided with a verbal program that concretizes perception. Many program works are connected with plots and images of outstanding literary works... Big encyclopedic Dictionary
- (German Programmusik, French musique a program, Italian musica a programma, English program music) music. works that have a certain verbal, often poetic. program and revealing the content imprinted in it. The phenomenon of music ... ... Music Encyclopedia
Musical works that the composer provided with a verbal program that specifies the content. Many program works are associated with plots and images of outstanding literary works. * * * PROGRAM MUSIC PROGRAM MUSIC,… … encyclopedic Dictionary
What do you think is different piano concert Tchaikovsky from his own symphonic fantasy "Francesca da Rimini"? Of course, you will say that in the concerto the piano is the soloist, but in fantasy it is not at all. Maybe you already know that the concert ... ... Music dictionary
PROGRAM MUSIC- (from German Programmusik), music, the task of which is to depict the state of the inner or outer world, more or less precisely defined in the text (program) attached to the composition. Under the influence of the latter, the listener, listening to the letter, does not ... ... Riemann's musical dictionary
program music- instrumental and orchestral music associated with the embodiment of ideas borrowed from the non-musical sphere (literature, painting, natural phenomena, etc.). The name comes from the program - the text that composers often accompanied ... ... Russian index k English-Russian Dictionary in musical terminology
Program music- type of instr. prod. with the program announced (in the form of a title or in a more detailed verbal form) as a source of music. dramaturgy. The program does not include genre headings (waltz, polka) or wok texts. music. Although examples of software ... ... Russian humanitarian encyclopedic dictionary
I Music (from the Greek musike, literally the art of the muses) is a type of art that reflects reality and affects a person through meaningful and in a special way organized sound sequences, consisting mainly of tones ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Books
- Etudes on foreign music, Valentina Konen. The collection is intended mainly for teachers. However, it can also be used by students for seminars or reports in scientific circles. Some of the articles are...
- Program development of educational areas "Cognition", "Communication", etc. in the nursery group, Karpukhina Natalia Aleksandrovna. Software development educational areas"Cognition", "Communication", "Reading fiction", "Socialization", " Physical Culture", "Music" in nursery group(1.5-2 years)…
Program music, a kind of instrumental music; musical works that have a verbal, often poetic program and reveal the content imprinted in it. The title can serve as a program, indicating, for example, the phenomenon of reality that the composer had in mind (“Morning” by Grieg from the music for Ibsen’s drama “Peer Gynt”), or to the literary work that inspired him (“Macbeth” by R. Strauss - a symphonic poem based on Shakespeare's play). More detailed programs are usually drawn up based on literary works (Rimsky-Korsakov's symphonic suite "Antar" based on Senkovsky's fairy tale of the same name), less often - without connection with the literary prototype ("Fantastic Symphony" by Berlioz). The program reveals something that is inaccessible to musical embodiment and therefore not revealed by music itself; in this it is fundamentally different from any analysis or description of music; only its author can give it to a piece of music. Musical figurativeness, sound writing, and concretization through the genre are widely used in musical composition.
The simplest form of P. m. is picture programming (a musical picture of nature, folk festivals, battles, etc.). In plot-program works, the development of musical images to one degree or another corresponds to the contours of the plot, as a rule, borrowed from fiction. Sometimes they only give a musical description of the main images, the general direction of the development of the plot, the initial and final correlation of the acting forces (generalized plot programming), sometimes the entire sequence of events is displayed (sequential plot programming).
Musical music uses developmental methods that make it possible to "follow" the plot without violating proper musical patterns. Among them: variation and the associated principle monothematism, put forward by F. Liszt; principle of leitmotif characteristic (cf. keynote ), which was one of the first to be applied by G. Berlioz; the combination in a one-part form of the features of the sonata allegro and the sonata-symphony cycle, which is characteristic of the genre of symphonic poem created by F. Liszt.
Programming was a great conquest of musical art, stimulated the search for new expressive means, contributed to the enrichment of the circle of images of musical works. Musical music is equal in rights with non-programmed music and develops in close interaction with it.
P. m. has been known since ancient times (ancient Greece). Among the program works of the 18th century. - harpsichord miniatures by F. Couperin and J. F. Rameau, "Capriccio for the Departure of a Beloved Brother" by J. S. Bach. A number of program works were created by L. Beethoven - the Pastoral Symphony, the Egmont overture, Coriolanus, and others. largely associated with the romantic trend in musical art (see. Romanticism ), who proclaimed the slogan of renewing music by uniting it with poetry. Among the program works of romantic composers are Berlioz's "Fantastic Symphony" and the "Harold in Italy" symphony, the symphonies "Faust", "To Dante's Divine Comedy", the symphonic poems "Tasso", "Preludes" and others by Liszt. Russian classical composers also made a major contribution to classical music. The symphonic painting "Midsummer Night on Bald Mountain" and the piano cycle "Pictures at an Exhibition" by Mussorgsky, the symphonic suite "Antar" by Rimsky-Korsakov, the symphony "Manfred", the fantasy overture "Romeo and Juliet", the fantasy for orchestra "Francesca da Rimini” by Tchaikovsky and others. Program compositions were also written by A. K. Glazunov, A. K. Lyadov, A. I. Skryabin, S. V. Rakhmaninov, and others. National traditions in the field of P. m. find their continuation and development in the work of Soviet composers - N. Ya. Myaskovsky, D. D. Shostakovich and others.
Lit.: Tchaikovsky, P.I., About program music, Izbr. excerpts from letters and articles, M., 1952; Stasov V.V., Art of the 19th century, Izbr. cit. (composition), v. 3, M., 1952; List F., Selected. articles, M., 1959, p. 271-349; Khokhlov Yu., About musical programming, M., 1963; KIauwell O., Geschichte der Programmusik, Lpz., 1910; Sychra A., Die Einheit von absoluter Musik und Programmusik, "Beiträge zur Misik-wissenschaft", 1, 1959; Niecks Fr., Program music in the last four centuries, N. Y., 1969.
1. Types of program music
Musical language is very good at conveying feelings and moods. But he can't draw pictures and tell stories. How so? After all, we already know a lot musical pictures, musical fairy tales. But pay attention: in order to "draw" something with the help of music or "tell" about something, composers resort to the help of ordinary, verbal language. It can be just one word in the title of the play, such as "Morning". But this word guides our imagination. We can hear in the music a mood of peace, a feeling of joy, a melody similar to the shepherd's horn, and the title will tell us that this is a picture of the morning.
Remember Slonimsky's suite "The Princess Who Couldn't Cry". There, each part has not only a name, but also a more detailed explanation in the form of an excerpt from a fairy tale.
All titles and verbal explanations for musical works are called program. And the music that has a program is called program music.
Software musical works can be very varied. One can try to distinguish two main types of programming picture And plot.
Musical "pictures" are usually small miniatures in which one musical image develops: a "portrait", "landscape" or a special onomatopoeic picture, for example, the noise of a blizzard or bird singing.
Musical "fairy tales" and "stories" usually fit into more large form. There are usually several musical themes, which correspond to different events of the plot, and a more diverse development of these themes. But by telling interesting story, you can also "draw a picture." Therefore, in musical works written based on a plot, we can often find mixed(picture-plot) type of programming.
Sometimes, when composers write music based on a literary work, they do not “retell” the plot in music, but convey, for example, only the feelings of the main characters. Such software can be called psychological.
The pictorial type of programming is vividly presented in the small piano piece by the Bulgarian composer "Snowflakes".
Andante con moto  |
The theme is presented in the first twelve bars. Thin, elegant sound painting paints a picture of sparkling, fluttering snowflakes. The play is written in a simple three-movement form. The middle develops the same theme without creating a contrast. The chords are a little denser, the dynamics are slightly intensified, the pauses between phrases disappear, but in general the musical image does not change. The exact reprise is supplemented by a small coda. At the beginning of the coda, we seem to feel a slight gust of wind: a sudden four-note chord in the forte dynamics. This is a small and unexpected climax. And again shining snowflakes shimmer in the sun. The music stops.
Example plot programming you met in Razorenov's play "Two Roosters" (see).
And in the already mentioned fairy-tale suite of Slonimsky, the programming is of a mixed type. On the one hand, there is a detailed written plot. On the other hand, almost all plays are musical pictures: crybaby princess portrait, witch portrait and so on. The musical plot develops not in separate pieces, but in the juxtaposition of these pieces. And it is no accident that the composer chose the form of a multi-part suite for this work.
What do you think is the difference between Tchaikovsky's piano concerto and his own symphonic fantasy "Francesca da Rimini"? Of course, you will say that in the concerto the piano is the soloist, but in fantasy it is not at all. Perhaps you already know that a concerto is a work of many parts, as musicians say, it is cyclic, and in fantasy there is only one part. But now we are not interested in this. You are listening to a piano or violin concerto, a Mozart symphony or a Beethoven sonata. While enjoying beautiful music, you can follow its development, how different musical themes replace one another, how they change, develop. Or you can reproduce in your imagination some pictures, images that sounding music. At the same time, your fantasies will certainly be different from what another person who listens to music with you imagines. Of course, it does not happen that you feel the noise of battle in the sounds of music, and someone else - an affectionate lullaby. But stormy, formidable music can evoke associations with the rampant elements, and with a storm of feelings in a person’s soul, and with a formidable roar of battle...
And in Francesca da Rimini, Tchaikovsky, by the very title, indicated exactly what his music depicts: one of the episodes of Dante's Divine Comedy. This episode tells how among the hellish whirlwinds, in the underworld, the souls of sinners rush about. Dante, who descended into hell, accompanied by the shadow of the ancient Roman poet Virgil, meets among these spirits carried by a whirlwind the beautiful Francesca, who tells him sad story his unfortunate love. The music of the extreme sections of Tchaikovsky's fantasy draws hellish whirlwinds, the middle section of the work is Francesca's sorrowful story.
There are many pieces of music in which the composer in one form or another explains their content to the listeners. So, Tchaikovsky called his first symphony "Winter Dreams". He prefaced the first part of it with the heading "Dreams on a winter road", and the second - "A gloomy land, a foggy land".
Berlioz, in addition to the subtitle "An Episode from the Life of an Artist", which he gave to his Fantastic Symphony, also set out in great detail the content of each of its five parts. This story is reminiscent of a romantic novel.
And "Francesca da Rimini", and the symphony "Winter Dreams" by Tchaikovsky, and Berlioz's Fantastic Symphony are examples of the so-called program music. You probably already understood that program music is such instrumental music, which is based on a “program”, that is, some very specific plot or image.
Programs are of different types. Sometimes the composer retells in detail the content of each episode of his work. So, for example, did Rimsky-Korsakov in his symphonic picture "Sadko" or Lyadov in "Kikimor". It happens that, referring to well-known literary works, the composer considers it sufficient only to indicate this literary source: it means that all listeners know him well. This is done in Liszt's Faust Symphony, Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet, and many other works.
There is also a different type of programming in music, the so-called pictorial, when plot outline is absent, and the music draws one image, a picture or a landscape. Such are Debussy's symphonic sketches of The Sea. There are three of them: "From dawn to noon at sea", "The play of the waves", "The conversation of the wind with the sea". And “Pictures at an Exhibition” by Mussorgsky are called so because in them the composer conveyed his impression of some of the paintings by the artist Hartmann. If you haven't heard this music yet, try to get to know it by all means. Among the pictures that inspired the composer are "Dwarf", "Old Castle", "Ballet of Unhatched Chicks", "Hut on Chicken Legs", "Bogatyr Gates in Ancient Kiev" and other characteristic and talented sketches.
L. V. Mikheeva
I don’t know if you have noticed that when you listen to music, its sounds resonate inside us not only with feelings and thoughts, but also with visual pictures. And although everyone does this in their own way, similar ideas often arise.
The fact is that music has the ability to express certain moods of people and depict many actions, phenomena of the world around us: the singing of birds, the movement of waves, the ticking of clocks, echoes, the sound of wheels, raindrops, etc., etc. Therefore, more in antiquity and in modern times early XVIII centuries - works appeared, titled by those images and plots that the composer represented when composing music. Such essays are called programs. Composers, performers, and listeners love program music; there are a great many such works.
Just don't think that program music is more meaningful and accessible than non-program music. A composer cannot compose with only notes in mind. His thoughts, feelings, imagination are quite specific images. Another thing is that instrumental music, without lyrics, is always mysterious in some way. No one, not even the composer himself, can express its content in detail in words. And thank God. Otherwise it would cease to be music. "Music begins where words end," said Robert Schumann. Therefore, even when listening to program music, do not try at all costs to present exactly what is in the title. Trust more own feelings and associations. It may seem paradoxical, but in many cases, and even in most cases, the composer first writes the music, and only then comes up with a program name for it.
M. G. Rytsareva
Origins and features of program music in creativity
romantic composers
Romanticism in music took shape under the influence of the literature of romanticism and developed in close connection with it, with literature in general. This was expressed in the appeal to synthetic genres, primarily to theatrical genres(especially opera), song, instrumental miniature, as well as in musical programming. On the other hand, the affirmation of programmaticity, as one of the brightest features of musical Romanticism, is due to the desire of progressive romantics for the concreteness of figurative expression.
Another important prerequisite is the fact that many romantic composers acted as music writers and critics (Hoffmann, Weber, Schumann, Wagner, Berlioz, Liszt, Verstovsky, etc.). Despite the inconsistency of romantic aesthetics in general, theoretical work representatives of progressive Romanticism made a very significant contribution to the development critical issues musical art (content and form in music, nationality, programming, connection with other arts, renewal of means musical expressiveness etc.), and this also influenced the program music.
Programming in instrumental music is a characteristic feature of the era of romanticism, but by no means a discovery. Musical incarnation various images and pictures of the world around, following literary program and sound imaging in the most various options can also be observed among composers of the Baroque era (for example, Vivaldi's The Four Seasons), among French keyboardists (sketches by Couperin) and virginalists in England, in the work of the Viennese classics ("program" symphonies, overtures by Haydn and Beethoven). And yet, the programmatic nature of romantic composers is on a somewhat different level. It suffices to compare the so-called genre " musical portrait» in the works of Couperin and Schumann to understand the difference.
Most often, the programming of composers of the era of romanticism is a consistent deployment in musical images of a plot borrowed from one or another literary and poetic source or created by the imagination of the composer himself. Such a plot-narrative type of programming contributed to the concretization of the figurative content of music.
So, program music is musical works that the composer has provided with a verbal program that concretizes perception. Program compositions can be associated with plots and images embodied in other forms of art, including literature and painting.
All means of musical expression in symphonic music romantics like everyone else great artist(the nature of thematism, methods of variational development, form, instrumentation, harmonic language, etc.) are always subject to the disclosure of the poetic idea and images of the program.
Program works of Schumann, Berlioz, Liszt
Robert Schumann- one of the most prominent representatives of musical romanticism in Germany.
R. Schumann has a lot of program music. If we take, for example, his piano pieces, we will find that there are 146 program pieces, and, surprisingly, the same number of non-program pieces. These are the collections "Butterflies", "Carnival", "Variations on the theme ABBEG "Kreisleriana", "Novelettes", "Children's Scenes", "Album for Youth" and others. The program pieces that are in it in these collections are very diverse. Of the symphonic program music, mention should be made of the overtures “The Bride of Messina”, “Hermann and Dorothea”, music for dramatic poem Byron "Manfred", symphonies "Spring", "Rhine" and other works.
In his work, Schumann often relied on images literary romanticism(Jean Paul and E.T.A. Hoffmann), many of his works are characterized by literary and poetic programming. Schumann often turns to a cycle of lyrical, often contrasting miniatures (for piano or voice from piano), which allow revealing a complex scale psychological states hero, constant balancing on the verge of reality and fiction. In Schumann's music, a romantic impulse alternates with contemplation, a whimsical scherzo with genre-humorous and even satirical-grotesque elements. hallmark Schumann's works is improvisational. Schumann concretized the polar spheres of his artistic worldview in the images of Florestan (the embodiment of a romantic impulse, aspirations for the future) and Euzebius (reflection, contemplation), constantly "present" in Schumann's musical and literary works as an hypostasis of the personality of the composer himself. At the center of music critical and literary activity Schumann - a brilliant critic - the fight against banality in art and life, the desire to transform life through art. Schumann created a fantastic union "David's Bund", uniting along with images real faces(N. Paganini, F. Chopin, F. Liszt, K. Schumann) also fictional characters(Florestan, Euzebius; maestro Raro as the personification of creative wisdom). The struggle between the “Davidsbündlers” and the philistines-philistines (“Philistines”) became one of the storylines program piano cycle "Carnival".
It is curious that fantasticness is combined in Carnival with a very real and even documentary basis. After all, really existing people are bred here, some - even under proper names(Chopin, Paganini). In this one can see the influence of certain portrait pieces by French harpsichordists (such as Forkeret's Couperin), that is, again, early music.
Music is psychological. It displays different contrast states and the change of these states. Schuman he was very fond of piano miniatures, as well as cycles of piano miniatures, since they can express contrast very well. Schuman refers to software. These are program plays, often associated with literary images. They all have names that are a little strange for that time - "Flash", "Why?", Variations on the theme of Abegg (this is the name of his friend's girlfriend), he used the letters of her last name as notes (A, B, E, G); "Asch" is the name of the city where she lived ex love Schuman(these letters, as keys, were included in "Carnival"). Schuman He was very fond of the carnival music, because of its diversity. For example: "Butterflies", "Hungarian Carnival", "Carnival".
"Carnival" is a suite of characteristic plays, one of the most clear examples program music in the work of Schumann. By introducing his enigmatic "Sphinxes", Schumann gave the key to reading the whole cycle as a process, and it turns out that the motley series of images is nothing but metamorphoses of a hidden, inaudible foundation, "variations without a theme" (Schumann himself used this expression, however, in relation not to "Carnival", but to "Arabesques"). The openness of some plays in context is enhanced by additional means. So, "Florestan", thanks to tonal instability and an abundance of sudden contrasts (if not to say differences) of moods, can be conditionally called a development without a theme. And "Reply" is very reminiscent of a lyrical summarizing postlude or codette. The content of the process carried out in "Carnival" can be characterized as a gradual increase in humanity and sincerity of expression in the conditions of the carnival-game world. Here, for the first time, the principle of the through development of the contrast ratio of two images is outlined, which later will become the main one in "Kreislerian". A pair of masks ("Pierrot" - "Harlequin"), then fictional characters ("Eusebius" - "Florestan"), then real people ("Chopin" - "Estrella") - all this forms the corresponding parallel lines of intonational development.
A number of cycles that grew up on a dance basis were completed by the “Dances of the Davidsbündlers” (in the second edition the word “dances” disappeared), where Schumann unfolds before us a whole series of portraits of only two heroes (Florestan and Eusebius, who came out of the “Carnival”). words, trying to convey his own world in all its fullness and elusive variability. In "Davidsbündler" Schumann returns to the open form almost in pure form and creates her most bright pattern. From this point of view, it is interesting to look at the end of the cycle: after the (seventeenth) piece, which could claim the role of the finale (the summing up character of the intonations, the reminiscence of the second piece), another one follows. Schumann follows here not a formal-logical constructive principle, but the desire to say in the end the most intimate, personal.
Another interesting example is "Fantastic Pieces". Perhaps this is the first of Schumann's cycles, the plays of which (precisely due to the completeness of development and completeness of form) may well exist, be performed and thought separately, outside the cycle. At the same time, the cycle as a whole gives one of the most expressive examples of open dramaturgy that does not know clearly fixed boundaries (“from” and “to”), he embodies the romantic kaleidoscopicity of “Butterflies” at a new stage.
The internal fullness of development and the new quality of the form are noticeably manifested even in such an open miniature as "Why?"
Historical role Hector Berlioz is to create a programmatic symphony of a new type. The pictorial descriptiveness characteristic of Berlioz's symphonic thinking, plot specificity, along with other factors (such as the intonational origins of music, the principles of orchestration, etc.) make the composer a characteristic phenomenon of French national culture.
All Berlioz's symphonies have a program name - "Fantastic", "Funeral-Triumphal", "Harold in Italy", "Romeo and Juliet". In addition to those named, he has works of less defined genres, but based on a symphony.
Programming, as the leading creative principle of Berlioz, leads to a new interpretation of the symphonic cycle. First of all, the number of parts of the cycle is dictated not so much by the established traditions of classical symphony, but by this particular program idea.
The unifying beginning in the symphonic cycle of Berlioz is usually one theme that runs through all parts and characterizes main image is the character of the symphony. This theme, which permeates the entire cycle, is the leitmotif of the symphony. Such is the motive of the beloved in the Fantastic Symphony, or the motive of Harold in the symphony Harold in Italy. The great symphony adagio drawing a love scene. At the same time, Berlioz's symphonic cycle lacks the unity and integrity of Beethoven's symphonic cycle. Separate parts of the symphony, following one after another, represent a series of colorful and externally connected musical pictures and images, consistently revealing all the main vicissitudes of the chosen program. In the dramaturgy of the symphony, that dynamically purposeful, conflicting development of a single idea is no longer present, which is inherent in Beethoven's symphonism. Peculiarity creative method Berlioz's pictorial descriptiveness determines just such an interpretation of the symphonic cycle. But at the same time, monumentality, democracy, civic pathos connect Berlioz's symphony with the Beethoven tradition.
Fantastic symphony is the first major work Berlioz, in which he reached full creative maturity. It had a program subtitle - "An episode from the life of an artist." In romantic-fantastic colors, the symphony depicts the love experiences of the artist, that is, Berlioz himself, suffering from unrequited love for Harriet Smithson.
Paganini, delighted with the Fantastic Symphony, ordered a viola concerto from Berlioz, but Berlioz approached the order from the other side - this is how the symphony with the solo viola "Harold in Italy" was written.
The participation of soloists and the choir brings the Romeo and Juliet symphony closer to opera-oratorio-cantata genres. Therefore, the symphony is called dramatic. Obviously, Berlioz here followed the path of Beethoven with his 9th symphony, where the choir enters in the finale, but here the vocal element is present throughout the entire symphony. The last movement - Father Lorenzo and the choir of reconciliation - could well have been opera stage. Along with this, the key moments of the action of the tragedy are revealed by purely symphonic means - a street fight at the beginning of the symphony, a night of love, a scene in Juliet's crypt. The special program concept of the symphony forced Berlioz to resolutely depart from the classical symphonic tradition and create a multi-movement work, where the structure is determined by the sequence of events in the development of the plot. And yet in the middle parts of the symphony (Night of Love and Fairy Mab) one can see connections with symphonic adagios and scherzos. Romeo and Juliet by Berlioz surpasses everything that existed before in the symphonic field in size.
Being an active and staunch promoter of software in music, a close and organic connection between music and other arts (poetry, painting), Franz Liszt especially persistently and fully implemented this leading creative principle in symphonic music.
Among the entire symphonic work of Liszt, two program symphonies– “After reading Dante” and “Faust”, which are high examples of program music. Liszt is also the creator of a new genre, the symphonic poem, which is a synthesis of music and literature. The genre of the symphonic poem has become a favorite among composers different countries and received great development and original creative implementation in the Russian classical symphony of the second half XIX century. The prerequisites for the genre were examples of free form by F. Schubert (piano fantasy "Wanderer"), R. Schumann, F. Mendelssohn ("Hybrids"), later R. Strauss, Scriabin, Rachmaninov turned to the symphonic poem. The main idea of such a work is to convey a poetic idea through music.
Liszt's twelve symphonic poems constitute an excellent monument of program music, in which musical images and their development are associated with a poetic or moral-philosophical idea. The symphonic poem "What is heard on the mountain" based on the poem by V. Hugo embodies the romantic idea of opposing the majestic nature to human sorrows and suffering. The symphonic poem "Tasso", written on the occasion of the celebration of the centennial anniversary of the birth of Goethe, depicts the suffering of the Italian Renaissance poet Torquato Tasso during his lifetime and the triumph of his genius after death. As the main theme of the work, Liszt used the song of the Venetian gondoliers, performed to the words of the opening stanza of Tasso's main work, the poem "Jerusalem Liberated".
The symphonic poem "Preludes" was originally written independently of Lamartine, as an introduction to four male choirs to texts by Joseph Autrans. Only when reworking the "Preludes" into an independent symphonic poem, Liszt, after some searches for a program, settled on Lamartine's poem "Poetic Reflections" (" Meditations poetiques ”), which, as it seemed to him, is most suitable for the music of the poem. Precisely because the program was found by Liszt after the end of the poem, there is no complete correspondence between Liszt's Preludes and Lamartine's poem. In the poem, human life is compared to a series of preludes to death, while Liszt has a completely different concept. It not only lacks the image of death, but, on the contrary, it expresses the affirmation of life, the joy of earthly existence.
Liszt's symphonic poem "Orpheus" was originally conceived as an overture to the Weimar production of Gluck's opera "Orpheus". In this poem, Liszt embodied famous myth about the Thracian singer not in a consistent plot, but in a generalized philosophical way. For Liszt, in this case, Orpheus is a generalized symbol of art, "pouring its melodic waves, its powerful chords," as the program says.
You can also name other symphonic poems by Liszt - "Prometheus", "Festive Bells", "Mazeppa", "Lament for a Hero", "Hungary", "Hamlet" and others.
It was important for Liszt not so much to convey in music the consistent development of the plot of the chosen program, but to embody the general poetic idea leading the poetic images by means of musical art. Unlike the works of Berlioz, in symphonic works Liszt, the pre-sent program is not a presentation of the plot, but only conveys the general mood, often even limited to one title, the title of the work or its separate parts. It is characteristic that the program of Liszt's works is not only literary and poetic images, but also works of fine arts in which there is no fluttering plot-narration, as well as various landscapes and natural phenomena.
In some of Liszt's symphonic works, the principle of monothematism is used, that is, the technique of drawing one theme or group of themes through the entire work, which undergoes variational transformations up to a radical change in image. The reception of monothematism is especially consistently carried out in the symphonic poems "Tasso" and "Preludes", where variational transformations of one theme (even one intonation) express different stages of the development of an idea. Such a variational development of the theme leads to its powerful heroic assertion at the end of the work. Hence the solemn codes-apotheoses of a march-like character, characteristic of Liszt.
In the three-movement symphony "Faust", the third movement ("Mephistopheles") is an interesting transformation of all the themes of the first movement ("Faust"). Philosophical, pathetic, lyrical, heroic themes acquire in the finale a grotesque, mockingly sarcastic character, corresponding to the image of Mephistopheles, in the ideological concept of Liszt meaning the “wrong side” of Faust, a skeptical denial of everything noble and sublime, the overthrow of high ideals. By the way, this is reminiscent of Berlioz's technique in the finale of the Fantastic Symphony, where it is subjected to distortion lyrical theme love.
There is also a lot of program music in the works of other romantics - F. Mendelssohn (including program concert overtures), E. Grieg ("Poetic Pictures", "Humoresques", suites "Peer Gynt", "From the Time of Holberg") and others. In Russian music, the brightest examples of programming are cycles piano pieces"Pictures at an Exhibition" by M.P. Mussorgsky and "The Seasons" by P.I. Tchaikovsky.
Romanticism left a whole era in the world artistic culture, its representatives in literature, fine arts and music discovered and developed new genres, paid close attention to the destinies human personality, revealed the dialectic of good and evil, skillfully revealed human passions, etc.
The work of romantic composers was often the antithesis of the petty-bourgeois atmosphere of the 1820s and 1840s. It called to the world of high humanity, sang the beauty and power of feeling. Hot passion, proud masculinity, subtle lyricism, capricious variability of an endless stream of impressions and thoughts - character traits music of composers of the era of romanticism, clearly manifested in instrumental program music.
