Buffoons, wandering actors of Ancient Rus' - singers, wits, musicians, performers of scenes, animal trainers, acrobats. Their detailed description is given by V. Dal: "Buffoon, buffoon, musician, piper, miracle worker, bagpiper, guslar, who trades in dancing with songs, jokes and tricks, actor, comedian, amusing man, teddy bear, cracker, jester". Known since the 11th century, they gained particular popularity in the 15th-17th centuries.
They were persecuted by the church and civil authorities. A popular character in Russian folklore, the protagonist of many folk sayings: “Every buffoon has his own hooters”, “The buffoon’s wife is always cheerful”, “The buffoon will tune his voice to the horns, but he won’t suit his life”, “Don’t teach me to dance, I’m a buffoon myself” , “Buffoons fun, Satan’s joy”, “God gave the priest, the devil of a buffoon”, “Buffoon is not a friend of the priest”, “And the buffoon cries at a different time”, etc. The time of their appearance in Russia is unclear. They are mentioned in the original Russian chronicle as participants in the princely fun. The meaning and origin of the word "buffoon" itself has not yet been clarified. A.N. Veselovsky explained it with the verb "skomati", which meant to make noise, later he suggested a permutation in this name from the Arabic word "mashara", meaning a disguised jester. A.I.Kirpichnikov and Golubinsky believed that the word "buffoon" comes from the Byzantine "skommarkh", in translation - the master of laughter. This point of view was defended by scholars who believed that buffoons in Rus' originally came from Byzantium, where "jokers", "fools" and "laughers" played a prominent role in folk and court life. In 1889 A.S. Famintsyn's book Skomorokhi in Rus' was published. The definition given by Famintsyn to buffoons as professional representatives of secular music in Russia since ancient times, who were often singers, musicians, mimes, dancers, clowns, improvisers, etc., was included in the Small Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron (1909). centuries, at the courts of the first German rulers there were jokers, clowns and fools who wore a variety of Greco-Roman nicknames, they were most often called "jugglers". They began to gather in troupes - "colleges", headed by archimims. Often they were identified with charlatans, magicians, healers, mendicant priests. Usually they were participants in feasts, wedding and funeral rites, and various holidays. A distinctive feature of the Byzantine and Western deceivers was a wandering lifestyle. All of them were people who were passing, wandering from place to place, in connection with which they acquired in the eyes of the people the significance of experienced, knowledgeable, resourceful people. During their wanderings around the wide world, both Byzantine and Western "jolly people" entered Kyiv and other Russian cities. About buffoons as gifted singers, storytellers, a lot of evidence has been preserved in ancient writing. In particular, they are mentioned in the Tale of Bygone Years (1068). In Rus', as in Byzantium and in the West, buffoons formed artels, or squads, and wandered around in “bands” for their trade. “Regardless of whether the art of the buffoons of Russia came from Byzantium or from the West,” Famintsyn emphasized, “it was already in the 11th century. rooted in the everyday life of Russian folk life. From that time on, it can be considered as a phenomenon that has acclimatized and adopted an independent development here, taking into account local conditions and the nature of the Russian people. In addition to wandering buffoons, there were sedentary buffoons, mostly boyars and princes. The folk comedy owes much to the latter. Buffoons also appeared in the form of puppeteers. Performances of puppet comedy, constantly accompanied by showing a bear and a “goat”, which beat the “spoons” all the time, were given in Rus' for a long time. The comedian put on a skirt with a hoop in the hem, then lifted it up, covering his head, and from behind this impromptu curtain showed his performance. Later, the puppeteers staged everyday fairy tales and songs. Thus, the puppet comedy, as well as the performance of household farces by the mummers, was an attempt at an original reworking of various elements of the drama contained in Russian folk poetry or brought in from outside. “We also had our own“ mummers ”-buffoons, our mastersingers -“ passerby kaliks ”, they carried“ acting ”and songs about the events of the“ great turmoil ”, about“ Ivashka Bolotnikov ”, about battles, victories and death throughout the country Stepan Razin" (M. Gorky, On Plays, 1937). Another version of the origin of the term "buffoon" belongs to N.Ya. Marr. He established that, according to the historical grammar of the Russian language, "buffoon" is the plural of the word "skomorosi" (skomrasi), which goes back to the Proto-Slavic forms. Further, he traces the Indo-European root of this word, common to all European languages, namely the word "scomors-os", which was originally called a wandering musician, dancer, comedian. From here come the origins of the independent Russian term "buffoon", which exists in parallel in European languages when designating folk comic characters: the Italian "scaramuccia" ("scaramuccia") and the French "scaramouche". Marr's point of view completely coincides with the position accepted in art history that memes are a phenomenon of an international order. As applied to Russian buffoons, Marr's concept allows us to speak of their original emergence on the basis of the professionalization of participants in the pagan religious rites of the ancient Slavs, invariably accompanied by music, singing, and dancing.
Buffoons are mentioned in various Russian epics. Byzantine historian of the 7th century. Theophylact writes about the love of the northern Slavs (Vendi) for music, mentioning the citharas invented by them, i.e. harp. The harp as an indispensable accessory of buffoons is mentioned in old Russian songs and epics of the Vladimir cycle. In the historical aspect, buffoons are known primarily as representatives of folk musical art. They become regular participants in village holidays, city fairs, perform in boyar mansions and even penetrate into church rituals. As evidenced by the resolution of the Stoglavy Cathedral directed against buffoons in 1551, their gangs reach "up to 60-70 and up to 100 people." Princely fun is depicted in the frescoes of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv (1037). On one of the frescoes there are three dancing buffoons, one solo, two others in pairs, and one of them either parodies a female dance, or performs something similar to a “kinto” dance with a handkerchief in his hand. On the other, three musicians - two play the horns, and one - the harp. There are also two equilibrist acrobats: an adult standing up supports a pole along which a boy climbs. Nearby is a musician with a stringed instrument. The fresco depicts the baiting of a bear and squirrels or hunting for them, the fight of a man with a costumed beast, equestrian competitions; in addition, the hippodrome - the prince and princess and their retinue, the audience in the boxes. In Kyiv, apparently, there was no hippodrome, but there were equestrian competitions and baiting of animals. The artist depicted the Hippodrome, wishing to give his fresco greater pomp and solemnity. Thus, the performances of buffoons united different types of arts - both dramatic and circus. It is known that back in 1571 they recruited "merry people" for state entertainment, and at the beginning of the 17th century the troupe of the troupe was at the Amusement Chamber, built in Moscow by Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. Then at the beginning of the 17th century. buffoon troupes were with the princes Ivan Shuisky, Dmitry Pozharsky and others. The buffoons of Prince Pozharsky often went around the villages "for their trade." As medieval jugglers were divided into feudal jugglers and folk jugglers, Russian buffoons were also differentiated. But the circle of "court" buffoons in Russia remained limited, in the end their functions were reduced to the role of domestic jesters. Their appearance spoke of engaging in "demonic" craft, they dressed in short-brimmed caftans, and wearing short-brimmed clothes in Rus' was considered a sin. Also, in their speeches, they often resorted to masks, although back in the 9th century. the disguise was strongly condemned by the church, and they used foul language in their speeches. With all their everyday behavior, buffoons opposed themselves to the generally accepted way of old Rus', in their work they were conductors of opposition sentiments. Guselnik-buffoons not only played their instruments, but at the same time "said" works of Russian folk poetry. Acting as singers and dancers, they at the same time amused the crowd with their antics and gained a reputation as witty jesters. In the course of their speeches, they also introduced "colloquial" numbers and became popular satirists. In this capacity, buffoons played a huge role in the formation of Russian folk drama. The German traveler Adam Olearius, who visited Russia in the 1630s, in his famous Description of a Journey to Muscovy ... talks about buffoonish amusements: “Shameful deeds are sung by street violinists in the streets, while other comedians show them in their puppet shows for the money of common youth and even children, and the leaders of the bears have with them such comedians who, by the way, can immediately present some kind of joke or prank, like ... the Dutch with the help of dolls. To do this, they tie a sheet around the body, lift its free side up and arrange something like a stage above their heads, from which they walk the streets and show various performances from dolls on it. Attached to the story of Olearius is a picture depicting one of such performances of puppet comedians, in which one can recognize the scene “how a gypsy sold a horse to Petrushka”. Buffoons as actors appear in many epics of the North. The epic Vavilo and buffoons are known, the plot of which is that the buffoons invite the plowman Vavila to buffalo with them and put him in the kingdom. Researchers of epics ascribe to buffoons a significant share in the composition of epics and attribute many, especially amusing buffoon stories, to their work. It should be noted that, along with buffoons-players by profession, amateur singers from among noble persons of princely and boyar families are also mentioned in epics. Such singers were Dobrynya Nikitich, Stavr Godinovich, Nightingale Budimirovich, Sadko mentioned in the epics. Playing musical instruments, songs and dances were linked with the customs of the folk masquerade. Ritual dressing of men into women and vice versa has been known since antiquity. The people did not give up their habits, their favorite Christmas entertainments, the ringleaders of which were buffoons. Tsar Ivan the Terrible, during his feasts, liked to disguise himself and dance with buffoons. During the 16-17 centuries. organs, violins and trumpets appeared at the court, the performance on them was also mastered by buffoons. Around the middle of the 17th century. wandering gangs are gradually leaving the stage, and sedentary buffoons are more or less retraining as musicians and stage figures in a Western European way. From that time on, the buffoon becomes an obsolete figure, although certain types of his creative activity continued to live among the people for a very long time. So, the buffoon-singer, performer of folk poetry, gives way to representatives of the emerging from the end of the 16th century. poetry; a living memory of him was preserved among the people - in the person of the storytellers of epics in the North, in the form of a singer or bandura player in the South. The buffoon-gudets (guselnik, domrachi, bagpiper, surnachi), a dance player turned into an instrumental musician. Among the people, his successors are folk musicians, without whom not a single folk festival can do. The buffoon-dancer turns into a dancer, leaving in turn traces of his art in folk daring dances. The buffoon-laugher turned into an artist, but the memory of him survived in the form of Christmas fun and jokes. Famintsyn concludes his book of Skomorokhs in Rus' with the words: “No matter how crude and elementary the art of buffoons may be, one should not lose sight of the fact that it represented the only form of entertainment and joy that corresponded to the tastes of the people for many centuries, replacing completely the latest literature, the latest stage shows. Buffoons ... were the oldest representatives of the folk epic, the folk scene in Russia; at the same time they were the only representatives of secular music in Russia…”
Songwriters-storytellers once lived in Great Rus'. They composed and sang and told epics about Russian heroes and about the life of the people: about Prince Vladimir of Kiev Krasno Solnyshko and Princess Apraksia, their mighty squad, about battles with fierce enemies, about foreign kingdoms-states. They sang about unseen miracles: the Serpent-Gorynchishche, the sea king Vodyanik with the queen Vodyanitsa, the Giant Idolische ... And an uncountable number of these epics were composed, and an infinite number of them walked around Rus'. And often the first information about their native land, about its heroes and enemies, children received from the lips of singer-storytellers.
The most famous singer of the Russian land is remembered by the people to this day - his name is Bayan.
Bayan, brothers,
not ten falcons let loose on a flock of swans,
but their prophetic fingers
he laid on living strings;
They themselves rumbled glory to the princes.
This is how the famous Tale of Igor's Campaign tells about Bayan. The storyteller was skillful, and the strings on his miraculous instrument were "alive" - they themselves sang the glory of the Great Rulers.
And that instrument was very ancient - its history has more than 14 centuries. Its name comes from the ancient Slavic word "thick" - to buzz, and a string was buzzing in it, which was called "gusla". So the buzzing, talking strings got their name - "harp".
The strings were stretched on a special box, similar to a small trough. In order for the strings to sound louder, louder, “violently”, the box was covered with a special lid-deck made of leather or wood.
“I’ll take a sonorous, yarovchaty harp and set the harp in the old way, start the old times, the old story about the deeds of the Slavic Russian hero Dobrynya Nikitich. Silence to the blue sea, and obedience to people ”- this is how the famous epic about Dobryn Nikitich begins. And they sang and told that epic to the accompaniment of the sonorous harp.
The sonorous harp is similar to the wing of a bird, or to a geometric figure - a trapezoid. The singers put the harp on their knees, tilting them to the left. The strings were plucked either with both hands, or only with the right hand, while the left at that moment gently muffled the strings. Later, the sound began to be extracted with a plectrum, or pick, which made the sound brighter. The sonorous harp was played both with rattling, like on a balalaika, and in “waves”, like on a harp. Several gusli playing wonderful music together were never called an ensemble, but they spoke of them as people who sing in unison, they said so - a harp choir.
Slowly the epic about Dobryn Nikitich affects: “And for twelve years he played the harp. He played the harp, composed songs ...
The sonorous harp has glorious descendants - plucked and keyboard harps. The plucked harp combine elements of the harp, ancient Slavic harp and cymbals. From the latter, they adopted a body on four legs, similar to a table. Metal strings of different lengths and thicknesses give the musician a huge creative scope: any sounds - from the lowest to the highest - easily come out from under the magic fingers of the harpman, who pluck the strings with both hands.
Keyboard harp is akin to a piano, and they appeared quite recently - less than a century ago. In appearance and structure, they look like plucked harps, but the strings are strictly horizontal, and on the left is a piano keyboard of just one octave. Most often, these harps are played with chords: the keys are pressed with the left hand, and the opened strings are sorted with the right hand with the help of a plectrum.
Gusli is considered the main decoration of the orchestra of Russian folk instruments. Thanks to the harp, folk music sounds as loud and voluminous as it did many centuries ago. And the harp players always sit right in the center, as if leading an orchestra, showing respect to such an ancient and so respected instrument in Rus'.
It developed primarily as vocal music. Its origins are in Russian folk song. The whole life of the people (work, life, faith, etc.) was reflected in the folk song. Of the most ancient songs, lullabies and calendar songs are known (pagan songs associated with the seasons - spring songs, etc.). They have a narrow range.
It developed primarily as vocal music. Its origins are in Russian folk song. The whole life of the people (work, life, faith, etc.) was reflected in the folk song. Of the most ancient songs, lullabies and calendar songs are known (pagan songs associated with the seasons - spring songs, etc.). They have a narrow range.9-12 centuries - the time of Kievan Rus. In 988 Rus' adopted Christianity. It came from Byzantium. 3 main centers of musical culture were formed:
1) Folk song. In the folk song there is a connection with paganism. Talented people stood out from the people - buffoons. They amused the people, performing not only musical numbers, but also circus ones. They were persecuted by the church. The Church did not approve of instrumental music. She recognized only vocal-spiritual music.
2) Prince's court. Here the central figure was the singer-storyteller, who composed and sang songs and epics about the military exploits of the prince and his squad. He accompanied himself on the harp. At court, other instruments were also used - domra, horns, beep (a string instrument with 3 strings and a bow).
3) Church. This is the most important focus. Developed writing, iconography. The “znamenny chant” appeared (11-17 centuries). These are prayer-chants, which were performed by the male choir in unison. By nature - harsh tunes with a smooth melody and a narrow range. These chants were recorded with banners (signs), some of which are hooks. They did not indicate the exact pitch, but only the direction of the melody (up or down). These chants were composed by chanting monks. The most famous of them are Fyodor Krestyanin (one of the most famous works is “Stikhira”), Savva Rogov. The texts were first translated from Byzantine. In the 16th century, Ivan IV (the Terrible) himself wrote Znamenny chants. In the future, Znamenny chant became one of the sources of Russian musical classics (Rakhmaninov, Mussorgsky, and others).
In the 12th-15th centuries, the principality of Novgorod stood out. Here the art of music was somewhat different. The people lived well. Buffoonery flourished (here it was not persecuted by the church). Epics were composed, but they glorified not the exploits of the prince, but dexterity, ingenuity.
Late 14th - 16th centuries - the time of Muscovite Rus'. At this time, Ivan Kalita, Dmitry Donskoy, Ivan the Terrible (16th century), who united Rus' and took Kazan from the Tatars, ruled. Songs and epics were composed about the capture of Kazan. At the court of Ivan IV, music was greatly developed. From abroad, he brought an organ, clavichords, and created the "Choir of State Singers". This is the heyday of Znamenny singing. The worship services were pompous. At the same time, the first Russian polyphony appeared (znamenny chant - monophony). Line singing began to appear - the main voice and voices lower and higher from the main voice. Clerk Ivan Shaydurov introduced a new notation - "cinnabar marks", in which the pitch of the sound was already fixed. The recording has become more perfect.
Znamenny chant disappeared in the 17th century. 1613 - the beginning of the Romanov dynasty (Mikhail). The Russian nation is taking shape. There are popular riots. All this life was reflected in folk songs - freemen songs, satirical songs. A new genre arose - a lyrical folk song (lyrical lingering). These are, first of all, songs about a difficult female lot (slow, expressive, suffering). One of the brightest examples of this genre is the song “Luchinushka”.
Russian polyphony developed. This is largely due to the fact that Ukraine joined Russia, which was influenced by Polish Catholic music (choral singing). “Partes singing” developed - singing in parts. The highest genre of partes singing is a spiritual choral concert. This is a grandiose choral work for many voices (chord thinking). There must have been no tools. Partesnye concerts were written by Vasily Titov (he wrote a concerto in honor of the Poltava victory - 12 voices), Nikolai Bavykin.
In the 17th century, new secular genres arose - cantes and psalms (the only difference was in the text). In the cants there is a secular text, and in the psalms there is a spiritual text. These genres have their own characteristics - 3 voices, in which the 2 upper voices are parallel, and the bass is the harmonic basis. Cantes were very common in the 18th century - in the era of Peter I. Then panegyric cants (laudatory) appeared in honor of the victories of Peter I. They had fourth-quint intonations and were energetic. The form in them is couplet. The cants later influenced Russian music: Glinka - the final choir of Ivan Susanin ("Glory") - 3 voices, cant style (has the features of an anthem and a march); this is also manifested in the finale of Glazunov's symphony.
Musical notation on five rulers in square notes came from Ukraine to Russia. The pinnacle of the development of the partes style is the sacred choral concerts of Berezovsky and Bortnyansky. Berezovsky is a serf musician. He was very talented. For his great talent he was sent to Italy. There he studied with Padre Martini (Mozart's teacher). His life was tragic. When in Italy he was already at the height of his fame, his prince suddenly remembered that he had a serf in Italy and demanded that he be sent to Russia. Berezovsky could not bear such grief and committed suicide. Berezovsky's choral concertos are at a very high technical level, comparable to Mozart's. He had tremendous harmonic and polyphonic skill. His concerts consist of various contrasting parts (fugues come across among them). A particularly popular concert is “Do not open me in old age” (address to God).
Dmitry Bortnyansky lived until the first half of the 19th century. He wrote not only wind, but also instrumental music - sonatas, etc. He is a more lyrical composer than Berezovsky (Berezovsky has more drama).
18 century. Bright time. Century of Peter I and Catherine II. Russia at that time was undergoing violent upheavals and reforms. The first Russian Academy of Sciences was opened. The heyday of various types of art: science - Lomonosov, the heyday of literature - Trediakovsky, Radishchev, Lotonovsky. The heyday of painting - portraits. It began with the reforms of Peter. Peter established assemblies in which dances, then fashionable in Europe, and instrumental music were performed. Each regiment had its own brass band. Of the musical genres, cantes (panegyric) in honor of military victories, spiritual concerts, Vedel (composer) spread. The folk song was widely spread. She became interested in the city. The first collections of folk songs appear (towards the end of the 18th century):
Collection of Trutovsky
Lvov and Prach - Collection of folk songs.
Kirsha Danilov - Collection of folk songs.
and others. Folk songs in them were processed in a Western manner - they were harmonized with Albertian basses, they squeezed the music into a certain time signature (in folk music there was a frequent change in time signatures) - for home music-making. The first Russian operas (late 18th century) were composed from Russian folk songs. They (operas) consisted of separate numbers with colloquial dialogues. The first Russian opera without spoken dialogue is Glinka's Ivan Susanin.
In 1779, 3 Russian operas appeared at once. The first operas were comic.
1. "The miller is a sorcerer, a deceiver and a matchmaker." Ablesimov's text. The music was composed by Sokolovsky (arranged folk themes).
2. "St. Petersburg Gostiny Dvor". Text and music by Maatinsky. 2nd edition with Pashkevich.
Evstigney Fomin stood out among theatrical composers. He wrote the melodrama "Orpheus" (French genre). This is the reading of a tragedy to music with musical inserts. The music shocked the listener with its drama. There is an overture. Written in the spirit of the Viennese classics. Inside there is a resemblance to Gluck and Handel - sublime music.
In the 18th century, folk song spread to instrumental music as well. Composers wrote variations on folk themes, but the musical material often did not correspond to the nature of the variation, since the variation was done in a Western way - classical ornamental variations. Only Glinka solved this problem.
The second important genre of instrumental creativity is overtures, in which Russian symphonism was born, but overtures were not independent, but as an overture to an opera or melodrama. Russian material also began to penetrate into them, but not always.
Russian music of the early 19th century before Glinka
At the beginning of the century, the first Russian concert organization, the Philharmonic Society, was opened. But the main concert life was concentrated in secular salons. There were also many fortress orchestras and theaters. Delvig's (poet) salon was very popular. It was visited by Pushkin, Glinka, Griboyedov and others.
In the 19th century, there were various artistic trends: sentimentalism, romanticism (especially in Zhukovsky's poetry), classicism. All these tendencies merged together in the work of Pushkin, who had a great influence on the entire artistic life of the first half of the 19th century.
The two main genres of the early 19th century were opera and romance.
Operas became more diverse in genres - not only comic, but also with an element of seriousness. Composer of Italian origin Caterino Cavos was the first to write the opera "Ivan Susanin". This opera was with spoken dialogues. Susanin in it has a domestic character. In the opera, a happy ending (Happy End).
A new genre appeared - fairy-tale-fantastic opera. The first of them is "Lesta - Dnieper Mermaid". The authors are Kavos and Davydov. The music is based on Russian folk material. From here, the path to the "Mermaid" by Dargomyzhsky (in the genre sense) can be traced.
In the 30s - the genre of "romantic opera". A great master of this genre was Verstovsky - "Pan Tvardovsky", "Vadim" (according to Zhukovsky) and the especially popular "Askold's Grave" (a plot from ancient Rus'). This opera was staged even after the appearance of Glinka. It was staged a year before Glinka's "Ivan Susanin" - in 1835 ("Ivan Susanin" - 1836).
The second popular genre of the first third of the 19th century was romance. It was a favorite genre of both professionals and just music lovers. In these romances, vivid emotionality and expressiveness have accumulated. Romances were written by both professionals and amateurs to the verse of contemporary poets.
Russian everyday romance has stable features. They could be written in the elegy genre with extended accompaniment. This romance is a philosophical reflection.
Another variety is the “Russian song”. It arose first in poetry and had a certain vocabulary, close to folk speech. This genre also appeared in the romance (with similar vocabulary). Such romances were distinguished by greater simplicity in music than other romances.
Composers of romances widely used the rhythm of waltz, mazurka, bolero, polonaise. Russian romances were characterized by melodious melodies, often with the use of a sixth (from the 5th to the 3rd century). Minor dominated with a mandatory deviation to parallel major. In cadenzas, D7 with a sixth was often used. The most popular authors of romances were: Zhilin, Titov, Gurilev, Varlamov, Alyabyev. Forms of romances are simple - couplet. Alyabyev - "The Nightingale", Varlamov - "The lonely sail turns white" (with the rhythm of a polonaise), Gurilev - "Tiny House".
- Folklore (from English, folklore - "folk wisdom", "folk knowledge").
- Bylina is both a fairy tale and a reflection of an episode from Russian history; it combines reality and fiction. The epics often glorified the courage of the Kyiv heroes - Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich, Alyosha Popovich. Peaceful laborers-farmers were also sung, for example, Mikula Selyaninovich.
- Buffoons were not only musicians. They combined the ability to sing and play various instruments with the skill of a dancer and acrobat, trainer and magician.
- Polonaise (from the French polonaise - "Polish") - an old dance of Polish origin, a solemn procession at a pace of a somewhat accelerated step. Anglaise (from the French anglaise; danse anglaise - "English dance") is the common name for English folk dances that spread in Europe in the 17th-19th centuries.
- Chapel (from Italian capel-1а - "chapel") - in the Middle Ages, a place in the Catholic Church where musicians were placed. With the development of secular music, this word has come to mean a group of musicians who are in the service in one place.
- "Internationale" (French "L" lnternationale", t lat. inter - "between" and ratio - "people") - proletarian anthem. Words by Eugene Pottier, music by Pierre Degeyter. For the first time, "The Internationale" was performed by the Lille choir of workers in 1888 In the 1920s in Russia, concerts and theatrical performances often began and ended with choral singing of the Internationale.
- Cantata (Italian, cantata; from Latin canto - "sing") and oratorio (Italian oratorio; from Latin th - "I say", "I pray") are large vocal and instrumental works for soloists, choir and orchestra. The oratorio is more monumental than the cantata, it has an epic-dramatic character and plot.
Listen: maybe even now, when you read this book, you can hear the sounds of music... Nowadays, it is not difficult to get acquainted with music of various styles. It is enough to turn on the TV or radio, purchase an audio cassette or CD, and you can enjoy any piece of music - no matter where and when it was created.
But it was not always so. Back in the 19th century people could only listen to "live" music - the one that sounded around them on the days of court celebrations or folk festivals, in a secular salon or on a village mound.
MUSIC IN THE PAGAN RITES OF THE EASTERN SLAVES
The musical culture of any country is rooted in folk art, or folklore.
Not much is known about the most ancient East Slavic music (see the article "Slavs - a family of kindred peoples") - mainly from archaeological excavations and individual historical evidence. So, for example, the Byzantine historian of the VI century. mentions three captured Slavic gusli - which means that the harp was already at that time a musical instrument of the Slavs.
In ancient Rus', folk songs were widely distributed, which are associated with pagan beliefs and rituals. That's what they were called - ceremonial. The Slavs attached particular importance to the change of seasons. The transition of the sun from winter to summer, the beginning of spring, the summer flowering of grasses - all this was celebrated. Such annual holidays were called calendar holidays. The songs performed during these holidays are also called.
And today one of the favorite calendar rituals in Rus' lives on - the Maslenitsa holiday. Shrove week sees off the winter. Round golden pancakes, which are baked in abundance at this time, depict the sun, giving life to all nature. The more pancakes you eat, the more fertile the year will be. As it is sung in the carnival song:
Maslenitsa-wryneck,
We treat you well!
with pancakes
With caravans,
With dumplings!
At the end of the holiday, an effigy of Maslenitsa was made from straw. With games, dances, songs, they burned it.
The calendar songs that have survived to this day are monophonic, their melodies are made up of short chants in which the intonations of speech are heard - a quick talk or, conversely, drawling calls.
Of course, the life of a person in the family could not do without music. From time immemorial, a favorite ceremony has been a wedding. The wedding ceremony was literally played out as a theatrical performance. It consisted of many different scenes - both sad and funny. Everyone participated in this game: the bride with her friends, the groom with his friends, parents, guests. The wedding lasted several days, or even weeks. And all the while the songs were playing.
Family and everyday songs have surrounded a person since childhood: the greatness of a newborn, lullabies, children's counting rhymes, nursery rhymes, ditties. Among the ancient Slavs for many centuries, the rite of mourning and commemoration of the dead was widespread. This rite gave life to one of the most dramatic genres - lamentation. In his music one can hear intonations of sorrowful sobs, sobs:
Oh, it's like sickeningly!
Oh how the sun is setting.
Lamentations were usually performed by women, and the most skillful mourners were especially valued. Shortly before the formation of Kievan Rus, the Slavs had masculine lamentations, for example, mourning by the retinue of the deceased prince.
FOLK AND CHURCH MUSIC OF ANCIENT Rus'
Since the Baptism of Rus' at the end of the X century. Russian music was divided into two parts - folk and church. They developed in parallel, sometimes opposing each other. After the introduction of Christianity, pagan ideas about the world began to gradually become a thing of the past, and pagan rites lost their magical significance. However, they remained alive, turning into folk games dedicated to a certain time of the year or to the appropriate situation. True, they were severely condemned by the Church: until the 17th century. Church decrees and letters were issued against the "demonic" games and songs loved by the people.
The most significant phenomenon in the folk music of the era of Kievan Rus was the birth of new types of musical and poetic creativity. One of them is an epic epic (see the article "Epics" in the volume "Russian Literature", part 1, "Encyclopedias for Children").
The performers chanted the text, while improvising - changing intonation, speeding up or slowing down the pace of the narration. And since there were a lot of poems in the epic, a rich musical fantasy was required from the singers. In addition, singing was usually accompanied by playing the harp. It is the performers of epics that are considered the first professional musicians in Rus'. They were called singer-songwriters.
Such gifted singers-narrators were also found among the kalyk passersby - wandering beggars blind. But, as a rule, storytellers served at princely courts. At festive feasts, they delighted the ears of the guests, being the pride of the host. And during military campaigns they went along with the retinue, in order to later sing the valor of the Russian knights. Among them was the Kiev storyteller Boyan. Praise for his work is heard on the pages of the famous work of ancient Russian literature "The Tale of Igor's Campaign".
Interestingly, the heroes of the Novgorod epics were people endowed with musical abilities. The ability to sing and play the harp in ancient Novgorod was ranked among the high virtues of the individual. The famous gusler was the merchant Sadko. The posadnik Vasily Buslaev, who became famous for his boundless prowess and breadth of nature, was also distinguished by musicality.
Historians suggest that both Sadko and Vasily Buslaev are real people. But the stories of their destinies are often fabulous. So, for example, Sadko descends into the underwater kingdom and conquers its inhabitants with his music. In Novgorod epics, as well as in Kyiv ones, reality is generously flavored with fiction - these are the features of this genre.
Along with the art of singer-storytellers in Kievan Rus, another type of professional musical creativity was born - buffoonery.
Wandering buffoons performed before the common people, arranging performances in the streets and squares; "serving" buffoons were at the princely courts, occupying the same position as jesters in the countries of Western Europe. There were even entire buffoon settlements.
The basis of the buffoons' repertoire remained songs and dances in the folk spirit, which were accompanied by playing, as a rule, wind instruments: flutes, snuffles, dude, trumpet, horn. During excavations in Novgorod, archaeologists found a whistle - one of the predecessors of the folk violin.
In the era of the Muscovite state (XVI century), historical songs replace the epic. They describe real persons and events: the struggle against the Tatar-Mongol yoke, the defense of Moscow from the Horde, etc.
Many historical songs were created in the Cossack environment. The Cossacks glorified the exploits of their legendary heroes - Yermak Timofeevich, Stepan Razin, Emelyan Pugachev. One of the most significant phenomena in Russian historical song, the so-called Razin cycle, is connected with the uprising of Stepan Razin. The songs of this cycle were popular until the 19th century. Imbued with the spirit of the Cossack freemen, they expressed the people's age-old dream of freedom. The nature of these songs, as a rule, strong-willed, active. But sometimes lyrical notes also break through.
Lyrics penetrated into folk art around the 16th-17th centuries. It was then that the long song was born. Now it is even difficult to imagine that long-drawn songs once did not exist. After all, they are perceived as a symbol not only of Russian music, but also of the Russian character. In their slowly unfolding melodies, covering a wider and wider range, it was as if the boundless expanses of the plain landscapes were reflected.
Inescapable sadness, sadness, melancholy - these are the feelings that were "sung out" from the soul in lingering songs. They talked about hard peasant labor, and about the dashing soldier's lot, and about the bitter fate of a Russian woman. The lingering songs were sung by the soloist, other singers gradually fitted in with him - and now the choir was already sounding. But along with the lingering, incendiary dance, daring valiant ones always sounded.
For centuries, folk music was not recorded. After all, works of folk art are created and distributed orally, passed from one singer to another, from generation to generation. Only from the end of the XVIII century. connoisseurs of Russian folklore began to collect texts and melodies of folk songs. And to this day, folklore expeditions reach the most remote villages in the hope of finding and recording still unknown samples of ancient songwriting.
The situation was different in the field of church music. Already at the end of the XI century. Russian spiritual chants were recorded with special signs - banners, or hooks. Therefore, ancient musical manuscripts are called Znamenny or Kryukov. Deciphering these manuscripts, most of which are still incomprehensible to modern scientists, is one of the most difficult and fascinating tasks of modern science. However, despite this, we can imagine how the znamenny chants sounded - after all, they, like folk songs, were also transmitted orally.
Old Russian church music is choral singing without instrumental accompaniment; in the Orthodox Church it is not customary to play musical instruments. Znamenny chant was performed only by the male choir and for a long time was monophonic. It is characterized by a leisurely pace, smoothness of melodic movement - in a word, restraint and even some severity of sound.
Novgorod chanters played an important role in the development of Znamenny singing. One of them, Sav-va Rogov, in the middle of the 16th century. headed the school of Moscow singers and chanters. At that time in Moscow there was a large choir of "sovereign singing deacons", which participated in the royal services and observed the state of church singing throughout the country. There were the best singers in the choir - for example, Fyodor Krestyanin, whose works are still heard both in church and at sacred music concerts. Based on these samples, we can safely judge that it was in the 16th century. Znamenny chant reached its peak. Moscow metropolitans, and then patriarchs in the XVI-XVII centuries. contained choirs of several dozen singers.
In the 17th century, after the reunification of Ukraine with Russia, even stronger changes took place in church music. Music notation was already in use in Ukraine at that time. In Russia, she also began to displace the hook. Singing from notes (by parts) was called partes (from the late Latin partes - "voices"). The new style of church music, which eventually replaced the Znamenny chant, began to be called in the same way.
Partes singing is polyphonic. The highest achievement of this style is the choral concerto - the most complex form of Russian musical art of the 17th century. Choral concerts sounded during festive divine services. Two, three, four, and sometimes six choirs participated in their performance. But each choir itself was four-part. So the total number of votes could reach twenty-four! The choirs were located around the listeners, and their sound created an impressive stereophonic effect.
SECULAR MUSIC OF THE XVII-XVIII CENTURIES
In contacts with European culture, much (including the development of musical culture) depended on the tastes of the royal court. So, even in the reign of Ivan the Terrible, an organ was brought to Moscow. The children of Boris Godunov were already playing the harpsichord. And at the court of Alexei Mikhailovich (1645-1676), the first theater was opened, where operas were staged. However, new forms of music-making developed especially rapidly and rapidly in the era of Peter the Great's reforms.
Under Peter I (1682-1725), not a single public ceremony, not a single court holiday could do without music. By a special royal decree, brass bands were created in each regiment. They played during military parades and theatrical processions dedicated to the victories of Russian weapons. Solemn choral music also sounded here: the so-called salutatory, or vivacious, cantes (from Latin cantus - “singing”, “melody”, “song”) were sung. At the palace balls, which were then called assemblies, dances that came from Europe were performed. At first, not everyone liked them - the king had to force his subjects to dance polonaises and anglaises. But soon European dances became popular.
Official celebrations, balls and festivities were served by two court orchestras and a court choir. The example of the court was followed by large landowners and nobles. In their estates, they created orchestral and choir chapels. The chapels consisted of serfs, but their playing reached the level of professional European musicians.
Gradually, among the nobles, home amateur music-making became a custom. At home concerts, "gallant" arias and love chants were performed, often in Italian and French. They loved to sing and arrange Russian folk songs. They were performed to the accompaniment (from the French accompagne-ment - "accompaniment") of a harpsichord, harp or guitar. Learning music has become an obligatory part of the upbringing of young nobles.
Passion for European music led to the creation of the court theater of the Italian opera, in which outstanding Italian composers worked, famous Italian singers performed. Later, a French opera troupe also appeared at the court. And in the second half of the 18th century, musical theaters opened in Moscow and St. Petersburg, where the first operas by Russian composers were staged.
XIX CENTURY. THE BIRTH OF RUSSIAN MUSICAL CLASSICS
The birth of national classical music in any country occurs when composers begin to work in genres characteristic of the whole of Europe - from opera to symphony, from romance to piano miniature. In Russia, these genres were mastered in the 19th century, and since then Russian music has become an integral part of the pan-European culture, while retaining its national character.
The heroes of Russian history became the characters of many works. The ideas of patriotism also sounded in music - for example, in the oratorio "Minin and Pozharsky" by Stepan Anikievich Degtyarev (1766-1813), in the opera "Ivan Susanin" by Katerino Albertovich Kavos (1775-1840).
The Russian character is revealed not only in historical reality, but also in fairy-tale fiction. Folk tales, legends, beliefs, "traditions of ancient times" entered the work of domestic composers with the opera "Lesta, the Dnieper Mermaid". The public liked it so much that three more operas with the same name appeared in continuation of it (most of the music in them belongs to Stepan Ivanovich Davydov). The most popular fairy-tale-fantastic opera was Askbld's Grave by the then-famous romantic composer Alexei Nikolaevich Verstovsky (1799-1862). In it, a romantic love story develops against the backdrop of the legendary past of Ancient Rus' and is intertwined with ominous fantastic events.
Of course, the composers were also concerned about the spiritual life of their contemporaries. The subtlest shades of feelings are captured in the lyrical melodies of romances. Over time, they began to reflect more and more complex inner experiences, disappointment in the surrounding reality and the desire for a different, brighter life. Among the authors of famous Russian romances are composers Alexander Alexandrovich Alyabyev (1787-1851), Alexander Egorovich Varlamov (1801 - 1848), Alexander Lvovich Gurilev (1803-1858).
Creating original music, composers sought to develop a special musical language. His intonations were drawn from the melodies of folk songs, the motives of church hymns, and the sounds of bells. "The idea of writing in Russian" became decisive for the work of Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (1804-1857).
M. I. Glinka worked, it would seem, in musical genres typical of his time. He has a heroic-patriotic opera based on the historical plot "Life for the Tsar" ("Ivan Susanin"), there is an opera-tale "Ruslan and Lyudmila", there are lyrical romances. However, it is he who is called the "Pushkin of Russian Music", and the day of the premiere of the opera "A Life for the Tsar" - November 27, 1836 - is considered the birthday of Russian musical classics, because in this work Glinka for the first time in Russian music "raised the folk tune to tragedy" .
In 1862, the Free Music School began to operate in St. Petersburg, designed to spread musical education among the general population - employees, students, artisans. The school owed its appearance to another famous Russian musician - Mily Alekseevich Balakirev (1836 / 37-19Yu). He entered the history of music primarily as the founder of the creative community "Mighty Handful". The future composer and pianist came to St. Petersburg from Nizhny Novgorod at the age of 18. Broad musical erudition and bright temperament allowed him to gain great prestige among young amateur musicians. In 1856, the military engineer Caesar Antonovich Cui (1835-1918) met him, a year later - an officer of the Preobrazhensky Regiment Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (1839-1881). In 1861, Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), a 17-year-old graduate of the Marine Gentry Cadet Corps, joined them, and in 1862, Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin (1833-1887), professor of chemistry, joined them. So there was a circle of five novice composers. An outstanding literary and musical critic, a great connoisseur of art, Vladimir Vasilievich Stasov (1804-1906), had close creative relations with them. It was his expression, used in one of the articles - "a small but already mighty bunch of Russian musicians" - that was assigned to the commonwealth as a name.
At meetings of the circle, composers paid much attention to the study of both the best works of the European classical heritage and modern music. Communication for young musicians was not only a school of professional skill; here their social outlook and aesthetic principles were formed. Members of the "Mighty Handful" continued the work of M. I. Glinka: the life of the people became the main theme of their work.
The composers of the "Mighty Handful" sought to create music that is accessible and understandable to a wide range of people. Therefore, they preferred to refer to genres associated with the word. These were opera and romance, as well as program instrumental compositions that have prototypes in works of literature or painting.
A special place in Russian music of the second half of the 19th century. occupies the work of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893). The brilliant gift of this composer manifested itself primarily in the reflection of the inner world of man. The symphonies of P. I. Tchaikovsky, his operas and romances can shock with the depth of tragedy and at the same time arouse reverent delight with their perfection.
MUSIC OF THE XX CENTURY
The turn of the XIX-XX centuries. - a special period for Russian culture. This time is imbued with a sense of the proximity of great changes. Music, perhaps better than other arts, reflected the stormy forebodings of that time. Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov (1873-1943) and Alexander Nikolaevich Skryabin (1871/72-1915), each in his own way, conveyed the aching sadness of parting with the outgoing Russia and the exciting joy of creating a new world.
Surprisingly, in the most difficult and hungry post-revolutionary years, music experienced a truly unprecedented flowering. The number of concerts has multiplied. Large and small, symphonic and chamber, concerts-rallies and concert-lectures - they were held both at the philharmonic venues, and in the halls of former palaces, and in the reception rooms of military hospitals, and in the premises of workers' clubs. Both professional musicians and amateur groups took part in them. Musical life of the 20s. was remarkable for its amazing diversity, a mixture of various genres.
The need for new songs was so great that at first many composers adapted the melodies of old marches and romances known even before the revolution to the revolutionary texts. This is how the sailor's "Across the Seas, Across the Waves", the Red Army's "The Red Army is the Strongest of All", the Komsomol's "There in the distance, beyond the river", etc.
Soon the first Soviet songs appeared, the best of which rallied people both during the years of labor accomplishments of the first five-year plans and in the hard times of the Great Patriotic War.
It is characteristic that song themes became the basis of works of major genres - choral cantatas and oratorios.
They penetrated into opera and ballet music, into symphonic works. (For example, in Reinhold Moritsevich Gliere's ballet (1874/75-1956) The Red Poppy, the melody of the Internationale and the most popular theme, The Apple, are heard.) But, of course, the musical creativity of the 20s. was not limited to work with the song genre. It was a time of intense research and bold experiments, which are still breathtaking. It is difficult to imagine a symphony that sounds on the street performed by an orchestra consisting of factory and locomotive whistles. Or a jazz composition by a noisemakers ensemble, which includes harmonicas made from simple combs, cardboard pipes, mandolins from cans, water bottles, wooden spoons, rulers, abacus, etc. And here is the music that accompanies silent films: it uses the rhythms of dances popular in the NEP era - tango, foxtrot, shimmy. Along with this - the genres of "high" music, mastering the latest achievements of the European avant-garde...
In the 30s. such musical diversity was no longer possible. At this time, creative unions of writers, artists, composers begin to form. They were instructed to manage culture and develop a unified direction for the development of Soviet art. Of course, this approach limited the freedom of a creative person. But at first, the unification of efforts also played a positive role both in understanding the past of music and in its development. Folk art and Russian classical heritage received a well-deserved appreciation. It became possible to combine the innovations of the last decade with the traditions of previous centuries.
For music, this combination proved to be extremely fruitful. It was in the 30s. there was a birth of the Soviet musical classics. Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich (1906-1975) wrote the opera "Katerina Izmailova" and the Fifth Symphony; Sergei Sergeevich Prokofiev (1891 - 1953) - ballet "Romeo and Juliet" and music for the film "Alexander Nevsky". It is impossible to imagine this time without the music of Isaak Osipovich Dunayevsky (1900-1955) for popular films.
During the Great Patriotic War, the song reacted most quickly to events. The harsh and courageous "Holy War" was written by Alexander Vasilievich Alexandrov (1883-1946) shortly before the start of the war. The premiere of the song took place not in the concert hall, but at the Belorussky railway station in Moscow, from where trains with fighters were sent to the front. The fervent "Katyusha", the sincerely lyrical "Dark Night" and "In the Dugout", the lively "Vasya the Cornflower" and "On the Sunny Clearing" - all these songs entered the military everyday life, became part of the life of the front and rear. And how many more there were - front-line songs, true soldier friends!
Works of the largest musical genres - opera, symphony - were born during the war years no less "promptly" than songs. (Usually, the creation of works of these genres stretches for months, or even years.) Undoubtedly, the most outstanding event in the musical life of the war years was the creation and performance of D. D. Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony in besieged Leningrad. Due to hunger, most of the orchestra's musicians did not have the strength to come to rehearsals every day. And they preferred not to return home at all - just to survive until the concert! The symphony shocked the whole world as the greatest creation of the human spirit. The Fifth Symphony by S. S. Prokofiev is also devoted to the theme of war. During the premiere, which took place in 1944 in Moscow, the composer conducted the orchestra himself. Contemporaries recall that when he raised his baton before the final part, volleys of salute were heard outside the windows in honor of another victory of the Soviet troops.
A new time came for music in the 60s, which entered Soviet history under the name "thaw". The movement of our society towards internal freedom and external openness was only then indicated. But the variety of manners and styles that art needs for a full life immediately returned to music. Then the great masters of the older generation were still working and those who developed the best traditions of Russian classical music were entering the time of creative flowering. It is impossible not to recall, for example, the melodic richness of the vocal lyrics of Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov (1915-1998). Young composers believed that it was necessary to study the achievements of the world musical avant-garde. In a short period, they mastered the techniques of musical writing, developed by different areas of foreign music in those decades when Russian culture was fenced off from it. All genres, from pop songs to opera, from film scores to symphonies, fall into the realm of global experimentation; in this 60s are similar to the 20s. Without such experiments, it is impossible to imagine, for example, the development of the work of Alfred Garrievich Schnittke (1934-1998) and Sofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina (born in 1931).
In the 90s. 20th century in terms of the number of fans, rock and pop music can compete with each other. Each of these areas reflects modernity in its own way - its strength and weakness, its hopes and despair, and most importantly, its striving forward. Interest in the classics does not weaken either: the halls of the conservatories are overflowing with true connoisseurs, especially during concerts of famous performers. The story continues. Music in Russia does not cease to sound.
Musical culture of Ancient Rus', starting from the Kievan period and throughout the Middle Ages, had a dual character.
Two cultures of different origins simultaneously coexisted in it: folk and church. Mastering the Christian culture that came from Byzantium, Russian singers inevitably had to use the old reserves of pagan song. Despite the fact that they were in a state of antagonism due to the struggle of two incompatible ideologies - pagan and Christian - they had a lot in common. Their joint existence made them related and mutually enriched.
But the life of folk and church music had a different character. The assimilation of church music was bookish, it required special schools, while folk songs were not recorded until the 18th century. Ancient musical hook manuscripts, preserved from the turn of the 11th-13th centuries, vividly testify to the first stage of Russian professional music, and although they cannot be accurately deciphered, they largely reflect the ancient singing culture.
Monuments of literature and art - chronicles, frescoes, icons - tell about the music of Ancient Rus' (IX-XII centuries). The life of the Bishop of Novgorod Nifont (XIII century), the teachings of the monk George (XIII century) and a number of other documents contain information that musicians performed on the streets and squares of cities. Music was an obligatory part of the ritual holidays - Shrovetide (seeing off winter and welcoming spring), Ivan Kupala (summer solstice), etc. They usually took place with a large concourse of people and included games, dances, wrestling, equestrian competitions, performances of buffoons. Buffoons played the harp, trumpets, snots, tambourines, horns.
Music was played during solemn ceremonies at the court of princes. So, the change of dishes at feasts was accompanied by instrumental music or an epic. On a medieval miniature representing the scene of the conclusion of peace between the princes Yaropolk and Vsevolod, next to them is a musician playing the trumpet. In the war, with the help of pipes, horns, horns, drums, tambourines, they gave signals and created noise that was supposed to frighten the enemy
The most common instrument was the harp. Byzantine historian of the 7th century. Theophylact writes about the love of the northern Slavs (Venedi) for music, mentioning the cithars invented by them, that is, the harp. The harp as an indispensable accessory of buffoons is mentioned in old Russian songs and epics of the Vladimir cycle. It is no coincidence that Bayan, the epic narrator-gusliar, is sung in the Tale of Igor's Campaign (XII century). However, the attitude towards the harp was ambivalent. They were respected for their resemblance to the musical instrument of the biblical psalmist King David. But the same harp in the hands of amusing buffoons was condemned by the church. Buffoons and their household items, including musical instruments, disappeared in the 17th century.
Buffoons are Russian medieval actors, at the same time singers, dancers, trainers, witty musicians, performers of skits, acrobats and authors of most of the verbal, musical and dramatic works they performed.
The repertoire of buffoons consisted of comic songs, plays, social satires ("glum"), performed in masks and "buffoon dress" to the accompaniment of a beep, gusel, pity, domra, bagpipes, tambourine. Each character was assigned a certain character and mask, which did not change for years. Buffoons performed on the streets and squares, constantly communicated with the audience, involved them in their performance.
Performances of buffoons united different types of arts - both dramatic and circus. It is known that back in 1571 they recruited "merry people" for state fun, and at the beginning of the 17th century. the troupe was at the Amusement Chamber, built in Moscow by Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. At the same time, at the beginning of the 17th century, princes Ivan Shuisky, Dmitry Pozharsky, and others had buffoon troupes. Prince Pozharsky's buffoons often went around the villages "for their trade." As medieval jugglers were divided into feudal jugglers and folk jugglers, Russian buffoons were also differentiated. But the circle of "court" buffoons in Russia remained limited, in the end their functions were reduced to the role of household jesters.
buffoon
Around the middle of the XVII century. wandering gangs are gradually leaving the stage, and sedentary buffoons are more or less retraining as musicians and stage figures in a Western European way. From that time on, the buffoon becomes an obsolete figure, although certain types of his creative activity continued to live among the people for a very long time. So, the buffoon-singer, the performer of folk poetry, gives way to representatives of the emerging from the end of the 16th century. poetry; a living memory of him was preserved among the people - in the person of the storytellers of epics in the North, in the form of a singer or bandura player in the South. The buffoon-gudets (guselnik, domrachi, bagpiper, surnachi), a dance player turned into an instrumental musician. Among the people, his successors are folk musicians, without whom not a single folk festival can do.
In 1648 and 1657 Archbishop Nikon obtained decrees banning buffoonery.
One of the brightest pages of Russian spiritual and artistic culture is ancient Russian church music. The monumentality and grandeur of ancient Russian music are completely connected with modest means of expression - unison singing, laconic, strict colors of sound. P. A. Florensky in his “Discourse on Divine Services” speaks of a special property of ancient Russian monody: “Ancient unison or octave singing ... it’s amazing how the touch of Eternity awakens. Eternity is perceived in a certain poverty of earthly treasures, and when there is a wealth of sounds, voices, vestments, etc., etc., the earthly comes, and Eternity leaves the soul somewhere, to the poor in spirit and poor riches.
Ancient Rus' perceived the Byzantine musical culture and new musical aesthetics together with baptism as a direct source from which a new stream of music developed, which opposed itself to the original folk genres. Church music appeared in Rus' after its conversion to Christianity (988). Along with baptism, the country also received musical culture from Byzantium. Among the most important provisions of the theory and aesthetics of Byzantine and ancient Russian musical art is the idea of its God-givenness, inspiration.
The creators of ancient Russian music avoided external effects, embellishments, so as not to disturb the depth of feelings and thoughts. The most important feature of medieval Russian art was its synthetic character. The same images were embodied by different means in different types of art, but the word served as the true core of the synthesis of ancient Russian church art. The word, its meaning formed the basis of chants, melodies contributed to their perception, clarification of the text, weaned it, sometimes illustrated it. Contemplation of icons, listening to chants close to them in content created such a unity that evoked lofty thoughts and feelings. The icon and the chant that sounded in front of it, the prayer constituted the pulse of the spiritual culture of Ancient Rus', therefore icon-painting and hymnographic creativity has always been at a high level.
The synthesis of arts, which composers of the 20th century aspired to in their work. in particular, A. Scriabin, in essence, was embodied in medieval art. Ancient Russian worship had the character of a mystery, during which a person could receive spiritual purification, free himself from the worries and fuss that burdened him, and morally rise.
A number of information about music has come down to us from the 16th century. In particular, chants have been preserved, the author of which was Ivan the Terrible. According to the data contained in the sources, one can judge his musical talent.
The literary cliché of that time was the following expression: the tsar went to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery "to listen to prayer singing." The fact that this expression is not accidental is convinced by some “variation” in the mention of Ivan IV’s interest in the musical side of the service: “And the tsar and grand duke listened to that modem singing, until which time the baptism was performed.” This behavior of his is all the more curious because it was observed during the baptism of his newly betrothed wife Mary. Or another place from the source: “The sovereign was alone with his spiritual fathers Andrey the archpriests, and starting to arm himself, he put yumshan on himself, and he hears many calls and says to his neighbors: “The bells are heard, as if the bells of Simon’s monastery”*. If we take into account that each monastery had its own bell ringing, then it should be recognized that Ivan IV had a good musical memory.
Together with Christianity, the Russians borrowed from Byzantium a very ramified and sophisticated system of temple singing - osmoglas and the system of its recording - banners, hooks. Since the oldest forms of this notation are not precisely deciphered, the question remains open: did Rus' adopt church singing from Byzantium directly or through the South Slavic countries, but it is obvious that by the XV-XVI centuries. Russian Znamenny chant was a completely original artistic phenomenon. Received from Byzantium and stable principles remained the strictly vocal nature of church creativity - the Orthodox canon excludes the use of any instruments whatsoever; the closest connection between word and sound; smooth melodic movement; the line structure of the whole (i.e., the musical form acted as a derivative of the speech, poetic). In general, these principles are to a large extent valid for the ancient epic folklore genres (calendar ritual - pagan song had its own laws).
In the XVI century. in Moscow, exemplary choirs were founded - sovereign and patriarchal choristers clerks. At the same time, variants of the main znamenny chant, travel and demestvenny chants appeared, each having its own recording system, as well as individual versions of individual chants that belonged to a given master, locality, monastery, etc. In the 16th century. there is also a completely original Russian church polyphony. Somewhat later, in the 17th century. Kievan, Greek, Bulgarian chant became widespread, partly associated with the singing of the southern and southwestern Orthodox churches, but acquiring independent forms in Rus'.
The first Russian teachers were Greek and Bulgarian singers.
16th century was the time of the spread of many new local chants. There were chants of Kiev, Vladimir, Yaroslavl (by the names of cities), bast baskets, Christians (by the names of singers, their authors). Works of church singing art (troparia, canons, etc.) remained, as a rule, like icon painting, anonymous. But nevertheless, the names of outstanding masters of the 16th-17th centuries are known from written sources; among them - Vasily Shaidur, Novgorodians (according to other sources - Karelians) brothers Vasily (monastic Varlaam) and Savva Rogovs; Ivan (monastic Isaiah) Lukoshko and Stefan Golysh from the Urals; Ivan the Nose and Fedor Peasant (i.e. Christian), who worked at the court of Ivan the Terrible.
Another name belonging to a number of very significant in the history of Russian singing art: Archpriest, and later Metropolitan Andrei. Mentions of him in the annals depict him as a musically literate person.
In general, the XVI century. was to a certain extent a turning point for the history of ancient Russian music, and by no means only in the performing art of singing. It was from that time that one can speak of the emergence in Russia of "theoretical musicology", the first results of which were numerous singing alphabets. And the 17th century is a period of a kind of flourishing of domestic musicology. Suffice it to name here the names of such authors as Nikolai Diletsky, Alexander Mezenets, Tikhon Makarievsky. And the next era in the history of Russian music - the era of partes singing - is already associated with purely professional musical-theoretical monuments of Russian culture.
From the middle of the XVII century. there comes a turning point in Russian church singing art: a new style of choral polyphony is being established - partes, distributed in Moscow by singers of Ukrainian, Belarusian and Polish origin and based on the norms of Western European harmonic writing. At the same time, the five-line notation begins to prevail, although the hook script has been preserved for quite a long time (the Old Believers use it to this day). The spiritual psalm (kant) becomes very popular, then secular choral chants appear - historical, military, love, comic.
There is no uniform periodization of the history of Russian music. Usually, three periods are distinguished for the Middle Ages: before the Mongol-Tatar invasion (XI-XIII centuries), the Moscow period (XIV - the beginning of the XVII centuries), the era of the turning point (from the accession of the Romanov dynasty in 1613 to the reign of Peter I, the beginning of the XVIII V.).
Next 18th century. often divided into two periods - post-Petrine, marked by the strongest foreign influence, and Catherine (the last third of the century), when signs of a national musical school begin to appear.
First quarter of the 19th century usually considered as an era of early romanticism, often this time is also called the "pre-Glinka" or "pre-classical" era. With the appearance of operas by M. I. Glinka (late 1830s - 1840s), the heyday of Russian music begins, reaching its peak in the 1860s-1880s. From the mid 1890s. and until 1917 (it would be more correct to move the second date a little further, to the middle or even the second half of the 1920s), a new stage gradually unfolds, marked first by the development - against the background of classical traditions - of the Art Nouveau style, and then other new directions, which can be summarized by the terms "futurism", "constructivism", etc. In the history of Russian music of the Soviet period, the pre-war and post-war periods are distinguished, and in the second of them they designate the beginning of the 1960s as a milestone. Since the late 1980s a new, modern period of Russian musical art begins.
Classical Russian opera of the second third of the 19th century
Russian art of the 18th century, the era after the reforms of Peter the Great, breaks with the past to a large extent and is largely rebuilt. The main place in the culture of the educated strata of society is now occupied not by church, but by secular art, associated with the Western European system of genres, not only vocal, but also instrumental music-making. Foreign musicians who worked at the St. Petersburg imperial court have a great influence: Francesco Araya, Giuseppe Sarti, Baldassare Galuppi, as well as Tommaso Traetta, Giovanni Paisiello, Domenico Cimarosa and others. In the 1730s the court Italian, and then the French opera troupe, the court orchestra were created; The performances were also attended by the Court Singing Chapel, transformed from the medieval Choir of Sovereign Singers. In the second half of the XVIII century. several serf theaters operated in Russia, the first public theaters appeared in Moscow and St. Petersburg; in addition to dramas, they staged operas and ballets, in which Russian singers and dancers performed. Opera performances were also given in some provincial towns; from 1770 public concerts began to take place.
The most popular genre of the era was opera - both foreign and Russian. In the 1770-1780s. Russian authors created many works in the genre of comic opera - according to Western models, but on plots from Russian life, with the introduction of folk songs: “The miller is a sorcerer, a deceiver and a matchmaker” by M. M. Sokolovsky; "Miserly", "St. Petersburg Gostiny Dvor", "Misfortune from the carriage" by Vasily Alekseevich Pashkevich; “Coachmen on a setup”, “Americans” by E. I. Fomina. E. I. Fomin (melodrama Orpheus), D. S. Bortnyansky (Falcon, Rival Son - in French) performed in the opera seria genre. By the end of the century, a spiritual concerto a cappella to a freely chosen text in Church Slavonic became a popular genre - in the service, such compositions took the place of sacramental verses; they were also performed separately, in concerts (D. S. Bortnyansky, M. S. Berezovsky, S. A. Degtyarev and others).
