People's Artist of the USSR,
laureate of the Lenin
and State Prizes
When asked what he dreams of, Rodion Konstantinovich replied: “So that the Lord gives me one more life - so many interesting and wonderful things in the world.”
Born December 16, 1932 in Moscow. Father - Shchedrin Konstantin Mikhailovich, theoretical musician, teacher, musical figure. Mother - Shchedrina Concordia Ivanovna (nee Ivanova). Wife - Maya Plisetskaya, prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia, People's Artist of the USSR, laureate of the Lenin Prize.
Shchedrin is one of the largest and most famous composers of the second half of the 20th century. Possessing a sharp modern musical language, he was able to create works accessible to a wide range of listeners. A deliberate anti-avant-garde attitude towards the listener permeates Shchedrin's work throughout his life: "great music must have a large audience." At the same time, he more widely than any of the composers of his generation developed Russian themes in his work: his operas and ballets were written almost exclusively on the plots of the largest Russian writers - N. Gogol, A. Chekhov, L. Tolstoy, V. Nabokov, N. Leskova, he is the author of the choral Russian liturgy "The Sealed Angel", concertos for the orchestra "Naughty ditties", "Rings", "Round dances", "Four Russian songs", etc.
As a future musician and Russian composer, Rodion Shchedrin was decisively influenced by his family. His grandfather was an Orthodox priest in the city of Aleksin, Tula province, and the parishioners dubbed the path to the church where he served the service "Shchedrinka". The composer's father, K. M. Shchedrin, was born in the village of Vorottsy, Tula province, spent his childhood in Aleksin. He was gifted with rare musical abilities - a "tape" memory (he memorized music from one time), absolute pitch. His abilities were noticed by the actress V.N. Pashennaya, who came to the city, who at her own expense sent the boy to Moscow, where he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory.
R. Shchedrin was surrounded by music since childhood: he heard his father play the violin, an instrumental trio consisting of his father and his brothers. In 1941 he was sent to the Central Ten-Year Music School at the Moscow Conservatory. In reality, he began to study piano privately with M. L. Gekhtman. But the Great Patriotic War began, and many schools in Moscow were closed. In October 1941, the Shchedrin family was evacuated to Kuibyshev, a city of highly classified administrative significance. There was also D. Shostakovich, who completed his famous Seventh Symphony; young Rodion had a chance to hear it at the dress rehearsal conducted by S. Samosud. The Bolshoi Theater was also evacuated there. D. Shostakovich and K. Shchedrin worked in the Union of Composers, the first - as chairman, the second - as executive secretary. Shostakovich carefully helped the Shchedrin family in difficult domestic and other circumstances.
When the opportunity arose to return to Moscow, Rodion was again sent to the Central Music School (1943). But the boy had already developed his own ideas about life: he was not interested in scales at a music school, but in real, serious matters. He twice ran away to the front, and the second time he got from Moscow to Kronstadt. After that, the parents did not find anything better than to assign their son to the Nakhimov Naval School in Leningrad - and sent his documents there.
Meanwhile, an event occurred that ultimately led to the appearance of the composer Rodion Shchedrin. In late 1944 - early 1945, a new educational institution was opened in the USSR - the Moscow Choir School (boys). Its founder and first director, the famous choirmaster A. Sveshnikov, invited Father R. Shchedrin to teach music history and musical-theoretical subjects, and he, in turn, asked to take his son to study. Rodion had absolute pitch, a fairly acceptable voice, and he was finally determined by the musical specialty (December 1944).
At the Choir School, for a boy who had already seen something, a sphere opened up that he did not suspect. Later, R. Shchedrin recalled: "Singing in the choir captured me, touched some deep inner strings ... And my first composing experiments (as well as the experiments of my comrades) were connected with the choir." (Rodion Shchedrin. Conversation with L. Grigoriev and J. Platek // Musical Life, 1975, No. 2, p. 6). The whole history of this art was sung in the choir class: from the 16th-century "strict style" masters Josquin de Pres, Palestrina, Orlando Lasso to Russian sacred music - Chesnokov, Grechaninov, Kastalsky, Rachmaninov.
The composition of music was not specially taught at the school, however, the high total musical training allowed students to make experiments in musical composition. To encourage their work, Sveshnikov gave the opportunity to immediately perform his compositions. In 1947, a competition for composition works was held at the Choir School. The jury, headed by A. Khachaturian, awarded the first prize to R. Shchedrin, and this was his first notable success in this field.
At the Choir School. Sitting (from right to left): I. Kozlovsky, director of the school, A. V. Sveshnikov with teachers of the school. Far right (standing) - the composer's father, K. M. Shchedrin. Behind the piano is the future composer. 1947
The students of the Choral School had the opportunity to meet with the greatest musicians: D. Shostakovich, A. Khachaturian, I. Kozlovsky, G. Ginzburg, S. Richter, E. Gilels, J. Flier. “In our school there was a suffocating passion for music, including the pianoforte,” recalled Shchedrin. His piano teacher was the famous teacher G. Dinor, who assigned his students works of deliberately overestimated complexity. As a result, at the end of the school, Rodion had a program worthy of a concert pianist (Bach fugues, virtuoso pieces by Chopin and Liszt, Rakhmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini), but not done properly. The teacher, thinking about the admission of his student to the Moscow Conservatory, decided to show him to Professor J. Flier. From the performance of the program, he did not come to delight, but approved of Shchedrin's compositions and agreed to take him as his student.
In 1950, Shchedrin entered the Moscow Conservatory at the same time in two faculties - piano, in the class of J. Flier, and theoretical composition, in the class of Professor Yu. Shaporin in composition.
Classes with Yakov Vladimirovich Flier, where the "feast of music" reigned, were so fascinated by Shchedrin that he was thinking of parting with the specialty of composing, but the pianist teacher did not advise this. In the piano class, the rising musician not only acquired first-rate pianist art, but also made significant progress in his general musical tastes and knowledge. Shchedrin trusted his teacher so much that he was the first to demonstrate his new opuses both in his student years and in later years. According to the composer, Flier's piano endured the "blows" of all his major works. Shchedrin remained a professional pianist all his life, successfully performing on the concert stage with the performance of his technically difficult works.
In the composition class of Yuri Alexandrovich Shaporin, his human personality was attractive first of all - an erudite in Russian literature and poetry, a storyteller and wit, a man who communicated with A. Blok, A. N. Tolstoy, M. Gorky, K. Fedin, A. Benois , K. Petrov-Vodkin. He did not impose on his students any one and only path, believing that in music there can and should be any kind of opposites.
Intensively developed at the Moscow Conservatory and such a fundamental area of Shchedrin's interests as Russian folklore. Fundamentally alien to the ethnographic approach, Shchedrin managed to use folklore elements in an extremely original way throughout his entire creative career, organically fusing them with the latest composer finds in the musical world. And in this synthesis he has no equal in his generation. The obligatory subject for students-composers "Folk Art" required participation in folklore expeditions, with independent recordings of folk songs on a tape recorder. R. Shchedrin made a trip to the regions of the Vologda Oblast, which turned out to be extremely rich in ditties (the expedition leader recorded over a thousand of them). After all, the ditty not only entertained and developed the ability for instant improvisation, but was a biting feuilleton, a people's newspaper - everything that lived among the people, not fitting into the official ways of expressing opinions. Shchedrin carried his love for chastushka throughout his life: he called his First Concerto for Orchestra in 1963 "Naughty Chastushki", and in 1999 he presented its version - "Chatushki", a concerto for piano solo.
The whole sound environment of folklore turned out to be deeply close to Shchedrin, which he perceived both through trips to Aleksin, a city above the Oka, and through various trips "into the outback", hearing peasant singing and playing the pipes. "For me, folk art is a shepherd's cry, monophonic strumming of an accordion player, inspired improvisations of village mourners, tart male songs ..." (Rodion Shchedrin. Conversation with L. Grigoriev and J. Platek // Musical Life, 1975, No. 2 p. 54).
The first piano concerto, created by Shchedrin during his student days (1954), was, in turn, the work that created Shchedrin. It highlighted everything that was the personality of the author in his younger years and that sprouted later in his further work, including the motor skills of rhythm and tartly pointed "Russianisms". At the conservatory, he seemed too "formalistic". But one of the professors recommended that the Union of Composers include the concerto in the program of the next plenum. The author performed it with brilliance and soon received a letter that he, a 4th year student, was accepted into the Union of Composers (even without an application).
He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory Shchedrin in 1955, with honors, in two specialties - composition and piano. Further, until 1959, he completed postgraduate studies in composition with Y. Shaporin.
The year 1958 in Shchedrin's life was outlined as the most romantic and truly fateful: he married the ballerina Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya, who had already gained fame at that time. The history of their acquaintance was as follows. The composer visited the house of Lily Brik, Mayakovsky's muse in the past, and her husband, writer and literary critic V. Katanyan, for whose play "They knew Mayakovsky" he wrote music. Once, as a curiosity, the owners of the house gave him a tape to listen to, where Plisetskaya sang (!) the music of Prokofiev's ballet Cinderella. The composer was amazed: the most difficult melodies were reproduced exactly and in the appropriate keys.
Rodion and Maya first met in person when J. Philip was received in the same house. Shchedrin played a lot of his music, which captivated the audience. He, then a rare owner of his own car (purchased with a fee for the film "Height"), had the gallant duty to take the guests of honor home. Plisetskaya, saying goodbye, asked him to write down the theme from the film "Ramp Lights" for a ballet number from the disc (the number did not work later). They were finally brought together by the ballet The Little Humpbacked Horse, which in 1958 decided to stage at the Bolshoi Theatre. Here, 25-year-old Shchedrin first saw Plisetskaya at a rehearsal, where she, for her part, brought down on him "a hurricane of Freudian motives." Although Plisetskaya was already gaining notable artistic fame, she was under great suspicion in the KGB, and the surveillance car constantly followed Shchedrin's new acquaintance. But no power had the power to separate them. After a paradise summer in Sortaval (House of Composers' Creativity) on Lake Ladoga, their honeymoon trip was a trip by Rodion's car from Moscow to Sochi via Tula, Kharkov, Rostov-on-Don and other cities. Due to an unregistered marriage, they were denied all hotels, and only a car served as a shelter. The marriage of Plisetskaya and Shchedrin was registered in Moscow on October 2, 1958. There were no children in this marriage - such was the great sacrifice of the great ballerina. But the unique "marriage in art" was preserved for life. All Shchedrin's ballets are connected with Plisetskaya's dance - and this is a whole ballet culture.
At the end of graduate school in 1959, Shchedrin had in his creative assets the ballet The Little Humpbacked Horse (1955), piano compositions, choirs, and the First Symphony (1958). And these are not only the milestones of his biography. The Little Humpbacked Horse, in which Plisetskaya danced the Tsar Maiden, has become a regular performance for children and is still being staged at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater. In 1999, for a production at the Bolshoi Theater, the author made a new version of the ballet, which turned it into a dazzling Russian extravaganza (artist - B. Messerer). "Humoresque", infecting with a purely Shchedrinian "lukavinka", almost half a century later became a favorite concert "encore" (also in arrangements for various instruments). Thanks to such plays, at one time even the image of Shchedrin began to take shape as the embodiment of ebullient vitality, humor, and jokes in music. Shchedrin's well-known song from the music for the film "Vysota" (1957) - "The Cheerful March of High-Rise Installers", which became widely known, sounded in such a tone, and firmly rooted in mass hearing. These ideas about the composer were unexpectedly destroyed by the First Symphony, with its breakthrough into a harsh military tragedy, which caused great displeasure of critics ("one Shostakovich is enough for us").
The turbulent 60s of the domestic "sixties" came. During this decade, Shchedrin created his most performed work - the ballet "Carmen Suite", first turned to opera ("Not Only Love"), began a series of works in a genre to which he gave a new meaning - concertos for orchestra ("Naughty ditties" and "Rings"), composed two major oratorios ("Poetoria" and "Lenin in the heart of the people") and his most ambitious work for piano solo - 24 preludes and fugues, carried out a bold stylistic synthesis in the Second Piano Concerto. At the same time, he worked especially carefully on polyphony, the technique of series, and combinations of many musical themes. In parallel, he performed as a pianist and taught at the Moscow Conservatory.
The opera Not Only Love (1961, 2nd edition - 1971) was written based on the stories of S. Antonov, with the inclusion of ditty texts in the libretto; dedicated to M. Plisetskaya. “I am writing a collective-farm “Eugene Onegin,” the author said and compared the main character even with Carmen. In designing the opera for the Bolshoi Theater, he sought to get away from the monumental extras with banners then accepted on this stage into the chamber sphere, with the experiences of ordinary people. But although the premiere the performance was designed by the artist A. Tyshler, and conducted by E. Svetlanov, it was still not possible to break the customs of the theater. However, the productions of "Not Only Love" were held simultaneously in Perm and Novosibirsk. The adequacy of the concept and embodiment of Shchedrin's first opera was achieved much later - in the chamber , studio, student realizations.An important milestone was its appearance on the new theater stage - the Moscow Chamber Musical Theater directed by B. Pokrovsky, as the first performance of this theater (1972).
In Shchedrin's work, a bright streak of humor and satire, characteristic of his nature, sets in: in 1963, the aforementioned Mischievous Chastushki (First Concerto for Orchestra) and Bureaucratiada (Spa Cantata) were published from his pen. In "Mischievous Chastushkas" the author reproduced by symphonic means the ditty manner of the alternate introduction of a new participant against the background of a continuous accordion tune. And it was a new musical form with a complex combination of not two or three themes, but about seventy. Not to the liking of academic orchestral musicians, Chastushki aroused ardent delight among the general public, especially on the periphery. Among the foreign musicians, they were played by the American conductor and composer L. Bernstein. The cantata "Bureaucratiade", written on the text of "Reminder to the Vacationer", full of fresh wit, was a satire on something more than the restrictive order in the boarding house. At the same time, it was an encyclopedia of modern composition - it absorbed techniques that remain new to this day.
The center of the composer's polyphonic work was a huge cycle for piano - 24 preludes and fugues (1963-64 - volume 1, 1964-70 - volume 2). A purely academic genre, established in his time by J. S. Bach, continued by D. Shostakovich, Shchedrin saturated with modern virtuosity and sophisticated writing technique. He himself became its first performer.
And just as before, the composer crossed out his humorous line with the purely tragic Second Symphony (1965), with echoes of the war (the roar of aircraft, the rattle of tank tracks, the groans of the wounded), with an epigraph from A. Tvardovsky "On the day the war ended" . At the same time, he again introduced a new symphonic form: 25 preludes (author's subtitle).
In 1966, Shchedrin embarked on an experiment that surpassed everything else in Soviet music in boldness. Possessing modern dodecaphone technique, he decided in the Second Piano Concerto (1966) to combine it with the diametrical opposite - the music of jazz improvisation. The Union of Composers did not support either one or the other, and the combination together gave such a flashy contrast that even the most left-wing colleagues argued about it. Life has proven the author right: the Second Concerto has become a classic studied in the history of music. The very same technique of polystylistics (and collage) used there then became a trend of the times for many Russian authors. Shchedrin resorted to it in the future.
Great Hall of the Conservatory. Premiere of the Second Piano Concerto. Soloist - author. 1966
In 1964-69 Shchedrin taught composition at the Moscow Conservatory. Among his students were O. Galakhov (later - the chairman of the Moscow Investigative Committee), B. Getselev, Bulgarian G. Minchev. The teacher was able to accurately "diagnose" the compositions of his students, taught, among other things, to skillfully build the dramaturgy of the whole. It is noteworthy that he considered the speed of composition to be an important ability. Shchedrin stopped working at the conservatory, having come into conflict with the party leaders of the theoretical and composing department.
Maya Plisetskaya - Carmen Suite (1978)
The ballet "Carmen Suite" (1967) outwardly arose as a result of the composer's emergency help to his wife, when she ignited with an irresistible desire to embody the image of Carmen in the choreography of the Cuban choreographer A. Alonso. In 20 days, Shchedrin created his famous transcription of numbers from Bizet's opera "Carmen", using not a symphony orchestra, but strings and 47 percussion instruments, achieving a fresh modern sound coloring. Plisetskaya danced the ballet about 350 times. "Carmen Suite" and now reigns all over the world, performed on stage, in concert or on the radio almost every day.
Shchedrin's long-standing friendship with the poet A. Voznesensky, who in the 1960s was the idol of Soviet youth, the kinship of their artistic worldview led to the appearance of "Poetoria" - a Concerto for a poet, a mixed choir and a symphony orchestra on his texts (1968). The poet himself acted here as a reader. Innovative, with rich alliterations, Voznesensky's poems ("I am Goya, I am Woe. I am a voice ...") were answered by Shchedrin's innovatively interpreted orchestra and choir, in methods close to the most leftist Polish finds. But Shchedrin deepened the style and concept of the work with his own personal musical techniques, especially the introduction of a kind of folk lament based on the famous songwriter L. Zykina.Discussion in the UK revealed the most controversial opinions about the work.
He was also in a difficult situation as a public figure. In 1968, he (like K. Simonov and A. Tvardovsky) refused to sign a letter in support of the entry of troops of the Warsaw Pact countries into Czechoslovakia. Radio station "Voice of America" began to regularly broadcast about it, calling their names. Shchedrin was forced to compromise - in the form of the oratorio "Lenin in the Heart of the People" (1969), just as Shostakovich wrote "Song of the Forests" in his time. But unlike Shostakovich, Shchedrin never joined the CPSU. Avoiding a pompous tone, Shchedrin used everyday prose in his oratorio - the story of a Latvian shooter, a factory worker, in addition - the words of a contemporary storyteller M. Kryukova. And in terms of musical language he continued "Poetoria". The talented oratorio for the 100th anniversary of V. I. Lenin straightened the official position of the non-party author so much that he was awarded the State Prize of the USSR (1972) for it and the opera Not Only Love. Abroad, she had great success in Paris, London, Berlin.
Shchedrin's work of the 1970s and 1980s was marked by his constant artistic inventiveness, but did not contain those sharp stylistic turns depending on the changing fashion that became the lot of many composers in the West and in the USSR (leaps from avant-garde to "new simplicity" and to attempts to synthesize extremes). Elements of both avant-garde sophistication and folk simplicity have always coexisted in his music, and he constantly synthesized them. Back in the 60s, he formulated the thesis about his own path: "In art, one must go one's own way. It can be short, and long, and wide, and narrow, but it must be one's own" (Soviet music, 1963, No. 6 , p. 12). In keeping with his own composer's individuality, Shchedrin stood firmly in the center, still rising invisibly above the seething torrents of opposing currents.
In 1973, Shchedrin was elected to an important leadership position - chairman of the Union of Composers of the Russian Federation, to which he was blessed by D. Shostakovich, its founder and first chairman. In this capacity, he worked until 1990, voluntarily leaving him, after which he was left in the role of honorary chairman of the Russian Investigative Committee. The fact that for so many years a serious composer of an innovative orientation was at the head of a huge Russian composers' organization played an extremely progressive role. Great was his personal assistance - to composers, musicologists, conductors. “For a long time, Shchedrin headed the Union of Composers of Russia, and few people know how many young talents, outcasts, persecuted by the authorities, this person helped,” says Vladimir Spivakov (Rodion Shchedrin. Self-portrait. Booklet of the music festival for the 70th anniversary of the composer. M ., 2002).
The composer writes dozens of literary works, revealing a vivid sense of the word. He creates librettos for his stage works: the operas Dead Souls (later also Lolita), the ballets The Seagull (together with V. Leventhal), The Lady with the Dog. Publishes dozens of articles - about J. Flier, Y. Shaporin, O. Messiaen, L. Bernstein, A. Sveshnikov, K. Eliasberg, A. Borodin, A. Webern, I. Stravinsky, preface to the novel by V. Orlov "Violist Danilov ".
His collaboration with M. Plisetskaya continues: the ballets Anna Karenina, The Seagull and The Lady with the Dog are dedicated to her. In "Anna Karenina" after L. Tolstoy (1971), only a love affair was selected and the subtitle "Lyrical Scenes" was given - like P. Tchaikovsky in his opera "Eugene Onegin". The idea of Tchaikovsky was also reflected in the musical style of the ballet, right down to the applications of his compositions, written at the very time when Tolstoy was working on this novel. In the ballet "The Seagull" by A. Chekhov (1979), Shchedrin appeared both as a composer and as a librettist (co-author), and Plisetskaya danced the main character, Nina Zarechnaya, and embodied the symbolic Seagull, and for the first time became the sole choreographer of the performance. Using the orchestra, the composer created the sharply expressive "cry of a seagull", which carried through the entire ballet, giving it an increased tragedy. The “shot” fates of the characters were well guessed in it, and the stage drama projected the “scream” in time. The musical form of the ballet became innovative - a cycle of 24 preludes with the addition of three interludes and one postlude. When an English film group was preparing a television program about the development of musical art, they shot "The Seagull" for the "Music of the Future" part.
Anna Karenina - Rodion Shchedrin (ballet film)
A significant milestone in Shchedrin's musical and theatrical work was the opera "Dead Souls" after N. Gogol (1976, staged in 1977), to the composer's libretto. The author introduced into the opera such an innovation as replacing the violins of the orchestra with a chamber (second) choir, and most importantly, dividing the stage into two parallel scenes, stratifying the opera into two autonomously running operas - “folk” and “professional”. This parallel dramaturgy of the performance, first performed at the Bolshoi Theater, formed the core of the semantic concept of the work: the opposition of Rus' of the people and the "dead souls" of the landowners. In the "folk opera" the composer used Russian folklore texts, folk timbres of voices, but did not quote genuine melodies. He gave a symbolic meaning to the phrases of the peasants, especially to the question "Will he get there or not?" At the same time, he saturated the folk elements with the sharpest modern dissonances and clusters. "Professional Opera" - the grotesque world of Gogol's landowners - Shchedrin sustained in a style close to work with vocals in Rossini's operas. If the music of Russian folk was in smooth, drawn-out legato singing, then in the parts of the parodied landowners, the bouncing staccato was quite noticeably used. Their arias are sophisticated and extremely difficult to sing: Chichikov's virtuoso passages, Korobochka's patter, Sobakevich's sweeping melody jumps, etc. The vocal ensembles are impressive - in seven, eight, ten and twelve voices. In the guise of two opera-antitheses, entities of a higher order appeared: the contrast of the eternal, unchanging and vain, mortal.
"Dead Souls" staged by the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow on June 7, 1977 was a masterpiece of theatricality. The director was B. Pokrovsky, the stage designer was V. Leventhal, the choirmaster was V. Minin, the singers participated: A. Voroshilo (Chichikov), L. Avdeeva (Korobochka), V. Piavko (Nozdrev), A. Maslennikov (Selifan) and other. Conductor Y. Temirkanov conducted 42 rehearsals, after which he transferred the opera to the Kirov (Mariinsky) Theater in Leningrad. The domestic performance conducted by Temirkanov, recorded by Melodiya, was released abroad by BMG and won the Critics' Prize. "He embodied the unique Gogol intonation in music with extraordinary accuracy and at the same time managed to write a sharply modern work. It was the music of the country in which we lived then: sharp, angular and incredibly hopeless," writes A. Voroshilo (Rodion Shchedrin. Self-portrait Music festival booklet, Moscow, 2002).
Menuhin and Schedrin
Shchedrin's year 1981 was marked by the creation of masterfully honed choral and piano compositions: "Eugene Onegin's stanzas" - six choirs to poems by A. S. Pushkin from his novel in verse, "The Execution of Pugachev" - a poem for choir a ca-ppella to words from "Pugachev's Stories" by A. S. Pushkin, "Notebook for Youth", 15 pieces for piano. The choral opuses are also accompanied by "Concertino" of 1982 (without words). The composer is still immersed in Russian literature and the Russian theme. In particular , the idea of Russian bells runs through all the works: at the end of "Onegin's stanzas", in the episodes of "The Execution of Pugachev", in No. 11 "Russian chimes" from "Notebook for Youth" and in the finale of "Concertino" - "Russian bells".
Shchedrin's ideas of 1983-84 stood out for their special scale and seriousness, which was also associated with dedications to his holy name - J.S. Bach on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of his birth (1985). In 1983, in his honor, he erected a musical monument in the form of a super-long work - for 2 hours and 12 minutes - "Musical Offering" for organ, three flutes, three bassoons and three trombones. This was an innovative concept of musical meditation, when people had to not only listen to music, but also perform an act of collective worship to the one to whom it was dedicated. In the first version, due to the overextension, the work went far beyond the usual norms of concert perception. The author himself was convinced of this, speaking as an organist at the premiere in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory (1983): the audience began to leave the hall little by little. In other conditions, it was perceived adequately (for example, at the Bach Marathon in Germany). The author made a compact version of "Offering" - for an hour and a half, with a recording of the sound of the work on a disc in the Riga Dome Cathedral (1987). By title, Shchedrin's work was deliberately associated with Bach's "Musical Offering", which he made in 1747 to the Prussian king and composer Frederick II. Shchedrin's reverence for Bach was expressed in many analogies with the great composer and his era: direct quotation of the master's two organ preludes, a texture like Bach's preludes, various polyphonic devices, an ingenious "crayfish form", Bach's motif-monogram - V-A-S- N. In the spirit of Bach's times, "The Offering" is permeated with symbols - like no other work by Shchedrin: the names Bach, Berg and Shchedrin are encrypted in the form of letter-notes, even the date of birth and height of the composer, the melody of R. Ale's chorale, used by both Bach and Berg, is quoted, at a certain point in the score it is indicated - "kiss the instrument" (for bassoons and trombones). The organ solos running through the whole piece create a reminiscence-prayer mood, and three trios of wind instruments (3×3 are also sacred numbers) draw some pictures of the religious plot. Shchedrin's gigantic musical fresco is unparalleled among famous musical dedications.
Shchedrin's other composition for the 300th anniversary of Bach was "Echo Sonata" for violin solo (1984). The real echo here was expressed in the form of a technique of playing the violin, with its quiet sound “shadow” detached from the violinist’s musical “speech”, and brief applications from Bach’s famous works appeared as a symbolic echo - crystals of harmonious classics, detached from the sharply dissonant modern musical sonority. The sonata became a repertoire for violinists from different countries - it was performed by U. Hölscher, M. Vengerov, D. Sitkovetsky, S. Stadler and others.
In 1984, Shchedrin wrote "Self-portrait" for a symphony orchestra. Psychologically, he is diametrically opposed to the established image of Shchedrin as a carrier of exciting energy, a master of humor and jokes. This is the author's most gloomy and tragic work, so that its premiere at the grand opening of the II Moscow International Music Festival (1984) ran counter to the atmosphere of the composer's holiday. In the title of the play, Shchedrin proceeded from the experience of painting: "I was inspired by the example of painters. Almost all of them painted their portraits: perhaps this reflected their perceived need to know themselves. Sometimes an artist comes to understand man, life, time" (Yakovlev M. Instead frames for a portrait // Music in the USSR, 1985, April - June, p. 15). In the author's annotation, he talks about "imitation of the dreary sounds of a lonely balalaika, the muttering of a bassoon "in the hops" (as if singing an old chant of kalik passers-by), ... the endless, even and sad landscape of my country." Shchedrin reacted to what was happening around him with all the strings of his soul. 1984 is the extreme point of the Soviet stagnation, which seemed insurmountable. A year later, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU M. Gorbachev came up with the idea of perestroika under the threat of economic and general collapse of the country.
Created in 1985, the ballet "Lady with a Dog" based on the story of the same name by A. Chekhov was inspired by the 60th anniversary of M. Plisetskaya. The libretto was written by R. Shchedrin and V. Leventhal, M. Plisetskaya was both the choreographer-director and the performer of the main role - Anna Sergeevna, for whose part the costumes were created by the famous Parisian couturier P. Cardin. The pure lyricism of the plot was realized as a one-act ballet for 45-50 minutes, consisting of five extended dance duets - pas de deux. The musical structure of the ballet, embodying the play of the lyrical feelings of the characters, is imbued with a captivating melody, the orchestra is transparent - only a string group with the addition of two oboes, two horns and a celesta, the musical form of the whole is harmonious. With Shchedrin, this is the most poetic and lyrical ballet work.
Gorbachev's perestroika, which began in 1985, dramatically changed the life of the entire Soviet intelligentsia, in particular, opened up unprecedented opportunities for contacts with foreign countries. In 1988, a new type of event took place - the Soviet-American festival "Making Music Together". At first, the Americans wanted to hold a festival of Shchedrin alone, but the USSR Ministry of Culture did not give consent to this. Then an international forum was organized with the maximum representation from the USSR. About 300 people arrived in Massachusetts, including A. Schnittke, S. Gubaidulina, A. Petrov, G. Kancheli, B. Tishchenko, V. Laurushas. Black singers participated in the production of Shchedrin's "Dead Souls". The world resonance of the festival, both artistic and political, was enormous.
The wave of perestroika led people as active as Shchedrin to rise to power. The composer also became an effective politician. In 1989, from the Union of Composers, he was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In addition, having his own political program, he joined the well-known Interregional Group of People's Deputies for Perestroika in the USSR, whose members were academician A. Sakharov, the future first President of Russia B. Yeltsin, the future mayor of Moscow G. Popov, philosopher Y. Afanasyev. In particular, they demanded a multi-party system and alternative elections, which did not suit the party authorities at all. On television, one could watch the fight between Shchedrin, who was heading for the podium, and Gorbachev, who did not give him the floor. Shchedrin participated in the rehabilitation at home of M. Rostropovich and G. Vishnevskaya, expelled from the country.
With the onset of another significant date - the 1000th anniversary of the adoption of Christianity in Rus' - Shchedrin wrote essays that showed all the deep meaning of this topic for him, the grandson of the priest and himself, baptized in childhood: "Stichera for the Millennium of the Baptism of Rus'" (1987) and "The Sealed Angel" (1988).
The orchestral "Stichera for the Millennium of the Baptism of Rus'" was written on the basis of an ancient primary source recorded with hooks - the stichera for the feast of the Vladimir icon by Tsar Ivan the Terrible, which the composer set out in his interpretation. Shchedrin recreated the world of ancient Russian singing — its quietness, unhurriedness and tranquility, its reflection of the Russian flat landscape, which affected the smoothness of the melody, flowing without pauses, and the variability of the choruses. The score indicates the moments of singing along with the voices of the musicians to their parts. The composer sent the work for the first performance in the USA to Rostropovich, to whom he dedicated it. He regarded such an act as a civic feat and was able to make the premiere at the Washington Kennedy Center (1988). The first Russian CD was released at home - with a recording of Shchedrin's Stikhira and Ivan the Terrible's stichera.
The Russian liturgy "The Sealed Angel", or choral music according to N. Leskov to canonical Church Slavonic texts for mixed choir a cappella with a pipe (flute) in 9 parts, was first performed in Moscow, by two choirs - the Moscow Chamber and the Academic Russian Choir under management of V. Minin. The 60-minute composition is a choral masterpiece that has an impact not only musical, but also spiritual and ethical, like a service for parishioners. It was also officially noted: in 1992, the State Prize of the Russian Federation was awarded for it, one of the first in the new Russia.
Leskov's story "The Sealed Angel" did not serve as a program for Shchedrin's music, separate elements were taken from it: the title, the text for No. 1 ("The Angel of the Lord"), the image of the flute, the plot "cycle of purification" - the icon is clean, burned with a seal and again clean. At the request of the conductor, texts from Leskov could be inserted (such is the recording on a CD in the USA). And in relation to the liturgy, the composer did not aim to reproduce its entire sequence, but selected only a number of texts (from Everyday life, Menaia, Triodion) with rearrangements and abbreviations. Stylistically, the principles of Russian Znamenny chant are used in the music - the smoothness of singing, the "flatness" of the melody, and the absence of pauses. In terms of choral techniques, this is an encyclopedia of Russian choral writing, which, in addition to znamenny-type melody, also included folk undertones, a sonorous chord warehouse, the color of bass octavists, a solo of a treble boy, the effect of "temple echo" and imitation of bell ringing. "The Sealed Angel" became an outstanding choral work of the 20th century and Russian sacred music.
Since the late 1980s, Shchedrin began to receive more and more creative proposals from abroad, responding to them by creating compositions on his favorite Russian theme, thereby widely distributing it in different parts of the world: his musical "Nina and 12 months" was staged in Japan (1988) and performed "Khorovody" (Fourth Concerto for Orchestra, 1989), for the 100th anniversary of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, "Old Music of Russian Provincial Circuses" was written (Third Concerto for Orchestra, 1989), chamber pieces were composed for Finland and Paris. Regarding "Music of the Circuses", Shchedrin pointed out (in the annotation): "In this work, I deliberately strive for colorfulness, for musical painting, humor, for spectacular, external, entertaining .... "Circus" was written during the years of perestroika, in the years of hopes and faith in the emancipation and reorganization of Russian society. Perhaps the feeling of hope for good changes charged me with energy and optimism? professionals call it a modern orchestra, meaning maximum sound expressiveness with maximum concentration and cost savings" - this is how M. Rostropovich speaks of Shchedrin (Rodion Shchedrin. Self-portrait. Booklet of the music festival, 2002).
The beginning of the 1990s, along with the break in the entire social structure of the country - the collapse of the USSR, the formation of a new state - the Russian Federation - brought significant changes to Shchedrin's life. The weakened economy and serious material problems created such a clear threat to creativity that the composer was forced to move to Germany, to Munich (1991-92). He was followed by his wife, M. Plisetskaya. Both retained Russian citizenship. Ties with Western publishing houses and performers began to strengthen. At the same time, the composer retained and strengthened the most important properties of his style - the democratic breadth and Russian orientation of the subject. But the choice of musical genres became different: no new ballets appeared (only team music), one opera appeared - "Lolita", but concerts for soloists with an orchestra - for piano, violin, viola, cello, trumpet - as a result of contacts with major musicians, flourished unusually peace. The vast majority of the works turned out to be connected with the Russian theme, and the importance of the lyrical beginning increased. In connection with Shchedrin's anniversaries, major festivals were held in his honor - at home and in many countries of the world. He became a recognized classic of Russian and world music.
The opera "Lolita" based on the novel of the same name by V. Nabokov to the libretto of the composer himself (1994) could not be staged in the main world languages due to a copyright problem, and then the idea arose of staging at the Royal Swedish Opera - in Swedish. The premiere took place in Stockholm on December 14, 1994: conductor - M. Rostropovich, Lolita - L. Gustafson, Humbert Humbert - P.-A. Wahlgren, Quilty - B. Howgan. The scandalous atmosphere that always accompanied this Nabokov plot was expressed here in public demonstrations for the cancellation of the performance and calls for the artists to refuse to participate in it. But the production was a great success, with reviews in the press around the world.
Although it is the opera that has the ability to remove the naturalism of any plot, Shchedrin tried to deepen the moral side of the novel both in the libretto and in the music. In the Prologue, Humbert is already sitting in a prison cell, and a choir of Judges blaming him passes through the entire opera, and in contrast, the choir of Boys in the church sings an enlightening prayer. To defuse the tragic tension of the drama, the lively duets of the Advertisement are inserted in contrast. The high spirit of the opera reigns in the long, slow love scenes of the two main characters, in the sublime musical sound of the scene "Humbert's Sin". Shchedrin created bright vocal parts - the young Lolita, with her singing in a high silvery register, the aging seducer Quilty with his falsetto or animal cry. The opera ends with a cathartic epilogue that deepens Nabokov's finale. According to the writer's son, D. Nabokov, "if my father saw this, he would be happy."
Anxiety and pain for the hardships of Russia brought to life the string music "Russian Photos", dedicated to the orchestra "Moscow Virtuosos" conducted by V. Spivakov (1994). These are pictures of Russian life at different times. 1 hour - "The Old City of Aleksin", in memory of grandfather and childhood, 2 hours - "Cockroaches in Moscow", when the attack really took place, although the music is not pictorial, 3 hours - "Stalin Cocktail", with the image of trills drums, groans of victims, echoes of executions, with quotes from the cantata about Stalin by A. Aleksandrov and "March of Enthusiasts" by I. Dunayevsky, 4 hours - "Evening Bells", with a mood of desolation, confusion in the heart and singing the words "Eternal Memory".
At the center of the period of the 90s are three significant concerts - for cello, violin and viola, dedicated to outstanding contemporary musicians.
The cello concerto "Sotto voce concerto" (dedicated to M. Rostropovich, 1994) according to the concept belongs to works with an eternal theme - life and death. The subtitle refers to Shchedrin's favorite idea of the drama heard through the wall, as well as to a special pianissimo performed by Rostropovich. Vivid tragic episodes are recorded in the music, but an innovative overcoming of earthly tragedy is given - as an exit to the non-human world thanks to the use of recorders with their reed sound, like a Russian flute.
Concerto for violin and string orchestra "Concerto cantabile" (dedicated to M. Vengerov, 1997) is a neo-romantic work, stylistically not similar to the "early" and "middle" Shchedrin. It is comparable only with the lyrics of his "Lady with a dog". "By the word" cantabile "I mean, first of all, the tone of the state of the soul, partly - the manner of sound. As well as interlacing, crossing, merging, agreement, dispute, counter-movement of the singing lines of the soloist and the orchestra" (from the author's abstract). As "my diary of feelings" the composer described his concerto in the Swiss film about him by J. Gachot.
"Concerto dolce", a concerto for viola accompanied by a string orchestra and a harp (1997), was prepared both by my father's playing this instrument, and the preface written by Shchedrin to "Violist Danilov" by V. Orlov, and, of course, by the unique skill of Y. Bashmet, to whom the dedication has been made. Although the concerto is called "Dolce", it does not begin or end with this character. The large episode of dolce is located in the center of the form and is especially reserved for reprise. Purely Russian elements are inlaid into the music, designated as "balalaika" and as "sleigh bells" - both were included in the work for the viola for the first time. It is characteristic that Shchedrin closes the concerts "Dolce" and "Cantabile" with an energetic strong-willed coda.
The chamber works of the mid-90s are marked by Shchedrin's inventions in the nature of musical sound: "Music from afar" for two recorders and the Second Piano Sonata (1996), "Balalaika" for solo violin without a bow (1997), continuing the idea of "Russian Tunes" for cello solo (1990).
In 1997, on the occasion of the composer's 65th birthday, festivals of his music were held in Finland, France, Germany, and in Russia celebrations were held for 19 days in four cities: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara.
On the Edge of the Millennium (1999), Shchedrin received an honorable offer from Germany: to write an orchestral Prelude to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, a landmark work for the entire German culture. For its anniversary, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra commissioned an essay, which became "Symphonie con-certante" (Third Symphony) "Faces of Russian Fairy Tales" (2000), reflecting the images of "Two-horned pipes", "Alyonushka's sister and Ivanushka's brother", "Princess- frogs" and others. In 1999, Shchedrin created one of his most impressive concertos, the Fifth Piano Concerto (dedicated to the Finnish pianist O. Mustonen), which, after its premiere in Los Angeles (1999), began its confident journey through the world's pop music. Commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, "Lolita Serenade" from Opera Music (2001) was born.
The composer's 70th birthday in 2002 was marked by a magnificent festival in Moscow and St. Petersburg, which demonstrated the vitality of his work over the years and the inexhaustible potential in creating new works (among the Russian premieres are "Parabola concertante", "Concert parable" for cello, string orchestra and timpani, 2001). The premiere of symphonic studies for orchestra "Dialogues with Shostakovich" (2002) took place at Carnegie Hall. The Lincoln Center in New York hosted the world premiere of Shchedrin's opera for the concert stage "The Enchanted Wanderer" based on the novel by N. Leskov (December 19, 2002): the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, choir, singers - A. Anger, L. Paasikivi, E Akimov, conductor L. Maazel.
“I am a Russian person, all my roots are here. Even if I were somewhere in Tierra del Fuego, I would remain so,” Shchedrin says about himself (R. Shchedrin. Someone decided to re-educate the Russians ... Conversation with S. Biryukov. // Labor, 22.12.95). With great ingenuity, he was and is able to introduce Russian elements into his musical language, reproducing stichera, prayers, ditties, shepherd's tunes, bells, mourners' voices, circus music, balalaika strumming, gusell busting, a gypsy song, applications from Tchaikovsky, etc. At the same time, the whole aura of his compositions is typically modern: the sharpness of dissonant sound pairings, the play of musical stage spaces, collage technique, extremely diverse articulation and innovative ways of performing on all instruments.
Shchedrin's music is charged with that sunny vitality, which the art of the 20th century largely lacked for people. That is why the human response all over the world to his "musical offering" is so great. Throughout his life, going his own way, he took a stable position in the very center of musical culture, and, in the words of R. W. Emerson, "the hero is he who stands motionless in the center."
COMPOSERS: Rodion Shchedrin (Video)
The creative merits of R. K. Shchedrin were awarded numerous honorary titles and prizes: People's Artist of the USSR (1981), Lenin Prize (1984), State Prize of the USSR (1972), State Prize of Russia (1992), Order of Merit for the Fatherland III degrees (2002). Winner of the D. D. Shostakovich Prize (Russia, 1992), Crystal Award of the World Economic Forum (Davos, 1995), Honorary Professor of the Moscow Conservatory (1997), "Composer of the Year" of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (2002).
Corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts (1976), honorary member of the F. Liszt Society (USA, 1979), honorary member of the Academy of Fine Arts of the GDR (1982), honorary member of the International Music Council (1985), member of the Berlin Academy of Arts (1989).
Books are dedicated to him: I. Likhachev. Musical Theater of Rodion Shchedrin (Moscow, 1977); V. Komissinsky. On the Dramatic Principles of R. Shchedrin (Moscow, 1978); M. Tarakanov. Creativity of Rodion Shchedrin (M., 1980); H. Gerlach. Zum Schaffen von Rodion Schtschedrin (Berlin, 1982); Y. Paisov. Choir in the work of Rodion Shchedrin (Moscow, 1992); V. Kholopova. Center path. Composer Rodion Shchedrin (M., 2000); she is in the German version - V. Cholopova. Der Weg im Zentrum (Mainz, Schott, 2002) and others. In 2002, a book by the composer himself was published: R. Shchedrin. Monologues of different years (M., 2002).
The 20th century is an era of great transformations in world culture, in particular, music. On the one hand, both world wars and many revolutions influenced the general turbulent situation in the world.
On the other hand, technological development progressing before our eyes has led to the creation of radically new genres, styles, directions, ways of musical expression. Despite this, some composers of the 20th century did not abandon traditional classical forms and developed and enriched this art form. Within the framework of this article, we will talk about such innovative composer schools and composers as
- New Vienna School and its representatives
- Composers of the French Six
- Avant-garde composers
- Composers of the French Six
New Vienna School
One of the first innovators at the beginning of the 20th century is the Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg, who led the New Vienna School and created the dodecaphone system. His students followed - Alban Berg and Anton Webern - completely abandoned the tonal system, thus creating atonal music, which means the rejection of the tonic (main sound). The exception is the latest works of A. Berg. The atonalist composers mostly composed in the expressionist style, on which the imprints of the cruel upheavals of humanity from the loss of loved ones during the war, hunger, cold, and poverty lie. The atonal system has exhausted itself for some time, however, in the future, throughout the 20th century and to this day, many composers try their hand at using this technique.
"French Six"
Almost simultaneously with the Schoenberg group, the composers of the French Six began to operate in France, united by a common worldview. These are A. Honegger, D. Milhaud, F. Poulenc, J. Auric, L. Duray, J. Tayefer. The composers of the "Six" wanted to make the art of music accessible to representatives of all segments of the population. Nevertheless, their music was on a par with many classical works. The composers of the "Six" in their works promoted the direction of urbanism associated with the growth of cities and high-tech progress of the 20th century. The use of various noise effects in the works (especially in the works of A. Honegger) - beeps, the rhythm of a steam locomotive, etc. - is a kind of tribute to the direction of urbanization.
Vanguard 50s
In the 1950s, avant-garde composers P. Boulez (France), K. Stockhausen (Germany), L. Nono and L. Berio (Italy) appeared on the scene. Music for these composers turns into a field for experiments, where more attention is paid to the design of the sound range, rather than the very content of the musical canvas. A special place in their work is occupied by the serial technique, which originates from the dodecaphonic system and is brought to its apogee. Total serialism is created - in this writing technique, seriality is reflected in all elements of the musical whole (rhythm, melody, dynamic shades, etc.). Avant-garde composers are also the founders of electronic, concrete, minimal music and pointillism techniques.
Above is a small list of musical styles, trends, musical expression, therefore, one can imagine what diversity this interesting, multi-layered and many-sided 20th century brings.
World classical music is unthinkable without the works of Russian composers. The Russian school of composers, whose traditions were continued by the Soviet and today's Russian schools, began in the 19th century with composers who combined European musical art with Russian folk melodies, linking together the European form and the Russian spirit.
as A. S. Pushkin, V. A. Zhukovsky, A. S. Griboyedov, A. A. Delvig. The creative impetus to his work was added by a long-term trip to Europe in the early 1830s and meetings with the leading composers of the time - V. Bellini, G. Donizetti, F. Mendelssohn and later with G. Berlioz, J. Meyerbeer. Success came to M. I. Glinka after the production of the opera “Ivan Susanin” (“Life for the Tsar”) (1836), which was enthusiastically received by everyone, for the first time in world music, Russian choral art and European symphonic and opera practice were organically combined, as well as a hero appeared, similar to Susanin, whose image summarizes the best features of the national character. V. F. Odoevsky described the opera as “a new element in Art, and a new period begins in its history - the period of Russian music.”Glinka: “In order to create beauty, one must be pure in soul”
The second opera - the epic "Ruslan and Lyudmila" (1842), the work on which was carried out against the backdrop of the death of Pushkin and in the difficult living conditions of the composer, due to the deeply innovative nature of the work, was ambiguously received by the audience and the authorities and brought M. I. Glinka hard feelings . After that, he traveled a lot, living alternately in Russia and abroad, without stopping composing. Romances, symphonic and chamber works remained in his legacy. In the 1990s, Mikhail Glinka's "Patriotic Song" was the official anthem of the Russian Federation.
Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka was not distinguished by good health, despite this he was very easy-going and knew geography very well, perhaps if he had not become a composer, he would have become a traveler. He knew six foreign languages, including Persian.
Alexander Porfiryevich BORODIN (1833-1887)
Alexander Porfirievich Borodin, one of the leading Russian composers of the second half of the 19th century, in addition to his talent as a composer, was a chemist, doctor, teacher, critic and had a literary talent.
Born in St. Petersburg, since childhood, everyone around him noted his unusual activity, enthusiasm and abilities in various directions, primarily in music and chemistry. A.P. Borodin is a Russian nugget composer, he did not have professional musician teachers, all his achievements in music are due to independent work on mastering the technique of composing. The formation of A. P. Borodin was influenced by the work of M. I. Glinka (as well as all Russian composers of the 19th century), and two events gave impetus to the close occupation of composition in the early 1860s - firstly, acquaintance and marriage with the talented pianist E. S. Protopopova, and secondly, a meeting with M. A. Balakirev and joining the creative community of Russian composers, known as the “Mighty Handful”. In the late 1870s and 1880s, A.P. Borodin traveled and toured extensively in Europe and America, met with the leading composers of his time, his fame grew, he became one of the most famous and popular Russian composers in Europe at the end of the 19th century. th century.
The central place in the work of A.P. Borodin is occupied by the opera “Prince Igor” (1869−1890), which is an example of the national heroic epic in music and which he himself did not have time to finish (it was completed by his friends A.A. Glazunov and N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov). In "Prince Igor", against the backdrop of majestic pictures of historical events, the main idea of \u200b\u200bthe composer's entire work was reflected - courage, calm grandeur, spiritual nobility of the best Russian people and the mighty strength of the entire Russian people, manifested in the defense of the motherland. Despite the fact that A.P. Borodin left a relatively small number of works, his work is very diverse and he is considered one of the fathers of Russian symphonic music, who influenced many generations of Russian and foreign composers.
The chemical reaction of silver salts of carboxylic acids with halogens, resulting in halogenated hydrocarbons, was named after Borodin, which he was the first to investigate in 1861.
Modest Petrovich MUSSORGSKY (1839-1881)
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky is one of the most brilliant Russian composers of the 19th century, a member of the Mighty Handful. Mussorgsky's innovative work was far ahead of its time.
Born in the Pskov province. Like many talented people, from childhood he showed talent in music, studied in St. Petersburg, was, according to family tradition, a military man. The decisive event that determined that Mussorgsky was born not for military service, but for music, was his meeting with M. A. Balakirev and joining the Mighty Handful. Mussorgsky is great because in his grandiose works - the operas Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina - he captured in music the dramatic milestones of Russian history with a radical novelty that Russian music did not know before him, showing in them a combination of mass folk scenes and a diverse richness of types, the unique character of the Russian people. These operas, in numerous editions by both the author and other composers, are among the most popular Russian operas in the world. Another outstanding work of Mussorgsky is the cycle of piano pieces "Pictures at an Exhibition", colorful and inventive miniatures are permeated with the Russian refrain theme and the Orthodox faith.
There was everything in Mussorgsky's life - both greatness and tragedy, but he was always distinguished by genuine spiritual purity and disinterestedness. His last years were difficult - life's disorder, non-recognition of creativity, loneliness, addiction to alcohol, all this determined his early death at 42, he left relatively few compositions, some of which were completed by other composers. The specific melody and innovative harmony of Mussorgsky anticipated some features of the musical development of the 20th century and played an important role in the development of the styles of many world composers.
At the end of his life, Mussorgsky, under pressure from his "friends" Stasov and Rimsky-Korsakov, renounced the copyright to his works and presented them to Tertiy Filippov.
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, perhaps the greatest Russian composer of the 19th century, raised Russian musical art to unprecedented heights. He is one of the most important composers of world classical music.
A native of the Vyatka province, although his paternal roots are in Ukraine, Tchaikovsky showed musical abilities from childhood, but his first education and work was in the field of law. Tchaikovsky is one of the first Russian "professional" composers - he studied music theory and composition at the new St. Petersburg Conservatory. Tchaikovsky was considered a “Western” composer, in contrast to the folk figures of the “Mighty Handful”, with whom he had good creative and friendly relations, however, his work is no less permeated with the Russian spirit, he managed to uniquely combine the Western symphonic heritage of Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann with Russian traditions inherited from Mikhail Glinka.
The composer led an active life - he was a teacher, conductor, critic, public figure, worked in two capitals, toured Europe and America. Tchaikovsky was a rather emotionally unstable person, enthusiasm, despondency, apathy, irascibility, violent anger - all these moods changed in him quite often, being a very sociable person, he always strove for loneliness.
Tchaikovsky: "Great talent requires great diligence"
It is a difficult task to single out something best from Tchaikovsky's work, he has several works of equal size in almost all musical genres - opera, ballet, symphony, chamber music. The content of Tchaikovsky's music is universal: with inimitable melodism, it embraces images of life and death, love, nature, childhood, works of Russian and world literature are revealed in it in a new way, deep processes of spiritual life are reflected.
Cambridge University in absentia and without defending a dissertation awarded Tchaikovsky the title of Doctor of Music, as well as the Paris Academy of Fine Arts elected him a corresponding member.
Nikolai Andreevich RIMSKY-KORSAKOV (1844-1908)
Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov is a talented Russian composer, one of the most important figures in the creation of an invaluable domestic musical heritage. His peculiar world and worship of the eternal all-encompassing beauty of the universe, admiration for the miracle of being, unity with nature have no analogues in the history of music.
Born in the Novgorod province, according to family tradition, he became a naval officer, on a warship he traveled around many countries in Europe and two Americas. He received his musical education first from his mother, then taking private lessons from the pianist F. Canille. And again, thanks to M. A. Balakirev, the organizer of the Mighty Handful, who introduced Rimsky-Korsakov into the musical community and influenced his work, the world did not lose the talented composer.
The central place in Rimsky-Korsakov's heritage is occupied by operas - 15 works demonstrating the diversity of genre, stylistic, dramatic, and compositional decisions of the composer, nevertheless having a special style - with all the richness of the orchestral component, melodic vocal lines are the main ones. Two main directions distinguish the composer's work: the first is Russian history, the second is the world of fairy tales and epic, for which he received the nickname "storyteller".
In addition to direct independent creative activity, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov is known as a publicist, compiler of collections of folk songs, in which he showed great interest, and also as the finalist of the works of his friends - Dargomyzhsky, Mussorgsky and Borodin. Rimsky-Korsakov was the founder of the composer school, as a teacher and head of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, he produced about two hundred composers, conductors, musicologists, among them Prokofiev and Stravinsky.
Alexander Nikolaevich SKRYABIN (1872 - 1915)
Alexander Nikolayevich Skryabin is a Russian composer and pianist, one of the brightest personalities of Russian and world musical culture. The original and deeply poetic work of Scriabin stood out for its innovation even against the background of the birth of many new trends in art associated with changes in public life at the turn of the 20th century.
Born in Moscow, his mother died early, his father could not pay attention to his son, as he served as ambassador to Persia. Scriabin was brought up by his aunt and grandfather, from childhood he showed musical abilities. At the beginning he studied at the cadet corps, took private piano lessons, after graduating from the corps he entered the Moscow Conservatory, his classmate was S. V. Rachmaninov. After graduating from the conservatory, Scriabin devoted himself entirely to music - as a concert pianist-composer, he toured Europe and Russia, spending most of his time abroad.
The peak of Scriabin's composing creativity was 1903-1908, when the Third Symphony ("Divine Poem"), the symphonic "Poem of Ecstasy", "Tragic" and "Satanic" piano poems, 4th and 5th sonatas and other works were released. "The Poem of Ecstasy", consisting of several themes-images, concentrated Sryabin's creative ideas and is his bright masterpiece. It harmoniously combined the composer's love for the power of a large orchestra and the lyrical, airy sound of solo instruments. The colossal vital energy, fiery passion, strong-willed power embodied in the "Poem of Ecstasy" makes an irresistible impression on the listener and to this day retains the strength of its influence.
Scriabin: "I'm going to tell them not to expect anything from life except what they can create for themselves."
Another masterpiece of Scriabin is "Prometheus" ("The Poem of Fire"), in which the author completely updated his harmonic language, departing from the traditional tonal system, and for the first time in history this work was supposed to be accompanied by color music, but the premiere, for technical reasons, passed no light effects.
The last unfinished "Mystery" was the idea of Scriabin, a dreamer, romantic, philosopher, to appeal to all mankind and inspire him to create a new fantastic world order, the union of the Universal Spirit with Matter.
Sergei Vasilyevich RACHMANINOV (1873 - 1943)
Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov is the greatest world composer of the early 20th century, a talented pianist and conductor. The creative image of Rachmaninov as a composer is often defined by the epithet “the most Russian composer”, emphasizing in this brief formulation his merits in uniting the musical traditions of the Moscow and St. Petersburg composer schools and in creating his own unique style, which stands out in isolation in world musical culture.
Born in the Novgorod province, from the age of four he began to study music under the guidance of his mother. He studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, after 3 years of study he transferred to the Moscow Conservatory and graduated with a big gold medal. He quickly became known as a conductor and pianist, composing music. The disastrous premiere of the groundbreaking First Symphony (1897) in St. Petersburg caused a creative composer's crisis, from which Rachmaninoff emerged in the early 1900s with a style that combined Russian church songwriting, outgoing European romanticism, contemporary impressionism and neoclassicism, all saturated with complex symbolism. During this creative period, his best works were born, including 2 and 3 piano concertos, the Second Symphony and his favorite work - the poem "The Bells" for choir, soloists and orchestra.
Rachmaninov: “I feel like a ghost that wanders alone in a world alien to him.”
In 1917, Rachmaninov and his family were forced to leave our country and settle in the United States. For almost ten years after his departure, he did not compose anything, but toured extensively in America and Europe and was recognized as one of the greatest pianists of the era and the greatest conductor. For all the stormy activity, Rachmaninoff remained a vulnerable and insecure person, striving for solitude and even loneliness, avoiding the intrusive attention of the public. He sincerely loved and yearned for his homeland, wondering if he had made a mistake by leaving it. He was constantly interested in all the events taking place in Russia, read books, newspapers and magazines, helped financially. His last compositions - Symphony No. 3 (1937) and "Symphonic Dances" (1940) became the result of his creative path, incorporating all the best of his unique style and the mournful feeling of irreparable loss and homesickness.
During the Great Patriotic War, Rachmaninov gave several charity concerts, the money collected from which he sent to the Red Army fund to fight the Nazi invaders.
Igor Fedorovich STRAVINSKY (1882−1971)
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky is one of the most influential world composers of the 20th century, the leader of neoclassicism. Stravinsky has become a "mirror" of the musical era, his work reflects the multiplicity of styles, constantly intersecting and difficult to classify. He freely combines genres, forms, styles, choosing them from centuries of musical history and subordinating them to his own rules.
Born near St. Petersburg, studied at the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University, independently studied musical disciplines, took private lessons from N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, this was Stravinsky's only composing school, thanks to which he mastered the compositional technique to perfection. He began composing professionally relatively late, but the rise was swift - a series of three ballets: The Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913) immediately brought him to the number of composers of the first magnitude.
In 1914 he left Russia, as it turned out almost forever (in 1962 there were tours in the USSR). Stravinsky is a cosmopolitan, having been forced to change several countries - Russia, Switzerland, France, and ended up living in the USA. His work is divided into three periods - "Russian", "neoclassical", American "serial production", the periods are divided not by the time of life in different countries, but by the author's "handwriting".
Stravinsky: “I have a Russian syllable. Maybe in my music it’s not immediately obvious, but it’s built into it.”
Stravinsky was a very highly educated, sociable person with a wonderful sense of humor. The circle of his acquaintances and correspondents included musicians, poets, artists, scientists, businessmen, statesmen.
The last highest achievement of Stravinsky - "Requiem" (Chants for the Dead) (1966) absorbed and combined the composer's previous artistic experience, becoming a true apotheosis of the master's work.
In Stavinsky's work, one unique feature stands out - "uniqueness", it was not for nothing that he was called the "composer of a thousand and one styles", the constant change of genre, style, plot direction - each of his works is unique, but he constantly returned to constructions in which Russian origin is visible, heard Russian roots.
Sergei Sergeevich PROKOFIEV (1891-1953)
Sergei Sergeevich Prokofiev is one of the greatest Russian composers of the 20th century, pianist and conductor.
Born in the Donetsk region, from childhood joined the music. Prokofiev can be considered one of the few (if not the only) Russian musical "wunderkinds", from the age of 5 he was engaged in composing, at the age of 9 he wrote two operas (of course, these works are still immature, but show a desire for creation), at the age of 13 he passed exams in Petersburg Conservatory, among his teachers was N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov. The beginning of his professional career caused a storm of criticism and a misunderstanding of his individual fundamentally anti-romantic and extremely modernist style, the paradox is that, breaking the academic canons, the structure of his compositions remained true to classical principles and subsequently became a restraining force of modernist all-denying skepticism. From the very beginning of his career, Prokofiev performed and toured a lot. In 1918, he went on an international tour, including visiting the USSR, and finally returned to his homeland in 1936.
The country has changed and Prokofiev's "free" creativity was forced to give in to the realities of the new demands. Prokofiev's talent flourished with renewed vigor - he writes operas, ballets, music for films - sharp, strong-willed, extremely accurate music with new images and ideas, laid the foundation for Soviet classical music and opera. In 1948, three tragic events occurred almost simultaneously: on suspicion of espionage, his first Spanish wife was arrested and exiled to camps; the Decree of the Poliburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was issued in which Prokofiev, Shostakovich and others were attacked and accused of “formalism” and the dangers of their music; there was a sharp deterioration in the composer's health, he retired to the country and practically did not leave it, but continued to compose.
Prokofiev: "The composer, like the poet, sculptor, painter, is called to serve man and the people."
Some of the brightest works of the Soviet period were the operas "War and Peace", "The Tale of a Real Man"; the ballets Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella, which have become a new standard in world ballet music; oratorio "On guard of the world"; music for the films "Alexander Nevsky" and "Ivan the Terrible"; symphonies No. 5,6,7; piano work.
Prokofiev's work is striking in its versatility and breadth of themes, the originality of his musical thinking, freshness and originality made up an entire era in the world musical culture of the 20th century and had a powerful impact on many Soviet and foreign composers.
Prokofiev was very fond of chess, and enriched the game with his ideas and achievements, among which he invented "nine" chess - a 24 × 24 board with nine sets of pieces placed on it.
Dmitry Dmitrievich SHOSTAKOVICH (1906 - 1975)
Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich is one of the most significant and performed composers in the world, his influence on contemporary classical music is immeasurable. His creations are true expressions of the inner human drama and chronicle of the difficult events of the 20th century, where the deeply personal is intertwined with the tragedy of man and mankind, with the fate of his native country.
Born in St. Petersburg, he received his first musical lessons from his mother, graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory, upon entering which its rector Alexander Glazunov compared him with Mozart - so he impressed everyone with his excellent musical memory, keen ear and composer's gift. Already in the early 1920s, by the end of the conservatory, Shostakovich had a baggage of his own works and became one of the best composers in the country. World fame came to Shostakovich after winning the 1st International Chopin Competition in 1927.
Until a certain period, namely before the production of the opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, Shostakovich worked as a freelance artist - an "avant-garde", experimenting with styles and genres. The harsh denunciation of this opera in 1936 and the repressions of 1937 laid the foundation for the subsequent constant internal struggle of Shostakovich for the desire to express his views by his own means in the face of the state's imposition of trends in art. In his life, politics and creativity are very closely intertwined, he was praised by the authorities and persecuted by them, held high positions and was removed from them, was awarded and was on the verge of arrest himself and his relatives.
A soft, intelligent, delicate person, he found his form of expression of creative principles in symphonies, where he could tell the truth about time as openly as possible. Of all the vast works of Shostakovich in all genres, it is the symphonies (15 works) that occupy the central place, the most dramatic are symphonies 5,7,8,10,15, which became the pinnacle of Soviet symphonic music. A completely different Shostakovich opens up in chamber music.
Despite the fact that Shostakovich himself was a "home" composer and practically did not travel abroad, his music, humanistic in essence and truly artistic in form, quickly and widely spread throughout the world, performed by the best conductors. The magnitude of Shostakovich's talent is so immense that the full comprehension of this unique phenomenon of world art is yet to come.
Avant-garde of the 1960s-1980s. Speaking of the “Soviet musical avant-garde” (or “Russian post-war musical avant-garde”), they usually mean a group of composers who came to the fore in the early 1960s or a little later. Chronologically (and ideologically), the first avant-garde artist of this wave should be considered A.M. Volkonsky, who came to the USSR with his family from emigration (1947), having managed to get both an initial musical education in the West and a general idea of what is happening in artistic life. After continuing his studies at the Moscow Conservatory, he began composing in the serial technique of Schoenberg and Webern. The "avant-garde" group, which was soon headed by three Moscow authors - E.V. Denisov, S.A. Gubaidulina, A.G. Schnittke, was joined for some time by other authors, for example, N.N. a staunch supporter of dodecaphony to the end), S.M. Slonimsky, R.K. Shchedrin, B.I. Tishchenko, A.S. Karamanov, in Ukraine - V.V. Silvestrov, L.A. .A.Karaev, in Estonia - A.Pärt, etc.
A characteristic feature of the musical avant-garde on the territory of the USSR often became “folklore coloring”, when new techniques were applied to the development of folk tunes, preferably in their “raw”, recorded form directly from folk singers (for example, the untempered system of a Russian peasant song could be combined with avant-garde micro-interval technique ).
Chronologically, the first technique mastered by the “Soviet avant-garde” was serialism (in various forms), then sonoristics, as well as aleatorics (composition based on the principle of chance); at the same time, the development of electronic music began. Pretty soon, “pure” systems gave way to various mixed techniques: the concepts of “collage” (i.e., quoting “someone else’s word”) and the so-called “collage” appeared. polystylistics is the term of Schnittke, whose writings most clearly represent this phenomenon. At this point, by the beginning of the 1970s, the Russian avant-garde "coincided" with some trends in Western art. By the second half of the 1970s, according to the observations of critics, phenomena called “new traditionalism”, neo-romanticism, “new simplicity”, etc. began to take shape. They were also reflected in the work of the luminaries of the musical avant-garde - for example, in Gubaidulina, whose technique is basically based on timbre composition, or in Denisov, in whose later compositions the genre and stylistic spectrum expands, and very prominently in Pyart, who came to religious art as an ascetic " new simplicity.
Alfred Garievich Schnittke(1934–1998), Russian composer. Born in Engels (ASSR Volga Germans, now Saratov Region) on November 24, 1934; father is a translator from German, mother is a teacher of German. In 1961 he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in the composition class of E.K. Golubev; in 1961-1972 he taught there at the department of instrumentation. Schnittke's works include operas, ballets, symphonies, chamber and choral music. The composer worked extensively in theater and cinema, creating music for several dozen feature, documentary and animated films by famous directors. From the beginning of the 1990s, he constantly lived and worked in Germany (the composer's family has German roots), was a corresponding member of a number of foreign academies of arts, a laureate of many foreign awards, as well as the State Prize of the RSFSR (1986).
Schnittke is the main figure of the "Soviet musical avant-garde", together with E.V. Denisov and S.A. Gubaidulina. Since the second half of the 1970s, his style has been characterized by the combination of various modern composing techniques based on the concept of “polystylistics” put forward by him (an outstanding music analyst, Schnittke, has repeatedly published his theoretical essays, in particular, dedicated to Shostakovich and Stravinsky). In accordance with this concept, we are talking about the expression of a "new pluralistic musical consciousness", which "in its struggle with the conventions of conservative and avant-garde academicism, steps over the most stable convention - the concept of style as a sterile pure phenomenon." As the main forms of manifestation of this trend, the principle of citation and the principle of allusion (stylistic hint, play in style) stand out. Polystylistics allows and implies the integration of "low" and "high", "banal" and "refined". "The subjective passion of the author's statement is supported by the documentary objectivity of musical reality, presented not only individually-reflected, but also cited."
This statement by the composer (referring to the early 1970s) best describes the style in which he worked until the end of his days. It also explains the reason why, among all Soviet avant-garde artists, Schnittke enjoyed the greatest fame both in Russia and in the West: the inclusion of "another's word" made the music more accessible to the listener, and the journalistic pathos of many of the composer's works additionally strengthened this quality. In addition, the composer's works often have a "theatrical" beginning, perhaps coming from his work in applied genres and giving the music the character of "sound design" - like a commentary on some event. Undoubtedly, the high skill of the musician in the dramatic construction of his compositions.
Schnittke left an extensive legacy, which represents almost all the main genres, as well as their hybrids: the operas Life with an Idiot (based on the story by V. Erofeev, 1991), Gesualdo (1993), The Story of Dr. book about Dr. Faust, 1994), ballets (including "Der gelbe Klang", "The Yellow Sound", according to W. Kandinsky, 1974, and "Peer Gynt", according to G. Ibsen, 1987), nine symphonies (Ninth - unfinished, 1998), six concerti grossi, several solo concertos with orchestra, several orchestral suites, a number of oratorios and cantatas (among them is the cantata “Seid nüchtern und wachet...” – “The Story of Dr. Johann Faust”, 1983; "Requiem" from the music for Schiller's drama "Don Carlos", 1975; Concerto for mixed choir, on the verses of G. Narekatsi, 1985; "Poems of Repentance" for mixed choir, on Old Russian texts, 1987), a lot of chamber and instrumental music, including four quartets, a piano quintet, a string trio, a trio sonata, four Hymns for different instrumental compositions, three piano sonatas, etc. Schnittke is the author of music for the feature films Agony (1974), Ascension (1977) ) and others, for the television films Faryatyev's Fantasies (1979), Little Tragedies (1980), Dead Souls (1984) and others, for the performances Duck Hunt (Moscow Art Theater, 1978), Doctor Zhivago (Taganka Theatre, 1993), etc.
Gubaidulina Sofia Asgatovna(b. 1931), Russian composer. Born in Chistopol (Tatar ASSR) on October 24, 1931 in an intelligent Tatar-Russian family; She studied music at a school and a conservatory in Kazan. After graduating from the Kazan Conservatory in 1954 (composition class of A.S. Leman, piano class of G.M. Kogan), she entered the Moscow Conservatory, from which she graduated in 1959 in the composition class of N.I. Peiko, and then studied in graduate school with V. Ya .Shebalina. Until the early 1990s, she lived in Moscow as a "free artist"; in 1969–1970 she worked at the Moscow Experimental Studio of Electronic Music; collaborated with various film studios. Since the early 1990s he has been living in Germany. Winner of a number of foreign and Russian awards, honorary member of the Berlin Academy of Arts.
Usually Gubaidulina is placed in the "top three" of the Soviet avant-garde of the 1960s-1980s, right after E. Denisov and A. Schnittke. Her first representative work was the cantata Night in Memphis for mezzo-soprano, male choir and orchestra on ancient Egyptian texts (1968). In the future, she preferred instrumental forms of a relatively small scale, often with an original composition of instruments (an exception is a large symphony in 12 parts called "I hear ... Silenced ..", 1986). Since the late 1980s, vocal and instrumental compositions have reappeared in her work; among them "Hallelujah" for choir, orchestra, organ, treble soloist and color projectors, 1990; cantata "From the Book of Hours" to verses by R.M. Rilke, 1991; the cantata "Now it's always snowing" to the verses of G. Aigi (1993) and one of the last works - the large-scale "Passion according to John" (2000), written by order of the city of Stuttgart to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the death of J.S. Bach.
Critics note the interaction of Western and Eastern traditions in Gubaidulina's work; her style is free, mobile and does not belong to any particular direction. The characteristic features of Gubaidulina's handwriting are high spiritual concentration, striving for architectonic perfection of form, sensitivity to timbre, to sound as such. In her own words, the music of the 20th century "often refers to non-material processes, sometimes reaching the threshold of silence."
Edison Vasilyevich Denisov(1929–1996), Russian composer, musicologist, public figure. Born in Tomsk on April 6, 1929 in the family of an engineer, he was originally educated at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Tomsk University, while studying at the city music school. In 1950 he sent several of his compositions to D.D. Shostakovich and, having received an encouraging response, entered the Moscow Conservatory in 1951, in the composition class of V.Ya. Shebalin. After graduating from the conservatory and postgraduate studies, he worked there, mainly at the instrumentation department (at one time he taught an analysis class and later a composition class). In recent years, he lived and worked in France, without breaking, however, ties with Russia.
Denisov declared himself at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s as the undisputed leader of the movement (A.M. Volkonsky, S.A. Gubaidulina, A.G. Schnittke, in the republics - A. Pyart, V. Silvestrov and others. ), who sought to perceive the achievements of Western modern music. The key work of this period is the cantata "The Sun of the Incas" to the words of the Chilean poetess Gabriela Mistral (1964), written in a freely interpreted 12-tone technique, as well as the cantata "Laments" to Russian folk texts (1966). Denisov remained until the end of his days the leading figure of the direction, had many students and followers (including among the graduates of the Moscow Conservatory).
Starting in the 1960s, he established strong ties with representatives of the "avant-garde" in other countries, thereby contributing both to the acquaintance of the West with the activities of musicians who lived in the USSR, and to spreading knowledge about Western music trends in the country; Since that time, Denisov's compositions have often been performed abroad and published by Western publishers. At the turn of the 1970s and 1980s, Denisov acted as a propagandist for the Russian musical avant-garde of the 1920s (N.A. Roslavets, V.M. Deshevov, L.A. Polovinkin, A.V. Mosolov and others); in 1989 he created the Association of Contemporary Music in Moscow (the successor of the international organization of the same name, which had its branches in Moscow and Leningrad in the 1920s and early 1930s).
The genre range of Denisov's work is quite wide: his central work is the opera "Foam of Days" by Boris Vian (1981), as well as a number of works for orchestra and especially for solo instruments with orchestra (concertos for cello, piano flute, violin, flute and oboe with an orchestra, created mainly by order of famous performers). In the 1980s-1990s, Denisov was attracted by large vocal and instrumental forms (for example, "Requiem" for soloists, choir and orchestra, in which the multilingual verses of Francisco Tanzer are combined with traditional Latin texts, 1980; an essay in the genre of passions "The Story of Life and Death Our Lord Jesus Christ, 1992). In the 1990s, Denisov completed and orchestrated the early opera Rodrigo and Ximena by C. Debussy (1993), as well as the reconstruction of F. Schubert's spiritual opera-oratorio The Resurrection of Lazarus (1994).
Unlike most Soviet "avant-garde artists", Denisov was creatively oriented from the very beginning not to German (Schoenberg, Webern and their followers), but to French culture, P. Boulez was the greatest authority among his contemporaries; instrumental and orchestral writing, the sonorous image of Denisov's music in general, the culture of sound reveal continuity with the tradition of French impressionism. His mature technique is characterized by a free combination of the techniques of serialism, aleatorics, sonoristics, etc. The composer himself considered the concept of "plasticity" to be the key category of his aesthetics.
Sviridov Georgy (Yuri) Vasilievich(1915–1998), Russian composer. Born December 3 (16), 1915 in Fatezh (Kursk province) in the family of a postal employee. Father died during the Civil War. After graduating from a music school in Kursk, he studied at the Leningrad 1st Music College, and from 1936 at the composition department of the Leningrad Conservatory, from which he graduated in 1941 in the class of D.D. Shostakovich. From 1956 he lived in Moscow; worked in the theater and cinema, in 1968-1973 led the Union of Composers of the RSFSR.
As a composer, Sviridov made his debut with a cycle of romances based on Pushkin's poems (1935) - a bright and still repertoire composition; in his early instrumental opuses (piano trio, string quartet, various piano compositions, etc.), the influence of Shostakovich was noticeable. But since the mid-1950s, starting with the magnificent "Poem in Memory of Sergei Yesenin" (1956), the individual style of the composer was determined, which was rather the opposite of Shostakovich and his school. First of all, Sviridov focused on the genres associated with the Russian poetic word - cantata, oratorio, vocal cycle (he often blurs the lines between genres), and all his highest achievements are associated with this particular area, although among the composer's few instrumental music there are real masterpieces, among them - "Little triptych" for orchestra (1966) and "Snowstorm" (musical illustrations for Pushkin's story, 1974).
In addition, the name of Sviridov is associated with a movement in Russian music characteristic of the 1960s, which is sometimes called the "new folklore wave". The reference milestones in this movement were the aforementioned "Poem in Memory of Sergei Yesenin", the vocal cycle "My Father is a Peasant" (1957), the cantata "Wooden Russia" (1964) and the poem "Departed Russia" (1977) based on Yesenin's verses, as well as - to a very large extent - the cantata "Kursk Songs" (1964) on genuine folk tunes and texts and a number of works based on Blok's poems (in particular, the vocal cycles "Petersburg Songs", 1964, and "Six Songs", 1977), Nekrasov ( "Spring Cantata", 1972), Pushkin ("Pushkin's Wreath", 1979). Sviridov also wrote to the verses of Mayakovsky (for example, "Pathetic Oratorio", 1959), Pasternak ("small cantata" "It's snowing", 1965), Lermontov, Khlebnikov, A.A. Prokofiev, M.V. Isakovsky, A.T. .Tvardovsky and translated texts by Shakespeare, Burns, Isahakyan.
The main feature of the composer's style can be considered a reliance on the primary national genre (almost all of his works one way or another trace the song basis) and on the national intonation, speech and song (in this sense, Sviridov is Mussorgsky's successor); then we can talk about conciseness and wise simplicity of forms, transparency of texture, etc. “Sviridov’s simplicity”, which has nothing to do with “simplification”, is in fact a complex phenomenon: in modern studies it is sometimes compared with trends towards minimalism in Western culture, and the composer’s constant desire to work with words is considered as nostalgia for the primary inseparability of music. and verse; in the same vein - finding roots - Sviridov's "neo-folklorism" can also be considered. With even greater reason, one can speak of nostalgia in connection with the figurative world of his music, which often sounds like a lament for the lost homeland, farewell to the departed (“departed”) Russia.
The shrillness of Sviridov's intonation is peculiarly manifested in that layer of his work, which is associated with spiritual motives (meaning by this not "churchness" in its purest form, but rather the state "near the church walls"). One of the first, he turned to this layer very early, creating in 1973 three wonderful choirs for the tragedy by A.K. Tolstoy "Tsar Fedor Ioannovich" and the Choir Concerto in memory of A.A. Sviridov). In the last decade of his life, Sviridov constantly worked on choirs for Church Slavonic texts: some of them were included in the major choral cycle "Chants and Prayers", but most of what was written has not yet been published or performed.
The creative biography of Sviridov as a whole is an amazing example of the internal freedom of independence with external complete adaptation to the existing political and social conditions: he received the title of People's Artist of the USSR, the star of the Hero of Socialist Labor, was a deputy of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR, a laureate of state awards, his music (from the film “Time, forward!”) sounded (and still sounds) in the headline of the news of the first state TV channel; at the same time, one can often hear Sviridov's melodies performed by street musicians (especially "Waltz" and "Romance from the Snowstorm").
Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin(b. 1932), Russian composer. Born in Moscow on December 16, 1932 in a family of professional musicians. In 1955, after studying at the Moscow Choral School (now named after A.V. Sveshnikov), he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in composition by Yu.A. Shaporin and piano by Ya.V. Flier. In 1965-1969 he taught at the Conservatory, and subsequently held senior positions in the Union of Composers. He often performed his own works, including as a pianist.
Shchedrin gained fame very early, and above all in theatrical genres: his ballets The Little Humpbacked Horse (1960), Carmen Suite (1967), operas Not Only Love (1961) were staged at the Bolshoi Theater. Subsequently, the ballets Anna Karenina (1972), The Seagull (1980), The Lady with the Dog (1986), and the opera Dead Souls (1977) were also released there. In the 1960s such compositions as the concerto for orchestra "Naughty Chastushki" (1963), based on folklore material, and the oratorio "Lenin in the Heart of the People" (1969; for which the author received the State Prize), as well as "Poetoria" enjoyed great success. for the reader, female voice, choir and orchestra on the verses of A.A. Voznesensky (1968; the poet himself performed as the reader). During this period, Shchedrin's style, initially focused on rather traditional folklorism, began to be characterized by a combination of elements of folk art and "avant-garde" techniques (elements of dodecaphony, sonoristics, etc.). Hard-percussion, but constructive and virtuoso style marked his numerous piano works: five concertos for piano and orchestra, the cycle "24 Preludes and Fugues" (1970) and others. The composer has worked and continues to work in a variety of genres: concert-type compositions for various instrumental ensembles, orchestral suites (often based on his own theatrical music), cantata-type works (including those associated with images of traditional Russian or ancient Russian art); in 1993 he wrote the opera "Lolita" based on V.V. Nabokov.
The melodies and songs of the Russian people inspired the work of famous composers of the second half of the 19th century. Among them were P.I. Tchaikovsky, M.P. Mussorgsky, M.I. Glinka and A.P. Borodin. Their traditions were continued by a whole galaxy of outstanding musical figures. Russian composers of the 20th century are still popular.
Alexander Nikolaevich Skryabin
Creativity A.N. Scriabin (1872 - 1915), a Russian composer and talented pianist, teacher, innovator, cannot leave anyone indifferent. Mystical moments can sometimes be heard in his original and impulsive music. The composer is attracted and attracted by the image of fire. Even in the titles of his works, Scriabin often repeats such words as fire and light. He tried to find a way to combine sound and light in his works.
The composer's father, Nikolai Alexandrovich Scriabin, was a well-known Russian diplomat, a real state adviser. Mother - Lyubov Petrovna Scriabina (nee Shchetinina), was known as a very talented pianist. She graduated with honors from the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Her professional career began successfully, but shortly after the birth of her son, she died of consumption. In 1878, Nikolai Alexandrovich completed his studies and was assigned to the Russian embassy in Constantinople. The upbringing of the future composer was continued by his close relatives - grandmother Elizaveta Ivanovna, her sister Maria Ivanovna and father's sister Lyubov Alexandrovna. 
Despite the fact that at the age of five, Scriabin mastered playing the piano, and a little later began to study musical compositions, according to family tradition, he received a military education. He graduated from the 2nd Moscow Cadet Corps. At the same time, he took private lessons in piano and music theory. Later he entered the Moscow Conservatory and graduated with a small gold medal.
At the beginning of his creative activity, Scriabin consciously followed Chopin, choosing the same genres. However, even at that time, his own talent was already evident. At the beginning of the 20th century, he wrote three symphonies, then "The Poem of Ecstasy" (1907) and "Prometheus" (1910). Interestingly, the composer supplemented the score of "Prometheus" with a light keyboard part. He was the first to use light music, the purpose of which is characterized by the disclosure of music by the method of visual perception.
The composer's accidental death interrupted his work. He never realized his plan to create the "Mystery" - a symphony of sounds, colors, movements, smells. In this work, Scriabin wanted to tell all mankind his innermost thoughts and inspire him to create a new world, marked by the union of the Universal Spirit and Matter. His most significant works were only a preface to this grandiose project.
Famous Russian composer, pianist, conductor S.V. Rachmaninov (1873 - 1943) was born into a wealthy noble family. Rachmaninoff's grandfather was a professional musician. The first piano lessons were given to him by his mother, and later they invited the music teacher A.D. Ornatskaya. In 1885, his parents assigned him to a private boarding school to the professor of the Moscow Conservatory N.S. Zverev. The order and discipline in the educational institution had a significant impact on the formation of the future character of the composer. He later graduated from the Moscow Conservatory with a gold medal. While still a student, Rachmaninoff was very popular with the Moscow public. He has already created his "First Piano Concerto", as well as some other romances and plays. And his "Prelude in C-sharp minor" became a very popular composition. Great P.I. Tchaikovsky drew attention to the graduation work of Sergei Rachmaninov - the opera "Oleko", which he wrote under the impression of A.S. Pushkin "Gypsies". Pyotr Ilyich got it staged at the Bolshoi Theatre, tried to help with the inclusion of this work in the repertoire of the theater, but died unexpectedly.
From the age of twenty, Rachmaninov taught at several institutes, gave private lessons. At the invitation of the famous philanthropist, theatrical and musical figure Savva Mamontov, at the age of 24, the composer becomes the second conductor of the Moscow Russian Private Opera. There he became friends with F.I. Chaliapin.
Rachmaninov's career was interrupted on March 15, 1897 due to the rejection of his innovative First Symphony by the St. Petersburg public. Reviews for this work were truly devastating. But the composer was most upset by the negative review left by N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, whose opinion Rachmaninoff greatly appreciated. After that, he fell into a protracted depression, from which he managed to get out with the help of a hypnotist N.V. Dahl.
In 1901 Rachmaninoff completed his Second Piano Concerto. And from that moment begins his active creative work as a composer and pianist. Rachmaninoff's unique style combined Russian church hymns, romanticism and impressionism. He considered the melody to be the main leading principle in music. This found its greatest expression in the author's favorite work - the poem "The Bells", which he wrote for the orchestra, choir and soloists.
At the end of 1917, Rachmaninoff left Russia with his family, worked in Europe, and then left for America. The composer was very upset by the break with the Motherland. During the Great Patriotic War, he gave charity concerts, the proceeds of which were sent to the Red Army Fund.
Stravinsky's music is notable for its stylistic diversity. At the very beginning of his creative activity, she was based on Russian musical traditions. And then in the works one can hear the influence of neoclassicism, characteristic of the music of France of that period and dodecaphony.
Igor Stravinsky was born in Oranienbaum (now the city of Lomonosov) in 1882. The father of the future composer Fyodor Ignatievich is a famous opera singer, one of the soloists of the Mariinsky Theatre. His mother was pianist and singer Anna Kirillovna Kholodovskaya. From the age of nine, teachers taught him piano lessons. After completing the gymnasium, at the request of his parents, he enters the law faculty of the university. For two years, from 1904 to 1906, he took lessons from N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, under whose leadership he wrote the first works - the scherzo, the piano sonata, the Faun and the Shepherdess suite. Sergei Diaghilev highly appreciated the composer's talent and offered him cooperation. The joint work resulted in three ballets (staged by S. Diaghilev) - The Firebird, Petrushka, The Rite of Spring.
Shortly before the First World War, the composer left for Switzerland, then to France. A new period begins in his work. He studies the musical styles of the 18th century, writes the opera Oedipus Rex, music for the ballet Apollo Musagete. His handwriting has changed several times over time. For many years the composer lived in the USA. His last famous work is Requiem. A feature of the composer Stravinsky is the ability to constantly change styles, genres and musical directions.
Composer Prokofiev was born in 1891 in a small village in the Yekaterinoslav province. The world of music was opened for him by his mother, a good pianist who often performed works by Chopin and Beethoven. She also became a real musical mentor for her son and, in addition, taught him German and French.
At the beginning of 1900, young Prokofiev managed to attend the Sleeping Beauty ballet and listen to the operas Faust and Prince Igor. The impression received from the performances of the Moscow theaters was expressed in his own work. He writes the opera "The Giant", and then the overture to "Desert Shores". Parents soon realize that they can no longer teach their son music. Soon, at the age of eleven, the novice composer was introduced to the famous Russian composer and teacher S.I. Taneyev, who personally asked R.M. Gliera to engage in musical composition with Sergei. S. Prokofiev at the age of 13 passed the entrance exams to the St. Petersburg Conservatory. At the beginning of his career, the composer toured and performed extensively. However, his work caused misunderstanding among the public. This was due to the features of the works, which were expressed in the following:
- modernist style;
- destruction of established musical canons;
- extravagance and inventiveness of composing techniques
In 1918, S. Prokofiev left and returned only in 1936. Already in the USSR, he wrote music for films, operas, ballets. But after he was accused, along with a number of other composers, of "formalism", he practically moved to live in the country, but continued to write musical works. His opera "War and Peace", the ballets "Romeo and Juliet", "Cinderella" became the property of world culture.
Russian composers of the 20th century, who lived at the turn of the century, not only preserved the traditions of the previous generation of the creative intelligentsia, but also created their own, unique art, for which the works of P.I. Tchaikovsky, M.I. Glinka, N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov.
