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Russian composer Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky and his wonderful work. The meaning of Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky in the short biographical encyclopedia Hymns for the Church

04.07.2020

Composer of sacred music, director of the court chapel; genus. in 1751 in the city of Glukhov, Chernigov province, d. On September 28, 1825, at the age of seven, he was enrolled in the court choir and, thanks to beautiful voice(he had a treble) and outstanding musical abilities, as well as a happy appearance, he soon began performing publicly on the court stage (court singers at that time also took part in the performance of operas given in the court theater under the direction of foreign composers who came to Russia on invitation of reigning persons and those who sometimes lived here for a long time). There is news that at the age of 11 Bortnyansky performed a responsible, and female, role in Raupach’s opera “Alceste”, and, before performing in this role, he had to listen to several lessons in performing arts in the cadet corps. At this time, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna drew attention to him, who since then has constantly taken a great part in it. Exceptional musical abilities Bortnyansky also brought him the attention of the Italian composer Galuppi, who took seriously his musical education and gave him lessons in composition theory until his departure from Russia (1768). A year later, Empress Catherine II, yielding to Galuppi’s wishes, sent Bortnyansky to him in Venice for final improvement in musical knowledge. Bortnyansky stayed in Italy until 1779 and during this time he not only completely mastered the technique of composition, but also even gained fame as a composer of cantatas and operas. These works have not reached us; we only know that they were written in the Italian style and with Italian text. At this time, he also traveled a lot in Italy and here he acquired a passion for works of art, especially painting, which did not leave him until the end of his life, and generally expanded the range of his knowledge. In 1779 Bortnyansky returned to St. Petersburg and immediately received the title of conductor of the court choir, and subsequently - in 1796 - the title of director vocal music and the manager of the court chapel, transformed from the court choir. This last title was associated not only with the management of the purely artistic side of the matter, but also with economic concerns. The director's duties also included composing sacred choral works for the court churches. Having received full control of the chapel, which under his predecessor Poltoratsky was in a state of extreme decline, Bortnyansky quickly brought it to a brilliant position. First of all, he took care of improving the composition of the choristers musically, expelling singers of little musicality from the choir and recruiting new, more capable ones, mainly in the southern provinces of Russia. The number of members of the choir was increased to 60 people, the musicality of performance, the purity and sonority of singing, and the clarity of diction were brought to highest degree perfection. At the same time, he drew attention to improving the financial situation of the chapel employees, for whom he obtained significant salary increases. Finally, he managed to get the chapel choirs to stop participating in theatrical performances at court, for which a special choir was formed in 1800. At the same time as all this, he began to improve the repertoire of spiritual chants in the court and other churches. At this time in Russia, the Italians dominated as composers of sacred music: Galuppi, Sarti, Sapienza and others, whose compositions were written completely not in the spirit of old Russian church singing, which was distinguished by simplicity and restraint, and most importantly, strict correspondence between text and music. The works of the listed composers were alien to simplicity and sought mainly to produce an effect; For this purpose, various kinds of graces, passages, trills, grace notes, sharp transitions and leaps, fermata, shouts and similar decorations, more appropriate in theaters than in the choir of churches, were introduced into them. Needless to say, the melodic turns, harmony and rhythm were completely Italian, and sometimes the melody and harmonization were directly borrowed from Western European models. Thus, for one Cherubic, the harmonization was borrowed from Haydn’s “The Creation of the World,” and one “We sing to Thee” was written on the theme of the priest’s aria, from Spontini’s “Vestal Virgin.” Sometimes even the text of the sacred chant was distorted. The most characteristic work of this era is, perhaps, Sarti’s oratorio “We Praise God to You,” performed near Iasi in the presence of Potemkin under open air a huge choir of singers accompanied by cannons and bells. Russian composers were no better, imitating the Italians, carried away by the success of the latter’s works: Redrikov, Vinogradov, Nikolai Bovykin and others, who wrote Cherubic “cheerful chants with antics”, “touching with antics”, “involved in the whole earth”, called “ trumpet", tunes "proportional", "flat", "chorale", "semi-partes", "with negotiations", "with cancellation", "from the high end", etc. The names themselves indicate the nature and quality of these works . The attempts to transcribe old church tunes that existed along with these compositions were also far from High Quality: these were the so-called excellences (from excellentes canere), the peculiarity of which was an extremely playful bass, which did not leave the impression of the main bass serving as support for harmony. All these works were extremely popular with listeners and spread more and more throughout Russia, reaching the most remote corners of it, displacing old Russian chants and threatening to completely spoil the musical tastes of society.

As a person gifted with a highly artistic taste, Bortnyansky felt all the imperfections of this kind of music and its inconsistency with the spirit of Orthodox singing and began to fight against all these directions. But, realizing that it would be difficult to achieve the goal with drastic measures, Bortnyansky decided to act gradually, making some necessary concessions to the tastes of his time. Realizing the need to return to ancient chants sooner or later, Bortnyansky did not dare, however, to offer them for general use in a completely untouched form, fearing that these tunes, remaining in their primitive, harsh beauty, would not be sufficiently understood by contemporaries. In view of this, he continued to write in the Italian spirit, that is, adopting Western European melodies, harmonies and counterpoint, making extensive use of imitations, canon and fugato, avoiding the use of church modes in which Old Russian melodies were written. But at the same time, he paid attention to the correspondence between music and text, expelled all theatrical effects from his works and gave them the character of majestic simplicity, thereby bringing them closer to ancient chants. In his transcriptions of ancient tunes, which were very few in number, Bortnyansky was guided by the same principle of gradualism and did not leave them in their original form. He tried to subordinate them to a symmetrical rhythm (it is known that ancient church chants were not subject to a specific beat and rhythm, but being written on a prose text, they strictly followed the natural lengthening and stress contained in speech) and for this purpose he often changed them, leaving only the most necessary notes of the melody, also changing the relative length of the notes, and sometimes even the text. Thanks to the deep feeling that permeates all of Bortnyansky’s works, and the correspondence of the music with the text, these creations gradually gained the sympathy of society and, having become widespread in all parts of Russia, gradually replaced the works of his predecessors. The success of his works is evidenced, for example, by the fact that Prince Gruzinsky, who lived in the village of Lyskovo, Nizhny Novgorod province, paid a lot of money to have Bortnyansky’s new works sent to him immediately after they were written. Thanks to Bortnyansky’s fruitful activities, he managed to achieve great influence in the highest government spheres. The establishment of censorship over spiritual and musical works, proposed in 1804 in order to improve church singing in Russia, was implemented in 1816 by decree of the Synod. According to this decree, “everything that is sung in church from notes must be printed and consist of own compositions director of the chapel d.s. owls Bortnyansky and other famous writers, but these latter works must be published with the approval of Bortnyansky. and uniform singing. For the same purpose of improving singing, Bortnyansky translated the court melody of the liturgy into two voices, printed it and sent it to all churches in Russia. Finally, Bortnyansky is credited with the so-called “project on the printing of ancient Russian hook singing,” the main idea of which is to unify the singing. in all Orthodox churches based on ancient melodies, recorded and published in their characteristic hook notation. However, V.V. Stasov in his article “The Work Attributed to Bortnyansky” denies the possibility that this project belonged to Bortnyansky, arguing against this whole line arguments, of which the most convincing is, firstly, the fact that Bortnyansky’s contemporaries and immediate successors in managing the chapel, its director A.F. Lvov and inspector Belikov, directly recognize this document as forged, not written by Bortnyansky, but, in -secondly, if Bortnyansky really wanted to print the ancient hook notes, he could always do it, using unlimited influence at court, and he would not need to offer a subscription as the only means of carrying out this project. According to Stasov, this project could have been compiled by the choir teacher Alakritsky, at the request of schismatics who dreamed of reviving ancient Russian singing and, in order to draw the attention of society and the government to the project, spread the rumor that it was written by Bortnyansky.

Bortnyansky agreed to the publication of his works only shortly before his death, entrusting their publication to Archpriest Turchaninov. They say that, feeling the approach of death, he called for a choir of singers and forced them to sing his concert, his favorite, “Thou art sorrowful, my soul,” and to these sad sounds he died. Bortnyansky wrote 35 concerts with four voices and 10 with two choirs, mostly on the psalms of David, a three-voice liturgy, eight trios, of which 4 “Let him be corrected”, 7 four-voice cherubs and one two-choir, 4 “We praise God to you” four-voice and 10 two-chorus, 4 hymns, of which the most famous is “How Glorious is Our Lord in Zion”, 12 arrangements of ancient tunes and many other four-voice and two-choir chants, in total up to 118 nos. Complete collection Bortnyansky's works were published by the Court Singing Chapel, as well as by P. Jurgenson in Moscow, edited by P. I. Tchaikovsky. The impression Bortnyansky’s works made on his contemporaries is best evidenced by the review of them by F. P. Lvov, Bortnyansky’s immediate successor in managing the chapel: “Everything musical compositions Bortnyansky very closely depicts the words and spirit of prayer; When depicting prayer words in the language of harmony, Bortnyansky avoids such combinations of chords that, apart from varied sonority, do not depict anything, but are used only to show the vain erudition of the writer: he does not allow a single strict fugue in his transcriptions of sacred chants, and, therefore, nowhere does he entertain the one praying with silent sounds, and does not prefer the soulless pleasure of sounds to the pleasure of the heart listening to the singing of the speaker. Bortnyansky merges the choir into one dominant feeling, into one dominant thought, and although he conveys it first in one voice, then in another, he usually concludes his song with general unanimity in prayer." Bortnyansky's works, differing in their pan-European character, have found a favorable assessment in the West Thus, Berlioz, who performed one of Bortnyansky’s works with great success in Paris, wrote the following about our composer: “All Bortnyansky’s works are imbued with a true religious feeling, often even some mysticism, which makes the listener fall into a deeply ecstatic state; in addition, Bortnyansky has rare experience in grouping vocal masses, a tremendous understanding of shades, sonority of harmony, and, surprisingly, incredible freedom in the arrangement of parts, contempt for the rules established by both his predecessors and contemporaries, especially the Italians, whom he is considered a student "However, Bortnyansky's successors were no longer completely satisfied with his music, especially his transcriptions of ancient tunes. Thus, A.F. Lvov in his essay “On Free or Asymmetrical Rhythm” (St. Petersburg, 1858) reproaches Bortnyansky for violating the characteristics of ancient Russian church singing laws of prosody, and in distortion, for the sake of the requirements of modern symmetrical rhythm and modern harmony, natural stress of words and even melody, M. I. Glinka found Bortnyansky’s works too sweet and gave him the playful nickname “Sugar Medovich Patokin”. We should not forget about his enormous services in streamlining and improving our church singing. He took the first decisive steps towards liberating it from foreign secular influence, introducing into it a true religious feeling and simplicity, and was the first to raise the question of restoring singing in a truly churchly and truly folk spirit. From his works highest value Concerts are currently available for us, precisely because they, not being included in the circle of obligatory church chants, allow greater freedom of style, and their pan-European character is more appropriate here than in other chants intended directly for worship. The best of them are considered: “With my voice to the Lord,” “Tell me, Lord, my death” (according to P. I. Tchaikovsky, the best of all), “My soul is so sorrowful,” “May God rise again,” “If the beloved village Yours, Lord!" and etc.

As a person, Bortnyansky was distinguished by a gentle and sympathetic character, thanks to which the singers subordinate to him adored him. For his time, he was a very educated person and was distinguished by a developed artistic taste not only in music, but also in other arts, especially in painting, of which he was a passionate lover until the end of his life. He had a wonderful art gallery and was on friendly terms with the sculptor Martos, whom he met while in Italy.

D. Razumovsky, "Church singing in Russia." - Ant. Preobrazhensky, “D.S. Bortnyansky” (article in the Russian Musical Newspaper, 1900, No. 40). - S. Smolensky, “In Memory of Bortnyansky” (ibid., 1901, Nos. 39 and 40). - V.V. Stasov, “Work attributed to Bortnyansky” (ibid., 1900, No. 47). - O. Kompaneisky, Response to a note about the melody of the hymn “How Glorious is Our Lord in Zion” (ibid., 1902). - N.F. (Findeisen), “Two manuscripts of Bortnyansky” (ibid., 1900, No. 40). - Article by N. Solovyov in the “Encyclopedic Dictionary” of Brockhaus and Efron.

N. Grushke.

(Polovtsov)

Bortnyansky, Dmitry Stepanovich

A famous Russian composer of church music, with whose activities the fate of Orthodox spiritual singing in the first quarter of this century and the court chapel are closely connected. B. was born in 1751 in the city of Glukhov, Chernigov province. During the reign of Empress Elisaveta Petrovna, he entered the court choir as a young singer. Empress Catherine II drew attention to the talent of young B., who studied with the famous Italian composer Galuppi, and sent him abroad in 1768 to improve his study of the theory of composition. B. continued his studies with Galuppi in Venice, then, on the advice of his professor, he traveled to Bologna, Rome, and Naples for scientific purposes. His harpsichord sonatas, individual choral works, two operas and several oratorios date back to B.'s stay in Italy. In 1779, B. returned to Russia at the age of 28. His works, presented to Empress Catherine II, created a sensation. Soon B. was awarded the title of composer of the court choir and a monetary award. During the reign of Emperor Pavel Petrovich, in 1796, B. was made director of the court singing chapel, transformed in the same year from the court singing choir, in place of Poltoratsky, who died a year earlier. While heading the chapel, B., in addition to his talents as a composer, also showed organizational talent. He drew attention to the recruitment of the choir best voices Russia, brought the choir to the highest perfection of performance, and most importantly, energetically counteracted the licentiousness of singing that reigned in Orthodox churches, in which, by the way, works of ignorant composers were performed, bearing names, for example, Cherubic, in fact, next to the melodies a touching chant that brought out various cheerful melodies. Arias from Italian operas were introduced into church singing. In addition, good compositions were written so inconveniently for voices that they were subject to changes and distortions in different church choirs. All this prompted St. The Synod, of course, with the assistance of B., make the following resolution: 1) sing partes singing in churches only from printed notes; 2) print the partes works of B., as well as other famous writers, but only with the approval of B. This established the desired order in church singing. B. drew attention to the church melody; At his request, chants written in hooks were published. B. made an attempt to develop the ancient melodies of our church chants, but it cannot be said that his works completely achieved the goal. Under the influence of the spirit of the times, B., wanting to give ancient melodies a very definite rhythmic harmony, often modified these melodies, moving away from their true spirit. By altering the melodies, B. often gave the words a not entirely correct recitation. In a word, from an old church melody, which served him as a kind of outline, B. often created an almost new melody. Lvov points out the shortcomings in B.’s transcriptions in his essay “Rhythm.” Despite the fact that B. was from Ukraine, he strongly succumbed to the influence of the Italian school, the attraction to which is very noticeable in B.’s sacred and concert music. Nevertheless, great talent is visible in his works; in them the author sought to express the idea of the text of the sacred chants, trying to convey the general prayerful mood and without going into particulars.

The harmony in B.'s compositions is relatively simple, and in general his music does not contain those spectacular and artificial techniques that could entertain the worshiper; In addition, B.'s writings show a deep knowledge of voices. Many biographers and historians call the time of B.'s activity an "epoch" in the field of Orthodox church music; They are partly right, since B. was the first to influence the establishment of order in church singing throughout Russia and the first to begin to develop ancient church melodies. Turchaninov began to adhere to a more faithful and accurate arrangement of church melodies (see this next). Bortnyansky † September 28, 1825 in St. Petersburg. The best concerts B. are considered: “I cried out to the Lord with my voice”, “Tell me, Lord, my death”, “How sorrowful art thou, my soul”, “May God rise again and his enemies be scattered”, “If your village is beloved, Lord”. Of B.'s numerous works, the court singing chapel published 35 concertos, 8 spiritual trios with a choir, a three-voice liturgy, 7 cherubic, 21 small spiritual chants, a collection of spiritual psalms and other chants in two volumes (26 numbers), a collection of four-voice and two-choir songs of praise in two volumes (14 numbers), a collection of hymns for one and four voices, etc. Wed. "Church singing in Russia" by Archpriest Fr. D. Razumovsky (Moscow, 1867), “Berezovsky and Bortnyansky as composers of church singing” by N. A. Lebedev (St. Petersburg, 1882).

N. Soloviev.

(Brockhaus)

Bortnyansky, Dmitry Stepanovich

(Polovtsov)

Bortnyansky, Dmitry Stepanovich

(1751-1825) - Russian composer. He studied with Galuppi, first in St. Petersburg, and then in Venice, where B. went to follow his teacher in 1768. During his stay in Italy, he gained fame there as an operatic and spiritual composer. Upon his return in 1779, he was appointed “director of vocal music and manager of the court chapel.” While in this post, B. had a great influence on the fate of cult Orthodox singing both indirectly - through the administrative struggle against the dominance of Italian concert style in this area, as well as through his own creativity. His name is also associated with the apocryphal, according to some (V. Stasov), “Project on the imprinting of ancient Russian hook singing.” Along with this, B. did not remain alien to secular music. Operas by B.: "Alcide", staged in Venice in 1778, "Quinto Fabio", staged in Modena in 1779, "Le Faucon" (1786) and "Le fils rival" (1787). B. also owns chamber works - sonatas (for harpsichord), quartets, quintet, symphony, etc. Complete works (spiritual), ed. edited by P. Tchaikovsky by P. Jurgenson. See the collection "In Memory of Bortnyansky", St. Petersburg, 1908.

A. Rimsky-Korsakov.

Bortnyansky, Dmitry Stepanovich

(born in 1751 in Glukhov, died on October 10, 1825 in St. Petersburg) - Russian. composer (Ukrainian by nationality), conductor, teacher. In 1758 he was brought to St. Petersburg and enrolled in the choir of the court singing chapel, studied with B. Galuppi. From 1769 to 1779 he studied in Italy (Venice, Bologna, Rome, Naples). Upon returning to Russia, he became a bandmaster at the court of the heir to the throne Paul in Gatchina and Pavlovsk. From 1796 until the end of his life, manager. Court Singing Chapel. B. is one of the Russian classics. choral music. He also influenced the development of instrumental, especially chamber, and partly opera music.

Works: 3 operas, including “The Falcon” (1786), “The Rival Son” (1787); Concert Symphony(1790); chamber-instrument ans.; 6 sonatas for clavier; St. 100 hor. production, including 35 spiritual. chorus concerts and 10 for 2 choirs; military-patriotic songs from the Fatherland period. war, among them the cantata "Singer in the camp of Russian warriors".

Large biographical encyclopedia. 2009 .

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Dmitry Bortnyansky ... Wikipedia

Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky (Ukrainian Dmitro Stepanovich Bortnyansky, 1751 1752, Glukhov October 10, 1825, St. Petersburg) Russian composer of Ukrainian origin. Founder of Russian composer school... Wikipedia - Russian composer. Ukrainian by nationality. He studied singing and music theory at the Court Singing Chapel (St. Petersburg). He studied composition under the guidance of B. Galuppi. In 1769 79 he lived abroad. IN… … Great Soviet Encyclopedia

- (1751 1825) Russian composer. Ukrainian by origin. A master of a cappella choral writing, he created a new type of Russian choral concert. Chamber instrumental works are the first examples of large cyclic form in Russian music. Opera... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (1751 1825), composer, singer, choral conductor. From 1758 he lived in St. Petersburg. He studied at the Court Singing Chapel and improved his skills in Italy (1769-79). Since 1784, harpsichordist and composer at the court of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich in Gatchina and... ... St. Petersburg (encyclopedia) - (1751, Glukhov 10 X 1825, St. Petersburg) ...You wrote wondrous hymns And, contemplating the blessed world, You outlined it for us in sounds... Agathangel. In memory of Bortnyansky D. Bortnyansky is one of the most talented representatives of Russian musical culture Doglinka... ... Musical dictionary

Books

Secular works. Hymns. Hymnology. Music of the War of 1812, Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky. The collection is dedicated to the secular music of D. S. Bortnyansky (1751 1825), an outstanding composer, the first classic of Russian musical culture. It contains articles and notes corresponding to the first..., Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky. ... eBook

Bortnyansky, Dmitry Stepanovich, is a famous Russian composer and the first director of the court singing choir (1751 - 1825). Born in the city of Glukhov (Chernigov province) and as a seven-year-old boy he was taken into the court singing choir. At that time, there was no separate choir for court theatrical performances and concerts, and the same court choir that sang in the church participated in them. Bortnyansky not only sang in the choir, but for 11 years he performed the solo female part in the opera “Alceste” by Raupach. He studied stage presence, like other singers, in the Gentry Cadet Corps. Upon arrival in St. Petersburg. Balthazar Galuppi, appointed court opera and ballet composer and conductor, Bortnyansky began to seriously study music with him. When Galuppi left Russia in 1768, Bortnyansky was sent abroad at government expense to continue his musical education with him in Venice. Bortnyansky acquired a solid compositional technique and showed his talent back in Italy, writing a number of major works, operas, cantatas, and sonatas (not published). Some of his operas were performed on Italian stages: "Creon" - a musical tragedy - at the Benedictine Theater (1777); "Alcides" - opera in 2 acts - at the Venice Theater (1778); "Quintus Fabius" - musical drama - at the Ducal Theater of Modena (1779). Bortnyansky visited Florence, Bologna, Rome, Naples, studying the works Italian masters . In 1779, he received a letter from the chief director of performances and court music, Elagin, urging him to return to Russia. “If you need to visit Italy in the future for a new taste (wrote, among other things, Elagin), then you can hope that you will be released” (see Russian Musical Newspaper, 1900, ¦ 40). In the same year, Bortnyansky returned to St. Petersburg. His works made a great impression at court, and he was immediately appointed “composer of the court singing choir.” In 1796, with the establishment of the court chapel, he was made its first manager and received the title of “Director of Vocal Music”. He remained in this position until his death. Bortnyansky's responsibilities included not only conducting the choir, but also composing church hymns and managing the chapel administratively. Bortnyansky improved the composition of the choir; increased its composition, gradually bringing it to 60 people (instead of 24), and reached the point that the chapel served exclusively the purposes of church singing and was not invited to theatrical performances, for which in 1800 its own choir was established. Bortnyansky also improved the performance of the choir, making it more strictly ecclesiastical, eliminating the elaborate virtuoso decorations and shouts that were considered spectacular. At that time, there were many church works in circulation in an Italian, half-secular style, often completely tasteless and not in keeping with the splendor of the divine service. Galuppi started writing music for church texts. He also introduced the form of the so-called concert (motet). The court conductor Giuseppe Sarti, invited by Catherine II, also wrote church concerts. All these works introduced an operatic and dramatic Italian character into church hymns. Works by unknown authors were also circulated, with direct borrowings of opera motifs. 8- and 12-voice concertos were often sung from manuscripts with errors and changes by the performers themselves. At the insistence of Bortnyansky, a number of Imperial decrees were issued protecting the purity of the church style. In 1816 it was ordered: “Everything that is sung in churches from notes must be printed and consist either of the own compositions of the director of the court singing choir Bortnyansky, or other famous writers, but these latter works must certainly be printed with the approval of Bortnyansky.” . His successors continued to use the exclusive right of censorship on spiritual chants, granted personally to Bortnyansky, until the Holy Synod clarified in the 1820s that this right belonged only to him as an institution, and not to an individual. Bortnyansky was entrusted with training priests of parish churches in St. Petersburg. “simple and uniform musical singing,” for which, under his editorship, the court tune of the liturgy for two voices was printed and distributed to churches. But the eradication of the Italian concert style progressed slowly, among other things, because the clergy themselves liked it. In his own concerts, Bortnyansky did not abandon this style, although he simplified it, avoiding such effects as, for example, fancy decorations. For Bortnyansky's contemporaries, his works, imbued with religious feeling, were a noticeable step forward, but subsequent generations, even the closest ones, could not recognize their style as fully meeting their purpose. A.F. Lvov, in his essay “On Free or Asymmetrical Rhythm,” pointed out Bortnyansky’s too free handling of church texts, the permutations of words he allowed and even changes in the text to please purely musical requirements. M.I. Glinka called Bortnyansky “Sugar Medovich Patokin.” P.I. Tchaikovsky, editing Bortnyansky’s “Complete Works,” spoke harshly of his works, finding in the concertos “the flattest set of commonplaces,” and of all the works he noted only some “dozen decent things” (M. Tchaikovsky, “The Life of P. I. Tchaikovsky", vol. II). “I recognize some merits in Bortnyansky, Berezovsky, etc.,” he wrote to N. f. Mekk (ibid.), “but to what extent their music is in little harmony with the Byzantine style of architecture and icons, with the entire structure of the Orthodox service.” The style of Bortnyansky's church compositions is more harmonic than contrapuntal; their harmony, in general, is no different in complexity. Bortnyansky almost always places the main melody in the upper voice and, taking care to highlight it, rarely gives independent meaning the rest of the voices, often moving in parallel thirds and sixths, which gives the whole a certain monotony. Knowing human voices well, Bortnyansky always wrote easily and achieved excellent sonority. But the rich sound side of his chants does not serve his purpose and does not obscure their prayerful mood. That is why many of Bortnyansky’s compositions are eagerly sung even now, touching those who pray. With his “Cherubic”, imbued with mysticism, reaching the most lively religious ecstasy in the second half of the chant, Bortnyansky, as it were, established a prototype that subsequent Russian composers adhered to. Glinka did not depart from this prototype in his “Kherubimskaya”. Bortnyansky was the first to experience the harmonization of ancient church melodies, set out monophonically in books of church songs published by the Holy Synod for the first time in 1772. Bortnyansky has few of these harmonizations: irmos “Helper and Patron”, “Now the Powers of Heaven”, “Thy Chamber”, “ The angel is crying”, “Virgin today”, “Come, let us please Joseph” and some others. In these transcriptions, Bortnyansky only approximately preserved the character of church melodies, giving them a uniform size, placing them within the framework of European tonalities of major and minor, which sometimes required changing the melodies themselves, and introduced chords into the harmonization that were not characteristic of the so-called church modes of melodies. But all this does not exclude the unique beauty of his transcriptions. Despite the European forms and Italianisms of Bortnyansky, in his works one can also find Russianisms, expressed in melodic turns, and less often - in rhythm. He is credited with an essay entitled: “Project on the printing of ancient Russian hook singing” (printed by Prince P.P. Vyazemsky in the “Appendix to the Protocol of the Society of Amateurs” Ancient Writing" April 25, 1878), but its attribution to Bortnyansky is disputed by V.V. Stasov ("Work attributed to Bortnyansky" - "Russian Musical Newspaper", 1900, ¦ 47); it is asserted without sufficient convincing by S.V. Smolensky ( "In memory of D.S. Bortnyansky" - "Russian Musical Newspaper", 1901, ¦ 39, 40) and A. Preobrazhensky ("D.S. Bortnyansky" - "Russian Musical Newspaper", 1900, ¦ 40) - According to reviews. contemporaries, Bortnyansky was an extremely sympathetic person, strict in his service, ardently devoted to art, kind and condescending to people. They say that on the day of his death Bortnyansky called the chapel choir to his place and ordered them to sing their concert “How sorrowful art thou, my soul,” to the sounds. who died quietly. Bortnyansky was buried in St. Petersburg, at the Smolensk cemetery. In New York, in the new Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, a statue of Bortnyansky is erected. my death"; “Thou art most sorrowful, my soul”; “May God rise again and his enemies be scattered”; “If your village is beloved, O Lord”; Lenten chants - “Let my prayer be corrected”, “Now are the powers of heaven”, Easter chants - “An angel cried out”, “Shine, shine”; hymn - "How glorious is our Lord in Zion." Bortnyansky's works began to be published only in 1825 under the supervision of Archpriest. Turchaninova. In addition to the edition of the chapel (incomplete), there is an edition by P. Jurgenson: “Complete collection of spiritual and musical works,” edited by P. Tchaikovsky. This included 9 three-voice works (including “Liturgy”); 29 four-voice individual chants from church services(including 7 "Cherubim"); 16 two-horn chants; 14 “Songs of Praise” (“We praise God to you”; 4 four-part and 10 two-part); 45 concerts (35 four-part and 10 two-part); hymns and private prayers (including "How Glorious is He"). Bortnyansky's numerous works in the field of secular music have not been published. Two of them are available in manuscripts in the Imperial Public Library in St. Petersburg: 1) Quintet in C major, Op. in 1787, for piano, harp, violin, viola di gamba and cello; 2) symphony ("Sinfonie concertante") in B major, op. in 1790, for piano, two violins, harp, viola di gamba, bassoon and cello. This symphony is essentially not much different from the quintet in form, style and instrumentation. In the list attached to the Imperial decree of April 29, 1827, on the purchase of his works from Bortnyansky’s heirs, among other things appear: “The Presentation of Orpheus’ Sun”, “March of the General Militia of Russia”, “Songs of the Warriors”, “Singer in the Camp of Russian Warriors” ; 30 arias and duets Russian, French and Italian with music and orchestra; 16 Russian and Italian choirs with music and orchestra; 61 overtures, concertos, sonatas, marches and various works for sacred music, piano, harp and other instruments, 5 Italian operas, as well as “Ave Maria”, “Salve Regina” with orchestra, “Dextera Domini” and “Messa”. - About Bortnyansky, in addition to the sources mentioned, see: D. Razumovsky, “Church singing in Russia” (Moscow, 1867); ON THE. Lebedev, “Berezovsky and Bortnyansky as composers of church singing” (St. Petersburg, 1882); a collection of articles by various authors under the title: “In memory of spiritual composers Bortnyansky, Turchaninov and Lvov” (St. Petersburg, 1908; articles by Archpriests M. Lisitsyn and N. Kompaneisky). G.T.

Brief biographical encyclopedia. 2012

Dmitry Bortnyansky, along with his fellow countryman Maxim Berezovsky (this Russian “Mozart” with a mysterious and tragic fate), belongs to the outstanding representatives of Russian musical culture of the 18th century. However, unlike Berezovsky, Bortnyansky's fate was happy. He lived a long time and accomplished a lot.

Dmitry Bortnyansky, along with his fellow countryman Maxim Berezovsky (this Russian “Mozart” with a mysterious and tragic fate), belongs to the outstanding representatives of Russian musical culture of the 18th century. However, unlike Berezovsky, Bortnyansky's fate was happy. He lived a long time and accomplished a lot.

Bortnyansky was born in the Ukrainian city of Glukhov in 1751 into the family of a Cossack who served under Hetman K.G. Razumovsky. At the age of six he was sent to a local singing school, created in 1738 and preparing singers for the St. Petersburg court. Already in 1758, Dmitry entered the capital's Court Chapel. He is greeted by Empress Elizaveta Petrovna herself. At the age of 11, he performed the tenor role of Admet in Raupach's opera Alceste. In 1765, the young musician began to study composition with the famous Italian B. Galuppi, who served at the court at that time. The boy makes such progress that in 1768, when Galuppi returned to his homeland, Bortnyansky was sent with him to Italy to continue his studies.

The Italian period of Bortnyansky’s life is known relatively little. He visited Florence, Bologna, Rome, Naples. During this period he composed three operas: “Creon” (1776, Venice, Teatro San Benedetto), “Alcides” (1778, Venice), “Quintus Fabius” (1779, Modena, Ducal Theater).

The fate of "Alcides" is interesting. Performed several times during the Venice Carnival, the opera's score then disappeared. Only 200 years later were traces of the manuscript found. An American of Russian origin, Carol Hughes, discovered a copy of the manuscript in one of the libraries in Washington and sent it to the famous musicologist Yuri Keldysh. And then, thanks to the efforts of the enthusiastic conductor Anton Sharoev, the opera was performed for the first time in its homeland (first in Kyiv in 1984, and then in Moscow). The work (libretto by P. Metastasio) is written in the spirit of Italian opera seria. Alcides (another name for Hercules - trans.) must choose his own path. Two demigoddesses Edonia and Aretea call him with them. The first - to everyday joys, the second - to heroic achievements. And Alcides chooses the second path...

In 1779, Bortnyansky received a letter from the director of “theatres and court music” Ivan Elagin, urging him to turn his attention to his homeland: “How ten years have already passed of your stay in Italy, and you, having proven the success of your art with experience, have already fallen behind the master (Galuppi - editor's note), now is the time for you to return to your fatherland..."

Returning home, Bortnyansky receives the position of conductor of the Court Chapel with a salary of 1000 rubles. per year and crew. From this time on, Bortnyansky’s fruitful activity in the field of Russian music began. Since 1796 he has been the manager of the chapel, and since 1801 its director. The composer's greatest achievements are associated with the genre of a capella choral spiritual concerts, in which he combined Orthodox traditions with European writing techniques. Many subsequently wrote with delight about these works by Bortnyansky. outstanding composers, including Hector Berlioz, P.I. Tchaikovsky, under whose editorship the concertos were published in the early 80s. last century. The style of a number of Bortnyansky's instrumental works goes back to early examples of the Viennese classics.

However, the passion for theater that he experienced in Italy was not just a thing of the past. In 1785, Bortnyansky was invited to the post of bandmaster of the “small court” of Paul I. He agreed, retaining all his main duties. From now on, many things connect him with court life (mainly in the summer) of Pavlovsk and Gatchina. During this period he created three operas. "The Seigneur's Feast" (1786) was written in honor of Paul's namesake. Chamberlain Count took part in the preparation of the libretto. G.I. Chernyshov and, possibly, A.A. Musin-Pushkin. An allegorical pastoral, in the characters of which one could discern members of a close court circle of nobles - this is how this work can be briefly described. Bortnyansky borrowed the overture from his Italian opera Quintus Fabius.

The libretto of the next opera, “The Falcon” (1786), was composed by the librarian of the Grand Duke F.-G. Lafermière, who based it on the famous text by M. Seden, created by him for P. Monsigny. The sublime story of Don Federigo, in love with the young widow Elvira, is complemented by a comic “background” (the heroes’ servants Marina and Pedrillo). The style of the opera does not go beyond the quite traditional Italian bel canto, with the addition of some French spirit, so fashionable at court back then. The opera has not been forgotten to this day. In 1972 it was staged by Kamerny Musical Theatre directed by B. Pokrovsky, now it is in the repertoire of the St. Petersburg Opera Theater. In 1787, “The Rival Son” was written, which used motifs from the same plot that attracted the attention of F. Schiller when creating “Don Carlos,” but with a happy ending. This work is considered the best in the composer's operatic work.

In the mid-90s. Bortnyansky leaves musical activity"small court" and no longer writes operas. This is partly due, perhaps, to the composer’s Masonic hobbies (by the way, Bortnyansky is the author of the famous hymn of Russian Masons based on the poems of M. Kheraskov “How Glorious is Our Lord in Zion”).

Bortnyansky died in 1825 in St. Petersburg. On the day of his death, he called the chapel choir to his place and asked them to perform one of their spiritual concerts, after which he died quietly.

Russian Civilization

(1751-10-26 ) Place of Birth Date of death

September 28 (October 10) ( 1825-10-10 ) (73 years old)

A place of death A country

Russian empire

Professions Tools

Choir, piano, chamber

Genres

Sacred, chamber music

Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky(October 26, Glukhov, Chernigov governorship - October 10, St. Petersburg) - Russian composer and conductor of Ukrainian origin. One of the first founders of the classical Russian musical tradition. Creator of the partes choir concert. Pupil and then manager of the Court Singing Chapel in St. Petersburg. An outstanding master of choral sacred music. Author of the operas “Falcon” (), “The Rival Son, or New Stratonica” (), piano sonatas, chamber ensembles.

Biography

Dmitry Bortnyansky was born on October 26 (28), 1751 in Glukhov, Chernigov governorate. His father, Stefan Shkurat, came from the Polish Low Beskids, from the village of Bortne and was a Lemko, however, he sought to get to the hetman’s capital, where he adopted the more “noble” surname “Bortnyansky” (derived from the name native village) . Dmitry Bortnyansky, like his senior colleague Maxim Berezovsky, studied as a child at the famous Glukhov school and already at the age of seven, thanks to his wonderful voice, was accepted into the Court Singing Chapel in St. Petersburg. Like most choristers of the Court Chapel, along with church singing, he also performed solo parts in the so-called. “Hermitages” - Italian concert performances, and first, at the age of 11-12, for women (it was then a tradition that boys sang female roles in operas), and only later for men.

D.S. Bortyansky

The Italian period was long (about ten years) and surprisingly fruitful in the work of Dmitry Bortnyansky. He wrote three operas here mythological stories- “Creon”, “Alcides”, “Quintus Fabius”, as well as sonatas, cantatas, church works. These compositions demonstrate the author’s brilliant mastery of the compositional technique of the Italian school, which at that time was leading in Europe, and express closeness to the song origins of his people.

After returning to Russia, Dmitry Bortnyansky was appointed teacher and director of the Court Singing Chapel in St. Petersburg.

At the end of his life, Bortnyansky continued to write romances, songs, and cantatas. He wrote the hymn “Singer in the Camp of Russian Warriors” to the words of Zhukovsky, dedicated to events war of 1812.

IN last years During his life, Bortnyansky worked on preparing for the publication of a complete collection of his works, into which he invested almost all his funds, but never saw it. The composer only managed to publish the best of his choral concerts, written in his youth, as “Sacred Concertos for Four Voices, Composed and Revised by Dmitry Bortnyansky.”

Musical heritage

Belsky M.I. “Portrait of the composer Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky”, 1788.

After the death of the composer, his widow Anna Ivanovna transferred the remaining heritage - engraved music boards of sacred concerts and manuscripts of secular works - to the Chapel for storage. According to the register, there were a lot of them: “Italian operas - 5, Russian, French and Italian arias and duets - 30, Russian and Italian choirs - 16, overtures, concertos, sonatas, marches and various works for wind music, piano, harp and other instruments - 61.” All the works were accepted and “placed in the place prepared for them.” The exact titles of his works were not indicated.

But if Bortnyansky’s choral works were performed and republished many times after his death, remaining an adornment of Russian sacred music, his secular works - operatic and instrumental - were forgotten soon after his death.

They were remembered only in 1901 during celebrations on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of D. S. Bortnyansky. Then manuscripts of the composer’s early works were discovered in the Chapel and an exhibition of them was organized. Among the manuscripts were the operas Alcides and Quintus Fabius, The Falcon and The Rival Son, and a collection of clavier works dedicated to Maria Feodorovna. These findings were the subject of an article by the famous music historian N. F. Findeizen, “Bortnyansky’s Youth Works,” which ended with the following lines:

Bortnyansky's talent easily mastered both the style of church singing and the style of contemporary opera and chamber music. Bortnyansky's secular works ... remain unknown not only to the public, but even to musical researchers. Most of the composer's works are in autograph manuscripts in the library of the Court Chapel, with the exception of the quintet and symphony (kept in the Public Library).

Bortnyansky’s secular works were discussed again after another half a century. Much had been lost by this time. The Chapel archive was disbanded after 1917, and its materials were transferred in parts to different repositories. Some of Bortnyansky’s works, fortunately, were found, but most of them disappeared without a trace, including a collection dedicated to Grand Duchess. The search for them continues to this day.

Bibliography

Lebedev M. Berezovsky and Bortnyansky as a composer of church singing. - St. Petersburg, 1882.
Dobrokhotov B., D. S. Bortnyansky. - M. - L., 1950.
Matsenko P. Dmitro Stepanovich Bortnyansky and Maxim Sozontovich Berezovsky. - Winnipeg, 1951.
Rytsareva M. Composer Bortnyansky. Life and art. - L.: Music, 1979. - 256 p., ill., 4 l. ill.
Ivanov V. Dmytro Bortnyansky. - Kiev, 1980.
Vikhoreva T. Sacred music by D.S. Bortnyansky. - Saarbrücken: LAP Lambert Academic Publishing, 2012. – 252 p. ISBN 978-3-8484-2962-2

Notes

Links

“How glorious is our Lord in Zion...” - the first Russian anthem
A brief history of church singing. Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky
Bortnyansky, Dmitry Stepanovich: sheet music of works on the International Music Score Library Project
Everything about Bortnyansky, including the text of the book: Konstantin Kovalev. “Bortnyansky”, ZhZL series.

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Bortnyansky, Dmitry Stepanovich- Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky. BORTNYANSKY Dmitry Stepanovich (1751 1825), Russian composer. A master of a cappella choral writing, he created a new type of spiritual choral concert. Chamber instrumental works are the first examples of large... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

Bortnyansky, Dmitry Stepanovich, famous Russian composer and first director of the court singing chapel (1751 1825). Born in the city of Glukhov (Chernigov province) and as a seven-year-old boy he was taken into the court singing choir. At that time for... Biographical Dictionary

Russian composer. Ukrainian by nationality. He studied singing and music theory at the Court Singing Chapel (St. Petersburg). He studied composition under the guidance of B. Galuppi. In 1769 79 he lived abroad. IN… … Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Composer of sacred music, director of the court chapel; genus. in 1751 in the city of Glukhov, Chernigov province, d. On September 28, 1825, at the age of seven, he was enrolled in the court choir and, thanks to his beautiful voice (he had a treble) and outstanding musical abilities, as well as his happy appearance, he soon began performing publicly on the court stage (court singers at that time took part and in the performance of operas given in the court theater under the direction of foreign composers who came to Russia at the invitation of the reigning persons and sometimes lived here for a long time). There is news that at the age of 11 Bortnyansky performed a responsible, and female, role in Raupach’s opera “Alceste”, and, before performing in this role, he had to listen to several lessons in performing arts in the cadet corps. At this time, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna drew attention to him, who since then has constantly taken a great part in it. Bortnyansky's exceptional musical abilities also brought him the attention of the Italian composer Galuppi, who took seriously his musical education and gave him lessons in composition theory until his departure from Russia (1768). A year later, Empress Catherine II, yielding to Galuppi’s wishes, sent Bortnyansky to him in Venice for final improvement in musical knowledge. Bortnyansky stayed in Italy until 1779 and during this time he not only completely mastered the technique of composition, but also even gained fame as a composer of cantatas and operas. These works have not reached us; we only know that they were written in the Italian style and with Italian text. At this time, he also traveled a lot in Italy and here he acquired a passion for works of art, especially painting, which did not leave him until the end of his life, and generally expanded the range of his knowledge. In 1779, Bortnyansky returned to St. Petersburg and immediately received the title of conductor of the court choir, and subsequently, in 1796, the title of director of vocal music and manager of the court chapel, transformed from the court choir. This last title was associated not only with the management of the purely artistic side of the matter, but also with economic concerns. The director's duties also included composing sacred choral works for the court churches. Having received full control of the chapel, which under his predecessor Poltoratsky was in a state of extreme decline, Bortnyansky quickly brought it to a brilliant position. First of all, he took care of improving the composition of the choristers musically, expelling singers of little musicality from the choir and recruiting new, more capable ones, mainly in the southern provinces of Russia. The number of members of the choir was increased to 60 people, the musicality of the performance, the purity and sonority of the singing, and the clarity of diction were brought to the highest degree of perfection. At the same time, he drew attention to improving the financial situation of the chapel employees, for whom he obtained significant salary increases. Finally, he managed to achieve an end to the participation of the chapel choirs in theatrical performances at court, for which a special choir was formed in 1800. At the same time as all this, he began to improve the repertoire of spiritual chants in the court and other churches. At this time in Russia, the Italians dominated as composers of sacred music: Galuppi, Sarti, Sapienza and others, whose compositions were written completely not in the spirit of old Russian church singing, which was distinguished by simplicity and restraint, and most importantly, strict correspondence between text and music. The works of the listed composers were alien to simplicity and sought mainly to produce an effect; For this purpose, various kinds of graces, passages, trills, grace notes, sharp transitions and leaps, fermata, shouts and similar decorations, more appropriate in theaters than in the choir of churches, were introduced into them. Needless to say, the melodic turns, harmony and rhythm were completely Italian, and sometimes the melody and harmonization were directly borrowed from Western European models. Thus, for one Cherubic, the harmonization was borrowed from Haydn’s “The Creation of the World,” and one “We sing to Thee” was written on the theme of the priest’s aria, from Spontini’s “Vestal Virgin.” Sometimes even the text of the sacred chant was distorted. The most characteristic work of this era is, perhaps, Sarti's oratorio "We Praise Thee God", performed near Iasi in the presence of Potemkin in the open air by a huge choir of singers accompanied by cannons and bells. Russian composers were no better, imitating the Italians, carried away by the success of the latter’s works: Redrikov, Vinogradov, Nikolai Bovykin and others, who wrote Cherubic “cheerful chants with antics”, “touching with antics”, “involved in the whole earth”, called “ trumpet", tunes "proportional", "flat", "chorale", "semi-partes", "with negotiations", "with cancellation", "from the high end", etc. The names themselves indicate the nature and quality of these works .

The attempts at transcriptions of old church tunes that existed along with these compositions were also far from being of high quality: these were so-called excellences (from excellentes canere), the peculiarity of which was an extremely playful bass, which did not leave the impression of a main bass serving as support for harmony. All these works were extremely popular with listeners and spread more and more throughout Russia, reaching the most remote corners of it, displacing old Russian chants and threatening to completely spoil the musical tastes of society.

As a person gifted with a highly artistic taste, Bortnyansky felt all the imperfections of this kind of music and its inconsistency with the spirit of Orthodox singing and began to fight against all these directions. But, realizing that it would be difficult to achieve the goal with drastic measures, Bortnyansky decided to act gradually, making some necessary concessions to the tastes of his time. Realizing the need to return to ancient chants sooner or later, Bortnyansky did not dare, however, to offer them for general use in a completely untouched form, fearing that these tunes, remaining in their primitive, harsh beauty, would not be sufficiently understood by contemporaries. In view of this, he continued to write in the Italian spirit, that is, adopting Western European melodies, harmonies and counterpoint, making extensive use of imitations, canon and fugato, avoiding the use of church modes in which Old Russian melodies were written. But at the same time, he paid attention to the correspondence between music and text, expelled all theatrical effects from his works and gave them the character of majestic simplicity, thereby bringing them closer to ancient chants. In his transcriptions of ancient tunes, which were very few in number, Bortnyansky was guided by the same principle of gradualism and did not leave them in their original form. He tried to subordinate them to a symmetrical rhythm (it is known that ancient church chants were not subject to a specific beat and rhythm, but being written on a prose text, they strictly followed the natural lengthening and stress contained in speech) and for this purpose he often changed them, leaving only the most necessary notes of the melody, also changing the relative length of the notes, and sometimes even the text. Thanks to the deep feeling that permeates all of Bortnyansky’s works, and the correspondence of the music with the text, these creations gradually gained the sympathy of society and, having become widespread in all parts of Russia, gradually replaced the works of his predecessors. The success of his works is evidenced, for example, by the fact that Prince Gruzinsky, who lived in the village of Lyskovo, Nizhny Novgorod province, paid a lot of money to have Bortnyansky’s new works sent to him immediately after they were written. Thanks to Bortnyansky’s fruitful activities, he managed to achieve great influence in the highest government spheres. The establishment of censorship over spiritual and musical works, proposed in 1804 in order to improve church singing in Russia, was implemented in 1816 by decree of the Synod. According to this decree, “everything that is sung in church from music must be printed and consist of the own works of the chapel director D.S. Sov. Bortnyansky and other famous writers, but these latter works must be printed with the approval of Bortnyansky.” However, for 9 years Bortnyansky did not affix his signature, and therefore did not publish any of his works. Bortnyansky was entrusted with the responsibility of teaching the priests of St. Petersburg churches simple and uniform singing. For the same purpose of improving singing, Bortnyansky translated the court melody of the liturgy into two voices, printed it and sent it to all churches in Russia. Finally, Bortnyansky is credited with the so-called “project of imprinting ancient Russian hook singing,” the main idea of which is to unite singing in all Orthodox churches based on ancient melodies, recorded and published in their characteristic hook notation. However, V.V. Stasov in his article “The Work Attributed to Bortnyansky” denies the possibility that this project belonged to Bortnyansky, citing a number of arguments against this, the most convincing of which is, firstly, the fact that Bortnyansky’s contemporaries and immediate successors in managing the chapel , its director A.F. Lvov and inspector Belikov, directly recognize this document as forged, not belonging to the pen of Bortnyansky, and, secondly, that if Bortnyansky really wanted to print ancient hook notes, he could always do it, using the unlimited influence at court, and he would not need to offer a subscription as the only means of carrying out this project. According to Stasov, this project could have been compiled by the choir teacher Alakritsky, at the request of schismatics who dreamed of reviving ancient Russian singing and, in order to draw the attention of society and the government to the project, spread the rumor that it was written by Bortnyansky.

Bortnyansky agreed to the publication of his works only shortly before his death, entrusting their publication to Archpriest Turchaninov. They say that, feeling the approach of death, he called for a choir of singers and forced them to sing his concert, his favorite, “Thou art sorrowful, my soul,” and to these sad sounds he died. Bortnyansky wrote 35 concerts with four voices and 10 with two choirs, mostly on the psalms of David, a three-voice liturgy, eight trios, of which 4 “Let him be corrected”, 7 four-voice cherubs and one two-choir, 4 “We praise God to you” four-voice and 10 two-chorus, 4 hymns, of which the most famous is “How Glorious is Our Lord in Zion”, 12 arrangements of ancient tunes and many other four-voice and two-choir chants, in total up to 118 nos. The complete collection of Bortnyansky's works was published by the Court Singing Chapel, as well as by P. Jurgenson in Moscow, edited by P. I. Tchaikovsky. The impression Bortnyansky’s works made on his contemporaries is best evidenced by the review of them by F. P. Lvov, Bortnyansky’s immediate successor in managing the chapel: “All Bortnyansky’s musical works very closely depict the words and spirit of prayer; when depicting prayer words in the language of harmony , Bortnyansky avoids such combinations of chords that, apart from varied sonority, do not represent anything, but are used only to demonstrate the vain erudition of the writer: he does not allow a single strict fugue in his transcriptions of sacred chants, and, therefore, nowhere does he entertain the worshiper with silent sounds, and does not prefer the soulless pleasure of sounds to the pleasure of the heart, listening to the singing of the speaker. Bortnyansky merges the choir into one dominant feeling, into one dominant thought, and although he conveys it in one voice, then in another, he usually concludes his song with general unanimity in prayer.” Bortnyansky's works, distinguished by their pan-European character, found favorable evaluation in the West. Thus, Berlioz, who performed one of Bortnyansky’s works with great success in Paris, wrote the following about our composer: “All Bortnyansky’s works are imbued with a true religious feeling, often even some mysticism, which makes the listener fall into a deeply enthusiastic state; in addition, Bortnyansky has rare experience in the grouping of vocal masses, a tremendous understanding of shades, sonority of harmony, and, surprisingly, incredible freedom of arrangement of parts, contempt for the rules established by both his predecessors and contemporaries, especially the Italians, of whom he is considered a student." However, Bortnyansky’s successors were no longer completely satisfied with his music, especially his transcriptions of ancient tunes. Thus, A.F. Lvov, in his essay “On Free or Asymmetrical Rhythm” (St. Petersburg, 1858), reproaches Bortnyansky for violating the laws of prosody inherent in ancient Russian church singing, and for distorting, for the sake of the requirements of modern symmetrical rhythm and modern harmony, the natural stress of words and even melodies. M. I. Glinka found Bortnyansky’s works too sweet and gave him the playful nickname “Sugar Medovich Patokin.” But with all the undoubted shortcomings of Bortnyansky, one should not forget about his enormous merits in streamlining and improving our church singing. He took the first decisive steps towards liberating it from foreign secular influence, introducing into it true religious feeling and simplicity, and was the first to raise the question of restoring singing in a truly churchly and truly popular spirit. Of his works, concerts are of greatest importance to us at the present time, precisely because they, not being included in the circle of obligatory church chants, allow for greater freedom of style, and their pan-European character is more appropriate here than in other chants intended directly for worship. . The best of them are considered: “With my voice to the Lord,” “Tell me, Lord, my death” (according to P. I. Tchaikovsky, the best of all), “My soul is so sorrowful,” “May God rise again,” “If the beloved village Yours, Lord!" and etc.

As a person, Bortnyansky was distinguished by a gentle and sympathetic character, thanks to which the singers subordinate to him adored him. For his time, he was a very educated person and was distinguished by a developed artistic taste not only in music, but also in other arts, especially in painting, of which he was a passionate lover until the end of his life. He owned an excellent art gallery and was on friendly terms with the sculptor Martos, whom he met while in Italy.

Russian composer Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky and his wonderful work. The meaning of Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky in the short biographical encyclopedia Hymns for the Church

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