We got up early today.
We can't sleep today!
They say the starlings are back!
They say spring has come!
Gaida Lagzdyn. March
Spring inspired many talented people. Poets sang of its beauty in words, artists tried to capture the riot of its colors with a brush, and musicians tried to convey its gentle sound more than once. "Kultura.RF" remembers Russian composers who dedicated their works to spring.
PETER TCHAIKOVSKY, “THE SEASONS. SPRING
Konstantin Yuon. March sun. 1915. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Spring, performed by the outstanding Russian composer, is revealed in three of the twelve paintings of the piano cycle “The Seasons”.
The idea of creation musical seasons was not new. Long before Pyotr Tchaikovsky similar sketches were created by the Italian maestro Antonio Vivaldi and the Austrian composer Joseph Haydn. But if European masters created a seasonal picture of nature, Tchaikovsky devoted a separate theme to each month.
Touching musical sketches were not initially a spontaneous manifestation of Tchaikovsky’s love for nature. The idea of the cycle belonged to Nikolai Bernard, editor of the Nouvellist magazine. It was he who ordered it from the composer for a collection in which musical works were accompanied by poems - including Apollo Maykova and Afanasy Fet . The spring months were represented by the paintings “March. Song of the Lark", "April. Snowdrop" and "May. White Nights".
Tchaikovsky's Spring turned out to be lyrical and at the same time bright in sound. Exactly as the author once wrote about her in a letter to Nadezhda von Meck:“I love our winter, long and persistent. You can't wait for Lent to arrive, and with it the first signs of spring. But what a magic our spring is with its suddenness, its luxurious power!”.
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV, “THE SNOW MAIDEN”
Isaac Levitan. March. 1895. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
A plot familiar to many from childhood spring fairy tale found musical form thanks to an interesting coincidence. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov met a fairy tale Alexander Ostrovsky in 1874, but it made a “strange” impression on the composer.
Only five years later, as the author himself recalled in his memoirs “Chronicles to my musical life", he "gave his sight to her amazing beauty." Having received Ostrovsky's permission to use the plot of his play, the composer wrote his famous opera in three summer months.
On stage in 1882 Mariinsky Theater The premiere of the opera “The Snow Maiden” in four acts took place. Ostrovsky highly appreciated the work of Rimsky-Korsakov, noting that he could never imagine “a more suitable and vividly expressing all the poetry of the pagan cult” music for his composition. The images of the young daughter Frost and Spring, the shepherd Lelya and Tsar Berendey turned out to be so vivid that the composer himself called “The Snow Maiden” “his best work.”
To understand how Rimsky-Korsakov saw spring, it is worth listening to the beginning of the Prologue and the Fourth Act of his opera.
SERGEY RACHMANINOV, “SPRING WATERS”
Arkhip Kuindzhi. Early spring. 1890-1895. Kharkov Art Museum.
The snow is still white in the fields,
And water
already in the spring they make noise -
They're running
and wake up the sleepy breg,
They're running
and they shine and say...
They
they say all the time:
"Spring
spring is coming!
We are young
spring messengers,
She
sent us ahead!
Fedor Tyutchev
These are the lines Fedora Tyutcheva formed the basis for the romance of the same name Sergei Rachmaninov "Spring Waters" Written in 1896, the romance concluded early period the composer's creativity, still filled with romantic traditions and lightness of content.
The rapid and seething sound of Rachmaninov's spring corresponded to the mood of the era: to end of the 19th century centuries, after domination critical realism and censorship of the second half of the century, society awakened, it grew revolutionary movement, and in the public consciousness there was anxiety associated with the imminent entry into a new era.
ALEXANDER GLAZUNOV, “SEASONS: SPRING”
Boris Kustodiev. Spring. 1921. Art Gallery Generations Fund. Khanty-Mansiysk.
In February 1900 on stage Mariinsky Theater the premiere of the allegorical ballet “The Seasons” took place, in which the eternal story life of Nature - from awakening after a long winter sleep before fading into an autumnal waltz of leaves and snow.
The musical accompaniment of Ivan Vsevolozhsky's idea was the composition of Alexander Glazunov, who at that time was a famous and authoritative musician. Together with his teacher Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, he restored and completed Alexander Borodin's opera Prince Igor, made his debut at the World Exhibition in Paris and wrote music for the ballet Raymonda.
Glazunov created the plot of “The Seasons” based on his own symphonic painting “Spring,” which he wrote nine years earlier. In it, spring turned to the wind Zephyr for help in order to drive away winter and surround everything around with love and warmth.
IGOR STRAVINSKY, “THE SACRED SPRING”
Nicholas Roerich. Set design for the ballet “The Rite of Spring”. 1910. Nicholas Roerich Museum, New York, USA
Another “spring” ballet belongs to another student of Rimsky-Korsakov - Igor Stravinsky . As the composer wrote in his memoirs, “Chronicle of My Life,” one day, quite unexpectedly, a picture of pagan rituals and a girl who sacrificed her beauty and life in the name of awakening the sacred spring arose in his imagination.
He shared his idea with the set designer Nicholas Roerich , who was just as keen Slavic traditions, and entrepreneur Sergei Diaghilev.
It was within the framework of Diaghilev's Russian seasons that the ballet premiered in Paris in May 1913. The public did not accept the pagan dances and condemned the “barbaric music.” The production failed.
The composer later described the main idea of the ballet in the article “What I wanted to express in The Rite of Spring”:“The Bright Resurrection of nature, which is reborn to new life, a complete resurrection, a spontaneous resurrection of the conception of the universal”. And this unbridledness is truly felt in the magical expression of Stravinsky’s music, full of pristine human feelings and natural rhythms.
100 years later, in the same theater on Champs Elysees, where The Rite of Spring was booed, the troupe and orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater performed this opera - this time to a full house.
DMITRY KABALEVSKY, “SPRING”
Igor Grabar. March snow. 1904. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
In the works of Dmitry Kabalevsky, a classic of Soviet music school, a public figure and teacher, spring motifs have been encountered more than once. For example, spring notes sound throughout the entire operetta “Spring is Singing,” staged for the first time in November 1957 on the stage of the Moscow Operetta Theater. The famously twisted plot of the essay in three acts was dedicated to the Soviet spring, the symbol of which was October Revolution. Aria main character“Spring Again” summed up the composer’s main idea: happiness is earned only through struggle.
Three years later, Dmitry Kabalevsky dedicated another work to this time of year - the symphonic poem “Spring”, which is centered around the sounds of awakening nature.
GEORGIY SVIRIDOV, “SPRING CANTATA”
Vasily Bashkeev. Blue spring. 1930. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
The work of Georgy Sviridov is one of the main symbols of the Soviet musical era. His suite “Time Forward” and illustrations for Pushkin’s “The Snowstorm” have long become classics of world culture.
The composer turned to the theme of spring in 1972: he composed a poem inspired by Nikolai Nekrasov “Who Lives Well in Rus'” “Spring Cantata”. This work was a kind of reflection on the choice spiritual path Russia, however, Sviridov did not deprive him of Nekrasov’s inherent poetic admiration for the beauty of Russian nature. For example, the composer preserved the following lines in “Cantata”:
Spring has already begun
The birch tree was blooming,
How we went home...
Okay, light
In the world of God!
Okay, easy
Clear in my heart.
Nikolay Nekrasov
The instrumental part of the cantata “Bells and Horns” has a special mood:
The Russian school of composition, the successor of whose traditions were the Soviet and today's Russian schools, began in the 19th century with composers who combined European musical art with Russians folk melodies, linking together the European form and the Russian spirit.
About each of these famous people you can tell a lot, everyone is not simple, and sometimes tragic fates, but in this review we tried to give only brief description life and work of composers.
1. Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka
(1804-1857)
Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka during the composition of the opera “Ruslan and Lyudmila”. 1887, artist Ilya Efimovich Repin
“To create beauty, you yourself must be pure in soul.”
Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka is the founder of Russian classical music and the first Russian classical composer to achieve world fame. His works, based on the centuries-old traditions of Russian folk music, were a new word in the musical art of our country.
Born in the Smolensk province, he received his education in St. Petersburg. The formation of the worldview and the main idea of Mikhail Glinka’s work was facilitated by direct communication with such personalities as A.S. Pushkin, V.A. Zhukovsky, A.S. Griboyedov, A.A. Delvig. The creative impetus for his work was added by a many-year 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 in 1836, after the production of the opera “Ivan Susanin” (“Life for the Tsar”), 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, and a hero like Susanin also appeared, 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.”
The second opera is the epic “Ruslan and Lyudmila” (1842), work on which was carried out against the backdrop of Pushkin’s death and in the composer’s difficult living conditions, due to the deeply innovative nature of the work, was received ambiguously by the audience and the authorities, and brought difficult times for M.I. Glinka experiences. After that, he traveled a lot, alternately living in Russia and abroad, without stopping composing. His legacy includes romances, symphonic and chamber works. In the 1990s, Mikhail Glinka's "Patriotic Song" was the official anthem of the Russian Federation.
Quote about M.I. Glinka:“The entire Russian symphonic school, like the entire oak tree in an acorn, is contained in symphonic fantasy"Kamarinskaya". P.I.Tchaikovsky
Interesting fact: Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka was no different 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.
2. Alexander Porfirievich 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 literary talent.
Born in St. Petersburg, from childhood everyone around him noted his unusual activity, passion and abilities in various directions, primarily in music and chemistry.
A.P. Borodin is a Russian composer-nugget, he did not have professional musician teachers, all his achievements in music are thanks to independent work on mastering compositing techniques.
The formation of A.P. Borodin was influenced by the work of M.I. Glinka (as indeed all Russian composers of the 19th century), and the impetus for intensive study of composition in the early 1860s was given by two events - firstly, his 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 a lot in Europe and America, met with 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 national heroic epic in music and which he himself did not have time to complete (it was completed by his friends A.A. Glazunov and N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov). In “Prince Igor”, against the backdrop of majestic paintings historical events, reflected the main idea of the composer’s entire work - courage, calm greatness, spiritual nobility of the best Russian people and the mighty strength of the entire Russian people, manifested in the defense of their homeland.
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, which influenced many generations of Russians and foreign composers.
Quote about A.P. Borodin:“Borodin’s talent is equally powerful and amazing in symphony, opera and romance. Its main qualities are gigantic strength and breadth, colossal scope, swiftness and impetuosity, combined with amazing passion, tenderness and beauty.” V.V. Stasov
Interesting fact: Named after Borodin chemical reaction silver salts of carboxylic acids with halogens, resulting in halogenated hydrocarbons, which he first investigated in 1861.
3. Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky
(1839-1881)
“The sounds of human speech, as outward manifestations of thought and feeling, must, without exaggeration and violence, become music that is truthful, accurate, but artistic, highly artistic.”
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky is one of the most brilliant Russian composers of the 19th century, a member of the Mighty bunch" Mussorgsky's innovative work was far ahead of its time.
Born in the Pskov province. Like many talented people, from childhood he showed abilities in music, studied in St. Petersburg, was, family tradition, military. The decisive event that determined that Mussorgsky was not born for military service, and for music, it 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 dramatic milestones in music Russian history with a radical novelty that Russian music had not known before him, showing in them a combination of mass folk scenes and a diverse wealth of types, the unique character of the Russian people. These operas, in numerous editions, both by the author and by 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 permeated with a Russian theme-refrain and Orthodox faith.
Mussorgsky's life had everything - both greatness and tragedy, but he was always distinguished by genuine spiritual purity and selflessness.
His last years were difficult - unsettled life, lack of recognition of creativity, loneliness, addiction to alcohol, all this determined him early death at 42, he left relatively few works, some of which were completed by other composers.
The specific melody and innovative harmony of Mussorgsky anticipated some features musical development 20th century and played an important role in the formation of the styles of many world composers.
Quote about M.P. Mussorgsky:“The original Russian sounds in everything that Mussorgsky created” N.K. Roerich
Interesting fact: At the end of his life, Mussorgsky, under pressure from his “friends” Stasov and Rimsky-Korsakov, renounced the copyright to his works and donated them to Tertius Filippov.
4. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
(1840-1893)
“I am an artist who can and should bring honor to my Motherland. I feel great in myself artistic power, I haven't done even a tenth of what I can do yet. And I want to do this with all the strength of my soul.”
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, perhaps the greatest Russian composer of the 19th century, raised the unprecedented height Russian musical art. 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 from childhood musical abilities, however, my first education and work was in the field of jurisprudence.
Tchaikovsky was 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, as opposed to the popular figures of the “Mighty Handful”, with whom he had good creative and friendly relations, but 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 the Russians traditions inherited from Mikhail Glinka.
The composer led active life- 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, hot temper, violent anger - all these moods changed in him quite often; being a very sociable person, he always strived for loneliness.
To highlight something best from Tchaikovsky’s work - difficult task, he has several works of equal size in almost all musical genres- opera, ballet, symphony, chamber music. And the content of Tchaikovsky’s music is universal: with inimitable melodicism it embraces images of life and death, love, nature, childhood, it reveals works of Russian and world literature in a new way, and reflects the deep processes of spiritual life.
Composer quote:“Life has beauty only when it consists of alternation of joys and sorrows, of the struggle between good and evil, of light and shadow, in a word - of diversity in unity.”
“Great talent requires great hard work.”
Quote about the composer: “I am ready to stand as a guard of honor day and night at the porch of the house where Pyotr Ilyich lives - that is how much I respect him.” A.P. Chekhov
Interesting fact: The University of Cambridge awarded Tchaikovsky the title of Doctor of Music in absentia and without defending a dissertation, as did the Paris Academy Fine Arts elected him a corresponding member.
5. Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov
(1844-1908)
N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov and A.K. Glazunov with their students M.M. Chernov and V.A. Senilov. Photo 1906 Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov is a talented Russian composer, one of the most important figures in the creation of an invaluable Russian musical heritage. His unique world and worship of the eternal all-encompassing beauty of the universe, admiration for the miracle of existence, 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, and traveled around many countries in Europe and the two Americas on a warship. Musical education received first from his mother, then taking private lessons from 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 a talented composer.
The central place in Rimsky-Korsakov's legacy is made up of operas - 15 works demonstrating the diversity of genre, stylistic, dramatic, compositional solutions of the composer, nevertheless having a special style - with all the richness of the orchestral component, the main ones are melodic vocal lines.
Two main directions distinguish the composer’s work: the first is Russian history, the second is the world of fairy tales and epics, 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 folk songs, in which he showed great interest, and also as a completer of the works of his friends - Dargomyzhsky, Mussorgsky and Borodin. Rimsky-Korsakov was the creator composer school, as a teacher and director of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, he trained about two hundred composers, conductors, and musicologists, among them Prokofiev and Stravinsky.
Quote about the composer:“Rimsky-Korsakov was a very Russian man and a very Russian composer. I believe that this primordially Russian essence of it, its deep folklore-Russian basis should be especially appreciated today.” Mstislav Rostropovich
Fact about the composer: Nikolai Andreevich began his first counterpoint lesson like this:
- Now I will talk a lot, and you will listen very carefully. Then I will talk less, and you will listen and think, and finally, I will not speak at all, and you will think with your own head and work independently, because my task as a teacher is to become unnecessary to you...
Here is a list of 10 composers you should know. Of each of them it can be said with certainty that he is the greatest composer who ever lived, although in fact it is impossible, and indeed impossible, to compare music written over several centuries. However, all of these composers stand out among their contemporaries as composers who composed music the highest level and sought to push the boundaries of classical music to new limits. The list does not contain any order, such as importance or personal preference. Just 10 great composers you should know.
Each composer is accompanied by a quotable fact of his life, remembering which you will look like an expert. And by clicking on the link to the last name, you will recognize him full biography. And of course, you can listen to one of the significant works of each master.
The most important figure in world classical music. One of the most performed and respected composers in the world. He created in all genres that existed in his time, including opera, ballet, music for dramatic performances, and choral works. The most significant in his legacy are considered to be instrumental works: piano, violin and cello sonatas, concertos for piano, violin, quartets, overtures, symphonies. The founder of the romantic period in classical music.
Interesting fact.
Beethoven first wanted to dedicate his third symphony (1804) to Napoleon; the composer was captivated by the personality of this man, who seemed to many at the beginning of his reign a real hero. But when Napoleon proclaimed himself emperor, Beethoven crossed out his dedication to title page and wrote only one word - “Heroic”.
"Moonlight Sonata" by L. Beethoven, listen:
2. (1685-1750)
German composer and organist, representative of the Baroque era. One of greatest composers in the history of music. During his life, Bach wrote more than 1000 works. His work represents everything significant genres of that time, except opera; he summarized the achievements musical art Baroque period. The founder of the most famous musical dynasty.
Interesting fact.
During his lifetime, Bach was so underrated that less than a dozen of his works were published.
Toccata and Fugue in D minor by J. S. Bach, listen:
3. (1756-1791)
The great Austrian composer, instrumentalist and conductor, representative of the Vienna classical school, virtuoso violinist, harpsichordist, organist, conductor, he had a phenomenal musical ear, memory and ability to improvise. As a composer who excelled in any genre, he is rightfully considered one of the greatest composers in the history of classical music.
Interesting fact.
While still a child, Mozart memorized and recorded the Miserere (cat. chant on the text of the 50th Psalm of David) by the Italian Gregorio Allegri, having listened to it only once.
"Little Night Serenade" by W.A. Mozart, listen:
4. (1813-1883)
German composer, conductor, playwright, philosopher. Provided significant influence on European culture turn of XIX-XX centuries, especially modernism. Wagner's operas are stunning in their grandiose scale and eternal human values.
Interesting fact.
Wagner took part in the failed revolution of 1848-1849 in Germany and was forced to hide from arrest by Franz Liszt.
"Ride of the Valkyries" from R. Wagner's opera "Walkyrie", listen
5. (1840-1893)
Italian composer, central figure of the Italian opera school. Verdi had a sense of the stage, temperament and impeccable skill. He did not deny operatic traditions (unlike Wagner), but on the contrary developed them (the traditions of Italian opera), he transformed Italian opera, filled it with realism, gave it the unity of the whole.
Interesting fact.
Verdi was an Italian nationalist and was elected to the first Italian parliament in 1860, following the declaration of Italian independence from Austria.
Overture to D. Verdi's opera "La Traviata", listen:
7. Igor Fedorovich Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Russian (American - after emigration) composer, conductor, pianist. One of the most significant composers of the twentieth century. Stravinsky's work is consistent throughout his entire career, although in different periods The style of his works was different, but the core and Russian roots remained, which were evident in all his works; he is considered one of the leading innovators of the twentieth century. His innovative use of rhythm and harmony has inspired and continues to inspire many musicians, not just in classical music.
Interesting fact.
During World War I, Roman customs officers confiscated Pablo Picasso's portrait of Stravinsky as the composer was leaving Italy. The portrait was painted in a futuristic manner and customs officers mistook these circles and lines for some kind of encrypted secret materials.
Suite from I.F. Stravinsky's ballet "Firebird", listen:
8. Johann Strauss (1825-1899)
Austrian composer light music, conductor and violinist. "King of Waltzes", he created in the genre of dance music and operetta. His musical heritage includes more than 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas and ballets. Thanks to him, the waltz became extremely popular in Vienna in the 19th century.
Interesting fact.
Johann Strauss's father is also Johann and also famous musician, which is why the “Waltz King” is called the youngest or son; his brothers Joseph and Eduard were also famous composers.
Waltz by J. Strauss "On the Beautiful Blue Danube", listen:
9. Sergei Vasilyevich Rahmaninov (1873-1943)
Austrian composer, one of the outstanding representatives of the Viennese classical music school and one of the founders of romanticism in music. For my short life Schubert made significant contributions to orchestral, chamber and piano music, which influenced an entire generation of composers. However, his most striking contribution was to the development of German romances, of which he created more than 600.
Interesting fact.
Schubert's friends and fellow musicians would get together and perform Schubert's music. These meetings were called "Schubertiads". Some first fan club!
"Ave Maria" by F.P.Schubert, listen:
Continuing the theme of great composers you should know, new material.
Pictures of the changing seasons, the rustling of leaves, bird voices, the splashing of waves, the murmur of a stream, thunderclaps - all this can be conveyed in music. Many famous people were able to do this brilliantly: their musical works about nature became classics of the musical landscape.
Natural phenomena, musical sketches of flora and fauna appear in instrumental and piano works, vocal and choral works, and sometimes even in the form of program loops.
“The Seasons” by A. Vivaldi
Antonio Vivaldi
Vivaldi's four three-movement violin concertos dedicated to the seasons are without a doubt the most famous nature music works of the Baroque era. The poetic sonnets for the concerts are believed to have been written by the composer himself and express the musical meaning of each part.
Vivaldi conveys with his music the rumble of thunder, the sound of rain, the rustling of leaves, the trills of birds, the barking of dogs, the howling of the wind, and even the silence of an autumn night. Many of the composer's remarks in the score directly indicate one or another natural phenomenon that should be depicted.
Vivaldi “The Seasons” – “Winter”
"The Seasons" by J. Haydn
Joseph Haydn
The monumental oratorio “The Seasons” was a unique result of the composer’s creative activity and became a true masterpiece of classicism in music.
Four seasons are sequentially presented to the listener in 44 films. The heroes of the oratorio are rural residents (peasants, hunters). They know how to work and have fun, they have no time to indulge in despondency. People here are part of nature, they are involved in its annual cycle.
Haydn, like his predecessor, makes extensive use of the capabilities of different instruments to convey the sounds of nature, such as a summer thunderstorm, the chirping of grasshoppers and a chorus of frogs.
Haydn associates musical works about nature with the lives of people - they are almost always present in his “paintings”. So, for example, in the finale of the 103rd symphony we seem to be in the forest and hear the signals of hunters, to depict which the composer resorts to known remedy– . Listen:
Haydn Symphony No. 103 – final
************************************************************************
“Seasons” by P. I. Tchaikovsky
The composer chose the genre of piano miniatures for his twelve months. But the piano alone is capable of conveying the colors of nature no worse than the choir and orchestra.
Here is the spring rejoicing of the lark, and the joyful awakening of the snowdrop, and the dreamy romance of white nights, and the song of a boatman rocking on the river waves, and the field work of peasants, and hound hunting, and the alarmingly sad autumn fading of nature.
Tchaikovsky “The Seasons” – March – “Song of the Lark”
************************************************************************
“Carnival of Animals” by C. Saint-Saens
Among musical works about nature, Saint-Saëns’ “grand zoological fantasy” for chamber ensemble stands out. The frivolity of the idea determined the fate of the work: “Carnival,” the score of which Saint-Saëns even forbade publication during his lifetime, was performed in its entirety only among the composer’s friends.
The instrumental composition is original: in addition to strings and several wind instruments, it includes two pianos, a celesta and such a rare instrument in our time as a glass harmonica.
The cycle has 13 parts describing different animals, and a final part that combines all the numbers into a single piece. It’s funny that the composer also included novice pianists who diligently play scales among the animals.
The comic nature of “Carnival” is emphasized by numerous musical allusions and quotes. For example, “Turtles” perform Offenbach’s cancan, only slowed down several times, and the double bass in “Elephant” develops the theme of Berlioz’s “Ballet of the Sylphs”.
Saint-Saëns “Carnival of the Animals” – Swan
************************************************************************
Sea elements by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov
The Russian composer knew about the sea firsthand. As a midshipman, and then as a midshipman on the Almaz clipper, he made a long journey to the North American coast. His favorite sea images appear in many of his creations.
This is, for example, the theme of the “blue ocean-sea” in the opera “Sadko”. In just a few sounds the author conveys the hidden power of the ocean, and this motif permeates the entire opera.
The sea reigns both in the symphonic musical film “Sadko” and in the first part of the suite “Scheherazade” - “The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship”, in which calm gives way to storm.
Rimsky-Korsakov “Sadko” – introduction “Ocean-sea blue”
************************************************************************
“The east was covered with a ruddy dawn...”
Another favorite theme of nature music is sunrise. Here two of the most famous morning themes immediately come to mind, having something in common with each other. Each in its own way accurately conveys the awakening of nature. This is the romantic “Morning” by E. Grieg and the solemn “Dawn on the Moscow River” by M. P. Mussorgsky.
Grieg's imitation of a shepherd's horn is picked up string instruments, and then by the whole orchestra: the sun rises over the harsh fjords, and the murmur of a stream and the singing of birds are clearly heard in the music.
Mussorgsky's Dawn also begins with a shepherd's melody, the ringing of bells seems to be woven into the growing orchestral sound, and the sun rises higher and higher over the river, covering the water with golden ripples.
Mussorgsky – “Khovanshchina” – introduction “Dawn on the Moscow River”
************************************************************************
It is almost impossible to list everything in which the theme of nature is developed - this list will be too long. Here you can include concertos by Vivaldi (“Nightingale”, “Cuckoo”, “Night”), “Bird Trio” from Beethoven’s sixth symphony, “Flight of the Bumblebee” by Rimsky-Korsakov, “Les Goldfishes” by Debussy, “Spring and Autumn” and “ winter road» Sviridova and many others musical paintings nature.