Romance is a chamber vocal work, which is characterized by a poetic form and lyrical content with a love theme. In other words, this poetic works for singing with instrumental accompaniment.
The form of a romance is close to a song, only with a limited theme of a love-lyrical nature. The romance is usually performed accompanied by one instrument, most often. The main emphasis in works of this kind is on melody and semantic load.
The birth of romance
The term “romance” itself originated in Spain, where it was used to name secular songs on Spanish, which had to be separated from the religious hymns sung in Latin. The Spanish word “romance” or the late Latin “romanice” is translated as “in Romance” or “in Spanish,” which is actually the same thing. The term “romance” has taken root in many languages in parallel with the term “song,” although in German and English these two concepts are still not separated, denoting them with the same word (German Lied and English Song).
So, romance is a type of song that took shape in the period of the 15th-19th centuries.
Western European romance
From the middle of the 18th century, romance gained particular popularity in Germany and France and became a separate genre on the verge of music and poetry. The poetic basis for the romances of this era were poems by such great poets as Heine and Goethe.
Already in the 19th century, national schools of romance were formed in Germany, Austria, France and Russia. During this period, the famous romances of the Austrians Schumann, Brahms and Schubert, and the French Berlioz, Bizet and Gounod were created.
It was also typical for European schools to combine romances into entire vocal cycles. The first such cycle, “To a Distant Beloved,” was created by Beethoven. His example was followed by Schubert (the romance cycles “Winterreise” and “The Beautiful Miller’s Wife”), Schumann, Brahms, Wolf... From the mid-19th century and in the 20th century, national schools of romance were formed in the Czech Republic, Poland, Norway, Finland.
Gradually, in addition to the classical chamber form of romance, such a genre as everyday romance. It was designed for non-professional singers and was widely popular in society.
Russian romance
The Russian school of romance arose under the influence of romantic sentiments in art and was finally formed by the mid-19th century. Its founders are considered to be Alyabyeva, Gurilev, Varlamova, who often turned to gypsy themes in their work.
Alexander Alyabyev
Later, separate trends were formed in the genre of Russian romance - salon romance, cruel romance... Russian romance experienced its apogee of development at the beginning of the 20th century, in the era of the creativity of Vertinsky and Vyaltseva, Plevitskaya and Panina. The traditions laid down by these brilliant musicians were successfully continued by Alla Bayanova and Pyotr Leshchenko, and already in the era of existence Soviet Union- Vadim Kozin, Tamara Tsereteli, Isabella Yurieva.
Unfortunately, in Soviet era The romance genre was not welcomed by the party leadership, since it was considered a non-proletarian genre, a relic of tsarism. and performers of romances were subjected to persecution and repression.
Only in the 70s. In the 20th century, romance experienced a revival when romances performed by Valentina Ponomareva and Nani Bregvadze, Nikolai Slichenko and Valentin Baglaenko gained popularity.
The word "romance" means special genre works of literature or music. We will consider the meaning of this term from a musical point of view. According to the definition, we get that:
Romance is small piece music intended for vocal performance, based on lyrical poetry. It allows the performer to improvise from clearly defined measures and quadrants.
It is also characterized by the integrity of the text and music, the ratio of which must be one to one and which cannot be separated from each other.
To understand this genre in more detail, let’s delve a little into history and find out into what areas it is divided.
How the romance began
Romance is an old man, and it dates back to the times of the “dark” Middle Ages. He is originally from Spain. It appeared during the Renaissance, when humanity radically changed its views, moved away from church canons, which led to the appearance secular culture. Romance was part of it.
Then they were poems famous poets, set to music and conveying the most intimate experiences of the poets.
There could also be in romances reflected historical events, wars and battles; exploits were sung legendary personalities. And in general this genre was close to the ballad. It was considered a secular art because it was performed in the native language of the Spaniards, and not in Latin, in which all church songs were sung.
Often there were so many songs that they were combined into vocal cycles, each of which sounded on its own theme. These could be romances dedicated to love and beautiful lady, or dedicated to heroes from legends, their grandiose achievements and large-scale events of antiquity.
Much later, this term migrated to France, where it was combined until the 18th century with the concept of "chanson".
Further evolution of the genre
The heyday of romance is usually called the last two quarters of the nineteenth century. It was at this time that the well-known names of composers who made a huge contribution to the development of the musical genre were heard.
The Germans did the most work: this and F.E. Bach, L. Beethoven, famous throughout the world for their compositions; this and Goethe and Heine– their poems served as the basis for many romance songs. Soon this genre also appeared in opera.
Examples include opera "Iolanta" by P. Tchaikovsky, in which Vaudemont’s romance and Synodal’s romance in “The Demon” were performed. The romance in the first act of “The Huguenots” by J. Meyerbeer or in “Aleko” by S. Rachmaninov are also representatives of the “operatic” romance.
Blooming more and more, romance becomes so meaningful romantic genre, which is gradually acquiring various schools. Most often, everyone looked up to the German, French and Russian schools.
Not only high-class classics are emerging, but also their household counterparts.
Russian romance
In Russia, romance was divided into several directions:
- Urban. Characterizes him solid knowledge a person himself, clarity in the depiction of phenomena and events, the idea of the impossibility of true love feelings for a person.
- Gypsy. It is distinguished by the specificity of its music and lyrics, in which Russian was intertwined with Gypsy. This direction was started by the choir of Count A.G. Orlov-Chesmensky, which was collected in the first half of the eighteenth century.
- Cruel. Exposed life as it is. Romances were often based on tragic stories.
In Russia there were many talented people capable of creating wonderful romances. Examples include musical works(“Don’t go, don’t leave”) N. Zubov, (Don’t tempt me unnecessarily) M. Glinka or (“ Eastern romance") Rimsky-Korsakov. Many people liked the performance of the Kern sisters Pushkin's work"I remember wonderful moment…».
In the twentieth century, the genre is looking for ways to realize itself somehow differently, to open new directions. This was problematic. The basis of the problems was also the combination of verse and music.
People begin not only to sing, but also to recite poems to musical accompaniment, which would later result in the very new direction that romance was trying to find. You can listen to an example of this recitation by including creations that came out of hand Debussy, which are the “Songs of Bilitis”.
The emergence of new equipment for listening to music - gramophones and records - generally changes the smooth sound of the romance. However, only thanks to this invention of mankind we can fully enjoy the work of such romance writers as: A. Valtsevaya, N. Tamara.
In this article, we tried to explain in detail what the term “romance” means, how it developed and what it resulted in, and what its rich history is. We hope that we were able to fully satisfy the reader’s interest and that you learned something new from it.
"Music is the soul of poetry, it clarifies and opens it. It makes poetic word deeper in meaning and easier to understand. The spirit of music in the emotional aspect is a creative will that encourages gifted people to create a state of sounds and shape them as their worldview."
Romance in music is a vocal composition written on a short poem of lyrical content, mainly love.
The term " romance" originated in Spain in the Middle Ages and originally denoted a secular song in the Spanish (“Roman”) language. In Russia, the first examples of romance can be considered cants, which were widespread at the end of the 17th century. And in the 18th century. the poems of the most famous Russian poets - A. P. Sumarokov, A. F. Merzlyakov, M. V. Lomonosov - were immediately picked up by musicians and sung by amateur singers. Such works were called Russian songs.
What is the difference between a romance and a song? The line between these two genres is not always easy to draw, especially when it comes to early romances. But, as a rule, in romance we hear a closer, more detailed connection between music and poetic text. Music conveys not only the general mood of the verse, but also individual poetic images. Thus, in the lyrical romance by M. I. Glinka “I Remember a Wonderful Moment” to the poems of A. S. Pushkin the words:
Years passed. The rebellious gust of storms dispelled former dreams...
And life, and tears, and love. The main feature of romance - a more detailed connection between words and music - determines others. For example, greater content and imagery of the piano part, which develops from accompanying the voice into an equal participant in the ensemble. The beginning of the heyday of romance was the first half of the 19th century. This is a period generally characterized by a special interest in lyrical genres that express the world of a person’s personal experiences.
Thanks to its sincerity, sincerity and melodic beauty best works Glinka and his contemporaries were sung throughout Russia, and some became folk songs: “A snowstorm is blowing along the street” by A. E. Varlamov; “The bell rattles monotonously” by A. L. Gurilev.
Sometimes a romance goes beyond the lyric, acquiring drama and approaching an operatic aria. These are some of the romances by P. I. Tchaikovsky (“Does Day Reign”, “Don Juan’s Serenade”). And the vocal works of M. P. Mussorgsky can hardly even be called romances: they are living musical portraits, conveying the appearance and character of specific characters (“Seminarist”, “Orphan”, “Mischief”). The traditions of classical romance continue in the works of Soviet authors: Yu. A. Shaporin, A. N. Alexandrov, D. D. Shostakovich, D. B. Kabalevsky, G. V. Sviridov, B. N. Lyatoshinsky, O. V. Taktakishvili.
Features of vocal romance
In its form, a romance is similar to a song; like the latter, it is written in a kneeling manner, but it does not necessarily have the quadrature, the evenness of bars that are pursued in the song. In the romance, deviations are allowed in the form of so-called extensions or insertions, transitions from one knee to another. The vocal part of the romance should have a clear and prominent melodic outline and be melodious. The refrain, or chorus, is most often absent in romance. In a romance, you should pay more attention to conveying the general mood of the text than to a detailed illustration of its details. The interest should lie chiefly in the melody and not in the accompaniment.
The romance is written for singing with the accompaniment of one instrument, mainly the piano, and belongs to the category of chamber music, although some romances are accompanied by an orchestra.
Genre characteristics of romance
- The content of the romance does not go beyond the lyrics. The text is dedicated to some experience, usually love.
- Romance is characterized by only one lyrical mood. However, the range of emotional states in the romance is so wide that each performer and listener has the opportunity to choose the one closest to him.
- Due to the fact that a romance usually expresses a love experience, it either has or implies an addressee, and therefore is initially dialogical in its very content.
- The presence of two heroes gives rise to one of the most important qualities of a romance - its intimacy and intimacy.
- Romance as a vocal and poetic genre is a three-faceted structure in which the word (text), music and speech (performance) are equally significant.
Plan:
- Introduction
- 1 History of romance
- 1.1 In Russia
- 1.1.1 Types of Russian romance
- 1.1 In Russia
- 2
Features of vocal romance
- 2.1 The main genre features of romance
- 2.2 Text
- 3 List of romances
- 4 Famous artists Notes
- .1 Literature
Introduction
Vasily Tropinin. "Guitar player"
Romance in music (Spanish) romance, from late lat. Romanice, literally - “in Romanesque”, that is, “in Spanish”) - a vocal composition written on a short poem of lyrical content, mainly love; chamber musical and poetic work for voice with instrumental accompaniment.
1. History of romance
The term "romance" originated in Spain during the Middle Ages, originally denoting a secular song in Spanish ("romance") rather than a religious hymn in Latin. It soon came into use in other countries, although in some countries romance and song are still denoted by one word (German Lied, English Song).
Romance developed from song. It appeared and took shape in the 15th and 19th centuries. The flourishing of romance as a synthetic musical and poetic genre began in the 2nd half of the 18th century in Germany, France and Russia. Creativity had a great influence on his development greatest poets Goethe and Heine.
In the 19th century, vibrant national schools of romance emerged: German and Austrian (Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Wolf), French (G. Berlioz, J. Bizet, Massenet, Gounod), and Russian. Composers often combined romances into vocal cycles: an early example was L. Beethoven (“To a Distant Beloved,” 1816), a mature example was Schubert (“The Beautiful Miller’s Wife” and “Winterreise”), later Schumann, Brahms, G. . Mahler, Wolf and many other composers, including Russians: Glinka, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov.
In the 2nd half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. examples of Czech, Polish, Finnish, and Norwegian national schools become noticeable.
Along with chamber vocal classics, it developed everyday romance, designed for amateur singers.
1.1. In Russia
In Russia, romance soon acquired national traits. In Russia, at first, “romance” was the name given to a vocal work in French(albeit written by a Russian composer), and a work with text in Russian is a “Russian song”.
Then the genre of Russian romance appeared, which quickly became popular in the wake of the trends of romanticism. In the 18th century there was a sentimental romance, when poems by poets like Sumarokov or Trediakovsky were written based on folk songs.
Based on the Russian romance in the first half of the 19th century, leading Russian composers created the genre gypsy romance, subsequently modified and brought to high level actually the gypsies themselves.
Of the Russian composers, remarkable examples were created by Alyabyev, Varlamov, Gurilev, Verstovsky, Glinka, Dargomyzhsky, Rubinstein, Cui, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Bulakhov, Rachmaninov, Sviridov, Medtner, B. Prozorovsky.
1.1.1. Types of Russian romance
Isabella Yurieva
- Urban romance is author's in its method of creation, but folklore in its mode of existence.
- Gypsy romance
- Cruel romance
- Cossack romance - Cossack original songs, on a Cossack theme, originated in the Don. "Forefather" Cossack romance", considered to be a song by an unknown author of the 19th century, “Spring will not come for me...”.
2. Features of vocal romance
The form of a romance is similar to a song; like the latter, it is written in a kneeling manner, but it does not necessarily have the quadrature, the evenness of bars that are pursued in the song. In the romance, deviations are allowed in the form of so-called extensions or insertions, transitions from one knee to another. The vocal part of the romance should have a clear and prominent melodic outline and be melodious. The refrain, or chorus, is most often absent in romance. (Although there are exceptions, such as the work of A. S. Dargomyzhsky “The Old Corporal” - a romance with a chorus in the form of a verse song). In a romance, you should pay more attention to conveying the general mood of the text than to a detailed illustration of its details. The interest should lie chiefly in the melody and not in the accompaniment.
The romance is written for singing with the accompaniment of one instrument, mainly the piano, and belongs to the category of chamber music, although some romances are accompanied by an orchestra. “Instrumental accompaniment in a romance is important, often being an equal element of a single whole with the vocal part.”
2.1. The main genre features of romance
- The content of the romance does not go beyond the lyrics. The text is dedicated to some experience, usually love.
- Romance is characterized by only one lyrical mood. However, the range of emotional states in the romance is so wide that each performer and listener has the opportunity to choose the one closest to him.
- In a romance, the melody is more closely connected with the verse than in a song, reflecting not only its general character and poetic structure, but also individual images, rhythmic and intonation details.
- Due to the fact that a romance usually expresses a love experience, it either has or implies an addressee, and therefore is initially dialogical in its very content.
- The presence of two heroes gives rise to one of the most important qualities of a romance - its intimacy and intimacy.
- Romance as a vocal and poetic genre is a three-faceted structure in which word, music and speech are equally significant.
Romance is also found in operas (for example, Raoul’s romance in the first act of “The Huguenots”).
The form of romance passed into instrumental music entitled "romance sans paroles"(= "song without words", "Lied ohne Worte", "song without words"): this is a knee-length piece with a predominant melodic meaning. Such romances are written for piano (see Mendelssohn) or for some other solo instrument, with accompaniment.
2.2. Text
Genre varieties of romance - ballad, elegy, barcarolle, romance in dance rhythms, etc. A romance poem is devoid of solid genre characteristics- usually it's small lyrical work, strophic, rhymed, with verses of medium length, with a melodious type of intonation.
3. List of romances
- Plaisir d'amour is a classic French romance written in 1784 by Jean-Paul Egide Martini with lyrics by Jean-Pierre Clary de Florian.
4. Famous performers
- Agafonov, Valery Borisovich (1941-1984)
- Bayanova, Alla Nikolaevna (b. 1914)
- Vertinsky, Alexander Nikolaevich (1889-1957)
- Leshchenko, Pyotr Konstantinovich (1898-1954)
- Labinsky, Andrey Markovich (1871-1941)
- Malinin, Alexander Nikolaevich (b. 1958)
- Morfessi, Yuri Spiridonovich (1882-1957)
- Morozov, Mikhail Alexandrovich (b. 1972)
- Pogudin, Oleg Evgenievich (b. 1968)
- Ponomareva, Valentina Dmitrievna (b. 1939)
- Plevitskaya, Nadezhda Vasilievna (1884-1940)
- Slovtsov, Pyotr Ivanovich (1886-1934)
- Utesov, Leonid Osipovich (1895-1982)
- Figner, Nikolai Nikolaevich (1857-1918)
- Khil, Eduard Anatolyevich (b. 1934)
- Chaliapin, Fyodor Ivanovich (1873-1938)
- Shtokolov, Boris Timofeevich (1930-2005)
- Yurieva, Isabella Danilovna (1899-2000)
Romance is musical composition vocal character, which is written referring to the poetic form is not very great content, basically, its theme is love. This musical poetic chamber work is created for voice and accompanied instrumentally.
Romance in history
This term first appeared in Spain in the Middle Ages. At first, “romance” was called a secular song, but after some time it spread to the territories of other countries. In some of them, to this day, song and romance are understood under one specific word.
Romance comes from song, and originated in the fifteenth century, but was fully formed in the nineteenth. Its particular furor occurred at the end of the eighteenth century in countries such as Russia, France, and Germany. They left a significant mark on the development of romance creative works famous German poets - Heine and Goethe. Romance schools were even created, which were considered national.
After the nineteenth century and at the beginning of the twentieth, simultaneously with the classical romance, everyday romance began to develop, which was concentrated on amateur singers.
For Russian romance, the most difficult time was the end of 1930, when it was considered a relic of tsarism and was subject to persecution. The performers fell silent, and those who did not comply were subject to reprisals. The revival took place only in the seventies.
The idea of romance
In its form, the romance is very reminiscent of a song. The difference is that in this work Deviations in quadrature and clarity of clocks are allowed. You can also find some deviations called insertions or extensions. The vocals here are clear and clearly outlined by the melody. The melodiousness is also a little different from other pieces of music.
In most cases, the chorus, but in a romance it is a refrain, is missing. Special meaning here it is the conveying of the textual mood rather than the illustration of details. The emphasis is on the melody, not the accompaniment.
Romance belongs to chamber music, and it is accompanied by just one musical instrument. Although sometimes this is done with orchestral accompaniment.
In this type of work, both text and music have equal rights. If you don’t adhere to this and give preference to one thing, then romance loses its very essence.
Romance is divided into several types of genre:
- Elegy.
- Ballad.
- Barcarolle.
- Romance with dance rhythms.
How to recognize romance?
This work can be recognized by the following features:
- Lyrics for romance are in most cases lyrical in nature, dedicated to some kind of experience, mainly love.
- Romance always has a monotonous mood. The emotional spectrums are very diverse, which gives each listener the opportunity to choose what is closest to them.
- Romance melodies differ from song melodies in that they reflect more the nature of the poetic text. Expresses each image with rhythm and intonation.
- Considering that in most cases the romance expresses love experiences, it vaguely resembles a dialogue. At the heart of the work there are a couple of heroes, and a high-quality creation expresses all the intimacy and intimacy.
Considering romance as a vocal and poetic genre, you can notice. What it perfectly combines with a triangular structure:
- Music.
- Speech.
- Word.
Sometimes you can also find romances in opera.
Varieties of Russian romance
In Russia, almost at the same time as the classical chamber romance, the domestic romance began to develop. It was divided into three areas:
- A cruel romance.
- Urban romance.
- Gypsy romance.
The first of them was born in the city and suburbs, where mostly bourgeois people lived. They began to create their own subculture, which initially consisted of ditties, dancing, painting on bast, including romance. Since at this time all such actions were not welcomed, this is where the term “cruel” comes from.
The genre of this romance is almost impossible to determine. Its main features were a limited plot and it always ended with either a domestic murder, or suicide, or death associated with some kind of grief, and if it was about love, then only unrequited love.
But after some time, when everything had calmed down, he gave impetus to the creation of an urban romance. In contrast to the violent direction, from a literary point of view, it is more harmonious than its predecessor.
Starting from urban romance, the development of the following genres began:
- Thieves' song.
- Author's song.
- Russian chanson.
The thieves' song glorifies the severity of everyday life and morality in a criminal environment. This genre is focused on people who are imprisoned or very close to criminal acts. At first he found fans in the Soviet Union, but after some time he became popular in the CIS countries.
Author's songs appeared a little later. Their peculiarity is that there is no specific author, and if there is, it is “unknown”. Here, too, the basis was the life of the convicts who were in the camps, about the unsuitable living conditions in these places.
After some time, among the criminal songs, works began to appear that deviated slightly from the theme of crime, although they also contained the same melody, jargon, view of the world. This genre is called Russian chanson.
Nowadays you can hear it anywhere. Fans of Russian chanson, like performers, are not necessarily convicted or those who have already served their sentence.
Although the gypsy romance was created on the territory of Russia, it combined both Russian and gypsy texts.
Varieties of world romance
In addition to the above, there are also the following types of romance:
- Noble.
- Acting.
- Belogvardeisky.
- Ironic.
- Romance-answer and others.
But the classic romance is always unchanged and never loses its popularity.
Many composers have been trying to adhere to the basics of romance as a tradition for more than a decade. At the same time, they try to give it something unusual and special. For example, already in the sixties these works were created that were designed for more than one voice, and this was already closer to a vocal-symphonic work.