Introduction

The fate of English music turned out to be complex and paradoxical. From the 15th century until the end of the 17th century, at the time of the formation and flourishing of the English classical musical tradition, its development was continuous. This process proceeded intensively thanks to the reliance on folklore, which was determined earlier than in other schools of composition, as well as due to the formation and preservation of unique, nationally distinctive genres (anthem, mask, semi-opera). Ancient English music European art important impulses, including polyphony, variational-figurative principles of development, orchestral suite. At the same time, she refracted stimuli coming from outside in an original way.

In the 17th century, events took place that dealt powerful blows to English musical culture. This is, firstly, Puritanism, which was established during the revolution of 1640-1660, with its fanatical desire to abolish previous spiritual values ​​and ancient types and forms. secular culture, and secondly, the restoration of the monarchy (1660), which dramatically changed the general cultural orientation of the country and increased external influence (from France).

Surprisingly, in parallel with the obvious symptoms of the crisis, phenomena arise that indicate a higher rise musical art. In difficult times English music time, Henry Purcell (1659-1695) appeared, whose works marked the flowering of the national composer school, although they did not have a direct impact on the creativity of subsequent generations. George Frideric Handel (1685-1759), working in England, with his oratorios established the primacy of the choral tradition in the spectrum of genres of English music, which directly influenced it further development. During the same period, “The Beggar's Opera” by Gay and Pepusch (1728), the parodic nature of which testified to the advent of an era of cultural turning point, became the ancestor of many examples of the so-called ballad opera.

She was one of the peaks theatrical arts England and at the same time evidence of the overthrow of musical art - more precisely, the movement of its “culture-creating energy” (A. Schweitzer) - from the professional to the amateur sphere.

A musical tradition is made up of many factors - such as composition, performance, and the way of musical life. Regulated by ideological, aesthetic, general artistic guidelines, these factors do not always act in a coordinated unity, often in certain historical conditions their interaction is disrupted. This can be confirmed by the hundred-year period from approximately the middle of the 18th to the middle of the 19th century in England.

Music of England

The high level of performance, widespread and deep rootedness in everyday life of various forms of music-making - instrumental, vocal ensemble and choral - then created favorable soil for the bright, large-scale concert life of London, which attracted continental musicians to the capital of the empire: Chopin, Berlioz, Tchaikovsky, Glazunov... The fresh wind of modernity was carried with them by German musicians, whose road to the British Isles was wide open since the reign of the Hanoverian dynasty (from 1714 to 1901) - let us remember, for example, the weekly concerts of Bach - Abel and the concerts of Haydn - Zalomon . Thus, England participated in the intensive process of formation of the pre-classical and classical symphonies, but did not make a creative contribution to it. In general, during that period the branch national creativity in the genres of opera and symphony, which are relevant on the continent, it was undeveloped; in other genres (for example, in oratorio) the channel sometimes became shallow. It was this era that gave England the now unconvincing name of “the country without music.”

It is paradoxical that the “era of silence” occurred in the so-called Victorian era - the period of the reign of Queen Victoria (from 1837 to 1901). The state was at the zenith of its strength and glory. A powerful colonial power, the “workshop of the world,” gave its nation a confident sense of self and the conviction that “it is destined to occupy first place in the world until the end of its days” (J. Aldridge). The Victorian era was the heyday of all areas of English culture: its prose and poetry, drama and theater, painting and architecture, and finally aesthetics - and a time of noticeable decline in the field of composition.

At the same time, it was precisely from the middle of the 19th century, when the crisis of the national school of composers was already obvious, that impulses of upsurge began to accumulate, which became apparent in the middle of the 19th century and clearly manifested itself in turn of the 19th century and XX centuries.

The choral movement, amateur and professional, expanded and grew. The choral tradition was perceived as truly national. English masters swore allegiance to her: Hubert Parry (1848-1918), Edward Elgar (1857-1934), Frederick Dilius (1862-1934), Gustav Holst (1874-1934), Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958).

A parallel folklore movement developed, the leading figure of which was Cecil J. Sharp (1859-1924). It included a scientific direction (field collection, theoretical understanding) and a practical one (introduction into school and everyday life). This was accompanied by a critical re-evaluation of the entertainment-salon assimilation of folk genres and the penetration of folk material into composers' creativity. All these sides of the folklore movement interacted - complementing each other, and sometimes conflictingly opposing one another.

Until the middle of the 19th century, strange as it may seem at first glance, English songs themselves rarely found their way into collections - much less often than songs from Scotland, Wales and, especially, Ireland. Not without irony, Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote in the introductory essay to the book of the country's greatest folklorist Cecil Sharp, “English Folk Song”: “We have hitherto known from authoritative sources that folk music was “either bad or Irish”.”

The movement for the revival of ancient music - Purcell, Bach, English madrigalists and virginalists - contributed to the awakening of deep interest in performers, manufacturers of musical instruments and scientists (such as A. Dolmetsch and his family), as well as composers in

"golden age" of the English professional school. The heritage of the 15th-17th centuries, enlivened by performing practice, sublime critical thought, appeared as an inspiring force of national original craftsmanship.

The listed trends, at first barely noticeable, gradually gained power and, rushing towards each other, to end of the 19th century centuries have exploded the soil. Their unification marked the beginning of a new musical revival England. After a long break, this country is not separate creative personalities, but entered European musical culture as a national school. By this time, the continent was talking about English composers; Brahms predicted an interesting future for English music, R. Strauss supported it in the person of E. Elgar. The intensity of its evolution at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries was great.

The tradition of Austro-German romanticism has long found fertile soil in England. This is a historically determined influence, reinforced by the system music education and the practice of improving young composers in the cities of Germany, was reflected in the style (primarily in Parry, Standford, Elgar). English musicians understood that the affirmation of national identity presupposed liberation from such powerful influence. However, unlike declarations, in creativity this process was slow and difficult, since the leading genres themselves - including such conceptual ones as the symphony or symphonic poem - assumed reliance on the fruitful experience of the Austro-German school. Accordingly, the extent of German influence and the degree to which it was overcome served as a criterion for the national identity and significance of the composer’s work. Indicative, for example, are the following assessments of one of the English critics: “While the music of Parry and Stanford spoke German with an English and Irish accent... Elgar’s music spoke English with a German accent.”

At the turn of the century, in Britain, as throughout Europe, there was a desire to create a musical language that would correspond to modern aesthetics. The “new word” came from France. The interest in the East that arose among English musicians prompted them to pay attention to the achievements of French impressionism. This was especially evident in the works of Cyril Scott (1879-1970), Grenville Bantock (1868-1946) and Gustav Holst. True, in Scott and Bantock the world of oriental images and moods does not affect the foundations of composer's thinking. Their image of the East is conventional, and in its embodiment it is not difficult to detect many traditional features.

The implementation of this theme in the work of Holst, who gravitated towards Indian culture, reached a different level. He sought to find a deeper, spiritual contact between Western and eastern cultures, which is generally characteristic of the art of the 20th century. And he carried out this desire in his own way, not consistent with what his older contemporary Debussy was doing. At the same time, the discoveries of impressionism, associated with a new idea of ​​​​musical space, timbre, dynamics, with a new attitude to sound, entered the palette of means of expression used by composers in England - the homeland of “landscape and marina” (C. Nodier).

Despite all their individual stylistic differences, English composers of that period were united by the desire to strengthen the folk-national foundations of their music. The discovery of peasant folklore and the creativity of the masters of the Old English school as two interrelated sources belongs to G. Holst and R. Vaughan-Williams. Appeal to the legacy of the “golden age” English art was the only possible way to revive the national tradition. Folklore and old masters, establishing connections with modern European musical culture - the interaction of these trends in the art of Holst and Vaughan Williams brought a long-awaited renewal to English music of the 20th century. The themes, plots and images of English prose, poetry, and drama served as an important support in the establishment of national ideals. For musicians, the rural ballads of Robert Burns and the godless poems of John Milton, the pastoral elegies of Robert Herrick and the poems of John Donne, rich in passionate tension, acquire a modern sound; was rediscovered William Blake. Ever deeper insight national culture became the most important factor the formation and flourishing of the English school of composition of the 20th century, the formation of the aesthetic ideal of composers.

The first major representatives of the new English musical revival were Hubert Parry (1848-1918) and Charles Stanford (1852-1924). Composers, scholars, performers, musicians and teachers, they, like the founders of many national schools, were outstanding figures whose multifaceted work was selflessly aimed at creating a new national school of composition, capable of reviving the tradition of the glorious past of English music. Their own social and creative activities served high example for contemporaries and for English composers of subsequent, younger generations.

The formation of a new English school of composition took place during the long reign (1837-1901) of Queen Victoria. During this era, various areas of English culture developed fully. The large national literary tradition was especially rich and fruitful. If Parry and Stanford are closely connected with, relatively speaking, the proto-Renaissance period of the era under consideration, then the name of Elgar opens the creative period new revival.

Like its contemporaries, the English school of composition was faced, first of all, with the problems of European musical romanticism in its entirety. And naturally, Wagner’s art became their focus. The powerful influence of Wagner's music in England can only be compared with his influence then in France or with the influence of Handel in England in the 18th century.

Already at the turn of the century, English composers made persistent attempts to get out of the influence of the German classical-romantic traditions, which had taken such deep roots on English soil. Let us remember that Parry wanted to create - as opposed to Mendelssohn's - a national variety of philosophical oratorio. A major achievement was Elgar's trilogy of small cantatas, The Spirit of England (1917).

The first true composer that England has produced since Purcell is called Edward Elgar (1857-1934). He was very closely associated with English provincial musical culture. On initial stages During his creative life, he served as a composer and arranger for the orchestra of his native Worcester, also wrote for musicians in Birmingham, and worked for local choral societies. His early choral songs and cantatas are in line with the great English choral tradition that emerged in the 80s and 90s. XIX century - that is, exactly when Elgar created the early choral works, - to the climax phase. Elgar's oratorio The Dream of Gerontius (1900), which brought fame to English music on the continent, was such a significant achievement for the composer that it generally supplanted Mendelssohn's Elijah and became the second favorite oratorio of the English public after Handel's Messiahs.

Elgar’s significance for the history of English music is determined primarily by two works: the oratorio “The Dream of Gerontius” (1900, on the piece by J. Newman) and the symphonic “Variations on a Mysterious Theme” (“Enigma” - variations (Enigma (lat.) - riddle. ), 1899), which became the pinnacle of English musical romanticism. The oratorio “The Dream of Gerontius” sums up not only the long development of the cantata-oratorio genres in the work of Elgar himself (4 oratorios, 4 cantatas, 2 odes), but in many ways the entire preceding path of English choral music. Another important feature of the national Renaissance was also reflected in the oratorio - interest in folklore. It is no coincidence that, after listening to “The Dream of Gerontius,” R. Strauss proposed a toast “to the prosperity and success of the first English progressive Edward Elgar, the master of the young progressive school of English composers.” Unlike the Enigma oratorio, the variations laid the first stone in the foundation of the national symphony, which before Elgar was the most vulnerable area of ​​\u200b\u200bEnglish musical culture. “The Enigma variations indicate that in the person of Elgar the country has found an orchestral composer of the first magnitude,” wrote one of the English researchers. The “mystery” of the variations is that the names of the composer’s friends are encrypted in them, hidden from view and theme song cycle. (All this is reminiscent of the “Sphinxes” from R. Schumann’s “Carnival.”) Elgar also wrote the first English symphony (1908).

Elgar's work is one of the outstanding phenomena of musical romanticism. Synthesizing national and Western European, mainly Austro-German influences, it bears the features of lyrical-psychological and epic directions. The composer widely uses the system of leitmotifs, in which the influence of R. Wagner and R. Strauss is clearly felt.

The establishment of new positions in English music came at a time of turning point in the spiritual life of Great Britain. Those were years of great trials and changes. First world war forced many artists of this country, which considered itself a stronghold of inviolability in Europe, to react sensitively to the contradictions of the surrounding reality on an unprecedented scale. Post-war English music is dominated by a centrifugal need to look at the world with a wide-ranging view. The younger generation decisively came into contact with the innovative searches of European masters - Stravinsky, Schoenberg. The origins of "Facade" by William Walton (1902-1983) are compositional ideas drawn from Schoenberg's "Pierrot Lunaire", but the basis of the style of the work is the anti-romanticism proclaimed by Stravinsky and the French "Six". Constant Lambert (1905-1951) surprised his compatriots by starting to work in the genre of ballet from the very first steps on his creative path, the traditions of which were interrupted in England in the second half of the 18th century; in fact, it is quite natural that the composer was attracted to this genre, which in Europe by the 20s of the 20th century had become a symbol of modern artistic quest. Lambert's ballet Romeo and Juliet (1925) was a kind of response to Stravinsky's Pulcinella. At the same time, with his other composition - Elegiac Blues for small orchestra (1927) - Lambert responded to the jazz that amazed Europeans. Alan Bush (1900-1995) connected his activities with Eisler’s creative position and the labor movement; he not only adopted the corresponding socio-political and philosophical ideas, but also developed his compositional technique, relying on the experience of the New Vienna School, fruitfully refracted by Eisler.

In the first half of the 30s, the change in composer generations that had emerged in the previous decade was finally determined. In 1934, England lost three major masters - Elgar, Dilius, Holst. Of these, only Holst worked actively until his last days. Elgar, after a decade of silence, only came to life for creativity in the early 30s. At the same time, struck by a serious illness and blindness, Dilius, who lived in France, was inspired by the unexpected success of his music in his homeland, in London, where his author’s festival was held in 1929, and in a surge of strength he dictated his latest works.

By the end of the 30s, the young generation is entering a time of creative maturity. The time of experimentation is left behind, the main interests are determined, creativity rushes into the mainstream of established traditions, mastery and strictness in relation to one’s ideas appear. Thus, William Walton writes a monumental biblical oratorio (“Belshazzar’s Feast”, 1931) and follows it with large orchestral works (First Symphony, 1934; Violin Concerto, 1939). Michael Tippett (b. 1905) rejects his earlier works; new works in the chamber genre (First Piano Sonata, 1937) and concert orchestral works (Concerto for double string orchestra, 1939; Fantasia on a Theme by Handel for piano and orchestra, 1941) he declares to be the beginning of his creative journey, the first culmination of which was the oratorio “Child of Our Time” (1941). In those years, Lambert (the mask “The Last Will and Testament of Summer” for soloist, choir and orchestra, 1936), Berkeley (First Symphony, 1940), Bush (First Symphony, 1940) were working on large-scale compositions in those years.

Among the many bright and original artistic individuals with which the English school of composers of the 20th century is rich, Benjamin Britten stands out. It was he who was destined to find in his work a harmonious interaction of multidirectional (and for the previous generation of English composers, almost mutually exclusive) tendencies - the embodiment of the ideas of modernity and the implementation of the originality of national art.

britten music ensemble vocal

In 1904, the German critic Oscar Adolf Hermann Schmitz published a book about Great Britain, calling it (both the book and the country itself) “The Land Without Music” (Das Land Ohne Musik). Perhaps he was right. After Handel's death in 1759, Britain made negligible contributions to the development of classical music. True, Schmitz made his condemnation at the wrong time: the 20th century witnessed a revival of British music, which manifested itself in the formation of a new national style. This era also gave the world four great British composers.

Edward Elgar

He did not formally study the art of composition anywhere, but managed from a modest Worcester conductor and bandmaster of the Worcester mental hospital to become the first British composer in two hundred years to achieve international recognition. After spending his childhood in his father's shop on the main street of Worcestershire, surrounded by scores, musical instruments and music textbooks, young Elgar independently studied music theory. In warm weather summer days he began to take manuscripts with him out of town to study (from the age of five he became addicted to cycling). Thus, for him, the beginning of a strong relationship between music and nature was laid. Later he will say: “Music, it’s in the air, music is around us, the world is full of it, and you can just take as much as you need.” At the age of 22, he accepted a position as bandmaster at the Worcester Mental Hospital for the Poor at Pawick, three miles southwest of Worcester, a progressive institution that believed in the healing power of music. His first major orchestral work, “Variations on a Mysterious Theme” (Enigma Variations, 1899), brought him fame - mysterious because each of the fourteen variations was written on a unique theme that no one had ever heard. Elgar's greatness (or his Englishness, as some say) lies in his use of bold melodic themes that convey a mood of nostalgic melancholy. His best essay called an oratorio “The Dream of Gerontius” (1900), and his First March of the Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1, 1901, also known as “The Land of Hope and Glory,” invariably causes great delight among listeners at the annual “promenade concerts.”

Elgar - The Dream of Gerontius

Gustav Holst

A Swede born in England, Holst was an exceptionally extraordinary composer. A master of orchestration, in his work he relied on such different traditions like English folk songs and madrigals, Hindu mysticism and the avant-gardeism of Stravinsky and Schoenberg. He was also interested in astrology, and its study inspired Holst to create his most famous (though not his best) work, the seven-movement symphonic suite (The Planets, 1914-1916).

Gustav Holst. "Planets. Venus"

Ralph Vaughan Williams

Ralph Vaughan Williams is considered the most English of British composers. He rejected foreign influences, imbuing his music with the mood and rhythms of national folklore and the work of English composers of the 16th century. Vaughan Williams is one of the major composers of the first half of the 20th century, who played an important role in the revival of interest in British academic music. His legacy is very extensive: six operas, three ballets, nine symphonies, cantatas and oratorios, works for piano, organ and chamber ensembles, arrangements folk songs and many other works. In his work, he was inspired by the traditions of English masters of the 16th–17th centuries (he revived the genre of the English mask) and folk music. Williams' works are noted for their large-scale design, melodicism, masterful vocal performance and original orchestration. Vaughan Williams is one of the founders of the new English school of composition - the so-called “English musical renaissance”. Vaughan Williams is best known as the author of A Sea Symphony (1910), "A London Symphony" (1913) and the delightful romance for violin and orchestra “(The Lark Ascending, 1914).

Vaughan Williams. "London Symphony"

Benjamin Britten

Britten was, and remains to this day, the last great British composer. His skill and ingenuity, especially as a vocal composer, brought him international recognition comparable to that of Elgar. Among him best works opera Peter Grimes, 1945, orchestral work "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, 1946) and a large orchestral and choral work “War Requiem” (War Requiem, 1961) based on poems by Wilfred Owen. One of the main themes of Britten's work - protest against violence, war, affirmation of the value of the fragile and unprotected human world - received its highest expression in "War Requiem" (1961). Britten spoke about what led him to the War Requiem: “I thought a lot about my friends who died in the two world wars. I will not claim that this essay is written in heroic tones. There is a lot of regret about the terrible past. But that is precisely why Requiem is addressed to the future. Seeing examples of the terrible past, we must prevent such catastrophes as wars.” Britten was not a big fan of the “English traditionalism” characteristic of composers of the previous generation, although he arranged folk songs for his partner, tenor Peter Pears. Neither in early years, nor in the later stages of his creative evolution did Britten set himself the task of pioneering new technical techniques of composition or theoretical justifications for his individual style. Unlike many of his peers, Britten was never carried away by the pursuit of “the newest,” nor did he try to find support in the established techniques of composition inherited from the masters of previous generations. He is guided, first of all, by the free flight of imagination, fantasy, realistic expediency, and not by belonging to one of the many “schools” of our century. Britten valued creative sincerity more than scholastic dogma, no matter how ultra-modern it was dressed up. He allowed all the winds of the era to penetrate into his creative laboratory, penetrate, but do not dispose of it.

Britten. "Young People's Guide to the Orchestra"

Since Britten was laid to rest in Aldborough, Suffolk, in 1976, British classical music has struggled to maintain its illustrious reputation. John Taverner, a direct descendant of the 16th-century composer John Taverner, and Peter Maxwell Davies create works that have been favorably received by critics, but nothing truly outstanding has yet appeared. Classical music occupies a certain niche in British culture, but perhaps not as large as its fans would like. It appears in television advertisements and at various sporting events, and ordinary Britons may well watch the final evening of the “proms” on television (if there is nothing else interesting), but in reality classical music listened to by a very small part of the nation, mainly middle class. Respectable music for respectable people.

Materials used from the site: london.ru/velikobritaniya/muzika-v-velik obritanii

What would our life be like without music? For many years, people have asked themselves this question and come to the conclusion that without the beautiful sounds of music, the world would be a very different place. Music helps us feel joy more fully, find our inner self and cope with difficulties. Composers, working on their works, were inspired by a variety of things: love, nature, war, happiness, sadness and much more. Some of the musical compositions they created will forever remain in the hearts and memories of people. Here is a list of the ten greatest and talented composers for all time. Under each composer you will find a link to one of his most famous works.

10 PHOTO (VIDEO)

Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer who lived only 32 years, but his music will live on for a very long time. Schubert wrote nine symphonies, about 600 vocal compositions, and large number chamber and solo piano music.

"Evening Serenade"

German composer and pianist, author of two serenades, four symphonies, as well as concerts for violin, piano and cello. He has been performing at concerts since he was ten years old, performing for the first time with solo concert at 14 years old. During his lifetime, he gained popularity primarily due to the waltzes and Hungarian dances he wrote.

"Hungarian Dance No. 5".

George Frideric Handel was a German and English composer of the Baroque era; he wrote about 40 operas, many organ concerts, and chamber music. Handel's music has been played at the coronations of English kings since 973, it is also heard at royal wedding ceremonies and is even used as the anthem of the UEFA Champions League (with a small arrangement).

"Music on the water"

Joseph Haydn is a famous and prolific Austrian composer of the classical era, he is called the father of the symphony, as he made significant contributions to the development of this musical genre. Joseph Haydn is the author of 104 symphonies, 50 piano sonatas, 24 operas and 36 concertos

"Symphony No. 45".

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is the most famous Russian composer, author of more than 80 works, including 10 operas, 3 ballets and 7 symphonies. He was very popular and known as a composer during his lifetime, and performed in Russia and abroad as a conductor.

"Waltz of the Flowers" from the ballet "The Nutcracker".

Frédéric François Chopin is a Polish composer who is also considered one of the best pianists of all times. He wrote a lot musical works for piano, including 3 sonatas and 17 waltzes.

"Waltz of Rain"

Venetian composer and virtuoso violinist Antonio Lucio Vivaldi is the author of more than 500 concertos and 90 operas. He had a huge influence on the development of Italian and world violin art.

"Elf Song".

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is an Austrian composer who amazed the world with his talent from early childhood. Already at the age of five, Mozart was composing short plays. In total, he wrote 626 works, including 50 symphonies and 55 concertos. 9.Beethoven 10.Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach - German composer and organist of the Baroque era, known as a master of polyphony. He is the author of more than 1000 works, which include almost all significant genres of that time.

"Musical joke"

B. Britten is one of the most significant composers of the 20th century. His work represents almost all musical genres: from piano pieces and vocal works to opera.

He actually revived English music, which, after Handel's death, had not had a composer of such stature for almost two hundred years.

Biography

Initial period of creativity

Edward Benjamin Britten, British composer, conductor and pianist , born in 1913 in Lowestoft (Suffolk) in the family of a dentist. Musical ability it manifested itself early: at the age of 6, he already began composing music. His first piano teacher was his mother, then the boy learned to play the viola.

Royal College of Music

In Royal music college in London he studied piano, also studying composition. His early works immediately attracted attention musical world– these were “Hymn to the Virgin” and chorale variations “The Child is Born”. Britten is invited to a documentary film company with which he has collaborated for 5 years. He considers this period a good school, where he had to learn a lot and compose even when inspiration leaves and only conscientious work remains.

During this period, he also worked on the radio: he wrote music for radio shows, then began concert activities.

World War II period

In the 1930s, he was already a composer whose works gained worldwide fame: his music was heard in Italy, Spain, Austria and the USA, but the Second World War began, and Britten left England, going to the USA and Canada. The composer returned to his homeland only in 1942. His performances around the country immediately began: in small villages, bomb shelters, hospitals and even in prisons. And when the war ended, he immediately visited Germany, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries with concerts.

Post-war creativity

In 1948, he organized the Annual International music festival, to whom he devotes a lot of time, effort and money. At the first festival in 1948, his cantata “Saint Nicholas” was performed.

In the early 1950s, Britten participated in the activities of the Organization of Musicians - Supporters of Peace, wrote operas, and in 1956 traveled to India, Ceylon, Indonesia, and Japan. The impressions from the trip were reflected in the score of the ballet “Prince of the Pagodas”. This fairy tale extravaganza becomes the first national “big” ballet; before that, only one-act ballets. After this, Britten returned to his favorite opera: Noah's Ark appeared in 1958, and A Midsummer Night's Dream appeared in 1960.

In 1961, Britten created the War Requiem, which became a monument to the victims of the war. It was written for the consecration ceremony of the cathedral in the city of Coventry, completely destroyed by German bombing. “War Requiem” was first performed in 1962. The success was deafening: “Requiem” sold 200 thousand records in the first two months, which indicated the real success of the work.

Ruins of Coventry Cathedral

At the same time, Britten wrote works of a new genre: parable operas. Based on a Japanese story, “Curlew River” was written in 1964. “The Cave Act” (1966) is based on an episode from the Old Testament, and “The Prodigal Son” (1968) is based on a Gospel parable. Britten wrote the “Cantata of Mercy” for the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Red Cross; the cantata is based on the parable of the Good Samaritan. It was solemnly performed in Geneva on September 1, 1963.

Britten and Russia

Having heard M. Rostropovich play for the first time in London, Britten decides to write a Sonata for him in five movements, each of which demonstrates the cellist’s special skill. In March 1963, a festival of English music was held in Moscow and Leningrad, where this sonata was performed by Britten himself and M. Rostropovich. At the same time, Britten’s one-act operas were performed for the first time in Russia by the Small Troupe of the Covent Garden Theater. In 1964, Britten visited our country again, he established friendly relations with D. Shostakovich, M. Rostropovich and G. Vishnevskaya, and even Britten celebrated the New Year 1965 with Shostakovich at his dacha.

M. Rostropovich and B. Britten

Shostakovich's music has a noticeable influence on Britten's work. He writes a Cello Concerto and dedicates it to Mstislav Rostropovich, and a cycle of songs based on Pushkin’s poems to Galina Vishnevskaya. Shostakovich dedicates his Fourteenth Symphony to Britten.

The last time B. Britten visited Russia was in 1971. D. Shostakovich died in 1975, and Britten in 1976.

The works of B. Britten

Britten is considered the founder of the revival of opera in England. Working in various musical genres, Britten loved opera most of all. He completed his first opera, Peter Grimes, in 1945, and its production marked the revival of the national musical theater. The libretto of the opera is based on the tragic story of fisherman Peter Grimes, who is haunted by fate. The music of his opera is diverse in style: he uses the style of many composers depending on the content of the scene: he draws images of loneliness and despair in the style of G. Mahler, A. Berg, D. Shostakovich; realistic genre scenes- in the style of D. Verdi, and seascapes - in the style of C. Debussy. And all these styles are ingeniously united by one thing - the Britten style and flavor of Britain.

The composer spent his entire subsequent life composing operas. He created chamber operas: “The Desecration of Lucretia” (1946), “Albert Herring” (1947) based on the story by G. Maupassant. In the 50-60s. creates the operas “Billy Budd” (1951), “Gloriana” (1953), “The Turn of the Screw” (1954), “Noah’s Ark” (1958), “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (1960) based on the comedy of W. Shakespeare, a chamber opera “Carlew River” (1964), the opera “Prodigal Son” (1968), dedicated to Shostakovich, and “Death in Venice” (1970) after T. Mann.

Music for children

Britten also writes for children, and conceives the music for educational purposes. For example, in the play “Let's Do an Opera” (1949), he introduces the audience to the process of its performance. Back in 1945, he wrote a variation and fugue on a theme by Purcell, A Guide to the Orchestra for young listeners”, in which he introduces listeners to the timbres of various instruments. S. Prokofiev has a similar children's opera - “Peter and the Wolf”.

In 1949, Britten created an opera for children, “The Little Chimney Sweep,” and in 1958, the opera “Noah’s Ark.”

B. Britten performed a lot as a pianist and conductor, touring in different countries peace.

The World's Greatest Composers of All Time: Lists in Chronological and Alphabetical Order, Reference Books and Works

100 Great Composers of the World

List of composers in chronological order

1. Josquin Despres (1450 –1521)
2. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525 –1594)
3. Claudio Monteverdi (1567 –1643)
4. Heinrich Schütz (1585 –1672)
5. Jean Baptiste Lully (1632 –1687)
6. Henry Purcell (1658 –1695)
7. Arcangelo Corelli (1653 –1713)
8. Antonio Vivaldi (1678 –1741)
9. Jean Philippe Rameau (1683 –1764)
10. George Handel (1685 –1759)
11. Domenico Scarlatti (1685 –1757)
12. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 –1750)
13. Christoph Willibald Gluck (1713 –1787)
14. Joseph Haydn (1732 –1809)
15. Antonio Salieri (1750 –1825)
16. Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky (1751 –1825)
17. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 –1791)
18. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 –1826)
19. Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778 –1837)
20. Nicollo Paganini (1782 –1840)
21. Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791 –1864)
22. Carl Maria von Weber (1786 –1826)
23. Gioachino Rossini (1792 –1868)
24. Franz Schubert (1797 –1828)
25. Gaetano Donizetti (1797 –1848)
26. Vincenzo Bellini (1801 –1835)
27. Hector Berlioz (1803 –1869)
28. Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (1804 –1857)
29. Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809 –1847)
30. Fryderyk Chopin (1810 –1849)
31. Robert Schumann (1810 –1856)
32. Alexander Sergeevich Dargomyzhsky (1813 –1869)
33. Franz Liszt (1811 –1886)
34. Richard Wagner (1813 –1883)
35. Giuseppe Verdi (1813 –1901)
36. Charles Gounod (1818 –1893)
37. Stanislav Moniuszko (1819 –1872)
38. Jacques Offenbach (1819 –1880)
39. Alexander Nikolaevich Serov (1820 –1871)
40. Cesar Frank (1822 –1890)
41. Bedřich Smetana (1824 –1884)
42. Anton Bruckner (1824 –1896)
43. Johann Strauss (1825 –1899)
44. Anton Grigorievich Rubinstein (1829 –1894)
45. Johannes Brahms (1833 –1897)
46. ​​Alexander Porfirievich Borodin (1833 –1887)
47. Camille Saint-Saens (1835 –1921)
48. Leo Delibes (1836 –1891)
49. Mily Alekseevich Balakirev (1837 –1910)
50. Georges Bizet (1838 –1875)
51. Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (1839 –1881)
52. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 –1893)
53. Antonin Dvorak (1841 –1904)
54. Jules Massenet (1842 –1912)
55. Edvard Grieg (1843 –1907)
56. Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 –1908)
57. Gabriel Fauré (1845 –1924)
58. Leos Janacek (1854 –1928)
59. Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov (1855 –1914)
60. Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev (1856 –1915)
61. Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857 –1919)
62. Giacomo Puccini (1858 –1924)
63. Hugo Wolf (1860 –1903)
64. Gustav Mahler (1860 –1911)
65. Claude Debussy (1862 –1918)
66. Richard Strauss (1864 –1949)
67. Alexander Tikhonovich Grechaninov (1864 –1956)
68. Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov (1865 –1936)
69. Jean Sibelius (1865 –1957)
70. Franz Lehár (1870 –1945)
71. Alexander Nikolaevich Scriabin (1872 –1915)
72. Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninov (1873 –1943)
73. Arnold Schoenberg (1874 –1951)
74. Maurice Ravel (1875 –1937)
75. Nikolai Karlovich Medtner (1880 –1951)
76. Bela Bartok (1881 –1945)
77. Nikolai Yakovlevich Myaskovsky (1881 –1950)
78. Igor Fedorovich Stravinsky (1882 –1971)
79. Anton Webern (1883 –1945)
80. Imre Kalman (1882 –1953)
81. Alban Berg (1885 –1935)
82. Sergei Sergeevich Prokofiev (1891 –1953)
83. Arthur Honegger (1892 –1955)
84. Darius Milhaud (1892 –1974)
85. Carl Orff (1895 –1982)
86. Paul Hindemith (1895 –1963)
87. George Gershwin (1898 –1937)
88. Isaac Osipovich Dunaevsky (1900 –1955)
89. Aram Ilyich Khachaturian (1903 –1978)
90. Dmitry Dmitrievich Shostakovich (1906 –1975)
91. Tikhon Nikolaevich Khrennikov (born in 1913)
92. Benjamin Britten (1913 –1976)
93. Georgy Vasilievich Sviridov (1915 –1998)
94. Leonard Bernstein (1918 –1990)
95. Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin (born in 1932)
96. Krzysztof Penderecki (born 1933)
97. Alfred Garievich Schnittke (1934 –1998)
98. Bob Dylan (b. 1941)
99. John Lennon (1940–1980) and Paul McCartney (b. 1942)
100. Sting (born 1951)

MASTERPIECES OF CLASSICAL MUSIC

The most famous composers in the world

List of composers in alphabetical order