G. Kaloshina
OPERA WORK OF GLINKA AND WESTERN EUROPEAN MUSICAL THEATER OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY
Since its birth, the romantic theater of the first half of the 19th century century in the countries of Western Europe it is formed, first of all, as synthetic theater. This is determined by the general tendencies of construction in each romantic essay some kind of integral synthetic Universe. At the same time, romantics strive to extremely individualize the artistic appearance of each work, to give it special, unique features through collecting, merging, combining opera and theater traditions of different eras and national cultures. This is exactly how the process of formation of new, actually romantic varieties of theatrical genres proceeds. Typology (differentiation, delineation of genres), individualization (each composition is unique in its characteristics) through synthesis at all levels of the artistic whole - these are the three main canons on which both the theory and practice of romantic dramatic and musical theater are based.
In the theory of dramaturgy of the beginning and first half of the 19th century, French, German, Italian authors are trying to determine those new guidelines and criteria that will dominate in the emerging theater of the Romantic era1. In France, this is carried out in the journalistic works of Hugo, Stendhal, Balzac, and A. Vigny. In Germany, representatives of the school of Jena romantics - the brothers A. and F. Schlegel, L. Tieck, Novalis, the school of Heidelberg poets and playwrights, associated with it E. T. A. Hoffmann and A. Müllner, later X - devote their research to this D. Grabbe, K. Immermann, figures of Young Germany, for example, L. Wienbarg, and many others. In Italy, the problems of modern theater are discussed in the manifestos of G. Berche and A. Manzoni, G. Mazzini.
The French and Italian schools are predominantly engaged in constructing the concept of historical romantic theater, which was declared
1 We made a classification of the theoretical concepts of the romantics based on their analysis in the book by A. Anikst.
Hugo most closely meets the criteria of offensively active, effective romanticism (“progressive”, “revolutionary” as domestic aesthetics of past years defined his method), although national characteristics dictated different approaches to identifying the historical foundations artistic creativity. The plot had to be based on turning points in history associated with wars, interethnic conflicts, when social contradictions in the state and in the public consciousness are exposed, and all this shapes and aggravates the internal conflicts of an individual.
The second type of theater, which Stendhal, O. de Balzac, A. Vigny write about in their works, is associated with emotional, lyrical nature romantic creativity. Balzac calls it the “theater of passions.” Stendhal calls it the “theater of emotions.” And both persistently emphasize that “real” romantic theater must combine “historical-social, intellectual” and “emotional” theaters, becoming “eclectic” (as Balzac defines this synthesis) and “universal” (in the words of Stendhal). In the works of Italian romantics, the very nature of romanticism is understood differently. Thus, A. Manzoni not only discusses the observance of the classical principles of the unity of time, place and action, but also defines a different type of romantic hero - an active fighter for the freedom of the fatherland with a mandatory act of heroic self-sacrifice (redemptive sacrifice), which brings the Italian tradition closer to the Russian theatrical aesthetics. G. Mazzini dreams of combining the “active” Italian theater, saturated with external conflicts, and the religious-mystical German theater.
The leading line of German theater theories is aimed at understanding the qualitative features of the “new” Universe, the concept of which appeared already at the end of the 18th century in the works of the Schlegel brothers. A. Schlegel sees the romantic theater as “a motley spectacle of life as a whole,” presented
through the magic crystal of the artist's imagination - then close up(details of the inner world), sometimes in the long term (the struggle of groups of characters), sometimes in general (conflicts of ideas). The action must be multi-temporal and multi-spatial. According to L. Tick, only the concept of the “wonderful” will express the truly romantic nature of the theater. Starting from the comedies of Shakespeare, he shows that on the basis of “game” comedy theater, the fantastic as “real” and the real as “fantastic” can easily be combined. In search of a new romantic tragedy, F. Schlegel puts forward the concept of religious or Christian tragedy, combining Shakespeare’s “philosophical discussion theater”2 with the idea of enlightenment, the transformation of the hero, his comprehension of the Divine truths of existence at the moment of the catastrophe-denouement of the action. All this is reflected in the concepts of musical theater as “miraculous” and “synthetic” by Hoffmann and Weber, then by Winbarg, and finally in the concept of mythological and synthetic theater by Wagner. Thus, in Germany the idea of “wonderful”, “fabulous”, fantastic, sometimes mystical, and generally mythological theater prevails.
The searches in the field of theatrical aesthetics, characteristic of “Foggy Albion,” are also interesting. Thus, in the works of Walter Scott, the principle of “time quantization”3 was developed in historical novel and historical theater. The “image” of a holistic “indivisible fragment of historical existence, in which the heroes seem to be isolated,” appears in three “projections”, three angles. “History as the past” appears taking into account a certain historical distance, that is, the epic principle of dramaturgy operates. “History as an unfinished present” unfolds as if before our eyes and is associated with the display of historical episodes as a spontaneous process. This is how the dramatic principle works. “History as the Future” brings an assessment of events refracted by the “hearts” of romantic heroes. The “future,” that is, the 19th century, “lives” historical existence through psychological conflicts and the lyrical worldview of its heroes. Byron, the creator, chooses a different path
2 F. Schlegel believes that Shakespeare offers the “riddle of being”, poses the most important universal problems, but does not resolve them. It is possible to comprehend these supermeanings only through comprehension of the Absolute. This is what happens in the act of transformation.
3 The term “quantization” of times was introduced by L. Gumilev. W. Scott describes this principle as an image historical event in three projections (for more details, see).
romantic dramatic mystery (“Cain”) and dramatized poem (“Manfred”), the path followed by Goethe in “Faust” (and later by Wagner), who created a kind of complexly organized philosophical, dramatic and mythological action.
Thus, in the 20-30s of the 19th century, in the music of composers from different countries, the process of formation of several varieties of the genre took place: romantic historical opera (grand, French heroic tragedy by Auber and Meyerbeer, Italian epic tragedy by Rossini), romantic lyrical drama by Bu -Aldier and Bellini, romantic fairy-tale-fantastic theater and legendary theater (Weber, Spohr, Marschner, Wagner).
The general tendency towards a “universal” romantic theater, as Wagner writes in his early article, that is, a theater that synthesizes all national characteristics and all plot and dramatic varieties, is especially clearly defined in the romantic opera of the 40s. In Wagner himself, the process of synthesis of national traditions can be felt starting from the 30s (“The Ban of Love”, “Rienzi”, “The Flying Dutchman”, “Tannhäuser”) and in the 40s it leads to the birth of mythological theater. In Italian opera of the 40s, for example, in the work of Donizetti, signs of historical opera and lyrical drama (Lucrezia Borgia), comedy and lyric theater (Elisir of Love) interact. Similar processes are characteristic of Verdi’s searches in the 40s. Here, on the one hand, distinctions are made between genre varieties of opera. Thus, “Macbeth” and “Louise Miller” gravitate towards the genre of psychological tragedy, “The Battle of Legnano”, “Ernani” are closer to the concept of the “grand” French historical-heroic opera. On the other hand, in the operas “Atilla” and “Nabucco” the laws of historical, lyrical theater interact with the features of mythological theater, partially implemented by Bellini (“Norma”) and Rossini (“William Tell”).
The trend of combining different types of theater continues in the work of Verdi of the central period. Sometimes it is difficult to accurately identify certain genre varieties in his operas. For example, in the opera “Ballo in Masquerade” the historical, lyrical and psychological types of theater are combined with the concept of “game” and the features of a mythological carnival performance.
As we can see, the formation of any of the romantic genre varieties of opera took place in conditions of interaction and even synthesis with other subtypes of romantic theater. In other words, everything that was just “differentiated” was immediately “synthesized.” This also applies to romantic historical-heroic tragedy in all its national varieties: Russian (epic), Italian, French (grand opera), German.
At the same time, the principles of dramaturgy of epic romantic, psychological, genre-everyday romantic - in comedy and everyday drama, the principles of dramaturgy of religious and philosophical tragedy are being developed. All this leaves an imprint on the interaction of intonation and genre components in thematic processes. In the operas of the 20-30s, the stylistic clichés of classical thematicism, baroque elements (rhetorical formulas, chorale, operatic and instrumental stereotypes) are clearly visible, and romantic complexes themselves appear. Folk-genre thematic design denotes the authors’ desire for a clear national orientation and display of local color. The lyrical characteristics are based on the features of urban romance culture, the tradition of reading romantic poetry, and are saturated with the prosaic intonations of living speech. In the melodic “spills” of Bellini’s operas, saturated with all these elements, a new quality is born - a romantic, synthetic bel canto. The thematic field of the opera, complex in composition, allows the composer to rethink traditional intonation complexes, highlight those that will carry a symbolic or psychological load, differentiate the layers of dramaturgy, and identify musical thematic conflicts, which ultimately leads to to complete symphonization of the musical process. The presence of thematic complexes with different origins and the multilingualism of the romantic theater is manifested both in Rossini, Meyerbeer, early Wagner, and in the work of Mikhail Glinka.
An important aspect of the desired romantic synthetic Universe is the search for organicity in the combination of its multidirectional and multi-level components. Indeed, how natural it is to unite “past, present and future”, how to present “the motley spectacle of life as a whole”
(A. Schlegel) in different angles its embodiment (long- and short-term perspective, diversity of persons and positions, attention to inner world, multidimensionality of times and spaces), how to combine tragic and comic, sublime and base, mystical, fantastic and real images? What will this magic crystal be? Jena romantics put forward several ideas of the unity of the whole. The first is a playful, carnival Universe in the second aesthetic reality of the artistic space of the composition, in which the comic and fantastic are naturally combined. That is why fantastic and fairy-tale operas necessarily rely on the norms and principles of the comic and irony as a method of correlating the inorganic components of the whole, including in Glinka’s Ruslan.
The second way to achieve the unity of the whole is to unite the inorganic components of the Universe through myth. This principle allows for the coexistence of the concrete and the symbolic, their reciprocity, the presence of different time coordinates: transtemporal, substantial; internally effective, psychological; profane (diachronic) and sacred (circular) time in external stage action. The artistic process as a whole acquires the features of simultaneity, drawing in all other mythological categories - the categories of Faith, ritual, catharsis, and so on. These features are embodied both in the conditions of historical theater - through the mythologization and poeticization of a historical event, and within the framework of a fairy-tale, fantastic opera, which naturally absorbs mythological components, until, finally, by the time of Wagner, it turns from fairy-tale-fantastic into mythological theater .
The third way of unifying the whole is predetermined by the concept of Christian tragedy, in which events are discussed, played out and “lived”, and at the same time connections with historical prototype opera - a medieval mystery, the features of which in the romantic tradition are visible in a wide variety of works.
These three angles artistic practice are implemented in different models of operatic dramaturgy, determining the diversity of its genre varieties. Thus, through the deepening of connections with myth in romantic musical theater, symbolic generalizations are gradually strengthened.
tions until, finally, they are formed as a special supra-existential level of the dramaturgical process.
Throughout the entire 18th century, Russian musical culture developed in close contact with Western European culture, dialogizing with it and contrasting its worldview with it. In this context operatic creativity Glinka, being a generalization of the most significant phenomena of Russian culture of the late XVIII - early XIX centuries in the field of theater, at the same time absorbed many features characteristic of the Western European operatic tradition. The Russian genius, in just two works, followed a path similar to that traveled by Gluck and Mozart in the 18th century, and by Rossini, Meyerbeer, Wagner and Verdi in the 19th century. Each of them dedicated part of his work or some composition to one of the opera genres or national varieties that historically preceded or contemporary to him. Gluck and Meyerbeer traveled to different countries (Italy, England, Austria, France for the first, Germany, Italy, France for the second), studying their experience in the opera genre, until they finally came out with their own dramatic and compositional-technological innovations. Mozart and Wagner mastered the existing operatic genres and operatic forms at a somewhat faster pace, introducing something new into each work, synthesizing operatic forms and types of thematics, but at the same time creating their own works for the theaters of their country. Rossini and Bellini, relying on the Italian tradition, already in their early works clearly used the achievements of Gluck, Salieri and Mozart, and Bellini also used Beethoven (in the field of orchestral thinking and methods of musical development).
Glinka went through the entire preparatory journey, so to speak, “in his mind,” without creating practically anything on paper. Both of his operatic masterpieces were written without lengthy preliminary preparation. Of course, his work did not arise out of nowhere. He mastered the richest experience of poetry and prose, dramatic and musical drama theatre, and many actual operatic traditions, Western European and domestic. Among the latter are the creative searches of Bortnyansky, Fomin, but especially Verstovsky, Kavos. In Russian opera, various genre varieties have developed - lyrical-everyday, historical, comic, fairy-tale. Were taken into account
achievements of other genres, in particular, historical-epic oratorio.
In one of the most productive romantic authors of Glinka's era, Verstovsky, we encounter a peculiar synthesis of fantastic and historical opera. All of his historical operas include the Faustian theme of the struggle for the soul of the Divine and demonic principles, combine the German concept of the “miraculous” Tieck, reflections in the spirit of Schlegel’s religious and philosophical tragedy, and at the same time everyday details, so characteristic of everyday comedy and bourgeois drama, as well as lyrical experiences, psychological collisions. For example, in “Askold’s Grave” mysticism coexists with episodes of religious and secular rituals and pictures of folk life, dramatic episodes- with comedy. The epic Boyan in the princely sacristy “tells” about the exploits of the heroes during the reign of Svyatoslav4, and a folk musician, a buffoon and a gudoshnik are shown nearby. As opera numbers, he has already used a ballad (as the plot of the action in the opera “Vadim” - after “The White Lady” by Boualdier, Torop’s ballad at the climax of “Askold’s Grave”), and a romance (in the part of Nadezhda, in the girls’ choirs the scene is anticipated Antonida and girlfriends from Act III of “Life for the Tsar”), and a song (in the part of Torop, in folk scenes).
Such a large-scale synthesis was not Glinka’s personal experience. This was the experience of a whole layer of Russian musical culture. But such was the nature of the musician’s hearing, such was his genius, that he seemed to “read” the internal codes national culture, both popular and professional. This feature of his hearing was pointed out by B. Asafiev in the article “Glinka’s Hearing,” where he wrote that the composer, already in childhood, due to his natural genius, grasped specific features, national traditions of creating melodies, conducting melodic line and echoes. “Oh, believe me, a luxurious flower has grown on Russian musical soil - it is our joy, our glory,” Odoevsky said about “Ruslan,” but these same words can rightfully be attributed to the author of the opera himself. His mastery of voice, perfected in Italy, also allowed him to voice himself everything that was born in the subconscious, and at the same time intuitively
4 Boyan in Verstovsky, as later in Glinka, is placed during the reign of Svyatoslav, and not Vladimir, with whom the epics associate him.
actively correct the formation of melodic layers of the artistic whole. This is revealed in all his writings.
Glinka's sensitivity of hearing is incredible. Many researchers note his attraction to languages (Latin, German, French, English, then Persian), to observing their intonation structure and its accurate reproduction. Before traveling to Spain, he is learning Spanish. The trip to the Caucasus became the same vivid linguistic and musical impression, according to Asafiev, “that broke into Glinka’s ears.” For all four months he “lived dependent on his hearing” without musical lessons at the instrument. And judging by the pages of the opera “Ruslana and Lyudmila”, the sound impressions of the music of the East, “ringing” in the air of the Caucasus Mountains, were irresistible and firmly entrenched in his memory, affecting his work.
The composer’s decision about external and internal conflicts, their relationships in the dramaturgy of “A Life for the Tsar”. The Glinka family arose from the merger of Polish and Russian lines noble families. The historical conflict of these nations could be perceived especially painfully by him. Perhaps this is why both Poles and Russians are shown so vividly and originally, epically correct and unbiased. That is why the “hymn to war” in the Polish act is so beautiful, where the war is interpreted as a brilliant victorious feast of a ball, a triumph of strength, courage, and a gambling battle with space and time. Life is likened to a magnificent knight's ball among the military camp. The military camp is a spatio-temporal model, a symbol of the fleeting present and the aggressive perception of space: the homeland is where its valiant warriors are.
If we take into account the fact that, according to Glinka’s plan, the ball takes place on the territory of the Russian state, occupied by invaders, then the holiday takes on especially sinister features. Dancing is built as a captivating game between battles. So, the ritual dance-competition, the image of a knightly tournament is depicted in the polonaise, the image of love games-competitions - in thematic modifications of the mazurka. But at the same time, the most important means of characterization is dance with a choir. The dominance of the instrumental principle acts as a symbol of the external, brilliant, “physical”, a symbol of the “earthly” world, which in opera is opposed to prayer, song and romance - the vocal principle,
associated with the Russian people and their heroes and symbolizing “music humanus” - the music of harmony of soul and body, the music of Faith5. The “war zone” and the “peace zone” as different religious and philosophical systems, as different worldviews in the opera “A Life for the Tsar” are defined and contrasted through types and forms of thematism. On the one hand, there is the joy of spoils, the splendor of court celebration over the expected victory. All “Polish” music is a hymn glorifying war, dance as a symbol of a life full of pleasures and entertainment, confirmation of which is found in the texts of the choirs of Act II. Their ideal is rapid self-affirmation in action, the knight honors a valiant feat, no matter what, from an ethical point of view, it is aimed at. In the finale of Act IV, a detachment of Poles symbolizes the image of hunters scouring the forest, tracking down prey and finally receiving the victim in the scene of Susanin’s death.
The Russian “camp” is shown through pictures of peaceful life. Life here is the Righteous Path, moral purity, the slowness of the unfolding circular mythological time in which Russian people live. The mythological space is clearly structured and symbolic; a forest, river, field, village, city, kremlin, monastery or suburb is inhabited by man; the dawn here is a symbolic sign heralding the renewal of the Russian land. Misha Glinka grew up in this environment. For him, she is a kind of unshakable given.
Dramatic opposition is noticeable not only in the genre origins of thematics: mazurka, polonaise, krakowiak, waltz are opposed to lyrical, dance, ritual wedding songs, everyday romance, prayer chants of a spiritual hymn and spiritual verse. The types of stage time themselves are contrasted. Admiring the motherland, empathizing with its troubles - in one case, playing - in another. Let us note that in exactly the same way, through the conflict of vocal and instrumental principles, the kingdom of Chernomor and the principality of Kiev are opposed in the music of the opera “Ruslan and Lyudmila”. There is even a stylistic contrast between the Slavic chant of ancient melodies and the eastern, instrumental-vocal, complex ornamental style.
In Glinka's operas we find many other parallels with European theater. Echoes of the “opera of salvation” appear bizarrely in “Ruslan”, where
5 In this regard, it is hardly fair to see in the opera the presence of a confessional conflict between Catholicism and Orthodoxy, which unfolds, for example, in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov or Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky.
the main character simultaneously acts, asserts himself, as befits an epic character, in two battles with two brothers - the symbolic knight-head and Chernomor, and at the same time waits miraculous salvation from Finn after the attack by Naina's warriors. Having gone through with his help the stage of resurrection through dead and living water - a purely symbolic act of Transfiguration, he restores his status and performs the act of transfiguration of his wife.
In both operas there are strong and multiple connections with the great French historical tragedy, the classical oratorio and the national-epic opera “William Tell” by Rossini, which previously experienced these influences. Let us note, first of all, the traditional types of arias: a large French aria consisting of three sections by Ruslan; the brilliant heroic cavatina, which became a dramatic outpouring of feelings, in Gorislava; Lyudmila's extensive, freely constructed monoscenes.
But, most importantly, they show what we noted characteristic quality Meyerbeer Theater, Ober - combination of three temporal and spatial coordinates. “History as the past” - the reconstruction of a historical event from the perspective of a temporal distance - is present in Glinka and even prevails in both of his masterpieces. “History as the present” appears in the unpredictability of plot twists and turns, in the consistent accumulation of conflicting interactions from the beginning to the end of the work. Thus, like a snowball, the system of conflicts in Meyerbeer’s theater is growing. This technique is especially powerful due to the inclusion of the moment of existential choice that the hero faces at the decisive moment of his life: Raoul’s reaction to Valentina’s appearance as a bride at the end of Act II of The Huguenots, Valentina’s decision to go to Protestant faith in the face of certain death. Similar situations arise in “A Life for the Tsar”: in Susanin - in Act III, in Vanya - in Act IV. The connection with Meyerbeer is also found in the interpretation of the image of the ball and feast as a love game and pseudo-valor, as well as in stylistic parallels. The music of “The Huguenots,” as well as “A Life for the Tsar,” interweaves cult, folk-genre, classical, baroque themes, and the vocal melodicism of Italian bel canto. The difference is that Meyerbeer does not achieve stylistic integrity in his opera (researchers point to the eclecticism of his style), then
how Glinka organically fused all the components and, thereby, laid the foundation of a national tradition looking far into the future. And he uses the stylistic contradiction of thematic layers, similar to Meyerbeer’s, in “Ruslan” for a specific dramatic purpose - for the contrasting opposition of space-time levels in the mythological continuum of the whole.
“History as the future” is present in the inconsistency of the emotional, psychological, behavioral reactions of the heroes to the events taking place: Antonida and Vanya in acts III and IV of A Life for the Tsar, Lyudmila and Ratmir in acts III and IV of Ruslan.
There are even more parallels with the work of Rossini. Glinka knew his operas well and was familiar with many of them preceding Tel-lyu. With the dramatic principles of the great Italian, the dramaturgy of both Glinka’s masterpieces is related to the reliance on many ritual episodes, the oratorio principle of a large stroke, which in in this case is expressed by the organization of action as an alternation of monumental, relatively completed dramatic “blocks”6. Glinka relies on that qualitatively new “fusion” of oratorio and opera that Rossini has already achieved. The whole structure of the whole, its layout, the abundance of choral scenes, “blocks” artistic process, signs of mythological time and space, even the choral interpretation of the orchestral score in “A Life for the Tsar” - echo “William Tell”.
As in Tell, both Glinka operas present an endless string of various rituals: pagan in Ruslan, Christian in A Life for the Tsar. In the same opera, a similar through line is formed by the action of natural and cosmic forces: the approach of spring as a symbol of liberation and renewal. In particular, not only the wedding ceremony coincides (in Rossini’s opera in Act I, in Glinka’s opera - preparation for the ceremony and the interrupted bachelorette party in Act III), but also an open confrontation of collective images, a valiant act of a hero ready for an atoning sacrifice.
The artistic space of “William Tell” is built as a mythological natural cosmos (mountains, moon, thunderstorm, lake, sky), people and their
6 Presumably, Rossini's model was the oratorios of Meyerbeer, not Haydn or Handel.
faith as components of this cosmos. Similarly, the combination of mythological theater and folklore epic images in "A Life for the Tsar". In the Russian tradition, the mythologem of the Path is important. In the opera, “three heroes” are associated with her - Susanin, Vanya, Sobinin. Everyone chooses their own way of the cross, but all three are like parts of one tree: Susanin is the root, Sobinin and Vanya are its continuation. An important aspect of the Path mythologem is the recreation of the symbolic path of the orphan (Vani) - the path of the youth of God, wandering in the forest, protecting his father = king = God. The opera also contains natural cosmic symbols: field - river - forest - swamp, and symbols of human existence: house - fortress - Kremlin - city. Epic symbolism is in contact with Christian symbolism: father - son, Sobinin (his name is symbolic - Bogdan) and Antonida are symbols of the purity of the relationship of a Christian marriage. The path of heroism is interpreted in the opera both as a path of obedience to Christian moral duty, and as an independent existential choice7.
Naturally, we are only outlining symbolic guidelines indicating the presence of features of mythological and legendary theater in Glinka’s historical opera. This is even more characteristic of “Ruslan”. Neighboring here
features of a fairy-tale extravaganza (Weber's Oberon), a comic (and even ironic) concept of the “miraculous” in strict accordance with the ideas of Ludwig Tieck, a philosophical religious drama with magical and fantastic transformations. But the most important thing: it is “Ruslan” that contains almost all the features of mythological theater, which in the 40s, simultaneously with Glinka, Richard Wagner persistently developed. Of course, Pushkin’s flair and talent predetermined this synthesis of epics, fairy tales and myths, but it was Glinka’s genius that inspired the young poet’s masterpiece, creating that fusion of the individual and the collective that is so inherent in the Russian mentality.
The intonation structure of both Glinka's operas is equally unique: the composer tells his story on behalf of the people as their epic storyteller, speaks in the language of their songs and romances, epics, prayers and rituals.
Thus, Glinka’s theater in his two masterpieces travels a path equal to that which European opera has traveled in three or four decades. This became possible thanks to the generalization of different layers of Russian and Western European culture, a generalization that is lapidary and, at the same time, monumental. Only in this way could both the appearance of a national hero and the mentality of the nation be recreated.
LITERATURE
1. Anikst A. Theory of drama in the West: First
half of the 19th century. The era of romanticism. M., 1970.
2. Asafiev B. Glinka’s Hearing // Musical psycho-
logy. M., 1979.
3. Beketova N., Kaloshina G. Opera and myth // Mu-
Musical theater of the 19th-20th centuries: questions of evolution: Sat. scientific works Rostov n/d, 1999.
4. Wagner R. Selected works. M., 1935.
5. Literary manifestos of the romantics. M.,
6. Odoevsky V. Musical and literary heritage. M., 1958.
7. Stendhal. Collection op. In 15 volumes. T. 7. M., 1959.
8. Cherkashina M. Historical opera of the era of romanticism. (Research experience). Kyiv, 1986.
9. Schlegel F. Aesthetics, philosophy, criticism. IN
2 t. T.1. M., 1983.
7 Mythological aspects of Glinka’s opera “Life for the Tsar” are also discussed in the book by M. Cherkashina, article by N. Beketova and G. Kaloshina.
Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (1804-1857) played special role in the history of Russian culture:
in his work the process of formation of a national composer school;
in his person, Russian music for the first time put forward a world-class composer, thanks to whom it was included in the context of the peak achievements of artXIX;
It was Glinka who gave universally significant content to the idea of Russian national self-expression.
The first Russian classical composer, contemporary of Pushkin , Glinka was a representative of a turbulent, turning-point time, full of dramatic events. The most important of them are the Patriotic War of 1812 and the Decembrist uprising (1825). They determined the main direction of the composer’s work (“Let us dedicate our souls to the Fatherland with beautiful impulses”).
Basic facts of creative biography, periodization
The most reliable source of information about the composer is his “Notes”, which area wonderful example memoir literature(1854-55). In them, Glinka, with his characteristic penchant for accuracy and clarity, clearly outlined the main stages of his life.
First stage - childhood and youth (until 1830). Born on May 20, 1804 in the village of Novospasskoye, Smolensk province. The most powerful impressions of my childhood: a Russian peasant song, my uncle’s serf orchestra, the singing of a church choir, the ringing of the bells of a rural church.
Glinka had a beneficial influence on his stay at the St. Petersburg Noble Boarding School (1817-22), where his teacher was V. Kuchelbecker, the future Decembrist.
The main creative achievements of the young Glinka are associated with the romance genre.
Second stage - period of professional development (1830 - 1835). At this time, travel gave the composer many bright artistic impulses: a trip to the Caucasus (1823), a stay in Italy, Austria, Germany (1830-34). In Italy, he met G. Berlioz, F. Mendelssohn, V. Bellini, G. Donizetti, became interested in Italian opera, and studied the art of bel canto in practice. In Berlin, he seriously studied harmony and counterpoint under the guidance of the famous theorist Z. Dehn.
Startcentral period (1836 - 1844) was marked by the creation of the opera “A Life for the Tsar” . Simultaneously with it, romances based on Pushkin’s poems, the vocal cycle “Farewell to Petersburg”, the first version of “Waltz-Fantasy”, music for N. Kukolnik’s tragedy “Prince Kholmsky” appeared. For about 6 years, Glinka worked on his second opera, “Ruslan and Lyudmila” (based on Pushkin’s poem, staged in 1842). These years coincided with active pedagogical activity Glinka. An excellent vocal teacher, he taught many talented singers, among which S.S. Gulak-Artemovsky, author of the classic Ukrainian opera “Cossack beyond the Danube”.
Late period creativity (1845-1857).Glinka spent the last years of his life in Russia (Novospasskoye, St. Petersburg, Smolensk), often traveling abroad (France, Spain).His Spanish impressions inspired him to create two symphonic plays: The Aragonese Hunt and Memories of a Summer Night in Madrid. Next to them is the brilliant “Russian scherzo, “Kamarinskaya”, created in Warsaw.
In the 50s, Glinka’s connections with the younger generation of Russian musicians began - M.A. Balakirev, A.S. Dargomyzhsky, A.N. Serov (to whom he dictated his “Notes on Instrumentation”).Among the unfinished plans of these years are the program symphony “Taras Bulba” and the opera-drama “The Bigamist” (based on A. Shakhovsky).
In an effort to “tie the knot of legal marriage” the Russian folk song and fugu, in the spring of 1856 Glinka went on his last trip abroad to Berlin. Here he died on February 3, 1857, and was buried in the cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg.
Glinka's style, like the style of his contemporaries Pushkin and Bryullov, is synthetic in nature. It intertwined in an inseparable unity classicist rationality, romantic ardor and young Russian realism, the flowering of which was yet to come.
The parallels between Glinka and Pushkin have become textbook. Glinka in Russian music is the same “our everything” as Pushkin in poetry. Pushkin's muse inspired Glinka to create a number of romances and the opera "Ruslan and Lyudmila". Both composer and poetare compared with Mozart, speaking about the “Mozartian perfection” of their talents. Glinka has in common with Pushkin a harmonious perception of the world, a desire for the triumph of reason, goodness, justice, an amazing ability to poeticize reality, to see beauty in the everyday (signs of the aesthetics of classicism).
Like Pushkin's poetry, Glinka's music is a deeply national phenomenon.It was nourished by the origins of Russian folk art, assimilated the traditions of ancient Russian choral culture, and innovatively implemented the most important achievements of the national composer school of the previous period.The desire for national character became an important link between Glinka's art and the aesthetics of musical romanticism.
Had a huge influence on both Pushkin and Glinka folk art. The famous words of the composer “the people create music, and we, artists, only arrange it” (recorded by A.N. Serov) quite specifically express his creative credo.
It is natural that Glinka was especially attracted to Pushkin’s poetry, where the emotional and logical principles are fused in a unique unity. The composer and the poet are closest to each other in the classical sensebeauty work of art. It is no coincidence that Asafiev says that Glinka was “a classicist in all his thoughts, only seduced and delighted by the artistic culture of feeling - romanticism...”.
Growing up on Russian soil, Glinka's art -This is not just a national phenomenon. Composerwas unusually sensitive to the folklore of different peoples. Probably, this trait was formed in childhood: the folk culture of the Smolensk region, where he spent his childhood, absorbed elements of Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Polish folklore. Traveling a lot, Glinka eagerly absorbed impressions from nature, from meetings with people, and from art. He was the first Russian composer to visit the Caucasus . The Caucasus and, more broadly, the theme of the East since the time of Glinka have becomean integral part of Russian musical culture.
Glinka was a well-educated man and knew European languages.He came to his highest achievements by studying the experience of the great Western European masters. Acquaintance with Western European romantic composers broadened his horizons.
Making sense of experience modern history brightly reflected in the most important theme of Glinka’s work - the theme of sacrificial feat in the name of Holy Rus', the Tsar, faith, family. In the composer's first opera, A Life for the Tsar, this heroic themepersonified in the concrete historical image of the peasant Ivan Susanin. The novelty of this work was appreciated by the most advanced minds of the time. Zhukovsky:
Sing in delight Russian choir,
A new product has been released.
Have fun, Rus'! Our Glinka -
Not clay, but porcelain.
Characteristic features of the style
an ideal sense of form, classical harmony of proportions, thoughtfulness of the smallest details of the entire composition;
constant desire to think in Russian, affinity with Russian folk songs. Glinka rarely uses quotes from authentic folklore melodies, but his own musical themes sound like folk.
melodic richness. FThe function of melody is the leading one in Glinka’s music. Singing melody,chanting connects Glinka’s music with Russian folk songwriting; Particularly typical are sixth and hexachord chants, fifth-tone singing, and a descending V-I movement;
In Glinka’s music, freedom and smoothness of voice delivery, reliance ontraditions of subvocal polyphony;
predominance of variant-singing and variational development. Variation as a method of development is inherited by composers " Mighty bunch", Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov.
mastery of orchestral color. Using the differentiated orchestration method. In "Notes on Instrumentation" Glinka defines the functions of each orchestral group. Strings - “their main character is movement.” Woodwinds are exponents of national color. Brass instruments are “dark spots in the picture.” Special color nuances are created by applying additional tools(harp, piano, bells, celesta) and a rich group of percussion.
Many features of Glinka’s harmony are associated with the national specifics of Russian music: plagalism, modal variability, widespread use of side steps of the mode, variable mode, modes of folk music. At the same time, the composer uses the means of modern romantic harmony: increased triad, dominant non-chord, major-minor means, whole-tone scale.
Glinka's creative heritage covers all major musical genres: opera, drama music, symphonic works, piano pieces, romances, chamber ensembles. But Glinka's main merit is the creation of Russian classical opera.Glinka's operatic work became the main one for Russian opera, defining its two main directions - folk musical drama and fairy-tale epic.According to Odoevsky, “with Glinka’s opera there is something that has long been sought and not found in Europe - a new element in art, and a new period begins in its history: the period of Russian music.
Both operas played a huge role in the development of Russian symphony. Glinka for the first time abandoned the previous distinction between instrumental presentation into “zones” of accompanied recitative and through symphonic presentation.
“I admire the beauty of this plasticity: the impression is that the voice, like a sculptor’s hand, sculpts sound-tangible forms...” (B. Asafiev, “Glinka”)
“I want the sound to directly express the word. I want the truth” (A. Dargomyzhsky)
Both Glinka and Dargomyzhsky turned to the romance genre throughout their entire creative careers. The romances concentrate the main themes and images characteristic of these composers; In them, old types of the romance genre were strengthened and new types emerged.
At the time of Glinka and Dargomyzhsky in the 1st half of the 19th century, there were several types of romance: these were “Russian songs”, urban everyday romances, elegies, ballads, drinking songs, barcarolles, serenades, as well as mixed types that combined various features.
The most significant stages in the development of romance are associated with the work of Glinka and Dargomyzhsky. Glinka’s work laid the foundations of romance lyrics and revealed a variety of genre varieties. Dargomyzhsky enriched the romance with new colors, closely combining words and music, and continued Glinka’s ideas. Each composer in his own way captured the spirit of the time and era in his works. These traditions were continued by other Russian classics: Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky (the path from Glinka), Mussorgsky (the path from Dargomyzhsky).
Romances in the works of M.I. Glinka
Glinka's romances continue the development of the genre and enrich it with new features and genre varieties. Glinka’s work began precisely with romances, in which his compositional appearance was gradually revealed.
The themes and musical content of the early romances differ from the romances of Glinka's mature period. Also, throughout the composer’s creative path, the range of poetic sources also changes. If at first Glinka gives preference to the poems of Baratynsky, Delvig, Batyushkov, Zhukovsky, then later the beautiful poetry of A.S. Pushkin inspires him to create the best examples of the genre. There are romances based on poetry little-known poets: Kozlov, Rimsky-Korsak, Pavlov. Quite often in his mature period, Glinka turns to the texts of Kukolnik (“Farewell to Petersburg,” “Doubt,” “A Passing Song”). Despite the varied quality and weight of poetic lines, Glinka is able to “wash even a minor text with beautiful music” (Asafiev).
Glinka pays special attention to the poetry of Pushkin; his music accurately reflects the subtleties of the poetic touch of the great Russian poet. Glinka was not only his contemporary, but also a follower, and developed his ideas in music. Therefore, when mentioning a composer, they often also talk about a poet; they marked the beginning of “that single powerful stream that carries the precious burden of national culture” (Blok).
The music of Glinka's romances is dominated by the poetic image of the text. Means musical expressiveness both in the vocal melody and in the piano part are aimed at creating a holistic, generalized image or mood. It also promotes integrity and completeness musical form, chosen by Glinka depending on the figurative structure or simply on the features of the text. The largest number of romances are written in verse-variation form - this is “Lark” in the genre of a Russian song to the text of Kukolnik, as well as romances of the early period of creativity (elegy “Do not tempt”, “Autumn Night”, etc.). The 3-part form is quite common - in romances based on Pushkin’s poems (“I remember a wonderful moment”, “I am here, Inezilla”), and a complex through form with signs of tripartite, and the rondo form. Characteristic feature Glinka's form is rigor, symmetry and completeness of construction.
The vocal melody of the romances is so melodious that it also influences the accompaniment. But sometimes Glinka uses the cantilena in juxtaposition with a recitative style (“I remember a wonderful moment,” middle part). Speaking about the melody of the voice, one cannot fail to mention Glinka’s vocal education: “Initiated into all the mysteries of Italian singing and German harmony, the composer deeply penetrated the character of Russian melody!” (V. Odoevsky).
The piano part of romances can deepen the content of the text, highlighting its individual stages (“I remember a wonderful moment”), concentrates the main dramatic emotion (“Don’t say that your heart hurts”), or performs visual functions: creates landscape characteristics, Spanish flavor (“Night marshmallows”, “The blue ones fell asleep”, “Knight’s romance”, “Oh my wonderful maiden”). Sometimes the piano part reveals the main idea of the romance - this occurs in romances with a piano introduction or frame (“I remember a wonderful moment”, “Tell me why”, “Night view”, “Doubt”, “Do not tempt”).
In Glinka’s work, new types of romances are formed: romances with Spanish themes, popular in Russia, acquire the bright, national-coloristic features of Spanish genres. Glinka turns to dance genres and introduces new type romance - in dance rhythms (waltz, mazurka, etc.); also turns to oriental themes, which will subsequently find a continuation in the work of Dargomyzhsky and the composers of the “Mighty Handful”.
Romances in the works of A.S. Dargomyzhsky
Dargomyzhsky became a follower of Glinka, but his creative path was different. This depended on the time frame of his work: while Glinka worked in the era of Pushkin, Dargomyzhsky created his works about ten years later, being a contemporary of Lermontov and Gogol.
The origins of his romances go back to everyday urban and folk music of that time; Dargomyzhsky's romance genre has a different orientation.
Dargomyzhsky's circle of poets is quite wide, but the poetry of Pushkin and Lermontov occupies a special place in it. The interpretation of Pushkin's texts is given by Dargomyzhsky in a different aspect than that of Glinka. Characteristics, the display of textual details (unlike Glinka) and the creation of diverse images, even entire galleries of musical portraits, become defining in his music.
Dargomyzhsky turns to the poetry of Delvig, Koltsov, Kurochkin (translations from Beranger) (most of the romances), Zhadovskaya, and folk texts (for the veracity of the image). Among Dargomyzhsky's types of romance are Russian songs, ballads, fantasies, monologues-portraits of various types, and a new genre of oriental romance.
A distinctive feature of Dargomyzhsky’s music is its appeal to speech intonation, which is very important for showing the hero’s various experiences. The nature of vocal melody, which is different from Glinka’s, is also rooted here. It is composed of different motives that convey the intonations of speech, its features and shades (“I’m sad”, “I still love him” - tritone intonations).
The form of romances of the early period of creativity is often verse-variation (which is traditional). Characteristic is the use of rondo (“Wedding” to the words of Timofeev), a two-part form (“Young Man and Maiden”, “Titular Advisor”), a form of through development (the ballad “Paladin” to the text of Zhukovsky), a couplet form with features of a rondo (“Old Corporal” ). Dargomyzhsky is characterized by a violation of the usual forms (“Crazy, without a mind” - a violation of the verse-variation). Romance-scenes at first glance have a simple form, but the content and richness of the text change the perception of the form (“Miller”, “Titular Advisor”). The form of “The Old Corporal,” for all its verse, is dramatized from within thanks to the text, since the semantic load is very important, the tragic core clearly appears in it, this is a new understanding of the form based on continuous development.
Dargomyzhsky’s piano part in most cases occurs in the form of a “guitar” accompaniment (“I’m sad,” “We parted proudly,” “I still love him,” etc.), serving as a general background. Sometimes she follows the vocal melody by repeating the chorus ("Old Corporal", "Worm"). There are also piano introductions and conclusions, their meaning is often the same as in Glinka’s romances. Dargomyzhsky also uses sound visualization techniques, which enliven the monologue scenes: the march of soldiers and the shot in “The Old Corporal”, portraits in “Titular Councilor”, etc.
The themes of Dargomyzhsky's romances are varied, and the characters are also different. These include petty officials and people of ignoble origin. For the first time in Dargomyzhsky’s work, the theme of a woman’s lot, an unhappy fate appears (“Fever”, “I Still Love Him”, “We Parted Proudly”, “Crazy, Without Reason”). There are also oriental romances that continue Glinka’s “Ratmirov” theme (“ Eastern romance"to the text of "Greek Women").
Contemporaries called him “the Pushkin of Russian music”, because his role in Russian music was similar to Pushkin's role in literature.Outstanding Service Glinka is that, on the one hand, it summed up a significant period in the development of Russian music, and on the other hand, it opened the way for the further development of musical art. His work laid down the basic principles of the leading musical genres: opera, symphony, chamber music.
The content of his works is wide and varied - these are sketches of folk life, lyrics, epic, drama, magical fiction, etc.The main place in his work is occupied by the people. To characterize it M.I. Glinka used a folk song, which is the basis of his works. His words are well known: “The people create music, and we, artists, only arrange it.” The composer introduces and authentic folk melodies, and creates his own in the spirit of the people. He is interested not only in Russian folk music, but also in the music of other nations: Ukrainian, Polish, Spanish, Italian, Eastern, etc.
Glinka's work combines classical and romantic traits. He is associated with the classics by clarity, harmony of musical language, clarity of form, purity of orchestration, an impeccable sense of proportion, balance between feeling and thought.
With the romantics - interest in depicting folk life with its unique national coloring (“local color”), nature, distant countries, images of fantasy, and fabulousness. M.I. Glinka widely uses romantic means: colorfulness, variety of harmony and orchestration, vivid emotionality.
Glinka's main creative method is realism. It manifests itself in all elements of musical language.Voicing– smooth, closely related to folk song traditions.The melody plays a leading role, the remaining elements of musical speech are subordinate to it.The form, in general, is classical, distinguished by structural clarity and proportionality, but the composer often complicates it and also looks for new techniques of form-building. He created a new type of variation form, which was called " Glinka variations" The essence of this form is that the vocal part remains unchanged, only the orchestral accompaniment varies.
Harmony, on the one hand, is strict, clear, moderate, obeys classical laws, on the other hand, it is distinguished by boldness and novelty.Orchestration - pin the words of the composer himself, “the beauty of musical thought evokes the beauty of the orchestra.” Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka
strove to orchestrate easily and transparently, he brought out the individual qualities of each instrument, hence the frequent use of instrumental solos.
Glinka's best works are: operas "Ivan Susanin" And " Ruslan and Lyudmila”, symphonic works - “Kamarinskaya”, Waltz-Fantasy, “Aragonese Jota”, “Night in Madrid”, “Spanish Capriccio”, many romances (“I remember a wonderful moment”, “Do not tempt”, “Doubt”, “Passing song" etc.) Glinka's operas "Ivan Susanin" and "Ruslan and Lyudmila" identified two leading opera genres - historical-heroic, patriotic and fairy-tale-fantastic. The composer did not write symphonies in the usual sense of the word, but his programmatic symphonic works influenced the further development of Russian symphony. According to Tchaikovsky, “from Kamarinskaya the entire Russian symphony grew, like an oak from an acorn.”
Features of the work of Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka
Target: To introduce students to the life and work of composer M.I. Glinka.
Tasks:
Introduce listeners into the atmosphere of the 19th century; -give an idea about the operas of M.I. Glinka “Ruslan and Lyudmila”, “Ivan Susanin”;
Instill a sense of patriotism;
Learn to listen classical music,
To instill an interest in literature and the surrounding world;
Develop attention, memory, enrich vocabulary.
Equipment:
Poster;
- portrait of the composer;
Stand with reproductions (Bolshoi Theater, scenes from operas, information material);
Multimedia equipment, presentation for the event;
- CD– disk.
Progress of the event:
1. Introduction
A fragment from the Symphonic Fantasy “Kamarinskaya” plays in the background.
Among the names that are dear to us since childhood,
In whose sounds the pride of the homeland is heard,
There are two especially dear to the heart -
Those are Pushkin and Glinka names.
Their blood relationship, not proximity
Time bound for eternity.
In what is left to us as an inheritance,
Soul home country embodied.
The soul of a country in which it is so wonderful
The traits of the Russian people have merged:
The calm grandeur of simplicity,
Openness in friendship, perseverance in fair battle
And faith in the truth of the highest dream,
What sounds to us like music, like a song!
"Lark"
2. Main part
At the age of 26, Glinka went abroad - Warsaw, cities of Germany, Italy...
Talented, sociable, and kind to people, he quickly settled into this fertile land. "Señor Micke le" played the piano so well, composed melodious, euphonious arias, just like the Italian maestro, and at the same time sang excellently, accompanying himself on the piano. But Glinka does not remain under the spell of Italian music, the beautiful southern sun, sky, and sea for long.
Russia, so distant and always dear, endlessly attracted him.
Often visiting various theaters in Milan, Venice, Rome and Naples, the young musician listened to the best operas many times. But he soon realized that these works could not give him what he considered necessary for himself. The approach to art was too different.“We, residents of the North, feel differently, - he wrote then. The impression is that either they don’t touch us at all, or they sink deeply into our souls... Longing for the Fatherland gradually gave me the idea of writing in Russian.”This desire to “write in Russian” was so great that later Mikhail Ivanovich became an innovator andthe founder of Russian classical music,like A.S. Pushkin in Russian literature.
"Polka"
In 1833, Glinka left Italy forever.
The path to the Motherland lies through Berlin. Here he decides to stop - his thirst for knowledge leads him to the famous music theorist Siegfried Dehn. Dan helped bring into a coherent system the knowledge that the young musician had acquired on his own for many years. He learned a lot about music himself, with his brilliant intuition. This was facilitated by the inquisitiveness of his mind, and his special musical talent, and independent musical studies with his uncle’s serf orchestra, and frequent music playing with friends in St. Petersburg. Glinka always enjoyed not only the beauty of the music he performed, but also inquisitively thought about its content, comprehending the laws of structure and forms of musical constructions.
Classes with Dan lasted only a few months. Having received news of the sudden death of his father, Glinka leaves Germany, returning to his native estate in the Smolensk region, to the village of Novospasskoye.
Located on the picturesque bank of the narrow Desna River, surrounded by dense forests, Novospasskoye had a special attractive force for Glinka. He was born here and spent the first 13 years of his life here. Here he experienced his first musical impressions, which he remembered for the rest of his life. The most striking of them were folk songs for which the Smolensk region has long been famous. The courtyard also sang themO noble people, and peasants, and the nanny - Avdotya Ivanovna, whom Glinka could listen to for hours - as if enchanted.“Perhaps these songs that I heard as a child - he said many years later,– were the first reason that later I began to primarily develop Russian folk music.”
Other composers could not ignore the theme of folk music, trying to show its beauty, sincerity, attractiveness, and openness.
R.n. p., arrangement by Vladykina – Bachinskaya “Drake”
R.n. p. “The little girl walked along the boardwalk”
The events of the Patriotic War of 1812 influenced Glinka’s worldview. As an eight-year-old boy, he survived the Patriotic War, then his entire family was forced to leave their native nest and leave, fleeing Napoleon’s advancing army. He knew about the events from the stories of those who fought the enemy for the honor and freedom of the Fatherland, knew those places native land, where these feats were performed and with all my soul I was imbued with deep respect for ordinary peasants.
In 1817, 13-year-old Misha’s parents took him to St. Petersburg and enrolled him in a noble boarding school at the Pedagogical School. Wilhelm Karlovich Kuchelbecker, a friend of Pushkin at the Lyceum and a passionate admirer of his poetry, had a special influence on the students. According to the reviews of his students, “the noblest, kindest, purest creature,” he was not only a teacher, but also a tutor for several boys, including Glinka and Lyovushka Pushkin (A.S.’s younger brother).
Glinka's artistic development was very intense. At the boarding school, he took advantage of every opportunity to play music alone or with friends, to gain fresh musical impressions. Theater played a significant role in his spiritual development.
“The wind is blowing at the gates” - music to the tragedy of N.V. Puppeteer
"Prince Kholmsky"
Especiallyimpressed with their beautiful cantilena and deep drama of the operas of Gluck, Mozart, Rossini. His parents often took him to the theater - the opera delighted the boy.
After finishing the boarding school, Glinka devoted himself entirely to musical studies.
He writes a lot. His instrumental pieces and ensembles are successfully performed among amateurs, many of whom were excellent musicians, participates in home performances with the performance of various opera parts, plays symphonic and chamber works of the classics on the piano - Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven. Glinka's inquisitive mind reveals in their music not only extraordinary beauty and depth of thought, but also the laws of musical creativity.
Already in adulthood, he widely used folk melodies in his orchestral works. In the “Kamarinskaya” and “Spanish Overtures” he introduced genuine folk melodies. And he didn’t just process them, but developed them using modern techniques of professional music.
The main feature of Glinka's symphonic music is its simplicity and accessibility. In addition to symphonic music, folk intonations can also be traced in vocal creativity.
Music M. Glinka, lyrics. E. Rostopchina “The bird cherry will bloom”
Communication with outstanding people of his time played a big role in Glink’s development as a musician. Often visiting the music salon, at musical evenings of the enlightened philanthropist Vielgorsky, he plays a lot of music with the Vielgorsky brothers, OdO Evsky, Varlamov,
communicates closely with poets and writers. Among them are Pushkin, Griboyedov, Zhukovsky, Mitskevich, Delvig.
They were united by one goal - serving their people through art. She lived in the souls of these people and could not help but become the main goal of their whole life. Glinka became stronger in the idea of creating a Russian national opera.
Mikhail Ivanovich’s opera was called “Ivan Susanin”. He wrote it according to the thought of the Decembrist Ryleev, proud of the feat of the people and excited by the fate of the Kostroma peasant Ivan Susanin. But opera ne Where could it be staged except in the court theater, and it was necessary to make concessions, put words of praise for the Tsar into the mouths of Susanin and the peasant and change the name of the opera.
The music spoke of something else. The music revealed the sensitive and generous heart of a simple peasant, his love for his homeland, courage and nobility. All the composer's sympathies were clearly on the side of the people.
It is not surprising that having chosen the events of 1612 for his opera,Glinka connects them with Patriotic War 1812. Being advanced person of his time, he did not deny his closeness to the Decembrists.
"Dance" from the opera "Ivan Susanin"
A portrait of Glinka would be incomplete without mentioning his songwriting. All his life he writes romances and songs, which gain incredible popularity during the author’s lifetime. In total, he wrote about 60 vocal works, of which the most notable are: “I remember a wonderful moment”, “Confession”, “A passing song” and many others, which are still part of the classical repertoire of vocalists today.
He filled the romance with enormous life content and strengthened the character of its images. These traditions were continued by many Russian composers.
Music by M. I. Glinka for the tragedy “Prince Kholmsky”
to the words of N.V. Kukolnik –
"Ilyinichna's Song"
At the end of the 30s, Glinka was in the prime of his creative powers and enthusiastically created Ruslan and Lyudmila.
Slide No. 15 – Pushkin, Glinka and poster after Ruslan and Lyudmila
The libretto for it was composed by his friend, the talented amateur poet V.F. Shirkov, although some scenes were written by the composer himself.
Mikhail Ivanovich owns the script plan for the opera and its main idea - the idea of the power of Rus', its invincibility in the fight against any enemies. But the opera was received ambiguously - the aristocratic audience and high-ranking listeners left the hall and even hissed. The composer himself said:“I believe that time will pass, maybe 100 years, and my opera will be understood and appreciated.”
History has secured his primacy in creating the fairy-tale-epic genre in Russian opera.
"Persian Choir" from the opera "Ruslan and Lyudmila"
Productions of the opera continued, but the theater management demanded that the composer remove entire scenes, and he was so dejected and depressed that he agreed to everything. Glinka fell into quiet despair.“Don’t demand, don’t desire my visit to you now,” he writes to his mother.– I am mentally ill, deeply ill; in my letters to you I hid my suffering, but it continued.”
Soon after the opera was staged at the end of 1842, Glinka’s soul began to experience that deep fracture that made it almost impossible for him to create new works. The contradiction between love for the Motherland and the desire to flee St. Petersburg is increasingly developing in him:“My heart wants to stay,” from a letter to mom.“My reason decisively compels me to go... Considering my current situation, I find that I have nothing to do in St. Petersburg and that a trip abroad will be useful both for health and mental disposition.”
In 1844 Glinka left for Paris.
"Among the flat valley"
Success awaits him in Paris. His music sounds concert halls, is becoming popular. Success in Paris encouraged Glinka.“I am the first Russian composer who introduced the Parisian public to his name and to his works written in Russia and for Russia”- he writes to his mother. The composer emphasized that he was proud of belonging to the Russian people and the position of the artist, which he valued highly, despite persecution in his homeland. The romance “Lark” based on the verses of N.V. Kukolnik is one of the few examples of Russian songs of Glinka’s mature romances. This is a simple and simple song folk character became the embodiment of the image of beloved Russian nature. This romance was so popular during Glinka’s time that it became the subject of all sorts of arrangements and was often heard in the everyday life of Russian people.
Music M. I. Glinka, lyrics. N. V. Kukolnik “Lark”
The following work was written on the occasion of the premiere of the opera “Ivan Susanin”. The progressive audience greeted the opera enthusiastically. And friends A. Pushkin, OdO Evsky, Zhukovsky and Vyazemsky composed couplets in honor of success.
Sing in delight, Russian choir,
A new product has been released.
Have fun, Rus'! Our Glinka -
Not clay, but porcelain.
Vielgorsky
Music V. Odoevsky, lyrics. M. Vielgorsky, P. Vyazemsky,
A. Pushkin “Sing the Russian Choir in Delight”
Once the critic A.N. Serov said: “In all operas that exist so far there is no final chorus that would be so closely united with the task of musical drama and would paint with such a powerful brush the historical picture of a given country in a given era. Here is Rus' from the times of Minin and Pozharsky in every sound.”
M. I. Glinka, lyrics. S. Gorodetsky choir “Glory” from the opera
"Ivan Susanin"
3. Conclusion
Glinka's bright and life-affirming music is a great asset of Russian musical culture. Subsequent Russian composers studied from his works. The traditions bequeathed by Mikhail Ivanovich became the basis for the further development of Russian music. The successors of M. I. Glinka’s work, just like him, sought to serve the people with their art, to truthfully recreate people’s life in their works. And therein lies great essence, the meaning of Glinka’s works.
Oh, believe me!
On Russian musical soil
a luxurious flower has grown -
he is your joy, your glory.
Take care of him: he is a delicate flower and blooms -
only once in a century.
V. Odoevsky