From the middle of the 17th century, primacy in the development of keyboard music passed from the English virginalists to the French harpsichordists. For a long time, almost a century, this school was the most influential in Western Europe. Its ancestor is considered Jacques Chambonnière, known as an excellent organ and harpsichord player, a talented teacher and composer.
Concerts of harpsichord music in France usually took place in aristocratic salons and palaces, after light small talk or dancing. Such an environment was not conducive to in-depth and serious art. In music, graceful sophistication, sophistication, lightness, and wit were valued. At the same time, small-scale plays were preferred - miniatures. “Nothing long, tedious, or too serious.”- this was the unwritten law that French court composers were supposed to follow. It is not surprising that French harpsichordists rarely turned to large forms and variation cycles - they gravitated towards suite, consisting of dance and program miniatures.
The suites of French harpsichordists, in contrast to the German suites, consisting exclusively of dance numbers, are built more freely. They quite rarely rely on the strict sequence of alemand - courante - sarabande - gigue. Their composition can be anything, sometimes unexpected, and most plays have a poetic title that reveals the author's intention.
The school of French harpsichordists is represented by the names of L. Marchand, J.F. Dandrieu, F. Dazhenkura, L.-C. Daquin, Louis Couperin. These composers were most successful in elegantly pastoral images (“Cuckoo” and “Swallow” by Daken; “Bird Cry” by Dandrieu).
The French harpsichord school reached its peak in the work of two geniuses - Francois Couperin(1668–1733) and his younger contemporary Jean Philippe Rameau (1685–1764).
Contemporaries called François Couperin “François the Great.” None of their harpsichordists could compete with him in popularity. He was born into a family of hereditary musicians and spent almost his entire life in Paris and Versailles as a court organist and music teacher for royal children. The composer worked in many genres (with the exception of theater). The most valuable part of his creative heritage are 27 harpsichord suites (about 250 pieces in four collections). It was Couperin who established the French type of suite, which differed from German models and consisted primarily of program pieces. Among them there are sketches of nature (“Butterflies”, “Bees”, “Reeds”), and genre scenes - pictures of rural life (“Reapers”, “Grape Pickers”, “Knitters”); but especially a lot of musical portraits. These are portraits of society ladies and simple young girls - nameless (“Beloved”, “The Only One”), or specified in the titles of plays (“ Princess Mary", "Manon", "Sister Monica"). Often Couperin paints not a specific person, but a human character (“Hardworking”, “Frolic”, “Anemone”, “Touchy”), or even tries to express various national characters (“Spanish Woman”, “French Woman”). Many of Couperin's miniatures are close popular dances of that time, for example, chimes, minuet.
The favorite form of Couperon's miniatures was rondo.
As already noted, the music of harpsichordists originated in an aristocratic environment and was intended for it. It was in harmony with the spirit of aristocratic culture, hence the external grace in the design of thematic material, the abundance of ornamentation, representing the most characteristic element of the aristocratic style. The variety of decorations is inseparable from harpsichord works right up to the early Beethoven.
Harpsichord music Ramo characteristic, contrary to the chamber traditions of the genre, is a large stroke. He is not prone to fine detail. His music is distinguished by its bright characteristics; one can immediately feel the handwriting of a born theater composer (“Chicken”, “Savages”, “Cyclopes”).
In addition to his remarkable harpsichord pieces, Rameau wrote many “lyrical tragedies,” as well as the innovative “Treatise on Harmony” (1722), which earned him the reputation of a major musical theorist.
The development of Italian keyboard music is associated with the name Domenico Scarlatti.
Programmatic works are those that have a specific plot - a “program”, which is often limited to one title, but may contain a detailed explanation.
Probably, the appearance of decorations is associated with the imperfection of the harpsichord, the sound of which died out instantly, and a trill or gruppetto could partly compensate for this deficiency, prolonging the sound of the reference sound.
In Western Europe (especially Italian-Spanish) polygonal. wok music of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance (motets, madrigals, etc.) as improvisations. element will perform. In art, the diminutive technique has received great development. She also compiled one of the texture compositions. the basics of such ancient instruments. genres such as prelude, ricercar, toccata, fantasy. Dept. diminutive formulas gradually emerged from the diverse manifestations of free music, most notably at the conclusion of melodic lines. constructions (in clauses). Around midday 15th century in it. org. The first graphics appeared in tablatures. icons for recording decorations. K ser. 16th century have become widely used - in various variants and connections - mordent, trill, gruppetto, which are still among the main ones. instr. decorations Apparently, they were formed in the practice of instruments. performance.
From the 2nd half. 16th century free O. developed ch. arr. in Italy, especially in its distinctive melodic style. richness of solo wok. music, as well as in violinism, which tends towards virtuosity. music. At that time in violin. vibrato, which imparts expression to extended sounds, has not yet found widespread use in music, and the rich ornamentation of the melody served as its replacement. Melizmatic decorations (ornements, agréments) received special development in French art. lutenists and harpsichordists of the 17th and 18th centuries, who were characterized by their reliance on dance. genres that were subjected to subtle stylization. In French music there was a close connection between instruments. agrеments with secular wok. lyrics (the so-called airs de cour), which itself was permeated with dance. plastic. English virginalists (late 16th century), prone to song thematicism and its variations. development, in the field of O. they gravitated more toward diminutive technology. Few melismatic. the icons used by the virginalists cannot be accurately deciphered. In Austro-German. keyboard art, which began to develop intensively from the middle. 17th century, up to and including J. S. Bach, the inclinations towards Italian collided in different ways. diminutive and French. melismatic styles. In French musicians of the 17th-18th centuries. It became a custom to accompany collections of plays with tables of decorations. The most voluminous table (with 29 varieties of melismas) was preceded by the harpsichord collection of J. A. d'Anglebert (1689); although such tables show minor discrepancies, they became a kind of commonly used catalogs of jewelry. In particular, in the table preceded Bach's "Clavier Book for Wilhelm Friedemann Bach" (1720), much borrowed from d'Anglebert.
The French moved away from free clothing towards regulated decorations. harpsichordists were assigned to the orc. music by J.B. Lully. However, the French the regulation of jewelry is not absolutely strict, since even the most detailed table indicates their exact interpretation only for typical cases of use. Small deviations are acceptable to suit the specific characteristics of the music. fabrics. They depend on the art and taste of the performer, and in publications with written transcripts - on the stylistic. knowledge, principles and taste of editors. Such deviations are inevitable when performing plays by the French luminary. harpsichordism of P. Couperin, who insistently demanded the exact implementation of his rules for deciphering decorations. Franz. It was also common for harpsichordists to take diminutive ornamentation under authorial control, which they wrote out, in particular, in the variations. takes.
K con. 17th century, when the French harpsichordists became tastemakers in their field, with ornaments such as trill and grace note, along with melodic notes. function, began to perform a new harmonious. function, creating and sharpening dissonance on the downbeat of the bar. J. S. Bach, like D. Scarlatti, usually wrote out dissonant decorations in the main. musical text (see, for example, Part II of the Italian Concerto). This allowed I. A. Sheibe to believe that by doing this, Bach was depriving his works. “the beauty of harmony,” because composers at that time preferred to write out all the decorations with icons or small notes, so that in the graphic. the recording clearly showed harmonics. euphony basic chords.
F. Couperin has refined French. The harpsichord style reached its peak. In the mature plays of J. F. Rameau, a desire was revealed to go beyond the limits of chamber contemplation, to strengthen the effective dynamics of development, to apply in music. writing with broader decorative strokes, in particular in the form of background harmonies. figurations. Hence the tendency towards a more moderate use of decoration in Rameau, as well as in the later French. harpsichordists, for example at J. Dufly. However, in the 3rd quarter. 18th century O. reached a new peak in works associated with sentimentalist trends. A bright representative of this art. directions in music were made by F. E. Bach, the author of the treatise “An Experience in the Correct Way to Play the Clavier,” in which he paid a lot of attention to O.
The subsequent high flowering of Viennese classicism, in accordance with the new aesthetics. ideals, led to a more strict and moderate use of O. Nevertheless, it continued to play a prominent role in the work of J. Haydn, W. A. Mozart and the young L. Beethoven. Free O. remained in Europe. music in the field of variation, virtuoso conc. cadences and wok. coloratura. The latter is reflected in the romantic. fp. music 1st half. 19th century (in especially original forms in F. Chopin). At the same time, the dissonant sound of melismas gave way to a consonant one; in particular, the trill began to begin preim. not with the auxiliary, but with the main. sound, often with the formation of a beat. So harmonious. and rhythmic O.'s softening contrasted with the increased dissonance of the chords themselves. Characteristic of romantic composers was the unprecedented development of harmonics. figurative background in FP. music with a wide color scheme. using pedalization, as well as timbre-colorful figuration. invoices in orc. scores. In the 2nd half. 19th century O.'s value decreased. In the 20th century The role of free O. increased again due to the strengthening of improvisation. began in certain areas of music. creativity, eg. V jazz music. There is a huge methodological and theoretical. literature on the problems of O. It is generated by tireless attempts to extremely clarify the phenomena of O., “resisting” this in their improvisation. nature. Much of what the authors of the works present as strict, comprehensive decoding rules turns out to be only partial recommendations.
CLAVISIN [French] clavecin, from Late Lat. clavicymbalum, from lat. clavis - key (hence the key) and cymbalum - cymbals] - plucked keyboard musical instrument. Known since the 16th century. (began to be constructed back in the 14th century), the first information about the harpsichord dates back to 1511; The oldest surviving instrument made in Italy dates back to 1521.
The harpsichord originated from the psalterium (as a result of the reconstruction and addition of a keyboard mechanism).
Initially, the harpsichord was quadrangular in shape and resembled a “free” clavichord in appearance, in contrast to which it had strings of different lengths (each key corresponded to a special string tuned to a certain tone) and a more complex keyboard mechanism. The strings of the harpsichord were set into vibration by plucking with the help of a bird's feather mounted on a rod - a pusher. When the key was pressed, the pusher located at its rear end rose and the feather hooked onto the string (later a leather plectrum was used instead of a bird feather).
The structure of the upper part of the pusher: 1 - string, 2 - axis of the releasing mechanism, 3 - languette (from the French languette), 4 - plectrum (tongue), 5 - damper.
The sound of the harpsichord is brilliant, but unsung (short) - which means it is not amenable to dynamic changes (it is louder, but less expressive than that), the change in the strength and timbre of the sound does not depend on the nature of the strike on the keys. In order to enhance the sonority of the harpsichord, doubled, tripled and even quadrupled strings were used (for each tone), which were tuned in unison, octave, and sometimes other intervals.
Evolution
Since the beginning of the 17th century, instead of gut strings, metal strings were used, increasing in length (from treble to bass). The instrument acquired a triangular wing-shaped shape with a longitudinal (parallel to the keys) arrangement of strings.
In the 17th-18th centuries. To give the harpsichord a dynamically more varied sound, instruments were made with 2 (sometimes 3) manual keyboards (manuals), which were arranged in a terrace-like manner, one above the other (usually the upper manual was tuned an octave higher), as well as with register switches for expanding trebles, octave doubling of basses and changes in timbre coloring (lute register, bassoon register, etc.).
The registers were operated by levers located on the sides of the keyboard, or by buttons located under the keyboard, or by pedals. On some harpsichords, for greater timbre variety, a 3rd keyboard was arranged with some characteristic timbre coloring, often reminiscent of a lute (the so-called lute keyboard).
Appearance
Externally, harpsichords were usually decorated very elegantly (the body was decorated with drawings, inlays, and carvings). The finish of the instrument was consistent with the stylish furniture of the Louis XV era. In the 16th-17th centuries. stood out in terms of sound quality and their decoration harpsichords by Antwerp masters Rukkers.
Harpsichord in different countries
The name “harpsichord” (in France; harpsichord - in England, keelflugel - in Germany, clavichembalo or abbreviated cymbal - in Italy) was retained for large wing-shaped instruments with a range of up to 5 octaves. There were also smaller instruments, usually rectangular in shape, with single strings and a range of up to 4 octaves, called: epinet (in France), spinet (in Italy), virginel (in England).
Harpsichord with a vertical body - . The harpsichord was used as a solo, chamber ensemble and orchestral instrument.
The creator of the virtuoso harpsichord style was Italian composer and harpsichordist D. Scarlatti (he owns numerous works for harpsichord); the founder of the French school of harpsichordists is J. Chambonnière (his “Harpsichord Pieces”, 2 books, 1670 were popular).
Among the French harpsichordists of the late 17th and 18th centuries. - , J.F. Rameau, L. Daquin, F. Daidrieu. French harpsichord music is an art of refined taste, refined manners, rationalistically clear, subordinate to aristocratic etiquette. The delicate and cold sound of the harpsichord harmonized with “ in good form» selected society.
The gallant style (rococo) found its vivid embodiment among the French harpsichordists. The favorite themes of harpsichord miniatures (miniature is a characteristic form of Rococo art) were female images (“Captivating”, “Flirty”, “Gloomy”, “Shy”, “Sister Monica”, “Florentine” by Couperin), great place were occupied by gallant dances (minuet, gavotte, etc.), idyllic pictures of peasant life (“The Reapers”, “The Grape Pickers” by Couperin), onomatopoeic miniatures (“The Hen”, “The Clock”, “The Chirping” by Couperin, “The Cuckoo” by Daquin, etc. .). Typical trait harpsichord music - an abundance of melodic decorations.
By the end of the 18th century. works by French harpsichordists began to disappear from the repertoire of performers. As a result, an instrument that had such long history and so rich artistic heritage, was forced out of musical practice and replaced by the piano. And not just superseded, but completely forgotten in the 19th century.
This occurred as a result of a radical change in aesthetic preferences. Baroque aesthetics, which is based on either a clearly formulated or clearly felt concept of the theory of affects (in brief the essence: one mood, affect - one sound color), for which the harpsichord was an ideal means of expression, gave way first to the worldview of sentimentalism, then to a stronger direction - classicism and, finally, romanticism. In all these styles, the most attractive and cultivated idea was, on the contrary, the idea of changeability - feelings, images, moods. And the piano was able to express this. The harpsichord could not do all this in principle - due to the peculiarities of its design.
A musician who performs musical works both on the harpsichord and on its varieties is called harpsichordist.
Origin
The earliest mention of a harpsichord-type instrument appears in a 1397 source from Padua (Italy), the earliest known image is on an altar in Minden (1425). The harpsichord remained in use as a solo instrument until the end of the 18th century. For a little longer it was used to perform digital bass, to accompany recitatives in operas. Around 1810 it practically fell out of use. The revival of the culture of playing the harpsichord began at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries.
The harpsichords of the 15th century have not survived. Judging by the images, these were short tools with a heavy body. Most surviving 16th-century harpsichords were made in Italy, where Venice was the main center of production.
They had an 8` register (less often two registers 8` and 4`) and were distinguished by their grace. Their body was most often made of cypress. The attack on these harpsichords was clearer and the sound more abrupt than that of later Flemish instruments.
The most important center for the production of harpsichords in Northern Europe was Antwerp, where representatives of the Ruckers family worked since 1579. Their harpsichords have longer strings and heavier bodies than Italian instruments. From the 1590s, harpsichords with two manuals were produced in Antwerp. French, English, and German harpsichords of the 17th century combine the features of Flemish and Dutch models.
Some French two-manual harpsichords with walnut bodies have survived. From the 1690s, harpsichords of the same type as Ruckers instruments were produced in France. Among French harpsichord masters, the Blanchet dynasty stood out. In 1766, Blanchet's workshop was inherited by Taskin.
The most significant English harpsichord manufacturers in the 18th century were the Shudys and the Kirkman family. Their instruments had a plywood-lined oak body and were distinguished by a strong sound with a rich timbre. In 18th-century Germany, the main center of harpsichord production was Hamburg; among those manufactured in this city are instruments with 2` and 16` registers, as well as with 3 manuals. The unusually long harpsichord model was designed by J.D. Dülken, a leading Dutch master XVIII century.
In the 2nd half of the 18th century, the harpsichord began to be replaced. Around 1809, the Kirkman company produced its last harpsichord. The initiator of the revival of the instrument was A. Dolmech. He built his first harpsichord in 1896 in London and soon opened workshops in Boston, Paris, and Haslemere.
The production of harpsichords was also launched by the Parisian companies Pleyel and Erard. Pleyel began producing a model of a harpsichord with a metal frame carrying thick, taut strings; Wanda Landowska trained a whole generation of harpsichordists on instruments of this type. Boston masters Frank Hubbard and William Dowd were the first to copy antique harpsichords.
Device
It has the shape of an oblong triangle. Its strings are positioned horizontally, parallel to the keys.
At the end of each key there is a pusher (or jumper). At the upper end of the pusher there is a languette in which a plectrum (tongue) made of feather is fixed (on many modern instruments - made of plastic), just above the plectrum there is a damper made of felt or soft leather. When you press a key, the pusher rises and the plectrum plucks the string. If the key is released, the release mechanism will allow the plectrum to return to its place under the string without plucking the string again. The vibration of the string is damped by a damper.
For registration, i.e. changes the strength and timbre of the sound, using hand and foot switches. Smoothly increasing and decreasing the volume on a harpsichord is impossible. In the 15th century, the range of the harpsichord was 3 octaves (in the lower octave some chromatic notes were missing); in the 16th century it expanded to 4 octaves (C - c«`), in the 18th century to 5 octaves (F` - f«`).
A typical 18th-century German or Dutch harpsichord has 2 manuals (keyboards), 2 sets of 8' strings and one set of 4' strings (sounding an octave higher), which can be used individually or together, as well as a manual copulation mechanism. Foot and knee register switches appeared in the late 1750s. Most instruments have a so-called lute register with a characteristic nasal timbre (to obtain it, the strings are slightly muffled by bumps of leather or felt using a special mechanism).
Composers who composed harpsichord music
Francois Couperin the Great
Louis Couperin
Louis Marchand
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Pachelbel
Dietrich Buxtehude
Girolamo Frescobaldi
Johann Jacob Froberger
George Frideric Handel
William Bird
Henry Purcell
Johann Adam Reinecke
Dominico Scarlatti
Alessandro Scarlatti
Matthias Weckman
Dominico Zipoli
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Introduction
Chapter I. Preconditions for the flourishing of the music of French harpsichordists
1 Keyboard musical instruments of the 18th century
2 Features of the Rococo style in music and other forms of creativity
Chapter II. Musical images of French harpsichordists
1 Harpsichord music by J.F. Ramo
2 Harpsichord music by F. Couperin
Conclusion
Bibliography
Introduction
The French harpsichord school reached its peak in the work of two geniuses - Francois Couperin and his younger contemporary Jean Philippe Rameau.
François Couperin is a French composer, harpsichordist, and organist. From a dynasty comparable to the German Bach dynasty, since there were several generations of musicians in his family. Couperin was nicknamed "the great Couperin" partly due to his sense of humor and partly due to his character. His work is the pinnacle of French harpsichord art. Couperin's music is distinguished by melodic inventiveness, grace, and precision of detail.
Jean Philippe Rameau is a French composer and music theorist. Using the achievements of French and Italian musical cultures, significantly modified the style of classicist opera, prepared opera reform K.V. Gluck. He wrote the lyrical tragedies “Hippolytus and Arisia”, “Castor and Pollux”, the opera-ballet “Gallant India”, harpsichord pieces and others. His theoretical works are a significant stage in the development of the doctrine of harmony.
The purpose of this course work is to study materials about the life and work of two great harpsichordists and to identify the features of their work.
) study the literature on the specified topic;
) consider the main features of the Rococo style;
) to identify the features of the work of the great French harpsichordists - F. Couperin and J.F. Ramo.
This work is relevant in our time, since Rameau and Couperin made a special contribution to world classical music.
1.1 Keyboard musical instruments of the 18th century
By the 17th century, the mechanisms of keyboard instruments such as the clavichord and harpsichord were well known. In the clavichord the sound was produced using a flat metal pin (tangent), and in the harpsichord using a crow's feather (plectrum).
Clavichords were too quiet instruments for large performances. And harpsichords produced a fairly loud sound, but expressed little of each note individually.
The most significant manufacturers of harpsichords in the 18th century were the Schudis and the Kirkman family. Their instruments had a plywood-lined oak body and were distinguished by a strong sound with a rich timbre. In 18th-century Germany, the main center of harpsichord production was Hamburg. Among those made in this city there are instruments with two and sixteen registers, as well as with three manuals. The unusually long harpsichord model was designed by J. D. Duelken, a leading Dutch master of the 18th century. In the second half of the 18th century<#"justify">For many years The harpsichord was the most popular instrument in many countries around the world. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, the harpsichord retained its popularity. Even after the invention of the piano, which was easier and more convenient to play, musicians continued to use the harpsichord. It took about a hundred years for musicians to forget about the harpsichord and switch to the piano.
From the middle of the 18th century, the harpsichord began to lose popularity, and soon disappeared from the stage. concert halls at all. Only in the middle of the 19th century did musicians remember it, and now many music schools have begun to train performers who play the harpsichord.
2 Features of the Rococo style in music and other forms of creativity
Rococo is an art style that originated in France<#"justify">The emergence of the Rococo style was due to changes in philosophy, tastes and court life. The ideological basis of the style is eternal youth and beauty, gallant and melancholy grace, escape from reality, the desire to hide from reality in a pastoral idyll and rural joys. The Rococo style originated in France and spread to other countries: Italy, Germany, Russia, the Czech Republic and others. This applies to painting and other forms of art.
Rococo painting manifested itself most clearly in France and Italy. Instead of contrasts and bright colors, a different range of colors appeared in painting, light pastel colors, pink, bluish, lilac. The theme is dominated by pastorals<#"justify">Chapter II. Musical images of French harpsichordists
2.1 Harpsichord music by J. Rameau
Rameau was born and raised among professional musicians in one of the ancient musical centers of France - the city of Dijon, in the family of an organist. His birthday is unknown, but he was baptized on September 25, 1683. The capital of Burgundy has long been famous as one of the oldest centers of French music. Jean Rameau the father held the position of organist there at the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Dijon and was, apparently, the first musical mentor of one of greatest composers France. At that distant time, home musical education took root almost everywhere as a kind of unshakable tradition, and, conversely, the artistic improvement of a young man in a music school seemed to be a very rare exception. Young Rameau became familiar with the humanities at the Jesuit college, which he attended for four years. Information confirmed by documentary materials about youth Jean Philippe, scanty. It is known for sure that at the age of eighteen, on the initiative of his father, he went to Italy for the purpose of musical education, without going, however, further than Milan.
At that time, Italian music attracted widespread attention due to the emergence of a new genre of French musical theater(The Queen’s comic ballet was staged with the participation of Italians), and due to the pro-Italian policy pursued by the kings of the Valois dynasty. In the 1700s, this was joined by a theoretical debate about Italian and French music between the Italianomaniac Abbé Raguenet and the Gallomaniac Lecerf de la Vieville. A few months later, Rameau returned to France, where he performed in a very modest role as a violinist playing in troupes of traveling comedians - the same ones who are depicted with amazing accuracy and poetry in the works of Antoine Watteau. This was a very significant period in the artist’s life: he became involved in the folk theater, opera, and ballet. Perhaps in those years, melodic images of some of his harpsichord pieces arose in the violin texture.
Since 1702, Rameau has been performing in a new role - church organist of some provincial cities - Avignon, Clermont-Ferrand, where his first cantatas - “Medea” and “Impatience” - were written. In 1705 he first appeared in the capital, where he played in two small churches; in 1706 - published the first notebook of his harpsichord pieces. Musical Paris received the newcomer indifferently, if not coldly, despite the innumerable and amazing beauties with which the first suite in A minor of his harpsichord pieces literally sparkles and sparkles (with the famous prelude without a bar line).
At the beginning of the second Parisian period, Rameau embarked on the path of musical theater. Everything in life was difficult for him, and this path turned out to be thorny. In 1727, in search of a libretto, he repeatedly turned to the famous de la Motte. One of Rameau's letters to this librettist is a truly classic presentation of his operatic-aesthetic theory. However, the favorite of the Royal Opera, spoiled beyond measure by Lully's students, did not even consider it necessary to respond to these messages. Rameau continued to compose. Following the second, a third notebook of harpsichord pieces and new cantatas appeared - “Aquilon and Oritia” and “The Faithful Shepherd”. In 1732 - the year he was born Joseph Haydn when François Couperin lived to last days, and Voltaire wrote “Zaire” - in this very year Rameau appeared in the salon of the then all-powerful philanthropist, general tax farmer Alexandre la Pupliniere. Here he found his first librettist, Abbé Pellegrin, and met the greatest poet and the playwright of the then France, yesterday's prisoner of the Bastille - Francois Marie Arouet-Voltaire.
This acquaintance turned into a collaboration between the two outstanding artists, it had the most important guiding significance for Rameau: the composer owed much to him for his transformation into the largest musical figure of pre-revolutionary classicism of the 18th century.
Collaboration with Voltaire had a decisive influence on Rameau, it contributed to the final formation of his aesthetics, views on the theater, his dramaturgy, genres, and, as one can assume, his recitative style, the irresistible influence of which extends to French music of today.
Rameau's element was dance, to which he, while maintaining the features of gallantry, introduced temperament, wit, and folk-genre rhythmic intonations, overheard in his youth on the stage of fairs. At first they sounded tartly, sometimes defiantly, in his harpsichord pieces, and from there they entered into opera house, appearing before the public in a new, orchestral outfit.
His harpsichord plays were performed by almost all the virtuosos of Europe, and the most noble families of the French aristocracy disputed among themselves the right to teach their children from him. It was a brilliant career.
Rameau's harpsichord music is characterized by a major touch, contrary to the chamber traditions of the genre. He is not prone to fine detail. His music is distinguished by its bright characteristics; one can immediately feel the handwriting of a born theater composer (“Chicken”, “Savages”, “Cyclops”).
In addition to his wonderful harpsichord pieces, Rameau wrote many “lyrical tragedies,” as well as the innovative “Treatise on Harmony,” which earned him the reputation of a major musical theorist.
Associated with the theater from a young age, writing music for fair performances, Rameau began performing operatic works very late, already fifty years old. The first opus, “Samson,” based on Voltaire’s libretto, did not see the stage because of the biblical plot.
A significant area of Rameau's creativity is harpsichord music. The composer was an outstanding improviser. In 1706, 1722 and approximately 1728, 5 suites were published in which dance pieces (allemande, courante, minuet, sarabande, gigue) alternated with characteristic pieces that had expressive names: “Tender Complaints”, “Conversation of the Muses”, “Savages” , “Whirlwinds” and other works.
His best plays are distinguished by their high spirituality - “Bird Calling”, “Peasant Woman”, excited ardor - “Gypsy”, “Princess”, and a subtle combination of humor and melancholy - “Chicken”, “Hromusha”. Rameau's masterpiece is "Gavotte with Variations", in which an exquisite dance theme gradually acquires severity. This play reflected the spiritual movement of the era: from the refined poetry of gallant festivities in Watteau’s paintings to the revolutionary classicism of David’s paintings. In addition to solo suites, Rameau wrote 11 harpsichord concertos accompanied by chamber ensembles.
Rameau became known to his contemporaries first as a music theorist, and then as a composer. As an esthetician, he defended the leading theory of his time - the theory of art as an imitation of nature. Exploring the laws of harmony, he proceeded essentially from a materialistic understanding of sound and sound sensations (natural scale as a phenomenon physical world). He demanded that the musician test and comprehend practical experience using the means of reason and intellect. Rameau theoretically generalized and substantiated the tertian structure, inversion of chords, introduced the concept of “harmonic center” (tonic), dominant and especially subdominant functions.
2 Harpsichord music by F. Couperin
François Couperin was born on November 10, 1668 in Paris into the hereditary musical family of church organist Charles Couperin. His abilities manifested themselves early; his first teacher was his father; then music lessons continued under the leadership of organist J. Tomlen. In 1685, François Couperin took up the position of organist in the Church of Saint-Gervais, where his grandfather Louis Couperin and father had previously worked. From 1693, François Couperin also began his activities at the royal court - as a teacher, then an organist of the court chapel, and a chamber musician (harpsichordist).
His responsibilities were varied: he performed as a harpsichordist and organist, composed music for concerts and for church, accompanied singers and gave music lessons to members of the royal family. At the same time, he did not give up private lessons and retained his position as organist in the Church of Saint-Gervais. Although Couperin’s lifetime and posthumous fame is associated mainly with his merits as a composer-harpsichordist, he wrote many works for chamber ensemble (concertos, trio sonatas), and among his spiritual works there are two organ masses, motets and the so-called “L eçons des Ténèbres" (" Night readings"). Almost all of Couperin's life was spent in the capital of France or in Versailles. Very few biographical details have been preserved about him. His musical style formed mainly in the traditions of the French school of harpsichordists, as is fully confirmed by the content of his treatise “The Art of Playing the Harpsichord.” At the same time, in the work of Couperin, French harpsichordism reached a high degree of maturity: in it in the best possible way Almost all the artistic possibilities emerging in this creative school were revealed. If Jean Philippe Rameau went further than Couperin in this sense, then he had already begun a kind of partial revision of the traditions of harpsichordism - both in figurative and compositional terms. In total, Couperin wrote more than 250 pieces for the harpsichord. With few exceptions, they were included in the collections of 1713, 1717, 1722 and 1730. These plays are distinguished by their amazing unity and integrity of artistic style. It is difficult to even sense how exactly the composer’s long creative evolution was manifested in them. Is it just that the style of presentation has become a little stricter over the years, the lines have developed a little larger, the manifestation of gallantry has become less noticeable, and the direct dependence on dance has decreased. IN early works Couperin's certain dances (with designations: allemande, courante, sarabande, gigue, gavotte, minuet, canary, paspier, rigaudon), sometimes with programmatic subtitles, are more common. Over time, there are fewer of them, but until recent years the composer encountered allemande, sarabande, minuet, gavotte, not to mention dance moves in program pieces without designations of one dance or another. Without breaking with dance (including the traditional dances of the suite), especially with the principle of dance in the composition of his small plays, Couperin, however, does not combine them into suites. He calls the juxtaposition of several plays (from four to twenty-four) “ordre,” that is, succession, series. This emphasizes not any typical construction of the whole, but each time a free alternation of five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten (rarely more) plays, without stable functions of parts. Four collections contain 27 such “rows”. In each of them, in principle, there are no main or secondary parts, there are no obligatory contrasting comparisons, but it is precisely the alternation of miniatures that appears, like a garland of them, which can be deployed both wider and more modestly - depending on the composer’s plan. At the same time, nothing should get boring in this light series of graceful, captivating, funny, witty, brilliant, colorful, characteristic, even portrait or genre images. Therefore, the plays in each ordre are selected with unobtrusive versatility, but without violating the general artistic harmony, required by good taste (which Couperin valued above all else). Of course, numerous individual solutions are possible here, which ultimately amounts to main principle similar compositions. The plays themselves, as was previously the case among harpsichordists, have a consistent characteristic of one image, be it a defining feature of an appearance (usually a woman’s), be it a portrait sketch (“nominal” plays), a poetic phenomenon of nature, a genre, an expression of certain emotions, mythological character, a scene or situation clearly inspired by opera and ballet theater. And everywhere Couperin’s music is elegant, replete with ornamentation; sometimes rhythmically whimsical, changeable, sometimes more danceable; slim in shape; expressive, but without affectation; if majestic, then without much pathos; if tender, then without much sensitivity; if cheerful and dynamic, then without elemental force; if she embodies mournful or “dark” images, then with noble restraint. The composer confirms that he always thought of his music figuratively, even in portraiture. In accordance with the aesthetic norms of the time and especially the environment in which Couperin worked, his images - “portraits”, to varying degrees, combined real accuracy with convention. And the higher the social position of the “portrayed”, the more bound the artist was by this. Currently, many specific personalities are known whose names appear in the titles of Couperin's plays. These were mostly the wives or daughters of noble persons or musicians (G. Garnier, A. Forcret, J. B. Marais) with whom the composer communicated. Couperin's musical writing is extremely developed in all its subtleties and surprisingly stylish. Given certain aesthetic limitations and conventions, he finds diverse, even extreme, opportunities to be expressive on the harpsichord. “The harpsichord itself is a brilliant instrument, ideal in its range, but since the harpsichord can neither increase nor decrease the strength of sound, I will always be grateful to those who, thanks to their infinitely perfect art and taste, are able to make it expressive. This is also what my predecessors strived for, not to mention the excellent composition of their plays. I tried to improve their discoveries,” Couperin wrote with good reason in the preface to the first collection of harpsichord pieces. In comparison with his predecessors, Couperin makes much wider use of the capabilities of the harpsichord, more freely manages sonorities throughout its entire range, and two manuals of a large instrument (pieces “crois” are specially designed for them). ee", that is, with crossings), comprehensively develops the harpsichord texture, activates voice leading (with the determining significance of the homophonic structure), enhances the overall dynamics within the piece, pays attention to close attention ornamentation. As a result, the musical fabric of his works turns out to be refined and transparent at the same time, sometimes exquisitely ornamented, replete with the finest intonation strokes, sometimes full of light movement with the relative simplicity of the general lines. The most difficult thing is to reduce his harpsichord writing to any types or norms. The main charm here is the mobility, the emergence of countless variants of musical composition, determined by figurative nuances. It was on the harpsichord, which did not have the dynamic means of the future piano (it did not allow the sound to be prolonged, to achieve crescendo and diminuendo effects, to deeply diversify the color of the sound), that the most detailed, jewellery, “lacey” development of the texture was extremely important, which was carried out by Couperin. A special place in Couperin's work is occupied by the Passacaglia in B minor, included in ordre VIII - perhaps the most profound and soulful work among his pieces for harpsichord. Wide-ranging (174 bars), very clear in composition, it is a rondo with eight verses. The rondo theme itself is beautiful - strict, restrained, chordal, on a chromatically ascending bass: an eight-bar of two identical four-bars: These measuredness, weightiness, and minorities are especially emphasized harmonically: smooth vocal performance allows one to calmly achieve harmonic sharpness and subtle changes of colors, with their reflection in the melody, going back to the melodic minor. The general character of the sound is sustained - serious and would be harsh if not for these soft harmonic modulations. The couplets do not remove the impression made by the entirely dominant theme. They reveal the amazing wealth of the composer's imagination - while maintaining the artistic integrity of the play. The subtle sophistication of many of Couperin’s plays contrasts in their own way with his few, but still noticeable, figurative embodiments of the heroic principle, militant upsurge, and victorious triumph. In the plays “Triumphal” and “Trophy” this heroism is expressed not only in a simple and lapidary form, but even in a typical intonation structure (fanfares, signals). Couperin's ability to extract diverse artistic results from a system of similar or related techniques of presentation is amazing. Very peculiar, for example, is his tendency to lead the melody in a low, as if tenor register throughout the entire (or almost entire) play, which we have already encountered in the miniature “Small Mourning”, and also - in a completely different way - in the large rondo “Mysterious obstacles." In other cases, such register colors either serve him to express his natural masculinity (“Sylvanas”), or convey the roar of waves, introducing him to a special poetic atmosphere. (“Waves”), then they turn out to be necessary even for the embodiment of very different feminine images. The last one is especially surprising. However, the soft, pure, somewhat detached from passions image of “Angelica”, and the refined, even languidly capricious image of “Seductive”, and the wonderful, like ariosous lyrics of “Touching” - with all the differences in the chosen expressive means- are perfectly set off by this deeper than usual coloring: The composer was concerned with observing on the harpsichord, first of all, the techniques of presentation characteristic of this instrument. As a rule, what is possible on the violin, in a violin sonata, should be limited in harpsichord music, he found. “If it is impossible to amplify the sound on the harpsichord, and if repetition of the same sound does not suit it very well, it has its advantages - precision, clarity, brilliance, range.” Couperin's contemporaries were the French harpsichordist composers Louis Marchand, G. Le, J. F. Dandrieu and some others. Their art developed in the same direction creative school with a preference for small-form program plays, with an interest in traditional and new-fangled dances. And although each of them had their own individual achievements along the way, Couperin’s work undoubtedly expressed its time with the greatest completeness that was available to harpsichordism in its specifically French refraction. Bibliography Couperin Rameau French harpsichordist 1. Livanova T. History of Western European music until 1789. Volume 1. Moscow, 1983. 696 p. 2. Rosenshield K. K. Music in France XVII- beginning of the 18th century. Moscow, 1979. 168 p. Livanova T.N. Western European music of the 17th-18th centuries among the arts. Moscow, 1977, 528 p.
from mother-of-pearl, at the end of the 18th century - from porcelain. In the mid-19th century, polymer material was first used for prosthetics. Which one? 1. celluoid 2. ebonite 3. rubber. 4.polymethylmethacrylate 5.fluoroplastic 6.silicone.
Art critic Alpatov said about Russian painting of the 18th century: "...A bald head peeks out from under a wig." What did he mean by this figurativeexpression? Give at least three examples.
Well, I have one idea: Russian artists of the 18th century wrote in Western styles (Baroque, sentimentalism, etc.), but through Western canons a special Russian style still emerged (Russian Baroque appeared, for example), different from the Western one. Then the “wig” is a kind of personification of the West (especially since wigs came into fashion in those days), and the “bald head” is those very Russian features “peeping out” through the canon of the “wig”.
Need more two ideas. Help please.
from mother-of-pearl, at the end of the 18th century - from porcelain. In the mid-19th century, polymer material was first used for prosthetics. Which one?
1.celluoid
4.polymethylmethacrylate
5.fluoroplastic
6.silicone.
HELP PLEASE)))In each question, out of four names of composers, you need to choose one.))))
1. Name the composer of the Baroque era.
a) Vivaldi;
b) Mozart;
c) Beethoven;
d) Schumann.
2.Which of the listed composers was an abbot?
a) Bach;
b) Handel;
c) Vivaldi;
d) Mozart.
3. Name the author of “The Well-Tempered Clavier”, “St. Matthew Passion”, “Inventions”.
a) Bach;
b) Beethoven;
c) Chopin;
d) Schumann.
4.Who wrote the opera "Fidelio"?
a) Haydn;
b) Mozart;
c) Beethoven;
d) Chopin.
5. Which composer wrote the operas “The Marriage of Figaro”, “Don Giovanni”,
a) Mozart;
b) Beethoven;
c) Mendelssohn;
d) Rossini.
6.Which of these composers is not a Viennese classic?
a) Haydn;
b) Schumann;
c) Mozart;
d) Beethoven.
7. Who is the author of the operas “Aida”, “La Traviata”, “Rigoletto”?
a) Mozart;
b) Beethoven;
c) Rossini;
d) Verdi.
8. Who wrote 32 piano sonatas?
a) Bach;
b) Mozart;
c) Beethoven;
d) Chopin.
9. Name the author of “Symphonies with tremolo timpani”, “Farewell”, “Children’s”.
a) Haydn;
b) Mozart;
c) Schumann;
d) Chopin.
10. Who is called the “father of symphonies and quartets”?
a) Mazart;
b) Beethoven;
c) Haydn;
d) Bach.
11. Which composer was the first to call his work a symphonic poem?
a) Guano;
b) Berlioz;
c) Beethoven;
d) Leaf;
12.Which musical form based on a conflict between two themes?
a) variations;
b) roundabout;
c) sonata form;
d) fugue.
13.Name the author of the symphonies in the finale of which a choir is used:
a) Haydn;
b) Mozart;
c) Schubert;
d) Beethoven.
14.Which of these composers wrote only for piano?
a) Gounod;
b) Chopin;
c) Mahler;
d) Schumann;
15. Which of these composers wrote the music for Ibsen’s drama “Peer Gynt”?
a) Chopin;
b) Berlioz;
c) Mahler;
d) Schumann.
16. who wrote the vocal cycles “The Beautiful Miller’s Wife” and “Winter Retreat”?
a) Schubert;
b) Schumann;
c) Mendelssohn;
d) Bizet.
17. Name the author of the “Unfinished Symphonies”:
a) Beethoven;
b) Haydn;
c) Schubert;
d) Wagner.
18. Who wrote the piano cycle “Carnival”?
a) Beethoven;
b) Mozart;
c) Haydn;
d) Leaf.
19. Who wrote more than 100 symphonies?
a) Beethoven;
b) Mozart;
c) Haydn;
d) Schubert.
20. Russian composer-violinist of the 18th century:
a) Alyabyev;
b) Fomin;
c) Khandoshkin;
d) Verstovsky.