Features of the culture of the period of feudal fragmentation. Features of the development of Russian culture during the period of feudal fragmentation

The first half of the 19th century was the heyday of urban everyday songs and everyday romance. They were composed by Alyabyev, Varlamov, Gurilev, and later by Glinka and Dargomyzhsky. Elegiac romances and popular “Russian songs” firmly entered into everyday life and became popular, such as “The Red Sarafan” by Varlamov, “The Nightingale” by Alyabyev, and “The Bell” by Gurilev.

These songs and romances expressed the mood primarily of the various nobility. Sad contemplation, deep intimacy of expression, hopeless sadness, desperate impulse fortunately, were typical of the sentiments of many people of the 30s and 40s. last century.

The secret of our compatriots' undying love for the lyrics of these composers is hidden in the mutually exclusive properties of the Russian character, which are captured in his romances. The soul of a Russian person is entirely woven from contradictions.

The 19th century in Russia is the century of the heyday of brilliant noble culture.

The Russian school of composition began in the 19th century with composers who combined European form and the Russian spirit in music.

1.Mikhail Ivanovich GLINKA (1804-1857)

Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka is the first Russian composer of world significance in history, the founder of Russian musical classics.

Born in the village of Novospasskoye, Smolensk province, in the family of a landowner. Later he studied at a boarding school at the Main Pedagogical Institute in St. Petersburg.

Two events shaped his worldview. The first is the victorious war of 1812. with Napoleon, in which the Russian people showed both military valor and unprecedented fortitude.

The second event is the Decembrist uprising, the execution and exile of noble and honest people Russia.

Contemporaries and peers of Glinka - Pushkin, Gogol, Baratynsky, Zhukovsky, Tyutchev. Nine years older is Griboedov, ten years younger is Lermontov.

Glinka began his career as a composer by composing romances. One of the most famous is “Do not tempt me unnecessarily” to the words of Baratynsky. Later such masterpieces as “I Remember a Wonderful Moment”, “Doubt”, “Lark” will appear... EXAMPLES...

Glinka for a long time was looking for ways to go beyond everyday music.

In the early 1830s. left his service in the Ministry of Railways and went on a multi-year trip to Europe, where he studied the art of composition. In Italy, Glinka came up with the idea of ​​​​creating a Russian national opera, national both in plot and musical language.

The plot was suggested by Zhukovsky: the feat of the peasant Iv. Susanina in troubled times.

The opera is based on a real historical event - the patriotic feat of the peasant of the village of Domnino, near Kostroma, Ivan Osipovich Susanin, committed at the beginning of 1613. Moscow was then already liberated from the Polish invaders, but the invaders' detachments still roamed the Russian soil. To prevent the complete liberation of Russia, one of these detachments wanted to capture the newly elected Russian Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov, who lived near Kostroma. But Susanin, whom the enemies tried to make their guide, led the invaders into a dense forest and destroyed them, dying himself.

The success was enormous, the opera was received with enthusiasm. M.I. Glinka received recognition (“A Life for the Tsar,” 1836). A Russian hero, the peasant Ivan Susanin, appeared on the opera stage. His image collected the best features of the national character. The next day, Glinka wrote to his mother:

Yesterday evening my wishes were finally fulfilled, and my long labor was crowned with the most brilliant success. The audience received my opera with extraordinary enthusiasm, the actors went wild with zeal... the sovereign - emperor... thanked me and talked with me for a long time...

The second opera is the big magical “Ruslan and Lyudmila” (1842). It is based on the poem of the same name by A.S. Pushkin. Work on the opera was carried out against the backdrop of Pushkin's death and in the difficult living conditions of the composer. This opera as a dramatic action was not entirely successful for Glinka. However, the music of many of the opera's numbers is brilliant, which more than compensates for the shortcomings of the dramaturgy.

The dances from Glinka's two operas created the tradition of Russian classical dance music in both spirit and artistic excellence.

An unsuccessful marriage brought him a lot of grief and trouble until it ended in divorce.

Glinka again spends the last period of his life traveling - Spain, France, Poland... Glinka never stops composing. Two famous Spanish overtures “Aragonese Jota” and “Night in Madrid” appear. And the most significant thing symphonic work“Kamarinskaya” is a fantasy overture on two Russian themes. Glinka's classic romances are wonderful. The most famous is based on Pushkin’s poems – “I Remember a Wonderful Moment.”

Died in Berlin from influenza. Later, the ashes were transported to Russia and buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Glinka approved the basic principles of the Russian school of composition – nationality and patriotism.

The composer wrote these wonderful words: “...the people create music, and we, the artists, only arrange it.” I liked the idea and became an immutable rule that many composers followed. United by this idea, the Russian school of composition began to take shape.

Glinka is a highly professional composer. Any of his works attracts with its integrity and harmony of form, precision and clarity of musical expression. His pure, clear music that simply heals the soul.

Glinka's music belongs neither to classicism nor to romanticism. He developed his own original style, based on the principles of Russian artistic realism Pushkin era.

He was the first Russian composer to create the image of a Russian person on the opera stage.

Glinka became the first Russian classical composer. With his work, Russian music entered the path of world art.

Glinka's legacy: operas “Ivan Susanin” and “Ruslan and Lyudmila”; symphonic overtures - fantasies Aragonese Jota, “Night in Madrid”, “Kamarinskaya”, “Waltz-Fantasy” and others; more than 70 romances; chamber instrumental ensembles and piano works.

Bright, life-affirming character, harmony of forms, beauty and expressive melodies, subtlety of harmony and instrumentation are the most valuable qualities of Glinka’s music.

Glinka was the first among Russian composers to create his works based on Russian folk music.. Glinka is considered the creator of Russian national school in music. His work influenced all Russian composers of the first half of the 19th century V.

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Quote from M.I. Glinka: “To create beauty, you yourself must be pure in soul.”

Quote about M.I. Glinka: “The entire Russian symphonic school, like an entire oak tree in an acorn, is contained in the symphonic fantasy “Kamarinskaya”. P.I.Tchaikovsky

Interesting fact: Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka was not in good health, calling himself “mimosa” from childhood. Despite this, he was very easy-going and knew geography very well; perhaps, if he had not become a composer, he would have become a traveler. Knew six foreign languages, including Persian. LISTEN:

From op. "Ivan Susanin". Polish dances from Act 2 (fragmerty), Susanina’s Aria “You will rise, my dawn”, Choir “Hail”,

From op. Ruslan and Ludmila". 1. Overture.2. 3rd songs of Bayan. 3.March of Chernomor. 4. Scene with the Head.

Overtures Spanish (fragments) and Kamarinskaya. Waltz fantasy.

Romance “Do not tempt”, “I remember a wonderful moment.”

ALEXANDER SERGEEVICH DARGOMYZHSKY (1813-1869)

Nobleman. Born on his father's estate in Tula province. At the age of four, he and his entire family moved to St. Petersburg. His musical abilities showed early, and he began to be taught music.

In 1834 he met Mikhail Glinka, and this acquaintance played a decisive role in his future fate.

His work is associated with the ideas of critical realism in literature. Dargomyzhsky entered the history of Russian music as one of the founders of realistic art. M. P. Mussorgsky called Dargomyzhsky “the great teacher of truth.”

The composer's central work is the opera " Mermaid"(based on the drama by A. S. Pushkin), staged in 1856. Drama of social inequality loving friend the friend of the miller's daughter Natasha and the Prince were attracted by the relevance of the theme. “Rusalka” is the first Russian everyday lyrical and psychological opera.

Dargomyzhsky sought to convey psychology through human speech. Speech intonation became the main means of expression in his music. It was a very dubious and unpromising experiment.

The Last Opera Dargomyzhsky, " Stone Guest”, written on the full text of Pushkin’s “little tragedy”. There are no arias, no ensembles, no chorus. This is a chamber recitative opera.

Dargomyzhsky creates a new genre: satirical romance. “Worm” on Kurochkin. Satirical scene. Ridiculing veneration. The main thing is the vocal part. The piano part is very modest. Change of intonation – C-dur-As-dur. “What happiness.”

“Titular Advisor” to Weinberg. B major. Music follows every word of the text. Through form. 1st section – B-dur, 2nd section – drunken adviser.

Many of Dargomyzhsky's romances are confusingly dramatic scenes. The most striking example is “Old Corporal” on Kurochkina. Monologue of an old corporal sentenced to death for insulting a young officer. Consists of several sections, at the end of each of them there is a refrain. There is a lot of recitativeness in the vocal part: “Keep up, guys, one, two” (refrain). 2nd verse – “I insulted the officer.” Each verse is more dramatic than the previous one. At the end, Dargomyzhsky introduces the chorus: “Keep up, guys, one, two.” It is usually performed by the piano.

Dargomyzhsky took an active part in the activities of the Russian Musical Society created in 1859. His house, like his parents' house once, became a meeting place for outstanding artists, painters and poets of the time. From the very beginning of its existence, the “Mighty Handful” found its patron in Dargomyzhsky.

During his last tour of Europe in 1864-1865. Dargomyzhsky visited Leipzig, Brussels, Paris and London, where he staged his operas. Returning to St. Petersburg, he continued to work hard on the creation of the opera “The Stone Guest,” which death prevented him from finishing.

Dargomyzhsky’s rich compositional heritage includes several orchestral works: three symphonies, “Little Russian Cossack”, “Chukhon Fantasy” (1867). "Baba Yaga, or From the Volga nach Riga" (1862). However, his operatic and vocal creativity is of greatest importance.

Listen:“I’m sad” by Lermontov, “Old Corporal”, “Titular Councilor”, Melnik’s Aria from op. "Mermaid".

3. Third period: musical art of the post-reform era (second half of the 19th century)

In 1861, by royal decree, it was abolished serfdom, which entailed the liberalization of Russian social life.

Literature was the leading art form in Russia at that time, and opera dominated in music.

Even symphonic music of that time entered into a legal marriage with literature. The fruit of this union is program symphonic music. She draws her plots from all world literature (from traditional Pushkin texts to the works of Shakespeare), reinterpreting them from a modern perspective. An example of this is………

Main musical achievement This period was the creation of the Russian symphony - lyrical-dramatic by P.I. Tchaikovsky, and epic by A.P. Borodin.

Russian classical ballet also appears, in which the dramatic essence of the plot is revealed through musical symphonic means.

The Russian Musical Society (RMS) was organized, the first conservatories were opened in St. Petersburg (1862) and Moscow. The Rubinstein brothers played a major role in the musical education of Russia.

The elder Anton Grigorievich (1829-1894) was more of a virtuoso pianist than a true composer, although he wrote a huge number of works. For the most part, his music is devoid of originality. This is a pan-European style. It is easy to confuse him, for example, with Mendelssohn. The subject matter is pale and often lapses into pomposity. True, one cannot deny him several genuine successes, one of them is the chorus “Nochenka” from the opera “The Demon”. And, of course, his composing acumen and professionalism are beyond doubt. The Kuchkists did not like him (especially Mussorgsky), they called him Tupinstein.

PETERSBURG SCHOOL OF COMPOSITION. MIGHTY BUBBLE.

In the 60s the center musical life Petersburg became a circle of musicians, headed by Mily Alekseevich Balakirev (1837-1910). The circle went down in history as the “Mighty Handful.” The name was given to the circle by critic Vladimir Vasilyevich Stasov. They called themselves "the new Russian music school." Abroad they are called the “Russian Five”.

The circle included aspiring composers who had not received professional education. Balakirev was a professor for them for all occasions: Ts.A. Cui (1835-1918), A.P. Borodin, M.P. Mussorgsky (1839-1881), N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908).

Balakirev despotically taught the future “kuchkists” to write symphonies, although he himself managed to write one of his own symphonies for forty years (1856-1897!) Oddly enough, they still learned (not all) to write symphonic music, beating their teacher by many heads.

The Kuchkists considered themselves the heirs of Glinka and saw their goal in the development of Russian national music.

The aesthetic positions of the “kuchkists” were formed on the basis of radical populist ideas. Members of the “Mighty Handful” believed that national art grows from folklore, and the duty of the Russian composer is to translate the images of the people, their history and moral ideals into music. Let's remember Glinka's " nationality and patriotism."

The “Mighty Handful” laid the foundations of Russian national music and became an era in the development of Russian and world musical art.

In the 70s, the “Mighty Handful” ceased to exist as a cohesive group.

Balakirev was the first Russian composer to write a symphonic work based on a literary plot.

XIX century - the era of Russian opera classics. Russian Kuchka composers created masterpieces in various genres of opera.

The main operas of M. P. Mussorgsky (1839-1881) « Boris Godunov" (1872) and " Khovanshchina" The composer called them “folk musical dramas”, since the people are at the center of both works. main idea“Boris Godunov” (based on Pushkin’s tragedy of the same name) - conflict: the king - the people. This idea was one of the most important and acute in the post-reform era. Mussorgsky wanted to identify an analogy with modernity in the events of Rus''s past.

The critic Stasov said: “Mussorgsky is one of the people to whom posterity erects monuments.”

The plot of the opera A. P. Borodina(1833-1887) " Prince Igor" served as “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” Borodin wrote the opera for 17 years, but never finished the opera; Prince Igor was completed by Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov.

N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov is an opera storyteller. His best fairy tale operas are " Snow Maiden" (1881), " Sadko"(1896), " Koschei the Immortal" (1902) and " The Golden Cockerel"(1907).

The opera “occupies a special place” The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia"(1904), written based on materials folk legends about the Tatar-Mongol invasion.

Rimsky-Korsakov is a Russian musical wizard and teacher of a new generation of Russian musicians.

2. Alexander Porfirievich BORODIN (1833-1887)

Alexander Porfirievich Borodin, one of the leading Russian composers of the second half of the 19th century. In addition to his talent as a composer, he was a chemist, doctor, teacher, critic, and had literary talent.
Born in St. Petersburg. From childhood, his love for music and natural sciences manifested itself. After graduating from high school and then the Medical-Surgical Academy, he worked for several years as a military doctor and chemist. At the Faculty of Medicine, Borodin was awarded the title of professor. Throughout his life, he considered chemistry to be his profession, but every free devoted a minute to musical creativity.

Borodin entered the history of world culture primarily as a composer. Borodin had two hobbies - two professions: chemistry and music.

Borodin did not have professional musician teachers. He independently mastered the composition technique. The formation of A.P. Borodin was influenced by the work of M.I. Glinka.

AND The impetus for intensive study of composition in the early 1860s was given by two events - firstly, the acquaintance and marriage with the talented pianist E.S. Protopopova, secondly, the meeting with M.A. Balakirev and joining the creative community of Russian composers "Mighty bunch."

Borodin wrote the opera “Prince Igor” (with the famous “Polovtsian dances” (1869-1890),) This opera is an example of a national heroic epic in music. In "Prince Igor", the main idea of ​​the composer's entire work is reflected - courage, calm greatness, spiritual nobility of the best Russian people and the mighty strength of the Russian people, manifested in the defense of their homeland.

A.P. Borodin is one of the fathers of Russian symphonic music. He wrote three symphonies (the most popular is the 2nd “Bogatyrskaya”), the symphonic poem “In Central Asia”, two quartets (one of which includes the often performed “Nocturne”), songs and piano works.

In the music of the “Bogatyr” Symphony, Borodin achieves bright colors and concreteness of musical images. According to Stasov, he wanted to draw a meeting of Russian heroes at 1 hour, in the Andante (3 hours) - the figure of Bayan, and in the finale - a scene of a heroic feast. The name “Bogatyrskaya”, given to the symphony by Stasov, firmly stuck to it.

Borodin perceived life objectively and optimistically, as a source of strength and joy, with faith in the power of man, in the triumph of reason and beauty.

Borodin's music is like a leisurely chronicle, where events and people appear in succession. The main principle of Borodin's musical dramaturgy is the comparison of contrasting images. The melodies flow calmly and smoothly, akin to Russian peasant songs. Borodin never quotes folk melodies; he creates his own musical images, using the most characteristics folklore

Borodin had the ability to compose in folk song style. A close connection with Russian folklore is the most characteristic feature of the entire work of the composers of the “Mighty Handful”.

Borodin created the Russian epic symphony, and also established the type of Russian epic opera.

Quote about A.P. Borodin: “Borodin’s talent is equally powerful and amazing in symphony, opera and romance. His main qualities are gigantic strength and breadth, colossal scope, swiftness and impetuosity, combined with amazing passion, tenderness and beauty." V.V. Stasov.

3. Modest Petrovich MUSORGSKY (1839-1881)

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky is one of the most brilliant Russian composers of the 19th century, a member of the “Mighty Handful”.
Born in the Pskov province into a poor landowner family. From childhood he showed a talent for music, studied in St. Petersburg, and was, according to family tradition, a military man.

The decisive event in Mussorgsky’s life was his meeting with M.A. Balakirev and joining the “Mighty Handful”. Having abandoned his military career on Balakirev’s insistent advice and entered the civil service, Mussorgsky began to work hard and hard as a composer.

Mussorgsky was the most consistent exponent of nationalism and realism in music. In the operas “Boris Godunov” and “Khovanshchina” he captured the tragedies of not only individuals, but also the people experiencing the Time of Troubles of the early 17th century or the breakdown of ancient foundations during the accession of Peter. These operas are among the most popular Russian operas in the world. These operas have no equal in world musical art in the strength and depth of the embodiment of images, in the truthfulness and brightness of the depiction of the masses. Mussorgsky was the first composer to bring the Russian people to the opera stage.

In the opera Boris Godunov, Boris's personal drama unfolds against the backdrop of the drama of an entire people. It ends with a scene of a popular revolt near Kromy and the grave prophecy of the Holy Fool: “Cry, cry, Russian land, cry, Russian people.

Mussorgsky was a realist musician, a populist musician, akin to Gogol and Leo Tolstoy.

He mastered all the features of Russian folk song and, although he rarely used genuine folk motives, the entire structure of his melody, very flexible and characteristic, bears a folk imprint, reflected in harmonic turns, in original, sudden modulations, in rhythmic richness, and in the form itself. . The main force M.'s vocal style is composed of expressive declamation, resulting from the natural intonation of speech and therefore completely inseparable from the text. In this, M. is the direct heir of Dargomyzhsky.

In addition to operas, Mussorgsky wrote the suite “Pictures at an Exhibition” (the best arrangement of the suite for orchestra was made by M. Ravel in 1922), the symphonic painting “Night on Bald Mountain”, many songs and romances, among which were very original for that time - “Songs” and dances of death”, choral and piano works.

Mussorgsky strove to ensure that his music in every element had a national, purely Russian character.

Mussorgsky's life had everything - both greatness and tragedy. As a person, he was always distinguished by genuine spiritual purity and selflessness. In 1859 M. left military service, but the lack of means of subsistence and the inability to obtain them through musical activity led to a miserable existence.

His opera "Boris Godunov" was removed from the repertoire for a long time; His other works were long ignored by artists and the public. In the last year and a half of his life, left without service, M. earned money as an accompanist.

The depressing monotony of everyday life and difficult material conditions led Mussorgsky to alcoholism. The depression continued to deepen.

He died at the age of 42 in one of the St. Petersburg military hospitals.

Throughout his life, Mussorgsky earned 701 rubles from music. 50kop.

Quote from M.P. Mussorgsky: “The sounds of human speech, as outward manifestations of thought and feeling, must, without exaggeration and violence, become music that is truthful, accurate, but artistic, highly artistic.”

Quote about M.P. Mussorgsky: “The original Russian sounds in everything that Mussorgsky created” N.K.Roerich

An interesting fact: at the end of his life, Mussorgsky, under pressure from his “friends” Stasov and Rimsky-Korsakov, renounced the copyright to his works and donated them to Tertius Filippov.

4. Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

Russia has two capitals and two music schools. The Moscow School of Composers was headed by P.I. Tchaikovsky. Russian in Tchaikovsky's works musical romanticism reached the pinnacle of development.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the greatest Russian composer of the 19th century, raised Russian musical art to unprecedented heights.

Tchaikovsky was the first Russian "professional" composer - he studied music theory and composition at the new St. Petersburg Conservatory. During his lifetime, Tchaikovsky was considered a “Western” composer, in contrast to the folk figures of the “Mighty Handful.”

Tchaikovsky witnessed the rise and fall of the populist movement in Russian culture. Tchaikovsky was a contemporary of the composers of the “Mighty Handful”.

In his interpretation of the “national” and “folk,” he followed a different path than the “Kuchkists.” Russian folklore was not a universal source and fundamental basis for him musical language. He drew musical intonations to a greater extent from urban musical life than from peasant folklore.

Born in Votkinsk, in the Urals, in the family of an engineer. He began to study music seriously, like Borodin, already as an adult. After graduating from the Faculty of Law at the university, Tchaikovsky worked for several years at the Ministry of Finance in St. Petersburg and only then decided to enter the St. Petersburg Conservatory, from which he graduated in 1866 with honors. He was immediately offered a position as a harmony teacher at the Conservatory. He accepted this offer and remained in his professorial position for 11 years, without interrupting his creative activity during all this time and performing at concerts with the performance of his works, which evoked an enthusiastic reception from the entire musical community of Russia.

At the age of 37, a turning point occurs in Tchaikovsky’s life. Countess von Meck, a wealthy admirer of his talent, provided the composer with a high lifelong pension, giving him the opportunity to devote all his time exclusively to composing music. Her only condition was that they never meet in person. From that time on, Tchaikovsky devoted himself entirely to musical creativity, only occasionally performing as a conductor.

During his travels around various countries Europe - Poland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France, England - he studied the musical folklore of each of these countries. Italy and Italian music made a particularly strong impression on Tchaikovsky, which was reflected in his works. Returning to St. Petersburg in 1893 during a cholera epidemic, he himself became infected and died from the disease.

The composer was a teacher, conductor, critic, public figure, worked in two capitals, toured in Europe and America. Tchaikovsky was an emotionally unstable person; enthusiasm, despondency, apathy, hot temper, violent anger - all these moods changed in him quite often. Being a very sociable person, he always strived for solitude.
Selecting something best from Tchaikovsky's work is a difficult task; he has several equal works in almost all musical genres - opera, ballet, symphony, chamber music.

Tchaikovsky's music speaks in an original, but at the same time universal musical language, which combines traditional romantic European intonations and the music of Russian folklore. Tchaikovsky believed that “European music is a treasury into which every nationality contributes something of its own for the common benefit.”

Tchaikovsky is a major symphonist, a brilliant musical playwright and lyricist. He created 15 operas (led by “Eugene Onegin” and “The Queen of Spades”, written on Pushkin’s plots), 3 ballets (in the first place are “Swan Lake”, “Sleeping Beauty” and “The Nutcracker”), 6 symphonies, 5 symphonic poems, overtures, 3 piano concertos, violin concerto, various works for orchestra.

Tchaikovsky composed in the style of late romanticism, while giving his works a purely Russian character. This combination turned out to be extremely favorable. He brought Russian music to European stages. Tchaikovsky is the most performed Russian composer in the world.

Tchaikovsky's work had a huge influence on his contemporaries. During his lifetime, his name was associated with the greatest representatives of Russian culture. The orchestra stood up when he appeared in the hall.

Along with Glinka, Tchaikovsky is the creator of the national Russian school in world music.

Composer quote:
“I am an artist who can and should bring honor to my Motherland. I feel great artistic strength in myself, I have not yet done even a tenth of what I can do. And I want to do this with all the strength of my soul.”
“Life has beauty only when it consists of alternation of joys and sorrows, of the struggle between good and evil, of light and shadow, in a word - of diversity in unity.”
"Great talent requires a lot of hard work."

Quote about the composer: “I am ready to stand as a guard of honor day and night at the porch of the house where Pyotr Ilyich lives - that is how much I respect him.” A.P.Chekhov

Interesting fact: Cambridge University awarded Tchaikovsky the title of Doctor of Music in absentia and without defending a dissertation, as did the Paris Academy Fine Arts elected him a corresponding member.

5. Nikolai Andreevich RIMSKY-KORSAKOV (1844-1908)

Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov is one of the most important figures in the history of Russian music.

Born in the Novgorod province into a noble family, in the city of Tikhvin. According to family tradition, he became a naval officer and traveled on a warship to many countries in Europe and the two Americas.

He first studied music from his mother, then taking private lessons from pianist F. Canille. Later, M.A. Balakirev, the organizer of the “Mighty Handful,” introduced Rimsky-Korsakov into the musical community and influenced his work.

Professional musical education received at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in piano and composition. He wrote his first symphony at the age of nineteen. However, Rimsky-Korsakov did not immediately cast his lot in with music. For several years he served in the Navy, where he received an officer's rank. At the same time, he was engaged in creative activities, and in 1871 he was awarded the title of professor of instrumentation at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Then he is given the composition class. At the same time, he was appointed director of the music school and music inspector of the Russian naval bands.
Central to Rimsky-Korsakov's legacy are 15 operas. Two main directions distinguish the composer’s work: the first is Russian history, the second is the world of fairy tales and epics, for which he received the nickname “storyteller.”
In addition to his independent creative activity, N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov is known as a publicist, compiler of collections of folk songs, and also as a completer of the works of his friends - Dargomyzhsky, Mussorgsky and Borodin.

Among the composers of The Mighty Handful, he had the greatest creative ingenuity and the most advanced technique. His most significant creative achievements lie in the field of orchestral color.

He wrote world-famous operas such as “Sadko”, “Snow Maiden”, “The Golden Cockerel”, etc. In addition, three symphonies, the excellent symphonic suite “Scheherazade”, the overture “Russian Easter”, “Spanish Capriccio” , the symphonic poem “Sadko” (in addition to the opera of the same name), numerous songs, as well as choral and chamber works. All his work, consistent in the style of neo-romanticism, is deeply imbued with the “Russian spirit.”

Rimsky-Korsakov is considered the greatest master of instrumentation. The textbook “Fundamentals of Orchestration” is one of the best textbooks in this area, and students still use its textbook on harmony in our time.

Rimsky-Korsakov was the creator of a school of composition; as a teacher and director of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, he trained about two hundred composers, conductors, and musicologists, among them Prokofiev and Stravinsky.

Rimsky-Korsakov's selfless work in completing Mussorgsky's orchestral and operatic masterpieces played a decisive role in their appearance on the concert stage and opera stage.

Fanatical persistence in comprehension music science turned him into a despot patriarch.

Rimsky-Korsakov is the “Iron Felix” of Russian music. Convinced of his infallibility, he had no hesitation in putting a spoke in the wheels of young composers who did not fall into the zone of his musical taste. For example, he stubbornly prevented Kalinnikov’s First Symphony from entering the St. Petersburg stage, even after it was performed with triumphant success in such major musical centers of Europe as Berlin, Paris, Vienna and Prague.

The work of Russian composers of the late 19th - first half of the 20th century is a holistic continuation of the traditions of the Russian school. At the same time, the concept of the approach to the “national” affiliation of this or that music has changed; there is practically no direct quotation of folk melodies, but the intonational Russian basis, the Russian soul, has remained.

4. Fourth period: “Silver Age” in Russian musical art (1890s - 1917)

The end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries for Russian music proceeded in clashes of antagonistic tendencies that seemed irreconcilable and mutually exclusive. The cultural trends of the “Silver Age” profoundly changed the face of musical art. The “traditionalist” composers of the Silver Age were A.K. Glazunov (1865-1936), and A.K. Lyadov (1855-1914), S.I. Taneev (1856-1915), as well as lesser-known but gifted authors – A.S. Arensky, V.S. Kalinnikov, M.M. Ippolitov-Ivanov.

The young innovative composers of the “Silver Age” were the symbolist A.N. Scriabin, the neoclassicist N.K. Medtner, the neo-romanticist S.V. Rachmaninov, neofolklorist I.F. Stravinsky, cubo-futurist S.S. Prokofiev.

Their discoveries in the field of mode, harmony, and form contributed to the formation of new imagery and means of artistic expression in the music of the 20th century.

Significant changes also took place in the field of Russian church music. Composers of the St. Petersburg and Moscow schools of composition used authentic ancient melodies of Znamenny chant. Their compositions were intended both for worship and for concert performance. The new style in sacred music developed quickly and fruitfully. Composers carefully studied ancient chants, trying to identify on their basis the principles of harmonization of church melodies.

The largest representatives of church music of that time were S.V. Smolensky, S.V. Rachmaninov, A.T. Grechaninov, A.D. Kastalsky and others. They are called the “school of the Synodal College.”

6. Alexander Nikolaevich SKRYABIN (1872 - 1915)

Alexander Nikolaevich Scriabin is a Russian composer and pianist, musical symbolist, “idealist-mystic”, one of the brightest personalities of Russian and world musical culture.

Scriabin's original work stood out for its innovation even against the backdrop of the birth of many new trends in art at the turn of the 20th century.
Scriabin showed extraordinary musical abilities from childhood. While studying in the cadet corps, he took private piano lessons, after graduating from the corps he entered the Moscow Conservatory, his classmate was S.V. Rachmaninov.

Scriabin's artistic quests were largely determined by symbolist poets, as well as contemporary philosophical and mystical teachings. The creative motto was the words: “I’m going to tell people that they are strong and powerful.”

Scriabin created his own musical world and did not seek support in the artistic experience of his predecessors.

He was interested in God-seeking and the cosmic divine essence of man. An acute desire to comprehend the harmony of two worlds gives rise in his music to impulses towards the grandiose, universal, macroscopic and at the same time the desire to delve deeper into the “microcosm” human soul, into its subconscious fundamental principle. With Scriabin, mystery came into music. Before him, in fact, there was no mysticism in Russian music.

Scriabin - Tsiolkovsky in Music. He was the first to go into space.

In his works, he sought to convey the world of fragile and subtle human experiences.

Scriabin was an idealistic dreamer. Throughout his career, Scriabin was attracted by the idea of ​​a synthesis of arts. In The Poem of Fire, also known as Prometheus (1910), in which he combined sound and color.

Acutely aware of the contradictions of his difficult time, Scriabin dreamed of universal harmony of mankind. His cherished dream was a temple in India on the shore of a mountain lake for the production of the unrealized work “Mystery”.

“He wasn’t looking for a moment of amusement,

To comfort and captivate with melodies;

I dreamed of the highest: to glorify the Divine

And illuminate the abysses of the spirit in sounds.”

V. Ya. Bryusov

Scriabin believed in the divine power of creativity and in the artist-creator of the world, leading humanity to happiness. His “Mystery” is an attempt to transform humanity with the help of the magic of art.

The composer composed as if “by touch”, through changeable, elusive and not amenable to rational analysis sensations. Scriabin's music is full of sophisticated rhythms, extra-tonal "wanderings", textures shrouded in a haze of harmonic figurations.

The composer worked on it for over ten years. He understood that he was taking on a difficult task, but he believed in the realization of a great spiritual act. The initial embodiment of the “Mystery” is called “Preliminary Action”. This is a grandiose cathedral performance, or Service, in which all humanity participates. The music of the “Preliminary Act” has been preserved only in fragments (40 sheets of rough sketches). It constituted the main component of a synthetic act, including a “symphony” of sounds, aromas, colors, dances, processions, moving architecture, rays of the setting sun, ritual clothing of participants - performers and spectators.

The temple in Ancient India, where the “Mystery” was to take place, was conceived by the composer as a giant altar towering above the Earth. Scriabin seriously tried to implement the planned project and even, according to some reports, negotiated the purchase land plot in India to build a temple. Thinking about “Mystery,” the composer said: “I do not want the realization of anything, but the endless rise of creative activity that will be caused by my art.”

TO top works Scriabin can be attributed to “Poem of Ecstasy” (1907). This great work is a hymn to the all-conquering power of the human spirit. It tells how the human soul goes through a difficult path from vague forebodings and anxiety to the highest spiritual joy, gaining enormous strength and energy.

The poem is filled with the tense atmosphere of the first Russian revolution and forebodings of future catastrophes. “The Poem of Ecstasy” was first performed in Russia in 1909. It was a tremendous success. For the eleventh time, a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory was awarded the M. I. Glinka Prize.

Scriabin did not notice human worries, worries and worldly vanity. The composer created a special world of musical expressiveness, ahead of his time, anticipating many innovations in the art of the 20th century.

The composer's further fate was tragic: at the age of 44, he unexpectedly died from blood poisoning. Many contemporaries responded to Scriabin’s death, including the famous poet V. Ya. Bryusov:

He dared to melt the metal of melodies

And he wanted to pour new ones into forms;

He tirelessly thirsted to live and live,

To erect a completed monument...

Scriabin is the author of nineteen piano poems, three symphonies, a concerto for piano and orchestra, ten sonatas, mazurkas, waltzes and etudes. Each work reflects the composer's unsurpassed talent and skill.

Fortunately, the poet’s words were destined to come true: Scriabin was and remains a “star of the first magnitude” in world musical culture.

The composer's fate was tragic: at the age of 44, he unexpectedly died from blood poisoning.

Quote from A.N. Scriabin: “I’m going to tell them (people) - so that they... do not expect anything from life except what they can create for themselves... I’m going to tell them that there is nothing to grieve about, that there is no loss "So that they are not afraid of despair, which alone can give rise to real triumph. Strong and powerful is the one who has experienced despair and defeated it."

Quote about A.N. Scriabin: “Scriabin’s work was his time, expressed in sounds. But when the temporary, transient finds its expression in the work of a great artist, it acquires permanent meaning and becomes enduring.” G. V. Plekhanov

7. Sergei Vasilyevich Rahmaninov (1873 - 1943)

The work of Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov (1873-1943), also a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, who graduated with a gold medal, became no less famous. Unlike the symbolist Scriabin, Rachmaninov remained the most Russian romantic composer of world significance even in the 20th century. He managed to unite the musical traditions of the Moscow and St. Petersburg schools of composition.

Born in the Novgorod province, at the age of four he began studying music under the guidance of his mother. He studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, after 3 years of study he transferred to the Moscow Conservatory and graduated with a large gold medal. By the time he graduated from the conservatory, he was already the author of several works, including the famous “Bell” Prelude in C sharp minor, the First Piano Concerto, and the opera “Aleko”.

At the age of twenty, enthusiastic audiences applauded him in concert halls. His fans were L. N. Tolstoy, A. P. Chekhov, I. E. Repin, K. S. Stanislavsky, F. I. Chaliapin, M. Gorky, and many poets of the Silver Age. But Rachmaninov’s life does not seem calm and serene: he knew not only ups, but also downs.

Decisive and powerful in his performance and creativity, Rachmaninov was a vulnerable person by nature and often experienced self-doubt. The severe shock caused by the failure of his First Symphony in 1897 led to a creative crisis. Rachmaninov did not compose anything for several years, but his performing activity as a pianist intensified and he made his conducting debut.

Rachmaninov's piano works brought him particular fame. The most famous work is the Second Piano Concerto (1901), which revealed the best features of his talent as a composer. A work of “extraordinary, amazing beauty” (S. S. Prokofiev). For this work, Rachmaninov was awarded the M. I. Glinka Prize in 1904.

The new style of his music organically united Russian church song, outgoing European romanticism, modern impressionism and neoclassicism.

In 1909 he composed his brilliant Third Piano Concerto.

Rachmaninov's multifaceted talent manifested itself in many musical genres. He created two operas (“The Miserly Knight” and “Francesca da Rimini”), a vocal-symphonic poem “The Bells” (1913), sonatas, impromptu, preludes. He also composed sacred music, going back to ancient Russian Znamenny chants (“Liturgy of John Chrysostom,” 1909, and “ All-night vigil", 1915).

Rachmaninov witnessed two world wars and two Russian revolutions. He enthusiastically welcomed the collapse of the tsarist regime, but did not accept the October coup.

At the end of 1917, Rachmaninov and his family were forced to leave Russia, as it turned out, forever. He lived in the USA for more than a quarter of a century, and this period was mainly filled with grueling concert activities, subject to the cruel laws of the music business.

During the first years of his stay abroad, Rachmaninov was haunted by thoughts of the loss of creative inspiration: “Having left Russia, I lost the desire to compose. Having lost my homeland, I lost myself.” Only 8 years after leaving abroad, Rachmaninov returned to creativity, creating the Fourth Piano Concerto, the Third Symphony, and “Symphonic Dances.” These works are Rachmaninov's last, highest rise. A mournful feeling of irreparable loss, a burning longing for Russia gives rise to art of enormous tragic power, reaching its apogee in the Symphonic Dances. Thus, through all his work, Rachmaninov conveys the inviolability of his ethical principles, high spirituality, loyalty and inescapable love for the Motherland, the personification of which was his art.

Throughout his 25 years of emigration, he was keenly interested in what was happening in his homeland. During the Great Patriotic War The composer more than once transferred funds from his concerts to support the Red Army. Today, Rachmaninov’s works are heard in many concert halls in our country, and music competitions and festivals have been held in his honor many times.

S.V. Rachmaninov died in Beverly Hills from spinal cancer.
Quote about S.V. Rachmaninov:
“Rachmaninov was created from steel and gold: Steel is in his hands, gold is in his heart. I can’t think about him without tears. I not only admired the great artist, But I loved the person in him.” I. Hoffman
"Rachmaninov's music is the Ocean. Its waves - musical - begin so far beyond the horizon, and lift you so high and lower you so slowly... that you feel this Power and Breath." A. Konchalovsky
Quote from S.V. Rachmaninov:
“I feel like a ghost wandering alone in a world that is alien to me.”
“The highest quality of all art is its sincerity.”
"Great composers have always and first of all paid attention to melody as leading start in music. Melody is music, the main basis of all music... Melodic inventiveness, in the highest sense of the word, is the main life goal of the composer... For this reason, the great composers of the past showed so much interest in the folk melodies of their countries."
Musicologist B. Asafiev called S. Rachmaninov “a man with an eternally wounded heart.”
Interesting fact: during the Great Patriotic War, Rachmaninov gave several charity concerts, the proceeds from which he sent to the Red Army Fund to fight the Nazi occupiers.

Kalinnikov Vasily Sergeevich(1866-1901). Probably the most unproductive composer in the world. During his short life, he managed to write two symphonies, 4 more small orchestral works, 8 romances and 4 miniatures for piano. This is virtually all, not counting several unfinished or unpublished works. However, he managed to “break through” to the musical Olympus thanks to his First Symphony, which gained popularity all over the world. This is primarily due to the composer’s melodic gift, which found a response in the hearts of music lovers on all continents. Strictly speaking, a happy melodic find - a side part of the first movement probably played a decisive role here. This fact makes us remember Stravinsky’s catchphrase: “Melody is most accessible to perception and least accessible as a gift,” it seems so. The composer was struck down by vicious consumption, but the cruel illness had no effect on his music, which was almost always cheerful and cheerful.

8. Igor Fedorovich STRAVINSKY (1882-1971)
Igor Fedorovich Stravinsky (1882–1971) went down in the history of world musical culture as a brave innovator, one of the most influential world composers of the 20th century, a leader of neoclassicism, paving his own path in art.

Stravinsky's path in music is from romanticism and impressionism to neoclassicism, dodecaphony, and avant-garde music.

IN last years Throughout his life, he was keenly interested in the art of jazz and achievements in the field of electronic music.

Igor Fedorovich Stravinsky became a “mirror” of the musical era of the twentieth century; his work reflects a multiplicity of styles, constantly intersecting and difficult to classify. He freely combined genres, forms, styles, choosing them from centuries of musical history and subjecting them to his own rules.
Born near St. Petersburg, he studied at the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University, independently studied musical disciplines, and took private lessons from N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov. This was Stravinsky's only school of composition, thanks to which he mastered compositional technique to perfection. The meeting with S.P. Diaghilev in 1909 largely determined the composer’s further personal and creative destiny.

He began composing professionally relatively late, but his rise was rapid - a series of three ballets: “The Firebird” (1910), “Petrushka” (1911) and “The Rite of Spring” (1913) immediately brought him to the ranks of composers of the first magnitude. Stravinsky turned to the origins and took pagan, ancient Rus' as the basis for national Russian music in the 20th century.

The premiere of the ballet “The Firebird” on the stage of the Paris Grand Opera in 1910 marked the beginning of Stravinsky’s world fame. The music amazed with the splendor of orchestral sounds, the unusual rhythms, and the abundance of fairy-tale symbolism. The most famous number from the ballet is “The Nasty Dance of the Kashcheev Kingdom” - a grotesque image of evil and violence.

A year later - a new ballet “Petrushka”. Stravinsky focused his main attention on the deep psychological drama of the beloved folk hero Petrushka, hopelessly in love with the stupid Ballerina, who prefers the smug Arab. Stravinsky brilliantly told about the suffering of the main character, kind, mischievous and never discouraged, in the language of music.

I was especially amazed final scene Parsley's farewell to life. The composer’s surprising discovery was the abrupt “sob,” the “exhalation” of the flutes, and the strange sound of a tambourine thrown on the floor. Until recently, the uncontrollably dancing crowd freezes in front of the dying man. At the tragic moment of the departure of Petrushka’s soul to a better world, amazing music sounds, conveying the thrill of a passing life. The echoes of the Maslenitsa booth and the piercing fanfare of the revived Petrushka complete the action.

Stravinsky's co-authors in this work were choreographer M. M. Fokin (1880-1942) and librettist and artist A. N. Benois. The main roles were played by Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Nijinsky. The ballet “Petrushka” became a highlight of S. P. Diaghilev’s Russian seasons.

The premiere of Stravinsky's third, no less famous ballet, The Rite of Spring (1913), caused an unprecedented scandal in Paris. The author later recalled:

“When the curtain rose and a group of jumping Lolitas appeared on the stage with their knees turned inward and their long braids... a storm broke out. Behind me there were shouts of “Shut your throat!..” I left the hall in a rage.”

The pampered ears of the listeners, accustomed to sweet and languid sounds, heard an alien pagan element. It is no coincidence that the ballet had the subtitle “Pictures of Pagan Rus'”. Stravinsky tried to recreate in music the primordial severity of the customs of pagan tribes, led by the Elder-Wise. Intense dissonances, complex rhythms and unexpected contrasts were intended to convey the magical power of nature's spells, spring fortune-telling, the most ancient rite Kiss the earth, the glory of the Chosen One. The movements and gestures of the actors, who abandoned the techniques of classical ballet, were heavy and angular.

A few years later, “The Rite of Spring,” performed as a symphonic work, evoked thunderous applause from listeners and became a worldwide hit in modern music.

In 1914, Stravinsky finally left Russia, as it turned out, almost forever (in 1962 there was a short tour in the USSR). Stravinsky is a cosmopolitan, having been forced to change several countries - Russia, Switzerland, France, and eventually stayed to live in the USA.

His work is divided into three periods - "Russian", "neoclassical", American " serial production", the periods are not divided according to the lifetime in different countries, but according to the author's "handwriting".
Stravinsky was a very highly educated, sociable person, with a wonderful sense of humor. His circle of acquaintances and correspondents included musicians, poets, artists, scientists, businessmen, and statesmen.
Stravinsky's last work, Requiem (Funeral Hymns) (1966), absorbed and combined the previous artistic experience composer, becoming the true apotheosis of the master’s creativity.
One unique feature stands out in Stravinsky’s work - “unrepeatability”, it was not for nothing that he was called “the composer of a thousand and one styles”, constant change of genre, style, plot direction - each of his works is unique, but he constantly returned to designs in which Russian origin is visible, audible Russian roots.

Quote from I.F. Stravinsky: “I have been speaking Russian all my life, my syllable is Russian. Maybe this is not immediately visible in my music, but it is inherent in it, it is in its hidden nature.”

Quote about I.F. Stravinsky: “Stravinsky is a truly Russian composer... The Russian spirit is indestructible in the heart of this truly great, multifaceted talent, born of the Russian land and closely connected with it...” D. Shostakovich

Interesting fact (fable):
“Once in New York, Stravinsky took a taxi and was surprised to read his name on the sign.
-Are you a relative of the composer? - he asked the driver.
- Is there a composer with such a surname? - the driver was surprised. - Hear it for the first time. However, Stravinsky is the name of the taxi owner. I have nothing to do with music - my last name is Rossini...”

9. ALEXANDER KONSTANTINOVICH GLAZUNOV
(1865-1936)

The son of a St. Petersburg book publisher. From early childhood he took piano lessons, and then entered the composition class at the conservatory, led by Rimsky-Korsakov.

At the age of sixteen Glazunov wrote his first symphony. Especially great help he receives support from the music publisher Belyaev, who organizes concerts at which the young composer’s works were performed. His friendly relations with the “Mighty Handful” and P.I. Tchaikovsky also helped him a lot.

Since 1884, Glazunov's works have received recognition not only in Russia, but also abroad. In 1899 he accepted the position of professor of instrumentation at the St. Petersburg Conservatory.

In 1905, in protest against the removal of Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov resigned from this position.

In 1907, the composer was awarded honorary doctorates from Cambridge and Oxford Universities.

After the October Revolution, Glazunov, simultaneously with creative work engaged in extensive organizational and popularization activities. Until 1928, he served as director of the Leningrad Conservatory. In 1929, the composer undertook a tour of Europe and North America, he also visited Poland.

Glazunov died in 1936 in Paris, where he went for treatment.

Glazunov's creative heritage consists of eight symphonic poems, ballets (including Raymonda, The Four Seasons), overtures, violin concertos, piano concertos, numerous symphonic, chamber, piano and vocal works.

His music is characterized by extraordinary melody, classical clarity of form, and features of the national “Russian spirit.” By its organic combination of purely Russian and Western European elements, it is close to the music of Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov. Glazunov was not seduced by fashionable innovative trends. He first of all set himself the task of creating works of high artistic level. And it is precisely this feature of his work that puts Glazunov in the forefront of Russian composers.

In the 20th century, Russian, Soviet and later Russian music was influenced by two very important global factors:

Mutual penetration and mixing of cultures different nations, so to speak, "cultural globalization"

The emergence of a new musical language invented by the Austrian composer Schoenberg (1874-1951) - dodecaphony.

The principle inherent in this language (you cannot repeat a note until the other eleven have been played) gave, on the one hand, the opportunity to create a completely unique melody (not repeated by any other composer), but on the other hand, it led to the depersonalization of the melody, the loss of some or “recognition” and connection with national music.

10. Sergei Sergeevich PROKOFIEV (1891-1953)

Sergei Sergeevich Prokofiev is one of the largest Russian composers of the 20th century, pianist, and conductor.
Born in the Donetsk region in the family of an agronomist. Since childhood I have been involved in music. Prokofiev is the only Russian musical “prodigy”; he studied composition from the age of 5, wrote two operas at the age of 9 (of course, these works are still immature, but show a desire to create), and at the age of 13 he passed the exams at the St. Petersburg Conservatory.

Among his teachers was N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov. The beginning of his professional career caused a storm of criticism and misunderstanding of his individual, fundamentally anti-romantic and extremely modernist style.

However, the paradox was that, having destroyed the academic canons, the structure of his compositions remained true classical principles and subsequently became the restraining force of modernist all-denying skepticism.

Upon graduating from the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1914, he decided to play his own First Concerto before the examination committee. The music captivated the audience, and Prokofiev received a diploma with honors and the A. G. Rubinstein Prize (a magnificent piano as a gift).

From the very beginning of his career, Prokofiev performed and toured a lot. In 1918, he went on an international tour, including visiting the USSR, and finally returned to his homeland in 1936. While abroad he composed the opera-ballet “The Love for Three Oranges.”

The country has changed and Prokofiev’s “free” creativity was forced to give in to the realities of new demands. Over time he managed to find mutual language with new listeners, to develop new musical forms in their work that correspond to the aesthetic tastes of the new society. Prokofiev's talent blossomed with new strength- he writes operas, ballets, music for films - sharp, strong-willed, extremely precise music with new images and ideas, laid the foundation for Soviet classical music and opera.

Despite his clearly expressed desire to combine music with the ideology of the Soviet state, Prokofiev, winner of six Stalin Prizes, always remained himself, a man of strong and independent character.

In 1948, three tragic events occurred almost simultaneously:

1. on suspicion of espionage, his first Spanish wife was arrested and exiled to camps;

2. a Resolution of the Poliburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was issued, in which Prokofiev, Shostakovich and others were attacked and accused of “formalism” and the harm of their music;

3. happened sharp deterioration health of the composer, he retired to the dacha and practically never left it, but continued to compose.

The operas “War and Peace” and “The Tale of a Real Man” became epoch-making works in the history of Soviet music; ballets "Romeo and Juliet", "Cinderella", "The Tale of the Stone Flower", with fantastic musical transitions. which have become a new standard of world ballet music; music for the films "Alexander Nevsky" and "Ivan the Terrible"; symphonies No. 5,6,7; piano works. However, most only remember his musical fairy tale "Peter and the Wolf."

Prokofiev died in 1953 in Moscow, on the same day as Stalin.
Sergei Prokofiev wrote strange music, unlike others. Prokofiev’s work amazes with its versatility and breadth of themes; the originality of his musical thinking, freshness and originality constituted an entire era in the world musical culture of the 20th century and influenced powerful impact on many Soviet and foreign composers.

Quote from S.S. Prokofiev:
“Can an artist stand aside from life?.. I adhere to the conviction that a composer, like a poet, sculptor, painter, is called upon to serve man and the people... He, first of all, is obliged to be a citizen in his art, to glorify human life and lead people to a bright future..."
"I am a manifestation of life, which gives me the strength to resist everything unspiritual"

Quote about S.S. Prokofiev: “... all facets of his music are beautiful. But there is one completely unusual thing here. Apparently, we all have some failures, doubts, just a bad mood. And in such moments “Even if I don’t play or listen to Prokofiev, but just think about him, I get an incredible charge of energy, I feel a great desire to live and act.” E. Kissin

Interesting fact: Prokofiev loved chess very much, and enriched the game with his ideas and achievements, including the “nine” chess he invented - a 24x24 board with nine sets of pieces placed on it.

10. Dmitry Dmitrievich SHOSTAKOVICH (1906 - 1975)

Dmitry Dmitrievich Shostakovich is one of the most significant and performed composers in the world. This is the Beethoven of our day. His influence on modern classical music is immeasurable. His creations are chronicles of the difficult events of the 20th century, the tragedy of man and humanity.
Born in St. Petersburg, he received his first music lessons from his mother, graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory, upon entering which its rector Alexander Glazunov compared him to Mozart - so he amazed everyone with his excellent musical memory, keen ear and gift for composition.

Written by a nineteen-year-old graduate of the Leningrad Conservatory, the First Symphony (1926) amazed listeners with its optimism and freshness of sound. It became clear that a composer of world significance had appeared in Russia. The symphony immediately entered the repertoire of domestic and foreign conductors.

World fame came to Shostakovich after winning the 1st International Chopin Competition in 1927.
Dmitry Shostakovich lived in difficult times - when power changed, morals changed, and attitudes towards his works also changed. For example, today the work was greeted with cheers - and tomorrow it was booed.

Before staging the opera "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk", Shostakovich worked as a free artist - an "avant-garde", experimenting with styles and genres. The harsh demolition of this opera in 1936 and the repressions of 1937 marked the beginning of Shostakovich's subsequent constant internal struggle to express his views through his own means in the conditions of a totalitarian state.

In his life, politics and creativity are very closely intertwined, he was praised by the authorities and persecuted by them, held high positions and was removed from them, he and his relatives were awarded and were on the verge of arrest.
A soft, intelligent, delicate person, he found his own form of expression creative principles in symphonies, where he could speak the truth about time as openly as possible. Of Shostakovich's vast oeuvre in all genres, his 15 symphonies occupy a central place. The most dramatic are the 5, 7, 8, 10, 15 symphonies, which became the pinnacle of Soviet symphonic music.

Over a half-century period of creativity, Shostakovich created works in almost all musical genres: 15 symphonies, 15 quartets, two operas (The Nose and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk), three ballets (The Golden Age, Bolt and Bright Stream) ), six instrumental concerts, cycles of romances, collections of piano preludes and fugues, cantatas, oratorio (“Song of the Forests”).

Music for films and dramatic performances occupied a special place in the composer’s work. Even in post-revolutionary Petrograd, Shostakovich worked as a pianist in small cinemas, improvising on the piano during the screening of silent films. When the era of film music began in 1928, he came to cinema with pleasure, where he created a number of brilliant musical works for the films “The Maxim Trilogy”, “Ivan Michurin”, “Meeting on the Elbe”, “The Young Guard”, “The Fall of Berlin” , “The Gadfly”, “Hamlet”, “Cor

CULTURE OF Rus' IN THE PERIOD OF FEUDAL Fragmentation

In the history of Russia, the period from the end XII to mid XY century is called a period feudal fragmentation, inter-princely strife, economic and political weakening of Rus'. The Mongol-Tatar invasion and centuries of the Tatar yoke (1238-1480) slowed down the development of Russian culture almost everywhere except Novgorod and Pskov, which were not debtors to the Golden Horde and, moreover, successfully repelled the onslaught of Western enemies - the Livonian knights. At the same time, in 1240, Swedish conquerors invaded the Russian lands and were defeated on the Neva River by the Novgorod prince Alexander Yaroslavich. This was his first major victory, for which he received the Nevsky title. In 1242, he gave battle to the Swordsmen on the ice of Lake Peipsi. This battle was called the Battle of the Ice, after which Alexander Nevsky solemnly entered Novgorod, leading chained prisoners. This is the time when Rus' found itself conquered, bloodless, and ruined. Moscow became the center of unification and revival. Founded in 1147, it already in 1276 became the center of a small principality under youngest son Alexander Nevsky Daniil, and in XIY - XY centuries became the center of the revival of the Russian state.

In the pre-Mongol period, the Russian people were distinguished high degree literacy, which was the foundation general culture. This is evidenced by numerous monuments XII – n. XIII centuries

With the devastation of Rus' by the Mongol-Tatars, the mass extermination of the population, and the destruction of cultural centers, the literacy of the population and the level of culture as a whole fell sharply. For a long time, the preservation and development of education, literacy, and spiritual culture moved to monasteries and religious centers. The restoration of the previous level of literacy began in the second half XIY century, especially after the victory of the Russian army led by Dmitry Donskoy over the Tatar-Mongols on the Kulikovo Field (1380). Speaking about the heroic struggle of the Russian people, in this battle, which heralded the approaching liberation and entered into many historical, cultural monuments Rus', in epics, poems, songs, tales, etc.

Tradition says that not far from Moscow, from where the prince led his troops against Mamai, an icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker appeared to him. And the prince exclaimed: “This has all consoled my heart!...” (The Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery was founded on this place. Many buildings in the monastery have survived to this day: the Transfiguration Cathedral, the Patriarchal Chambers, the unique Jerusalem Wall, stylized as an iconographic city... )

Development of literature in XII – mid. XY centuries continues to be closely intertwined with the rise of oral folk art. Most Outstanding literary monument national culture to XII in is "The Tale of Igor's Campaign". It delights with the scale of thinking, figurative language, pronounced patriotism, and subtle lyricism. His central idea- a call for the unity of Rus' in the face of a common enemy. From other literary works XII – mid XY centuries One can note “The Prayer of Daniil the Zatochnik”, “The Tale of the Destruction of the Russian Land”, “The Tale of the Devastation of Ryazan by Batu”, “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamayev”, “Zadonshchina”, the Kiev-Pechora Patericon. All these works, written in the form of chronicles, constitute our national pride and are an integral part of the world medieval culture. Along with them, new legends arose, for example, “The Tale of the City of Kitezh” - a city that went under water, to the bottom of the lake, with all the defenders and residents who did not surrender to the enemies. Many soulful ones were created, sad songs, reflecting the longing of the Russian people for freedom, sadness about the fate of their native land.

One of literary genres V XIY–XY centuries were lives. These are stories about princes, metropolitans, and founders of monasteries.

Talented church writers Pachomius Lagofet and Epiphanius the Wise compiled the biography of the largest church figures of Rus': Metropolitan Peter, who moved the center of the metropolis to Moscow, Sergius of Radonezh, the founder of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. Particularly famous were the “Tale of the Life of Prince Dmitry Ivanovich” and “The Life of Sergius of Radonezh,” named after the town of Radonezh, not far from which he founded a monastery. “The Life of Dmitry Donskoy,” which paints a vivid image of a courageous commander, reveals the deep patriotism and unity of the Russian people.

One of the most widespread literary genres of that time were historical stories, which described both “walkings” (travels) and major historical events. An outstanding monument of Russian culture XY In 1999, “Walking across Three Seas” appeared by the Tver merchant Afanasy Nikitin, containing many accurate and valuable observations about India and other countries. Valuable geographical descriptions of other territories are presented in the “walks” of the Novgorodian Stefan (1348-1349) and the Smolyanin Ignatius (13489-1405) to Constantinople, in the diary of the trip of the Russian embassy to the church council in Ferrara and Florence (1439).

Architecture was widely developed, primarily in Novgorod and Pskov - cities that were politically less dependent on Mongol khans. Russian architects of that time continued the traditions of architecture of the pre-Mongol period. They used masonry made from rough-hewn limestone slabs, boulders and some bricks. Such masonry created the impression of strength and power. This feature of Novgorod art was noted by academician I.E. Grabar (1871-1960): “The ideal of a Novgorodian is strength, and his beauty is the beauty of strength.”

The result of new searches and traditions of old architecture is the Church of the Savior on Kovalevo (1345) and the Church of the Assumption on Volotovo Field (1352). Examples of the new style are the Church of Fyodor Stratelates (1360-1361) and the Church of the Transfiguration on Ilyin Street (1374). The Church of the Transfiguration, located in the commercial part of Novgorod, is a typical cross-domed church with four powerful pillars and one dome.

Simultaneously with the temple construction, large-scale civil construction was also carried out in Novgorod. This is the Faceted Chamber (1433) for ceremonial receptions and meetings of the Council of Gentlemen. The Novgorod boyars built themselves stone chambers with box vaults. In 1302, a stone Kremlin was founded in Novgorod (before XIY V. called Detinets), which was subsequently rebuilt several times.

Another major economic and cultural center at that time was Pskov. The city resembled a fortress, the architecture of the buildings was harsh and laconic, almost completely devoid of decorative ornaments. The length of the walls of the large Kremlin was almost nine kilometers. Pskov builders created a special system of covering buildings with mutually intersecting arches, which subsequently made it possible to free the temple from pillars.

In Moscow, stone construction began in the second quarter XIY V. The construction of the white stone fortress of the Moscow Kremlin dates back to this time.

The Moscow Kremlin is the oldest, central part of Moscow on Borovitsky Hill, on the left bank of Moscow. In 1366-1367 Walls and towers of white stone were erected. In 1365, the white-stone Cathedral of the Miracle of the Archangel Michael was built, and the chapel Church of the Annunciation was erected near the southeastern wing. Subsequently, new temple and civil buildings were built on the territory of the Moscow Kremlin. The tomb of the Moscow Grand Dukes was built - the Archangel Cathedral. At the end XY V. The Faceted Chamber was built, which was part of the royal palace, its armored hall.

Construction was also carried out in other cities - Kolomna, Serpukhov, Zvenigorod. The largest building of that time was the Assumption Cathedral in Kolomna - a six-pillar city cathedral, raised on a high basement, with a gallery.

The oldest surviving monuments of Moscow architecture are the Assumption Cathedral in Zvenigorod (c. 1400), the Cathedral of Savvin Storozhevsky Monastery near Zvenigorod (1405) and the Trinity Cathedral of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery (1422).

A new direction in Moscow architecture was the desire to overcome “cubicity” and create a new, upward-looking composition of the building due to the stepped arrangement of vaults.

History of Russian painting XIY - XY centuries just like architecture became a natural continuation of the history of painting of the pre-Mongol period. The Old Russian icon is truly the creation of a genius, a collective, many-faced genius folk tradition. Approximately at XIY V. Icons begin to be combined into general composition iconostasis, placing them on the partition separating the altar. The iconostasis is a purely Russian image. Byzantium did not know him. The “everyday” poetry of the icon merged with the poetry of the fairy tale. The icon contains a lot of Russian fairy-tale folklore, this is especially noticeable in the early icons of the Novgorod school with their bright red backgrounds and simple solid silhouettes.

Wall painting in Rus' of this time is referred to as the “golden age”. Along with icon painting, fresco - painting on wet plaster with paints diluted in water - became widespread. IN XIY V. fresco painting it is designed compositionally and spatially, landscape is introduced, and the psychologism of the image is enhanced. These innovations were especially evident in the famous Novgorod frescoes of the Church of Fyodor Stratelates (1360) and the Church of the Assumption on Volotovo Field (1352).

A special place among artists XIY - XY centuries occupied by the genius Theophanes the Greek (c. 1340 - after 1405) the Greek's works - frescoes, icons - are distinguished by their monumentality, strength and dramatic expressiveness of images, bold and free pictorial manner. In Novgorod, Theophanes the Greek painted the Church of the Transfiguration on Ilnye Street (1378), where he embodied in his characters the spirituality of man, his inner strength.

In Moscow, the Greek, together with Simeon the Black, painted the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (1395-1396) with the chapel of Lazarus. He also painted the Archangel Cathedral in the Kremlin (1399), together with Elder Prokhor of Gorodets and Andrei Rublev - the Annunciation Cathedral in the Kremlin (1405). The art of Theophanes the Greek determined the development of Moscow painting in these years.

Another famous master of this time was the great Russian artist Andrei Rublev (c.1360/70 - c.1430) - a monk of the Andronikov Monastery, in which he died and was buried. His work marked the rise of Russian culture during the creation of a centralized Russian state and the rise of Moscow. Under him, the Moscow school of painting reached its peak. These works are distinguished by deep humanity and sublime spirituality of images, the idea of ​​concord and harmony, and the perfection of artistic form.

Andrei Rublev participated in the creation of paintings and icons in the old Annunciation Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin (1405), the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir (1408), the Trinity Cathedral in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra (1425-1427), the Spassky Cathedral of the Andronikov Monastery (1420s).

His most famous work is the “Trinity” icon (kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery), it was painted for the iconostasis of the Trinity Cathedral in Sergievsky Posad. The image of God in three persons is represented in the image of three angels, all three figures form a circular composition around the bowl. Mental purity, clarity, expressiveness, golden color, and a single rhythm of lines embody the idea of ​​harmony with great force.

Among the surviving works of Andrei Rublev are frescoes on the theme “The Last Judgment” in the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir (1408).

In the second half XIV V. In Novgorod, Pskov, and then in Moscow, the teachings of the so-called heretics began to spread, opposing the church as an institution that purifies everything. Heretics were not satisfied with religious teachings and explanations of the world around them. They studied mathematics, astronomy, and knew ancient languages. By the end XV V. Churchmen burned heretics alive. But this did not and could not stop the development of free thought.

In the movement of heretics one cannot help but see the actions of the people IX c., on the eve of and for a long time after baptism, against the Christianization and nationalization of faith and religion.

In XIV - XV centuries three currents of philosophical and theological thought dominated, going beyond the church: traditional Orthodoxy, hesychaism (peace, silence, detachment) and weak shoots of rationalism (heresy).

In the 70s XIV V. Among the townspeople and the lower clergy, the Novgorod-Pskov heresy of the Strigolniks (a detachment of tonsure as clerics) arose, who criticized the church both on dogmatic issues (they disputed the divine origin of the sacraments of the priesthood, baptism) and on organizational issues (they rejected the church hierarchy and monastic land ownership, and advocated “ cheap church" and the right to preach to the laity. At the end XV century heresy XIV V. merged with the new movement “the heresy of the Judaizers.” The denial of monasticism to church land ownership by heretics aroused the sympathy of the state authorities, who saw in church lands a source of replenishment of the land funds of the treasury. But despite Ivan's support III , a church council in 1490 condemned heresy. Heretic ideas XY V. developed by “non-acquisitives”. The teachers of non-covetousness - the ideologist of Russian psychism Nil Sorokin (1433-1508) and Vassian Patrikeev - spoke out for the reform of monasteries, the renunciation of land ownership by monasteries and strict asceticism, and pointed out the inconsistency of church practice with the principles of Christianity. Their ideas found support among the boyars, the serving nobility and the Grand Duke, but they met with hostility from many churchmen, whose position was formed by Abbot Joseph Volotsky (1439-1515). The Osiflians achieved an alliance with the grand ducal power. Joseph developed the theory of theocratic absolutism, which strengthened the authority of secular power and strengthened the position of the church. Non-possessors were condemned as heretics. For the development of culture XYI V. this was reflected by the tightening of canonical requirements.

In order to end the era in the history of Rus' associated with the Mongol-Tatar invasion, power came to Ivan in 14652 III , who went down in history as the collector of the Russian land (1462-1505).

In 1478 Ivan III completely refused to pay tribute to the Golden Horde. This led to a confrontation between the troops of Khan Akhmat and the troops of Ivan III on the Ugra River in October-November 1480 and ended with the departure of the Tatars without a fight, which marked their recognition of the complete independence of Rus'.

After the collapse of Kievan Rus, certain changes occurred in its culture associated with the development of individual Russian principalities. This was primarily reflected in Russian chronicles, since already from the 11th century, along with all-Russian chronicles, local ones also appeared. The Novgorod chronicle was especially vivid. Its creators were only interested in local Novgorod events, but they were captured with amazing observation and spontaneity, which we will not find in The Tale of Bygone Years.

A monument of church literature in the city of Kyiv is the “Kievo-Pechersk Patericon”, written at the beginning of the 13th century, which A.S. was so keen on reading. Pushkin! It is compiled in the form of correspondence between the Suzdal bishop Simon and the Pechersk monarch Polycarp. This correspondence contains fascinating and edifying stories (24 in total). Some of them date back to the early stages of the monastery’s history (mid-11th century).

Along with church literature, there was a significant development in the 12th century. Received oratory - preaching. The famous preacher of this time was Cyril of Turov (2nd half of the 12th century). Cyril’s teachings were mainly devoted to church holidays and parables.

It would be completely wrong to limit the literary centers of Ancient Rus' only to the church environment. The chronicles contain many purely secular works. The Ipatiev Chronicle, compiled within the Galician-Volyn Rus, is especially replete with them. The characteristics of the princes, their military campaigns, descriptions of the course of state affairs - all this in its spirit reveals secular, sometimes simply “knightly” (military), sources of its origin.

The pinnacle of ancient Russian literature is the epic poem “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” It is dedicated to the campaign of the Russian troops led by the Novgorod-Seversk prince Igor Svyatoslavich against the Polovtsians in April - May 1185. This campaign in itself was not some kind of exceptional event in its significance, but the brilliant author, who remained unknown, saw in it and in its consequences is what so worried Russian society of that time: the need to fight the Polovtsians, but certainly with common, and not isolated, efforts. Igor's campaign became, as it were, a harsh lesson and warning to other princes. This is the socio-political meaning of the Lay. The author of the Lay contrasts the power and unity of Rus' in the past with the time of strife.

“The Word” is a monument of national and at the same time world culture. Appearance professional literature happened in Rus' no later than in France, Germany and England.

During the period of fragmentation, other aspects of culture, in particular architecture, acquired new features. Chernigov architects were full of creative quests and at the very end of the 12th century. They created a fundamentally new architectural form, embodying it in the Church of Friday at the Market.

The white stone architecture of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus' took a special path of development. On early stage at the beginning of the 12th century it was closely connected with Kyiv traditions. But the buildings of the mid-12th century. (the time of Yuri Dolgorukov) already have an independent character. During these years of development of the Zalesskaya land, first of all, fortresses were erected - strongholds of princely power, as exemplified by the powerful ramparts of Pereyaslavl Zalessky. The features of the Romanesque style fully blossomed in Vladimir architecture in the second half of the 12th century (the reign of Andrei Bogolyubsky and Vsevolod the Big Nest). At this time, the Assumption Cathedral was being built, originally built in 1158-1161 and significantly expanded in 1185-1189.

Fine art has also undergone certain changes. So, in the 12th century. In Rus', the art of mosaic ceased to exist, but fresco at this time received the widest development. The features of this art made it possible to more flexibly reflect the needs and ideals of the schools that were emerging at that time. The severity and internal tension of squat figures with sharp eyes is an example of Novgorod frescoes of the 12th century. In Vladimir frescoes, as in the architecture of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus', there is more sublime and spiritual aristocracy and sophistication.

In the second half of the 12th century. Vladimir has its own school of icon painting, whose works are characterized by a departure from Byzantine canons. An example here can be the Savior Not Made by Hands, striking in its expressiveness, expressed in the unusual structure of the face and in the huge expressive eyes. At the beginning of the 13th century. The Yaroslavl school of icon painting became famous. Many masterpiece icons were painted in the monasteries and churches of Yaroslavl.

Applied art of Rus' of the 12th century. reached a high level. His products were valued and in great demand not only in Rus', but also abroad. Russian products made of filigree, cloisonne enamel, and grain were also distinguished by their finest craftsmanship.

Analyzing the results of the development of culture XII - beginning of XIII V. we can say that at this time she managed to catch up with Byzantium, the most cultural country of that time. The national identity of Russian culture is becoming more and more noticeable. The beginning of the specific period was marked by the creation of the first local specific art schools.

Art historians and philologists note that the spiritual life of various Russian lands, with all its diversity, retained common features and unity of styles. Political fragmentation and even the Mongol-Tatar invasion did not interrupt cultural development people and did not lead them to decline. On the contrary, those who lived in the XII-XII centuries. artists, architects, writers left us many masterpieces of literature and art. This was the second “golden age” of Russian culture.

So, to summarize, it should be emphasized that feudal fragmentation in Rus' in the XII-XIV centuries. was a natural phenomenon associated with the peculiarities of the formation of the feudal system. Despite the progressiveness of this process, feudal fragmentation had a significant negative aspect, such as the weakening of the military potential of Rus', but at the same time it contributed to the improvement of the management system, created favorable conditions for the development of economy and culture in regional centers.

In the XII - XIV centuries. The development of culture took place in the difficult conditions of the feudal fragmentation of Rus'. In the ancient Russian culture of this time, new successes were observed. The cultural features of this time include the emergence of local differences in the cultural life of individual lands. Given the presence of a common basis, already in the 12th century, dialects with local linguistic features appeared in isolated lands. Local features appear in chronicles, architecture and painting. At the same time, the all-Russian principles of culture are preserved. Important centers of ancient Russian culture in the south included the following cities: Kyiv, Chernigov, Galich, Kholm, etc.

Despite feudal fragmentation, the desire for unity was reflected in the literary works of the 12th century. In particular, the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” expressed deep concern about the fate of the Russian land, made an ardent appeal to the princes to stop discord, unite and organize resistance to the nomads.

During the period of feudal fragmentation, the nature of chronicle writing changed. New centers are emerging in Chernigov, Kholm, Vladimir-Volynsky, etc. Family and clan princely chronicles and biographies of princes are being written.

In Zvenigorod and Brest, birch bark letters were found, as well as in some cities bronze writing devices on wax tablets, which indicates the development of education. Educated people who knew foreign languages ​​worked in princely offices. They prepared texts of letters and conducted diplomatic correspondence. The texts of the letters of the Galician-Volyn princes written in Latin have been preserved, demanding the return of cloth from the ship that crashed to the merchants of the city of Vladimir.

The architecture of the region has achieved great development. The Assumption Cathedral in the city of Vladimir (1160) has been preserved. It repeats the plan of the Assumption Cathedral of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. In the cities of Galicia, the construction of churches made of white stone began, and various ornaments began to be widely practiced.

Icon painting developed in the Galicia-Volyn lands under the influence of the Kyiv school. The icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria has reached us from the 13th - 14th centuries. (Lutsk), icon of Yuri the dragon fighter on a black horse (XIV century).

Many valuable monuments of this time were lost. But what we know also speaks of an upsurge in the cultural life of the people.

Thus, Kievan Rus was a country of highly developed culture. Already in the 11th century it reached the level of European countries and had two centuries of its statehood. The period of feudal fragmentation in the development of culture was accompanied by the development of local styles in the fine and applied arts, architecture and chronicles. The conquest of Rus' by the Mongol-Tatars, although it slowed down the pace of cultural development, not only did not interrupt it, but partly even enriched it. At the junction of the interaction of Slavic and Turkic culture, new phenomena begin to emerge in language, life, customs, and art, which will manifest themselves especially clearly in the next era.

Cultural processes in the Lithuanian-Polish period of Ukrainian history (mid-XIV - mid-XVII centuries) Plan

2. The spread of education and the emergence of higher education in Ukraine.

3. New phenomena in folklore and literature. Development of artistic culture

1. Historical conditions for the development and formation of Ukrainian culture. The struggle of Ukrainians against cultural assimilation

In difficult historical conditions, the development of Ukrainian culture took place in a period that chronologically coincides with the Renaissance in Western Europe.

Having become part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Ukraine fell into the sphere of stimulating influence of the West. At the same time, the struggle of Ukrainians to preserve their cultural identity for many centuries becomes the main theme of their history, their culture.

In Europe at that time, all ideological disputes and contradictions ultimately came down to religion. In Ukraine, this was a debate between defenders of Orthodoxy and adherents of Catholicism. The role of Orthodoxy in the public life of Ukrainians has grown many times over. In the absence of a state, the church acted as the only means of public self-expression and national unity. But the Ukrainian church experienced difficult times during this period.

The Grand Dukes of Lithuania and then the Polish kings enjoyed the right of patronage. Moreover, they appointed the Kyiv Metropolitan himself. The most terrible product of the patronage system was corruption. Given this state of affairs, the cultural influence of the church was very limited.

A major role in supporting Orthodoxy was played by the Brotherhoods - public organizations of merchants, artisans and other layers of Ukrainian society. They appeared back in the 15th century. But their role intensified especially in the second half of the 16th century due to the increased oppression of the Orthodox religion in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

2. The spread of education and the emergence of higher education in Ukraine.

In the field of education, the traditions of Kievan Rus have been preserved. Schools existed in large churches and monasteries, as well as in the estates of large magnates. Gradually the number of schools increased. In the second half of the 16th century. they operated in Lvov, Rovno, Kremenchug, Zabludov, Vladimir-Volynsky and other places.

With the development of the reform movement in Ukraine, Protestant schools appeared. In Goshcha, Belz, Lvov, Berestechka there were schools of Lutheran and Calvinist schools - mostly primary, but in some places also secondary. After the adoption of the Union of Brest in 1596, Uniate schools appeared in a number of cities. The most numerous among the non-Orthodox schools were Catholic. Since the 70s of the 16th century, on the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth they deployed active work to create Jesuit schools.

Thus, at the end of the 16th century. There were a large number of schools in Ukraine, which differed in the level of teaching and religious affiliation. They contributed to the development of education. At the same time, Uniate and Catholic schools defended the ideological and political goals of the ruling circles of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Ukrainian public understood this. Ukrainian cultural figures took up the task of organizing domestic schools that would operate on a national basis and would meet the needs of the time in terms of content and level of education.

In 1576, a cultural and educational center arose in Ostrog in Volyn. Its founder was Prince Ostrozhsky, a representative of an ancient Ukrainian Orthodox family. A school founded no later than 1578 became an integral part of the cultural and educational center. It marked the beginning of a new stage in the development of school education in Ukraine. In terms of the content of education, the Ostroh school founded the “Slavic-Greek-Latin type” of schools in Ukraine. The first rector of the school was Gerasim Smotrytsky.

Fraternal schools opened a new page in the history of national education. In 1585, the first fraternal school in Ukraine appeared in Lvov. At the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century. such schools also appear in Rohatyn, Gorodok, Przemysl, Lutsk, Vinnitsa, Nemirov, Kamenets-Podolsky, Kyiv and in other cities and villages (about 30 in total). Fraternal schools resisted Polonization, educating Ukrainian youth in the spirit of patriotism and respect for their people, national history, language, culture, and the faith of their fathers. A significant place was devoted to the study of the foundations of the Orthodox religion. The main attention was paid to the study of Slavic and Ukrainian languages. By tradition, they studied Greek and Latin. It was not easy for the Latin language to take root in Ukrainian educational institutions, since everything Catholic and Polish was associated with it. However, knowledge of Latin was the influence of the time: without it it was impossible to enter European culture and science. Latin was then the language of scientists, philosophers, poets, the language of teaching at universities and international communication. And Ukrainian polemicists, who were trained in fraternal schools for qualified, informed ideological discussions, had to thoroughly master the enemy’s language.

This led to the emergence and development of Slavic-Greek-Latin schools in Ukraine, whose students studied languages ​​and mastered the “seven free sciences” program. Thus, the work begun in Ostrog was continued by fraternal schools.

In 1632, by merging the Kiev fraternal school (1615) and the Lavra school (1631), the first higher institution in Ukraine was created, which was called a collegium (colleges in Poland were called educational institutions of the highest type). Calling the new school a collegium, Peter Mogila - its guardian and mentor - proceeded, first of all, from the level of education that it could provide. Thus an important step was taken in the formation higher education in Ukraine

Mogila's educational activities were not limited to the founding of the Kyiv College. He headed the circle of Lavra scientists, for 20 years he led the book publishing business in Ukraine, founded schools and printing houses in various Ukrainian cities. Mogila mostly wrote his works in simple language, trying to convey their content to the broad masses. A new stage in the development of polemical literature is associated with his name.

The Kiev Collegium was a higher educational institution of the humanitarian type. However, despite all the efforts of Peter Mogila and his followers, it never received academy status from the Polish government. And it is not surprising, since it not only taught young people the higher sciences, but also trained ideologists of the people's liberation movement, and educated defenders of national culture and faith.

The first official document that the Kiev Academy received to confirm the status of a higher school was the royal charter in 1701.

Lvov University (1661) also played a certain role in the development of education in Ukraine, although this educational institution was founded with the aim of Polonizing the Ukrainian population.

2. New phenomena in folklore and literature. Development of artistic culture.

At the end of the XIV - in the first half of the XVI century. The development of Ukrainian folk art took place on the basis of ancient Russian folklore traditions, in the context of the struggle of the peasantry and urban population against feudal oppression and foreign invaders. At the same time, new historical and social conditions gave rise to new forms of folklore. For example, ritual poetry was largely freed from cult elements. Fairy tales, proverbs, and sayings were created in the folk language.

Despite persecution from the church, folk rituals were preserved: caroling, generosity, the Kupala holiday. The clergy condemned these rituals, but at the same time tried to adapt them to their needs. Stoneflies, mermaid rituals and songs continued to be preserved. Social (primarily anti-feudal) motives and sentiments arise in ritual poetry.

In the 15th century, the epic poetry of the Ukrainian people appeared - historical songs and thoughts. They were performed by folk singers - kobzars. The emergence of dumas is associated with the origins of the Cossacks and goes back to the heroic epic of Kievan Rus. One of the most famous and oldest is “Duma about the Cossack Golota.” Dumas and historical ballad songs instilled in the masses a feeling of love for their homeland, aroused protest against its enemies and master's oppression, and glorified national heroes. Oral folk art played a big role in the formation and development of the literature of the Ukrainian people.

In the chronicles of the XIV - first half of the XVI centuries. The traditions of Kievan Rus continued. Important chronicle works of this period were the “Brief Kiev Chronicle of the XIV - XV centuries.” and the so-called “Lithuanian” or “Western Russian chronicles”. The brief Kiev Chronicle, which used ancient Russian chronicles, also provides valuable information on the history of Ukraine in the 14th - 16th centuries, in particular about the fight against the Crimean Tatars, the Lithuanian-Russian war, describes the actions of Prince K. Ostrozhsky on the battlefields (in particular near Orsha in 1515). The story ends with praise for Ostrozhsky. Some “Lithuanian” chronicles contain facts about the “departures” of Ukrainian and Belarusian feudal lords to Russian state. The idea of ​​Russian chronicle writing about the unity of the historical process of all East Slavic lands found a response in the Ukrainian lands enslaved by Lithuania and Poland.

During this period, new ecclesiastical literary works also appeared: epistles, “words,” lives of saints, etc. A remarkable literary monument of that era was the Kiev-Pechersk Patericon. Along with the lives of the monks and stories about various miracles in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, it contained many facts from public life, as well as regarding the life of the monks. The collections of the lives of the saints of the Chetya-Minea (XV century) were also of great importance.

Simultaneously with the ideas of humanism, the movement of the Reformation came to Ukraine from the West. Under his influence, there was a convergence of the literary and popular languages, and attempts were made to make the Bible accessible to wide sections of society. For this purpose, the books of the Holy Scriptures were translated into the popular language. For example, the Peresopnytsia Gospel. A number of copies of this Gospel, decorated with headpieces, initials, miniatures, and Renaissance-style ornaments, have reached us.

Along with religious literature, secular literature begins to develop. A clear indication of this is the collection “Izmaragd,” which contained about a hundred works written in the “word” genre on moral and everyday topics: about book wisdom, respect for teachers, about integrity and sins, as well as about the rich and the poor. In the 15th century Translated stories about Alexander the Great (Alexandria), about the Trojan War and others also appear. These works reveal the exploits, courage and bravery of the heroes, and at the same time fully depict the reality of that time, the views of different strata of society on modern or political phenomena and events.

In the second half of the 16th century, phenomena characteristic of Renaissance literature appeared in Ukrainian literature: - the formation and development of new genres: polemical journalism, versification, memoir-historical prose, school drama.

In 1574, in Lviv, Ivan Fedorov published “The Apostle” - the first book of Ukrainian printing. The works of representatives of polemical literature G. Smotrytsky, S. Zizaniya, H. Filaret, M. Smotrytsky, Z. Kopystensky left a deep mark on Ukrainian literature.

The pinnacle of polemical literature was the work of I. Vishensky, who branded the treason of renegade bishops, criticized the entire political and state system of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and defended the rights and human dignity of the common people.

Religious polemics with Catholicism, Uniatism, Protestantism are reflected in the literature of the second half XVII V. (L. Baranovich, I. Galyatovsky, F. Safonovich, V. Yasinsky and others). Oratorical and preaching prose found its further development in the works of K. Stavrovetsky, the author of “The Teaching Gospel” (1619), Daniil Korsunsky at the end of the 16th century. described his journey to the “holy places” (“Book of Conversation on the Path of Jerusalem”).

From the second half of the 16th century. new forms of historical prose gained popularity (testament of V. Zagorovsky, 1577; recollection of the Moscow events of 1612 by B. Balyki; Ostrozhskaya 1500 - 1636; Lviv (1498 - 1649); Khmelnitskaya (1636 - 1650) ; Gustynskaya (20s of the 17th century) chronicle, etc.).

From the middle of the 16th century. Ukrainian book versification originates.

At the end of the 16th century. - early 17th century dramaturgy arose in the form of recitations and dialogues intended for performance in fraternal schools: “At Christmas...” by P. Berynda (Lvov, 1616), etc.

The liberation war of the Ukrainian people in the mid-17th century ideologically and aesthetically reoriented Ukrainian literature and brought it closer to Russian literature. Literature began to free itself from religious ideology. IN works of art Current problems of social and political life began to be raised and solved.

At the end of the 14th - beginning of the 16th centuries. in the works of artists there was a closer connection with the life and interests of the masses. In the art of this time, interest in man, his spiritual world, as well as in nature, increased. Ukrainian artists creatively developed the art traditions of past centuries, enriched their skills by assimilating the achievements of artists from other countries, in particular, the influence of the Western European Renaissance can be traced. Icon painting, preserved mainly in Western Ukrainian lands (Przemysl, Lvov, etc.), reached its peak. Icons arranged in a certain order formed a separate composition - an iconostasis. Over time, the structure of the iconostasis became more complex, and it became an integral part of the interior of the temple.

In Ukrainian icon painting of the 15th – 16th centuries. the influence of the Moscow school is manifested (“Archangel Gabriel” from the village of Dalyava, Lviv region of the 15th century). Sometimes the Gothic influences of Western Europe are noticeable (Peter and Vasily from the village of Lesyatichi, Lviv region of the 15th century).

Miniatures of handwritten works: “The Life of Boris and Gleb” and “The Radzivilov Chronicle” have high artistic value.

The beginning of printing contributed to the further development of the art of book design. In the artistic culture of the second half of the 16th - first half of the 17th centuries. Significant changes in content and form occurred, and new genres of art (including secular) developed. A pictorial and sculptural portrait appeared (“Portrait of K. Kornyakt”, early 17th century), the tombstone of K. Ostrozhsky in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, 1579. Outstanding artists of this time were F. Senkovich, N. Petkhnovich, S. Korunka.

Thanks to book printing, engraving became one of the leading types of graphics. Books published in Ukrainian printing houses were illustrated with engravings (mostly on wood).

In the architecture of the period under review in Ukraine, the traditions of ancient Russian architecture continued to develop and improve. The architecture of this period acquires a fortification character; it is characterized by severity and grandeur, and limited decorative decorations. Fortress walls, moats and ramparts were erected around cities. The street layout was radial (Lutsk, Medzhibozh) and radial-circular (Vladimir-Volynsky, Putivl), some cities had an irregular layout (Kyiv, Nizhyn).

The compositional center of the city was formed: - the main market square with the town hall, which had a high tower and a cathedral. Both wooden and stone architecture developed. In the first half of the 16th century. A new form of castles appears in architecture - palace castles, in which living quarters were located along the inner perimeter of the palace. They built open two-story arcades - galleries with large windows; and the outer walls of the castles were defensive in nature and had loopholes (castle in Berezhany, Ternopil region, mid-16th century).

Monasteries and fortresses were built.

In connection with the development of crafts and trade, old and new cities grew, and in them public buildings - town halls, houses of craft workshops, new types of two-three-story residential buildings: shops and various workshops were located on the ground floor, and living quarters on the upper floors.

In the western lands of Ukraine, which were in closer relations with Western Europe, the architecture of residential buildings increasingly showed forms of the Italian Renaissance in a unique local interpretation (for example, the house of Kornyakt, architect P. Barbon, 1572 - 1582, Lviv). Temples, the walls of which, built of white stone or brick, had no decorations (Pokrovskaya Church in Lutsk); centric, so-called churches - rotundas (the village of Gotryani near Uzhgorod); three-nave churches with 1, 3, 5 domes (Epiphany Church in Ostrog).

New trends are emerging in iconic architecture. The main customers for construction were the gentry, urban and rural societies, whose tastes and aesthetic ideals influenced church architecture. The relationship with the advanced humanistic culture of Western Europe also had an effect. All these trends were reflected in the construction of domeless churches. The completed type of church-fortress is the Church of the Intercession in Sutkivtsi (XV century).

After the liberation war of the Ukrainian people, a new stage in the development of architecture began. The influx of population to the Dnieper region and Slobozhanshchina caused the rapid development of old cities (Kyiv, Chernigov, Pereyaslav) and the emergence of new ones (Kharkov, Sumy, Akhtyrka, Lebedin, Poltava).

In the XV–XVI centuries. a new type of heroic epic - duma - appeared, kobzar art and instrumental music playing among bandura players developed.

At the Kiev-Mohyla Collegium (since 1701 - an academy), musical notation was studied, choral singing and playing musical instruments were common, there was a choir and a symphony orchestra. There were also choirs in the Chernigov, Kharkov and Pereyaslav collegiums.

During this period, Jesuit school theaters appeared in Ukraine (Lvov, Lutsk, Vinnitsa, etc.). They staged dramas written in Latin and later in Polish.

Thus, despite difficult political conditions, severe social oppression and religious oppression, the culture of the Ukrainian people continued to develop. She, relying on ancient Russian traditions, achieved success in many areas.

Culture of Rus' during the period of fragmentation

For Russian spiritual culture of the mid-XII - XIII centuries. The emergence of “polycentrism” is characteristic - the emergence of distinctive cultural centers in different regions of Rus'.

Chronicle writing is being further developed. If in the XI - early XII centuries. the centers of chronicle work were only Kiev and Novgorod, then in the subsequent period chronicle writing was carried out in most of the centers of the resulting feudal principalities: Kiev, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl, Vladimir-on-Klyazma, Galich, Novgorod, probably also in Smolensk and Polotsk. Despite the “regional” nature of chronicling, chroniclers of the 12th - first half of the 13th centuries. did not isolate themselves in their narrow regional events, to one degree or another covering the history of all of Rus'. Of the chronicle texts that have reached us, the chronicle of the centers of Southern Rus' is most reflected by the Ipatiev Chronicle (late 13th century), the North-Eastern - by the Laurentian Chronicle (beginning of the 14th century), the Radziwill Chronicle and the chronicle of Pereyaslavl of Suzdal (13th century).

At the end of the 12th century. One of the most outstanding works of world medieval literature in terms of its artistic merit was created - “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”. It is dedicated to the above-mentioned unsuccessful campaign against the Polovtsy in 1185 by the Novgorod-Seversk prince Igor Svyatoslavich. It is no coincidence that it was this hike that served as the occasion for the creation of the work. A number of circumstances - the eclipse of the sun that accompanied the campaign, despite which Igor continued the campaign, the death and capture of the entire army, the prince's escape from captivity - were unique and made a strong impression on his contemporaries (in addition to the Lay, two lengthy chronicle stories are dedicated to them).

“The Tale of Igor’s Host” in the form that has come down to us was created, according to scientists, in the fall of 1188 (at the same time, perhaps its main text was written back in 1185, shortly after Igor’s escape from captivity, and in 1188 ... additions were made to it in connection with the return of his brother and son Igor from captivity). Its unknown author, the solution to whose name never ceases to amuse researchers and lovers of the Lay (unfortunately, almost all existing versions do not stand up to serious criticism), was, in any case, a resident of Southern Rus', a secular person and belonging to the highest stratum of the ancient Russian nobility - boyars.

The main idea of ​​the “Tale” is the need for unity of action of the Russian princes in the face of external danger. The main evil preventing this is princely feuds and internecine wars. At the same time, the author of “The Lay” is not a supporter single state: he takes for granted the division of Rus' into principalities under the rule of sovereign rulers; his call is directed not to state unification, but to inner peace, to consensus in actions.

Being a work about the events of its time, “The Lay” is at the same time a striking monument to historical thought. The “present” time is compared in it with past events, moreover, in national history (which was rare - usually historical examples works of ancient Russian literature were drawn from biblical and Roman-Byzantine history). A feature of the historicism of the Lay is an attempt to find in the past the roots of Rus''s current troubles: for this purpose, the author turns to the events of the second half of the 11th century, when the era of princely strife began, which led to the weakening of the country in the face of Polovtsian raids. In his appeal to history, the author of The Lay makes extensive use of epic motifs.

In the second half of the 12th century. (exact dating is a subject of dispute) another remarkable work of ancient Russian literature, “The Word of Daniel the Sharper,” appeared in North-Eastern Rus'. It is written in the form of an appeal to the prince: the author, a native of the lower strata of the ruling class, who has fallen into disgrace, is trying to once again earn the prince's favor and prove to the prince his usefulness as a wise adviser. The “Word” is full of aphorisms. In the 20s or the first half of the 30s of the 13th century. a second edition of this work was created, called “The Prayer of Daniel the Imprisoner.” It is addressed to Yaroslav Vsevolodich, at that time the prince of Pereyaslavl Zalessky. The author of this edition is a nobleman, a representative of a new category in the ranks of the ruling class. A characteristic feature of “Prayer” is a negative attitude towards the highest nobility - the boyars.

Another outstanding work of ancient Russian literature, “The Tale of the Destruction of the Russian Land,” was written in the most difficult days for Rus' during the Mongol-Tatar invasion. Most likely, it was created at the beginning of 1238 in Kiev, at the court of Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodich, who then occupied the Kiev table, after receiving news from North-Eastern Rus' about the invasion of Batu’s hordes and his death in battle with the Tatars on the river. City of Yaroslav's brother - Yuri.

This work (which remains unfinished) contains unparalleled medieval literature a hymn glorifying the native land, reminiscing about its former power (under princes Vladimir Monomakh, his son Yuri Dolgoruky and grandson Vsevolod the Big Nest) and a discussion about the “disease” - strife that undermined the strength of Rus' after the death of Yaroslav the Wise. Like the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” the author of “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign” turns to the past of his fatherland, trying to understand the reasons for its present-day troubles.

In the epic genre, mid-XII - early XIII centuries. - the time of the appearance of such epic stories as “Saur Levanidovich”, “Sukhman”, Novgorod epics about Sadko, cycles of songs about Prince Roman (the prototype of this hero is Prince Roman Mstislavich Galitsky).

Stone construction continues to develop (mainly temples, but stone princely palaces also appear) and church painting. In the architecture of the second half of the 12th - early 13th centuries. there is a combination of local traditions, forms and elements of the Western European Romanesque style borrowed from Byzantium. Of the surviving monuments of architecture of this era, the St. George Cathedral of the Yuryev Monastery (first half of the 12th century) and the Church of the Savior on Nereditsa (late 12th century) near Novgorod can be especially highlighted; in North-Eastern Russia - the Assumption and Demetrius Cathedrals in Vladimir, the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl (second half of the 12th century), St. George's Cathedral in Yuryev-Polsky (1234).

Bibliography

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