Works by V. G
Back in the mid-1890s, Korolenko, together with his closest friend and co-editor of “Russian Wealth” N. Fannensky, was planning a memoir and journalistic book “Ten Years in the Province,” which was not yet connected with the history of an entire generation of the 1870s . The epic plan was outlined in the fall of 1896 in Korolenko’s correspondence with P.F. Yakubovich. The latter sent the story “Youth” from Kurgan exile to the editorial office of “Russian Wealth” and expressed his dream of a “novel of our time.” Korolenko, in a response letter, supported the idea of “our novel,” which “played out with greater or less intensity among a whole generation,” when “the scene was filled with active populism,” and the epilogue of which is “remote places.” He believed, however, that on the path to such a novel there are not only insurmountable external obstacles in the form of censorship: we “ourselves cannot yet look back with sufficient calm and<...>"objectivity" Yakubovich, in turn, expressed hope that the person who will be able to “cope with all the difficulties” will be Korolenko himself: “You, exactly You You’ll write “our novel” after all.”
In 1905, when the censorship climate had softened significantly, Korolenko began an artistic chronicle of his generation. “I wanted, paying tribute to the topic of the day, to start with exile,” he wrote to his brother, but he overcame the temptation and started from childhood. However, the “first impression of existence” turned out to be a fire: “reflections of a crimson flame” “against the deep background of night darkness.” A picture that echoes the Russian reality of the “burning year.”
In an effort to determine the genre of his work, Korolenko resorted to various formulas: the work is “almost fictional, not dry memories”, “life impressions”, “illuminated by memories”, but not a biography, not a “public confession”, not “ own portrait”, at the same time, the story of one life, where “historical truth” is given preference over “artistic truth”. In the end, “The History of My Contemporary” absorbed all the main principles of Korolenko’s work - artistic and visual, memoir, lyrical, essay and journalistic. At the same time, the weight of the last two elements gradually increased, which corresponded to the general direction of the writer’s path.
Portraying the high spiritual image of his contemporary, Korolenko shares with the reader many anxieties and doubts. In 1916, he called the “young and hot” time of his populism “the crushed ashes of still recent hopes”: “After that old sharp experience, I am skeptical about “ready-made formulas”,” be it the formula of “folk” or “class” wisdom. He chose for himself a “partisan line” of action “from his own mind.”
The generation of the 1860s-1870s, which Korolenko called “his own”, entered the historical arena with “boiling wine of denial” in their heads, with a tendency to act “very radically and very naively”, dealing with all “junk” using the “Knock on head” method and to hell! Korolenko treated all kinds of “nihilists” and “subverters” aloofly, believing that something new can only be introduced if it is based on a higher moral principle.
However, in the life of the “nihilistic generation” Korolenko overheard the motive of exhaustion of denial, fatigue from enmity, and caught the desire of the young for “something that could reconcile with life - if not with reality, then at least with its possibilities.”
The shortest and most succinct review of “The History of My Contemporary” belongs to A.V. Amphiteatrov: “A fragrant book!” History has prepared a cruel epilogue for Korolenkov’s generation: “the dictatorship of the bayonet,” as the writer defined it in the last years of his life, “immediately moved us centuries back,” surpassing “the craziest dreams of the Tsarist retrogrades.”
CHORAL AND VOCAL WORKS BY G.V. SVIRIDOVA: CHOICE OF TEXTS, GENRES
G.V. Sviridov entered the history of Russian musical art as a classic of the 20th century. He is an outstanding Russian composer, one of the most brilliant and original artists who made a significant contribution to Russian art. The origins and foundations of Sviridov’s creativity lie in centuries-old musical culture, and, above all, in Russian music different eras. He is often called the most consistent follower and successor of classical traditions.
Sviridov's vocal works constitute the main part of his work. IN creative heritage The composer has over 300 romances and songs, existing both separately and in the form of vocal cycles and poems. As A. Belonenko notes: “His favorite form is song. He took this from the romantics he adored, from the cult lyric poem, from Russian romance, from German Lied " . In his vocal work, the composer managed to combine the everyday intonation of urban song, folklore and speech intonation. He saw the development modern music in the revival of the Russian national tradition. In their diary entries Georgy Vasilyevich notes: “Great art is only possible if it relies on great tradition» . Therefore, Sviridov is one of the few composers of the 20th century who preserved the song-romance genre. The composer argued that music should return to melody, continued to defend mode, tonality, classical harmony as the main foundations of music.
Sviridov’s contribution to Russian choral music is no less significant. He wrote both large oratorio-epic works and small cantatas, poems, cycles, and individual miniatures for a cappella choir. In all genres, the composer managed to embody a rich imaginative world. Images folk life, nature, human feelings and moods, historical and social themes - all this is reflected in Sviridov’s choral work.
A. Belonenko identifies several ideological and figurative lines in the composer’s work. First and main line- this is the topic historical fate Russia, the central event of which is the Russian revolution of the early 20th century. Sviridov's attention is focused on two events to which he constantly returned in his work - the revolution and the civil war. At the same time, revolutionary themes unite works of different genres, among them “Poem in Memory of S. Yesenin”, some songs with lyrics by A. Prokofiev, Yesenin’s cantatas “Wooden Rus'” and “The Bright Guest”. The theme of the fate of the Russian peasantry is closely connected with the theme of revolution. Sviridov came to this topic through an appeal to Yesenin’s poetry (“Poem in memory of S. Yesenin”, vocal cycle “My father is a peasant”). Belonenko writes that the reason the composer turned to this theme was “... acute feeling anxiety for the fate of man, alienation from his land - this is the main motivating motive underlying Sviridov’s attitude to the topic of the peasantry.”
The second line is lyrical. It includes reflections on the meaning of existence (spiritual, philosophical lyrics), love lyrics. Belonenko notes: “The world in its pristine beauty, revealed to man as perfect harmony, is the fundamental principle of Sviridov’s choral landscapes and paintings of nature. Nature is the permanent habitat of Sviridov’s muse.”
The composer turned, as a rule, to the peaks of world poetry, most of all Russian - A. Pushkin, M. Lermontov, N. Nekrasov, but also F. Sologub, A. Blok, S. Yesenin, M. Isakovsky, A. Prokofiev, B Pasternak.
In his work, the composer assigned a large role to the word. In his diaries, he writes: “I am partial to the word (.), as to the beginning of beginnings, the innermost essence of life and the world. The most effective of the arts seems to me to be the synthesis of words and music. This is what I do." Sviridov knew well and appreciated Russian literature from the 19th century. and the 20th century. He was, first of all, attracted by the poetic word, as A. Belonenko notes: “... as a rule, the impulse of Sviridov’s creativity came from it.” Sviridov was sensitive to the content and style of poetry. Contemporaries noted that he had an absolute ear for poetry. “He is a brilliant poet, Sviridov. We have wonderful composers - tragedians, playwrights, novelists, but I think there is only one poet,” composer V. Gavrilin wrote about him.
Sviridov, even before studying at the Leningrad Conservatory, clearly declared himself as a vocal composer . In 1935, the composer turned to the poetry of A. Pushkin and conceived a vocal cycle of six romances. Work on it took place throughout the year. Immediately after completion, the romances were published and had big success; Since 1937, in connection with the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Pushkin’s death, they have been included in the repertoire of outstanding performers. It was this vocal cycle that brought fame to the young composer.
The cycle “Eight Romances to the Words of M. Yu. Lermontov,” created in 1937–1938, had a different fate. Unlike Pushkin's cycle, these romances were not very popular. One of the reasons for this was wartime, during which the cycle was performed. In addition, Sviridov himself believed that the cycle was far from perfect. Therefore, in 1956, when the composer decided to publish the first collection of his romances and songs, he returned to the cycle and rewrote it again.
The cycle of songs “Sloboda Lyrics” based on poems by A. Prokofiev and M. Isakovsky was started by Sviridov in 1938, also during his years of study at the Leningrad Conservatory. An interesting fact is that this work caused negative criticism from his teacher, D. Shostakovich. He accused Sviridov of the fact that in this work he “sinks to the base, falls into philistinism, common people.” But it was in this cycle that the composer began the search for his own style, the search for that very “simplicity” that would be characteristic further creativity Sviridova. The composer turned to this work several times, constantly refining it. So, initially the composer added a song to the poems of M. Isakovsky and gave the cycle the name “Village Lyrics”. Later, in 1958, he makes latest edition: rearranges numbers, makes changes and approves the final name “Slobodskaya Lyrics”. This work became a milestone in the composer’s work.
The cycle differs significantly from Pushkin’s and Lermontov’s not only in musical language and style, but also in figurative content. In the first cycles, the lyrical mood prevails, the main theme is Sviridov’s favorite image of the Poet. In “Slobodskaya Lyrics” there is a different figurative sphere. The cycle is united thematically: love, separation, wedding. The poems chosen by the composer are closely related to folklore - ditties, “suffering”. According to A. Belonenko: “Here are given folk characters, sketches of peasant post-revolutionary life, the psychology of another, another I - a simple person." As noted earlier, Sviridov continued the tradition of Russian everyday romance, which was very clearly manifested in the “Slobodskaya Lyrics” cycle, in the composer’s use of typical everyday intonations. The cycle “Slobodskaya Lyrics” can be called a landmark composition in Sviridov’s work. According to Belonenko, the features of the composer’s “mature Russian style”, which would be formed by the mid-50s, are felt in it.
The composer himself considered the end of the 40s and 50s to be a new stage in his work. It was during these years that Sviridov’s style took shape, which, first of all, manifested itself in the vocal cycle “My Father is a Peasant” and “Poem in Memory of Sergei Yesenin.” The premiere of “Poem in Memory of Sergei Yesenin” in 1956 revealed to the world, as A. Belonenko writes, new Russian composer .
Sviridov's favorite poet was Sergei Yesenin. Yesenin and Sviridov are two outstanding creators of the 20th century, a poet and composer, whose work was connected by love for Russia. Sviridov’s appeal to Yesenin’s poetry became a kind of revival of the poet’s legacy. Before the composer, the poet's work was poorly represented in music. Immediately after Yesenin’s death, isolated romances and songs based on his poems appeared. And then came the period of oblivion of the poet, and not only in music. For many years his works were not republished, were not performed on the stage, and were only occasionally mentioned in history. Soviet literature from a negative point of view. And only in the 50s composers again turned to his work. But before Sviridov, musicians did not see anything in Yesenin’s poetry except love lyrics, rural landscapes and sketches of village life. The composer approached his work from new positions. A. Sokhor wrote: “He revealed to musicians and listeners a different Yesenin - national artist on a large scale."
The main topic works of this period was Russia, the Poet, the poet’s native land glorified. A very important image for Sviridov is the image of the Poet, who embodied lyrical hero. According to A. Belonenko: “The composer trusts him with his most intimate thoughts, through the prism of his imagination and soul, Sviridov’s picture of the world is revealed to us, so to speak, the artist’s worldview.” .
“Poem in Memory of Sergei Yesenin” is one of the most large-scale works of Sviridov associated with Yesenin’s poetry. The composer's original intention was to write a cycle of romances for voice and piano. But soon Sviridov realized that the composition he was creating went beyond the chamber. The final edition, created in 1956, is intended for tenor soloist, choir and orchestra. The work remained to exist in two versions - vocal-symphonic and vocal-piano. The appearance of the “Poem…” was in many ways important for the name of the poet, since it became a kind of “rehabilitation” of Yesenin, long years not published in our country.
L. Polyakova’s “Poem…”, consisting of 10 parts, is divided into three large sections. The first (parts 1 - 4) is dedicated to old peasant Rus'. The second (parts 5 and 6) are pictures of the night (analogous to the slow part of a symphonic cycle). Last section dedicated to the arrival of something new in the life of Rus'.
M. Elik notes that the origins of Sviridov’s melody can be found in Russian ritual songs (“Threshing”, “Night under Ivan Kupala”), lyrical lingering songs (“Night under Ivan Kupala”), the influence of folk lamentation and lamentation (“You are my land) is noticeable abandoned...", "I am the last poet of the village..."), ditties ("Peasant Boys"), as well as everyday romance of the 19th century ("In that land...", "I am the last poet of the village..."). The last song (“The sky is like a bell”) summarizes the range of intonations that go back to ritual chants and are associated with the embodiment of the epic principle, pictures of nature, people's labor, customs.
After working in the cantata-oratorio genre, Sviridov again turns to chamber vocal genres. In 1956, the composer created a cycle of songs for tenor and baritone with piano, “My Father is a Peasant.” V. Vasina-Grossman notes that this cycle “can be considered as a return to the sphere of images of “Slobodskaya Lyrics”, but presented in a more generalized form, cleared of unnecessary “everydayism” and “dialectisms”, which is largely determined by the choice of poetic material » . The unifying principle of this vocal cycle is the theme of the Motherland, Russia - the favorite theme of Yesenin’s poetry. The poet is also characterized by bitter regrets about his wasted youth, premonitions of an imminent end - all this is reflected in Sviridov’s cycle. For the work, the composer chose seven poems, including landscape sketches, and sketches of life old village, there are also lyrics in which intonations are heard lyrical songs and ditties. According to L. Polyakova, the cycle can be divided into two large sections and an epilogue. The first section is formed by the songs “Sleigh”, “Birch”, “Rus Shines in the Heart” - these are a kind of three lyrical statements of the Poet. The second section of the cycle is formed by the songs “Recruit”, “Song for the Tallyanka”, “In the Evening” - these are three genre sketches of folk peasant life. V. Vasina-Grossman writes that all the songs in the cycle are united “... by the correctly found Russian song intonation.” Hence the closeness of the songs in the cycle to Russian folk songs. In his intonation structure one can hear the intonations of a lyrical drawn-out song, ditty, and harmonica playing.
According to A. Belonenko, after “Poem...” and the vocal cycle “My father is a peasant” in 1956-1958, Sviridov finds himself in a crisis situation. During these years, he turns to his previously created works and reworks them. Sviridov is in search of something new in his work: he experiments with tonality, even trying to master the twelve-tone technique. However, the composer is not satisfied with all this; he understands that he is not on the same path with the young composers of this period. It was during these years that Sviridov became convinced that only the synthesis of music and words could give him the opportunity to express his most intimate thoughts and experiences. He comes to the conclusion that his genre is song. The composer himself wrote in his diaries: “The time has come for spiritual, symbolic, static and simple art. Song is the basis of something new, qualitatively new in art. Song and mass."
“Five unaccompanied choirs to the words of Russian poets” was the composer’s first attempt at turning to the genre of a cappella choir. Work on this cycle was completed in 1958. The idea did not come together right away. The initial core of the work was the first two choruses to the words of N. Gogol and S. Yesenin. The composer's archive contains information about the existence of this cycle for tenor, mixed choir and symphony orchestra. The final version was intended for a mixed choir a cappella. Two cross-cutting themes can be found in the work. The first - the theme of youth, lost youth is embodied in the choruses “About Lost Youth”, “In the Blue Evening”, “The Son Met His Father”, “How the Song Was Born”. The second theme, characteristic of all of Sviridov’s work, the theme of the Motherland, is most clearly expressed in the last three choruses (“The son met his father”, “How the song was born”, “Herd”).
During 1961 – 1963, Sviridov worked on the vocal cycle “Petersburg Songs” for four singers (soprano, mezzo-soprano, baritone, bass), piano, violin and cello to the words of A. Blok. The composer first turned to his poems back in student years. Sviridov was especially attracted to Blok’s poems related to St. Petersburg, a city that the composer himself loved very much. In the poetic composition of the cycle there is no specific plot, constant characters, but there is a single main image associated with St. Petersburg. Here is a picture of city life in different times years with characters of different ages and social status. M. Elik also highlights in the cycle the theme of “... “little people,” “humiliated and insulted,” driven by life into attics and basements, dying from hopelessness and reaching out to the light...”. A. Sokhor highlights the unity of time as a unifying principle in “Petersburg Songs”: “... the action in the cycle begins at dawn (“Ring-Suffering”), covers the morning (“Verbochki”), day (“On Easter”), twilight ( “In the attic”, “In October”) and ends late in the evening, almost at night (“We met you in the temple”).”
In the 60s, the principles of neo-folklorism clearly emerged in Sviridov’s work. The cantata “Kursk Songs” (1964) belongs to the folklore line. V. Shchurov recalls the composer’s preparation for the creation of “Kursk Songs”: “I had the opportunity to come into contact with initial process creation of “Kursk Songs” by Georgy Sviridov. During this period I was a laboratory assistant in the Office folk music at the Moscow Conservatory and helped A.V. Rudneva during her significant meeting with the composer. Sviridov came to our office, having become acquainted with the recently published collection of Kursk songs by A. V. Rudneva, many of which impressed him strong impression... He was looking for an idea for a future composition. Anna Vasilievna suggested him a topic: seasons. However, the composer did not accept this offer, saying that it was more attractive for him to reveal a person’s feelings. And most of all he is concerned with the topic of women's fate" [cit. from: 12, p. IX]. The cantata includes various historical and stylistic layers folk art, both ancient genres (calendar-ritual songs) and later ones (lyrical). The composer creates a cycle on a folk song basis, according to Yu. Paisov: “... having managed to individually rethink the samples used and at the same time preserve the original flavor of the songs of the southern Russian region in their original charm and integrity.” Sviridov himself was very sensitive to national traditions, in particular to Russian folk songs. In his notebooks he wrote: “In essence, the ideal combination of words and music is a folk song. I mean a genuine folk song, and not numerous fakes, bourgeois romance, etc.” .
Based on "Three Old Songs" Kursk province» for mixed choir, solo violas, accompanied by two pianos, ocarina and percussion instruments There are also song samples of Kursk folklore from Rudneva’s collection. In the process of creating “Kursk Songs”, Sviridov had more than seven songs in his work that were included in the cantata. The composer said that he was going to make a suite or even two from the remaining samples of folklore. He polished the work for a long time, often put it aside, and then returned to the plan again. Therefore, “Three Ancient Songs of the Kursk Province” were published only in 1990.
Both works are connected not only by the fact that they are based on Kursk folklore, but also by their theme. In “Three Ancient Songs of the Kursk Province” the composer continues the theme of the female lot, fate, begun in the cantata. When comparing the two cycles, common features in compositional technique (melody, harmony, texture) are also revealed.
In the same period (60s), another work based on S. Yesenin’s poems appeared - the vocal cycle “Wooden Rus'”. Initially, a small cantata was composed for tenor, male choir and piano. And later, in 1965, the composer himself remade the cantata into a vocal cycle. This work touches on a different range of images of Yesenin’s poetry. Sviridov’s constant theme “The Poet and the Motherland” is considered in another aspect: this is a kind of lyrical confession of a young man realizing his calling in life. The composer took the name of the vocal cycle from the poet himself, Yesenin’s exclamation “My Rus', wooden Rus'!” set as the epigraph to the cycle.
After Yesenin’s “Wooden Rus',” Sviridov turns to the poetry of B. Pasternak. In 1965 he created a small cantata “It's Snowing”. The composer turned to the poetry of Pasternak, as well as to Blok and Yesenin, more than once in his work. The very first romances were written based on his poems, which Sviridov himself considered imperfect and did not even include in the list of works. It is interesting that earlier Pasternak’s poetry did not attract the attention of composers; it was Sviridov who introduced the poet’s work into music and was, in this regard, a kind of pioneer (as with Yesenin). For his little cantata, the composer selected three poems from last period Pasternak's creativity. L. Polyakova defines the plot of the work as follows: “The theme of inexorably moving time, unchanging celestial bodies, carefree childhood and the poor, not recognized by anyone, but understanding everything and remembering everything (for eternity!) artist, hiding in his lonely attic, watching everything - this is the content of the cantata “It’s snowing.”
The work “Twenty-five songs for bass” based on texts by different poets is not a single whole, although it has signs of a vocal cycle. Belonenko notes that this is an example of a multi-part composite composition (very characteristic of late creativity Sviridov), which the musicologist calls a song collection. He explains that a song collection is a conditionally cyclical form, because as a whole, songs exist only on paper in written form, and are never performed in their entirety. The collection includes a large number of miniatures (at least 15), which inside form independent mini-cycles, united by a common ideological and figurative content.
“Twenty-five songs for bass” did not come together as a whole right away. Belonenko, in the introductory article to volume 13 of the “Complete Works,” for the first time describes the entire history of the formation this collection. At the end of the 1950s, the composer was faced with the task of publishing individual songs under a common cover. Thus, in 1960, twenty-five songs were published for different voices and to texts by different poets who did not form a single composition. It was a random selection of songs that were never subsequently put together in that order. Subsequently, the song collection was transformed more than once: in 1971, the collection “15 Songs for Bass” was published; in 1972 - “16 songs for bass accompanied by piano”; in 1975 – another edition of “16 Songs for Bass”; in 1978 - “20 songs for bass accompanied by piano”; in the early 80s, a new and final edition of “Twenty-five songs for bass” was published. This collection of songs includes vocal miniatures composed by the composer mainly in mature period creativity. It included the mini-cycles “Two songs about the Civil War”, “Three songs to the words of A. Isaakyan”, “Four songs to the words of A. Blok”, as well as individual songs to the words of A. Pushkin, F. Tyutchev, B. Kornilov, S. Yesenin, R. Burns, P.-J. Beranger.
In the 70s, Sviridov created the vocal cycle “Nine Songs to the Words of A. Blok” for mezzo-soprano. The peculiarity of the cycle is that it was created for a specific voice timbre - E. Obraztsova. According to Belonenko, the composer and singer were connected for many years of creative collaboration. Sviridov knew the capabilities and features of her timbre, her artistic abilities, therefore his vocal works for a low female voice he created under the unconscious influence of Obraztsova’s timbre. The vocal cycle included poems by Blok, taken from different books. There is no logical, figurative and thematic connection between the songs; there is no plot or specific idea. The combination of different poems acquires integrity thanks to music. This is facilitated by the predominance of lyrics in the figurative sphere of songs, stylistic, intonation and harmonic unity (mode, rhythm, harmony).
Like the collection “Twenty-Five Songs for Bass,” the vocal cycle “Nine Songs to Lyrics by A. Blok” also developed gradually. The initial basis was a mini-cycle of three songs (“Weather vane”, “Beyond the mountains, forests...”, “Morning in Moscow”), published in 1974; in 1975 “Four Songs to the Words of A. Blok” were published; in 1979, the cycle “Seven Songs to the Words of A. Blok” was published in a collection of romances; final edition first and last time During the composer’s lifetime, it was published in 1981 under the title “Nine Songs to the Words of A. Blok.”
The period 1970s - early 1980s was creatively very important and fruitful. As the composer himself wrote: “It was an era of deep forebodings. A great national thought matured in it, finding strong creative expression...” The composer came up with the idea of turning to religious themes as a poetic source of creativity. He creates works that are deeply spiritual, but based on a mixture of church and secular genres.
“Spring Cantata” was written by the composer in 1972. The work is based on three fragments from N. Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” “Spring Cantata” is dedicated to the memory of A. Tvardovsky. With this dedication, the composer connects the past and the present. The form of the cantata is extremely compressed, there are only four parts: “Spring Beginning”, “Song”, “Bells and Horns”, “Mother Rus'”. The first part is kind of spring landscape Homeland; the second part is connected with the traditions of Russian life, it is based on a wedding song; the third part can conditionally be called an instrumental “intermezzo”; the cantata is crowned by the mighty national glory of Rus'.
Sviridov again turns to his beloved poet Yesenin. In works based on his poems, the image of Russia does not disappear, only now it is an ideal, invisible, heavenly Russia. As the composer himself admitted in his diaries: “I am writing a myth about Russia.” Throughout 1976 – 1977, he worked on one of his most significant works - the poem “The Rus' Set Away” for voice and piano based on the verses of S. Yesenin. The poem is dedicated to a major researcher of the work of Sviridov and his great friend musicologist A. Sokhor, who died while the composer was working on this composition.
Most of the poems selected by Sviridov for the poem were written by the poet during the years of the revolution and civil war. In addition, the cycle includes excerpts from Yesenin’s short poems, the so-called “Yesenin Bible”. As V. Veselov notes, “... the whole action is raised to cosmic heights, to the “legendary”. Hence the legendary nature of the images of good and evil, Christ and Judas, who appear in direct conflict.” In structure, this work is a vocal cycle, but Sviridov called it a poem. He clearly distinguished for himself the framework of the vocal cycle and the poem. The first genre included works that were narrower in content, the second - cyclical vocal compositions with a deeper depth. philosophical basis. The poem “Rus' Set Away” is a philosophical, dramatic reflection on the unknown destinies of Russia. The poetic quality of a work is associated with its integrity, unity of concept. The unifying principle is the image of Russia.
In 1978, the triptych “Hymns to the Motherland” based on the words of F. Sologub was completed. During the work, the composer repeatedly changed the order of the parts and did not give a name for a long time. The final version was formed only after the concert performance of the work. Sviridov was perhaps the first composer to turn to Sologub’s poetry. In Sologubov's lyrics he was attracted by sincere love for the Motherland - a theme that deeply concerned the composer throughout creative path. The dramaturgy of “Hymns to the Motherland” is characterized by the unity of this theme. T. Maslovskaya writes about the triptych: “Having seen and sprouted the grain of epicism underlying Sologubov’s hymns, Sviridov built a triptych, distinguished by monumentality, significance and some staticism characteristic of the hymn genre.”
The idea of the cantata “The Bright Guest” for a mixed choir and orchestra based on the text by S. Yesenin dates back to 1962. The compositional plan and musical material took shape immediately. The clavier was already in the mid-60s, and published only in 1979. By this time, an orchestral version of the cantata had also been developed, but the composer never chose the final edition, and work on orchestrating the work continued over the next decades. But Sviridov never managed to complete the work on the score himself. After his death, the manuscripts were transferred to the composer R. Ledenev, who studied them and established several options for the author's orchestration. One of these editions was used as the basis for the orchestration of the cantata.
The work is based on fragments of small biblical poems by S. Yesenin. In the composer’s diary entries there is a note about the cantata “The Bright Guest”, in which he writes: “The poems on which this work is based were written by Yesenin in 1918. They are a direct response to the events of the revolution, which is understood (interpreted, considered) by Yesenin as the beginning of renewal, the spiritual transformation of the Motherland, Russia.” The cantata has a light mood, the form is concentrated, the parts are short, and there is no bright contrast between them. The work consists of six parts. IN musical language the stylistics characteristic of previous works based on S. Yesenin’s poems are noticeable.
In the late 80s - 90s, Sviridov’s consciousness was influenced by the socio-political changes taking place in our country. The composer had a hard time with the collapse of the USSR; it gave him complex, contradictory feelings. The works of these years reflect the mood of the composer in the last years of his life. First of all, the music of this time reflects the inevitable approach of death. In addition, during this period the role of religious ideas in his works was great. In his diaries, the composer defines the goals of his work: “Art is not only art. It is part of the religious (spiritual) consciousness of the People."
To summarize, it should be noted that in the choice of texts and genres in his work, Sviridov relied on three sources. First - folk songs, primarily in the Kursk region, since he was originally from the city of Fatezh (Kursk region). The second source is Russian poetry of the 19th – early 20th centuries. As a rule, the composer turned to the lyrical poetry of A. Pushkin, M. Lermontov, N. Nekrasov, A. Blok, S. Yesenin, M. Isakovsky, A. Prokofiev, etc. The third source is spiritual texts, the words of which are taken mainly from Russian Orthodox liturgical books, from folk spiritual songs. For the composer, the texts to which he turned were important as exponents of the national, spiritual, and moral principles. The texts chosen by Sviridov required, according to the composer’s ideas, an appropriate embodiment in music. One of these means was anhemitonic intonation, so characteristic of his melodic style.
1. Belonenko A. “My form is a song...”. About Sviridov’s chamber vocal creativity // Georgy Sviridov. Complete collection essays. Volume 10. Romances and songs. M. St. Petersburg. 2003. – P. V – XXXII.
2. Belonenko A. Choral beginning of the music of Georgy Sviridov // Georgy Sviridov. Full composition of writings. Volume 18. Works for choir without accompaniment. M. St. Petersburg. 2003. – P. V – XVIII.
3. Vasina-Grossman V. G. Sviridov // Masters of Soviet Romance: 2nd edition, revised and expanded. M. 1980. – P. 255 – 289.
4. Veselov V. Starry romance // Musical world Georgy Sviridov. M. 1990. – S. 19 – 31.
5. Georgy Sviridov. Music as fate: Library of memoirs / Comp. A. Belonenko. M. 2002. – 785 p.
6. Book about Sviridov: Reflections. Statements. Articles. Notes / Comp. A. Zolotov. M. 1983. – 282 p.
7. Maslovskaya T. “The structure of life and the lights of eternity...” // Musical world of Georgy Sviridov. M. 1990. S. – 78 – 91.
8. Paisov Yu. Blok in Sviridov’s reading // Music life, 1980 No. 21. – P. 20.
9. Polyakova L. Notes on the works of the 60s // Georgy Sviridov. Digest of articles. M. 1971. – P. 272 – 319.
10. Sokhor A. Georgy Sviridov. M. 1972. – 320 p.
11. Sokhor A. Musical dramaturgy of Sviridov’s vocal and symphonic works // Musical contemporary. M. 1979. Issue. 3. – pp. 146 – 171.
12. Tokmakova O. “It’s best to leave a song as a song.” Kursk folklore in the works of Sviridov // Complete Works. Volume 3. Kursk songs. Three ancient songs of the Kursk province. M. St. Petersburg. 2003. – pp. IX – XIII.
13. Elik M. Sviridov and poetry // Georgy Sviridov. Digest of articles. M. 1971. – P. 58 – 124.
Information about the history of the creation of the vocal cycle is taken from introductory article A. Belonenko to the 13th volume of the publication “Georgy Sviridov. Full composition of writings".
Korolenko entered the new twentieth century with works that reflected the atmosphere of Russian society’s expectation of great social changes. In the first of them, the essay “A Moment,” work on which the writer began in 1896 and completed in 1900, again shows the relationship between the social and the natural, but this is no longer the main theme of the work.
If Matvey Lozinsky and Stepan never knew, but only vaguely had a presentiment of, what freedom was, then the hero of “The Moment,” the Spanish insurgent, understood this word perfectly, but now he “forgot” its meaning. When he was taken to solitary confinement, he carved his name and the cry: “Long live freedom!” deep into the stone.
After ten years of imprisonment, the prisoner could only write on the wall the length of his stay in prison. The idea of freedom is fading. “Then the counting stopped... Only the name continued to flash, carved by a weakening and lazy hand.” But one day the prisoner saw white smoke from shots on the shore and a boat flashing in the waves, and heard the sound of the sea and the surf, which “started its deep song.”
Could this be a rebellion again? For a minute he awakens from oblivion and grabs the bars, but his fallen asleep, “self-forgotten” soul soon again plunges into an unconscious state: “Let the sea say what it wants; Let this belated boat, which he noticed through the window, get out of the disorderly pile of shafts as he wishes. A slave boat from a slave shore... He doesn’t care about her or the voices of the sea.”
“The voice of the sea” in the essay most often corresponds to the definition of “conscious”: “This squall, flying entirely over the breakwater, hit the very wall<...>It seemed as if something deliberately menacing had flown over the island and then died down and froze in the distance.”
Or: “Only noise remained, powerful, wildly conscious, fussy and joyfully calling.” The soul of the hero in the first five chapters is spoken of as “asleep,” “frozen,” forgetting itself, and plunging into an unconscious state. The concept of “freedom”, generated by reality itself, the social experience of the prisoner, went deep into the subconscious.
But the sound of the sea continued to disturb, his voice became more and more distinct. And in the penultimate—sixth—chapter the opposition between man and the sea is removed: the hero responds to the “wildly conscious” roar of the storm with a cry of “uncontrollable joy, boundless delight, life awakened and conscious of itself.”
“But still... still ahead. - lights!" - this is the main mood of the essay “Moment” and lyrical miniature“Lights”, written in the same 1900. Both of these works are deliberately allegorical: the everyday, concrete, real background here is muted and gives way to a light, lyrical mood faith and hope. In what forms the social movement growing by the beginning of the century will be embodied is unclear to Korolenko, but the fact that life is awakening is undeniable for him.
Extremely strict about his artistic creativity, Korolenko said: “Our songs, our artwork- this is the excited chirping of sparrows during an eclipse, and if some animation in this chirping could foreshadow the imminent onset of light, then we “young artists” cannot have greater ambition.”
Korolenko’s journalism contributed to the speedy advent of light, the creation of a better, higher type of both life and art itself, no less than works of art.
People close to the writer often said that social struggle and journalistic speeches, to which the writer devoted so much mental and physical strength, interfere with him, distract him from artistic creativity. These thoughts sometimes appeared in Korolenko himself, but he never regretted that he devoted so much time to journalism, which testifies to his direct and very active intervention in life.
Shortly before his death (July 1920), Korolenko wrote: “Sometimes I take stock and look back. I'm reviewing the old ones notebooks and I find in them many “fragments” that were once conceived, but for one reason or another were not completed<...>I see that I could have done a lot more if I had not been scattered between pure fiction, journalism and practical enterprises, such as the Multan case or helping the famine. But I don’t regret it at all. First of all, I couldn’t do it any other way. What nib<удь>The Beilis case completely unsettled me. And it was necessary that literature in our time should not remain indifferent to life.”
Korolenko's journalistic articles (he appeared not only in the central, but also in the provincial press) often became major phenomena public life. It was Korolenko and L. Tolstoy who attracted the attention of all reading Russia to the famine of 1891-1892. and many contributed to the fight against it. Korolenko saved an entire people (Votyaks) from sweeping and false accusations of committing murder for ritual purposes by publishing a series of articles about the Multan case (1893-1896).
In a number of articles he sharply posed the question of burning for Tsarist Russia the problem of anti-Semitism (“House No. 13”, 1903; “The Beilis Case”, 1913). Korolenko revealed all the callousness and inhumanity of the military judicial machine during the years of reaction (“Everyday Phenomenon”, “Features of Justice”, 1910). Essentially, Korolenko was the first to speak in the Russian press with truthful and bright paintings how peasant unrest was pacified (“Sorochinskaya tragedy”, 1907; “Tranquil village” and “Tormental orgy”, 1911).
Let us also note that on January 9, 1905, only Korolenko managed to respond with a long article (censorship prohibited covering the events of that day), presciently saying in it that the events of “Bloody Sunday” were “the first sharp break in our horizon, beyond which, perhaps, in the mysterious fog others are already visible - higher, steeper, steeper...” In the same article, he will give a negative assessment of Gapon’s personality, which not many people understood at that time. Korolenko responded welcomingly to the October general strike.
Journalistic articles and essays by Korolenko, for all the importance and complexity of the topical issues raised in them, usually carried something more than their immediate topic. Thus, the main task of the essays “In a Hungry Year” is to reveal the tragedy of the starving peasantry and show the reasons for this tragedy. But they also contain other themes and problems.
This is the philosophy of power (specifically, autocracy), and the question of the moral structure of the community, and the socio-political problems that arose in Russia after 1861, and legal problems. Specific facts and observations served as a basis for Korolenko, a publicist and essayist, to make large social generalizations.
At the beginning of the essays “In a Hungry Year,” Korolenko writes that the reader is waiting for a picture from the fiction correspondent that would make him experience the full horror of hunger, waiting for something like a message that in the time of Boris Godunov, hungry mothers ate their children. “Be less ferocious, gentlemen!” - exclaims Korolenko, thereby formulating his aesthetic program.
There are a lot of “ferocities” in life, the writer emphasizes, but everyday, everyday, common facts, shown “without egregiousness”, almost in a calm, objective manner, in their totality turn out to be much more terrible than the extremes of disaster. And they are the ones who help to understand the essence and reasons people's grief. And they lie primarily in the state system itself with its bizarre understanding of legality.
The organization of assistance to starving peasants leads the publicist to a bitter conclusion: the stagnation, which is so noticeable in all spheres of Russian life, manifests itself with particular force in the countryside, because “ free development and the creativity of new forms of life stopped at the act of liberation, and now the life of the village, squeezed on all sides, froze in the old partitions.”
Analyticity, based on well-studied facts, “without ferocity,” “blatantness,” and deliberate sharpening of individual episodes, and at the same time enhanced by a restrained lyrical intonation. - this is the principle adopted by Korolenko the publicist at the beginning of his creative career and which remained unchanged in the future.
The fiction writer was always present in journalistic works Korolenko, the writer’s vivid imagination largely helped him to penetrate into the essence of events and phenomena, but the very understanding of life was always based on thoroughly verified facts and circumstances of the case.
To write “Multan Sacrifice”, Korolenko becomes an ethnographer. The famous “Everyday Phenomenon,” which shocked Tolstoy, who thanked the author for this excellent article “in expression, in thought, and most importantly in feeling,” was created by a sociologist writer.
A fictional beginning and a strictly scientific system of generalizing facts are also characteristic of most of Korolenko’s social and everyday essays. In their works of art the writer, as we have already seen, often pitted his hero, possessing one or another system of ideas, with an environment where other established views, opinions, and ethical standards prevailed.
In his social and everyday essays, Korolenko confronts the past and the present, long-established forms of social relations with those that are replacing them. A linguist who wants to understand the laws of language development goes to areas where the language is still preserved in the forms used by our ancestors.
Korolenko, in turn, explores places in Russia where socio-economic forms of the past exist almost untouched, coming into contact with those that replace them, since he is interested in phenomena occurring at the intersection of different socio-economic structures.
Korolenko went to the artisanal village of Pavlovo (“Pavlovsk Sketches”, 1889) because “nowhere has the former character of our ancient cities and suburbs been preserved to such an extent as in this artisanal village... Something ancient blows over you in these narrow and crooked streets, from these gloomy chambers, from this sharp division into “poor” and “rich”, which you meet here at every step.
It feels like you’re in the seventeenth or even sixteenth century.” Korolenko also studies Cossack communities (“At the Cossacks,” 1901) also because “nowhere, perhaps, was the problem of wealth and poverty posed so sharply and so acutely as in these steppes, where poverty and wealth more than once rose against each other "armed hand". And nowhere has it been preserved in such frozen, unchanging forms.”
History of Russian literature: in 4 volumes / Edited by N.I. Prutskov and others - L., 1980-1983.
The famous events described in Shakespeare's Hamlet will appear before us from the point of view of the royal kitchen workers, led by the skilled chef Froggy. Every conceivable misfortune befell Froggy. It was his cooking that was declared the cause of the death of Hamlet's father, the rightful king of Denmark. But most importantly, Froggy was jealous of his wife, the charming cook Katie, who had seized the throne of Claudius. Froggy decides to take revenge on the newly-minted monarch and begins to actively interfere in Hamlet's fight against the forces of evil. Will the cook be able to prevent a bloody outcome and turn tragedy into comedy? The intrigue will be resolved only in the last scene, when after the duel of Hamlet and Laertes, two weddings unexpectedly take shape.
About the history of the play:
« Famous playwright Aldo Nicolai (1920-2004), author of more than 60 plays, wrote the comedy Hamlet in Hot Sauce in 1987. In 2002, the play was accepted for production at the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater with the caveat that it must first be finalized. The fact is that “Hamlet in Hot Sauce” was written by an Italian author in the genre of black comedy and is replete with deaths. It seemed to the theater that the specific black humor characteristic of Western theatrical tradition, when transferred to Russian soil, it will be lost, the play will “hang” between genres. Natalya Demchik was entrusted with writing the stage version of “Hamlet in Hot Sauce” for the Moscow Art Theater. To “undo the deaths,” two-thirds of the play had to be rewritten. This is how it appeared new option this comedy. The stage version by Natalya Demchik follows the genre classic comedy provisions and adapted to Russian realities. The premiere took place in June 2002. Staged the play famous director Pyotr Stein, Igor Ugolnikov performed in the benefit role of the royal cook, and A. Semchev played the role of Hamlet. Also performing in the performance were I. Zolotovitsky, I. Vernik, N. Nevedina, Yu. Chebakova and other Moscow Art Theater artists.”
The rights to the stage version of the play “Hamlet in Hot Sauce” belong to Natalya Demchik.
From reviews:
“...Italian playwright Aldo Nicolai, very popular in Russia, came up with the idea of showing Shakespeare’s Hamlet from the kitchen. The plot is like this. The cook (Igor Ugolnikov) became jealous of his wife for Claudius. To take revenge on him, he dresses up as the shadow of Hamlet's father and acts out the performance famous from Shakespeare's play. Then the plot unfolds exactly according to Shakespeare, only in a comedic version. We won’t reveal all the culinary secrets of the performance, but one thing can be said: all the characters in the finale of Nikolai’s play die, despite any comedy. But I admit honestly: I couldn’t make the death of the characters funny. Therefore, playwright Natalya Demchik dramatically changed the ending of the play. In our “Hamlet” no one dies, but everyone gets married.
Our “Hamlet” is a fantasy on the theme great play. It so happened that the premiere coincided with the date of death of Grigory Gorin, who often took familiar works and created wonderful fantasies based on them. I dedicate this performance to him. I would like to hope that we are at least half closer to what Gorin did. In my opinion, today people want to come to the theater and relax. So I tend to make the play entertaining.” Petr Stein, director of the play.
“...I play Hamlet. But it is not the main role. My Hamlet is naive and good-natured, almost a child. He's a little off-kilter - there's something of Dustin Hoffman's character in Rain Man or Forrest Gump about him. The viewer will not hear the monologue “To be or not to be,” although the text of the play contains inclusions of Shakespeare’s verse in Pasternak’s translation. Shostakovich's music for Kozintsev's film "Hamlet" will also be performed. I think the performance will turn out to be quite modern. The action takes place in the kitchen, where the characters spy on what is happening - and this is a kind of parody of the TV show “Behind the Glass”. There is also a line in the play: “Not everything is calm in the Danish glasshouse!” Alexander Semchev, actor.
“It’s a shame that this performance was the last one on life path my friend Peter Stein." Igor Ugolnikov, actor.
“...Only these events are told from the kitchen - from the point of view of simple and sober-minded royal subjects, for whom pots and cookers are more important than the suffering of the prince. Seasoned with pepper and mustard, Hamlet's story doesn't look so tragic at all. Moreover, Hamlet is played by fat man Alexander Semchev, and his faithful friend Horatio is played by showman and TV presenter Igor Vernik. Essentially, Hamlet in Hot Sauce is more of a show than a performance. academic theater. By the way, in Shakespeare himself, Prince Hamlet was funny, fat and, in addition, suffered from shortness of breath.” Tamara Razumovskaya, critic.
