Presentation of ancient dances. Presentation on music "old dances"

Changes in the composition of the cycle of the first edition of P.I. Jurgenson introduced them deliberately so as not to overload the imagination of children and soften the depth of an adult’s experiences when transferred to young musicians.

In the autograph, an arched structure (small associations of pieces) can be traced in the composition:

First three plays:

• 1. “Morning prayer.”
• 2. “Winter morning.”
• 3. "Mom."

Next two:

• 4. "Game of horses."
• 5. “March of the Wooden Soldiers.”

Trilogy about the doll:

• 6. “New doll.”
• 7. “Doll disease.”
• 8. “Funeral of a doll” (from 4-8 plays can be combined into a small cycle called “Children’s Games”).

Three foreign dances grouped together:

• 9. “Waltz” (from 1-9 plays can be called the 1st Children's cycle).
• 10. "Polka".
• 11. "Mazurka".

Then follow three plays in the folk spirit and then without changes. Only two latest numbers in the autograph they are arranged differently: first the play “In the Church” is played, and then “The Organ Grinder Sings”.

There is a Hero in the cycle. His presence is felt in all plays. The main character has his own key of D-dur. It symbolizes the presence of a character in a particular play; sometimes the composer limits himself to one tone (sound) - D at the beginning of the play.

There is a main key of the cycle G - major. It contains plays that characterize fateful milestones in the hero’s life: “Morning Prayer,” “Mother,” “The Lark’s Song,” “The Organ Grinder Sings.” There is a secondary tonality of the cycle e - minor (the play - the epilogue "In the Church" - was written in it). It has its own symbols: ostinato (Latin stubborn, stubborn) - repeated repetition of a melodic, rhythmic figure, or harmonic turn, or sound. This is a symbol of the inevitability of time. In "Morning Prayer" it sounds light, "In the Doll's Sickness" - doomed, the middle of "Waltz" is an alarming background, in "Nanny's Tale" - a feeling of fear, "In the Church" - a fatal sound. Another symbol is the association (feeling) of a pendulum swinging. This is the alternation of two opposite elements: either two sounds, or two harmonies, two tones, two images. It is a symbol of rebirth, repetition. For example: the names of the plays “Morning Prayer” and “In Church”, these plays are opposite. This is a symbol of duality: light - darkness, prologue - epilogue, written in parallel keys.

Winter morning.

Genre: Piano miniature in B minor from the “Children's Album” cycle, op. 39.

Hauntingly enlightened music depicts a foggy frosty morning. The light texture, slightly pointed rhythmic pattern of intermittent intonations create the impression of changeability, unsteadiness, reminiscent of running glares of light.

Music, as always with Tchaikovsky, develops very naturally, so it is easily perceived and remembered. Naturally, in particular, there is a slight increase in sonority in phrases that rise upward, and attenuation in motives that go down. And since each ascending motive is followed by a descending one, such development is perceived as naturally as inhalation and exhalation. This is not always realized, but it is always felt. The repetition of the same intonation in different voices forces the pianist to worry about conveying this dialogue, so that the conversation between the voices is witty and interesting.

In the middle part there is a hint of some sadness. It can be emphasized by a warmer emotional tone of the sound of a descending melodic progression. It is worth paying attention to how it is built middle part: in it, each voice acquires independence. The lower voice, filled with chromatics and creating more complex harmonies, takes on a darker timbre. This sets off the onset of the reprise, that is, the middle part, in which everything that happened in the first is repeated, and the bright, lively character of the music is restored.

One compositional feature this play is worth noting. The main key of the piece is B minor. The play ends in this key. It usually happens that the piece begins in the same key. Less often, the tonality of the beginning and end is different. When this happens, it happens in works of large scale, in which such a “mismatch” of the tonalities of the beginning and end is justified by the complex dramaturgy of the work. In plays of small form, in which such dramatic development does not happen, such discrepancies are hardly justified. This piece is a rare exception in this sense: it is both small in size and deviates from the traditional construction of its tonal plan. At the same time, it sounds very harmonious and natural - you don’t even immediately realize this originality.

March of wooden soldiers.

To embody the image, one should achieve the lightness, sonority of staccato, the “toy” sonority of the “March of the Wooden Soldiers”, to the sounds of a “toy” orchestra with flutes and a drum.

It is necessary to work on the elasticity and accuracy of the rhythm. In one case (bars 2-4) in the first half of the bar the indicated dotted line - an eighth with a dot and a sixteenth are pronounced under the league, and in the second half the dot is replaced by a pause. In another case (bars 7, 15), pauses are placed in both the first and second half of the bars. These fine details must be followed precisely. Pianistic techniques require short, fast, precise movements of targeted, rounded fingertips. It is important to work on the precision of chords and dotted rhythm, and pay attention to the fingering; for example, it is better to perform rehearsals in bars 8, 16, 40 with different fingers (sometimes, to make it easier, they can be transferred to the right hand part).

The play never goes beyond the limits of r and pp. Accents should not disrupt the dynamics; they further emphasize the “toy-like” nature of the music.

A short pedal helps you better hear the precise sound of texture, strong beats of measures, and accentuation of chords.

It is necessary to warn against accelerating the tempo, strictly following the author's instructions Moderato (Moderate).

Doll disease.

When performed, three sound layers develop horizontally - melody, bass and harmony. Each of these elements of the composition has its own expressiveness. Merging together, they form harmony. Work on a singable melody, expressive bass and harmonies that follow one after another. When combining layers, you need to pay attention to the fact that each of them is independent, and, at the same time, to their subordination, help to find the sound ratio.

Let us note the greater gradualness of dynamic development, for example, the approach to the climax f in bars 21-24, followed by diminuendo, small dynamic influxes in bars 31-34 and, finally, the final “fork”, at the end of which the tempo can be slowed down.

An excessively slow tempo, at which all the elements of the piece will inevitably disintegrate, is unacceptable - it is necessary to find a smooth, fluid pulsation.

Funeral of a doll.

In a solemn funeral procession, a funeral march sounds in gloomy C minor. At first the funeral procession is far away, then it gets closer and closer, now it is already next to us, and then it begins to move away. In accordance with this, a dynamic plan is constructed (the play begins pp, gradually develops to mf, and returns to pp again). Its accuracy is very important for revealing the image. As in every funeral march, the young pianist's attention should be drawn to the rhythmic figure (half note, dotted eighth note, sixteenth note and half note again). In different performing situations, this game sounds differently - sometimes like a mannered gait, sometimes at the climax - minted, ominous. The gloomy nature of the music is emphasized by heavy chords and intervals in the accompaniment, which should be well coordinated with the melodic line. It is especially necessary to emphasize the seventh code of the double dominant at the climax: it usually appears in Tchaikovsky in the most tense fragments.

The articulation is dominated by measured non legato gait. The expressive leagues in measures 17, 18, 21 and 22 must be listened to to the end, but not connected to the next sixteenth note. Legato (bars 31-33) should sound melodious, highlighting the dominant stroke.

When performing, you should be aware that this is a puppet funeral, and treat it as a game.

Russian song.

“Russian Song” is based on the original folk melody “You are my head, my little head.” This is an example of Russian folk subvocal polyphony, in which four-voice alternates with two- and three-voice.

With a constant melody, the music varies due to the moving bass and echoes.

The song is written in periodic alternating meter alternating 6/4, 4/4 and 2/4 (except for the last six bars). To make the meter understandable to children, the author put 2/4 everywhere, so you need to read 6/4 as 3 times 2/4, and 4/4 as 2 times 2/4. This should be taken into account when the ratio of beats within measures, for example, in a 6/4 measure, the main support falls on the first beat, and the third and fifth beats should be felt only as intermediate.

It is important to follow the intonation liveliness of the bass part from the 13th bar, accurately fulfilling the articulation prescribed by the author (a combination of expressive lines, accents, staccato and non legato), preserving the features of the meter.

The composer wrote out f throughout the work. Within it, find gradations of sonority. Any forcing will contradict the stylistic features of the Russian song. To prevent this, you need to use unifying horizontal pianistic movements, read six-quarter and four-quarter bars as if under one common league.

musical composer Tchaikovsky

Message quote Through the pages of Tchaikovsky's "Children's Album". Music in pictures

I have already referred to this wonderful work here:

Today all the pieces from this album will be performed by the Gnessin Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra. Artistic director and conductor Mikhail Khokhlov. The videos were made using drawings by young artists of the IV Children's Arts Festival "January Evenings" (2010)

In March 1878, P.I. Tchaikovsky arrived at the estate of his sister Alexandra Ilyinichna Davydova.

AND Menie A . I. Davydova
Now the museum of P.I. Tchaikovsky and A.S. Pushkin

He fell into Kamenka unexpectedly, out of the blue, and created a joyful commotion. Alexandra Ilyinichna’s children gave him such a concert that he had to cover his ears. Again the house was filled with “sweet, heavenly” sounds. Pyotr Ilyich settled comfortably in his room and was already scribbling something at his desk. A few days later he let slip:

Now, these birds,” he pointed to the children, “certainly want me to write “every last bit” in their album. I'll write, don't be afraid. I’ll write and we’ll play everything!

And he wrote for the “Children's Album” and played them with children.

Various children's games, dances, and random impressions found their place in the album. Music is both happy and sad ...

Morning prayer

Lord God! Save, warm:
Make us better, make us kinder.
Lord God! Save, save!
Give us the power of your love.

Winter morning

Mother

Mom, very, very
I love you!
I love you so much that at night
I don't sleep in the dark.
I peer into the darkness
I'm hurrying Zorka.
I love you all the time
Mommy, I love you!
The dawn is shining.
It's already dawn.
No one in the world
There is no better mother!

Kostas Kubilinskas

Horse game

I'm flying on my horse like a whirlwind,
I really want to become a brave hussar.
Dear horse, riding on you,
I gallop across the meadow dashingly with the breeze.

Brand new, beautiful soldiers just attract you. They are just like the real thing, you can line them up and send them to the parade. So they know how to march like real people, and it’s so cool that you just feel like marching with them.

March of the Wooden Soldiers

We are wooden soldiers
We march left and right.
We are the guardians of the fairy gates,
We protect them all year round.
We march clearly, bravo.
We are not afraid of obstacles.
We protect the town
Where the music lives!

While playing, children invent the most incredible stories. Looking at them, Pyotr Ilyich came up with his own story and told it to the children, but not just told it. This story fit into three plays, which the children heard.

The first story told about a girl Sashenka, who loved to play with her doll. But suddenly the doll got sick. The doll lies in the crib, complaining. Asks for a drink.

Doll disease

The girl is very sorry for her doll. Doctors are called to see her, but nothing helps. The doll is dead.

The play "The Doll's Illness" is followed by "The Doll's Funeral".

Everyone came to the funeral, all the toys. After all, they loved the doll so much! A small toy orchestra escorts a doll: The monkey plays the trumpet. Bunny is on the drum, and Mishka hits the timpani. Poor old Teddy bear, he was completely wet from tears.

Doll funeral

The doll was buried in the garden, next to a rose bush, and the entire grave was decorated with flowers. And then one day, my father’s friend came to visit.

He had some kind of box in his hands.

- This is for you, Sasha! - he said.
“What is it?” Sashenka thought, burning with curiosity.

An acquaintance untied the ribbon, opened the lid and handed the box to the girl...

There lay a beautiful doll. She had big blue eyes. When the doll was rocked, the eyes opened and closed. The pretty little mouth smiled at the girl. Blonde curly hair fell on her shoulders. And from under the velvet dress white stockings and black patent leather shoes were visible. A real beauty!

Sashenka looked at the doll and couldn’t get enough of it.

- Well. What are you doing? Take it, it’s yours,” said dad’s friend.

The girl reached over and took the doll out of the box. A feeling of joy and happiness overwhelmed her. The girl impulsively pressed the doll to her chest and spun around the room with it, as if in a waltz.

- What a joy to receive such a gift! - thought Sasha.

New doll

The petals have grown cold
Open lips, childishly moist, -
And the hall floats, floats in lingering
The melodies of happiness and melancholy.
The shine of chandeliers and the ripple of mirrors
Merged into one crystal mirage -
And the ballroom wind blows,
The warmth of the fragrant fans.

I. Bunin

Waltz

Mazurka

“I grew up in the wilderness, from my earliest childhood, I was imbued with the inexplicable beauty of the characteristic features of Russian folk music,” wrote Tchaikovsky. The composer's childhood impressions, his love for folk songs and dances were reflected in three plays from the "Children's Album": "Russian Song", "A Man Playing the Harmonica" and "Kamarinskaya".

Kamarinskaya

In Kamarinskaya the balalaika tune is imitated. And it was written in the form of variations, which is very characteristic of Russian music.

It sounds on all continents and finds ardent fans everywhere. The musical language of the great lyricist is so bright that it is recognizable in any of his works, be it a complex symphony or a simple children's play. You will be able to truly understand and appreciate his major works when you become adults. We will turn to the “Children's Album”.

Tchaikovsky was the first Russian composer to create an album of piano pieces for children. It was easy for him to do this because he understood and loved children.

For many years he lived in the large and friendly family of his sister, Alexandra Ilyinichna Davydova, in Ukraine, in the village of Kamenka. There, Pyotr Ilyich always felt at home and at home.

We learn about his sympathy for children from a letter to Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck, an admirer and friend of the composer: “...My nephews and nieces are such rare and sweet children that it is a great happiness for me to be among them. Volodya (the one to whom I dedicated the children's plays) is making progress in music and displays remarkable drawing abilities. In general, this is a little poet... This is my favorite. No matter how delightful his younger brother is, Volodya still occupies the warmest corner of my heart.”.

Fifteen years will pass, and Tchaikovsky will dedicate the brilliant Sixth Symphony, his last work, to Vladimir Lvovich Davydov.

Pondering the idea of ​​the "Children's Album", composed in the summer months of 1878, Tchaikovsky wrote: "I want to do whole line small passages of unconditional ease with titles that are entertaining for children, like Schumann’s”. Referring to a similar work by Schumann (“Album for Youth” by a German composer), he only meant common task- create a series of small and technically simple plays from children’s lives that would be accessible to the children themselves to perform.

The result is a kind of piano suite, where in small pieces of a folk character, the young pianist is successively given various artistic and performance tasks. Melodic expressiveness, simplicity of harmonic language, and absence of textural complexities make these works accessible to young performers.

The figurative structure of Tchaikovsky’s “Children’s Album” is completely independent and typical for a Russian child from the environment in which the composer himself grew up. “A small suite from Russian life,” Asafiev calls this series of twenty-four miniatures, outlining the world of carefree childhood with its games and amusements, brief moments of grief and sudden joys, perceived in their own way by the impressions of the surrounding life. A number of lively characteristic scenes are replaced by a motley sequence without a strict plot sequence.

There are fun, playful games, obligatory dances (waltz, mazurka, polka), and an entertaining fairy tale for the nanny with good ending, and suddenly a terrible image of Baba Yaga appears in the imagination. Behind the walls of the cozy nursery, another, street life is in full swing, noisy and riotous (“Russian Song”, “A Man Plays the Harmonica”, “Kamarinskaya”).

A kind of “suite within a suite” is represented by four foreign songs: Italian, old French, German, Neapolitan. The prologue and epilogue to this entire series of diverse musical pictures are the opening of the cycle, “Morning Prayer,” and the final play, “In the Church,” with which the composer “seems to close the day with its motley impressions.”

The very first edition was made taking into account the capabilities of little Volodya, but in further Peter Ilyich returned to his composition and refined it, taking into account the general characteristic features of the playing of young musicians. The dedication to Volodya Davydov, who “suggested” the idea of ​​the “Children’s Album” to the composer, remains the same.

Later, collections of piano pieces for children with similar tasks and methods for solving them were created by A. S. Arensky, S. M. Maykapar, V. I. Rebikov, and before Tchaikovsky, “The great German composer Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856) wrote an album for youth , whose name we met on the title page of the first edition of the “Children's Album”.

Morning prayer

Previously, every person’s day began and ended with an appeal to God. By praying, he tuned in to good thoughts and actions. In the morning prayer, the man thanked God that a new day had come and asked that this day go well.

Lord God!
Save sinners:
Make it better
Lived in Rus'.

Make it happen
Warm and light
And so that spring
The sun rose.

People, and birds, and animals,
Please, warm me up.
Please, my God!

The light key of G major, simple harmony, uniform rhythmic movement and strict four-voice texture (as if a choir is singing) - all this conveys a mood of concentration and peace. After carefully listening to the entire piece, you will understand that it develops one musical idea. Therefore, the composer used the simplest of musical forms - the period. About the meaning musical form, instrumental “outfit” of the theme, accompaniment harmony, etc. Tchaikovsky wrote to N. F. von Meck: “I never compose abstractly, that is, a musical thought never comes to me except in its corresponding external form.”.

The period here consists of two sentences. In the first sentence, the musical idea remains unsaid, ending with an unstable cadence on the dominant. In the second sentence, the musical thought, developing, comes to a climax, emphasized by a bright chord of a distant key. Unlike the first, the second sentence ends with a cadence on the tonic and therefore sounds stable.

The sentences are the same in size: each contains 8 bars. The “interrogative” cadence of the first sentence corresponds to the “affirmative” cadence of the second. Thus a balanced form was formed - the classical period of re-building. But the play didn't end here.

The period is supplemented by a large coda. There comes complete calmness, which is achieved by the long and measured sound of the tonic in the bass, the repetition of the “farewell” cadence. And only when the last transparent-light sounds of the coda fade into silence do we feel that the work is finished - the form is complete.

Code(translated from Italian as “tail”, “end”) is a structure that completes a musical work and gives it completeness and completeness.

Winter morning

A picture of a stormy winter morning - dark, snowy, cold, inhospitable. The music sounds either alarmed, confused, or pitiful.

The blizzard moans, the clouds drive away
To the lake close
In the low sky.

The paths are hidden, whitewashed
Delicate lace,
Light, snowy.

And the sparrow, little bird,
A small, unreasonable bird,
He wants to hide from the snowstorm,
He wants to hide, but doesn’t know how.

And the wind whirls it across the sky,
And carries him to a pure little pole,
From the slope, into the darkness of the forest...
Goryushko bitter,
Poor little bird!

The blizzard moans, the clouds drive away -
Hid all the ways
To get through.

Everything around is covered with white snow,
Snow covered everything around...

Transparently enlightened music depicts a foggy frosty morning. The light texture, slightly pointed rhythmic pattern of intermittent intonations create the impression of changeability, unsteadiness, reminiscent of running glares of light.

Music, as always with Tchaikovsky, develops very naturally, so it is easily perceived and remembered. Naturally, in particular, there is a slight increase in sonority in phrases that rise upward, and attenuation in motives that go down, and since each ascending motive is followed by a descending one, such development is perceived as naturally as inhalation and exhalation. This is not always realized, but it is always felt. The repetition of the same intonation in different voices forces the pianist to worry about conveying this dialogue, so that the conversation between the voices is witty and interesting.

In the middle part there is a hint of some sadness. It can be emphasized by a warmer emotional tone of the sound of a descending melodic progression. It is worth paying attention to how the middle part is constructed: in it, each voice acquires independence. The lower voice, filled with chromatics and creating more complex harmonies, takes on a darker timbre. This sets off the onset of the reprise, that is, the middle part, in which everything that happened in the first is repeated, and the bright, animated character of the music is restored.

One compositional feature of this play is worth noting. The main key of the piece is B minor. The play ends in this key. It usually happens that the piece begins in the same key. Less often, the tonality of the beginning and end is different. When this happens, it happens in works of large scale, in which such a “mismatch” of the tonalities of the beginning and end is justified by the complex dramaturgy of the work. In plays of small form, in which such dramatic development does not occur, such discrepancies are little justified. This play is a rare exception in this sense: it is both small in size and deviates from the traditional construction of its tonal plan. At the same time, it sounds very harmonious and natural - you don’t even immediately realize this originality.

Horse game

Many of you, especially boys, have more than once imagined yourself as racing horsemen, playing with horses. Various adventures arise in the imagination, fabulous paintings, obstacles that must be overcome. It’s okay that under you is not a real horse, but a toy or even a stick! Everything is happening as if for real. How many experiences a child has when he rides his toy horse! The music talks about this.

I'm on my golden-maned horse
He sat down and rushed across the green meadow,
By dandelions, by bells,
For burdocks, daisies and buttercups.
Past dragonflies and frogs and lizards,
Past beetles, moths and grasshoppers.

I'm on my golden-maned horse
He sat down and rushed through the overgrown garden
Past the raspberries and past the currants,
Past rowan, and cherry, and apple trees.

I'm on my golden-maned horse
He sat down and rushed around the house, through the rooms
Past the table, whatnot and bedside table,
Past the cat lying on the sofa,
Past the grandmother sitting knitting,
Past a ball and a box of toys.

I'm on my golden-maned horse
He sat down and rushed forward and forward.

The piece is written in the form of a toccata with the same type of rhythmic pulse, imitating the clatter of the hooves of a galloping horse. Tchaikovsky very subtly conveys the toy quality of horse racing: in contrast to the traditional way of conveying all kinds of jumping and marching by musical means using an even meter, here he uses an odd - three-beat (three eighths) size that sounds light, lively (the composer's tempo is Presto, which means "very fast"), but not aggressively.

Uniformity, if not monotony, is more than compensated by the variety of harmony: almost every change of harmony sounds like a kind of surprise - unexpected and fresh. This gives big interest to the play, forces you to carefully follow the course of events throughout its entire length.

Mother

The play has a very touching title that speaks volumes to every heart. The sincerity of feeling and the warmth of intonation give it a special charm.

I love you so much!
I need you
And at any hour and on any day
She was always with me.

I love you so much!
What can’t be said!
But I don't like it when
Your eyes are in tears.

I love you so much!
At least go around the whole world,
There is no one more beautiful than you
There is no one more tender than you.

There is no one kinder than you.
There is no one more beloved than you
Nobody, nowhere
My mother, my mother,
My mother!

Simple, unpretentious music turns out to be very capacious in its psychological richness with the subtlest nuances of emotional experiences, expressed in flexible intonation, subtle harmonization, and plastic vocal performance.

This character is also revealed by the author’s remarks, traditionally done in Italian: Moderato (moderately), piano (quiet), molto espressivo e dolce (with great feeling and tenderness), legatissimo (very related).

The size of the piece is three-beat (three quarters)– was also not chosen by chance: a three-beat measure always sounds softer and more rounded than a two-beat measure: to verify this, it is enough to mentally compare the waltz and march.

The piece is presented in the form of a duet: the lower voice sets off the light, clear sound of the upper voice with a warmer timbre. The voices move parallel to each other at a distance of decima, and this creates beautiful sounds not only in the sense musical harmony, but also conveys a very harmonious feeling.

March of the Wooden Soldiers

Boys love to play soldiers. Here is a toy army taking a step in a funny march. What does the word “march” mean? The word march means procession. It's more comfortable to walk to music.

Along the wattle fences, fences and fences,
At-two, left-right, at-two, left-right,
Our brave squad is marching.

At-two, left-right, at-two, left-right,
We walk easily and cheerfully.
At-two, left-right, at-two, left-right,
We sing a wooden song.

At-two, left-right, at-two, left-right,
Our brave squad is marching.
At-two, left-right, at-two, left-right,
The commander leads us to the parade.

In this piece, Tchaikovsky paints a musical image with very precise and economical means: the feeling of puppetry and woodenness is conveyed by the clarity of the rhythmic pattern, definiteness, and precision of the stroke. Imaginary instrumentation (perhaps woodwind instruments and a snare drum), close placement of chords, consistency of rhythm and strokes figuratively convey the coordinated movements of soldiers marching in close formation to the dry beat of the drummer.

Pieces No. 6, 7, 8 and 9 form a small suite. Of course, these are plays not only about dolls, but also about a girl who experiences the doll’s illness, its funeral, and after some time enjoys a new doll. These are short musical stories about the complex and serious mental life of a child who feels everything just as strongly and acutely as an adult.

Doll disease

Sad music about the very sincere experiences of a girl who takes her game seriously. Or maybe your favorite doll is really hopelessly broken (sick).

- Doll Masha got sick.
- The doctor said it was bad.
- Masha is in pain, Masha is in pain!
- You can't help her, poor thing.
- Masha will leave us soon.

This is woe, this is woe, woe, woe, woe...

The girl's doll fell ill. How does the music talk about this? What is unusual about the musical language of this piece? Listening to music, you will immediately notice that there is no continuous melodic line in it. It seems to be “broken” by pauses, each sound of the melody resembles a sigh: “Oh... ah...”

The form of the play can be defined as one-part, consisting of two periods with a coda. The doll’s “sighs” sound pitiful in the first sentence, then turning into muffled moans when they are transferred to a low register. The doll's "suffering" reaches its peak in the second period, which contains a tense climax. The period ends with a cadence on the tonic chord. The play has a long “fading” coda. The doll fell asleep...

Doll funeral

In music written for children, one feels careful attitude to the child’s experiences, understanding their depth and significance. Listening to this piece, you pay attention to the seriousness and genuineness of the little hero’s feelings, to the respect with which the composer treats the child’s personality.

Doll, dear, goodbye forever.
More, my beloved friend,
I can't play with you.

You were the best doll.
How come I didn’t save you?
How did this happen to you?
Where and why did you leave me?

Snow on the ground and snow on the heart.
Masha, dear, farewell forever.
More, my beloved friend,
I can't play with you.

It was no coincidence that Tchaikovsky gave the subtitle to his cycle – “In Imitation of Schumann.” This piece involuntarily recalls “The First Loss” from R. Schumann’s “Album for Youth.”

The play is permeated by the characteristic rhythm of a typical funeral march, but this feature does not make the play a truly funeral march. Sometimes in literature you can find a statement that here Tchaikovsky reproduced the sound of a choir. It seems to us that this music can be more easily imagined in an orchestral rather than a choral version. But be that as it may, both when performing and listening to this piece, you should not take everything too seriously. Still, the composer uses sounds to create the impression of a doll’s funeral: the element of play here should not completely disappear.

Waltz

The piece, sounding in one impulse, expresses the girl’s unbridled joy.

In my song you can hear the silvery sound of a stream.
The sweet-sounding voice of a nightingale is heard in it.
In my song you can hear the quiet rustling of reeds.

There is a surprised whisper of the breeze, a whisper of the breeze,
Whisper of the breeze, whisper of the breeze.

In the heart, bright songs began to sound again, began to sound.
And again I can dance without sadness, without sadness.

I spin and sing about the green elm, about myself and you.
I am ready to sing this song of mine every day and hour.

The play “Funeral of a Doll” is replaced by... a waltz. Why? Because it takes time for grief to be forgotten. But why does the waltz sound here? And because it was the most beloved dance of the 19th century, it was performed both at modest home celebrations and in luxurious ballrooms. And the ability to dance and move beautifully was considered necessary for any well-mannered person.

“Waltz” from “Children’s Album” recreates the atmosphere of a home holiday. Pyotr Ilyich loved to participate in home evenings of the Davydov family; here he felt free and at ease.

In letters written a few days before the start of composing the “children’s album,” the composer describes Sasha’s sister’s name day: “There are a lot of guests, and I will have to tap in the evening for the sake of my dear nieces, who really love to dance.”. And after the holiday, interesting details for us: “Sasha’s name day was quite fun. In the evening there was a real ball with an orchestra... I started dancing rather timidly, but then, as always happens in Kamenka, I got carried away and danced passionately, tirelessly, with various demons and schoolboyishness.”.

Ballroom pianist- musician who plays at dance parties.

The waltz is written in the traditions of home music playing - with a simple melodious melody and a characteristic waltz accompaniment: a bass and two light chords. Melodic phrases are small, smooth, they are sung as if by chance (pay attention to the pauses in the melody).

Starting in a bright E-flat major, the melody gradually goes into the “shadow”, modulating into G minor. This is how we first encountered a form with a modulating period. This is followed by the second period, where the key of E-flat major returns. Mischievous, sweeping leaps appear in the melody, the music sounds cheerful, “with various obsessions and schoolboyism.”

Thus, a simple two-part form was formed from the two periods.

But then the character of the music changes - a C minor episode begins - the middle part of a complex three-part form. “Persistent” fifths of the bass and a sharply broken melodic line in a bipartite measure destroy the soft three-beat movement of the dance. It was as if an unfamiliar, bizarre mask had appeared among the dancers.

But the episode flashed by, and the waltz began again.

New doll

The girl is so happy new toy! Together with her doll, she spins, dances and probably feels very happy. The music is filled with a feeling of delight, trembling joy, happiness. The rhythmic pulse that the accompaniment provides throughout the piece is reminiscent of an excited heartbeat.

Oh, mom, mom, really?
Will the doll be delivered soon?
Oh, mom, mom, really
Will the doll be here soon?

Oh, where is my doll?
I want to see her.
Oh, what? Already? Then I pray -
Well, give me my doll.

Oh, how beautiful she is, mom!
I'm so glad, my God!
Oh, doll, doll! We never
We won't part with you,
Now with you, now with you
With you, with you, with you, with you.

“New Doll” completes the small suite. This miniature play appears as a light breeze of joy. It sounds for less than a minute. It brings together different shades of feeling: amazement, delight, seizing a child at the sight of a beautiful toy that he has long dreamed of. It’s like a girl with a doll is spinning around a room flooded with sunlight...

The piece sounds like a fast waltz. The usual waltz time signature of 3/4 is doubled in time - 3/8. Therefore, the melody seems to be “suffocating.” It is not even divided into phrases, but consists of small motifs merging into one “wave”. The accompaniment is “lightened” by pauses of weak parts.

The form of the play is simple three-part. The extreme parts, being eight-bar periods of a single structure, are repeated. The middle of the piece is harmonically unstable. Short motives seem to “flutter” from octave to octave. Main reception development in this section is a sequence. In a reprise, the melody “dissipates” and disappears.

Mazurka

Dance miniature in the mazurka genre.

The moon is outside the window. I'm dancing alone.
Why aren't you coming, dear?
Why can't you find me?

The moon is pouring sleepy light,
And you are not here and there.
But still, my unknown,
I believe that you will be with me,
You are with me, you are always with me.

In the grove, where the sound of the stream is heard,
Where is the sound of the stream, the gentle sound of the stream,
I will only wander with you,
I am with you, only with you alone, my friend.

In the field, when it's dark around,
It's dark around, and there's no one around.
We will wander with you, my friend,
With you, my friend, only with you alone...

For now I'm dancing alone.
The moon is outside the window.
Why aren't you coming, dear?
Why can't you find me?

The moon is pouring sleepy light,
And you are not here and there.
But still, my unknown,
I believe that you will be with me,
You are with me, you are always with me.

Mazurka is a Polish folk dance. As a folk dance, this is a fast dance, always in three-beat time. The rhythm of the mazurka is unique: the accents are sometimes sharp, often shifting to the second and sometimes to the third beat of the bar. Sometimes it happens that two beats of a bar, or even all three, are emphasized. The emotional richness of the mazurka, its combination of daring, swiftness, and sincerity - all this has long attracted the attention of composers, both Polish (Elsner, and then his brilliant student - F. Chopin), and foreign. On Russian soil, Tchaikovsky, the author of the mazurka, had predecessors - the most famous mazurka sounds in the Polish act “Life for the Tsar” ("Ivan Susanin") M. I. Glinka.

The mazurka from “Children's Album” naturally belongs to the mazurkas of a chamber, intimate nature. The first theme is thoughtful, elegiac in nature. Something personal and intimate can be heard in the music: hence the tinge of sadness in the sound of the first intonations.

This play, like the rest of the plays in the cycle, is three-part. The middle part in it, however, does not contrast, but rather develops the musical idea of ​​the first part, except that it can be stated that it has a more emphasized dance character.

“...I grew up in the wilderness, from my earliest childhood, I was imbued with the inexplicable beauty of the characteristic features of Russian folk music...”- Tchaikovsky wrote to N. F. von Meck. The composer's childhood impressions, his love for folk songs and dances were reflected in three plays from the "Children's Album": "Russian Song", "A Man Playing the Harmonica" and "Kamarinskaya". They make up another small suite.

In the “Russian Suite” from the “Children's Album” (No. 11, 12 and 13), a bright national color attracts attention. The plays use the same method of development - variation. (change) characteristic of folk performance. This technique, however, manifests itself differently in all three plays.

Russian song

“Russian Song” - masterful arrangement folk song“Are you a head, my little head?” She recreates the powerful four-voice sound of a male choir, full of youthful strength and prowess.

- Let’s go to the woods with you, to the woods.
My daughter!
- Shall we go to the woods, to the woods?
My mother?
- We’ll go mushroom hunting with you, let’s go mushroom hunting.
My daughter!
- Well, let's go mushroom hunting, let's go mushroom hunting,
My mother.
Let's go mushroom picking, let's go mushroom picking!

The melody is laconic (6 bars). The phrases end either in minor or major. This is modal variability, which Tchaikovsky noted as a characteristic feature of Russian folk song. The author gives three options for processing the topic. At the same time, the bass line develops independently and becomes as expressive as the melody of the upper voice. In other voices, small independent motives and phrases sometimes appear - they are called sub-voices.

The number of votes changes freely: there are four, then three, then two, then four again. Such free use of voices is characteristic of Russian choral song. This style of presentation of musical material is called subvocal polyphony. In the “Russian Song,” the treatment of the theme can be likened to a tree, where the constant theme is the trunk, and the variations are the branches of this tree.

A man plays the harmonica

In a colorful figurative scene from folk life, the composer wittily imitates playing the harmonica. Listening to the play “A Man Plays the Harmonica,” you can clearly imagine how the accordion player stretches and again compresses the bellows of the harmonica.

I'll stretch Talyankin's furs.
The song will come out very well.

Eh, accordion, you, accordion,
My friend.
Touch you, just touch you -
And I’m immediately cheerful.

With my dear little girl
I will live - not to bother
I have many, many days
With my little girl, my, my...

A funny sketch “from life”, a kind of small scene. The sound of the piano is reminiscent of playing a harmonica: the piece plays on a dominant seventh chord - it is repeated 30 times! Multiple varied repetitions of this phrase create a comical impression: the hero seems puzzled by the unusual sound of his harmonica and is clearly unable to play anything else. The phrase, not completed, fades away in mid-sentence.

The scale of the melody is noteworthy - B-flat major, sounding based on the dominant rather than the tonic. Why did Tchaikovsky use this particular scale? It turns out that in the 70s (that is, around the time when the “Children’s Album” was written), craftsmen from the city of Livny, Oryol province, designed a new harmonica, called the “Livenskaya” (or “livenki”). It has exactly the same scale as in Tchaikovsky's play. The composer's sensitive ear noted the peculiar sound of the new instrument and, not without humor, recorded it in this piece.

Kamarinskaya

Kamarinskaya is the name of a Russian folk dance song, as well as a dance to the tune of this song.

How much fun we have today -
Everyone started dancing to Kamarinskaya.

Mom dances, dad dances, I dance,
My sisters are dancing, my whole family is dancing.
Grandma is dancing, grandfather is dancing,
My brother and neighbor are dancing.

The cat is dancing, the cat is dancing,
The bug is dancing at the gate,
And the tub, and the tub, and the rake and the grip,
And a broom, and a broom, and legs at the table.

The teapots are dancing, the spoons and pots are dancing,
Frying pans, ladle, kettles.
Bowls are dancing, buckets are dancing, basins are dancing...
What fun we have today!

This famous tune of Russian dance was used by Glinka in his brilliant orchestral fantasy back in 1848. Here in " Children's album", the dancer appeared as a modest piano miniature.

Developing the traditions of Glinka, Tchaikovsky gives in it a vivid example of instrumental variations. The art of variation—patterned coloring of a theme—comes to the fore. Remember the folk art of painting in Khokhloma and Palekh, its ringing and bright colors.

The composer varies the texture, changes the melody itself (unlike the “Russian Song”). 3A playful, scherzo theme is followed by three variations. The first and third variations, light and moving, seem to colorize the theme, preserving its staccato touch. In the second variation, a dashing, brave dance sounds. The theme is presented in “dense” chords, but even at the same time a familiar dance tune can be heard in the upper voice.

The folk character of the music, so obvious in P. Tchaikovsky, is also emphasized by the fact that at the beginning - throughout the theme (the first 12 bars) there is a “droning” bass sound of D (tonic). Together with the upper voice in the left hand part, it resembles the sound of bagpipes - a folk instrument on which you can play both a melody and such an invariably drawn out bass.

In addition to the imaginary sound of bagpipes, in the melody of the theme you can hear the timbres and strokes of the violin, and the intonations in the left hand part of the third variation resemble the sound of the so-called empty strings (that is, not pressed by the fingers of the violinist’s left hand and therefore sounding natural, as if primitive, not cultivated, “folk style”). The chord movement of the second variation can be mistaken for the “plucking” of the harmonic.

Polka

Polka is a Czech folk dance, cheerful, lively, playful, mischievous. It is danced with hops - small, light jumps. The name of this dance comes from the Czech word pulka - “half step”. Polka was also popular as a ballroom dance.

The polka starts gracefully and easily. You can imagine that a little girl in an airy dress and beautiful shoes that barely touch the floor is dancing it, she moves so skillfully and gracefully.

Over dusty paths,
Above the blades of grass, above the green ones,
And over the lake and over the puddle
The midges are spinning, the midges are spinning.

And under the maples, under the aspens.
Under the birches, under the rowan trees
Near the lake, near the puddle
Couples are spinning, couples are spinning.

Here is a squirrel circling with a pine cone,
A wolf with a fox, a hare with a bear.
The bear and the bunny deftly stomp
And they clap their hands loudly,
They clap loudly, they clap loudly.

Fast, dexterous, nimble, lively,
Nimble, light, quick, persistent -
In a clearing among a spruce forest,
Where a blackened stump stands in the moss.
Where do the juniper bushes grow?
Couples circle all day long.

This is one of the most popular plays in the cycle. Merry dance, full of grace; Only in the middle part does the theme, which has moved to the lower register, appear in a deliberately rude manner, with perky humor. The sound of the melody is complemented by continuous harmonic development; the right and left hand parts are perceived not as a melody and accompaniment, but as a single whole.

The play, like most of the plays in the “Children's Album,” is very easy to understand literally the first time, and after just one listen, parting with it, you carry its charming, graceful motif into your heart.

The next suite, which we would call “About Foreign Countries and People,” is formed by “songs” (No. 15 - 18, adjoined by No. 23). In them we feel the rhythmic liveliness of Italian melodies, the wise sadness of an ancient French tune, and the sedate regularity of German dance.

And yet Tchaikovsky gives preference to Italian “songs”. There are three of them in the “Children's Album”. This is no coincidence. The plays reflected the composer's fresh musical impressions received in Italy.

Tchaikovsky spent the autumn and winter of 1877-1878 abroad. He visited Italy, France, Switzerland.

In a letter from Milan to N.F. von Meck, Tchaikovsky writes: “My brother and I heard singing on the street in the evening and saw a crowd into which we made our way. It turned out that a boy of about 10 or 11 years old was singing to the accompaniment of a guitar. He sang in a wonderful, thick voice with such completeness, with such warmth, which are rarely found in real artists.”. Here the composer gives a fragment of a street song.

And she also quotes a song behind her. Pyotr Ilyich writes about her: “In Venice, in the evenings, a street singer with a little daughter sometimes came up to our hotel, and I really like one of their songs.”.

“Italian”, “German”, “The Organ Grinder Sings” and partly “An Old French Song” are reminiscent of the sound of an organ grinder. Tchaikovsky had vivid childhood memories associated with the mechanical sound of this instrument.

To the city of Votkinsk, where the future composer was born and spent his childhood in 1840, his father brought an orchestra - a mechanical organ - from St. Petersburg. The orchestra's rollers recorded music by Mozart, Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti. Excerpts from their works, performed by an orchestra, were for the “glass boy” (that was Tchaikovsky’s name in childhood) incomprehensible magic. From these childhood impressions a love for Mozart and Italian melodies was born. Therefore, the “songs” sound not only like music “about foreign countries and people,” but also like the composer’s memories of his childhood.

Italian song

The Italian song is very graceful, sweet, gentle, playful. Does it look like some kind of dance? Yes, it looks like a waltz. The play feels like a waltz, but this waltz is not smooth, but playful, lively.

At this tender morning hour
The sun looks tenderly at us.
We walk on dewy grasses
And we all sing together:

- The skies are beautiful here!
Beautiful bird voices!
The sun is pouring down from above
A soft light falls on this earth.
There is no better place than our Italy!

Our fields are beautiful!
Our land is beautiful!
Every home is beautiful
And every dome is golden
Under the dawn star!

There are many accents in the music that give it an energetic character and distinctness. In the accompaniment one can hear an imitation of musical instruments common in Italy - the mandolin and guitar.

“The Italian Song” is one of the striking examples, firstly, of P. Tchaikovsky’s borrowing of musical ideas from the external musical world and, secondly, of the compositional techniques that he used, turning other people’s melodies into his own musical creations.

An old French song

In “An Old French Song” a sad, sincere, simple folk tune comes to life. It is like a song - soulful, thoughtful, dreamy, sad.

Tell me, my beloved,
Why aren't you with me?
I carry it in my soul
Your beautiful image!

I just don't understand -
Tell me why
You can't obey
Are you my heart?

Oh Lancelot, come back to me.
Otherwise I will burn in the fire of love.

Oh, you won't come back
My knight Lancelot.
Don't you want to know, knight?
What is Elaina waiting for you?

The princess sits alone by the window all day,
Shakes his head and looks into the distance with longing.
The forest turns blue before her, and it is full of miracles,
AND evil fairy lives in it, guards the princess.

"Where are you, knight on a white horse,
When can you come to me?
You will rescue me, put me on a horse,
And you’ll take it with you from here forever.”

The composer used here an authentic tune of the 16th century - “Where have you gone, the hobbies of my youth...”. Having slightly changed the melody of his play, he included it in the opera “The Maid of Orleans”, where it is called “The Song of the Minstrels” and recreates the flavor of medieval France.

Minstrels- musicians and poets who served at the court of a wealthy feudal lord or knight.

The simple and leisurely tune is akin to an old ballad. The spare harmonies and restrained minor tone of the narrative are reminiscent of the paintings of the old masters with their muted dark palette of colors. From the deep shadows of these paintings emerge the faces and figures of people in ancient clothes who lived in ancient times...

The play is written in a simple two-part reprise form. At the beginning and end of the play, a three-voice polyphonic presentation is maintained: the melody sounds against the background of a sustained tonic bass, the middle voice echoes the melody, forming consonances with it. This was exactly the texture of French ballads and songs of the 14th -16th centuries.

At the beginning of the second part, the melody is enlivened, the texture changes: instead of polyphonic it becomes homophonic. In the reprise, the same narrative melody is heard again. Discreet and noble simplicity, the aroma of antiquity made this play a masterpiece of the “Children's Album”.

German song

It is similar to the old German rural dance Ländler - the predecessor of the waltz. It was danced by peasants in wooden shoes, slowly, with dignity, a little primly, with gallant bows, stamps and twirls.

Among the forested mountains, by the blue lakes,
Where in the thicket a discordant chorus of birds is heard,
Under the bright blue, under the centuries-old spruce
Today we will dance with you.

Today music will throw us into a merry dance,
A merry dance, a daring dance.
The music will throw us into a merry dance
At this sunny hour.

Now the two of us will dance side by side in a quick dance,
Let's go side by side, together we'll go,
We're in a fast dance, my friend, let's go
Just the two of you.

Where the mountain meadow is hidden, where there is no one around,
Where the distant horn of the trapper is heard.
Among the forest flowers, in painted clothes
Let's go dance today, my friend.

“The German Song” is cheerful and simple-minded, but there is a mystery in it. The leisurely three-beat movement is consistent with the character of the Landler peasant dance. In the harmony, the monotony of which resembles the sound of a barrel organ, only the tonic triad and dominant seventh chord are used. The melody also moves along these same chord sounds. Sing the chorus. Its melodic pattern is sharp and broken.” The narrow intervals of the first phrase - thirds, seconds, like an echo in the mountains, are reflected by the inversions of these intervals - sixths and sevenths (sing the second phrase). Such sharp jumps in melody are not unique to this song. They often sound in melodies common among the inhabitants of the Alps. Such melodies and the leaps in them are called yodels. It was in them that the mystery of the “German Song” lay hidden.

Neapolitan song

Naples is a city in Italy. In his play, P. Tchaikovsky very expressively conveyed the features of Italian folk music and the sound of folk instruments.

This sea is in front of me, this sky is blue,
These solar networks - how can we live without them?
These groves by the bay, these flexible olives,
I have loved this evergreen land forever!

My Naples!
Here under the hot southern sun,
Here under the pearl cloud
Trouble will not come to me.

My Naples!
A place dear to my heart,
I won't part with you,
My Naples, never!

Everything around here is mine:
And the distances are endless, and the buildings are elegant,
And the streets are short, and the squares are ancient,
And boats on the sand, and Vesuvius itself in the distance.

In my Naples there is nothing to do without songs.
Boys and girls sing here from morning to evening.
And grandparents, and every yard and house.
Everyone is singing around here, in their native Naples.

“The Neapolitan Song” is one of the most striking plays in the “Children’s Album”. She came to Tchaikovsky's music from the streets of Naples. This little secret was revealed to us by a letter to Tchaikovsky from Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck: “Do they give you serenades under your windows? They gave it to us every day in Naples and Venice, and with what special pleasure I listened in Naples to the song that you took for the dance in “ Swan Lake».

The composer calls it a dance in the ballet and a song in the “Children's Album” - and there is no contradiction in this. It combined both song and dance.

The play is reminiscent of the Italian folk dance - tarantella (from the name of the city in southern Italy - Taranto). This is a fast, lively, cheerful dance with a clear rhythm, very graceful, elegant, and perky. The dance is often accompanied by singing. It is no coincidence that the play is called “The Neapolitan Song.” It is played by folk instruments. A popular Spanish folk instrument in Italy is the castanets. They are two pairs of plates, hollowed out of wood in the shape of a shell and connected with a cord (show the children castanets). Castanets sound very loud, clearly emphasize the rhythm of the music, giving it an energetic, proud character! One record hits the other with your fingers and a clicking, bright sound is heard, a bit like the sound of wooden spoons.

Folk dances with a clear, repeating rhythm, including the Italian tarantella, are performed accompanied not only by castanets, but also by other instruments. For example, the accompaniment in P. Tchaikovsky’s play resembles the sound of castanets and the chime of a guitar.

As in the “Italian”, the “Neapolitan Song” has two parts - the chorus and the chorus. The chorus has a simple two-part form. If in the chorus we hear a song and can sing it, then the melody of the chorus is more difficult to sing. The element of rapid dance reigns here. A picture of a cheerful Italian carnival– Tchaikovsky observed it more than once while in Italy. The form of the entire play is complex, two-part.

Do you like listening to scary fairy tales? There are two of them in the Album.

Nanny's fairy tale

You can imagine the content of this play in different ways: either as the actual story, which is told by an old nanny, who herself remains, as it were, “behind the scenes.” Or, as the famous pianist I. Malinina suggests, we imagine an old nanny, “who immediately in our imagination transforms into the image of a fantastic witch...

Once upon a time there lived Tsar Ivan
In the thirtieth state.
He wanted to be his wife
Take the beautiful Elena.

Only suddenly the evil Kashchei
It comes like a whirlwind
And now he is carrying the maiden across the seas.

Immediately the king gathered
And he rushed off on horseback and on a dun
Through ravines, through thickets,
Through rivers, through mountains.

It took him a whole year to get there
Before the villain, before Kashchei,
And one day I entered the castle
And suddenly I saw Elena there.

Here from heaven to him
Kashchei the Immortal rushed.
But he cut it off with a sword
Tsar Ivan Kashchei's head.

And then he planted
Ahead of yourself is Elena,
And in an instant he rushed them home
Winged royal horse.

With careful, caustic sonority (staccato touch), sharp harmony, the composer creates fairy tale image. If you play this piece slowly, you will hear what “spiky” tritones are hidden in the chords. In the quiet tunes one can hear the mysterious “knock-knock-knock... knock-knock-knock.” Music filled with sensitive pauses and unexpected accents sounds wary. The development technique used here - a sequence - enhances the mood of anxiety, leading to “screams” (a jump to a diminished seventh). In the middle of the simple three-part form, the music is truly scary. Listen...

The upper voice “freezes with fear” at one sound, and from the gloomy low register a chromatic sequence “crawls out” like a ghost. The motives from which this “terrible” sequence is woven are the same as in the extreme parts (“knock-knock-knock”). The reprise exactly repeats the music of the first movement. And only the light key of C major seems to remind us that this fairy tale is a musical joke.

The play “Baba Yaga,” which represents a popular image of a Russian folk tale, fits well with the previous play, “Nanny’s Tale,” and together with the next one, “Sweet Dream,” forms another mini-cycle within the “Children’s Album.” It can be conventionally described as the fairy-tale-dreamy world of a child. And since this play is the play that defines the national “inclination” of this mini-cycle, we can safely talk about its Russian character.

If we consider the entire “Children's Album” as a kind of musical diary of P. Tchaikovsky, then these plays convey the mood of the composer, who has now returned from distant travels to Russia. And how can one not remember the words of P. Tchaikovsky himself about the experiences and feelings that overcome him when returning to his homeland. In one of his letters to N. von Meck (dated March 10, 1878), P. Tchaikovsky wrote: “I think about Russia with the greatest pleasure, that is, despite the fact that I feel so good here (in Switzerland), I will still be glad to find myself in my native land.”.

Baba Yaga

The play evokes a fantastic flight, accompanied by the “whistle of the wind.”

Who's there? Who's flying high there?
Who is there in the dark depths of the night?
Who is howling there, who is moaning there,
Who drives away the clouds with a broom?

Who is circling over the black thicket,
Who is there whistling over the sleeping village?
Who's hooting outside the windows?
Who's thumping across the rooftops with their knives?

Who's there all night long
Scaring the birds, scaring the kids?
Who's there? Who's flying above the ground?
Whose laughter and howling can you hear there?

This is Baba Yaga, bone leg
Circling above the ground, dark forest guards.
This is Baba Yaga, the bone leg.

It’s very sad for her to circle under the moon alone.
Because she hasn't slept all night
He sings mournfully and calls us all from home.

In the works of composers, fairy-tale images found an unusually vivid embodiment. As for the image of the evil witch, popular character Russian fairy tale, a witch who scares little children, then four years before the creation of this play by P. Tchaikovsky, M. Mussorgsky brilliantly captured its sounds in his cycle “Pictures at an Exhibition.” But if Mussorgsky created his work for adults, then Tchaikovsky was guided by children's perception and child psychology. As a result, his Baba Yaga is not so fierce.

“Baba Yaga” - a picture of a fabulous flight. Comparing the two tales, you will notice a lot in common in their musical language: the same sharp staccato touch, the same abundance of dissonances. There are also many differences. If “Nanny’s Tale” sounded leisurely, narratively “telling”, then “Baba Yaga” depicts a rapid “flight” at a Presto tempo.

This play, like “Nanny’s Tale,” is written in a three-part form, but the contrast of the middle is almost invisible here due to the continuous movement. The culmination of the piece is the beginning of the reprise, sounding an octave higher than the first part. The “screams” of Baba Yaga sound sharper, as if flying overhead and rapidly moving away. The impression of “removal” is created due to the gradual transition to the low register and attenuation of the dynamics. Flew away...

Sweet dream

The play conveys a dreamy, trembling state of mind.

I can’t play with my beloved doll -
Something unclear, elusive in the heart.
Something unclear, something beautiful...
And suddenly appeared before me
The prince is young and alive.

We are floating along the river,
We feel good together.
At this hour everything is for us:
The light of the moon, the sigh of a wave.

His words are tender...
My head is spinning...
This dream, a bright dream -
Is he a dream? Is he real?

But then the prince melted.
There's no one around.
I'm sitting alone again.
Maybe call your friends?

I just don’t want to call.
My heart is pounding in my chest.
What happened to me?
Oh, prince, don't go...

While falling asleep, the child dreams. His dream is embodied by the beautiful melody of the play. Its origins are in the vocal music of wide breathing - opera aria, romance. Here the melody, developing in small phrases - “waves”, gradually “blooms”. She has a shape classical period consisting of two sentences.

The middle of a simple three-part form begins. The updated melody has been moved to a low register, and new, decisive intonations can be heard in it. In the reprise, the lyrical, dreamy mood returns.

You probably noticed the softness and consonance of the sound of the play (this is especially noticeable after the tension and dissonance of fairy-tale plays). The balance of sound is combined with a harmonious form (a simple three-part, consisting of three equal periods of sixteen bars).

The lark's song

“The Lark's Song” from the “Children's Album” is a subtle picturesque sketch, painted with a light, joyful mood; Only in the middle part of the play does a touch of sadness appear.

Here on earth, my home,
This is my life, this is where I am happy,
And that's why I sing.

I fly, I flutter.
The expanse of heaven caresses the eye,
And my song flows.

My trill, drip,
Like drops, drops,
To the meadow, to the forest from heaven,
Drip, drip, drip.
On the bushes, drip,
On sheets, drip,
On the pond, aground,
On the spruce, drip, drip,
Drip, drip, drip, drip,
Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip.

Here, in the heights, it’s pleasant for me,
Until the dawn and the light is soft,
Fly and sing, rejoicing.

I pour out my song from my heart.
Well, which of you at least once
Have you heard me sing?

Ew, eew, eew,
Ew, eew, eew, eew,
Ew, eew, eew, eew, eew,
“Siegfried”... Examples can be given endlessly.

The absence of rhythmic supports in the melody of this piece from “Children’s Album” gives it lightness. This is also facilitated by the fact that the motives begin and end mostly on the weak beats of the measure. What gives the piece some instability and uncertainty is that the melody consists of motives, each of which covers two quarters, while they are superimposed on an accompaniment built according to the beat, that is, in three beats. This combination of seemingly incompatible rhythmic structures testifies to the great ingenuity of the composer.

The play is written in three-part form. In the third part, which generally repeats the first, the ending is changed in order to confirm the main tonality.

In the middle part, nothing opposes the three-beat pattern: here the melody does not fight with the accompaniment, but completely merges with it. With such dominance of the three-beat meter, Tchaikovsky’s most favorite variety, the waltz, begins to “shine through.”

The organ grinder sings

This play is a genre-characteristic sketch, the sounds of which depict an old man. He turns the handle of the organ and beautiful drawn-out sounds pour out of it. A simple, but wisely calm theme dispels the child’s gloomy thoughts.

There are seven mountains away.
Beyond the seven seas
A city where there are no unfortunates -
Happiness is given for free there.

So give me a penny
Don't be sorry -
Throw it here, passerby.

Perhaps with her
I'll be able to soon
Get to this city.

In a letter to N. von Meck from Milan dated December 16/28, 1877, P. Tchaikovsky wrote: “In Venice, in the evenings, a street singer with a small pipe would sometimes come up to our hotel, and I really like one of their songs. The truth is that this street performer has a very beautiful voice and a rhythm that is innate to all Italians. This last property of the Italian interests me very much, as something completely opposite to the structure of our folk songs and their folk performance.”.

The melody of this song, so beloved by P. Tchaikovsky, was used by him twice - in the play “The Organ Grinder Sings” and in the play “Interrupted Dreams,” op. 40, No. 12. How can one not recall the words of M. Glinka (recorded by A. Serov): “We don’t create music; creates a people; we (composers) only record and arrange”! Cases where a folk version and a composer's arrangement are known are extremely interesting. What to say when - as in in this case– the folk version was recorded by P. Tchaikovsky himself.

Sometimes you can come across the statement that this play is written in a waltz rhythm. This is an erroneous reading of the three-beat rhythm, which under other circumstances actually turns out to be characteristic feature waltz But if a waltz is always a piece in 3/4, then it does not follow that a piece in 3/4 is always a waltz. In this case, two circumstances prevent this play from “fitting” into the waltz genre: firstly, the title of the play. It makes us imagine a poor (or even beggarly) wandering musician, slowly (author's note: Andante – Italian at a calm pace) twisting the handle of his old organ-organ, making a quiet sound (author's note: piano – Italian quiet). As for the waltz, it is very typical for it that only the first beat in a bar is “one”, and it is always emphasized, while “two” and “three” should sound weaker. On a barrel organ, the beats sound the same - hence its sometimes mournful sound, and it does not resemble the rhythm of a waltz. Secondly, the waltz is opposed by a long and persistent organ point on the bass note G (tonic), clearly indicating a “primitive” folk instrument (the waltz is by no means a folk dance).

This detailed analysis expressive means the piece was needed in order to find the right performance solution on the piano (not on a real organ-organ). Thus, it is one thing to set the goal of performing a waltz (which would be an artistic miscalculation), and another thing to use sounds to paint a genre scene “an organ grinder sings.”

This play, according to researchers of Tchaikovsky’s work, expresses the idea of ​​​​the indissolubility of life and death, the meaning of which lies in the very name of the play. The circular repetition of the melody of the organ, the circular movement of its handle is a symbol of the infinity of the movement of life itself, that is, life goes in a circle, one generation gives way to another.

In the church

In the evening, each person thanked God for the day he had lived and asked for a good sleep, asking for forgiveness for his misdeeds (for example, a child did not obey his parents or was capricious, greedy, or got into a fight).

My God, my God!
I lift up my soul to You.
Holy One, teach me
Let me understand what Love is.

My God, my God!
Teach me to love.
I trust in You.
Don't leave me, Lord!

Do not leave me!
Do not leave me!
Lord, save and have mercy on me!
Grant, Lord, Faith and Love!

This is how this play was named by P. Tchaikovsky. People of the older generation, however, who are familiar with the "Children's Album", know it under the name "Choir". In Soviet-era publications, in no case could any association with the church and religious imagery be allowed.

Even if you don’t know how P. Tchaikovsky treated religion and the church, the very fact of the completion of a large cyclical piece of music a play inspired by images church service, should convince us of the composer’s reverent attitude towards Orthodox church rituals.

The sound of this piece, placed at the end of the album, like “Morning Prayer,” is reminiscent of the singing of a church choir. The “evening” E minor of the piece sounds like a response to the “morning” G major of the first.

It is interesting that P. Tchaikovsky used for this piece the melody of a real prayer, which is sung in church. Therefore, the music sounds serious and strict, not at all childish. P. Tchaikovsky did not simplify the music he composed for children, but wrote it with the same depth of feeling as “adults”.

If you listen carefully, you will notice that at the end of both pieces there are repeated sounds in the bass. But in “Morning Prayer” they sound strictly and calmly, against the backdrop of a light melody, and in the evening prayer they sound more gloomy, concentrated, tired. The day has faded, the darkness of the night is falling, everything is quiet, calms down, freezes...

In its form, the play “In the Church” is a period of 12 bars, ending with a cadence on the tonic. But this period is not divided into sentences, but only into phrases that continue one another. This period is called the period of a single structure. The repetition of this period does not develop, but only confirms the expressed idea. It has a complement and an extended coda, almost equal in size to the repeated period. Its great length is explained by the fact that it completes not only this play, but also (in the generally accepted version) the entire collection. It contains the “farewell word” of the “Children’s Album”.

Questions and tasks:

1. What goal did Tchaikovsky set for himself when creating the “Children's Album”?
2. How many plays are in the “Children's Album”, what topics do they touch on?
3. Tell us about the plays combined general topics, and about the features of the musical language in each of them.
4. Name plays written in period, two-part and three-part forms. Which one is used most often by the composer? Why?
5. In which plays and how is the variation form used?
6. What genre is the verse form associated with? Give examples from the “Children's Album”.

Presentation

Included:
1. Presentation - 33 (piano / symphonic performance) / 57(song performance) slides, ppsx;
2. Sounds of music:
Chaikovsky. Children's album:
Morning prayer, mp3;
Winter morning, mp3;
Horse Game, mp3;
Mom, mp3;
March of the Wooden Soldiers, mp3;
Disease of the doll, mp3;
Funeral of a doll, mp3;
Waltz, mp3;
New doll, mp3;
Mazurka, mp3;
Russian song, mp3;
A man plays a harmonica, mp3;
Kamarinskaya, mp3;
Polka, mp3;
Italian song, mp3;
Old French song, mp3;
German song, mp3;
Neapolitan song, mp3;
Nanny's tale, mp3;
Baba Yaga, mp3;
Sweet Dream, mp3;
Song of the Lark, mp3;
The organ grinder sings, mp3;
In the Church, mp3;
3. Accompanying article, docx.

All works of the “Children’s Album” are given in three versions ( each archive has its own): piano (performed by Vera Gornostaeva), symphony (performed by the State Chamber Orchestra Vladimir Spivakov“Moscow Virtuosi”), and song (vocal performance by Irina Vasilyeva, accompanied by piano). Also, in presentations with song accompaniment, slides with poems by Viktor Lunin are additionally inserted - the words of the songs performed; in presentations with piano and symphonic versions of musical accompaniment, there are no slides with poems.

Illustrations by Vera Pavlova were used in the design of the work.

Capabilities young composer appeared at an early age. Already from the age of 5, Tchaikovsky played the piano fluently. And at eight he began recording his first musical impressions.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky left behind him world fame as a composer and conductor. His life is completely devoted to playing music. More than 80 works were written by the composer. These are operas and ballets, symphonies and piano concertos, suites and string quartets.

Tchaikovsky's "Children's Album" has a vivid musical language. The content of the cycle resembles one day of a child, with his games and sorrows. The folklore nature of the material and the amazing melodies have made this cycle popular even today.

Tchaikovsky: "Children's Album". History of creation

The composer's idea of ​​writing a children's cycle can be dated back to February 1878. Tchaikovsky was traveling abroad. In one of his letters to friends, he reports his desire to create a small collection of easy plays for children to perform. By analogy with Schumann's Album for Youth.

The opus was completely finished in May 1878. Musical numbers are interconnected in small microcycles. Tchaikovsky hid the depth of the subtext and the difficult life period under melodic intonations. "Children's Album", the story of whose creation is connected with the family of the composer's sister, deserves to be called a masterpiece...

Davydov family

Alexandra Ilyinichna, her husband and children always rejoiced at Tchaikovsky’s arrival in their home. The village of Kamenka near Kyiv is the family estate of the noble Davydov family. Tchaikovsky's sister, married to Davydov, gladly received her brother in this large, cozy house.

Pyotr Ilyich devoted a lot of time to his sister’s children. He played and walked with them for a long time. He knew how to tell interesting stories about the countries he visited. He listened attentively to his nephews’ stories about their day or various events in their lives.

Alexandra Ilyinichna’s seven children filled the estate with cheerful laughter and cheerful games. The “Children's Album” was written under the impression of this friendly family. It is dedicated by the author to his nephew, Volodya Davydov.

"Children's Album" by Tchaikovsky: contents

The program content of the cycle is arranged by the composer in a certain sequence. Art critics logically divide the opus into the morning, afternoon and evening of a child's day.

Games, songs, dances - Tchaikovsky's plays are simple and unpretentious. "Children's Album" is rightfully a source of inspiration for children's creativity. Poems and paintings, which are based on miniatures of the opus, develop children. They allow you to integrate various types of art and form a holistic perception of the world around you.

For some unknown reason, the order of the thumbnails has been changed. There are differences in the author's handwritten version and the printed version. Most likely, the composer, Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich, did not attach importance to the minor rearrangements. Therefore, the “Children's Album” is printed with changes to this day.

Difficult period of life

During a difficult period in his life, Tchaikovsky created the “Children’s Album”. It all started with his marriage to Antonina Milyukova. She was a student at the conservatory and a big fan of the composer.

Their family life did not work out. It's hard to say why. There are different versions on this matter. It is a known fact that Tchaikovsky wanted to commit suicide in connection with this unsuccessful marriage. His reluctance to live with this particular woman forced him to break off the relationship.

Tchaikovsky goes on a trip abroad for six months. It was there that the idea of ​​writing an album for children came to him. The composer saw work and creativity as a way out of his mental crisis.

Two versions of "Children's Album"

There are two versions of the interpretation of “Children's Album”. Art critics are confident that the tragedy of some miniatures is directly related to the complex marital relations author.

First version. A typical day for a child - with his games, dancing, reading books and daydreaming.

Second version. She symbolizes human life. Awakening feelings and personality, thoughts about religion and God. and the joy of youth is replaced by the first losses and grief. Then there are whole years of wandering around different countries in the desire to restore the Return Home, thinking about the meaning of life and the equality of death. And in conclusion - repentance and summing up, reconciliation with oneself.

Numbers of the "Children's Album"

1. "Morning Prayer"
2. "Winter morning".
3. "Game of Horses"
4. "Mother".
5. "March of the Wooden Soldiers"
6. "Doll Disease"
7. "Doll's funeral"
8. "Waltz".
9. "New doll."
10. "Mazurka".
11. "Russian song".
12. “A man plays the harmonica.”
13. "Kamarinskaya".
14. "Polka".
15. "Italian song"
16. "An old French song."
17. "German song"
18. "Neapolitan Song"
19. "Nanny's Tale"
20. "Baba Yaga".
21. "Sweet Dream"
22. "Song of the Lark"
23. "The organ grinder is singing."
24. "In the church".

Morning cycle

The morning cycle consists of the plays “Morning Prayer”, “Winter Morning”, “Game of Horses”, “Mother”. Tchaikovsky wrote “Children's Album” under the impression of his many nephews. He conveyed their daily routine, games and fun in his essay.

"Morning Prayer". The day of adults and children began and ended with it. IN musical piece the composer used the melody of real church prayer. The intonational conversation of a child with God is imbued with purity and childlike spontaneity.

"Winter morning". The alarming music of a harsh, inhospitable winter sounds in the play. A foggy, cold morning gives way to plaintive intonations. It was as if a child looked out the window and saw small birds, ruffled from the frost.

"Horse Game". The play's mischievous melody conveys the joy of an awakened child, his desire to play and run. The composer accurately depicted the clatter of a toy horse's hooves. Fabulous obstacles and changes of scenery during the game are reflected in the rich harmony of the play.

"Mother". An affectionate, melodious miniature depicts the sincere feelings of a child and mother. Soul feelings are reflected in flexible intonation. Music conveys communication with mother with melodious voice guidance. Tchaikovsky's "Children's Album" is imbued with rich nuances of harmonization and childhood experiences.

Daily cycle

The daily cycle consists of games and entertainment, dancing and songs. Energetic, full of fun plays give way to the first childhood losses and grief. Tchaikovsky's "Children's Album", the content of its daily cycle in particular, has a clear division into games for girls and boys, into songs from different countries and dances.

"March of the Wooden Soldiers". The clarity, lightness, and elasticity of the boy's play is reflected in the play. The composer draws a toy procession of soldiers or an entire army with a strict rhythmic pattern.

"Doll Disease". The girl's feelings about her sick doll are conveyed through amazing musical means. The play lacks melody integrity. She is constantly interrupted by pauses and sighs.

"Doll Funeral". A child's first grief is always deep and significant. The composer depicts sincere feelings and tears with respect for the tragedy and the personality of the child.

"Waltz". Children's experiences are quickly replaced by a cheerful, lively dance. Tchaikovsky conveys the feeling of a home holiday and general joy. “Children's Album” (waltz in particular) is filled with light chords and a melodious melody that draws you into the whirling dance.

"New Doll". The mood of the miniature is permeated with joy and happiness. The lively running, excited beating of the heart is conveyed by the music of the play. The fast-paced melody absorbed a whole range of feelings - delight, amazement, joy.

Songs and dances

This subsection of the daily cycle brings together Russian songs and ballroom dances of that time. They symbolize children's dreams, their conversations, walks in the village. Tchaikovsky's songs alternate with dances of different sounds. “Children's Album” conveys all the restlessness of childhood.

"Mazurka". The fast Polish dance was very popular among Russian composers. The mazurka is imbued with noisy, lively accents and rhythm. Tchaikovsky conceived the “Children’s Album” as a richness of a child’s inner experiences and actions. Therefore, even in the moving mazurka there is a slight transition to sadness and dreaminess.

"Russian song". The melody of the play is an arrangement of the Russian folk song “Your head, my little head.” Tchaikovsky noted modal changes from major to minor as national peculiarity Russian songs and applied them in his processing.

"A man plays a harmonica". This play is a figurative scene from folk life. The cheerful understatement of the harmony creates the impression of an unlucky harmonica player. Variable repetitions add humor to the play.

"Kamarinskaya". This is a folk dance song with variations. Tchaikovsky managed to accurately convey the sound of bagpipes in a bass ostinato, the intonation of the violin and the chord strumming of the harmonica.

"Polka". Tchaikovsky used the playful Czech dance in the cycle. The polka from “Children’s Album” is as easy as the ballroom dance of that time. The graceful motif depicts a girl in a smart dress and shoes dancing a graceful polka on her toes.

Songs of distant lands

This section is dedicated to songs from far abroad countries. The composer easily conveys the flavor of the countries. Tchaikovsky traveled a lot, he visited France and Italy, Turkey and Switzerland.

"Italian song". In it, Tchaikovsky accurately conveys the accompaniment of a guitar or mandolin, so beloved in Italy. An energetic, playful song reminiscent of a waltz. But there is no smoothness of dance in it, but there is southern liveliness and impetuosity.

"Old French Song". Sad folk motive sounds in the play. Brooding reverie was characteristic of medieval France with its minstrels. The piece resembles a minor ballad, restrained and soulful.

"German Song". A gallant and cheerful piece, the harmony of which resembles the sound of a barrel organ. The “German Song” contains yodel intonations. This style of singing songs is characteristic of the inhabitants of the Alps.

"Neapolitan Song". The sound is heard in this play. Naples is one of the cities of Italy. The energy of the rhythm and the liveliness of the melody convey the fervor of the southerners.

Evening cycle

The evening cycle is reminiscent of childhood fatigue after daytime fun. This is an evening fairy tale, dreams before bedtime. The “Children's Album” ends, just as it begins, with a prayer.

"Nanny's Tale". The composer paints a fabulous image, all imbued with unexpected pauses and accents. A bright, calm melody turns into anxiety and concern for the heroes of the fairy tale.

"Baba Yaga". Tchaikovsky's "Children's Album" conveys daydreaming and childhood fantasy. Baba Yaga in the play seems to be flying in a mortar to the whistle of the wind - the melody of the miniature is so sharp and abrupt. The music conveys the forward movement and gradual removal of the fairy-tale character.

"Sweet Dream". And again the calm thoughtfulness of the melody, the beauty and simplicity of the sound of the miniature. Like a child looking out the window and composing his simple fairy tale in the evening twilight.

"The Lark's Song". Revitalization before going to bed and imagining the next, joyful morning. And with it - the singing of the lark with its trills and high register.

"The Organ Grinder Sings". The lingering sounds of the melody moving in a circle seem to symbolize the infinity of the movement of life. The psychologically complex musical image of the play is reminiscent of the non-childish thoughts in the head of the most ordinary child.

"In the church". The “Children's Album” begins and ends with a prayer. This arch means summing up the results of the day (evening) or the mood for good deeds(morning). During the composer's time, daily prayers were mandatory. They thanked God for the day, asked for mercy and help in difficulties.

Cycle for children

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich became one of the first Russian composers to write a cycle of piano pieces for children's performance. These are technically simple pieces, understandable child. The cycle consists entirely of entertaining musical miniatures.

Each play is a complete work. By playing miniatures from the cycle, the child solves various artistic and performance problems. Smoothness and melodiousness are replaced by a jerky march, the minor key of sadness is replaced by a joyful major.

Tchaikovsky's "Children's Album" consists of 24 pieces. The content of the cycle conveys the simplicity and richness of a child’s life. Sadness, fun, games, funny dances are built by the composer into a storyline.

Collaboration and creativity

Tchaikovsky's plays have been played in music schools and circles for more than a hundred years. The difference in their interpretations depends on musical image, which one or another performer puts into miniatures.

The bright dramaturgy of the album allows you to collaborate with the composer. After listening to the opus, children create paintings, poems, and plays of their own composition. The creative process allows you to completely immerse yourself in the emotional and musical interpretation of the “Children's Album”.

Tchaikovsky P.I. "Children's album

(methodological and performance analysis)

Teacher of children's music school No. 1 Semenova Marina Alexandrovna
Cycle of piano pieces "Children's Album", Op. 89, written by P.I. Tchaikovsky in May 1878, dedicated to his beloved nephew Volodya Davydov and published by P. Jurgenson in October of the same year.
On the title page of the first edition the full title of the cycle is: “Children's Album. A collection of light plays for children (imitation of Schumann). Composition by P. Tchaikovsky.”
Tchaikovsky's love for children is widely known. He treated with great tenderness, for example, his nephews, or the deaf-mute boy Volodya Konradi, a pupil of the composer’s brother M.P. Tchaikovsky. It is also known how persistently the composer worked to open a school in Maidanovo. Tchaikovsky could spend hours playing with children, taking part in games, enjoying their spontaneity. The children paid the composer with sincere affection and love. The bright, joyful world of a child is reflected in the work of Tchaikovsky. Suffice it to recall the cycle of “Children’s Songs” (the full title is “16 songs for children based on the poems of A.M. Pleshcheev and other poets,” op. 543 or the ballet extravaganza “The Nutcracker,” op. 71).
With extraordinary sensitivity and a subtle understanding of child psychology, the composer reflected in the “Children's Album” the life and everyday life of the children of the environment that surrounded him every day.
The “Children's Album” contains 24 plays that are not connected by a single theme. All plays in the cycle are programmatic, each containing a specific plot and living poetic content.
The collection captures a wide range of images. These are pictures of nature - “Winter Morning”, “Song of the Lark”, children’s games - “Game of Horses”, “Doll Illness”, “Funeral of a Doll”, “New Doll”, “March of the Wooden Soldiers”. The characters of Russian folk tales are vividly depicted - “Nanny’s Tale”, “Baba Yaga”, Russian folk art - “Russian Song”, “A Man Plays the Harmonica”, “Kamarinskaya”, songs of other nations - “Italian Song”, “Old French song", "German song", "Neapolitan song". The cycle contains elements of figurativeness - “The Organ Grinder Sings” and onomatopoeia - “The Lark’s Song”. Tchaikovsky, without resorting to simplification, depicts the rich inner world of a child in the plays “Morning Reflection”, “Sweet Dream” and “Chorus”.
The songs of various peoples are based on authentic folk melodies. “Russian Song” is built on the theme of the song “Are you a head, my little head?” Italian folk melodies are the “Neapolitan Song”, previously included in the ballet “Swan Lake” and “Italian Song”. Another Italian folk melody formed the basis of the play “The Organ Grinder Sings.” The theme of “An Old French Song” is also genuine, and was later used in the opera “The Maid of Orleans”.
. Robert Schumann's Album for Youth, which Tchaikovsky imitates, is widely known. He expressed his love for Schumann in some piano works, for example, in the play “Un poco di Schuman”, op. 72. or in one of the variations of op. 19.
Schumann's influence on Tchaikovsky's piano style is visible, for example, in the similarity of texture, rhythm and dynamics, but in the "Children's Album", paradoxically, it is expressed in to a lesser extent, the genre themes of these collections are rather similar. The plays “The Brave Rider”, “The Cheerful Peasant”, “Soldier’s March”, “Winter”, “Sicilian Song” by Schumann correspond to works from Tchaikovsky’s cycle that are similar in theme: “The Game of Horses”, “A Man Plays a Harmonica”, “March of the Wooden soldiers", "Winter morning", "Italian song".
If we talk about continuity, we should note the similarity of the musical language of the “Children’s Album” with the melody and texture of M.I. Glinka’s piano style. His waltzes, nocturnes, polkas, mazurkas, plays “Feeling” and “Innocence” are the immediate predecessors of “Waltz”, “Mazurka”, “Polka” and other plays from the “Children's Album”.
The “Children’s Album” was published several times during the author’s lifetime. Nowadays there are a large number of domestic and foreign publications. The cycle is published in full and in parts; individual plays are also included in various collections. In some publications, for various reasons, individual plays were removed from the Children's Album. In Muzgiz's 1929 edition. The play “Funeral of a Doll” was not included under the pretext of its tragic nature, but from the same publication in 1935. the play “Chorus” (formerly “In the Church”) was withdrawn as generally unacceptable.
In the autograph of the “Children's Album,” the designations of tempo and character are given in Russian, but already in the first edition of Jurgenson, which the author reviewed and corrected, the terminology changed significantly. For example, the character of the play “Morning Reflection” is designated “Quiet” in the autograph, while Jurgenson’s edition prescribes the tempo designation Andante (Calmly). In the play “A Man Plays the Harmonica” - in the autograph “Quite Slowly”, and in the 1st edition - Adagio (Slowly).
The autograph of the play “The Organ Grinder Sings” does not contain the author’s tempo designation. In Jurgenson's edition - Andante. In a number of editions, this tempo is designated differently. Edited by E. Golubev - Andantino, published by Peters - Moderato. In the latter, the author's designations of tempo are generally distorted in many ways. In the plays “Morning Meditation” and “The Doll’s Disease” Lento is arbitrarily written, in “Russian Song”, “Kamarinskaya” and the first part of the “Neapolitan Song” - Commodo, “The Lark's Song” - Lentamente. The editor's complete lack of understanding of the nature of music is demonstrated in the designation of the Andante tempo in the play "Winter Morning".
In the autograph, the first period of the play “German Song” is maintained on the unchanged bass Es (in the first quarter of the bar), and the same is true in the reprise. However, already in Jurgenson's edition the unchanged organ item is missing. All subsequent editions are based on Jurgenson's edition. The version with a constant organ section is very attractive - it fits well with the nature of the music and can be considered as a kind of author’s version.
In the preface to the edition of the “Children's Album,” editor E. Golubev points out “the incorrect designation of the rhythmic figure in the “German Song” available in all editions of the album in the third bar from the end, two eighth notes with a dot, followed by a dotted line and two eighth notes, as elsewhere in similar places. The error arose as a result of a typo by the author himself.” We cannot agree with this argument. Why should the author act in a reprise exactly by analogy, because the reprise sounds more convincing with an even more emphasized dotted line.
In all Russians and Soviet publications The articulation and dynamics of the autograph and the first edition are accurately reproduced. However, in many foreign publications these designations are distorted. In the already mentioned Peters edition, editor V. Niman arbitrarily corrects the author's instructions. In this edition, translations of the titles of the plays into German, French and English are also arbitrary. The play “The Game of Horses” is translated as “Little Cavalryman”, “March of the Wooden Soldiers” is “Soldier’s March”, “A Man Plays the Harmonica” is “The Peasant’s Song”, and “Mama” is translated as “My Mommy”. Incorrect translations also distort the nature of the music and do not give children a complete understanding of it. The element of play is lost in the plays “The Game of Horses” and “March of the Wooden Soldiers”, “Mother” is translated in a cloyingly sweet way, and no idea is given about the specificity of the work “A Man Plays a Harmonica”.
From all that has been said, it follows that it is better to turn to domestic editions of the “Children’s Album”, which accurately depict the author’s text.
Although the texture, melody, harmony, rhythm, articulation, dynamics, ornamentation, fingering and pedaling of the “Children's Album” are sometimes complex, they take into account the level of development of children and their performing capabilities.
Tchaikovsky did not use complex keys or tonal shifts. Of the 24 plays, 19 were written in major keys, and of the 5 minor ones, only the pieces “The Doll’s Illness” and “The Doll’s Funeral” (G minor and C minor) sound truly gloomy. The major keys are dominated by C major, D major, F major, B flat major, E flat major, which give the whole cycle a bright, joyful sound.
The ratio of tempos in the cycle is thought out and built on contrasts. Here is what A.A. Nikolaev, a researcher of Tchaikovsky’s piano work, wrote: “In the “Children’s Album” we recognize Tchaikovsky’s characteristic piano style, which retains its basic, typical features. Here, as if on a reduced scale, in a simplified presentation, almost all the technical formulas found in “The Seasons” and in other miniatures by Tchaikovsky are presented.”
It is interesting that Tchaikovsky, who never taught children and had little contact with the issues of teaching the piano, showed excellent knowledge of piano presentation, accessible to children's hands.
In the entire collection there is, for example, not a single octave or chord located wider than within a seventh. In not a single piece will we find a simultaneous combination of the extreme registers of the keyboard, requiring a wide distance between the hands. The lower register (counter and subcontra octaves) are not used at all, and sounds in the highest octaves are found only in the play “The Lark's Song.” The fabric of these works itself is much simpler in design. The usual multi-element presentation, imitations, echoes characteristic of Tchaikovsky are almost absent here.
Chord technique occupies a predominant place in the series of these pieces, but as we noted above, throughout the chords are used taking into account the physical capabilities of the child’s hand.
Chord accompaniment in the left hand part is typical for such pieces as “Waltz”, “Mazurka”, “Italian Song”, “German Song”, “Neapolitan Song”, “The Organ Grinder Sings”, i.e. for such musical pictures where the melodious character in the right hand part is supported by accompaniment that clearly reveals the harmonic basis.
Another type of piano presentation is an almost continuous harmonization of the melody, forming a movement with chords located in both hands. We see such a drawing in “Morning Prayer”, in modern transcription - “Morning Reflection”, the plays “Winter Morning”, “March of the Wooden Soldiers”, “Funeral of a Doll”, “Nanny’s Tale”, etc. A particularly dense chord structure is found in the piece “A Man Plays a Harmonica,” where the sound of a harmonica is imitated by the ingenious technique of using dominant seventh chords in a close arrangement, which sounds quite shrill and sharp in the middle register of the piano.
To all that has been said, it must be added that in the plays “Morning Reflection”, “Winter Morning”, “Game of Horses”, “Mother”, “Russian Song”, “Nanny’s Tale”, “Chorus” the quartet structure is clearly felt. The melody is extremely expressive. The composer generously draws it, as if from a cornucopia. The rhythm is also varied. The harmonic composition of the pieces is simple and accessible. The ornamentation is organically woven into the melodic line of the plays “Polka”, “Italian Song”, “Song of the Lark”.
Let us especially focus on articulation and dynamics. The composer finds precise intonations that sometimes convey even barely noticeable, subtle shades of expressiveness of human speech. Studying the "Children's Album" can be an excellent articulation school.
I. Braudo in his major work “Articulation” outlined a scale of connectedness and dismemberment in the following table:
"Connectedness"
1.Acoustic legato or legatissimo
2. Legato
3. Dry legato
"Dismemberment":
4.Deep non legato
5.Non legato
6.Metrically defined non legato
"Brevity":
7. Soft staccato
8. Staccato
9. Staccatissimo (maximum achievable brevity)
Of course, the given table is only a diagram, because the degrees of coherence, brevity and dissection are truly limitless, but all the given types of articulation are available in the “Children's Album” from legato and legatissimo in the plays “Mama”, “Old French Song”, “Sweet Dream” to staccatissimo in the works “Baba Yaga” and “The Game of Horses”. In many plays, a combination of precisely placed legato, non legato, staccato, leagues, and accents is necessary to create an image, which will be discussed in detail below.
The dynamics are also carefully indicated. The composer uses both its gradual development and sudden changes in subtle gradations of sonority. But nowhere in the cycle is ff indicated - the author prescribes a dynamics scale ppp-f. In the works of the cycle, Tchaikovsky used mainly simple forms that are easy to analyze.
It should be recognized that the fingering of some publications is unsuccessful - it often does not agree with the meaning of the music, is inconvenient and difficult to remember. When analyzing individual pieces, fingering options for the author of the work will be suggested.
The pieces from Tchaikovsky's piano collection are invaluable pedagogical and art material. To create images, the performer will have to use the entire arsenal of musical means of expression.
Studying works will allow young pianists to show creative initiative and read each in their own way.
The “Children's Album” can be performed in its entirety, or individual pieces should be included in the repertoire of young performers. The following microcycles can be built on its material:
1. “Doll’s illness”, “Doll’s funeral”, “New doll”.
2. “Waltz”, “Mazurka”, “Polka”, “March of the Wooden Soldiers”.
3. “Russian song”, “A man plays a harmonica”, “Kamarinskaya”.
4. “Italian song”, “Old French song”, “German song”, “Neapolitan song”.
5. “Nanny’s Tale”, “Baba Yaga”.
Other solutions can be found when combining plays.
Author methodological manual does not provide musical examples, because the notes of "Children's Album" are ubiquitous. When reading the work you need to have them in front of you. We emphasize that the reader will inevitably encounter some repetitions, because... A number of plays pose similar artistic and pianistic tasks.
Let's move on to the performing and pedagogical analysis of the plays in the cycle.

1. Morning reflection

The play introduces a child to the world of complex experiences. The work, reminiscent of a saraband, has strict four-voices (the student can imagine the sound of a quartet of string instruments). In the chorale, the author avoids harmonic complications and is content with simple cadence formulas. It is worth emphasizing the sharp sound of the seconds in bars 6,8, 10,21, the opening seventh chord on the tonic organ point (bars 17,19).
Carefully work with the student on voice leading, the melodiousness of each voice, but especially pay attention to the sound of the mobile soprano and bass.
Articulation and dynamics should emphasize the expressiveness of the piece. Although in bars 1,2,7-12 legato is not written out by the author - it is implied. It is important to achieve a soft, melodious legato sound in all voices. This will be ensured by appropriately selected fingering (when repeating chords, fingers should not be changed).
In one case, the expressiveness of speech intonations is emphasized by leagues - based on strong beats of measures, in the other - by syncopations on the second or third beat. The teacher will also draw the student's attention to the fact that an accented downbeat and soft syncopation sometimes follow one another (bars 17,19).
When working on dynamics, pay close attention to the instructions in the text - first, a small “fork” in bars 3-5, then a partial climax mf in bar 8 and a bright climactic f in the twelfth. At the end of the piece, the music gradually fades away and dissolves on pp.
In the rhythmic figure characteristic of the saraband - a quarter note with a dot - an eighth, students often do not listen to the full stop. Rhythmically, you need to play the right hand part and the dotted eighth with a dot - the sixteenth, taking into account that in all cases the eighth is accented; this gives the rhythm additional elasticity.
You should especially work on the tonic organ point, use the rehearsal capabilities of the piano, and differentiate the bass and tenor parts. To do this, the support is removed from the fifth finger (it gently repeats the organ point) and transferred to the remaining fingers. In a singing tenor part, a strong first finger will be able to naturally fulfill the accents in bars 17 and 19 - supporting the expressiveness of the soprano, enhancing the sound of the chord. In this fragment, also feel the “talking” pauses in bars 16 and 18.
The piece may use a delay pedal to mark changes in harmonies. 17, 19 and the last three measures can be pronounced on one pedal. The organ point contributes to this.
When playing holistically, students tend to drag out the tempo; The desire to overcome the chord vertical and find a natural, leisurely, flowing movement in the rhythm of the saraband will help.
The relatively simple texture of the work does not mean that it is easy and accessible for the student to understand. Performing a piece requires a sufficient amount of attention from the child; he must clearly show the polyphony of the piece, take into account the harmonic, phrasing, articulation, dynamic, and rhythmic features of the work. Only work on conscious mastery of all components of interpretation will lead to its meaningfulness.
2. Winter morning

The play captures not only the picture of a snowy, frosty winter morning, but also the psychological mood of the child. The piece begins in joyful D major, which soon modulates into parallel minor, as if the joy is overshadowed by cloudy weather.
A potential mistake for a student is dividing the music into separate units by beat, so the teacher should pay attention to the fact that each eight-beat of the outer parts of the piece should be pronounced in one breath, as if under a common league. It is necessary to find appropriate pianistic movements so that each cell (measure) is an integral part of the overall movement. The collected hands are positionally transferred with soft, economical, synchronous movements. Along the way, springy spring supports with clear resolutions alternate within each bar, a general crescendo is carried out with climaxes in bars 5 and 13 and a subsequent diminuendo.
Monitor the accuracy of the dotted rhythm, emphasize the roll calls in the soprano and alto parts in bars 5-8 and soprano and tenor (bars 13-16). The same with minor changes in the reprise.
The contrasting middle part of the play is very expressive. Its metricality (in each two-beat the same rhythm is repeated) must be overcome by performing means in the same way as in the extreme parts of the play, combine two-beats, pronounce them in one breath with a melodious, soulful sound. Expressive accents should not delay movement. Don't smooth out dissonances. In bars 25-40, it is important to emphasize the bass line, which gives the fragment a special charm. You should work on the accuracy of the rhythmic figure - eighth with a dot - sixteenth, hear the roll calls of soprano and alto. Draw the student’s attention to the clear, melodious performance of the culminating dotted line of this figure in bars 28 and 32, which runs synchronously in all voices. Movement rushes towards it, as if summing up the previous constructions.
In bars 39-40, the mystery of p can be emphasized by a barely noticeable slowdown in tempo. You can also slow down a little at the end of the play.
In the extreme parts of the piece in each measure, the accentuation of strong beats can be supported by the pedal, and in the middle part and coda the pedal should help identify the melodic and harmonic features of the texture.
Difficulty of this work also lies in the fact that it is designed for a good reaction of the student, his ability to think in fast pace.
3. Game of horses
The student must imagine himself as an actor, riding on a stick or toy horse. The bright, colorful little toccata is reminiscent of the Scherzo pizzicato from Tchaikovsky's IV Symphony.
When determining tempo and movement, it is important to assume that the metric unit here is a beat, not an eighth note. A musical idea fits into four measures.
From beginning to end, the piece is structured in a four-voice quartet chord structure. What comes naturally from a string quartet, with each voice played by a different person, is not at all easy to do on the piano. Natural sound can be achieved if the student feels the change of harmonies, the logic of voice guidance, and hears modulations. In chords you need to achieve sound alignment and harmony.
Staccato is performed with the smallest movements of the hand and tucked fingertips. The teacher will make sure that the student does not make any unnecessary movements on the keyboard, and when repeating notes, he uses a double piano rehearsal. Each subsequent note or chord is played before the keys are fully raised. You should choose the fingering well to avoid unnecessary hand movements.
When learning a piece, the student often touches extraneous keys. The chords sound dirty. Repeated repetitions do not improve the situation. Raise the fingers not involved in the game slightly; they should not touch the keys. Crescendo and diminuendo are achieved by increasing or decreasing the intensity of the touch on the keys. At the moment the sonority increases, the hand and then the forearm are “connected” to the fingers, and when the sound decreases, they are gradually “turned off”. These pianistic techniques should be preserved when moving to a fast tempo. If you use only uniform vertical movements, this will inevitably lead to rapid fatigue of your hands.
We emphasize that to master the piece, persistent work at a slow tempo is necessary. After thoroughly mastering a piece at a slow tempo, you should not immediately switch to a fast tempo. Often some inexperienced young pianists make this transition all at once, and as a result the piece fails at a fast tempo. In a slow tempo, the pianist gets used to a certain slow type of movement. If you move directly to a fast pace, your hands begin to work hard and quickly get tired, the skills acquired at a slow pace are destroyed, and automation of movements cannot be achieved. At a fast tempo, the fingers expend less effort - the shoulder and forearm take on part of the work, the sound becomes lighter and more defined, and one should play closer to the keys. You should move from a slow to a fast pace gradually so that your hands gradually get used to the new type of movements. You need to find 5-7, and in some cases more intermediate gradations of tempo, from slow to the desired fast, achieving accuracy in the pronunciation of music in each. If there are rough edges in the next faster pace, you should return to the previous pace and continue polishing the failed fragment. The teacher must carefully monitor the complex process of gradual automation of movements and make his own adjustments.
The principle of transition from a slow tempo to a fast one applies not only to the play “The Game of Horses”, it is universal and can be widely applied in pedagogical practice.

The title itself contains the meaning of the work, which is emphasized by the author’s remark - “With great feeling and tenderness.” It is necessary to establish what the child sees in this image, how he can capture it in interpretation.
The play is written in a polyphonic, polyphonic style. The bass and soprano sing in decima almost throughout its entire length, but their articulatory tasks are different. The lower voice is marked legatissimo (the short lines in each measure should not be taken into account; according to a long tradition, they correspond to the movement of the bow of string instruments). The articulation of the right hand part conveys a variety of speech intonations. Tchaikovsky's enormous skill is manifested in the fact that until bar 31 there is no reliance on strong beats in the presentation, and incomplete cadences are used in harmony, which emphasizes the through movement of the music. Its achievement is the main performance difficulty.
So, from bars 1-8 and 17-24 in the right hand part, articulatory leagues begin on the weak beats and softly resolve on the strong beats of the following bars. From the second half of bars 8 to 12 and from bars 24 to 28, short leagues, combining two quarters, follow one after another, evoking an association with a pendulum. It should also not disrupt the end-to-end development of the music. Warn the student against a possible mistake: the left hand often plays with the same articulation as the right hand out of solidarity. Elastic brush movements and well-chosen fingering will help achieve legatissimo in the left hand part.
A precisely written dynamic plan leads to a soft climax in bar 30, after which the young pianist should be well aware of the expressive “talking” pause. In the last six bars of the piece, the reliance on the downbeats of every other bar contrasts with the previous presentation, emphasizing the completeness of the statement.

5. March of the Wooden Soldiers

To embody the image, the young pianist must achieve the lightness, sonority of staccato, the “toy” sonority of the “March of the Wooden Soldiers”, to the sounds of a “toy” orchestra with flutes and a drum.
It is necessary to work on the elasticity and accuracy of the rhythm. In one case (bars 2-4) in the first half of the bar the indicated dotted line is an eighth with a dot and a sixteenth is pronounced under the league, and in the second half the dot is replaced by a pause. In another case (bars 7, 15), pauses are placed in both the first and second half of the bars. These fine details must be followed precisely. Pianistic techniques require short, fast, precise movements of targeted, rounded fingertips. It is important to work on the precision of chords and dotted rhythm, and pay attention to the fingering; for example, it is better to perform rehearsals in bars 8, 16, 40 with different fingers (sometimes, to make it easier, they can be transferred to the right hand part).
The play never goes beyond the limits of r and pp. Accents should not disrupt the dynamics; they further emphasize the “toy-like” nature of the music.
A short pedal helps you better hear the precise sound of texture, strong beats of measures, and accentuation of chords.
It is necessary to warn the student against accelerating the tempo, strictly following the author’s instructions Moderato (Moderate).

6. Doll disease

The play is one of the easiest in the “Children's Album”, but it is also fraught with certain difficulties. Students usually convey her character well - the doll is sick, suffers, moans, complains.
A common mistake is hearing only the vertical. Meanwhile, the young pianist should feel three sound layers developing horizontally - melody, bass and harmony. Each of these elements of the composition has its own expressiveness. Merging together, they form harmony. Work on a singable melody, expressive bass and harmonies that follow one after another. When combining layers, you need to pay attention to the fact that each of them is independent, and, at the same time, to their subordination, help to find the sound ratio. Students, for example, usually “sit” on a melodic note and do not feel the need to continue the melodic line. You can learn the melody separately, without pauses, at a more agile tempo, in order to better feel its development. Collect the harmonies vertically into a chord: this will make them easier to hear. Fingers will help in working on the sound, as if fused with the keys, taking them “closely,” “warmly,” softly.
Let us note the greater gradualness of dynamic development, for example, the approach to the climax f in bars 21-24, followed by diminuendo, small dynamic influxes in bars 31-34 and, finally, the final “fork”, at the end of which the tempo can be slowed down.
An excessively slow tempo, at which all the elements of the piece will inevitably disintegrate, is unacceptable - it is necessary to find a smooth, fluid pulsation.
“Doll Disease” can be a good school for pedaling. In each measure, except 9-16, gently take the delay pedal on a quarter with a dot in the left hand part and listen to it along with the melody note until the end of the measure, and then smoothly remove it when a new bass arrives. The same thing happens in every next measure. In the second eight-bar, also take the quarter pedal with a dot in the right hand part and attach the harmony to the melodic note of the next bar.
The teacher must monitor the pedaling technique so that the pedal is taken smoothly, is not pressed to the bottom and does not cause a large number of overtones, which would be in conflict with the transparent nature of the music. You also need to pay attention to finger discipline. If they overexpose the bass or harmony, then the next harmony will contain overtones of the previous one.

7. Doll funeral

In a solemn funeral procession, a funeral march sounds in gloomy C minor. At first the funeral procession is far away, then it gets closer and closer, now it is already next to us, and then it begins to move away. In accordance with this, a dynamic plan is constructed (the play begins pp, gradually develops to mf, and returns to pp again). Its accuracy is very important for revealing the image. As with every funeral march, the young pianist's attention should be drawn to the rhythmic figure (half note, dotted eighth note, sixteenth note and half note again - students often turn a dotted eighth note and a sixteenth note into a triplet). In different performing situations, this game sounds differently - sometimes like a mannered step, sometimes at the climax - minted, ominous. The gloomy nature of the music is emphasized by heavy chords and intervals in the accompaniment, which should be well coordinated with the melodic line. It is especially necessary to emphasize the seventh code of the double dominant at the climax: it usually appears in Tchaikovsky in the most tense fragments.
The articulation is dominated by measured non legato gait. The expressive leagues in measures 17, 18, 21 and 22 must be listened to to the end, but not connected to the next sixteenth note. Legato (bars 31-33) should sound melodious, highlighting the dominant stroke.
The child must be aware that this is a doll funeral and treat it as a game.

Waltz – couples dance, based on smooth whirling, is one of the most common dance genres. He took a worthy place in Tchaikovsky's work. It is necessary to introduce the young pianist to analogues - two or three samples from symphonies, operas, ballets or piano waltzes, for example, with the “Nata Waltz” or the play “December” from “The Four Seasons”. It is useful to show him waltz steps or even teach him how to dance (children rarely know how to dance the waltz these days). It is advisable to contact figurative comparison– the student must imagine that the waltz is being performed at a celebration at school or at home.
The play is written in a complex three-part form in a small-format version.
First of all, you need to take care of waltzing.
The left hand part is pronounced easily, with soft support from the bass. In the second period, the bass line acquires a certain independence, which should be emphasized.
When working on a melody, strive for melodiousness, clarity, plasticity, pay attention to syncopation in 2-4 bars. Light accents and pauses should not interrupt the movement. You should think about a through development, as if the bar line disappears under the influence of the elements of dance. The melodic line tends to intermediate “intonation points” in bars 5, 7, 9 (also in the second phrase), and then to a small climax in bar 17. Next, the action becomes dynamic, the author writes out mf from 18 and f from 26 bars, which should not lead to heavier syncopation, accents, or inhibition of movement. Short leagues and staccato give this fragment a special grace. It's the same in the reprise. When performing the first part of the piece and reprise with both hands, you need to make sure that the bass and chords in the left hand part are organically woven into the overall outline of the non-stop waltz movement, to find a good balance
melodic line of bass and harmony.
In the middle part, students sometimes do not feel polymetry - a combination of a three-beat waltz accompaniment with a two-beat right hand part, and do not feel two-voices. Sometimes the sonority is forced, which leads to a dull two-beat (the left one plays along with the right one out of “sympathy”). The second phrase of the middle part can be played a little quieter, and at the end the tempo can be slowed down a little.
Carefully selected fingerings can help the artistic performance of a piece. In the left hand part, in measures 1-16 and a similar fragment in the 5th reprise, the finger should only be placed on the bass.
Pedaling will help identify danceability: connecting the bass with chords with a delayed pedal.

9. New doll

This is a subtle psychological sketch - a girl’s joy over a wonderful gift - a new doll.
When working on a play, teachers and young musicians face pitfalls. Using performing means one must be able to overcome rhythmic and textural monotony: in the extreme parts of the piece there is repetition in the right hand part of a rhythmic figure - a quarter and an eighth, and in the middle - two eighths separated by pauses, which is further aggravated by the monotonous texture of the accompaniment throughout the entire piece. In the extreme parts, the development and variety of wonderful expressiveness, flight, and soft aspiration of the melody will be helped by the dynamics and subtle articulatory instructions set by the author. These parts should be performed as if “in one breath”, to achieve gradual dynamics, melodious legato in bars 1-5, 10-13. Expressive pronunciation of “talking” leagues (bars 6-9, 14-17) will help to identify lively speech intonations. It's the same in the reprise. In the middle part of the piece and the coda, the student must find a subtle, “breathing” melody, monitor the flexibility of intonation and the continuity of development of the music. In the dynamics, accurately presented by the author, the climax occurs at 24-25 bars.
The left hand part has its own difficulties - in each measure, in a group of repeating two eighths, soft support falls on the first, which should not interfere with the continuity in the development of the music.
When playing a piece with both hands, make sure that the melody and accompaniment are consistent. The left part always followed the right, like a thread following a needle, and the change of harmonies in each measure was heard.
For sound evenness and identification of articulation, it is advisable to play all thirds in the accompaniment only with 2 and 4 fingers, and the melody of the middle part with 2 and 3.
The pedal can be taken on strong beats and a little thicker (but not longer) at the climaxes by softly touching the foot to the pedal foot not to the bottom, so as not to cause the appearance of unnecessary overtones and promote the transparency of the music.

10. Mazurka

Polish name folk dance“Mazurka” comes from “Mazur”, the name of the inhabitants of Mazovia. The mazurka is characterized by a three-beat meter and rhythm with frequent shifts of emphasis to the second and third beats of the measures. These features must be taken into account by the performer. In the middle section of the dance, from bar 19, the accent is emphasized first, and then in bars 32 and 33 and sf on the third beat. The second beat is often noted - tenuto on the half (bars 1-4 and further in similar places), as well as a short league (bars 5, 13, 15). In some cases, both the second and third beats can be emphasized: for example, in measures 19 and 23, you need to softly show the second beat in the right hand part, and then the emphasis in the left on the third. At the same time, one should not forget about the strong beats, find their “balance” with syncopations.
Scrupulous work is required on the pronunciation of the short league and staccato in the 5th bar, staccato in the 7th bar, the dotted line in the 16-18 bars, the combination of staccato in the right hand part and tenuto in the left (the first beat of bars 1-4 and further in similar fragments).
The dynamics change due to changes in performance situations: it gradually intensifies in bars 21-23, 23-26, 28-31, and in bars 5, 19, 23, 27 and 31 it is associated with a sudden change in mf-p.
The combination of lively rhythm, clear articulation and dynamics can lead to an interesting interpretation of the mazurka, a graceful, graceful dance.
A distinct, precise touch of selected fingertips on the piano keyboard, a slow tempo, clear hearing of harmony, carefully selected fingering, as well as pedaling that helps to mark either the downbeat or syncopation will complete the work on an interesting piece.
11. Russian song

“Russian Song” is based on the original folk melody “You are my head, my little head.” This is an example of Russian folk subvocal polyphony, in which four-voice alternates with two- and three-voice.
With a constant melody, the music varies due to the moving bass and echoes.
The song is written in periodic alternating meter alternating 6/4, 4/4 and 2/4 (except for the last six bars). To make the meter understandable to children, the author put 2/4 everywhere, so you need to read 6/4 as 3 times