Russian Musical Culture Research Articles

«Дух русской культуры» в современном музыкальном искусстве

The article examines the process observed in Russian national culture associated with the implementation of Russian national images and characteristic features of the Russian worldview in the modern musical space. Russian musical culture, which previously followed the features of national identity in almost everything, is now more inclined towards a cosmopolitan point of view. If in the European regions of Russia this tendency can be traced more clearly, let us turn our attention to the musical culture of Siberia, which, as you know, “the wealth of Russia will grow”. Let us dwell on the work of one of the modern young Siberian composers, whose work confirms the promising nature of the "Russian spirit" in the modern cultural space.

Западнославянские мотивы в творчестве русских композиторов второй половины XIX века

The article focuses on pan-Slavism and its reflection in Russian musical culture of the second half of the 19th century. Slavic peoples sought cultural dialogue which manifested itself in numerous cultural events. The pinnacle was the Second Slavic Congress (1867) and the Slavic Concert timed to it. The article discusses three compositions: the symphonic poem In Bohemia by M.A. Balakirev; N.A. RimskyKorsakov’s Fantasy on Serbian Themes, written specifically for this concert; and P.I. Tchaikovsky's Slavonic March (1876) that also embodied the ideas of unification and interaction of the Slavs. The research methodology is based, primarily, on the historical approach, i.e., the compositions are explored in the context of their time. Structural and functional methods were used to determine the musical form, while a comparative method helped identify similarities and differences in the composers’ use of compositional techniques and the folklore material. The article considers the principle of working “according to the model”—Rimsky-Korsakov was guided by the example of his teacher Balakirev and it found its reflection in Fantasy. A separate place is given to the comparison of compositions produced by Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky as both are based on a Serbian folk song. The compositions analyzed in the article are little known to the public and rarely attract the attention of researchers. At the same time, they have never been considered as a manifestation of the ideas of Slavic dialogue in Russian musical culture. The article is the first attempt to explore the context (history of creation, reception) of the three musical pieces. Besides, it specifically focuses on how these works embrace the folklore material.

Древние распевы в современной церковно-певческой практике храмов Барнаульской православной Епархии

Old Russian singing art, preserved in the znamenny chant, track singing, de-mestvenny, Kiev, Greek, Bulgarian chants, both in authentic and in a new polyphonic form, is the most important part of Russian musical culture. This part of the national singing heritage is preserved by most modern church clerics in their daily prayer practice and occupies a significant place in the repertoire of church choirs of the Barnaul Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, preserving centuries-old singing traditions.

Issledovanie razvitiya russkoj narodnoj muzykal'noj kul'tury v Sin'czyane

The article describes the cultural identity of musical culture of the ethnic Russians through analysis the evolution of Russian musical culture in China with the aim to proposing a self-preservation strategy that can be used as a guideline for the confronting the crisis of cultural homogenization in the course of economic globalization, and searching for new ways to build a system of symbiosis of ethnic musical cultures.

Советское музыкознание: pro et contra. Работа над архивными материалами советской эпохи

The article describes the process of work on researching Soviet musicology of the time period from the 1920s to the 1940s. The study was carried out under the RFBR project “The Phenomenon of Soviet Musicology and Its Influence on the Formation of Russian Musical Culture.” The history of Soviet musicology is studied on the basis of archival documents that make it possible to reconstruct little-known historical events, and also to characterize the peculiarities of musicology in the context of each decade. The first post-revolutionary decade passed under the sign of the search for its own academic scholarly institutions, which were alternately made available and then closed down, in accordance with the state policy. However, it was during this period that the fundamental foundations of 20th century Russian musicological thought were laid. Of special interest is the work on creating a complex of tutorial literature. Starting from 1936 (since the time of the creation of the All-Union Committee for the Affairs of Art), work on creating textbooks has become one of the main forms of scholarly activity of the musicological departments of the Moscow and Leningrad Conservatories, later the Gnesins’ State Musical Pedagogical Institute and the Institute of Art History of the USSR Academy of Sciences (presently, the State Institute of Art Studies), both established in 1944. Discussions of issues of paramount importance – such as the historical periodization of Russian music history, the content and methodology of training courses, – frequently took place for many days in a row, with the results of the discussion reflected in the central newspapers and magazines. The transcripts of these sessions, in certain cases, exceed 1,500 pages. An important direction of this research was also the study of the main directions in the development of musicology. Along with the creation of textbooks, monographs and other academic works, dissertation work began in the 1930s–1940s. This contributed to a great extent to the integration of musicology into the general scholarly humanitarian field. In the same period, numerous discussions of new Soviet compositions began – primarily, operas and symphonies.

Moje večery : vzpomínky Ljudmily Ivanovny, tetičky ruské hudby

Lyudmila Ivanovna Shestakova, the younger sister of composer Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka, is an almost forgotten figure of 19th century Russian musical culture. She was undoubtedly very important person in Glinka's life, and after his death she tied her name to the care of his legacy. Her fate was intertwined with that of many contemporary representatives of the St Petersburg cultural scene, including members of the so-called Mighty Handful. She wrote a memoir of her acquaintances under the title My Evenings (Moi Vechera), which provides quite an exceptional look at the Russian Five, especially from a personal perspective and her friendship with them. Some of these recollections may shed new light on research into the New Russian School.

Educational and Methodical Literature for Piano in the Catalogues of Music Publishers of the Second Half of the 19th — Early 20th Century

In the second half of the 19th — early 20th century, the release of educational and methodical literature for piano showed significant circulation volumes and was primarily associated with the flourishing of the Russian performing school and the growing interest of the general population in the beautiful world of music. The foundation of the Imperial Russian Music Society in 1959, the opening of the St. Petersburg (1862) and Moscow (1866) conservatories largely determined the goals and objectives, as well as the repertoire concept of a number of leading Russian music publishers.Among them, the firm “P.I. Jurgenson” took a leading position in the production of educational and methodical literature for piano, along with other well-known producers such as “M. Bernard”, “A. Gutheil” and “V.V. Bessel and Co.” The catalogues of music publishers from the collections of the Russian State Library contain information about the structure and principles of forming special sections devoted to education, about the publication activities of individual authors, and their works in the field of piano pedagogy.Together, this material allows to create a primary idea of the volume of products intended for music schools of the country and to take cognizance that all major Russian publishing houses, with rare exceptions, collaborated with the Imperial Russian Music Society, not only in Moscow or St. Petersburg, but also in its provincial branches, honourably putting their names on the title pages of the catalogs. A characteristic feature is the issues devoted to piano literature, including playing schools, collections of exercises, pedagogical repertoire of various degrees of complexity, manuals, etc.The scale of this professional activity was a reflection of the important evolutionary processes taking place in the Russian musical culture of the second half of the 19th — early 20th century. That period in piano art and pedagogy indicated the need to consider historical, social, economic and other contexts that create the right research tone and volume.

B. Tishchenko’s music to the ballet “Yaroslavna” in the context of the revival of Russian symphonic style in the 1960s–1970s

This article analyzes the music to the ballet “Yaroslavna” by the prominent Russian composer of the late XX century B. Tishchenko (1939–2010). The written and staged in 1974 ballet has become one of the most remarkable musical achievements of that time. Emphasis is palced on the fact that Tishchenko composed “Yaroslavna” using all available modern orchestral means of expression on the basis of the Old Russian text “The Tale of Igor's Campaign”. Tishchenko did not seek stylization of his work, but brought the word of the nameless chronicler closer to modern era. He introduces choir to the ballet music to augment its power. The author features Tishchenko's outstanding work with orchestral texture and various instrumental timbres and colors. The novelty of this research lies in studying the music to the ballet “Yaroslavna” in the context of general vector of the revival of Russian symphonic style in the 1960s–1970s. The author notes the leading role of Boris Tishchenko in this remarkable process. The conclusion is made that the composition turned out to be multigenre, consisting of multiple parts; and that Tishchenko has broadened musical lexicon of the Russian music culture to the maximum. The music to the ballet was saturated with truly symphonic content, opened new artistic paths, and enriched modern orchestral palette.

Novel trends in the symphonic work of Soviet composers of the 1960s and B. Tishchenko's Symphony No.3. Part 1

The subject of this research is the period of Russian symphonic music of the 1960s – a new generation of composers, the “Sixtiers”, who brought remarkable artistic achievements and modern musical language. The author dwells on several key symphonic works by R. Shchedrin, S. Slonimsky, E. Denisov, Y. Falik, A. Schnittke, N. Karetnikov, and L. Prigozhin, who made an immense contribution to the revival of the Russian music culture. Special attention is given to Boris Tishchenko’s Symphony No.3, which encompasses the key trends of modern music into its stylistic orbit and opened new musical horizons. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that this article is first to examine the outstanding composition Symphony No.3 by B. Tishchenko in the context of stylistic and linguistic novelties of the 1960s. Detailed analysis is conducted on the role and place of the youngest out of the “Sixtiers” – the prominent Russian symphonist of the XX century Boris Ivanovich Tishchenko (1939–2010) – in the struggle for “new music”. The conclusion is made that Tishchenko became one of the leaders in the revival of the Russian symphonic style of the late XX century, and his Symphony No.3 fully reflected the rigorous pursuits of the entire generation of Soviet composers.

The theme of labor in the Soviet mass song of the 1930s.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the theme of labor in the Soviet mass song of the 1930s. The purpose of the study is to reveal the poetics of mass song labor in the context of the Russian musical culture of the 30s of the twentieth century. The author points out that the mass song is one of the most interesting phenomena of Soviet culture. It is rightly noted that being a product of the socialist era, the mass song was designed to solve the tasks of mobilizing a significant number of people for labor feat, without which it was unthinkable to successfully build a new life in the young Soviet state in the first decades of its formation after the October Revolution of 1917. It is stated that the song of those past years reflected the typical features of song art aimed at developing an optimistic spirit, strong will and self-confidence among Soviet citizens. The article examines the characteristic features of the mass song of the 1930s, analyzes the goals of its dissemination, the main images popularized in the texts of this type of songs, as well as their influence on the consciousness of the Soviet people. The theoretical significance of the research is determined by his contribution to the development of the problems of pop music art as an integral part of Russian culture.

П. И. ЧАЙКОВСКИЙ И Ю. Э. КОНЮС. ИЗ ИСТОРИИ ПЕРЕПИСКИ

The article is devoted to one of the insufficiently studied pages of Tchaikovsky's epistolary heritage — his correspondence with the novice musician Julius Conus, representative of a musical dynasty that provided Russian culture with many prominent figures. The focus of the study is a written dialogue between P. I. Tchaikovsky and J. E. Conus, which lasted from 1891 to 1893 and reproduced from published letters and artifacts found in the archives. The value of the correspondence lies in the opportunity to reconstruct in detail the biography of Julius Conus during this period, as well as to trace Pyotr Ilyich's impact on the young musician's formation. Tchaikovsky's friendly letters testify to his fatherly concern for "Julik" (a Russified name of Julius with some scherzo tinge). These days the name of J. E. Conus is undeservedly forgotten. In the halo of Tchaikovsky's interest in this man appears a bright individuality of a young musician, undoubtedly worthy to be revived in Russian musical culture.

Русское музыкальное общество в Дальневосточной Республике: скрепы истории

The article draws our attention to studying the phenomenon of the Russian Music Society (RMS) in the Far-Eastern Republic (FER), one of the regions of Russia the history of which is inscribed in the space of Russian musical culture. Exceeding the boundaries of Far Eastern regional studies, the authors accentuate their attention on the line of succession which allows them to speak about the Russian Music Society in the Far-Eastern Republic as the successor of the Imperial Russian Music Society (IRMS) which during the period of political modernization of the country provided the transition of musical heritage from Tsarist Russia to Soviet Russia. The real connection of historical epochs acquires meaning by means of analyzing of the documentary materials of the time. They act as a significant reference point in the evaluation of the historical role of the IRMS, and they are also indicative of the succession of the Far Eastern RMS to those forms and methods of socially oriented management, which were adopted by the IRMS and were widely implemented in pursuit of its statutory objectives. Ensuring the geographical inclusion of all the regions of the country in the process of cultivating Russian musical culture, this sociocultural work, evaluated in the category of “public good,” provided a lasting foundation for work for the perspective future. It was also a guarantee for an effective solution of the large-scale national project – the creation of a music infrastructure of the country. The activities of the RMS in the Far-Eastern Republic, the official recognition of the IRMS in the Sovietized unrecognized state proved to provide the necessary link which on a regional level created a true connection between the two successive historical epochs. Keywords: Imperial Russian Music Society (IRMS), Russian Music Society (RMS), Far- Eastern Republic (FER), history of cultural management, IRMS multi-vector network model.

ТЕХНО-СИМФОНИЯ «ПЕРЕОСМЫСЛЯЯ ПРОГРЕСС» ВИКТОРА АРГОНОВА: КУЛЬТУРНЫЙ КОНТЕКСТ И ГРАНИ ПОЛИСТИЛИСТИКИ

The symphony “Rethinking Progress” by V. Argonov is considered to be the first techno-symphony in Russian musical culture. The origin of techno-symphony is connected to the process of convergence of academic and electronic music at the turn of the 20–21st centuries and the emergence of new techno-art forms. The conditionality is revealed between the style specifics of the symphony “Rethinking Progress”, the cultural context of the epoch and the influence of polystylistic trends. The musical text of the techno-symphony contains features of an academic symphonism, including the preservation of the cyclic structure and the dramaturgical functions of parts, the existence of the conflict between the main thematic areas, the elements of programme music and the system of leitmotifs. The composer follows the style of electronic music in general, however, in each of the five movements of the techno-symphony, different styles are found: “pixel music”, techno-trance and other styles. Also the polystylistics appears in the using of typical techniques – quote, auto-quote, allusions.

Индустриализация музыкальной культуры как паттерн современного общества

This article demonstrates the chief hidden guidelines for the industrialization of Russian musical culture. The main purpose of this study is to identify the components of the patterns of the contemporary musical industry as a segment of mass consumption. Musical culture becomes a product of social consumption, adapting to the law of supply and demand. The author defines the characteristic features of the target segment of consumers of the musical culture in the European Union. The main trends in the development of the cultural industry in the forecast period will be the ongoing digitalization and personalization of cultural products and services, an active growth of user consumption of content from mobile devices, as well as, of course, a consolidation, vertical integration and the formation of large digital ecosystems. The author identifies the two main patterns of the current state of the system of musical culture – its “worth value” and its “price value”: the “worth value” being a non-economical concept which interprets culture as a system of semantic meanings, and the “price value” – as entirely an economic concept, which views culture as a system of paid services, a cultural industry aimed at making monetary profit by replicating copies. Depending on the initial goal, the basic components of these two patterns and the main elements of the final structure of the cultural system for a specific consumer in a specific time period are selected. Keywords: culture industry, latent patterns, mass consumption.

The beginning of russian music culture

The origins of Russian music go back to the culture and life of the Shagan East-Slavic tribes in the territory of Ancient Russia before the formation of the first Russian state (KievanRus) in the ninth century. The Slavic traditions of paganism included practicing witchcraft, singing songs, and playing musical instruments (gusli instruments have been popular since the 6th century). Traces of the ancient pagan beliefs of the Slavs in their songs associated with seasonal rituals (related to agricultural work) and family rituals (gatherings, sannashs (prichitanie), and wedding rituals) preserved.

Особенности хорового творчества Василия Титова

Among the Russian composers of the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries a special position is held by the sacred choral works of Vassily Titov (ca. 1650 — ca. 1715), one of the bright representatives of the polyphonic part singing, in which the originality of the Russian Baroque musical culture. The music of Vassily Titov, an outstanding master of choral writing, is diverse in terms of its genres, it comprises nearly two hundred compositions, many of which predominated in the church music repertoire of Russian churches during the course of the 18th century. A study of Vassily Titov’s choral works has made it possible to disclose the characteristic features of the composer’s polyphonic style. The latter include the multi-choral presentation with its bright spatial effects, the antiphonic juxtapositions of large choral masses, the principles of concertizing based on the succession of solo voices and tutti, on the juxtaposition of the chordal-harmonic and the polyphonic exposition, as well as the skillful mastery of imitational counterpoint, up to polyphonic variation. Features of national originality reveal themselves most vividly in the musical thematicism of the compositions, where along with the ornamental design of the intertwining melodic lines and turns of an instrumental type, use is made of intonations of folk songs, cants and church chants. In his musical oeuvres Vassily Titov revised and reevaluated the basic characteristic traits and forms of Western European Baroque music in correspondence with the particularities of Russian musical culture, thereby preserving and enriching the traditions of the Russian national style.

Жанрово-стильова специфіка камерно-вокальної творчості С. Василенка

The purpose of the work is to identify the poetical of S. Vasilenko’s vocal heritage in the context of the traditions of Russian musical culture of the first half of the twentieth century. The methodological basis of the work is based on general scientific and special methods, among which the intonational-stylistic methods inherited from B. Asafiev and his followers, historical-cultural, genre-style, biographical, analytic-musicological methods in their complex application are essential, which together makes it possible to study poetics of the chamber-vocal heritage of S. Vasilenko in the context of Russian culture of the first half of the twentieth century. The scientific novelty of the work is determined by the fact that for the first time the genre-style specificity of the chamber-vocal creativity of S. Vasilenko is generalized in the foreshortening of the general evolutionary paths of the development of Russian musical culture of the indicated period. Conclusions. S. Vasilenko is an outstanding composer, conductor, teacher, folklorist, musician-educator who inherited the best genre and stylistic traditions of Russian music of the past. At the same time, he made a valuable contribution to its subsequent development within the framework of the culture of the first half of the twentieth century and the genre-style attitudes of Russian Art Nouveau. The sphere of chamber-vocal creativity of S. Vasilenko (over 200 compositions), covering all periods of his creative activity, has absorbed the most characteristic genre-style tendencies inherent in the composer’s creative method, focused on the academic direction of Russian culture and music of the first half of the twentieth century. The early period of vocal creativity of S. Vasilenko is characterized, on the one hand, by the inheritance of the best traditions of Russian chamber-vocal lyric poetry of the 19th century, including the traditions of P. Tchaikovsky and N. Rimsky- Korsakov (romances op. 2). At the same time, the poetics of his vocal work is closely connected with the traditions of Russian symbolism, and until the early 20s appeals to the worldview and poetry of A. Blok, S. Gorodetsky, V. Bryusov, K. Balmont, I. Bunin, M. Lokhvitskaya, I. Severyanin, S. Soloviev and others (op. 13, 16, 26, 40, etc.). The 20s in the activities of S. Vasilenko are also marked by a growing interest in folklore, international and oriental topics. The above is consistent with his compositions “Japanese melodies” (op. 49 a, 1924), “Hindu melodies” (op. 51), as well as with the cycle “3 Sinhalese melodies” (op. 55, 1926), etc. Finally, in mature period of creativity S. Vasilenko at a new stage of his creative evolution returns to the traditions of Russian folklore, creating two cycles based on adaptations of Russian folk songs (op. 61, 107), focused on a wide genre spectrum – from the ancient Slavic archaic and epic-historical songs, buffoonery up to ditties.

Особенности сценической интерпретации оперы «Евгений Онегин» П. И. Чайковского режиссёром Е. Арье в постановке Большого театра (2019)

The article is devoted to the phenomenon of the art of contemporary opera, in which a special role is carried out by the masterpieces of the Russian musical culture – Tchaikovsky’s operas. By the example of Eugene Aryeh’s production of the opera “Eugene Onegin” the techniques of deconstruction of the figurative-semantic element of the performance and introductions of polystilistic elements into the choreography of the mass scenes, both of them characteristic for the postmodernist type of stage production are generalized. The tendencies of convergence of the opera masterpiece, leading to the vulgarization of the artistic image and the redundancy of kitsch in the folk-based protagonist are revealed. The article defines the disputability of certain artistic solutions of some opera productions and, along with this, the effectiveness of separate provocative elements of the stage action bringing together the cultural worlds of various epochs activating the process of perception. The materials for the research have been provided by the video recordings from the premiere demonstration of the opera “Eugene Onegin” on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater, as well as texts in periodical editions containing interviews with the opera producer and the leading artists. Keywords: Eugene Aryeh, opera “Eugene Onegin,” Tchaikovsky, Bolshoi Theater, stage interpretation, opera production.

«Дорогой мой и великий Пётр Ильич!» (о переписке Александра Ильича Зилоти с Петром Ильичем Чайковским)

The present study is based on the materials of correspondence between the pianist and conductor A.I. Ziloti and his teacher P.I. Tchaikovsky in the period from 1886 till 1893. The last letter was sent by the great composer a month before his death. Throughout his life, Ziloti was a propagandist of Pyotr Ilyich’s works and one of the best editors and proofreaders of his works. The study reveals little-known facts about the life and creative activities of outstanding musicians Alexander Ilyich Ziloti and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The letters trace the features of the relationship between two talented individuals who were congenial souls. The epistolary legacy was a testament to their fruitful friendship, which left a noticeable mark in the history of Russian musical culture at the turn of 19th and 20th centuries. The correspondence between A.I. Ziloti and P.I. Tchaikovsky can be called a document of the epoch, reflecting in detail the specifics of its musical life and creative process. The study is dedicated to two memorable dates – the 180th anniversary of Tchaikovsky’s birth and the 75th anniversary of Ziloti’s death.

The Enlightenment Philosophy Impact on the Musical Culture of Russia in the 18th–19th Centuries

this article discusses the key ideas of the philosophy of the Enlightenment (applying democratic attitudes, referring to real-life problems and issues, promoting humaneness and humanism) that have influenced the Russian musical culture. A connection is traced between the worldview of the West-European philosophers of the Enlightenment and the works of European composers and musicians that influenced the Russian musical culture in the 18th and 19th centuries. The article highlights how the philosophy of the Enlightenment affected the development of the operatic and singing art in Russia and how it in many ways dictated subsequent trends in the Russian music.