Alexander MAYKAPAR

M.I. Glinka

"I remember a wonderful moment"

Year of creation: 1840. Autograph not found. First published by M. Bernard in 1842.

Glinka's romance is an example of that inextricable unity of poetry and music, in which it is almost impossible to imagine a Pushkin poem without the composer's intonation. The poetic diamond received a worthy musical setting. There is hardly a poet who would not dream of such a frame for his creations.

Chercher la fe mme (French - look for a woman) - this advice could not be more appropriate if we want to more clearly imagine the birth of a masterpiece. Moreover, it turns out that there are two women involved in its creation, but... with the same surname: Kern - mother Anna Petrovna and daughter Ekaterina Ermolaevna. The first inspired Pushkin to create a poetic masterpiece. The second is for Glinka to create a musical masterpiece.

Muse of Pushkin. Poem

Y. Lotman vividly writes about Anna Petrovna Kern in connection with this poem by Pushkin: “A.P. Kern in life was not only beautiful, but also a sweet, kind woman with an unhappy fate. Her true vocation should have been a quiet family life, which she eventually achieved, having remarried and very happily after forty years. But at the moment when she met Pushkin in Trigorskoye, this was a woman who had left her husband and enjoyed a rather ambiguous reputation. Pushkin's sincere feeling for A.P. Kern, when it had to be expressed on paper, was characteristically transformed in accordance with the conventional formulas of the love-poetic ritual. Being expressed in poetry, it obeyed the laws of romantic lyrics and turned A.P. Kern's "genius of pure beauty".

The poem is a classic quatrain (quatrain) - classic in the sense that each stanza contains a complete thought.

This poem expresses Pushkin’s concept, according to which movement forward, that is, development, was thought of by Pushkin as revival:“original, pure days” - “delusions” - “rebirth”. Pushkin formulated this idea in different ways in his poetry in the 1920s. And our poem is one of the variations on this theme.

I remember a wonderful moment:
You appeared before me,
Like a fleeting vision
Like a genius of pure beauty.

In the languor of hopeless sadness,
In the worries of the noisy bustle,
A gentle voice sounded to me for a long time
And I dreamed of cute features.

Years passed. The storm is a rebellious gust
Dispelled old dreams
And I forgot your gentle voice,
Your heavenly features.

In the wilderness, in the darkness of imprisonment
My days passed quietly
Without a deity, without inspiration,
No tears, no life, no love.

The soul has awakened:
And then you appeared again,
Like a fleeting vision
Like a genius of pure beauty.

And the heart beats in ecstasy,
And for him they rose again
And deity and inspiration,
And life, and tears, and love.

Glinka's muse. Romance

In 1826, Glinka met Anna Petrovna. They struck up a friendly relationship that lasted until Glinka’s death. She subsequently published “Memories of Pushkin, Delvig and Glinka,” which recounts many episodes of her friendship with the composer. In the spring of 1839, Glinka fell in love with A.P.’s daughter. Kern - Ekaterina Ermolaevna. They intended to get married, but this did not happen. Glinka described the history of his relationship with her in the third part of his “Notes”. Here is one of the entries (December 1839): “In the winter, my mother came and stayed with my sister, then I moved there myself (this was the period of completely deteriorated relations between Glinka and his wife Maria Petrovna. - A.M.). E.K. recovered, and I wrote a waltz for her for the orchestra in B - major. Then, I don’t know for what reason, Pushkin’s romance “I Remember a Wonderful Moment.”

Unlike the form of Pushkin's poem - a quatrain with cross rhyme, in Glinka's romance the last line of each stanza is repeated. This was required by law musical forms. The peculiarity of the content side of Pushkin's poem - the completeness of thought in each stanza - Glinka carefully preserved and even enhanced through the means of music. It can be argued that in this he could be exemplified by the songs of F. Schubert, for example, “Trout,” in which the musical accompaniment of the stanzas is strictly consistent with the content of the given episode.

M. Glinka's romance is structured in such a way that each stanza, in accordance with its literary content, also has its own musical setting. Achieving this was of particular concern to Glinka. There is a special mention of this in the notes of A.P. Kern: “[Glinka] took from me Pushkin’s poems, written by his hand: “I remember a wonderful moment...” to set them to music, and he lost them, God forgive him! He wanted to compose music for these words that would fully correspond to their content, and for this it was necessary to write special music for each stanza, and he spent a long time worrying about this.”

Listen to the sound of a romance, preferably performed by a singer, for example, S. Lemeshev), who has penetrated into his meaning, and not just reproducing notes, and you will feel it: it begins with a story about the past - the hero remembers the appearance of a wondrous image to him; the music of the piano introduction sounds in a high register, quietly, lightly, like a mirage... In the third verse (third stanza of the poem) Glinka wonderfully conveys in music the image of a “rebellious impulse of storms”: in the accompaniment the movement itself becomes agitated, the chords sound like rapid pulse beats (in in any case, this is how it can be performed), sweeping short scale-like passages like flashes of lightning. In music, this technique goes back to the so-called tirates, which are found in abundance in works depicting struggle, aspiration, and impulse. This stormy episode is replaced in the same verse by an episode in which the tirades are heard already fading, from afar (“... I forgot your gentle voice”).

To convey the mood of the “wilderness” and “darkness of imprisonment”, Glinka also finds a solution that is remarkable in terms of expressiveness: the accompaniment becomes chordal, no stormy passages, the sound is ascetic and “dull”. After this episode, the reprise of the romance sounds especially bright and inspired (the return of the original musical material is the very Pushkin revival), with the words: “The soul has awakened.” Reprise musical Glinka's corresponds exactly poetic reprise. The ecstatic theme of love reaches its climax in the coda of the romance, which is the last stanza of the poem. Here she sounds passionately and excitedly against the background of an accompaniment that wonderfully conveys the beating of the heart “in ecstasy.”

Goethe and Beethoven

For the last time A.P. Kern and Glinka met in 1855. “When I entered, he received me with gratitude and that feeling of friendship that marked our first acquaintance, without ever changing in his character. (...) Despite the fear of upsetting him too much, I could not stand it and asked (as if I felt that I would not see him again) for him to sing Pushkin’s romance “I remember a wonderful moment...”, he performed this with pleasure and brought me to delight! (...)

Two years later, and precisely on February 3 (my name day), he was gone! He was buried in the same church in which Pushkin’s funeral was held, and in the same place I cried and prayed for the repose of both!”

The idea expressed by Pushkin in this poem was not new. What was new was its ideal poetic expression in Russian literature. But as for the world heritage - literary and musical, one cannot help but recall in connection with this Pushkin masterpiece another masterpiece - the poem by I.V. Goethe "New love - new life" (1775). In the German classic, the idea of rebirth through love develops the thought that Pushkin expressed in the last stanza (and Glinka in the coda) of his poem - “And the heart beats in ecstasy...”

New love - new life

Heart, heart, what happened,
What has confused your life?
You are filled with new life,
I do not recognize you.
Everything that you were burning with has passed,
What loved and desired,
All peace, love for work, -
How did you get into trouble?

Limitless, powerful force
This young beauty
This sweet femininity
You are captivated to the grave.
And is treason possible?
How to escape, escape from captivity,
Will, to gain wings?
All paths lead to it.

Oh, look, oh, save me, -
There are cheats all around, not myself,
On a wonderful, thin thread
I'm dancing, barely alive.
Live in captivity, in a magic cage,
To be under the shoe of a coquette, -
How can I bear such a shame?
Oh, let me go, love, let me go!
(Translation by V. Levik)

In an era closer to Pushkin and Glinka, this poem was set to music by Beethoven and published in 1810 in the cycle “Six Songs for Voice with Piano Accompaniment” (op. 75). It is noteworthy that Beethoven dedicated his song, like Glinka’s romance, to the woman who inspired him. It was Princess Kinskaya. It is possible that Glinka could know this song, since Beethoven was his idol. Glinka mentions Beethoven and his works many times in his Notes, and in one of his discussions dating back to 1842, he even speaks of him as “fashionable,” and this word is written on the corresponding page of the Notes in red pencil.

Almost at the same time, Beethoven wrote a piano sonata (op. 81a) - one of his few programmatic works. Each part has a title: “Farewell”, “Separation”, “Return” (aka “Date”). This is very close to the theme of Pushkin - Glinka!..

Punctuation by A. Pushkin. Quote By: Pushkin A.S.. Essays. T. 1. – M.. 1954. P. 204.

Glinka M. Literary works and correspondence. – M., 1973. P. 297.

Year of creation: 1840. Autograph not found. First published by M. Bernard 1 in 1842.

Glinka's romance is an example of that inextricable unity of poetry and music, in which it is almost impossible to imagine a Pushkin poem without Glinka's intonation. The poetic diamond received a worthy musical setting. There is hardly a poet who would not dream of such a frame for his works.

Chercher la fe mme 2

This advice could not be more useful if we want to more clearly imagine the birth of a masterpiece. Moreover, it turns out that there are two women involved in its creation, but... with the same surname: Kern - mother, Anna Petrovna, and daughter, Ekaterina Ermolaevna. The first inspired Pushkin to create poetic masterpiece. Second - Glinka to create a masterpiece musical.

Muse of Pushkin. Poem.

Y. Lotman vividly writes about A.P. Kern in connection with this poem by Pushkin: “A. P. Kern in life was not only beautiful, but also a sweet, kind woman with an unhappy fate. Her true calling should have been a quiet family life, which she eventually achieved when, after forty years, she got married a second time and very happily. But at the moment when she met Pushkin in Trigorskoye, this was a woman who had left her husband and enjoyed a rather ambiguous reputation. Pushkin's sincere feeling for A.P. Kern, when it had to be expressed on paper, was characteristically transformed in accordance with the conventional formulas of the love-poetic ritual. Being expressed in poetry, it obeyed the laws of romantic lyrics and turned A.P. Kern into a “genius of pure beauty.” 3

The poem is a classic quatrain 4 - classic in the sense that each stanza contains finished thought.

This poem expresses in a poetic sense Pushkin’s concept, according to which - one can agree with Lotman’s interpretation 5 - forward movement, that is, development, was thought by Pushkin as revival:“original, pure days” - “delusions” - “rebirth”. Pushkin formulated this idea in his poetry with different variations in the 1920s. And our poem is one variation on this theme.

I remember a wonderful moment:

You appeared before me,

Like a fleeting vision

Like a genius of pure beauty.

In the languor of hopeless sadness,

In the worries of the noisy bustle,

And I dreamed of cute features. 6

Years passed. The storm is a rebellious gust

Dispelled old dreams

Your heavenly features.

In the wilderness, in the darkness of imprisonment

My days passed quietly

Without a deity, without inspiration,

No tears, no life, no love.

The soul has awakened:

And then you appeared again,

Like a fleeting vision

Like a genius of pure beauty.

And the heart beats in ecstasy,

And for him they rose again

And deity and inspiration,

And life, and tears, and love.

Glinka's muse. Romance.

In 1826, Glinka met Anna Petrovna. They struck up a friendly relationship that lasted until Glinka’s death. She subsequently published “Memories of Pushkin, Delvig and Glinka,” which recounts many episodes of her friendship with the composer. In the spring of 1839, Glinka fell in love with the daughter of A.P. Kern, Ekaterina Ermolaevna. They intended to get married, but that didn't happen. Glinka described the history of his relationship with her in the third part of his “Notes”. One of the entries: [December 1839]: “In the winter, my mother came and stayed with my sister, and then I moved there myself. 7 E.K. [Ekaterina Kern] recovered, and I wrote a waltz for her in B major. Then, I don’t know for what reason, Pushkin’s romance “I Remember a Wonderful Moment.” 8

Unlike the form of Pushkin's poem - a quatrain with cross rhyme - in Glinka's romance the last line of each stanza is repeated. This was required by law musical forms. The peculiarity of the content side of Pushkin's poem - the completeness of thought in each stanza - Glinka carefully preserved and even enhanced through the means of music 9.

M. Glinka's romance is structured in such a way that each stanza, in accordance with its literary content, also has its own musical setting. Achieving this was of particular concern to Glinka. There is a special mention of this in the memoirs of A.P. Kern: “[Glinka] took from me Pushkin’s poems, written by his hand: “I remember a wonderful moment...” to set them to music, and he lost them, God forgive him! He wanted to compose music for these words that would fully correspond to their content, and for this it was necessary to write special music for each stanza, and he spent a long time worrying about this.” 10

Listen to the sound of a romance, preferably performed by a singer who has penetrated into his meaning, and not just reproducing notes, 11 and you will feel it: it begins with a story about the past - the hero remembers the appearance of a wondrous image to him 12; the music of the piano introduction sounds in a high register, quietly, lightly, like a mirage... In the third verse (the third stanza of the poem) Glinka wonderfully conveys in music the image of a “rebellious impulse of storms”: in the accompaniment the movement itself becomes agitated, the chords sound like rapid pulse beats (in in any case, this is how it can be performed), sweeping short scale-like passages like flashes of lightning. In music, this technique goes back to the so-called tirates 13, which are found in abundance in works depicting struggle, aspiration, impulse, etc. This stormy episode is replaced - in the same verse (in the same stanza) - by an episode in which the tirates are already heard fading away, from afar (“...I forgot your gentle voice...”). To convey the mood of the “wilderness” and “darkness of imprisonment”, Glinka also finds a solution that is remarkable in terms of expressiveness: the accompaniment becomes chordal, no stormy passages, the sound is ascetic and “dull”. After this episode, the reprise of the romance sounds especially bright and inspired (the return of the original musical material is the same Pushkin revival) - from the words: “The soul has awakened.” Reprise musical Glinka's corresponds exactly poetic reprise. The ecstatic theme of love reaches its climax in the coda of the romance, which is the last stanza of the poem. Here she sounds passionately and excitedly against the backdrop of an accompaniment that wonderfully conveys “the beating of the heart in ecstasy.”

PS. The last meeting of A.P. Kern and Glinka took place in 1855. “When I entered, he received me with gratitude and that feeling of friendship that marked our first acquaintance, without ever changing in his character. (...) Despite the fear of upsetting him too much, I could not stand it and asked (as if I felt that I would not see him again) for him to sing Pushkin’s romance “I remember a wonderful moment...”, he performed this with pleasure and brought me to delight! (...)

P.P.S. The idea expressed by Pushkin in this poem was not new. What was new was its ideal poetic expression in Russian literature. But as for the world heritage - literary and musical - one cannot help but recall in connection with this Pushkin masterpiece another masterpiece - the poem by J. V. Goethe “New Love - New Life” (1775). In the German classic, the idea of rebirth through love develops the idea that Pushkin expressed in the last stanza (And Glinka - in the code) of his poem (“And the heart beats in ecstasy...”).

J. W. Goethe

New love - new life

Heart, heart, what happened,
What has confused your life?
You are filled with new life,
I do not recognize you.
Everything that you were burning with has passed,
What loved and desired,
All peace, love for work, -
How did you get into trouble?

In an era closer to Pushkin and Glinka, this poem was set to music by Beethoven and published in 1810 in the cycle “Six Songs for Voice with Piano Accompaniment,” op. 75. It is noteworthy that Beethoven dedicated his song, like Glinka’s romance, to the woman who inspired him. It was Princess Kinskaya. It is possible that Glinka could know this song, since Beethoven was his idol. Glinka mentions Beethoven and his works many times in his Notes, and in one of his discussions dating back to 1842, he even speaks of him as “fashionable,” and this word is written on the corresponding page of the Notes in red pencil. 15

Almost at the same time, Beethoven wrote a piano sonata op. 81a is one of his few programmatic works. Each part of it has a heading: “Farewell – Separation – Return [otherwise: Date].” This is very close to the theme of Pushkin and Glinka!..

Notes:

1 Matvey Ivanovich Bernard (1794 - 1871) the first in the dynasty of Russian music publishers in St. Petersburg. In his youth, he learned to play the piano from Field, performed publicly as a pianist, and in 1829 founded a publishing company in St. Petersburg.

2 Fr. - Search a woman.

3 Lotman Yu. Pushkin. P. 107.

4 Quatrain – from French. quatrain - quatrain. This poem uses a cross rhyme scheme: a b a b.

5 Lotman Yu. Decree op. P.704.

6 Punctuation by A. Pushkin. Quote Based on: Pushkin A. S. Works. T. 1. M. 1954. p. 204.

7 This was a period of completely deteriorated relations between Glinka and his wife Maria Petrovna, born. Ivanova.

8 Glinka M. Literary works and correspondence. M. 1973. P. 297.

9 It can be argued that in this he could be exemplified by the songs of F. Schubert, for example, “Trout,” in which the musical accompaniment of the stanzas is strictly consistent with the content of the given episode.

10 Kern. A.P. Memoirs, diaries, correspondence. M. 1974. S. 73 -74.

12 The metaphor that sounds so natural in the mouth of Pushkin - “... the genius of pure beauty...” turns out - from a benevolent glance - to be borrowed, and - with a critical attitude - to be plagiarized from Zhukovsky, who had already uttered this exclamation earlier - in 1821 - in the poem "Lalla Ruk ":

Oh! Doesn't live in dreams

Genius of pure beauty

At the same time, let’s note one more allusion – intentional?: compare

In the languor of hopeless sadness

In the silence of hopeless sadness

The second phrase is from Baratynsky’s poem “Ed”. Although it was published in 1826, the poem circulated in copies earlier. Pushkin, in letters to his brother L.S. Pushkin, from the end of November 1824 persistently asked to send him a poem. Then these requests stopped - Pushkin obviously received the poem, as this allusion indirectly testifies.

Thus, Glinka, having “voiced” Pushkin’s poem, immediately set to music, one might say, other poets.

13 Italian - tirata, fr. – tirade. In the music of the Baroque period, from which this technique was borrowed by later composers, in particular, Glinka, tirata was considered a musical and rhetorical figure, with which certain figurative ideas were associated, based on such meanings of the word “tirata” as “arrow”, “shot” . In Russian, “tirade” has come to mean a remark in a conversation, a fragment of speech spoken, as they say, “in a raised voice.”

14 Kern. A.P. Decree. Op.S. 73 -74.

15 Glinka M. Notes. P. 305.

On this day - July 19, 1825 - the day of Anna Petrovna Kern’s departure from Trigorskoye, Pushkin presented her with the poem “K*”, which is an example of high poetry, a masterpiece of Pushkin's lyricism. Everyone who values Russian poetry knows him. But in the history of literature there are few works that would raise as many questions among researchers, poets, and readers. Who was the real woman who inspired the poet? What connected them? Why did she become the addressee of this poetic message?

The history of the relationship between Pushkin and Anna Kern is very confused and contradictory. Despite the fact that their relationship gave birth to one of the poet’s most famous poems, this novel can hardly be called fateful for both.

The 20-year-old poet first met 19-year-old Anna Kern, the wife of 52-year-old General E. Kern, in 1819 in St. Petersburg, in the house of the president of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, Alexei Olenin. Sitting at dinner not far from her, he tried to attract her attention. When Kern got into the carriage, Pushkin went out onto the porch and watched her for a long time.

Their second meeting took place only six long years later. In June 1825, while in Mikhailovsky exile, Pushkin often visited relatives in the village of Trigorskoye, where he met Anna Kern again. In her memoirs, she wrote: “We were sitting at dinner and laughing... suddenly Pushkin came in with a big thick stick in his hands. My aunt, next to whom I was sitting, introduced him to me. He bowed very low, but did not say a word: timidity was visible in his movements. I also couldn’t find anything to say to him, and it took us a while to get acquainted and start talking.”

Kern stayed in Trigorskoye for about a month, meeting with Pushkin almost daily. The unexpected meeting with Kern, after a 6-year break, made an indelible impression on him. In the poet’s soul “an awakening has come” - an awakening from all the difficult experiences endured “in the wilderness, in the darkness of imprisonment” - in many years of exile. But the poet in love clearly did not find the right tone, and, despite Anna Kern’s reciprocal interest, a decisive explanation did not happen between them.

On the morning before Anna's departure, Pushkin gave her a present - the first chapter of Eugene Onegin, which had just been published. Between the uncut pages lay a piece of paper with a poem written at night...

I remember a wonderful moment:

You appeared before me,

Like a fleeting vision

Like a genius of pure beauty.

In the languor of hopeless sadness

In the worries of the noisy bustle,

And I dreamed of cute features.

Years passed. The storm is a rebellious gust

Dispelled old dreams

Your heavenly features.

In the wilderness, in the darkness of imprisonment

My days passed quietly

Without a deity, without inspiration,

No tears, no life, no love.

The soul has awakened:

And then you appeared again,

Like a fleeting vision

Like a genius of pure beauty.

And the heart beats in ecstasy,

And for him they rose again

And deity and inspiration,

And life, and tears, and love.

From the memoirs of Anna Kern we know how she begged the poet for a sheet of paper with these verses. When the woman was about to hide it in her box, the poet suddenly frantically snatched it from her hands and did not want to give it back for a long time. Kern begged forcibly. “What flashed through his head then, I don’t know,” she wrote in her memoirs. By all appearances, it turns out that we should be grateful to Anna Petrovna for preserving this masterpiece for Russian literature.

15 years later, composer Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka wrote a romance based on these words and dedicated it to the woman with whom he was in love - Anna Kern's daughter Catherine.

For Pushkin, Anna Kern was truly a “fleeting vision.” In the wilderness, on her aunt’s Pskov estate, the beautiful Kern captivated not only Pushkin, but also her neighboring landowners. In one of his many letters, the poet wrote to her: “Frivolity is always cruel... Farewell, divine, I’m furious and falling at your feet.” Two years later, Anna Kern no longer aroused any feelings in Pushkin. The “genius of pure beauty” disappeared, and the “harlot of Babylon” appeared - that’s what Pushkin called her in a letter to a friend.

We will not analyze why Pushkin’s love for Kern turned out to be just a “wonderful moment,” which he prophetically announced in poetry. Whether Anna Petrovna herself was to blame for this, whether the poet or some external circumstances were to blame - the question remains open in special research.

Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka. Romance “I Remember a Wonderful Moment”

Romances to the words of Pushkin occupy an important place in the vocal lyrics of Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka. Among them, “I Remember a Wonderful Moment” is a pearl of Russian vocal lyrics, in which the genius of the poet and composer merged. The three-part form of the romance corresponds to the content of the poem, which reflects three important moments in the hero’s mental life: the first meeting, the bitterness of separation from his beloved and the joy of a new date. The melody of the romance is deeply impressive with its smoothness and gentle grace.

The romance belongs to the mature period of Glinka’s work, which is why the composer’s skill in it is so perfect. Never before had anyone before Pushkin and Glinka raised the beauty of human feeling to such a height.

Pushkin returned to St. Petersburg from exile. It was as if there was a breath of fresh air immediately. Glinka already knew “Gypsy”, chapters from “Eugene Onegin”, “Message to the Decembrists”, which was circulating in the lists. They met in the Yusupov Garden. Pushkin was not alone.

Allow me, Anna Petrovna, to introduce you to the good Glinka,” he turned to his lady. - Michel shared the same shelter in the Noble boarding house with my Lyovushka.

The lady nodded friendly. Her name was Anna Kern. Later she would become famous for her priceless memories of Pushkin and his entourage. Glinka will not be forgotten by her:

“A young man of small stature, beautiful appearance, with an expressive look of very kind, beautiful dark brown eyes...

Glinka bowed in his expressive, respectful manner and sat down at the piano. You can imagine, but it’s difficult to describe my surprise and my delight! I've never heard anything like it. I have never seen such softness and smoothness, such soul in sounds, such a complete absence of keys!

Glinka’s keys sang from the touch of his small hand, and the sounds they produced continuously flowed one after another, as if they were connected by sympathy. He mastered the instrument so skillfully that he could express everything he wanted with subtlety, and it is surprising to meet a person who would not understand what the keys sang under Glinka’s deft fingers.

In the sounds of improvisation one could hear a folk melody, and tenderness characteristic only of Glinka, and playful gaiety, and a thoughtful feeling, and we listened to it, afraid to move, and at the end we remained for a long time in a wonderful oblivion...”

Years have passed...

Glinka's house was like a club, where they always played music, recited poetry, and made toasts. Artists Karl Bryullov and Ivan Aivazovsky came here. Anyone could come here, alone or with a group, at any time of the day. And Mikhail Ivanovich, tired of this noisy life, moved to live with his sister Masha. She lived in a government apartment at the Smolny Institute, whose household was managed by her husband.

One day one of the institute teachers came into the apartment. Her face seemed familiar to Glinka. This was Ekaterina Kern, the daughter of Anna Petrovna Kern, to whom Pushkin was not indifferent.

In this meeting, Mikhail Ivanovich felt a sign of fate. Ekaterina Ermolaevna was not a beauty. But her natural gentleness, shyness, kind and sad smile conquered the composer.

They saw each other often and already missed each other if the separation lasted more than a day.

Glinka wrote “Waltz-Fantasy” and dedicated it to Ekaterina Ermolaevna. As well as the romances “If I Meet You” based on Koltsov’s poems and “I Remember a Wonderful Moment” based on Pushkin’s poems addressed to the poet Anna Kern.

And the heart beats in ecstasy,
And for him they rose again
And deity and inspiration,
And life, and tears, and love.

Russian romance has never known such inspired inspiration, such a radiant hymn to life and happiness.

One day Anna Petrovna Kern approached the composer:

Mikhail Ivanovich, I will be honest with you. I am deeply touched by your tender friendship with Katya. I couldn't have dreamed of a better match for my daughter. However, you are married.

Anna Petrovna, I intend...

Don’t continue,” Kern sighed. - The divorce process will drag on for years. And I need to take my daughter away from St. Petersburg as soon as possible.

How to take it away? Where?!

To Ukraine. Katya is sick.

The break with Kern remained an unhealed wound in Glinka’s soul for a long time. In his proximity to her, he found the main thing that attracted him during this difficult time: spiritual communication. “For me, attachment to her is a need of the heart, and since the heart is satisfied, then there is nothing to be afraid of passions...”

Subsequently, E. Kern, having married lawyer M. O. Shokalsky, carefully destroyed all correspondence with Glinka. But she told her son, the famous scientist and geographer Yu. M. Shokalsky, a lot about her relationship with him.

Glinka’s connection with the Kern family was not interrupted in the future. The composer's surviving letters to Anna Petrovna, written in French, in a tone of social courtesy, testify to his caring attitude towards his former friends and his desire to help them in difficult life circumstances. But the old feeling is gone forever. And only the beautiful pages of Glinka’s lyrics convey to us the story of this love.

Sounds of music

If you asked me what I love more - music or poetry, it would be difficult for me to answer. Good poetry gives the same pleasure as good music. I really like to read poetry out loud, even to myself.

I take a volume of Pushkin’s poems off the shelf and find one of the most beautiful and perhaps the most famous Pushkin poems:

I remember a wonderful moment:
You appeared before me...

The melody made Pushkin’s image even more captivating and beautiful:

Like a fleeting vision
Like a genius of pure beauty.

Listen to the melody, sing it to yourself, and you will feel in it this “fleeting” vision, pure beauty in its melody, soft, light sadness.

Years passed. The storm is a rebellious gust
Dispelled old dreams...

And the music also becomes rebellious, restless, its tenderness and tenderness disappear. But then, as if after a deep sigh, she calms down:

Now there is only tired resignation and sadness in her.

In the wilderness, in the darkness of imprisonment
My days passed quietly...

Overcoming some internal obstacle, the melody tries to rise. It's almost despair...

Without a deity, without inspiration,
No tears, no life, no love.

She rose and sank helplessly again. But remember what happens next with Pushkin?

The soul has awakened:
And then you appeared again
Like a fleeting vision
Like a genius of pure beauty.

And the music also awakens. She has regained her former inspired strength. Again she sounds light, gentle, almost enthusiastic.

And the heart beats in ecstasy,
And for him they rose again
And deity and inspiration,
And life, and tears, and love.

Repressing the passionate impulse, the last soothing bars of the accompaniment sound... The music ends.

Yes, it is very difficult, almost impossible, to imagine now these Pushkin poems without Glinka’s music. It seems that music and words were created simultaneously and even by the same person - they are so inextricably linked with each other, they seem so created for each other. Meanwhile, the words and music were written at different times, by different people, and even dedicated to two different women.

The poem is dedicated to Anna Petrovna Kern, and the music, many years later, to her adult daughter Catherine. This perfect creation of two brilliant artists is often called “the pearl of Russian romance.”

Questions and tasks:

Listen to M. Glinka's romance. What feelings does it evoke? What attracts you to this piece of music?
How did M. Glinka convey the change of feelings and experiences in the romance?

Part 1

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION OF THE VLADIMIR REGION

MUNICIPAL BUDGET EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

GENERAL EDUCATION SECONDARY SCHOOL No. 1

POKROV PETUSHINSKY DISTRICT

RESEARCH

PUSHKIN IN MUSIC

Kurtanova Ekaterina

10th grade student

Municipal educational institution secondary school No. 1, Pokrov

Scientific adviser:

Snetkova Irina Anatolevna

1. Introduction 3

2. A. S. Pushkin in music 5

2.1 Composers who wrote music based on Pushkin’s poems 5

2.2 Romances 8

2.2.1 Romance genre, the most famous romances 8

2.2.2 Analysis of Pushkin’s poems 9

2.2.3. Analysis of the music of romances based on the poems “I remember a wonderful moment”, “I loved you”. 12

2.3 Operas 13

2.3.1 Opera genre 13

2.3.2 The embodiment of Pushkin’s works in operas 14

2.4 Music in films 21

2.5 Folklore is the basis of Pushkin’s works 22

3. Conclusion 29

4. References 30

1. Introduction

Pushkin’s multi-faceted talent with its inherent diversity of ideas and genre forms, the figurativeness and musicality of verse evokes a deep resonance in all of the mentioned types of art, and the musical life of Pushkin’s works is so significant that it deserves special discussion.

The musicality of Pushkin's verse was noted and highly appreciated by his contemporaries. Having a great sense of the sonic beauty of Russian speech, Pushkin, using ordinary everyday language, managed to create unattainable masterpieces of poetic lightness and euphony. The great merit of Pushkin the lyricist is that he finally established the syllabic-tonic principle of versification in Russian poetry and convincingly demonstrated its rich rhythmic capabilities.

Already Pushkin’s first lyceum poems were set to music: “Rose” by M. I. Glinka, “Awakening” (“Dreams, Dreams”) by A. A. Alyabyev, “Merry Feast” by K. P. Vilboa. And since then this process has not stopped. The high spirit of the poet’s soul, the apotheosis of friendship and love in his lyrics received such an echo in Russian vocal creativity that can only be compared with repeated mountain echoes.

Pushkin the storyteller resonated in the operatic work of M. I. Glinka (“Ruslan and Lyudmila”) and inspired the wonderful colorist N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov

(“The Tale of Tsar Saltan”, “The Golden Cockerel”).

Pushkin's romantic poems, depicting an exceptional personality in exceptional circumstances, formed the basis for the musical dramaturgy of many opera and ballet performances. The best of them are “Prisoner of the Caucasus” and “Bakhchisarai Fountain” (ballets by B.V. Asafiev).

Opera composers of the post-Pushkin era - the heyday of Russian symphonism and realistic opera - continued to turn to Alexander Sergeevich’s plots, in which, along with a bright dramatic collision, there were realistically resolved characters. This is how “The Mermaid” and “The Stone Guest” by A. S. Dargomyzhsky, “The Queen of Spades” by P. I. Tchaikovsky, “Mozart and Salieri” by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov arose.

Why exactly did the works of A. S. Pushkin make such a strong impression on composers, forcing them to reflect their feelings in music? We have put forward hypothesis that the closeness of Pushkin’s works to music lies in the origins of his work.

The work included target: to prove the unity of the works of A. S. Pushkin and the music of Russian composers.

The goal was realized through a number of set tasks:

find out which composers’ works are associated with the name of A. S. Pushkin;
find and analyze the texts and music of romances written based on Pushkin’s poems;
study the history of the creation of operas based on Pushkin’s works and the means of embodying Pushkin’s heroes in music;
explore the nature of music for films based on the works of A. S. Pushkin;
find the origins of the musicality of Pushkin’s works.

2. A. S. Pushkin in music

2.1 Composers who wrote music based on Pushkin’s poems

Many composers found themselves inspired by the works of A. S. Pushkin. Among them are such famous names as

Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka(1804-1857) - great Russian composer. We rightfully speak about Pushkin as a spokesman for his time and the creator of the foundations of the modern Russian language. With the same right we can talk about Glinka as the creator of Russian classical music. Like Pushkin, he absorbed all the best that came before him in Russian musical culture. And on this solid basis - folk and professional - he created new music. Glinka’s work was the pinnacle of Russian music’s flowering and at the same time the basis, the soil on which the work of Russian composers of the 19th century and composers of our time developed.

Alexander Sergeevich Dargomyzhsky(1813-1869) - Glinka’s younger contemporary and successor, with whose work new artistic images and ideas entered Russian music. He exposed the injustice of his contemporary society through his art. And this is his historical merit. Dargomyzhsky's opera "Rusalka", first performed in May 1856, opened a new page in the history of Russian music, continuing the traditions of Glinka's first operas. “Rusalka” is a new opera in its focus, because it showed the composer’s democracy and interest in ordinary people, not of “noble rank”.

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky(1839-1881) – great Russian composer. Mussorgsky's enormous originality was determined by his talent, combined with the breadth of interests and that genuine nationality, which became the main feature of his creative nature. He was the most convinced, most consistent exponent of the new democratic direction in music. For he strove to introduce music to the surrounding reality, to subordinate it to the vital interests of society, to make it necessary for the people.

Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov(1844-1908) - an outstanding Russian composer, teacher, conductor. He studied music under the guidance of M. A. Balakirev, and joined the creative community of the Mighty Handful. Rimsky-Korsakov created 15 operas. In the atmosphere of revolutionary liberation sentiments of Russian society at the turn of the twentieth century, Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera-fairy tales acquired a new ideological orientation. They clearly contain irony in the depiction of the unlucky tsar (“The Tale of Tsar Saltan”) and a sharp satire on autocracy (“The Golden Cockerel”).

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky(1840-1893) - great Russian composer, teacher. The flourishing of his creativity was marked by the opera “Eugene Onegin”. The last period of the composer’s life included the creation of his most tragic work, “The Queen of Spades.”

Georgy Vasilievich Sviridov(1915-1998). Sviridov wrote his first works back in 1935 - a cycle of lyrical romances based on the words of Pushkin. Sviridov's style changed significantly in the early stages of his work. His early works were written in the style of classical romantic music and were similar to the work of the German romantics. Later, Sviridov tried to write works that were exclusively Russian in nature. While Sviridov's music remained little recognized in the West, in Russia his works enjoyed tremendous success among critics and listeners for their simple, lyrical melodies and folk character.

Sviridov continued and developed the experience of Russian classics, primarily Modest Mussorgsky, enriching it with the achievements of the 20th century. He uses the traditions of ancient cant and ritual chants; znamenny chant, and at the same time - and modern urban mass song. Sviridov's creativity combines novelty, originality of musical language, precision, and refined simplicity.

Caesar Antonovich Cui(1835-1918) - Russian professor of military fortification; composer and music critic. Cui was one of the members of the "Mighty Handful". From 1864 he acted as a music critic, defending the principles of realism and nationality in music, promoting the work of M. I. Glinka, A. S. Dargomyzhsky and young representatives of the “New Russian Music School,” as well as advanced innovative trends in foreign music. As a critic, he often published devastating articles on Tchaikovsky's work. The composer’s creative heritage is extensive: 14 operas, including “The Son of a Mandarin” (1859), “Angelo” (after V. Hugo, 1875), “Saracen” (after A. Dumas the Father, 1898), “The Captain’s Daughter” ( after A. S. Pushkin, 1909), 4 children's operas; works for orchestra, chamber instrumental ensembles, piano, violin, cello; choirs, vocal ensembles. Of greatest interest are the romances (more than 250), distinguished by lyrical expressiveness, grace, and subtlety of vocal recitation. Popular among them are “The Burnt Letter”, “The Tsarskoye Selo Statue” (words by A. S. Pushkin), etc.

Anton Grigorievich Rubinstein(1829-1894) - Russian composer, pianist, conductor, founder of the first Russian conservatory (1862), brother of pianist Rubinstein. Among Rubinstein’s works are 4 spiritual operas (oratorios): “Paradise Lost”, “Tower of Babel”, “Moses”, “Christ” and one biblical scene in 5 scenes - “Shulamith”, as well as 13 operas, including “Dmitry Donskoy ", "Demon", "Merchant Kalashnikov", "Nero", "Parrot", "Siberian Hunters", "Hadji Abrek" and others, several symphonies (the most famous is the second with the program name "Ocean"), piano concertos , cellos, violins and orchestra, as well as sonatas, trios, quartets and other chamber music. 1

All of the listed composers turned to Pushkin in their work. These are not just well-known names, but famous musicians throughout Russia. They stand in music on the same level as Pushkin in literature. The main genres in which they worked with Pushkin’s works were operas and romances, which will be discussed further.

We analyzed the most famous romances, comparing Pushkin's poems and the music written on them, and studied the history of creation and expression of the characters' feelings through music in some operas.

2.2 Romances

2.2.1 Romance genre, the most famous romances

Don't sing, beauty, in front of me

You are the songs of sad Georgia:

Remind me of her

Another life and a distant shore...

(A.S. Pushkin.) 2

Romance – (Spanish romance from Late Latin romanice). Chamber musical and poetic work for voice with instrumental accompaniment. In a romance, the melody is more clearly connected with the verse than in a song, reflecting not only its general character, but also its poetic structure, but also individual images, rhythm and intonation in particular. 3

Working with romances of the 19th century, we found works written to Pushkin’s poems by the following composers:

Verstovsky
Vlasov
M. I. Glinka
A. S. Dargomyzhsky
Donaurov
Korganov
C. A. Cui
N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov
A. G. Rubinstein
G. V. Sviridov
Yakovlev 4

Let's turn to the texts and music of these romances.

2.2.2 Analysis of Pushkin's poems

We analyzed the poem by A. S. Pushkin “I remember a wonderful moment.”

I remember a wonderful moment:

You appeared before me,

Like a fleeting vision

Like a genius of pure beauty...

The world of these lines is ideal. The famous hymn to a high and bright feeling - love!

Let's take a closer look at the composition of the poem. It is divided into three equal parts - two stanzas in each. The first is dedicated to the memory of a long-ago meeting in St. Petersburg with the young beauty Anna Kern, reproducing what was especially remembered in those short hours of the Olenins’ evening party (“sweet features”; “tender voice”). Pushkin's stanza is ideal because it is equal to itself. Life has stopped. Only an inspired hymn to existence sounds:

In the languor of hopeless sadness,

In the worries of the noisy bustle

And I dreamed of cute features.

The second part is separated from what was said earlier by a significant period of time; The second part opens with a short sentence.

The stormy, rapid flow of life, its troubles and anxieties were drowned out, the “heavenly features” were erased from memory. But Pushkin’s world is whole and indivisible. He has everything in acquired immensity:

And deity and inspiration,

And life, and tears, and love.

What uncontrollable speed (it is reinforced by the repeated conjunction “and”)!

And suddenly “the soul awakened, and here you appeared again...”. Everything that follows is a bright impulse of resurrected feeling.

It turns out that life has not stopped. The feeling is growing. Pushkin has just one fleeting vision, and the flow captures us. The feeling reaches its climax and carries it into the abyss:
And the heart beats in ecstasy,

And for him they rose again

And deity and inspiration,

And life, and tears, and love. 5

Yes, you can enjoy these verses and draw comfort from them. Pushkin is not only a poet, he is also an artist with a keen sense of his surroundings. The extraordinary sound fullness is striking. And what is surprising: words that seem to be the most everyday, familiar, combined in Pushkin, give the impression of magical festivity, lift the soul and carry it on the wings of enthusiastic inspiration. They are bathed in the sun of boundless happiness, they sing and shine.

First a sad and tender memory, then a sad consciousness of loss and, finally, a solemn rise of joy and delight.

All this was perfectly reproduced by M. I. Glinka in the music of the immortal romance.

What helps to perceive Pushkin’s poem this way? Natural flair for the tongue and impeccable auditory taste; an unusual combination of vowels and consonants, the absence of hissings that sharply offend the ear - we will not find a single dark spot, with the exception of the syllable “chu”. The poems themselves live, breathe, as if they convey the excitement that gripped the poet...

...Reading a poem "I loved you" and you are amazed: there are no epithets, no comparisons, no metaphors in it. But, in the words of V.G. Belinsky, “it has the same soul-touching humanity, the same artistic charm” as in the poet’s other intimate poems.

The simplicity of this poem is deceptive. Its basis is formed by the threefold repetition of the expression “I loved you...”. In accordance with these repetitions, the poem falls into three parts, in each of which the expression “I loved you,” while maintaining its general meaning, acquires new shades.

What does the past tense verb “loved” indicate in the first part? That the feeling hasn't disappeared.

In the second, the same verb already indicates the versatility of the accompanying feelings of love: hopelessness, timidity, jealousy.

In the third part, the word “loved” has a new meaning: loved and now loves:

How God grant that your beloved be different.
Despite these parts, the poem is perceived as a whole.

And this is achieved by intonation-melodic rhythm.

The first part is a complex sentence, consisting of five simple ones, pronounced in descending melodies. The second part - from a simple sentence with four homogeneous members - requires a melodic “break”, and the third part (a complex sentence with a subordinate clause at the end) requires a melodic rise, which has already begun in the second part.

With what humanity, generosity, nobility Pushkin approaches this feeling. And all this is given in the simplest words, but unusually sincere, as if bursting from the very depths of the soul.

The true spiritual nobility of the lyrical hero cannot but delight us. Nothing overshadows the happiness of the beloved, not even the knowledge that someone loves her unrequitedly. And again you pronounce the lines after the poet:

I loved you so sincerely, so tenderly,

How God grant that your beloved be different. 6
Pushkin... He is unusually multifaceted. The poem “I loved you...” is considered the pearl of Pushkin’s lyrics. And so it is. The lines of his poems attract with their incorruptible sincerity and wise simplicity.

2.2.3. Analysis of the music of romances based on the poems “I remember a wonderful moment”, “I loved you”.

“I remember a wonderful moment.”
“I Remember a Wonderful Moment” to the words of Pushkin is a pearl of chamber vocal classics. In it, Glinka expressed his deep feelings for Ekaterina Kern, the daughter of Anna Petrovna Kern, who at one time inspired Pushkin to create a magnificent poem. The musical images created by Glinka harmoniously merged with the amazing and beautiful poetry of Pushkin. This is expressed, first of all, by the melody - in Russian, plastic and sincere, melodious. In the romance, as in the poems, the origin of the poetic feeling of love, the languid sorrow of separation and the joy of meeting are clearly indicated. The poetic meaning of each new mental state of the lyrical hero is revealed in bright and expressive music.

At the beginning of the romance, the mood of bright poetic illumination dominates - under the impression of a “wonderful moment.”

The very first theme of the piano introduction represents, as it were, a generalized image of both an ardently loving, poetically inclined person and his dream come true - “a genius of pure beauty.”

At the mention of “the languor of hopeless sadness,” a slight sadness slightly clouds the narrative, but not for long - the enchantingly beautiful melody returns, reaffirming the mood of quiet contemplation. The smooth, flexible melody of the voice and the idyllically calm, seemingly “flowing” piano part complement each other, creating a complete image of high spirituality.

But the movement quickly changes, becoming agitated, pathetic - “The years passed. The storm is a rebellious impulse...", then on the contrary, inhibited - "In the wilderness, in the darkness of imprisonment...". The music loses its soft roundness, calm regularity of rhythm and becomes more intense. The piano part also matches it: in it you can hear either the “rebellious impulse of a storm”, about which the voice sings, or the sad numbness of feelings.

The music that concludes the story is filled with bright joy (“The soul has awakened!”). Externally, the melody retains the same outline, but its internal fullness becomes different - reverent, rapturously happy. The impression is enhanced by the piano part - excited, mobile.

In this romance, the commonality of creative natures and aspirations of two great contemporaries - Pushkin and Glinka - was most clearly manifested: integrity, harmonious perception, a bright outlook on life, and faith in its enduring value, typical of both. 7
"I loved you".
The romance based on Pushkin’s poems “I loved you” is a romance-meditation. There are no elements of pictorial descriptiveness in it - the elegiac melodious melody is full of spiritual beauty, nobility and expresses restrained sorrow. The melody combines both broad melodious intonations and elements of declamation - pauses break wide, rounded phrases into separate expressive lines. This brings the music closer to spoken language and gives it the character of a monologue, full of deep, concentrated thoughts.

Dargomyzhsky's first romances based on Pushkin's poems are interesting not only for their artistic merits. They contain the originality of Dargomyzhsky’s creative method: the desire for concreteness of the musical language, exact following of the poetic text, colorful picturesqueness.

From now on, Pushkin's poetry nourishes Dargomyzhsky's music throughout his entire creative life. And it is not surprising that his best romances and operas were written based on poems by the brilliant Russian poet. 8

2.3 Operas

2.3.1 Opera genre

But the blue evening is getting dark,

It's time for us to go to the opera quickly:

There's a delightful Rossini there

Europe's darling Orpheus...

(A.S. Pushkin) 9

Opera is a genre of musical and dramatic art. The literary basis of the opera is the libretto. It is embodied by means of musical dramaturgy and primarily in the forms of vocal music. In opera, dramaturgy, music, visual arts (scenery, costumes), and choreography (ballet) are combined into a single theatrical action. 10

Pushkin's creations inspired composers to create larger-scale works, such as operas.

2.3.2 The embodiment of Pushkin’s works in operas

"BORIS GODUNOV"
The idea of writing an opera based on the historical tragedy of A. S. Pushkin was given to Mussorgsky by his friend, the prominent historian Professor V. V. Nikolsky. Mussorgsky was extremely fascinated by the opportunity to translate the topic of the relationship between the tsar and the people, which was highly relevant for his time, and to bring the people into the role of the main character of the opera. “I understand the people as a great personality, animated by a single idea,” he wrote. - This is my task. I tried to solve it in opera."

The opera “Boris Godunov” had special significance for the composer: it was the result of almost ten years of his work. And at the same time - the beginning of the high flowering of his powerful, original talent, which gave Russian culture many brilliant works.

Pushkin’s tragedy reflects distant historical events of the “Time of Troubles” era. In Mussorgsky's opera they received a new, modern sound; the idea of the incompatibility of the interests of the people and the tsarist autocracy was especially emphasized by the composer. For the monarch, even endowed with intelligence and soul - this is how both the poet and composer imagine Boris Godunov - cannot, and does not want to, grant freedom and happiness and eliminate the gap between him and the ruling classes. This idea sounded sharp and modern and occupied the advanced Russian minds of the second half of the 19th century. “The past in the present is my task,” - this is how Modest Petrovich himself defined his creative aspirations.

Pushkin, and after him Mussorgsky, make Tsar Boris involved in the murder of Tsarevich Dmitry. And although this version is rejected by historians, both artists need it to prove in figurative form the crime of autocratic power in general, its involvement in everything dark and evil that is happening in the world.

The same idea is confirmed by all the actions of the Pretender. Having entered into a conspiracy with the enemies of his homeland, and taking the direct path of betrayal and political adventures, he is striving for a single goal - autocratic power.

When composing the libretto, Mussorgsky changed something in Pushkin’s tragedy - he developed, emphasized, enlarged some lines, and removed some completely, excluded them as not meeting his plans.

Mussorgsky made the people the main character of the opera. And it is very important that for the first time on the opera stage these people were shown as an effective force that predetermines the outcome of historical events. Moreover, the composer’s attitude towards him was also new, unprecedented. Thus, he especially emphasized the main idea - about the decisive role of the people. And that's why I changed the ending. If in Pushkin “the people are silent,” then in Mussorgsky the people protest and rise to revolt. This picture of a popular uprising, which concludes the opera, is perhaps the main one.

It took Mussorgsky a little over a year to create this opera - so great was his inspiration. “I lived as “Boris”, in “Boris”, and in my brains the time I lived in “Boris” is marked with dear, indelible marks,” the composer wrote. And indeed, every picture, every action of the opera speaks of a high impulse of inspiration, an extraordinary rise of creative forces. Mussorgsky worked with such enthusiasm that for some time he stopped seeing his friends. Stasov wrote with good-natured irony: “Of course, no amount of gingerbread can pull a garbage man out of his den.”

The production of the opera was an event that divided the St. Petersburg public into two irreconcilably hostile camps. There were no indifferent people. eleven
"EUGENE ONEGIN"
…In the mid-70s, Tchaikovsky’s work reached an unprecedented peak. In just two years, he created such masterpieces as the opera “Eugene Onegin”, the ballet “Swan Lake”, concertos for piano and orchestra and for violin and orchestra...

But still the opera “Eugene Onegin” is the most popular. With her, a new type of opera enters Russian music. The author called it “lyrical scenes”. The subtitle itself determines the special musical mood of the work, in which the lyrical feeling predominates.

The libretto is based on individual chapters of Pushkin’s brilliant novel in verse “Eugene Onegin”. And therefore, in the opera only the main storylines are traced, dedicated to the main characters - Tatiana, Onegin, Lensky and their immediate circle.

The vital truthfulness and deep penetration into the inner world of Pushkin’s main images required great sincerity and passion from the composer. And he managed to tell in the special language of music what was so poetically revealed in the poems of the brilliant Pushkin. “It seems to me that I am truly gifted with the ability to truthfully, sincerely and simply express through music those feelings, moods and images that the text suggests. In this respect, I am a realist and a native Russian person,” wrote Tchaikovsky.

Central to the opera is the image of Tatiana, whom Tchaikovsky loved more than all Pushkin’s heroes.

The image of Lensky is also lyrical. Both of these images are somewhat close to each other - and this is confirmed by the music. Individual intonations, sometimes very similar to each other, permeate the parts of Lensky and Tatyana.

They are contrasted with the image of Onegin - sometimes calmly cold, sometimes deeply suffering, loving. It is interesting that at the end of the opera, musical intonations from Tatiana’s part penetrate into his part, which makes his image warmer and more lyrical.

In three acts of the opera (seven scenes) the life of the main characters - Tatyana, Lensky, Onegin - is clearly traced against the backdrop of village life or pictures of St. Petersburg life.

The music of the opera is distinguished by its great melodiousness and lyrical sincerity, which is so inherent in Russian folk songs and Russian everyday romances. This is most typical for the roles of Tatiana and Lensky, for everyday scenes.

The dance rhythms of mazurka, ecosaise, and polonaise are also of great importance here. The waltz is heard especially often - its rhythm permeates not only the dance scenes, but also the lyrical scenes of the opera, conveying the inner experiences of the characters. 12

"QUEEN OF SPACE"
The plot of Pushkin’s “The Queen of Spades” did not immediately interest Tchaikovsky. However, over time, this plot increasingly captured his imagination. He was especially excited by the scene of Herman's fatal meeting with the Countess. Its deep drama captured the composer and aroused a burning desire to write an opera. The opera was created, according to the composer, with selflessness and pleasure.

In The Queen of Spades, Tchaikovsky appears not only as a brilliant playwright with a keen sense of the laws of the stage, but also as a great symphonist, constructing the action according to the laws of symphonic development. The opera is very multifaceted.

The biggest changes occurred with the image of Herman. In Pushkin, he is a cold, calculating adventurer, capable of any immoral act for money, but the composer endowed the hero with other traits. The driving force behind all of Herman's actions in the opera is his all-consuming passion for Lisa. But on Herman’s path to happiness is the inequality of their position in society: in the opera, Lisa is not a poor companion, but the granddaughter and only heiress of a rich countess.

Thus, a noble passion that elevates a person leads him to base, selfish motives and actions. And this, in turn, dooms him to madness and death.

The main idea of the opera - the collision of light and darkness, love and doom - is already shown in the orchestral introduction (introduction). Short but clearly defined themes-images consistently pass before us.

Here a calm, leisurely melody sounds in the orchestra. This is the theme of Tomsky’s ballad, which played such a fatal role in Herman’s life. From this ballad he first learned about the secret of the three cards. The narrative melody is interspersed with harsh, mournful chords (in the ballad they sound with the words “Oh God!”) against the backdrop of a frozen, melancholy, lonely sound in the upper register.

The second theme of the introduction is the image of evil fate, which is associated with the image of the Queen of Spades - the Countess. The irresistibly powerful call of the brass instruments conveys some kind of fatal doom for those who come into contact with this cruel force. The ominous darkness of the second theme is emphasized by the nervous, convulsive rhythm, the sound of the melody in a low and gloomy register, and the dazzlingly sharp bursts of woodwind instruments - like flashes of lightning. Gradually, this irresistible offensive movement, ever growing, approaches its highest point.

And when further tension seems unthinkable, a new theme appears - the theme of the love of Lisa and German. Contrasting with everything previous, it asserts itself powerfully and lightly, banishing dark, ominous images. This wonderful theme plays a big role in the second picture, in the scene of explanation between Lisa and Herman. It also sounds at the very end of the opera, appearing in Herman’s fading consciousness as a memory of Lisa, of their love.

In seven scenes of the opera, events full of drama are sequentially presented.

The brightest, culminating picture is the fourth picture. Its action takes place in the Countess's room. Even before the countess returned from the ball, Herman came here. The music conveys his fear, but also his determination, which is why it is full of inhuman tension: the same melodic intonation is repeated in a gloomy low register. And against its background, like a plaintive, melancholy moan, the expressive melody of violins sounds.

But then Herman appears from behind the curtains. The music immediately changes - it conveys the hero’s strong emotional excitement, prayer and, finally, despair. The Countess is in a daze. And when Herman, deciding to intimidate her, pulls out a pistol, she dies. The music from the introduction to the picture sounds again, and even greater despair is heard in it. Lisa runs in, she is terrified, but German is unable to explain to her the reason for the tragic events... 13
"MERMAID"
The libretto of this opera was based on Pushkin’s unfinished drama, which captivated the composer with the deep vitality of the plot, the nationality of the language and human types. But the main thing for him was the social orientation of the plot, the condemnation of the unrighteousness of the existing way of life. Thanks to this, the composer was able not only to truthfully show private facts from people’s personal lives, but also to rise to large social generalizations. The personal tragedy of a peasant girl becomes part of the tragedy of the people - oppressed and powerless.

“Rusalka” contains a whole portrait gallery of various images. Each of them is interesting not only in itself, but also as a product of its environment, its time. And therefore, all of them - Natasha, Prince, Miller - are not only specific individuals, but also certain social types.

At the center of the opera are two peasant characters: the Miller and his daughter Natasha. This prompted the composer to fill all the scenes with folk song elements. Arias, ensembles and choirs are intonationally connected not only with folk songs, but also with folk dialect. Some songs are truly folk, although sometimes given with different words, others were composed by Dargomyzhsky himself in a folk manner.

There are two dramatic lines in the opera. The first of them takes up the entire first act. The main characters - Natasha and Melnik - are shown here as part of the environment in which they live. Folk choirs, dances, and individual choral replicas of peasants serve as a musical characteristic of this environment.

They are contrasted with the image of the Prince, depicted by music in the style of urban romances. True, at the beginning the heroine of the opera herself, Natasha, is depicted in the same music. But later her image takes on other features.

The opera “Rusalka” expresses the composer’s bold innovation, deep interest in social problems, as well as the spiritual openness of the music and the great sincerity of human feelings. All this, combined with the subtle psychological and life truthfulness of the characters, makes “Rusalka” one of the most beloved Russian operas.

First staged in 1856 in St. Petersburg, the opera was not a great success. As one might expect, the aristocratic public reacted to “Rusalka” with indifference. Moreover, staged carelessly, hastily, with extreme savings in cost (even the costumes were taken from another play), “The Mermaid” could not help but arouse feelings of annoyance even in the composer himself. After eleven performances, the opera was removed from the repertoire.

Critic A. N. Serov (father of the remarkable artist Valentin Serov) spoke in defense of Dargomyzhsky. In a long article, he not only made a deep analysis of “Rusalka”, but also defended the right of Russian national music to independent existence. Now this sounds strange. But how much energy was needed in its time to assert this indisputable right in the fight against the Russian enemies of Russian culture - and not only music... 14

"THE GOLDEN COCKEREL"
Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Golden Cockerel is based on the plot of Pushkin's fairy tale. In this “fable in the faces,” the composer sought to draw, through music, an evil caricature of the tsarist autocracy. “I hope to disgrace Dadon completely,” was his plan. But not only Dadon, his entire kingdom was put to shame. There are no people here - there are only downtrodden and humiliated masses, which, in addressing the tsar, affirm the purpose of their existence:
We were born for you

And they started a family.

And accompanying him on a hike, they advise:
Take care of yourself,

Stay behind at all times.

But the king, even without this advice, is overly cautious. Sitting on the “war” horse, he asks the boyar: “Is the horse humble?” - and, hearing in response: “Like a cow,” he asserts: “We need this.” Dadon’s ideal in life is extremely simple: “Eat sweets, relax and listen to fairy tales.”

And having gorged himself on delicacies, he asks those close to him:

Try somehow

So that I don't fall asleep while sitting.

Dadon governs the country in a very unique way. So, hearing the word “law”, he is sincerely amazed:
In law? What a word?

I haven't heard such a thing.

My will, my order -

This is the law every time.

His closest entourage also matches the tsar: here is the governor, Polkan, whose musical speech resembles either a quiet growl or a rude dog bark; and the king’s beloved, housekeeper Amelfa; and the sons of Dadon, who, going on a campaign, do not want
...endure adversity

You'll be bored without sweethearts.

All these characters are depicted with expressive, characteristic music.

Here, for example, is the scene of Dadon and the Shemakha queen who captivated him. Their musical portraits are created using certain melodies and rhythms. If the queen's musical speech is full of languid oriental bliss and capricious grace, then the king's speech is primitive and rude. Even declaring his love to the Shemakha queen, he vows to her:

I will love you forever,

I'll try not to forget.

And how will I forget?

You will remind me again.

And all this is sung to the tune of the primitive song “Chizhik-Pizhik.”

Such is King Dadon, such is his kingdom, where lawlessness, thoughtlessness and lack of spirituality rule. 15

"RUSLAN AND LUDMILA"
At the end of the 30s, Glinka was in the prime of his creative powers and enthusiastically created “Ruslan and Lyudmila”.

The composer owns the script for the opera and its main idea - the idea of the power of Rus', its invincibility in the fight against any enemies.

The music of the overture - sunny, jubilantly victorious - introduces listeners into the world of national Russian poetry, creates the very image of Rus', its violent elemental power and majesty. The very first theme of the overture - the opening - combines courageous determination and light flight of melody. The mood of joyful elation, ever growing, leads to a furiously jubilant climax. Following this, the main theme of the overture sounds; in its rapid offensive impulse, it “flies in full sail,” as Glinka puts it. Unbridled joy powerfully captures and subjugates everything. And it is replaced by a melodious lyrical theme - it is sung by the rich voices of the cello.

All these themes will be heard later in the opera: the first two - in the Epilogue, in the chorus of the people; lyrical - in Ruslan's aria; this is the theme of his love for Lyudmila.

Throughout all five acts of “Ruslan and Lyudmila,” colorful, rich pictures of ancient Russian life and fairy-tale fiction change consistently. Most of them are painted in heroic tones. Therefore, the entire opera is permeated with the spirit of love for the motherland, joyful pride in its power, faith in the victory of all that is good and bright over darkness and evil. This is facilitated, first of all, by the fact that the heroes of this “grand magic opera,” as the composer himself called it, are depicted as bright types, endowed with very real human characters.

The opera “Ruslan and Lyudmila” was a new, unprecedented peak for Russian music, and for Glinka it was a source of new, even more painful than before, trials and suffering.

The only joy was that progressive Russian people, the democratically minded artistic intelligentsia, greeted the opera “Ruslana and Lyudmila” with delight. 16
Thus, works of different themes and ideological content (historical drama, fairy tales, lyric poem) became equally accessible to all ages: fairy tales, usually read to children, captivated adults, and children were able to imbue the pathos of serious historical works...

2.4 Music in films

But composers did not limit themselves only to operas and romances. They also wrote music for films, and in particular for films based on the works of A. S. Pushkin...

Sviridov and Pushkin
Throughout his creative life, the composer turned to Pushkin's poetry. The integrity, harmony of Pushkin’s muse, his brilliant prophetic gift, admiration for beauty, intoxication with the joy of life - all this is close to Sviridov. Let us recall that the first creative success during his student years was associated with Pushkin’s poetry. Later, in the 50s, Sviridov worked on the oratorio “Decembrists”, where he used the text of the poem “In the depths of the Siberian ores”. Two decades later, his most famous work appears - “Musical Illustrations” for Pushkin’s story “The Snowstorm”, in which the composer used the music he had previously composed for the film of the same name.

In 1979, Georgy Vasilyevich created the choral concert “Pushkin’s Wreath”. Pushkin’s entire philosophy of life is embodied in this work, the composer’s entire life’s creative experience. Having shown in his previous works the most significant aspects of Russian life, recreating the images of various heroes, Sviridov merges them into one image, whose name is Pushkin. 17

2.5 Folklore is the basis of Pushkin’s works

Where does A. S. Pushkin’s creations have such musicality that allows them to easily fit into music or become the basis of musical works? Like the origins of any art, painting, music, the origin of literature is folklore. Folk art also fed the work of the great poet. He repeatedly turned to the plots of folk tales and legends. But the language of Pushkin’s works is also close to folk speech. Hence the lightness, melodiousness, and musicality.

Pushkin's amazing firstborn - "Ruslan and Ludmila"…

What a sea of fantasy, innocence, and irony! And already here we encounter one of the poet’s favorite techniques - introducing the thread of a song into the poetic fabric. This technique is very characteristic of many of his extended works. These songs, as a rule, carry a significant semantic load, sometimes being the key to revealing the inner content.

Ratmir, the young khan, like other knights, went in search of the missing Lyudmila. But his passion cannot compare with Ruslan’s faithful love. He is attracted by the maiden’s song, quiet, full of bliss and longing.
The darkness of night falls in the field,

It's too late, young traveler!

Take refuge in our delightful tower.

Here at night there is bliss and peace,

And during the day there is noise and feasting.

Come to a friendly calling,

Come, O young traveler!

Here you will find a swarm of beauties,

Their speeches and kisses are tender.

Come to the secret calling,

Come, O young traveler!

We are for you at dawn

Let's fill the cup goodbye.

Come to a peaceful calling,

Come, O young traveler!

The darkness of night falls in the field,

A cold wind rose from the waves.

It's too late, young traveler!

Take refuge in our delightful tower.

What an amazing mastery of form the young Pushkin demonstrates here... How organic is the ring composition of the song, when the last stanza repeats the first. The attractiveness of the content is, as it were, emphasized by different definitions of the word “vocation” - friendly, secret, peaceful. 18
The songs of the mountaineers captivated Pushkin's imagination. We find evidence of this in the poem “Tazit”, and in “Journey to Arzrum”, and even in one of the author’s notes to "Prisoner of the Caucasus": “The happy climate of Georgia does not reward this beautiful country for all the disasters it has always endured. Georgian songs are pleasant and mostly mournful. They glorify the momentary successes of Caucasian weapons, the death of our heroes: Bakunin and Tsitsanov, betrayals, murders - sometimes love and pleasures.”

The magnificent gift of penetration into different national elements allowed Pushkin to create convincing stylizations that were not inferior in their merits to the original sources. Such is the “Circassian Song” from “Prisoner of the Caucasus”. Maintained, like the entire poem, in a romantic spirit, it creates a mood of anxiety and mystery that possesses the main characters of the work. Pushkin also emphasizes the emotional power of the folk song: young maidens sing, “and the hearts of the elders grow younger.” And in the heart of a slave, these sounds intensify the desire to return to his homeland, dreams of escape...

A thunderstorm runs in the river;

There is silence at night in the mountains;

The tired Cossack dozed off,

Leaning on a steel copy.

Don't sleep Cossack: in the darkness of the night

A Chechen walks across the river.
2

A Cossack sails on a shuttle,

Dragging along the bottom of the river network.

Cossack, you will drown in the river,

How little children drown

When swimming in hot weather:

A Chechen walks across the river.
3

On the shore of the treasured waters

Rich villages are blooming;

A cheerful round dance is dancing.

Run, Russian singers,

Hurry up, red ones, go home:

A Chechen walks across the river. 19

Another romantic poem by Pushkin - "Bakhchisarai Fountain". And again the poet includes a song in the poetic canvas, this time Tatar. This “ringing and pleasant” song of the slaves glorifies Zarema and creates some kind of special atmosphere of the khan’s harem, where Girey’s timid wives live in sad silence under the watchful guard of a eunuch. The Tatar song in the general context of the poem has a completely independent meaning, and we can say that with its help Pushkin solves, first of all, coloristic problems. After all, the heroine, forgotten by Girey Zarema, does not listen to praise. The song sounds like a soft lyrical intermezzo with an oriental tint.

Gives heaven to man

Replacement of tears and frequent troubles:

Blessed is the fakir who saw Mecca

In sad old age.
2

Blessed is he who is the glorious bank of the Danube

With his death he will illuminate:

The virgin of paradise meets him

He will fly with a passionate smile.
3

But he is more blessed, O Zarema,

Who, having loved peace and bliss,

Like a rose in the silence of a harem

Cherishes you, my dear. 20
In the poem "Gypsies" Song “interludes” play, perhaps, a particularly significant role. Of course, the first of them can only conditionally be considered a song, and there is no indication of this. Nevertheless, the sharp change in size (a technique usually used by Pushkin during song introductions), and the very structure of the famous fragment “Bird of God” evokes “musical” associations.
God's bird doesn't know

No care, no labor;

Doesn't curl laboriously

Durable nest;

In debt the night slumbers on a branch;

The red sun will rise:

The bird listens to the voice of God,

He perks up and sings.

For spring, the beauty of nature,

The sultry summer will pass -

And fog and bad weather

Late autumn brings:

People are bored, people are sad;

A bird to distant lands,

To a warm land, beyond the blue sea

Flies away until spring.

Unlike the inserted “numbers” of “The Prisoner of the Caucasus” or “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai”, the above lines are tightly connected with the general development of the action, with the structure of the poem as a whole. This is the spiritual mood of the main character, Aleko, this is his attitude to life, when he gives his day “to the will of God” and nothing can confuse his laziness of heart. But the passions only subdued in his soul - a tragedy lies ahead.

The famous “Zemfira’s Song” carries an even greater meaning. Here is the dramatic center of the poem, the first clash between Aleko and Zemfira. Moreover, in this love song the heroine expresses her life credo and asserts her right to freedom of choice. And this causes a protest from Aleko, who, in the end, wants freedom only for himself.

An old husband, a formidable husband,

Cut me, burn me:

I am firm; not afraid

No knife, no fire.

Hate you,

I despise you;

I love someone else

I'm dying in love.

Cut me, burn me;

I won't say anything;

An old husband, a formidable husband,

You won't recognize him.

He's fresher than spring

Hotter than a summer day;

How young and brave he is!

How he loves me!

How I caressed him

I'm in the silence of the night!

How they laughed then

We are your gray hair! 21

"Eugene Onegin"... The third chapter of the novel... Tatyana has already sent a letter to Evgeny. But there is no answer. Finally, they gallop... Tatyana runs, no, she doesn’t run, but flies towards her hero. Gasping, she fell onto the bench, waiting... And then Pushkin (as often happens with him) makes an unexpected modulation. From tension, excitement - to subtle, not without social meaning, irony:
In the garden there are maids on the ridges,

Picking berries in the bushes

And they sang in chorus as ordered

(Order based on

So that the master's berries secretly

Evil lips do not eat,

And they were busy singing:

An idea of rural wit!)

And then - like a respite, like a free sigh - the Song of the Girls. A brilliant compositional technique. The necessity and organic nature of it were clear to Pushkin. But what song should we put in the girls’ mouths? At first, in the draft manuscript, he settled on a kind of rehash of the folk original.
Dunya came out on the road,

By praying to God.

Dunya cries, howls,

Seeing off a friend.

A friend went to a foreign land.

The far side.

Oh, this is a foreign land to me

Bitter sorrow!..

Young ladies in a foreign land,

Red girls

I'm still young

A bitter widow.

Remember me when I was young

Alright, I'm jealous

Remember me in absentia,

Although not on purpose.

It would seem that these lines correspond to the situation, the general mood of the heroine and even upcoming events. However, Pushkin, as always, is looking for an optimal solution. And he comes to the conclusion that there is a need for contrasting paint here, emphasizing the “pause” nature of this episode. He perfectly stylizes a cheerful, carefree folk song. Moreover, he does this so accurately, so naturally, that the collector of folk art Daniil Kashin (1769-1841) calls these poems “Russian folk song.”
Girls, beauties,

Darlings, girlfriends,

Play around girls

Have fun, darlings!

Play a song

The cherished song,

Lure the fellow

To our round dance.

How can we lure the young man?

As we see from afar,

Let's run away, dears,

Let's throw cherries

Cherry, raspberry,

Red currants.

Don't go eavesdropping

Treasured songs,

Don't go peeking

Our games are girls' ones. 22

"Scenes from Knightly Times"- this is the only drama by Pushkin written in prose. But here, too, the poet does not part with his favorite method of introducing song episodes into action. In this case, however, they are practically not tied to the development of the plot intrigue, although they are quite organically included in the overall dramatic fabric.

The songs in these scenes are extremely different in genre, in their mood and character. A short labor song is put into the mouths of mowers, and although the scene of action lies far beyond the borders of Russia, the poems are permeated with truly Russian daring and scope.

A scythe walks in the field,

Green stripe

He lies down after her.

Oh, go, my braid.

The heart is happy.
The basis of each scene of “The Mermaid”, the structure of the entire play is musical. The whole drama is permeated with folk song elements. Here is a wedding in the prince's palace. Among others, the real “opera character” is the girls’ choir. Pushkin recorded their wedding song in Mikhailovsky.
Matchmaker, matchmaker,

Clueless matchmaker,

We were driving along the bride,

We went to the garden,

A barrel of beer was spilled

All the cabbage was watered,

They bowed to Tyn,

More faithfully they prayed:

Vereya, vereyushka,

Show me the path

Go for the bride.

Matchmaker, guess what?

Take care of the scrotum

The money is moving in the purse,

He strives for red girls.
It's an earthy, mocking song. Pushkin recreates the exact coloring of the wedding ceremony. But during the ritual, the voice of an invisible mermaid breaks into the ceremony. She sings another song, reminding the prince of the abandoned miller's wife. This disturbing song is not good...
Over the pebbles, over the yellow sand

A fast river ran by,

Two fish are walking in a fast river,

Two fish, two small fish,

Have you heard, sister fish,
About our news, about the river ones?

Like in the evening our beautiful maiden drowned herself,

Drowning, dear cursed her friend.
Another scene, containing choral episodes, takes us to the Dnieper expanses. The songs of mermaids whimsically combine fantastic motifs and some kind of almost everyday reality. Here is one of them:
Cheerful crowd

From the deep bottom

We emerge at night

The moon warms us.

Sometimes we love it at night

Leave the river bottom,

Lubo with a free head

Cut the river heights,

The air is loud and irritating,

And green, wet hair

Dry in it and shake off. 23

Thus, after analyzing the lyrics and prose of A. S. Pushkin, we can conclude that his works are based on oral folk art. The poet’s talent did not arise on its own, but absorbed all the best that was in folklore: colloquial speech, vivid epithets, images of nature, refrains... All this allows us to talk about the folk origins of Pushkin’s poetry. Fairy tales of Arina Rodionovna Yakovleva, songs of Boldino peasants, legends of the peoples of the Caucasus - this is what Pushkin’s work was built on. The poet loved his homeland so much that his speech is close to folk and his poems are often difficult to distinguish from Russian songs...

3. Conclusion

... Pushkin's poetry for all times. Each generation sees itself in it as in a mirror. Pushkin is infinitely diverse in both genres and style, but in any work he is deeply insightful. Pushkin's crystal is multifaceted, and all facets of his talent sparkle dazzlingly bright. His muse clearly responds to all the impulses of the human heart. Just as the concepts of honor and conscience, goodness and love, shame and mercy are eternal, so Pushkin’s poetry is eternal, truthfully revealing these concepts. That is why it was, is and will be easy for composers of all times to draw from the huge golden cup of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin.

4.References

L. S. Tretyakova, Russian music of the 19th century, M.: Education, 1982.
L. Gafonova, G. Sementsova, Don’t go, stay with me...: Russian Romances, M.: Profizdat, 1996.
L. G. Grigoriev, Y. M. Platek, Calendar “In the World of Music”, Soviet composer, 1974.
18 L. G. Grigoriev, Y. M. Platek, Calendar “In the World of Music”, Soviet Composer, 1974, p. 50.

19 L. G. Grigoriev, Y. M. Platek, Calendar “In the World of Music”, Soviet Composer, 1974, p. 63.

20 L. G. Grigoriev, Y. M. Platek, Calendar “In the World of Music”, Soviet Composer, 1974, p. 74.

21 L. G. Grigoriev, Y. M. Platek, Calendar “In the World of Music”, Soviet Composer, 1974, p. 83.

22 L. G. Grigoriev, Y. M. Platek, Calendar “In the World of Music”, Soviet Composer, 1974, p. 87.

23 L. G. Grigoriev, Y. M. Platek, Calendar “In the World of Music”, Soviet Composer, 1974, p.91.