Friendship of Well-known and Undeservedly Forgotten Masters in Late 19th and Early 20th Century Russian Piano Music. The Life and Work of Medtner, Rachmaninoff, and Scriabin

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-132
Author(s):  
Eszter Szabó
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Common Element ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Musical Language ◽  
Professional Musicians ◽  
Russian Music ◽  
Life Paths ◽  
Musical Traditions ◽  
Russian Composers

"In this study, I explore the life and work of three outstanding pianists and composers in the late 19th and early 20th century: Medtner, Rachmaninoff, and Scriabin, who were not only contemporaries and colleagues but also supportive friends to each other. All three were largely influenced by their years at the Moscow Conservatory, where they became prominent pianists and first showed promise as composers. They received similar impulses and could learn from the same teachers. As a defining common element in their lives, they explored and strived to combine Russian musical traditions and Western classical music. At the same time, their different personalities are apparent from their music, so despite their common roots, their individual musical language is unmistakable. Even at the beginning of their careers, it was clear that despite the commonalities, their lives and careers took a different direction. All three tried their luck abroad, but only Scriabin returned home for the rest of his short life. In addition to their distinct life paths and musical language, their recognition is quite different. Scriabin’s name sounds familiar to many, but he does not belong to the most popular composers of our time. Rachmaninoff’s widespread popularity can be observed among professional musicians as well as the public. In contrast, it is not impossible to meet a professional for whom Medtner’s music is unknown. This is not necessarily explained by disparities in talent and abilities but rather by differences in circumstances, opportunities, and personalities. In this study, I attempt to shed light on the reasons for the three composers’ contrasting popularity from the perspective of their life and work. Keywords: Russian composers, Russian music, Late 19th, and early 20th century, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Medtner "

Tonality

Music ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Christensen
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Musical Language ◽  
Evolutionary Models ◽  
Tonal Music ◽  
Pitch Organization ◽  
Musical Discourse ◽  
Diatonic Scale ◽  
Hybrid Forms

Tonality is a ubiquitous term in musical discourse as indispensable as it is obfuscating. Typically, the term tonality (and more generally, “tonal music”) references the pitch-centric “common-practice” language of the transposable major and minor key system within which most classical music has been composed in the West from at least the mid-17th century through the early 20th century. Many theorists have highlighted certain empirical features of melody or harmony as being particularly characteristic or even essential to the tonal system (e.g., the content and structure of the diatonic scale, hierarchies of scale degrees and chord functions, or the cadence in defining or stabilizing tonal centers). At the same time, many theorists have emphasized the psychological power of tonal music for evoking strong affective responses from listeners by arousing strong expectations of tonal behavior that may be realized, delayed, or even thwarted. Clearly, then, any study of tonality needs to take into account the varying and often conflicting ways the concept is understood and used by given writers. But the concept of tonality has also been useful to musicologists for constructing evolutionary models of musical development while also describing—and contrasting—other musical styles and historical languages of music that do not always follow the norms of Western “common-practice” music. Particularly important in this regard is the chromatic language of many late-19th- and early-20th-century composers that is thought to have extended, deviated from, or even negated normative tonal syntax. Here Wagner’s use of chromaticism and extended modulation is usually cited as the progenitor of this process, one that is seen by many of these same observers to have led in the 20th century to the gradual dissolution of classical tonality in favor of a non-hierarchic kind of pitch organization, termed by neologisms such as “suspended tonality,” “post-tonality,” and perhaps most conventionally, “atonality.” Of course, tonality did not pass away; it continued to thrive as a common musical language through the 20th century, particularly in popular music idioms, even as it evolved into numerous dialects and hybrid forms within our globalized and digitalized musical marketplace. Yet the persistence of this myth of tonal evolution and devolution in Western histories of music suggests how high the stakes are in defining the content and perimeters of tonality. Tonality seems to be simultaneously an object and an ideal that continues to exert unparalleled influence—and not a little anxiety—to this day.

Educational and Methodical Literature for the Clavier and Piano in the History of Russian Music Publishing of the Second Half of the 18th — Early 20th Century

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 657-668
Author(s):  
Olga V. Radzetskaya
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Piano Performance ◽  
Music Publishing ◽  
Russian Music ◽  
Russian State ◽  
History Of ◽  
Music Publishers ◽  
Production Output ◽  
State Library

The Russian piano school is a unique phenomenon in the global cultural space, a multifaceted and creative phenomenon, a source of creative insights and vivid interpretations. The history of Russian piano performance is deeply and comprehensively studied and is characterized by a wide semantic range. A special place in it is occupied by educational and methodical literature produced by major music publishers in Moscow and St. Petersburg during their formation and development.The appeal to this topic is connected with the need to create a primary idea of the activities of music publishers for the production of educational materials in the historical dynamics and perspective. This complex process can be perceived as a synthesis of European traditions and Russian experience — a multidimensional multifunctional landscape of the era, illustrative reflection of important events in the cultural life of the country.The specificity of the problem has an impressive demonstration volume. It includes the strategy and tactics of development of Russian music publishing companies, production of educational and scientific-methodical literature by Russian and foreign authors, stages in the development of piano art, increase in the production output, achievements of the Russian piano school and its unique pedagogical experience.“P. Jurgenson” company’s catalogues, stored in the Russian State library, reflect the trends and directions that were dominant in the educational literature for piano. They include well-established, tested methods of piano playing, collections of exercises, and anthologies that enriched the pedagogical repertoire with compositions to develop of the technical base of students and expand the arsenal of its expressive means. The study aims at a primary classification of “P. Jurgenson” publishing house’s educational resources recorded in its catalogues of the late 19th — early 20th century.

scholarly journals A sick genius? The critical reception of Alexei Stanchinsky

Muzikologija ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 19-33
Author(s):  
Akvilė Stuart
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Critical Reception ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Archival Research ◽  
Russian Music ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Critical Reviews

This article examines the critical reception of the Russian composer Alexei Stanchinsky (1888-1914). It focuses on the critical reviews published in Russian newspapers and musical periodicals during Stanchinsky?s lifetime. Its findings are a result of original archival research conducted in Moscow in 2019. This study shows that Stanchinsky?s work received a more mixed reception during his lifetime than previously claimed. As such, it provides a more nuanced insight into Stanchinsky?s reception, as well as the views and prejudices of early 20th century Russian music critics.

scholarly journals To the Issue of the Genre Evolution: Passacaglia in the Works of Russian Composers of the Second Half of the 20th Century

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Г.В. Абдуллина
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Musical Language ◽  
New Type ◽  
Instrumental Works ◽  
Russian Composers

В статье рассматриваются инструментальные сочинения отечественных композиторов второй половины XХ начала XXI века, написанные в жанрах пассакалии и чаконы. Эволюция музыкального языка отражается на их образноэмоциональном содержании, музыкальном материале и формообразовании, что проявляется в новом типе тематизма, способах его развития и в соединении классических структур с элементами современного композиторского мышления. Традиционные жанры, в которых форма в большой степени становится зависимой от драматургии и техник письма, претерпевают существенные изменения. The article considers the instrumental works by Russian composers of the second half of the 20th beginning of the 21st century, written in the genres of passacaglia and chaconne. The evolution of the musical language at the end of the 20th century has been reflected in their emotional contents, musical material and shaping, which is manifested in a new type of its themes, the ways of its development and the combination of classic structures with new elements of modern composer thinking. Traditional genres, in which form becomes heavily dependent on dramaturgy and writing techniques undergo significant changes.

scholarly journals Preludes and Fugues op. 82 by Nikolai Kapustin

2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-147
Author(s):  
Ēvalds Daugulis
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Jazz Music ◽  
Preludes And Fugues ◽  
Prelude And Fugue ◽  
Nikolai Kapustin ◽  
The Way

The early 20th century witnessed growing interest in the Baroque polyphony genres: prelude and fugue in jazz. Preludes and fugues op. 82 (1997) by the Russian composer Nikolai Kapustin are particularly interesting. The way he integrates the expression of classical music and the specificity of jazz music is very original.

Jazz and Jazz Theory

2021 ◽  
pp. 228-309
Author(s):  
Stuart Smith
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Cutting Edge ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Central Theme ◽  
The World ◽  
The Common ◽  
Jazz Theory

The question “what is jazz?” has been asked regularly since the origins of this music in the early 20th century. Over this time, jazz has undergone many changes, but certain characteristics—such as a particular kind of syncopated rhythm, improvisation, and tonal harmony—have remained more or less constant. The central theme of this chapter is that these constant features constitute a common jazz practice analogous the common practice that underlay European art (“classical”) music from the mid-18th century to the end of 19th century. While the common practice in jazz is no longer at the creative cutting edge, the tradition it represents is alive and well. All of the major styles within this tradition are still performed by skilled jazz artists around the world. Jazz Theory follows.

“BROTHER BUNNY“ OPERA FOR CHILDREN BY FATTAH: GENRE AND COMPOSITION FEATURES

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-139
Author(s):  
R. V. Chistyakov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Children And Youth ◽  
Musical Language ◽  
Sergei Prokofiev ◽  
Professional Musicians ◽  
Socialist Republic ◽  
Soviet Socialist Republic ◽  
Russian Music ◽  
Children's Opera ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
Soviet Music

Azon Nurtynovich Fattah (1922–2013), an outstanding composer, pianist, Honored Artist of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, is known among professional musicians primarily for the charm of his songwriting. Yet his music is little known to modern audience. The peak of composer's popularity came in the 1960–70s, when his songs were performed, for example, by Joseph Kobzon and Lev Leshchenko, Maya Kristalinskaya, Gelena Velikanova and Elena Kamburova. Fattah's works include a significant number of chamber-instrumental compositions and plays for orchestras by Yu. V. Silantyev, B. P. Karamyshev, V. V. Meshcherin, several musical comedies, the most famous of which was “Winged” (on the libretto of the wonderful children's poet V. I. Viktorov). The composer also created three operas, among which — the children's opera “Brother Bunny”. The interest of the widest audience in Fattah music at that time was initiated by the composer's film works, namely, music for tapes for children and youth: “The Tale of the Boy-Kibalchish”, “Scuba Diving at the Bottom”, “Young from the Schooner Columbus”. The audience especially remembered the songs that became real hits: “There Was a Stormy Time”, “How Can We Live Without the Sea”, “Song of Cycling Tourists”. Thus, the children's theme occupies one of the central positions in the composer's heritage. It is important that “Brother Bunny” opera stands out among the composer’s opera works by genre type and performing composition and continues the line of Soviet music compositions for the youngest ones, begun by Sergei Prokofiev. “Brother Bunny” is not only an opera for children (figuratively and subjectively accessible to the younger audience of listeners), it is intended for execution by children themselves, which determines the features of its structure, the composition of the participants and some characteristic features of the musical language. This article is an attempt to analyze this opus from the perspective of style guidelines and musical language in the context of Russian music traditions.

scholarly journals http://inion.ru/site/assets/files/6134/integratciia-i-assimiliatciia-muzykalnykh-komponentov-dzhazovoi-i-akademicheskoi-muzyki.pdf

2021 ◽  
pp. 79-89
Author(s):  
Valeriy Bukreev
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
The United States ◽  
Basic Material ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Musical Language ◽  
The South ◽  
Musical Style ◽  
Musical Genres ◽  
Almost All

The article examines the evolution of thinking of American and European composers of the early 20th century, the expansion of their musical horizons in connection with the birth and emergence of Early Jazz, a new rhythmic music in the South of the United States. Almost all famous composers of the beginning of the century, to one degree or another, turned to jazz, each in his own way refracting new rhythms and harmonies in their work. In this process, the initial, basic material was professional composer compositions, and jazz contributed to assimilation. The article examines experiments of interest from the perspective of fusion of musical genres, synthesis of elements of the musical language, which later anticipated the birth of the unique musical style «Fusion».

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