Great Soviet Encyclopedia - program music. Methodological development in music on the topic: The principle of programming in the art of music
How do you think Tchaikovsky’s piano concerto differs from his symphonic fantasy “Francesca da Rimini”? Of course, you will say that in the concert the piano is the soloist, but in the fantasy it is not there at all.
Maybe you already know that a concert is a multi-part work, as musicians say, cyclical, but in fantasy there is only one part. But this is not what interests us now. Are you listening to piano or violin concerto, a Mozart symphony or a Beethoven sonata. While enjoying beautiful music, you can follow its development, how different musical themes replace one another, how they change and develop. Or you can reproduce in your imagination some pictures, images that evoke sounding music. At the same time, your fantasies will probably differ from what another person imagines when listening to music with you.
Of course, it doesn’t happen that the sound of music sounds like the sound of battle to you, or a gentle lullaby to someone else. But stormy, menacing music can evoke associations with the rampant elements, and with the storm of feelings in the human soul, and with the menacing roar of battle...
And in "Francesca da Rimini" Tchaikovsky indicated by the very title exactly what his music depicts: one of the episodes " Divine Comedy"Dante. This episode tells how the souls of sinners rush among the hellish whirlwinds, in the underworld. Dante, who descended into hell, accompanied by the shadow of the ancient Roman poet Virgil, meets among these whirlwind souls the beautiful Francesca, who tells him the sad story of her unhappy love The music of the extreme sections of Tchaikovsky's fantasy depicts hellish whirlwinds, the middle section of the work is Francesca's woeful story.
There are many musical works in which the composer, in one form or another, explains their content to listeners. Thus, Tchaikovsky called his first symphony “Winter Dreams”. He prefaced its first part with the title “Dreams on a Winter Road”, and the second - “Gloomy Land, Foggy Land”.
P. I. Tchaikovsky. Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Op. 13. "Winter Dreams".
Part 1. "Dreams on a winter road"
P. I. Tchaikovsky. Symphony No. 1 G-mol, op.13. "Winter Dreams"
Part 2. "Gloomy land, foggy land"
Berlioz, in addition to the subtitle “An Episode from the Life of an Artist,” which he gave to his Symphony Fantastique, also outlined in great detail the content of each of its five movements. This presentation is reminiscent of a romantic novel in nature.
Both “Francesca da Rimini”, Tchaikovsky’s “Winter Dreams” symphony, and Berlioz’s Symphony Fantastique are examples of so-called program music.
You probably already understood that program music is such instrumental music, which is based on a “program”, that is, some very specific plot or image. Programs come in different types. Sometimes the composer retells in detail the content of each episode of his work. This is what, for example, Rimsky-Korsakov did in his symphonic film “Sadko” or Lyadov in “Kikimora”.
It happens that, turning to widely known literary works, the composer considers it sufficient only to indicate this literary
MBU DO "Simferopol District Children's Art School"
Kolchugino branch
Report
on the topic of: "Programming and musical form in modern music»
Performed by: accompanist
Firsova Natalia Alexandrovna
2016
Programming and musical form in modern music
Programming in the works of classical composers
The essence of the program concept, which fundamentally distinguishes it from the concept of a non-program instrumental work, lies in the composer’s desire to embody some underlying phenomena outside of music, to give an idea of them as extra-musical objective data. Along with images of nature, historical events, and literary subjects, this includes the conceptual sphere. In the mind of the composer, all such objects acquire sufficient definition and can be verbally designated. Hence the role of verbally recorded plans, all kinds of “program” notes, messages in letters about what will be “depicted” in music - right up to the development of a detailed script.
Both the composer’s plan and the ways of its implementation are moving, changeable, difficult to predict phenomena, and even not at all amenable to strict scientific analysis.
Otherwise, the program idea is subject to the laws of musical design in general. That, in turn, is associated with patterns artistic design, different from scientific, technical, etc. .
The difficulties in studying the composer's creative process are obvious. If for a writer a word that is clear in its meaning is the material of creativity, then the meaning of the sounds, that is, the corresponding musical notations that appear in the composer’s sketches, must be deciphered, which does not always promise success. The more important all the verbal notes and remarks become, which are sometimes found in musical preparatory materials, the more important the composer’s statements about his work (in letters, conversations, memoirs, etc.) acquire.
At one time, R. Gruber strongly emphasized the importance of such “self-expressions” for studying the work of composers, especially for penetrating into the psychology of creativity. Of course Various types musical works imply a far from identical approach to the organization of preparatory materials on the part of the composer: at one pole are scenic, first of all, opera works, which, due to their proximity to both theater and literature, provide the researcher with rich evidence of the composer’s intentions (script, libretto, nature of situations, requirements for performing artists, scenery, etc.); at the other pole are works of pure instrumentalism, the creation of which is rarely accompanied by verbal indications of intentions. Program music occupies an intermediate position in this regard, since extra-musical aspects of content usually require their preliminary formulation during the period of composing music.
Moreover, the history of program symphony knows the most interesting cases when music arose on the basis of a program that was created by the composer’s contemporaries, who acted as librettists of symphonic music (A. Daudet’s program for “Alsatian Scenes” by Jules Massenet). Such a role in the programmatic symphonic work of P. Tchaikovsky was played by V. Stasov (“The Tempest”) and M. Balakirev (“Romeo and Juliet”, “Manfred”). Let us recall that the script for “Manfred” was originally intended for G. Berlioz and took into account the peculiarities of the latter’s programmatic creativity. However, in the creative process of most program music composers, only general outlines program content, recorded as a preliminary plan (listing of main points, their sequence). In other cases, there is no plan as such, but the most important musical images accompanied by program-specific remarks.
The word may not be in the text, but also in the subtext. Inscribed or not inscribed in the score, it can form a parallel series, connected or not related to the music - in any case, without affecting its intonation or rhythmic structure.
It should be recognized that literary criticism has indeed accumulated and theoretically comprehended rich material concerning the artist’s creative process. But literary scholars were helped not only by the very essence of literature as the art of words, but also by individual writers who willingly engaged in introspection in this area (Edgar Allan Poe’s “Philosophy of Creativity” stands out here. Composers in this regard were much more stingy with explanations.
In general terms creative process The composer is characterized by the composer d'Andy in his book about Cesar Franck, and the author's conclusions are based not so much on introspection as on observations of the teacher's work for about 20 years. In working on a work, d'Andy distinguishes three stages: concept, disposition and execution. The concept distinguishes between a synthetic and an analytical side.The first in the work of a symphonist presupposes, according to d'Indy, the general plan of the composition and the distribution of the main lines of development, the second is associated with the development of specific musical ideas, which are artistic realization the most important points general plan. The author emphasizes the interdependence of both sides of the concept (specific musical ideas can adjust the plan, the latter, in turn, can dictate the choice of new musical images to replace the ones that originally emerged). The disposition stage is associated with development - based on all previous essential elements complete structure musical piece, down to the details. The performance, including instrumentation (and obviously all performance instructions), culminates in the creation of the notated text of the completed musical work
The novelty of the content of music of the 19th century and the versatility of the problems prompted composers of the 19th century century towards the renewal of all means of musical language and expressiveness in general. Romantic inspiration and realistic tendencies of musical art, strengthening connections with poetry, philosophy and the fine arts, a new attitude towards nature, an appeal to national and historical flavor, increased emotionality and colorfulness, an attraction to the characteristic and overcoming old traditions by searching for new ones - all this led to enrichment in the 19th century musical speech, genres, forms, techniques of drama.
In the era of romanticism, which replaced Bach's baroque and Mozart's classicism, the constructive essence and noble spirit of the old masters disappeared. Forms are discarded, and the artist’s soul, eager to be heard, rejoices and trembles in the sounds - this music has become self-expression. Each era, direction, style, and work of various composers is characterized by certain features of musical speech.
Program music and opera genre demanded a special expression of the psychological principle, a new type creative thinking. The lyricism of miniatures, the philosophical generality of the symphony, sound visualization, and the confession of the soul in the “vocal diaries” gave birth to a new imagery. The artistic worldview of 19th century composers gave rise to the silhouettes of new structures of musical forms. Throughout the century, they were continuously updated. In the romance genre, end-to-end development arose, thanks to the cyclical repetition of couplets. The songfulness of vocal lyrics penetrated into instrumental music. The skill of varying an image, motive or rhythmic-harmonic formula associated with it came to the fore. The most striking examples in foreign music the “tristan chord” from R. Wagner’s operas “Tristan and Isolde” and the “question motif” from Schumann’s romance “Why,” the “Glory” motif from Glinka’s “A Life for the Tsar” will remain in Russian music, etc. These and similar elements have become independent, iconic or “household names” in the romantic music of the 19th century, and even in modern times.
Composers successfully used the formative role of the program in instrumental music - it eliminated the vagueness of showing an idea and concentrated the action. The symphony began to approach opera, because vocal and choral scenes were introduced into it, as in “Romeo and Juliet” by G. Berlioz. The number of parts in the symphony either increased sharply, or, thanks to the program, it turned into a one-movement symphonic poem. End-to-end development musical material implied a change in the appearance of the topic, and often its meaning, a transformation of the genre of the topic. Often, in order to maximize the concentration of content in musical form, a certain theme was chosen as the main melody, which undergoes some changes throughout the poem. This phenomenon is called monothematism. In the arsenal of means of musical and artistic expression, it marked new stage in the history of music of the 19th century. The creation of images of different nature based on one theme, internally connecting all sections of the form, contributed to the flexible development of the plot and musical idea. This is how the genre of symphonic poem, one-movement sonata and one-movement concert arose.
The most important technique of the romantics’ compositional technique was variation. Variations as an independent part began to be included in larger compositions since J. Haydn and his contemporaries (Mozart’s sonata with “ Turkish Rondo"or part of L. van Beethoven's sonata with the "funeral march for the death of a hero"). Variation invades the sonata and quartet, symphony and overture as a principle of development and as a genre, penetrating all genres and forms of music, right down to rhapsodies and transcriptions. Variation increased the intensity of development or introduced an element of staticity, weakened the dramatic tension, as R. Schumann spoke of “divine lengths” in the symphonies of F. Schubert. Logical certainty and clarity were brought to any genre with end-to-end dramaturgy by programming, which brings music closer to literature and fine arts, increasing concrete imagery and psychological expressiveness.
The software is designed to specify author's intention- this is how F. List defined its task in 1837. He predicted a great future for her in the field of symphonic creativity in an article from the early 1850s, “G. Berlioz and his “Harold Symphony.” F. Liszt was afraid that the explanation should not go too far, debunking the secrets of the content of art.
The principle of programming manifests itself in very many ways - in types, types, forms. There are several types of programming - picture, sequential plot and generalized. The picture is a complex of images of reality that does not change throughout the entire process of perception; it is static and intended for certain types of musical portraits, for pictures of nature. Generalized programming characterizes the main images and the general direction of plot development, the outcome and outcome of the relationship between the acting forces of the conflict. It only connects literary and musical works through the program. Sequential programming is more detailed, because it closely retells the plot step by step, outlining events in direct sequence. This is a more complex type in its virtuosity and ability to comment on events / taking into account the advice of Franz Liszt /.
F. Liszt was replaced by the German “programmer” R. Schumann. F. Liszt wrote about him that he “achieved the greatest miracle, he is able to evoke in us with his music the very impressions that would give rise to the very object, whose image is refreshed in our memory thanks to the title of the play.” His series of piano miniatures are a kind of “musical notebooks” where Schumann wrote down everything that he observed in nature or that he experienced and reflected on while reading poetry and prose, enjoying monuments of art. This is how the "Rhine" Symphony with views of Cologne Cathedral and piano cycle"Carnival" based on materials from his own articles, memoirs and Jean Paul's novel "The Mischievous Years", "Kreisleriana" - fantasies according to Hoffmann...
“Music has access to all the richness and variety of real life impressions,” said R. Schumann, and the plays that made up “Album Leaves”, “Novelettes”, “Ballroom Scenes”, “ Oriental paintings", "Album for Youth" by R. Schumann, when he wrote down sketches in his musical "notebook", he was worried about the specific idea expressed in the title. But sometimes he hid his plan under the general name of the genre, under a mysterious half-hint-epigraph, the code “Sphinxes” in “Carnival”, giving a decoding by translation with Latin letters notes of the name “Schumann” and the city “Ash”, where the beloved lived young composer. Being a staunch supporter of programming, R. Schumann sometimes refused to declare the program according to which the work was written. He was afraid to narrow the content and range of associations. Following R. Schumann, the search for programming in music was continued by J. Bizet, B. Smetana and A. Dvorak, E. Grieg and others.
With the development of program principles, certain changes occurred in the field of musical forms. G. Berlioz combined opera, ballet and symphony (the synthetic genre was called “dramatic legend” and the best one an example is his “Damnation of Faust”), introduced elements of an opera performance into the symphony and the synthetic piece “Romeo and Juliet” was born. M. Glinka wrote the first opera in Russia without traditional inserted spoken dialogues, “A Life for the Tsar, or Ivan Susanin,” and the first national epic opera, “Ruslan and Lyudmila,” using in both cases new to Russian musical theater techniques of operatic dramaturgy aimed at a close connection between characters, ideas and situations. This connection was carried out at the level of musical thematics. A decade later, the reform of operatic dramaturgy, composition and the role of the orchestra was carried out in the West by P. Bagner. He, like M. Glinka, brought development methods from the symphony - symphonism - to the genre of opera - like Berlioz. But R. Wagner, unlike G. Berlioz, managed to solve several problems at once. Programming is inherent exclusively in “absolute” or “pure” music - instrumental. Among the French harpsichordists of the 18th century - F. Couperin or L.-F. Rameau - the pieces had program titles "Knitters", "Little Windmills" by F. Couperin, "Roll Call of Birds" by L. Rameau, "Cuckoo" by Louis Daquin, "Pipes" J. Dandrieu, etc.
In 1700, Johann Kuhnau published six keyboard sonatas under the general title “Musical representation of several biblical stories.” IN orchestral music Antonio Vivaldi introduced programming by composing four string concertos “The Four Seasons”. I.-S. Bach wrote “Capriccio on the Departure of a Beloved Brother” for the clavier. Joseph Haydn also left many symphonies under the short headings “Morning”, “Noon”, “Evening”, “Hours”, “Farewell”, and his contemporary W.A. Mozart, unlike him, avoided giving instrumental works titles. The work of L. van Beethoven was a milestone in the development of software. He almost did not decipher the content of his works under rare headings, and only thanks to diaries, biographers and musicologists we know that symphony No. 3 was first dedicated to Consul Bonaparte, and then, after the coronation, it was called “Heroic”; piano sonata No. 24 is called “Appasionata”, N 8 – “Pathetique”, N 21 “Aurora”, N 26 – “Farewell, separation and return”, etc. The content of symphony No. 6 “Pastoral” is more specifically defined - each part has its own title: “Awakening joyful feelings upon arrival in the village”, “Scene by the stream”, “Merry gathering of villagers”, “Storm”, “Singing of the shepherds. Joyful, grateful feelings after a thunderstorm.” This is how L. van Beethoven prepared a program symphony of the 19th century. He composed an overture for the opera Fidelio, giving it the name of the main character of the opera Leonora. Soon two more versions of the overture appeared - “Leonora No. 2” and “Leonora No. 3”. They were also intended for concert performance. Thus, the overture became an independent genre that would become commonplace in the works of the romantics. D. Rossini composed a similar type of overture for the opera "William Tell" - he did not give it a title, but the plot in it is extremely clear. The same is true for “The Wanderer” by F. Schubert - piano fantasy.
In the work of F. Chopin, the role of program ideas was quite large, but no matter how complex the program of individual instrumental pieces was, F. Chopin kept it a secret, giving neither names nor poetic epigraphs. He limited himself only to the designation of the genre - ballad, polonaise, etude and preferred a hidden type of programmaticity. Although at the same time he pointed out that “a well-chosen name enhances the impact of the music” and the listener then, without fear, plunges into a sea of associations, without distorting the nature of the thing. In his articles and letters F. Chopin repeatedly spoke out against excessive detail - “music should not be a translator or a servant.” In his unfinished work, F. Chopin wrote about the expression of thought through sounds, a word that has not been formed definitely and finally is sound... a thought expressed by sounds... An emotion is expressed by sound, then by word - F. Chopin and G. Flaubert understood this, judging by the scene of the martyrdom of Mato and the orgy of the crowd in "Salambo".
F. Chopin brought the literary ballad closer to instrumental music, being strongly impressed by the poetic talent of his compatriot Adam Mickiewicz. Romantic type ballads with a pronounced patriotic beginning were especially close and in tune with F. Chopin the emigrant. It is known that F. Chopin created his ballads for piano following his meeting with A. Mickiewicz and his acquaintance with his poetry. But it is almost impossible to clearly and unambiguously identify any of the composer’s 4 ballads with one or another balladA. Mickiewicz. There are a number of versions regarding the relationship between the plots of Ballad No. 1 in G minor opus 23 with “Conrad Wallenrod”, Ballad No. 2 in F major opus 38 with “Svitezianka”, Ballad No. 3 in A-flat major opus 47 with either “Svitezianka” by A. Mickiewicz , or with “Lorelei” by G. Heine. All this hypotheticalness already speaks of how free the music of Chopin's ballads is from specific programmatic and literary associations. From F. Chopin’s conversation with A. Mickiewicz it is known that the first two ballads definitely arose under the impression of the works of A. Mickiewicz. It is also not without interest that the outstanding pianist, writer and even more talented graphic artist Aubrey Beardsley, in his drawing “Chopin’s Third Ballad,” depicted a girl galloping on a horse through the forest and accompanied this drawing with a line of music, outlining the motive of the second theme of the ballad. And this is an image from “Svitezyanka”.
Unlike F. Chopin, who preferred a hidden program, F. Mendelssohn, at least in the symphonic genre, clearly gravitated towards the picture type, as evidenced by his overtures “Dream in summer night", "Fingal's Cave, or the Hebrides", "Sea Silence and Happy Sailing" and two symphonies - Italian and Scottish. He was also the creator of the first romantic concert program overture in the history of music (1825).
The name of G. Berlioz is associated with the appearance of the first romantic program symphony in 1830, “Fantastic”. His works raised French music to the level of advanced literature of its time, and specifically the latest, modern literature. D. Byron, Alfred Musset, F. Chateaubriand, V. Hugo, George Sand and W. Shakespeare rediscovered by the romantics... But G. Berlioz often has laws musical form took over literary elements. His programs were distinguished by definiteness and often verbal detail, as in “Fantastic”. He gravitated towards a naturalistic understanding of programming, not limiting himself to the titles of the whole and parts, but also prefacing each part with a detailed annotation, thus outlining the content of his own invented plot. But the music almost never slavishly followed the details of the fictional plot. The second main feature of his work is theatricalization with all its techniques.
The plot of “Fantastique” is complex - it includes demonic scenes from Goethe’s “Faust”, the image of Octave from “Confession of a Son of the Century” by A. de Musset, the poem by V. Hugo “The Sabbath of Witches” and the plot of “Dreams of an Opium Smoker” by De Quincey, images of Chateaubriand and Georges Sandov's novels and, first of all, autobiographical features...
The subtitle of “Fantastic” read: “An episode from the life of an artist.” The music aesthetically elevated the extravagances of the “exalted musician”, plunged into an opium dream, and the narrative consistently develops from the languor of the introduction through the dreams and passions of the waltz and pastoral to a fantastic, darkly deafening march and to a wild devilish pandemonium. The musical core of this dramatic chain is the so-called. “obsession”, developing and transforming in all 6 parts.
Plot narrative-dramatic symphonism is represented in the works of G. Berlioz by three other symphonies - “Romeo and Juliet” symphony-drama, “Harold in Italy” and partly the Funeral-Triumphal Symphony. All development is subordinated to the plot plot.
The banner of programming passed from F. Chopin and G. Berlioz to F. Liszt. He preferred a different type of symphonism - problem-psychological, presupposing the maximum generalization of ideas. The composer wrote that it is much more important to show how the hero thinks than what his actions are. Therefore, in many of his symphonic poems, philosophical abstraction, a concentrate of ideas and emotions, as in the Faust Symphony, comes to the fore. The main task In terms of programming, F. Liszt was updating music through its internal connection with poetry. Due to the declaration of philosophical ideas, F. List introduced the declared program, wanting to avoid arbitrary interpretation of the idea. F. Liszt believed that poetry and music came from the same root and they needed to be united again. F. List called special programs for poems “spiritual sketches”: a poem by V. Hugo - for the poem “What is Heard on the Mountain”, from the tragedy of I. Goethe - for “Torquato Tasso”, a poem by A. Lamartine - for “Preludes”, fragments from scenes by I. Herder - to "Prometheus", and F. Schiller's poem "Worship of the Arts" - to the poem "Festive Sounds". The author's intention is more specifically presented in the poem "Ideals", where each section is accompanied by a quote from F. Schiller. Sometimes the program was compiled not by the composer himself, but by his friends and relatives Caroline von Wittgenstein - for “Lament for Heroes”, but some programs generally appeared after the composition of the music: thus, A. Lamartine’s text replaced F. Liszt’s original poem by Autran “The Four Elements in “Preludes” .Program music is special cultural phenomenon. It contains a unique synthesis of forms of spiritual culture and various types arts - music on the one hand, literature, architecture, painting on the other.
PROGRAM MUSIC . What do you think is different about a piano concerto?
Tchaikovsky from his own symphonic fantasy “Francesca da Rimini”?
Of course, you will say that in a concert the piano is the soloist, but in fantasy it is
no at all. Maybe you already know that a concert is a work
multi-part, as musicians say - cyclical, but in fantasy there is only one
Part. But this is not what interests us now.
Are you listening to a piano or violin concerto, a Mozart symphony or
Beethoven's sonata. While enjoying wonderful music, you can follow it
development, following how different musical themes like them
change and develop. Or you can reproduce it in your imagination
some pictures, images that are evoked by the sound of music. At the same time, your
fantasies will certainly be different from what the other imagines
a person listening to music with you. Of course, it doesn't happen that you
in the sounds of music the noise of battle seemed to be heard, and to someone else - a gentle
lullaby. But stormy, menacing music can also evoke associations with
wild elements, and with a storm of feelings in the human soul, and with a menacing roar
battles...
And in “Francesca da Rimini” Tchaikovsky indicated precisely by the title itself that
it is precisely his music that depicts him: one of the episodes of Dante's Divine Comedy.
This episode tells how, among the hellish whirlwinds, in the underworld,
the souls of sinners are tossed about. Dante, who descended into hell accompanied by a shadow
the ancient Roman poet Virgil, meets among these whirlwind souls
beautiful Francesca, who tells him the sad story of her
unhappy love. The music of the extreme sections of Tchaikovsky's fantasy draws
hellish whirlwinds, the middle section of the work is Francesca's woeful story.
There are many musical works in which the composer in one way or another
explains their content to listeners in a different form. So, my first symphony
Tchaikovsky called it "Winter Dreams". He prefaced the first part with the title
"Dreams on a winter road", and the second - "Gloomy land, foggy land."
Berlioz, except for the subtitle "An Episode from the Life of an Artist" that he gave
of his Fantastic Symphony, also outlined in great detail the content of each
of its five parts. This presentation is reminiscent of a romantic story
And "Francesca da Rimini", and the symphony "Winter Dreams" by Tchaikovsky, and
Berlioz's fantastic symphony - examples of the so-called program
music. You probably already understand that program music is called such
instrumental music, which is based on a “program”, that is,
some very specific plot or image.
Programs come in different types. Sometimes the composer details
retells the content of each episode of his work. So,
for example, did Rimsky-Korsakov in his symphonic film "Sadko"
or Lyadov in "Kikimora". It happens that, turning to widely known
literary works, the composer considers it sufficient only to indicate
this literary
Origins and features of program music in creativity
romantic composers
Romanticism in music developed under the influence of the literature of romanticism and developed in close connection with it, with literature in general. This was expressed in turning to synthetic genres, primarily to theatrical genres(especially opera), song, instrumental miniature, as well as in musical programming. On the other hand, the affirmation of programmaticity, as one of the brightest features of musical Romanticism, occurs as a result of the desire of advanced romantics for concrete figurative expression.
Another important prerequisite is the fact that many Romantic composers acted as music writers and critics (Hoffmann, Weber, Schumann, Wagner, Berlioz, Liszt, Verstovsky, etc.). Despite the inconsistency of romantic aesthetics in general, theoretical work representatives of progressive Romanticism made a very significant contribution to the development of the most important issues of musical art (content and form in music, nationality, programming, connections with other arts, renewal of means musical expressiveness etc.), and this also influenced program music.
Programming in instrumental music is a characteristic feature of the era of romanticism, but not a discovery. The musical embodiment of various images and pictures of the surrounding world, following literary program and sound imaging in the most various options can also be observed among composers of the Baroque era (for example, Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons”), among French clavicinists (couperin’s sketches) and virginalists in England, in the works of Viennese classics (“program” symphonies, overtures by Haydn and Beethoven). And yet the programming of romantic composers is on a slightly different level. It is enough to compare the so-called genre of “musical portrait” in the works of Couperin and Schumann to realize the difference.
Most often, the programming of composers of the Romantic era is a sequential development in musical images of a plot borrowed from one or another literary and poetic source or created by the imagination of the composer himself. This plot-narrative type of programming contributed to the concretization of the figurative content of the music.
So, program music- This musical works, which the composer provided with a verbal program that concretizes perception. Programmatic essays can be associated with plots and images embodied in other forms of art, including literature and painting.
All means of musical expression in symphonic music Romantics, like any great artist (the nature of thematic development, methods of variational development, form, instrumentation, harmonic language, etc.) are always subordinated to the disclosure of the poetic idea and images of the program.
Programmatic works by Schumann, Berlioz, Liszt
Robert Schumann- one of the most prominent representatives of musical romanticism in Germany.
R. Schumann has a lot of program music. If we take, for example, his piano pieces, we will find that there are 146 program pieces, and, surprisingly, the same number of non-program pieces. These are the collections “Butterflies”, “Carnival”, “Variations on a Theme ABBEG "Kreisleriana", "Novelettes", "Children's Scenes", "Album for Youth" and others. The program pieces that are included in these collections are very diverse. Among the symphonic program music, mention should be made of the overtures “The Bride of Messina”, “Herman and Dorothea”, music for Byron’s dramatic poem “Manfred”, the symphonies “Spring”, “Rhenish” and other works.
In his work, Schumann often relied on images literary romanticism(Jean Paul and E.T.A. Hoffmann), many of his works are characterized by literary and poetic programmaticity. Schumann often turns to a cycle of lyrical, often contrasting miniatures (for piano or voice with piano), allowing him to reveal the complex range of psychological states of the hero, constantly balancing on the edge of reality and fiction. In the music of Schumann romantic impulse alternates with contemplation, whimsical scherzo with genre-humorous and even satirical-grotesque elements. Distinctive feature Schumann's works are improvisational. Schumann concretized the polar spheres of his artistic worldview in the images of Florestan (the embodiment of a romantic impulse, aspiration to the future) and Eusebius (reflection, contemplation), which are constantly “present” in Schumann’s musical and literary works as a hypostasis of the personality of the composer himself. At the center of music-critical and literary activity Schumann - a brilliant critic - the struggle against banality in art and life, the desire to transform life through art. Schumann created the fantastic union “Davids-Bund”, which united, along with the images of real persons (N. Paganini, F. Chopin, F. Liszt, K. Schumann), also fictional characters (Florestan, Eusebius; Maestro Raro as the personification of creative wisdom). The struggle between the “Davidsbündlers” and the philistine philistines (“Philistines”) became one of the plot lines of the program piano cycle “Carnival”.
It is curious that the fantastic is combined in “Carnival” with a very real and even documentary basis. After all, people who actually existed were brought out here, some even under proper names(Chopin, Paganini). In this one can see the influence of certain portrait plays by French harpsichordists (such as Couperin by Forqueret), that is, again, ancient music.
Music is psychological. It displays different contrasting states and the change of these states. Schumann I really loved piano miniatures, as well as cycles of piano miniatures, since they can express contrast very well. Schumann refers to programming. These are program plays, often associated with literary images. They all have names that are a little strange for that time - “Rush”, “Why?”, variations on the theme of Abegg (this is the surname of his girlfriend), he used the letters of her surname as notes (A, B, E, G); “Asch” is the name of the city where the former love lived Schumann(these letters, like tonalities, were included in “Carnival”). Schumann I really loved the carnival nature of music, because of its diversity. For example: “Butterflies”, “Hungarian Carnival”, “Carnival”.
"Carnival" is a suite of character pieces, one of the most striking examples of program music in Schumann's work. By introducing his mysterious “Sphinxes,” Schumann gave the key to reading the entire cycle as a process, and it turns out that the motley series of images are nothing more than metamorphoses of a hidden, inaudible foundation, “variations without a theme” (Schumann himself used this expression, however, in relation not to “Carnival”, but to “Arabesques”). The openness of some plays to context is enhanced by additional means. Thus, “Florestan”, thanks to the tonal instability and abundance of sudden contrasts (not to say changes) in moods, can be conditionally called a work without a theme. And “Replica” is very reminiscent of a lyrical summarizing postlude or codetta. The content of the process carried out in “Carnival” can be characterized as a gradual strengthening of humanity and sincerity of expression in the conditions of the carnival-game world. Here, for the first time, the principle of the end-to-end development of the contrasting relationship between two images is outlined, which will later become the main one in “Kreislerian”. A pair of masks (“Pierrot” - “Harlequin”), then fictional characters (“Eusebius” - “Florestan”), then real people (“Chopin” - “Estrella”) - all this forms corresponding parallel lines of intonation development.
A number of cycles that grew on a dance basis were completed with the “Dances of the Davidsbündlers” (in the second edition the word “dances” disappeared), where Schumann unfolds before us a whole series of portraits of just two heroes (Florestan and Eusebius, who emerged from “Carnival”). Others in words, he tries to convey his own world in all its completeness and elusive variability. In “Davidsbündlers” Schumann again returns to an open form almost in pure form and creates its most striking example. From this point of view, it is interesting to look at the completion of the cycle: after the (seventeenth) play, which could claim to be the finale (by the summarizing nature of the intonations, a reminiscence of the second play), another one follows. Schumann follows here a non-formal-logical constructive principle, but the desire to finally say the most intimate, personal.
Another interesting example is “Fantastic Pieces.” Perhaps this is the first of Schumann’s cycles, the plays of which (precisely due to the completeness of development and completeness of the form) can well exist, be performed and be thought of separately, outside the cycle. Moreover, the cycle as a whole provides one of the most expressive examples of open dramaturgy, which does not know clearly fixed boundaries (“from” and “to”), it embodies the romantic kaleidoscopic nature of “Butterflies” at a new stage.
The internal completeness of development and the new quality of form are noticeably manifested even in such an open miniature as “Why?”
Historical role Hector Berlioz is to create a new type of program symphony. The pictorial descriptiveness and plot specificity inherent in Berlioz's symphonic thinking, along with other factors (such as the intonational origins of music, principles of orchestration, etc.) make the composer a characteristic phenomenon of French national culture.
All Berlioz symphonies have a program title - “Fantastic”, “Mourning-Triumphal”, “Harold in Italy”, “Romeo and Juliet”. In addition to those mentioned, he has works of less defined genres, but based on the symphony.
Programming, as Berlioz's leading creative principle, leads to a new interpretation of the symphonic cycle. First of all, the number of parts of the cycle is dictated not so much by the established traditions of classical symphony, but by this specific program idea.
The unifying principle in Berlioz's symphonic cycle is usually one theme that runs through all parts and characterizes the main image - the character of the symphony. This theme, which permeates the entire cycle, is the leitmotif of the symphony. This is the motive of the beloved in the Symphony Fantastique or the motive of Harold in the symphony Harold in Italy. The motive of love, sounding in the choir part at the beginning of the symphony “Romeo and Juliet”, is the basis of a large symphonic adagio , painting a love scene. At the same time, Berlioz's symphonic cycle lacks the unity and integrity of Beethoven's symphonic cycle. The individual parts of the symphony, following each other, present a series of colorful and outwardly related musical paintings and images that consistently reveal all the main vicissitudes of the chosen program. In the dramaturgy of the symphony, that dynamically purposeful, conflictual development of a single idea, which is inherent in Beethoven's symphonism, is no longer present. Peculiarity creative method Berlioz's pictorial descriptiveness determines precisely this interpretation of the symphonic cycle. But at the same time, monumentality, democracy, and civic pathos connect Berlioz’s symphony with the Beethoven tradition.
The Fantastic Symphony is Berlioz's first major work in which he reached full creative maturity. It had a programmatic subtitle: “An Episode from the Life of an Artist.” In romantic-fantastic colors, the symphony depicts the love experiences of the artist, that is, Berlioz himself, suffering from unrequited love for Harriet Smithson.
Paganini, delighted with the Symphony Fantastique, ordered a viola concerto from Berlioz, but Berlioz approached the order from a different direction - this is how the symphony with solo viola “Harold in Italy” was written.
The participation of soloists and choir brings the symphony “Romeo and Juliet” closer to the operatic-oratorio-cantata genres. That is why the symphony is called dramatic. Obviously, Berlioz here followed the path of Beethoven with his 9th symphony, where the choir enters at the finale, here the vocal element is present throughout the entire symphony. the last part– Father Lorenzo and the choir of reconciliation – it could well be opera stage. Along with this, the key moments of the tragedy are revealed through purely symphonic means - the street fight at the beginning of the symphony, the night of love, the scene in Juliet’s crypt. The special programmatic concept of the symphony forced Berlioz to decisively retreat from the classical symphonic tradition and create a multi-movement work, where the structure is determined by the sequence of events in the development of the plot. And yet, in the middle movements of the symphony (Night of Love and Fairy Mab) one can see connections with the symphonic adagio and scherzo. In size, Berlioz's Romeo and Juliet surpasses everything that existed before in the symphonic field.
Being an active and convinced promoter of programming in music, the close and organic connection between music and other arts (poetry, painting), Franz Liszt especially persistently and fully implemented this leading creative principle in symphonic music.
Among Liszt’s entire symphonic work, two program symphonies stand out: “After Reading Dante” and “Faust,” which are high examples of program music. Liszt is also the creator of a new genre, the symphonic poem, which is a synthesis of music and literature. The genre of symphonic poem has become a favorite among composers different countries and received great development and original creative implementation in Russian classical symphony of the second half XIX century. The prerequisites for the genre were examples of free form by F. Schubert (piano fantasy “The Wanderer”), R. Schumann, F. Mendelssohn (“Hybrids”), later R. Strauss, Scriabin, Rachmaninov turned to the symphonic poem. The main idea of such a work is to convey the poetic intent through music.
Liszt's twelve symphonic poems constitute a wonderful monument to program music, in which musical images and their development are associated with a poetic or moral-philosophical idea. The symphonic poem “What is Heard on the Mountain” based on the poem by V. Hugo embodies the romantic idea of contrasting majestic nature with human sorrows and suffering. The symphonic poem Tasso, written to celebrate the centenary of Goethe's birth, depicts the suffering of the Italian Renaissance poet Torquato Tasso during his lifetime and the triumph of his genius after death. As the main theme of the work, Liszt used the song of the Venetian gondoliers, performed to the words of the opening stanza of Tasso’s main work, the poem “Jerusalem Liberated.”
The symphonic poem "Preludes" was originally written independently of Lamartine, as an introduction to four men's choirs to texts by Joseph Autrand. Only when reworking the “Preludes” into an independent symphonic poem did Liszt, after some searching for a program, settle on Lamartine’s poem “Poetic Meditations” (“ Meditations poetiques "), which, as it seemed to him, most suits the music of the poem. Precisely due to the fact that the program was found by Liszt after the completion of the poem, there is no complete correspondence between Liszt’s “Preludes” and Lamartine’s poem. The poem compares human life to a series of preludes to death, but Liszt has a completely different concept. Not only does it not contain the image of death, but, on the contrary, it expresses the affirmation of life, the joy of earthly existence.
Liszt's symphonic poem "Orpheus" was originally conceived as an overture to the Weimar production of Gluck's opera "Orpheus". In this poem Liszt embodied famous myth about the Thracian singer not in a sequential plot, but in a generalized philosophical plan. For Liszt in in this case Orpheus is a generalized symbol of art, “pouring its melodic waves, its powerful chords,” as the program says.
You can also name other symphonic poems by Liszt - “Prometheus”, “Festive Bells”, “Mazeppa”, “Lament for a Hero”, “Hungary”, “Hamlet” and others.
It was important for Liszt not so much to convey in music the sequential development of the plot of the chosen program, but to embody through the means of musical art the general poetic idea leading to poetic images. Unlike Berlioz's works, symphonic works Liszt's prefabricated program is not a summary of the plot, but merely conveys the general mood, often even limited to one title, the title of the work or its individual parts. It is characteristic that the program of Liszt’s works includes not only literary and poetic images, but also works of fine art in which there is no sweeping plot-narrative, as well as various landscapes and natural phenomena.
In some of Liszt's symphonic works, the principle of monothematism is used, that is, the technique of carrying through the entire work one theme or group of themes that undergo variational transformations up to a radical change in the image. The technique of monothematism is especially consistently carried out in the symphonic poems “Tasso” and “Preludes”, where variational transformations of one theme (even one intonation) express different stages of the development of an idea. This variational development of the theme leads to its powerful heroic affirmation at the end of the work. Hence the solemn codes-apotheoses of a march-like nature, characteristic of Liszt.
In the three-movement symphony “Faust,” the third movement (“Mephistopheles”) represents the most interesting transformations of all the themes of the first movement (“Faust”). The themes are philosophical, pathetic, lyrical, heroic, and in the finale acquire a grotesque, mockingly sarcastic character, corresponding to the image of Mephistopheles, in Liszt’s ideological concept meaning the “wrong side” of Faust, the skeptical denial of everything noble and sublime, the overthrow of high ideals. By the way, this is reminiscent of Berlioz’s technique in the finale of the Symphony Fantastique, where it is subject to distortion lyrical theme love.
There is also a lot of program music in the works of other romantics - F. Mendelssohn (including program concert overtures), E. Grieg (“Poetic Pictures”, “Humoresques”, suites “Peer Gynt”, “From the Times of Holberg”) and others. In Russian music, the clearest examples of programming are the cycles of piano pieces “Pictures at an Exhibition” by M. P. Mussorgsky and “The Seasons” by P. I. Tchaikovsky.
Romanticism left an entire era in world artistic culture; its representatives in literature, fine arts and music discovered and developed new genres, paid close attention to the destinies human personality, revealed the dialectic of good and evil, masterfully revealed human passions, etc.
The work of romantic composers was often the antithesis of the bourgeois atmosphere of the 1820s-40s. It called to the world of high humanity, sang the beauty and power of feeling. Hot passion, proud masculinity, subtle lyricism, capricious variability of the endless stream of impressions and thoughts are characteristic features of the music of composers of the Romantic era, clearly manifested in instrumental program music.
