Music of Russia - Madison Central High School
Music of Russia
USAD 2012-2013
Folk Music
Folk songs varied locally from region to region
Different villages sang different songs
¨ They also sang different variations of the same song
Urban assimilation of villages transformed folk songs
¨ In some cases, urban popular music obliterated folk tradition
The late 18th century gave rise to folk song transcription
Educated urban gentlemen spearheaded the notation of folk music
Many of these men were amateur musicians
Their work introduced folk songs into the world of art music
Transcription
Scotland pioneered transcription, but Germany performed most important legwork
Achim von Arnim (1781-1831) and Clemens
Brentano (1778-1842) compiled Des Knaben
Wunderhorn (1805-1808)
¨ This folk song collection only included song lyrics
¨ However, ensuing anthologies often featured melodies as well
Johann Gottfried Herder
Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803) linked folk songs and nationalism
This German philosopher traveled through Europe and Russia
He believed national divisions existed based on language
Herder considered folk song part of the national, not just local, culture
He was one of the first to note the national importance of folk music
Herder wrote that folk music channeled national spirit
Folk songs became part of national heritage
Transcription methods and their flaws
Before audio recording, transcribers relied solely on their memories
Circumstances did not always allow the transcriber to hear the song multiple times
Even if he did, the same singer might still vary the song
Folk tradition did not stress rigid adherence to pitch and rhythm
Peasants only performed certain songs on certain occasions
Many folk songs were tied to ritual or work-related events
Thus, the transcriber only had one chance to listen
These events, like weddings, often came with distractions as well
Problems cont’d
The extensive lyrics took a long time to perform
Many publishers only printed excerpts from songs
A nonsensical verse about nature might have led to a profound tale of love
Worse yet, publishers rarely indicated these omissions to the reader
Some scholarly works generally included full texts
However, the general public could not easily access these publications
Even with the help of audio recording, transcribers must still make choices
Transcribers must decide which irregularities to preserve and which to exclude
Problems cont’d
Early transcribers did not bother themselves with issues of authenticity
Above all, these transcribers viewed folk songs as market goods
Transcriptions needed to appeal to domestic consumers
Most arrangements involved solo voice and piano
Arrangers ignored or rewrote polyphony and heterophony
These textures greatly differed from Western art music
Arrangers feared buyers would not approve
Sometimes arrangers replaced Western-like idioms to increase “folk” appeal
Notated folk songs reflected urban expectation more than rural tradition
More Problems with transcriptions
Despite their claims, arrangers always invented their own harmonies for folk melodies
The original songs most often involved only solo voice
However, arrangers still claimed to use
“authentic” harmonies
20th-century arrangers became more conscious of authenticity and accuracy
Track 1: “The Day was Breaking”
This folk song derives from the Smolensk region
“The Day was Breaking” exemplifies the
protyazhnaya genre
It features a long, winding melody
The melody is melismatic
Each syllable stretches out over an entire musical phrase
Thus, the lyrics unfold incredibly slowly
The lyrics refer to army recruitment
Russian conscripts served in the Tsarist army for
25 years
“The Day was Breaking” cont’d - excerpt
Each verse begins with a zapev, or solo introduction
The zapev centers on the interval of the fifth
Protyazhnayas often focus on this interval
Mikhail Glinka described the fifth as “the soul of
Russian music”
Podgoloski (“undervoices”) overwhelm the zapev, thickening the texture
Each ensuing verse becomes more dissonant
At the end of each verse, the texture reverts to unison
“The Day was Breaking” cont’d - excerpt
The song takes liberties with intervals
At the outset, a minor third featuring the modal center and the third scale degree appears
However, at the end of each verse, a major third appears
This interval sounds widely tuned compared to
Western music
19th century collectors would dismiss the sound
However, 20th century collectors indicated the wider tuning in their notation
The singers use “open” sounds, just as real folk singers do
Overview
Various types of “Russian folk songs” pervade the musical world
Examples include “Dark Eyes,” “Those Were the Days, My
Friend,” and “Coachman, Spare Your Horses”
A few songs originated in the countryside
19th-century Russian restaurants often featured gypsy singers and choirs
Their repertoire included both true folk songs and urbancreated “folk” songs
Most 18th- and 19th-century collectors focused on notating legitimately rural folk songs
These songs reflected local village traditions and rituals
However, collections did include the occasional popular song
Scholars classify folk songs into genres
They base these decisions based on the song’s function
They also consider the lyrics and character of the song
Protyazhnaya
A solo performer may sing a lyrical song without a special occasion
These songs often focus on a tale of unhappy love
The best-known subgenre of lyrical songs is the protyazhnaya
Protyazhnaya literally means “prolonged”
A protyazhnaya typically features a long, winding melodic line
The melismatic aspect of the songs further increases their length
Melismatic songs stretch each syllable over a musical phrase
Even native Russian speakers struggle to piece together the slowly unfolding lyrics
The protyazhnaya took on great symbolic status in the 19th century
Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852) established the protyazhnaya as a symbol for Russia as a whole
His novel Dead Souls (1842) includes a memorable image
Three horses lead a coach across an unending stretch of
Russian land
The coachman sings a melancholic, interminable protyazhnaya
Thus, Gogol implies that both Russia and the protyazhnaya are endless and tragic
Many people came to believe all Russian folk songs sounded melancholy
City dwellers encountered the protyazhnaya more frequently than other folk genres
Calendar Songs
Rural peasants only performed calendar songs for certain seasonal rituals
These occasions include Advent, Christmas, Shrovetide, and the summer solstice
The lyrics of these songs often combine pagan and
Christian symbols
Many Christian festivals replaced earlier pagan holidays
Calendar songs differ significantly from protyazhnaya songs
Scholars believe calendar songs are much older than lyrical ones
Calendar songs use shorter, more syllabic melodic phrases
Each pitch corresponds to a single syllable of text
Other folk genres
Wedding songs included joyous hymns and more depressing tunes
Tradition required the bride to sing a song lamenting leaving her parental home
Funeral laments featured naturalistic sobbing sounds
The North of Russia favored byliny, or epic songs
These solo tunes recounted ancient legends and historical events
Byliny were syllabic and imitated human speech
Labor songs helped coordinate group labor projects
Barge workers sang the “Song of the Volga Boatmen”
The rhythm allowed the many workers to pull ropes simultaneously
Plyasovye refers to energetic dance songs
These repetitive melodies featured strong rhythms
Other genres included lullabies, game songs, and military marches
“Akh ty step”
V. Sokolov arranged this Russian folk song
The song reflects popular (urban) elements rather than true rural roots
Three aspects of the song reveal its classification as a protyazhnaya
Many songs of this genre feature the same opening line: “O, ye steppes…”
The melody features wide intervals
The opening starts with an ascending sixth
Later, we hear an ascending octave
Like other protyazhnayas, the song sounds lyrical and sorrowful
“Akh ty step” cont’d
“Akh ty step” clearly displays urban influence
This arrangement is much less melismatic than traditional folk songs
Urban styles override folk-like variants and irregular harmonies
The modern choral arrangement adds a hummed introduction and a lengthy conclusion
However, the arranger does attempt to imitate folk devices
Some of the four verses begin with expressive vocal solos
Middle voices actively participate in the harmony
The ends of phrases often converge to a unison or octave
Folk Songs Collections &
Arrangements
Lvov-Pratsch (1790)
The Lvov-Pratsch collection was the most influential early folk song anthology
It included both text and music
Nikolai Lvov transcribed the text
Johann (Ivan) Pratsch arranged the music
City dwellers used the collection for domestic music playing
Composers included the arranged melodies in their own works
Lvov-Pratsch cont’d
Accusations of Westernization contributed to the collection’s fall from grace
Critics charged Pratsch with rewriting melodies to match urban expectation
Pratsch supposedly placed accents on the wrong syllables to match Western meter
Later musicians found Pratsch’s harmonizations insensitive and Western67
Lvov did not keep records of his sources
The sources may already have been altered from the rural originals
Thus, scholars cannot know the extent of Pratsch’s changes
In the 19th century, collectors became more conscious of accuracy and authenticity
Balakirev (1866)
The Balakirev collection stressed the distinctive sound of Russian folk music
Unlike Pratsch, Mily Balakirev did not try to urbanize folk melodies
Rather, he attempted to exaggerate the differences between folk and art music
This choice reveals the abrupt shift in consumer taste in the 19th century
Balakirev favored non-Western musical ideas and simple harmonies
He often used flattened seventh degrees instead of
Western leading tones
Sometimes he misrepresented sources to emphasize non-
Western sounds
Balakirev cont’d
Balakirev mostly employed diatonic harmonies
In other words, he only used the pitches of a single scale
Other than hymns, Western art music did not typically do this
These harmonies created a modal sound
He used triads rather than four-note chords
From 1600 onward, seventh chords frequently appeared in
Western art music
Balakirev believed folk music should sound more ancient
Balakirev also meticulously adhered to the natural stress pattern of words
He varied meter rather than sacrifice the stress pattern
Despite his scrupulous methodology, Balakirev still produced arrangements
In other words, the transcriptions did not accurately reflect folk practice
However, they were more accurate than Pratsch’s approach
Melgunov and Palchikov
Before the late 19th century, collectors did not transcribe polyphony or heterophony
Heterophony involves unsynchronized singers performing the same melody
It can also refer to a single melody with simultaneous variations
Polyphony refers to simultaneous melodies
Russian folk collectors were not very aware of these textures in folk song
Few early transcribers made serious attempts to notate them
Composers imitated the effect vaguely, but few understood the texture well
They began folk-like choruses with a soloist
They then incorporated the rest of the choir
The section ended in unison
Composers only became aware of these two textures after recording technology appeared
Yuli Melgunov & Nikolai Palchikov cont’d
Yuli Melgunov and Nikolai Palchikov each attempted to notate folk heterophony and polyphony before recording technology
Melgunov published his collection of folk songs in 1879
He succeeded in notating heterophony
To do so, he listened to the music in melodic, not harmonic, terms
He listened to several singers in the same village performing one at a time
Then he combined these variations on a single melody into one score
His attempts did not truly transcribe a choral folk song
However, they served as good approximations of heterophony
Composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov dismissed the collection as “barbaric”
He could not bear the heterophonic texture
The idea contradicted his own method of harmonizing folk songs
Yuli Melgunov & Nikolai Palchikov cont’d
Nikolai Palchikov produced the best notation of folk polyphony
Palchikov lived in a village
Thus, he could observe the same songs and singers multiple times
Unfortunately, he also remained in relative obscurity
Palchikov stood next to each singer and notated each part
He then combined these separate lines into a score
The result proved better than Melgunov’s compilation
Unfortunately, Melgunov’s collection received greater attention
Melgunov’s arrangements introduced Russian folk texture to the art world
Linyova (1904)
Yevgeniya Linyova released her first folk song collection in 1904
She spearheaded the use of audio recording technology
Now, composers could not deny the textures in
Russian folk music
Composer Igor Stravinsky was the first to embrace these folk textures
Other 20th century composers eagerly followed his lead
At the time, composers longed to break established composition rules
Folk Songs in Classical Music
Composers’ uses for folk song
Composers used folk themes to characterize lower-class characters in operas
For instance, Mikhail Glinka used folk songs to designate peasants in A Life for the Tsar
Other composers believed folk melodies made music sound more “national”
Philosophers like Herder reinforced this belief
Glinka chose Russian folk songs to differentiate his work from
Italian operas
The use of familiar folk melodies also garnered sympathy and acclaim from audiences
Folk music also contained new techniques
Glinka and other composers drew inspiration for technical innovations
Composers often included folk melodies for several of the above reasons
Folk Songs in Classical Music cont’d
Myths and exaggerations
Many “national” composers exaggerated their knowledge of folk traditions
Often, their biographers published gross overstatements
In truth, most 19th-century composers came from privileged backgrounds
They did not grow up listening to folk music
Most composers consciously studied folk music in their adult years
Rimsky-Korsakov himself denied rumors of his familiarity with folk songs
He did not experience folk music until his twenties
Rimsky-Korsakov studied Balakirev’s collection of transcriptions
Contemporary critics often exaggerated the authenticity of quoted folk songs
Composers rewrote folk melodies to suit their own works
The songs themselves transformed en route from the village to the city
Rimsky-Korsakov presented a folk song melody simply
He often used a solo woodwind instrument
The accompaniment consisted of subtle string pizzicato
Rimsky-Korsakov kept harmony to a minimum, using long pedal notes
A pedal note refers to a long sustained note, often found in the bass line. Usually, a pedal note contains the root of the harmony.
Audiences frequently believed all folk songs sounded like this
However, the style was all Rimsky-Korsakov’s creation
Most importantly, scholars overplayed the national spirit imparted by folk songs
Only peasants from a certain region would recognize a folk song
Yet composers came to associate folk song with the entire population of Russia
In other words, a tiny little-known part represents the vast whole
Folk music does not possess noticeable
“Russianness”
A foreign audience unfamiliar with Russian music would not recognize it as such
Russian Music of the 19
th
century
Westernization and Russian
National Identity
Westernization under Peter the Great
In the early modern period, Russians set themselves apart from “The West”
Ivan the Terrible (r. 1547-1584) allegedly sent several dozens of scholars abroad
Unfortunately, none of these students ever returned to share their learning
Before Peter the Great, Russia rarely contacted
Europe
Russia occasionally sent diplomats overseas
But, the country did not engage in extended interaction with the West
Peter the Great (r. 1682-1725) began a largescale Westernization program
During his reign, the educated elite increasingly realized Russia’s isolation from the West
This epiphany also spread throughout the general population
European civilization fascinated Peter
He traveled throughout Europe in disguise
At one point, the tsar worked as a shipbuilder on a
Dutch wharf
Peter the Great aimed to recreate Russia as a major European power
He intended to establish an irreversible, largescale program of Westernization
St. Petersburg
• St. Petersburg became the thriving center of Peter’s “new and improved” Russia
• Engineers and laborers drained a strategically located marsh to build the city
• The tsar based the city on
Venice and Amsterdam
• St. Petersburg featured its own harbor and canals
• It contained towering modern buildings
• The Europeanized city did not look like any other
Russian town
Peter Westernized every aspect of city life
The well-organized grid of streets and identical houses emphasized his power
He renamed and remodeled all state institutions to fit Western models
He forced the aristocracy to adopt European dress and shave their beards
Nobles discarded their long robes in favor of
European breeches and coats
Those who refused to shave were forcibly coerced
Peter also hosted assamblei (fashionable balls) and introduced the minuet ( slow and graceful ballroom dance for two, the minuet first appeared in the
French royal court during the 17th century. Its name derives from the small (menu means “small”) steps required to perform the dance. 18th-century composers often included a minuet-style piece in triple time as a movement in a larger composition.)
Despite heavy resistance, Peter the Great successfully implemented his reforms
In part, he triumphed due to sheer ruthlessness
His alterations, however, did benefit some segments of the population
Still, controversies over Westernization remained for two centuries
Communism later declared itself the supreme
Westernizing force
However, the Soviet Communist movement still diverged from Western ideals
The emergence of Russian nationalism :
Nationalism only gained major momentum in the late 18th century
German nationalist philosophers influenced the educated Russian elite
Both nations worked to collect folk songs
Russians also began to take interest in their native Slavic language
At the time, the urbanized nobility mostly spoke French
The Russian elite viewed nationalism in completely cultural terms at this time
Napoleon Invades
Napoleon’s invasion in 1812 truly launched
Russian nationalistic fervor
Authorities realized that the army required the support of the entire population
Political nationalism first appeared in mass produced patriotic posters and leaflets
These advertisements urged all Russians to unite as a single nation
They asked individuals to pledge their main loyalty to their nation
• The pamphlets succeeded in uniting the Russian population
• Russian peasants fought
French invaders with axes and sticks
• Citizens set fire to Moscow rather than relinquish it to
French forces
• The defeat of Napoleon gave rise to Russian national awareness
Outcomes of the Napoleonic Wars
Though their victory united Russian citizens, the
1812 Patriotic War also fostered dissent
Russian military officers and soldiers realized their country’s backwardness
These men fought Napoleon back to Paris
En route, they noticed the superior infrastructure and greater equality in Europe
They also realized that serfdom was incredibly outdated
(Serfdom refers to exploitation of rural peasants by the landowning nobility. The peasants, called serfs, worked for the wealthy landowners in exchange for legal protection and certain other rights. In essence, serfs lived in a condition of modified slavery, as they received no pay and depended on their landlords for all manner of legal, economic, and social welfare.)
Most European nations had outlawed serfdom centuries prior
Another Outcome: The Decembrist Uprising, 1825
• Dissatisfied soldiers revolted against the new tsar Nicholas
I in December 1825
• The “Decembrists” aimed to incite social reform
• Unfortunately, their revolution failed
• The tsar hanged five of the rebel leaders
• He also exiled many other participants to
Siberia
• Thus, Napoleon’s invasion also revealed growing frustration within Tsarist Russia
Establishment of Russian Nationalism
In 1833, the Russian government established
Official Nationalism
All Russian schools would teach students this new state ideology
Minister of Education Sergei Uvarov introduced the doctrine
He described it with a slogan: “Orthodoxy,
Autocracy, and Nationality”
Orthodoxy referred to the dominant Russian religion, the Orthodox Church
Autocracy embodied the unquestionable absolute sovereignty of the tsar
However, even Uvarov did not truly understand
“Nationality” (narodnost’)
At this point, dissatisfied intellectuals developed the concept of nationalism
The Russian government did not yet see nationalism as a weapon they could employ
Pyotr Chaadayev
Chaadayev’s concerns
Pyotr Chaadayev (1794-1856) expressed concern about Russia’s cultural backwardness
His “Philosophical Letter” of 1829 addressed this issue
Chaadayev noted that European nations shared common history and traditions
Their societies held similar views on justice, law, order, and duty
By contrast, Russia never participated in this community
Thus, Russia lacked these basic
European principles
The authorities refused to publish Chaadayev’s
“Philosophical Letter”
They thought his ideas too controversial
Instead, they declared him insane and treated him as such
Regardless, manuscript copies spread throughout the nation (USAD made this corrections in June.)
‘‘In his land, Peter the Great found only a blank sheet of paper, and he wrote on it: ‘Europe and the West’; since then we have belonged to Europe and the West”
Chaadayev’s work inspired two different ideological groups in the mid-19th century
Westernizers believed Russians was part of Europe
They supported continued imitation of Western traditions
Slavophiles focused on Russia’s “blind, superficial and awkward imitation” of the West
This group advocated the reversal of Peter the Great’s
Westernizing reforms
They called to reinstate communal law and other abolished practices
Slavophiles also wanted to firmly distinguish Russian
Orthodoxy (Eastern Christianity) from Western Christianity
(especially Catholicism)
They claimed Eastern Christians favored authority and faith over logic and reason
Slavophiles also spoke of a new world order led by
Russia, not Europe
Like Chaadayev, many other 19th-century intellectuals compared Russians to Westerners
Most comparisons were to the French and
Germans
The French were old enemies from 1812
Meanwhile, the Germans made up a large part of
St. Petersburg’s high society
Comparison and contrast formed the basis for defining Russian “national character”
However, this method of analysis also resulted in national stereotypes
The French were brilliant but the Russians were profound
The Germans were industrious but the Russians were humane and empathetic
“Russian character” proved nothing but a philosophical construct
Philosophical Influence on Music
19th-century Russian composers sought to differentiate themselves from the West
Glinka attempted to create a new style of opera
He believed Russia displayed greater melancholy than sunny Italy
Thus, Russian opera should be more sorrowful than widespread Italian opera
The Mighty Handful would adopt similar ideas in the
1860s
National stereotypes played a major role in the creation of “Russian style”
From the beginning, composers defined Russian music as non-German
German stereotypes thus became a major factor in
Russian musical development
Class Divisions
A great divide existed between the educated elite and the lower classes
Late 18th-century writers claimed national character stemmed from the lower classes
“The people” (lower-class peasants) made up the majority of the population
Upper-class Russians spoke French and tended toward the cosmopolitan
Catherine the Great (r. 1762-1796) descended from Germans
However, she occasionally wore Russian national garb to tease courtiers
The gentry and the peasantry rarely interacted on a regular basis
Even servants in noble households did not maintain ties to their rural backgrounds
Despite their claims, the elite knew little about the general population
Catherine the Great
Abolition of Serfdom
The abolition of serfdom in 1861 sparked renewed interest in the peasantry
The Peredvizhniki (Russian Realist school) did not idealize peasant life in paintings
The Narodnik (populist) movement inspired intellectuals to move to the countryside
Most narodniks were students who left their city homes to join the peasantry
The narodniks provided education and medical assistance to rural peasants
Peasants often treated the narodniks with indifference or even resentment
Interestingly, the peasants placed more stock in social hierarchy than the wealthy
The appearance of their superiors seemed unnatural
Author Leo Tolstoy worked with peasants on his land
He wore a collarless peasant shirt
However, he still lived off the rent from said peasants
Nikolai Palchikov moved to a village to collect folk song melodies
In the village, he worked as a country judge
The peasants ultimately accepted him and helped him in his transcriptions
• Composer Modest Mussorgsky (1839- 1881) revealed the greatest narodnik influence in art music
• He originally hailed from the landowning gentry
• However, he lost his wealth after the emancipation of the serfs
• Despite his reversal of fortune,
Mussorgsky maintained sympathy for the poor
• He wrote songs presenting different peasant characters
• For instance, his song “Trepak” features a drunk and depressed peasant
• This miserable character falls to the snow to awaits his death
East and West
Even as they defined the West, Russians also explored the East
The Russian empire spanned a huge continuous stretch of land
Finland and Poland formed the Western boundaries
The Black and Caspian Seas lay to the South
Eventually, the empire stretched from the Baltic to the Pacific
“The East” covered many different nationalities and cultures
Still, Russians considered a few regions stereotypically “Eastern”
These included the Caucasus region, Central Asia, and the Far East
Russian soldiers constantly fought tribes in the
Caucasus Mountains and Transcaucasia
These tribes waged war on their conquerors hoping to reassert their independence
Russians stereotyped “the East” just as they did the
West
The East, however, was under Russian control
Russians viewed the East as exotic
These stereotypes affected musical Orientalism80
Expansion into Central Asia also influenced
Orientalism to a lesser extent
The Russian Far East did not influence 19th-century music as much
This region was too distant and relatively unpopulated
Thus, it received little scholarly attention
Perspectives on the role of the East differed
Westernizers dismissed the East entirely
They claimed the region would not contribute to
Russian cultural growth
Slavophiles, by contrast, gladly emphasized the role of the East
They claimed the East influenced Russian fatalism, mysticism, and autocracy
The elite emphasized both the similarities and differences between Russia and the East
They often juxtaposed Russia’s simplicity with the
East’s exotic extravagance
However, Russians also “Orientalized” themselves
They emphasized their differences from the West and similarities to the East
They depicted themselves as “Barbarians” who opposed
Western corruption
Track 3: “The Glory Chorus” from A Life for the Tsar
Background
“The Glory Chorus” comes from the finale of
Glinka’s opera A Life for the Tsar
This opera as a whole exemplifies Official
Nationalism
Different elements in this work illustrate
“Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality"
Featured excerpt
In the score, Glinka identifies “The Glory Chorus” as a “hymnmarch”
The onstage military band emphasizes the martial aspect of the march rhythm
The rhythm imitates a Russian Orthodox chant
This rhythm consists of a half-note followed by two quarter notes
Glinka also uses harmonies unusual for an opera
Outer voices move in parallel thirds
Such harmonies frequently appear in Orthodox hymns
Glinka’s score thus indicates religious and nationalist influences
Like the rest of the opera, “The Glory Chorus” embodies Official
Nationalism
In addition to the “hymn” aspects above, Glinka uses church bells to show Orthodoxy
The church bells also reflect Nationality
The lyrics glorify the first Romanov tsar in keeping with the principle of
Autocracy
Glinka: The Father of Russian Music
Most Russian music histories begin with Mikhail
Ivanovich Glinka (1804-1857)
Virtually all historians agree that true Russian classical music started with Glinka’s work
Many consider his first opera, A Life for the Tsar
(1836), the first Russian national opera
Of course, opera existed in Russia before Glinka
Peter the Great began the development of
Russian art music
He hoped to prove Russia’s status as an international power
His assamblei featured dance music byWestern musicians
Peter hoped to recreate Western-style music as part of his Westernization campaign
Actual opera first appeared in Russia during Tsaritsa Anna’s reign
It began as a foreign import from Italy
In 1731, an Italian company performed
Calandro by Giovanni
Ristori in Moscow
In 1736, Russian musicians collaborated with an
Italian troupe in St.
Petersburg
They performed The
Power of Love and Hate by Francesco Araja
Glinka continued
From then on, opera flourished in Russia
The Russian Imperial Court welcomed Italian and
French troupes
Private opera houses opened in St. Petersburg
This development allowed opera to reach wider audiences
The first Russian-language libretto appeared in
1755
The story centered on the myth of Cephalus and
Procris
Italian instructors trained Russian opera singers
Glinka’s predecessors set the stage for Russian opera composition
Maxim Berezovsky (1745-1777) was the first Russian opera composer to achieve fame
Audiences in Russia and abroad recognized his name
Other opera composers included Yevstigenei Fomin (1761-1800) and Dmitri Bortnyansky (1751-1825)
These Italian-trained composers conformed to accepted Western genres
While studying in Italy, they wrote opera seria (“serious opera”)
These works used mythology as their subject matter
One could not differentiate between the Russian and Italian opera seria
In Russia, these composers created comic operas based on French archetypes
However, the librettos featured Russian language
The composers included distinctly Russian plots and characters
Audiences reacted favorably to the familiar elements
Russian comic operas thus enjoyed considerable popularity
Glinka’s Innovations
Many of Glinka’s “innovations” actually existed in the works of his predecessors
Glinka’s works often incorporated folk melodies
Fomin’s Coachmen at the Relay Station (1787) also reflected folk influence
The opera’s opening chorus imitates a protyazhnaya folk song
The solo singer is eventually joined by the chorus
Glinka’s A Life for the Tsar (1836) focused on a historical, not mythological, subject
The story centers on peasant Ivan Susanin
He gave his own life to save the future Tsar Mikhail Romanov
In 1815, Catarino Cavos premiered an opera based on the same tale
A Venetian by birth, Cavos lived and worked in St. Petersburg
His version of the story remained immensely popular
It took time for Glinka’s opera to step out of Cavos’ shadow
Glinka’s great ambition set him apart from his peers and predecessors
His skilled originality put him on par with his
European contemporaries
These peers included Vincenzo Bellini, Giacomo
Meyerbeer, and Hector Berlioz
A Life for the Tsar featured no spoken dialogue
Every line was sung
It was the first Russian-language opera to attempt such a feat
Cavos’ version featured long sections of spoken text between arias and songs
Glinka’s ambition proves surprising given his upbringing
He lacked any formal composition training86
In fact, Glinka regarded himself as a student even in his late years
Born to landowners, Glinka participated in his uncle’s private orchestra
This ensemble mostly played fashionable overtures
Based on this experience, Glinka might have become a composer of light, elegant songs and dances for aristocratic salons
In his apprenticeship, he did create such works
However, they did not satisfy his lofty aspirations
Glinka honed his skills abroad before returning to dominate Russian opera
In Italy, Glinka studied vocal composition
He could have settled for writing Italian-style arias and operas
However, he dared to dream of a purely Russian operatic form
This Russian opera would draw subject matter from Russian history
It would prove more serious and musically demanding than
Italian opera
Glinka learned more difficult compositional techniques in Germany
There he studied with theorist Siegfried Dehn
In 1834, Glinka returned to Russia after hearing of his father’s death
In Glinka’s last year of life, however, he would return to
Germany to visit Dehn
A Life for the Tsar
Glinka’s first opera, A Life for the Tsar, premiered at the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre in 1836
The opera featured a clearly monarchist message
The storyline implied the divine authority of the
Romanov dynasty
Russia successfully fought off a Polish invasion in
1613
Afterward, the first Romanov tsar took the throne
The peasant Ivan Susanin fooled the Poles to allow the tsar time to escape
When they discovered the deception, the Poles killed Susanin
At the end of the opera, Susanin dies in a forest
The epilogue concludes with a somber march
Afterward, the chorus cries, “Glory to the Tsar!”
Naturally, Tsar Nicholas I supported the performance87
Besides the imperialist storyline, the libretto came from the court itself
Baron Rosen, secretary to Nicholas’ heir Alexander II, wrote the libretto
Following the premiere, Nicholas I showered
Glinka with recognition
He offered the composer a royal ring as a token of favor
Furthermore, he offered Glinka the highest musical position in his court
Despite imperial recognition, Glinka did not write
A Life for the Tsar on commission
He actually composed quite a bit of the music before Rosen completed the libretto
As Glinka intended, A Life for the Tsar sounds distinctly Russian
Glinka first created musical contrast between the Russians and the Poles
He characterized the Poles using two Polish ballroom dances
Russians were familiar with both the polonaise and the mazurka
Both dances involved 3/4 time and dotted rhythms
Glinka used more songlike pieces in 2/4 and 4/4 to illustrate the Russians
In Act III, Glinka dramatically juxtaposed both styles
The Poles demand Susanin’s compliance in a mazurka rhythm
Susanin defies them in a protyazhnaya style
Glinka favored the imitation of folk themes rather than direct quotation
The overture mimics a protyazhnaya
The opera’s “Rowers’ Chorus” also features a protyazhnaya-like melody
Glinka set this melody over a pizzicato string accompaniment
The strings represent the balalaika, a plucked string instrument
In the entire opera, Glinka only quotes two actual folk tunes
The intelligentsia admired Glinka’s technique and the opera’s apparent Russianness
Glinka’s compositions alluded to Russian folk and popular song
They also reflected “Romance” influence
These musical aspects made the fresh compositions seem familiar to Russian audiences
Non-Russian audiences, by contrast, noticed the
Italianate elements of the opera
Ruslan and Lyudmila (1842)
Glinka based his second opera on a narrative poem by Alexander Pushkin
(1799-1837)
Many considered Pushkin Russia’s greatest
19th-century poet
Unfortunately, he died before he could create a libretto for Glinka
The resulting libretto received a great deal of criticism
The fairy-tale opera emphasizes musical color over drama
Thus, the five acts pass very slowly
In this work, Glinka continued to experiment with the use of color to depict nationality
A quoted Finnish song characterized Finn, a kindhearted sorcerer
Glinka used many Orientalist devices to represent Ratmir, Lyudmila’s Eastern suitor
Remember, Glinka composed this opera before Orientalist clichés developed
The evil dwarf Chernomor received special musical treatment
This supernatural creature possessed a beard seven times his height
Glinka invented the whole-tone scale to depict
Chernomor’s magical existence
This scale divides the octave into six equal parts instead of eight
It moves in whole steps only
Glinka also called this scale his “chemical” scale
The whole-tone scale put off conventional rules of tonal harmony
This effect evoked a sense of the supernatural
Use of this scale indicated that human laws did not apply to the magical creature
The public did not react enthusiastically to the
1842 premiere of Ruslan and Lyudmila
Performances discontinued shortly after the premiere
Glinka’s popularity plummeted from the high point reached with A Life for the Tsar
Glinka considered this failure his greatest disappointment
As a result of his letdown, Glinka traveled abroad extensively
In Spain, Glinka took folk dancing lessons
His experiences inspired the orchestral pieces Jota
Aragonesa (1845) and Night in Madrid (1848)
In the end, Glinka returned to Russian styles in
Kamarinskaya (1848)
This orchestral work almost reconceived variation form
Glinka’s legacy and musical contributions
Russian composers mythologized Glinka and his contributions after his death
They took his example as the foundation for a new markedly Russian compositional style
His uncommon musical devices became part of
Russian national heritage
Some of these techniques came from Russian folk music
Others, however, simply arose from Glinka’s own creativity
Glinka championed the creation of folk-like musical idioms
He believed art music could benefit from elements of folk songs and dances
Only some of his folk melodies appeared as direct quotations
Glinka imitated folk music in his original material
He reproduced protyazhnayas and dance songs alike
Glinka also cleverly reproduced folk heterophony
He never lived with peasants or used audio technology
Thus, he worked with limited understanding of the texture
A Life for the Tsar demonstrates the composer’s affinity for folk-like sounds
The introductory chorus switches between a solo singer and the chorus
Glinka varied the number of individual voices present in the choral texture
Like folk music, he wrote two or three parts that converged to a unison
Glinka also employed the folk device peremennost’
This technique involved shifting between several equally important modal centers
Unlike most Western music at the time, folk tunes did not center on one tonic
Glinka’s chord progressions reflected this influence
However, he still used standard harmonies
Usually, Glinka moved between pairs of relative major and minor scales
The widespread use of 5/4 meter began with
Glinka
This unusual meter appears in the wedding choruses of both A Life and Ruslan
Indirectly, this device reflects folk influence
Russian folk poetry featured five-syllable lines that accented the third syllable
This characteristic frequently appeared in wedding songs
Russian folk song typically uses five notes of different length for the five syllables
Glinka, however, used five equal quarter notes
Glinka’s disciples treated 5/4 as an authentic
Russian meter
They also experimented with other uncommon meters
Borodin employed 7/4
Rimsky-Korsakov used 11/4
The whole-tone scale from Ruslan inspired other innovative scales
Rimsky-Korsakov created the octatonic scale
This scale alternates whole steps and half steps
It spans eight notes, hence the term “octatonic”
Rimsky-Korsakov’s invention proved more useful than the whole-tone scale
20th-century classical and jazz music incorporated the octatonic scale
Glinka’s fans also divided their works into sections with different musical rules
The composer also popularized “changing-background variations”
In fact, Russian scholars refer to this technique as “Glinka variations”
Typical variation form changes the melody while the accompaniment remains constant
Glinka variations do the exact opposite
The melody remains unchanged
All other elements (harmony, instrumentation, etc.) vary
Despite the deceptive name, Glinka did not originate the
Glinka variations
Beethoven uses this technique in “Ode to Joy” from his Ninth
Symphony
Movement 3 from Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 59 No. 2 also features this device
In fact, it centers on a Russian melody
Possibly, this earlier work inspired Glinka
Regardless of the technique’s origin, Glinka created important examples
For instance, he used folk themes with changing-background variations
This musical technique honored the folk melody
Glinka’s use of different musical colors for different nationalities in opera inspired others
This same principle also appeared in the West
There, composers referred to the technique as couleur locale
Glinka’s supporters focused on two operatic genres
They wrote heroic national dramas like A Life for the Tsar
Also, they composed fairytales like Ruslan and
Lyudmila
Glinka’s orchestral works also influenced subsequent composers
He never wrote any symphonies, only singlemovement overtures and fantasies
Other composers wrote on Russian and non-Russian folk themes
Balakirev composed the Czech Overture
Rimsky-Korsakov wrote the Serbian Fantasy
Glinka’s Kamarinskaya served as a model for future composers
This piece features Glinka variations on two themes
Similarly, Balakirev wrote Overture on Three Russian
Themes
Balakirev also composed the piano piece Islamey
The composer Lyapunov created the virtuosic
Lezghinka Etude for piano
Track 4: Kamarinskaya
Background
The single-movement Kamarinskaya involves a slow theme and a fast theme
Glinka alternates between variations on the slow and fast themes
The Russian wedding song “From behind Tall Hills” forms the slow theme
This theme occurs four times in different registers
Each repetition features different texture
The fourth statement appears in the bass line
“Kamarinskaya” refers to the sprightly dance tune that makes up the fast theme
This melody also lends its name to the piece as a whole
Folk tradition repeated this theme in “dancetill-you drop” variations
The piece’s form defies any previously established musical form
Instead, Glinka reinvents the variation form
His techniques elevate the folk melodies and variations
The excerpt on the USAD CD begins with the first fast section
The first violin section presents the opening statement of the theme
Glinka then adds other instrumental voices to the mix
Throughout the variations, Glinka barely alters the melody
When he does, the alterations suggest virtuosic fiddling
Each phrase sounds like an ostinato pattern
The 11th statement modulates from major to minor
Glinka emphasizes the opening notes of the slow theme
The slow theme reappears for two-and-ahalf statements
Then, the kamarinskaya dance tune resumes
At one point, Glinka drops the melody altogether, leaving only the accompaniment
The tempo slows down slightly as Glinka explores truly innovative variations
A C-natural in the horn produces dissonance against a D-major harmony
In the end, the tempo quickens triumphantly
The Mighty Handful and
“National” Style
The birth of Russian music conservatories
The Rubinstein brothers vastly enhanced musical education in Russia
Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein rose to fame as one of the world’s top virtuoso pianists
He also worked as a conductor and composer
Anton’s younger brother Nikolai also performed as a pianist and conductor
A Russian border-guard stopped Anton as he returned from a European concert tour
Asked for his occupation, Anton replied that he was a “selfemployed artist”
The guard did not recognize this profession
Anton only received entry for being “the son of a merchant of the second rank”
This incident inspired Anton to work to improve the status of
Russian musicians
Between 1859 and 1860, the Rubinstein brothers formed the Russian Music Society
This institution organized a series of public concerts in St. Petersburg and Moscow
Anton worked in St. Petersburg while his brother lived in Moscow
The repertoire featured major works by the likes of Beethoven, Schumann, and Mendelssohn
For the first time in Russian history, the general population could access art music
Previously, a handful of aristocratic enthusiasts shaped most Russian musical life
The Rubinsteins also founded music conservatories in the two major cities
The St. Petersburg Conservatory opened in
1862 and the Moscow Conservatory in 1866
Musicians and composers no longer needed to enroll in private classes
Instead, these conservatories offered comprehensive five-year courses
Most professors came from abroad, especially from Germany
The conservatories increased the social prestige of musical careers in Russia
Russia now entered the wider world of international art music
Conservatories Vs. Mighty Handful
The Mighty Handful led an anticonservatory movement in Russia
These composers argued against conservatoriesdue to nationalistic concerns
They feared the institutions would overly
Westernize Russian music
Conservatories, they claimed, revealed too much foreign influence
Formation of the Mighty Handful
Vladimir Stasov (1824-1906) and Mily Balakirev
(1837-1910) became friends in the mid-1850s
Both men loved the music world
Balakirev performed as a pianist
He also composed his own pieces
Glinka personally encouraged Balakirev to continue composing
Stasov worked as a prominent music critic
Both dreamed of a distinctive Russian style of music
This style should appeal to both domestic and international listeners
Stasov and Balakirev hoped it would sound original and progressive
Balakirev and Stasov assembled four other musicians who shared this goal
Stasov first referred to the group as the moguchaya kuchka
Literally, this name translates to “the mighty little heap”
“Handful” sounds more elegant than the original
Russian term
In English, some refer to the group as “The Five” in reference to the five composers
However, this term overlooks the sixth important member, Stasov
Stasov alone of the Mighty Handful did not compose his own works
Nonetheless, he helped establish the group’s nationalist ideology
As a critic, he also promoted the group’s music and discredited rivals
Balakirev served as the Mighty Handful’s musical mentor
He was the only full-time musician in the group
At the time, composers struggled to maintain a living
Balakirev earned the majority of his income by teaching piano lessons
He still lived in relative poverty
The opera-loving Cesar Cui worked as an engineer building military fortifications
Army officer Modest Mussorgsky played the piano skillfully
However, he only composed polkas for aristocratic ladies
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov composed between tours of duty as a naval officer
Alexander Borodin served as an internationally acclaimed chemistry professor
He played the cello in his spare time
Despite their talent, the four lacked knowledge of technique and important repertory
Balakirev taught them the devices needed for large-scale works
He also introduced them to the masterworks of famous composers
Balakirev approached teaching differently than the conservatories
Of course, Balakirev stood firmly opposed to the conservatories
He favored a demanding but informal approach
Unlike conservatories, he did not assign exercises or “pastiche” composition
Instead, Balakirev played arrangements of symphonies on the piano
Mussorgsky, the skilled pianist, often joined him in duets
Balakirev then pointed out interesting forms, features and techniques
Balakirev sometimes created his own terms to explain music theory
Balakirev did assign ambitious homework projects, though
He instructed Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov to write a symphony
The task required a good amount of help and advice, according to letters
Mussorgsky and Cui attempted to write operas
Despite his stringent expectations, Balakirev also proved incredibly kindhearted
He himself composed passages that seemed beyond the skill of his students
When the scores were published, Balakirev did not claim credit
In the end, Balakirev’s pupils surpassed him in terms of fame
He selflessly devoted his attention to cultivating the group’s skill and creativity
Thus, he did not spend enough time on his own works
Completed late in his career, his works did not receive great recognition
Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade features arabesque100 patterns in solo violin
A similar device appears in the solo clarinet from Balakirev’s Tamara
Balakirev’s work probably inspired Rimsky-
Korsakov’s
However, Scheherazade’s greater popularity leads listeners to believe the opposite
Creating “Russian style”
Balakirev and Stasov aimed to create the image of a unified “musical party”
Cui also proved instrumental in molding the
Handful’s public image
His writings saw publication in both Russia and France
The group worked in close cooperation in the
1860s
The composers wrote their first large-scale works collectively
Balakirev believed the compositional process should involve the entire group’s input
At first, the composers all pursued similar ideals
In later years, however, their ideas diverged considerably
To create “Russianness,” Balakirev mainly advocated avoidance of Western clichés
Balakirev used pieces by some Western composers as negative examples for his pupils
Felix Mendelssohn’s works allegedly represented Germanic “routine”
Balakirev hated the smooth musical periods characteristic of these pieces
Balakirev also disparaged the overly sentimental compositions of Frederic Chopin
However, Balakirev did approve of
“progressive,” original Western composers
Balakirev championed the works of Ludwig van
Beethoven and Robert Schumann
He admired these composers’ use of strong rhythmic motives
Moreover, he liked their compelling experiments with form
Franz Liszt and Hector Berlioz also met with
Balakirev’s approval
These composers skillfully wrote “program music”
Their compositions used musical colors to depict characters and events
In addition to these Western composers,
Balakirev also promoted Glinka’s works
Above all else, Balakirev stressed the importance of originality in composition
“Russianness” would result from avoidance of
Western devices
For instance, he instructed his students to avoid common harmonic progressions
He considered the IV-V-I cadence too clichéd
Instead, he suggested skipping the dominant
(V), creating a IV-I cadence
Otherwise, the composers might disguise the dominant chord
Balakirev also taught his students to incorporate folk and Oriental idioms
The Mighty Handful turned to folk song for non-Western material
Balakirev alone traveled through Russia to collect folk melodies
Most of the songs came from educated individuals, not the peasants themselves106
Still, Balakirev published 40 of these tunes in 1866
His collection included his own original piano accompaniments
The Mighty Handful seized this material for their own compositions
These accompaniment devices reflected
Balakirev’s tastes, not the original tunes
However, due to the Handful’s widespread use, many listeners mistakenly
The Caucasus region inspired the Handful to develop the Oriental style
Balakirev absorbed Georgian, Armenian, and
Turkic musical elements
¨ New melodic and instrumentation ideas shaped the Handful’s works
¨ These foreign devices helped distance the
Handful from Western composers
¨ Oriental music sounded instantly non-Western
¨ It proved more difficult to make folk music sound non-Western o Audiences reacted favorably to the Oriental style o Western listeners began to notice the Handful o For various reasons, they identified all Handful compositions as distinctly “Russian”
Many Russian composers incorporated the new
Oriental style in some of their works
Balakirev began the movement in the 1860s with his piece Islamey
Finished in 1869, this piano piece centers on a
Caucasian-inspired folk dance
Balakirev applied Glinka variations to the theme
Liszt’s virtuosic compositions also influenced
Balakirev’s piece
Rimsky-Korsakov wrote Antar (1868), a symphonic suite
The music depicted an Eastern fairy tale in
Oriental style
Borodin’s opera Prince Igor featured the
Orientalist Polovtsian Dances
Mussorgsky and Cui also experimented with
Oriental themes in opera
The Handful also turned to Glinka’s oeuvre
(composer’s lifetime works) for inspiration
Thanks to the Handful, listeners considered Glinka’s innovations innately
“Russian”
In particular, these composers favored the changing-background variations form
This device proved especially useful for pieces based on folk themes
Rimsky-Korsakov expanded on Glinka’s approach to the supernatural
His fairytale and supernatural works featured
Glinka’s whole-tone scale
Rimsky-Korsakov also invented the octatonic scale
This scale alternates half steps and whole steps
It contains eight pitches in an octave rather than the typical seven
Russian scholars call this device the “Rimsky-
Korsakov scale”
Today, jazz composers still use the scale
Like Glinka, Rimsky-Korsakov used his unique scale to suspend tonal rules
This effect resulted in an unearthly, exotic sound
In Sadko, this scale represents the
Underwater Kingdom
Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera Kashchei the
Deathless also features this scale
The Mighty Handful also embraced
Glinka’s use of unusual meters
They realized folk melodies did not easily conform to regular meters
Thus, they switched between measures of
2/4, 3/4, and 4/4
Besides Glinka’s trademark 5/4, his followers used 7/4 and 11/4
Second Symphony, Opening
Alexander Borodin composed this symphony
Russian musicians nicknamed the piece
Bogatyrskaya
o Borodin did not intend to create a truly programmatic piece
However, he thought the opening theme represented bogatyri, ancient Russian warriors
The striking opening begins with a unison line carried by the entire orchestra
The first movement repeats this first phrase several times
Each repetition sounds more grand
Borodin employs augmentation, lengthening the note values of the phrase
Two keys shape the opening section
It starts out in B minor, though the first phrase contains two chromatic pitches
The repetition of the phrase modulates to D major
The piece continues to hover between these two closely related keys
Unlike German symphonic allegros, the symphony does not establish one main key
The uncertainty of the key vaguely reflects the folk technique of peremennost’
In peremennost’, a piece shifts between two modal centers
Unlike Western music, no single tonic defines the key of the piece
