The most famous Russian composers of the 20th century
The melodies and songs of the Russian people inspired the work of famous composers of the second half of the 19th century. Among them were P.I. Tchaikovsky, M.P. Mussorgsky, M.I. Glinka and A.P. Borodin. Their traditions were continued by a whole galaxy of outstanding musical figures. Russian composers of the 20th century are still popular.
Alexander Nikolaevich Skryabin
Creativity A.N. Scriabin (1872 - 1915), a Russian composer and talented pianist, teacher, innovator, cannot leave anyone indifferent. Mystical moments can sometimes be heard in his original and impulsive music. The composer is attracted and attracted by the image of fire. Even in the titles of his works, Scriabin often repeats such words as fire and light. He tried to find a way to combine sound and light in his works.
The composer's father, Nikolai Alexandrovich Scriabin, was a well-known Russian diplomat, a real state adviser. Mother - Lyubov Petrovna Scriabina (nee Shchetinina), was known as a very talented pianist. She graduated with honors from the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Her professional career began successfully, but shortly after the birth of her son, she died of consumption. In 1878, Nikolai Alexandrovich completed his studies and was assigned to the Russian embassy in Constantinople. The upbringing of the future composer was continued by his close relatives - grandmother Elizaveta Ivanovna, her sister Maria Ivanovna and father's sister Lyubov Alexandrovna.
Despite the fact that at the age of five Scriabin mastered playing the piano, and a little later began to study musical compositions, according to family tradition, he received a military education. He graduated from the 2nd Moscow Cadet Corps. At the same time, he took private lessons in piano and music theory. Later he entered the Moscow Conservatory and graduated with a small gold medal.
At the beginning of his creative activity, Scriabin consciously followed Chopin, choosing the same genres. However, even at that time, his own talent was already evident. At the beginning of the 20th century, he wrote three symphonies, then "The Poem of Ecstasy" (1907) and "Prometheus" (1910). Interestingly, the composer supplemented the score of "Prometheus" with a light keyboard part. He was the first to use light music, the purpose of which is characterized by the disclosure of music by the method of visual perception.
The composer's accidental death interrupted his work. He never realized his plan to create the "Mystery" - a symphony of sounds, colors, movements, smells. In this work, Scriabin wanted to tell all mankind his innermost thoughts and inspire him to create a new world, marked by the union of the Universal Spirit and Matter. His most significant works were only a preface to this grandiose project.
Famous Russian composer, pianist, conductor S.V. Rachmaninov (1873 - 1943) was born into a wealthy noble family. Rachmaninoff's grandfather was a professional musician. The first piano lessons were given to him by his mother, and later they invited the music teacher A.D. Ornatskaya. In 1885, his parents assigned him to a private boarding school to the professor of the Moscow Conservatory N.S. Zverev. The order and discipline in the educational institution had a significant impact on the formation of the future character of the composer. He later graduated from the Moscow Conservatory with a gold medal. While still a student, Rachmaninoff was very popular with the Moscow public. He has already created his "First Piano Concerto", as well as some other romances and plays. And his "Prelude in C-sharp minor" became a very popular composition. Great P.I. Tchaikovsky drew attention to the graduation work of Sergei Rachmaninov - the opera "Oleko", which he wrote under the impression of A.S. Pushkin "Gypsies". Pyotr Ilyich got it staged at the Bolshoi Theatre, tried to help with the inclusion of this work in the repertoire of the theater, but died unexpectedly.
From the age of twenty, Rachmaninov taught at several institutes, gave private lessons. At the invitation of the famous philanthropist, theatrical and musical figure Savva Mamontov, at the age of 24, the composer becomes the second conductor of the Moscow Russian Private Opera. There he became friends with F.I. Chaliapin.
Rachmaninov's career was interrupted on March 15, 1897 due to the rejection of his innovative First Symphony by the St. Petersburg public. Reviews for this work were truly devastating. But the composer was most upset by the negative review left by N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, whose opinion Rachmaninoff greatly appreciated. After that, he fell into a protracted depression, from which he managed to get out with the help of a hypnotist N.V. Dahl.
In 1901 Rachmaninoff completed his Second Piano Concerto. And from that moment begins his active creative work as a composer and pianist. Rachmaninoff's unique style combined Russian church hymns, romanticism and impressionism. He considered the melody to be the main leading principle in music. This found its greatest expression in the author's favorite work - the poem "The Bells", which he wrote for the orchestra, choir and soloists.
At the end of 1917, Rachmaninoff left Russia with his family, worked in Europe, and then left for America. The composer was very upset by the break with the Motherland. During the Great Patriotic War, he gave charity concerts, the proceeds of which were sent to the Red Army Fund.
Stravinsky's music is notable for its stylistic diversity. At the very beginning of his creative activity, she was based on Russian musical traditions. And then in the works one can hear the influence of neoclassicism, characteristic of the music of France of that period and dodecaphony.
Igor Stravinsky was born in Oranienbaum (now Lomonosov) in 1882. The father of the future composer Fyodor Ignatievich is a famous opera singer, one of the soloists of the Mariinsky Theatre. His mother was pianist and singer Anna Kirillovna Kholodovskaya. From the age of nine, teachers taught him piano lessons. After completing the gymnasium, at the request of his parents, he enters the law faculty of the university. For two years, from 1904 to 1906, he took lessons from N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, under whose leadership he wrote the first works - the scherzo, the piano sonata, the Faun and the Shepherdess suite. Sergei Diaghilev highly appreciated the composer's talent and offered him cooperation. The joint work resulted in three ballets (staged by S. Diaghilev) - The Firebird, Petrushka, The Rite of Spring.
Shortly before the First World War, the composer left for Switzerland, then to France. A new period begins in his work. He studies the musical styles of the 18th century, writes the opera Oedipus Rex, music for the ballet Apollo Musagete. His handwriting has changed several times over time. For many years the composer lived in the USA. His last famous work is Requiem. A feature of the composer Stravinsky is the ability to constantly change styles, genres and musical directions.
Composer Prokofiev was born in 1891 in a small village in the Yekaterinoslav province. The world of music was opened for him by his mother, a good pianist who often performed works by Chopin and Beethoven. She also became a real musical mentor for her son and, in addition, taught him German and French.
At the beginning of 1900, young Prokofiev managed to attend the Sleeping Beauty ballet and listen to the operas Faust and Prince Igor. The impression received from the performances of the Moscow theaters was expressed in his own work. He writes the opera "The Giant", and then the overture to "Desert Shores". Parents soon realize that they can no longer teach their son music. Soon, at the age of eleven, the novice composer was introduced to the famous Russian composer and teacher S.I. Taneyev, who personally asked R.M. Gliera to engage in musical composition with Sergei. S. Prokofiev at the age of 13 passed the entrance exams to the St. Petersburg Conservatory. At the beginning of his career, the composer toured and performed extensively. However, his work caused misunderstanding among the public. This was due to the features of the works, which were expressed in the following:
- modernist style;
- destruction of established musical canons;
- extravagance and inventiveness of composing techniques
In 1918, S. Prokofiev left and returned only in 1936. Already in the USSR, he wrote music for films, operas, ballets. But after he was accused, along with a number of other composers, of "formalism", he practically moved to live in the country, but continued to write musical works. His opera "War and Peace", the ballets "Romeo and Juliet", "Cinderella" became the property of world culture.
Russian composers of the 20th century, who lived at the turn of the century, not only preserved the traditions of the previous generation of the creative intelligentsia, but also created their own, unique art, for which the works of P.I. Tchaikovsky, M.I. Glinka, N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov.