Introduction

Music as a living art is born and lives as a result of the unity of all types of activity. Communication between them occurs through musical images. In the mind of the composer, under the influence of musical impressions and creative imagination emerges musical image, which is then embodied in piece of music. Listening to a musical image, - i.e. life content, embodied in musical sounds, determines all other facets of musical perception.

In other words, a musical image is an image embodied in music (feelings, experiences, thoughts, reflections, actions of one or more people; any manifestation of nature, an event in the life of a person, people, humanity... etc.)

Types of musical images

A musical image is the combined character, musical and expressive means, socio-historical conditions of creation, construction features, and the style of the composer.

Musical images are:

• -lyrical - images of feelings, sensations;
• -epic - description;
• -dramatic - images of conflicts, collisions;
• -fairy-tale - images-fairy tales, unreal;
• -comic - funny, etc.

Taking advantage of the richest opportunities musical language, the composer creates a musical image in which he embodies certain creative ideas, this or that life content.

Lyrical image

The word lyric comes from the word "lyre" - this ancient instrument, on which singers (rhapsodists) played, narrating various events and emotions experienced. Lyrics are a monologue of the hero in which he talks about his experiences.

The lyrical image reveals the individual spiritual world creator In a lyrical work there are no events, unlike drama and epic - only the confession of the lyrical hero, his personal perception of various phenomena.

TOPIC: “Musical image”

GOAL: development of active, emotional and conscious perception of music by students based on identifying musical images in it, determining their nature, content and construction.

• developing in students the ability to determine by ear the character, mood and human feelings that music conveys;
• developing the skill of thoughtful listening to a piece of music, the ability to analyze its content and means of expression;
• development of the ability to identify characteristic stylistic features of music;
• development of independent thinking in students, manifestation of their own initiative and creativity;
• consolidation of the skill of pure intonation of a melody, correct breathing and accurate articulation of words when singing;

MUSICAL MATERIAL:

Concerto No. 2 for piano and orchestra, part I

S.V. Rachmaninov;

Song "Native places" music by Yu. Antonov.

VIEWER:

“Wet meadow” F.A. Vasilyeva;

“Evening ringing”, “Spring trees”, “Evening. Golden Reach”, “Eternal Peace”, I.I. Levitan;

“Oka”, V. D. Polenova;

U. Hello, guys! Sit back, try to feel as if you were in concert hall. By the way, what is the program for today's concert? Nobody knows? The trouble is, you were in such a hurry that none of you paid attention to the poster at the entrance to the hall. Well, okay, don't be upset! I think that the music that will be played today will help you determine not only its composer and musical content, but will also help you feel and realize the depth of feelings that it will convey.

So, imagine that the lights in the hall began to dim, steps were heard, complete silence ensued, and many listeners froze in a daze to catch the maestro appearing on stage. He came out and walked steadily towards the piano, sat down and thought for a few moments. His expressive face was turned to the instrument. He looked at the piano with such deep concentration that some kind of unearthly hypnotic power was felt in it. The musician began to play and the music began to play.

The exposition of the first part of the Second Concerto for Piano and Orchestra by S.V. Rachmaninov.

U. Who participates in the performance of a piece of music?

D. Piano and symphony orchestra.

U. So, can we define the genre of music? Is it an opera, a ballet, a symphony?

U. Who has the leading role?

D. In music we hear alternately a piano and an orchestra.

I think they serve the same role.

U. So what should we call this piece of music? We have already encountered a work of this genre.

D. This is a Concerto for piano and orchestra.

There is a help message about the word “concert” that one of the students prepared as homework.

U. What does music set us up for?

D. For reflection. Listening to her, I want to think.

U. Think about it Which composer could have written this piece of music: Russian or foreign? Why?

Children's answers.

U. This contemporary composer or a composer who lived a long time ago?

Student answers.

W. Indeed, this is a Russian composer - Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninov who lived on turn of the 19th century– XX centuries. He was not only a talented composer, but also a wonderful conductor and a brilliant pianist.

Listen to how the composer himself described himself:

“I am a Russian composer, and my homeland has left its mark on my character and my views. My music is the fruit of my character, and therefore it is Russian music.”

Rachmaninov was a man of amazing destiny. A born poet and singer of Russia, he was born near Novgorod and died in America. Sergei Vasilievich loved native land and remained faithful to her until the end of his days.

The composer's creative path was not easy. The fact is that almost every talent, after the first inspiring successes, is faced with a misunderstanding of his art; creative ups and downs occur in his life. The year 1897 was such a difficult year, in many ways a turning point, a turning point for Rachmaninov. His truly first adult work as a composer, Symphony No. 1, was a failure. This failure became a tragedy for the young composer. It brought him not only bitter disappointments, but also a long creative crisis, aggravated by a severe nervous disease. For several years Rachmaninov did not write anything significant. Time passed. And then the year 1901 came.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE COMPOSER OVER THESE YEARS?

Music, those feelings, thoughts and moods with which it is filled, will help us answer this question. It is the music that will help you figure out what the person who composed it was like and define him state of mind for that period of time. And to make it easier for us to understand the moral essence of Rachmaninov’s music, let’s simulate a situation of this type. Let's agree that the solo piano will convey the behavior, thoughts, feelings and experiences of our hero, and the world around him (society, nature, people, Motherland) will be a symphony orchestra.

Music is playing.

U. You said that in music we hear lingering, melodiousness, beautiful melodies, and a wide range of sound. Do melodious and drawn-out intonations also sound at the beginning of the Concert?

The teacher plays the intro chords on the piano.

D. No. Chords sound.

U. What sensations do you get when you hear these chords on the piano? What does this sound remind you of??

D. Reminds me of the ringing of bells, as if they are ringing bells or an alarm bell.

And I get the feeling that someone or something is approaching.

U. Why did you decide this?

D. Because there is little dynamic development in music.

U. Yes, brief introduction built on a sequence of chords, which are answered by booming “bell” strikes in the bass. And the increase in sonority from pianissimo to powerful fortissimo creates the feeling of a gradual approach of some image. But which one? The following musical fragment will help us determine it.

The exposition of the first part of the Concert is played.

U. How many musical images are there in the work?

U. Do they look alike?

U. What are they represented by?

D. Musical themes.

U. What does the 1st theme express? What feelings does it convey? What is she like?

The teacher plays the 1st theme on the piano.

D. Severe, courageous, decisive.

U. What is the nature of the 2nd topic?

The teacher plays the 2nd musical theme on the piano.

D. Lyrical, bright, dreamy.

U. Let's see to it What musical means of expression did the composer use to show each musical image?

D. The theme that the 1st image represents is performed by symphony orchestra. In music we hear

Children hum the melody of the 1st musical theme.

U. What image or image of what did the composer embody with this musical theme, making extensive use of bright musical means of expression?

D. I think this is a Russian image. If a symphony orchestra leads the theme, then it is an image of everything that surrounds a person - the image of Russia, the image of the Russian people, the image of Russian nature.

U. But the Russian artist Ilya Efimovich Repin shared his impressions of the music he listened to: “This is the image of a powerful bird of power, smoothly and deeply slowly soaring over the water element.”

Does Rachmaninov’s nature exist on its own? Or is it an integral part of the life of a person, our hero, who is represented by the piano part?

D. I think that nature and man are one whole.

It seems to me that against the backdrop of the image of Russian nature, the composer conveyed various emotional states of a person.

U. What feelings, thoughts, mood is the music filled with? How does it convey the composer’s state of mind?

Sounds main party exposition of the first part of the Concert.

Children express their opinions and answer questions.

W. This is what the composer himself said: “ It was the most difficult and critical period of my life, when I thought that everything was lost and further struggle was useless...”

The composer experienced a long creative crisis, aggravated by a serious nervous illness. Then the relatives and friends of S.V. Rachmaninov decided to contact Dr. Nikolai Vladimirovich Dahl. At that time, Dahl became a very famous specialist, who would now be called a psychotherapist, because he practiced hypnosis widely. The essence of his therapeutic sessions with Rachmaninov was that he sat Sergei Vasilyevich in a comfortable chair and talked peacefully with him. The conversations were aimed at raising the patient's general mood, getting him to sleep well at night, and arousing in him the desire and confidence to compose music.

Quite soon, those around him noticed signs of improvement in Sergei Vasilyevich’s condition. The composer himself was most worried about piano concert, which I started working on. Dahl knew about this and made every effort to instill in the composer confidence in overcoming the psychological difficulties that stood in his way.

And now the work on the piano concerto was completed. The Second Concerto for Piano and Orchestra was first performed in 1901 in Moscow. And in 1904, Rachmaninov received the prestigious Glinkin Prize for this composition.

Thus, the composer finally believed in himself, in his creative salvation. And what was the real merit of the doctor, who instilled faith in the disheartened composer, is best seen in the dedication, which was written in the hand of the author of the Second Piano Concerto on a donated printed copy of the score: “Dedicated to the respected Nikolai Vladimirovich Dahl by a sincerely grateful patient.”

U. Did the composer only want to convey his personal feelings and experiences with the 1st musical theme?

D. I think that Rachmaninov wanted to show or convey the atmosphere of the time in which he lived, he and his contemporaries worked, the character and ideals of that time.

W. Indeed, in his music we hear the anxiety and excitement that reigned in Russian society at that time.

“The theme of his most inspiring Second Concert is not only the theme of his life, but invariably produces the impression of one of the most striking themes of Russia... Every time from the very first strike of the bell you feel how Russia rises to its full height,” wrote Nikolai Karlovich Medtner about this work, famous Russian composer.

Rachmaninov's music is deep in content. It includes various musical images, one of which we have analyzed. Let's turn now to the 2nd topic.

A side party sounds.

Children understand the musical language of the 2nd theme.

D. The theme is led by the piano. It solos. We hear the quiet sound of a melody; soft major, high notes; smooth movement of the melody, moderate pace, light, lyrical intonation, song genre.

U. What musical image did the composer want to show with the 2nd theme?

D. This is an image of Russian nature - quiet and calm.

U. What other thoughts would you have? Maybe someone thinks differently?

D. The theme is performed by the piano, which, as we agreed, conveys the thoughts and feelings of a person.

U. Are these turbulent experiences? What does music set us up for?

D. On lyrical feelings. These are a person’s reflections on his fate, this is a lyrical confession.

U. Why did you decide that a person thinks, reflects?

D. In music we hear a quiet sound, a smooth and calm movement of the melody. This is the kind of music that makes you want to think and dream.

U. What is our man thinking about?

D. About the Motherland, about Russia, about its people, about beautiful nature.

U. Determine our character’s attitude to what surrounds him.

D. He loves his people, his homeland, its nature. A person treats all this with trepidation and tenderness.

U. Why?

D. Because music expresses feelings such as kindness, affection, tenderness, some bright feelings.

U. What musical image did the composer want to convey?

D. The image of love for the Motherland, nature, Russia.

Children hum the melody of the side part with love and tenderness.

W. Paintings native nature have always worried composers. However, her images were embodied not only in music, but also in other types of Russian art.

The teacher offers students reproductions of paintings by Russian artists.

U. On turn of XIX-XX centuries In the field of fine arts, there is a wide development of landscape lyrics; prominent representatives were Russian artists I.I. Levitan, F.A. Vasiliev, V. D. Polenov, Savrasov and others.

Children in groups perform a creative task. QUESTIONS:

1. What does the image in the paintings symbolize the Russian image, the image of Russia?
2. What pictures are consonant with the music of the 1st and 2nd themes?
3. What are the similarities between a musical work and a painting?
4. What do you see in the picture that allows you to detect the presence of a person?
5. What is common between the state of nature and the feelings of our hero, which are expressed in music?

The music of the first part of the Concert sounds. Children work in groups, exchange opinions, and make a decision. Discussion.

W. An outstanding Russian artist, master of lyrical landscape was Isaac Ilyich

Levitan. With deep poetry, he captured images of the Russian land and nature on his canvases. His works are characterized by clarity and sincerity, beauty and harmony, the absence of bright colors and sharp lines. In his paintings, the artist reflected a wide variety of human feelings and experiences. Maybe that's why I.I. Levitan was once called the creator of a new type of landscape, which is usually called “MOOD LANDSCAPE”. Have you noticed how amazingly consonant the picture and the music are! Which are related, identical human feelings, the mood is evoked in the viewer and listener by two different works of art.

So, in the music of the first part of the Second Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, we identified two musical images: 1st - the image of Russia, the Motherland, 2nd - the image of love for the Motherland. How each of them will develop and interact with each other in the future, as for musical dramaturgy, we will follow and try to figure it out in the next lesson.

Now pay attention to these dates: 11873. and 2008 How long does it take to connect

These dates? The children answer.

This year, 2008, S.V. Rachmaninov would have turned 135 years old. More than a hundred years have passed, and his music is heard in our lessons today. Do you think it can be said that the music of this Russian composer is modern even now, that it has passed through time? Why are his works still so successful today?

D. I think it is possible.

Music by S.V. Rachmaninov, who lived at the turn of the 19th-21st centuries, continues to excite us, living at the turn of the 20th-21st centuries, even now, because she conveys such human feelings, embodies such aspects of life that are understandable and close to every Russian person.

U. And not only Russian. Rachmaninoff's music is very popular and famous in musical circles all over the world. Very often his works are included in their concert repertoire by many famous performers and famous symphony groups of Europe and the world. Rachmaninov's music has withstood the strictest and fairest judgment possible in art - the judgment of time.

What is its appeal? What characteristic features of the music of this wonderful Russian composer allow us to distinguish it from the huge stream of musical material?

Think about it and try to determine main features of S.V.’s music Rachmaninov.

• songfulness, length and nationality of melodies;
• strict rhythm;
• full sound, breadth and freedom of texture;
• spreading, undulating passages;
• active, courageous minor and lyrical, soft major;
• constant ebb and flow of dynamics;
• the predominance of the sound of strings and wooden instruments in the orchestra.

Works created by U. Rachmaninov various directions. But no matter what genre he turns to, his music is recognizable - this is our Russian music: melodious, melodic, drawn-out and beautiful. As beautiful as our vast Motherland - Russia with its mighty Russian nature, wonderful people, multinational culture, its folk customs, morals and spiritual traditions, native spaces and places that are so dear to every Russian person.

Students perform the song “NATIVE PLACES”, music by Y. Antonov.

The teacher works on clear intonation of the melody, correct breathing, accurate diction and articulation.

U. At the end of our meeting, I would like to wish both you and myself that our hearts never tire of believing in ourselves, in our loved ones, friends, in the great value of life. And let Rachmaninov’s music help with this, which is very attractive, goes to our heart, comes from the depths of the soul.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1. “Russian music at school”, methodological essays, G.P. Sergeeva, T.S. Shmagina, MIROS, Moscow 1998;
2. “Rachmaninov and his time”, Yu Keldysh, “Music”, Moscow 1973.

Scientists all over the world are trying to give a scientific, comprehensive answer to questions about the emergence of object-visual perception of music and the existence of an invisible boundary between the reality of sounds and the illusion of meaning. Such research can be compared to the eternal search for a higher mind, and it is necessary to begin with an understanding of the nature of the emergence of a musical image in a composition.

What is a musical image?

This is an intangible character of the composition, which has absorbed a bouquet of sounds, thoughts of the composer, performers and listeners into a single energy center without time and a reference point for real space.

The whole composition represents a flow of sensual intonations accompanying a wide variety of emotions and actions of the heroes of its story. Their combination, sequence and contradictions to each other create an image of the composition, revealing facets and expanding the boundaries of self-knowledge. Creating a musical image in music reflects the palette of feelings and emotional experiences, philosophical reflections and an enthusiastic attitude towards beauty.

The wonderful world of musical images

If a composer paints an early morning, he creates musical images in music, inviting the audience to feel the dawn, the sky in blurry clouds, the awakening of birds and animals. At this time, the dark hall, filled with sounds, instantly changes its scenery to a projection of the morning landscape of endless fields and forests.

The listener's soul rejoices, emotions overwhelm with their freshness and spontaneity. And all because the composer, when creating the melody, used sounds, their intonation, certain musical instruments, capable of orienting human memory for similar sensations of sounds. The sounds of a bell, a shepherd's pipe or the crowing of roosters fill the associative image of the melody so much that the time of action in the composition leaves no doubt - morning. In this case, we are talking about constant, predictable associations.

I. Haydn, Glinka, Verdi tried to explain what the musical image of lightning is, and N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov spent a lot of effort on creating a musical image in music. Sound buildup was used for light and atmospheric imagery, and low sounds were given to the depths of the earth, maintaining a logical juxtaposition of low and high in both art and real life.

Random associations of a musical image

There are also random associations that are unpredictable and strictly individual for each person, just like his life experience. These are smells, mood characteristics, atypical lighting, coincidence of circumstances at the time of listening and much more. One association always provokes another, saturating the musical image with additional details, giving a unique, deeply personal character to the entire composition.

Associations created as a result of listening to music have their age and relevance. That is why the realistic visual music of past centuries is gradually turning into the formal, more abstract music of our time. Specific pictorial associations are becoming obsolete. Thus, the compositions of Mozart or Bach do not evoke in the soul of a modern listener the images that were characteristic of their contemporaries. To answer the question, what is a musical image in modern music, not easy. Electronic sounds have long replaced live sounds, but they would have been completely alien to the musicians of the times of Tchaikovsky and Beethoven.

Lyrical images in music

Russian classics know well what it is in music. In 1840, Glinka wrote a romance based on the poems of the great Russian poet A.S. Pushkin “I Remember a Wonderful Moment.” The composer created images of a charming moment: the memory of the first minutes of meeting, the bitterness of parting with a loved one and the joy new meeting. The weightless melody flows smoothly at first, spilling out with gentle motifs, and is suddenly interrupted by an unstable syncopated rhythm.

Rhythmic accents, expressive repetitions and the energy of the “progressive” rhythm of the middle section so clearly reflected the effects of the poetic syllable that the famous poems of the poet in love acquired more vivid, sensual emotions, striking in their depth and residual effect.

In turn tremulous love to Ekaterina Ermolaevna Kern and deep feelings, which accompanied these relationships, created a unique work of spectacular contrasts, flexible options and intonations and revealed new little-studied possibilities for creating in and his images.

What is a musical image in a romance? This is an excited speech that reveals the secret of the beloved’s experiences and makes the listener a witness, an accomplice, and even the hero-lover himself, plunging into a world of ambiguous feelings and secret fears.

A talented performer of a romance merges with the image of the lyrical hero, as A. S. Pushkin and Glinka were once one with him, and the invisible trio covers all the listener’s senses, takes possession of his imagination and with one energy flow pours into him the spiritual impulse of love and beauty suffering experienced.

“All arts, like music, require the feeling that inspiration brings,” said Glinka. - And forms. What does harmony mean, and “forme” means beauty, i.e. proportionality of composing a harmonious whole... Feeling and form are soul and body. The first is a gift of supreme grace, the second is acquired through labor...”

A musical image is the combined character, musical and expressive means, socio-historical conditions of creation, construction features, and the style of the composer. Musical images are:

Lyrical images of feelings, sensations;

Epic-description;

Dramatic-images-conflicts, clashes;

Fairy-tale-images-fairy tales, unreal;

Comic-funny, etc. Taking advantage of the rich possibilities of the musical language, the composer creates a musical image in which

embodies one or another creative ideas, one or another life content.

Lyrical images

The word lyric comes from the word “lyre” - this is an ancient instrument that was played by singers (rhapsodists), narrating about various events and experienced emotions.

Lyrics are a monologue of the hero in which he talks about his experiences.

The lyrical image reveals the individual spiritual world of the creator. In a lyrical work there are no events, unlike drama and epic - only the confession of the lyrical hero, his personal perception of various phenomena. Here are the main properties of the lyrics:

Mood

Lack of action Dramatic/..imagery

Drama (Greek Δρα´μα - action) is one of the types of literature (along with lyrics, epic, and lyroepic), which conveys events through the dialogues of characters. Since ancient times it has existed in folklore or literary form among various peoples.

Drama is a work depicting the process of action.

The main subject of dramatic art was human passions in their most vivid manifestations.

The main properties of the drama:

A person is in a difficult, difficult situation that seems hopeless to him.

He/is/looking/for a/way/out/of/this/situation

He enters into a struggle - either with his enemies or with the situation itself. Thus, dramatic hero, in contrast to the lyrical one, acts, fights, and as a result of this struggle either wins or dies - more often than not... most of all.

In drama, the foreground is not feelings, but actions. But these actions can be caused precisely by feelings, and very strong feelings- passions. The hero, under the power of these feelings, commits active actions.

Almost all Shakespearean heroes belong to dramatic images: Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth.

They are all overwhelmed by strong passions, they are all in a difficult situation.

Hamlet is tormented by hatred of his father's murderers and a desire for revenge;

Othello suffers from jealousy;

Macbeth is very ambitious, his main problem is the thirst for power, because of which he decides to kill the king.

Drama is unthinkable without a dramatic hero: he is its nerve, focus, source. Life swirls around him, like water churning under the action of a ship’s propeller. Even if the hero is inactive (like Hamlet), then this is explosive inaction. "The hero is looking for a catastrophe. Without a catastrophe, a hero is impossible." Who is he - a dramatic hero? Slave to passion. It is not he who is looking, but she who is dragging him towards disaster.

Works embodying dramatic images: 1. Tchaikovsky " Queen of Spades"

“The Queen of Spades” is an opera based on the story of the same name by A. S. Pushkin. Epic images

EPOS, [Greek. epos - word]

Epic work- This is usually a poem telling about heroic people. deeds.

Origins epic poetry rooted in prehistoric tales of gods and other supernatural beings.

Epic is the past, because tells about past events in the life of the people, about their history and exploits;

The lyrics are real, because its object is feelings and moods;

Drama is the future, because the main thing in it is the action with the help of which the heroes try to decide their fate, their future.

First and simple diagram The division of arts associated with the word was proposed by Aristotle, according to which an epic is a story about an event, a drama represents it in persons, and lyrics respond with a song of the soul.

The place and time of action of the epic heroes resemble real story and geography (how epic differs radically from fairy tales and myths, which are completely unreal). However, the epic is not entirely realistic, although it is based on real events. Much of it is idealized and mythologized.

This is the property of our memory: we always embellish our past a little, especially if it concerns our great past, our history, our heroes. And sometimes it’s the other way around: some historical events and the characters seem worse to us than they really were. Properties of the epic: -Heroism

The unity of the hero with his people, in whose name he performs feats

Historicity

Fabulousness (sometimes epic hero fights not only with real enemies, but also with mythical creatures)

Evaluativeness (heroes of the epic are either good or bad, for example, heroes in epics - and their enemies, all sorts of monsters)

Relative objectivity (the epic describes real historical events, and the hero may have his own weaknesses)

Epic images in music are images not only of heroes, but also of events, history, they can also be images of nature depicting the Motherland in a certain historical era.

This is the difference between epic and lyricism and drama: what comes first is not the hero with his personal problems, but the story.

Works of an epic nature:

1. Borodin "Heroic//symphony"

2. Borodin "Prince//Igor"

Borodin Alexander Porfirievich (1833-1887), one of the composers of the “Mighty Handful”. All his work is permeated with the theme of the greatness of the Russian people, love for the motherland, love of freedom.

About this - and " Bogatyr Symphony", which captures the image of the mighty heroic Motherland, and the opera "Prince Igor", created based on the Russian epic "The Tale of Igor's Campaign".

“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” (“The Tale of the Campaign of Igor, Igor, son of Svyatoslavov, grandson of Oleg, is the most famous (considered the greatest) monument of medieval Russian literature. The plot is based on the unsuccessful campaign of 1185 by Russian princes against the Polovtsians, led by Prince Igor Svyatoslavich. Fabulous ..images The name itself suggests storyline these works. These images are most vividly embodied in the works of N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov. This is the symphonic suite “Scheherazade” based on the fairy tales “1001 Nights”, and his famous fairy tale operas “The Snow Maiden”, “The Tale of Tsar Saltan”, “The Golden Cockerel”, etc. Fairy-tale, fantastic images appear in close unity with nature in Rimsky-Korsakov’s music. Most often they personify, as in the works folk art, certain elemental forces and natural phenomena (Frost, Leshy, Sea Princess, etc.). Fantastic images contain, along with musical, picturesque, fairy-tale and fantastic elements, also features appearance and character real people. Such versatility (it will be discussed in more detail when analyzing the works) gives Korsakov’s musical fantasy a special originality and poetic depth. Rimsky-Korsakov’s melodies of an instrumental type are distinguished by great originality, complex in melodic-rhythmic structure, mobile and virtuosic, which are used by the composer in musical depiction fantastic characters. Here we can also mention fantastic images in music. fantastic//music//some//reflections

No one now has any doubts that science fiction works, published in huge numbers every year, and science fiction films, of which many are also produced, especially in the USA, are very popular. What about “fantasy music” (or, if you prefer, “musical fiction”)?

First of all, if you think about it, “fantasy music” has been around for quite some time. Isn’t it possible to include ancient songs and ballads (folklore) in this direction? different peoples all over the Earth to praise legendary heroes and various events (including fabulous - mythological)? And around the 17th century, operas, ballets and various symphonic works, created based on various fairy tales and legends. Penetration of fiction into musical culture began in the era of romanticism. But we can easily find elements of its “invasion” in the works of musical romantics such as Mozart, Gluck, and Beethoven. However, most clearly fantastic motives sound in the music of German composers R. Wagner, E. T. A. Hoffmann, K. Weber, F. Mendelssohn. Their works are filled with Gothic intonations, motifs of fairy-tale and fantastic elements, closely intertwined with the theme of confrontation between man and the surrounding reality. One cannot help but recall the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg, famous for his musical works based on folk epic, and the works of Henrik Ibsen “Procession of the Dwarves”, “In the Cave of the Mountain King”, Dance of the Elves, also by the Frenchman Hector Berlioz, in whose work the theme of the elements of the forces of nature is clearly expressed. Romanticism also manifested itself in a unique way in Russian musical culture. Full of fantastic imagery, Mussorgsky’s works “Pictures at an Exhibition” and “Night on Bald Mountain”, which depict a witches’ Sabbath on the night of Ivan Kupala, have had a colossal influence on modern rock culture. Mussorgsky also created the musical interpretation of N.V. Gogol's story "Sorochinskaya Fair". By the way, the penetration of literary fiction into musical culture is most clearly noticeable in the works of Russian composers: “The Queen of Spades” by Tchaikovsky, “Rusalka” and “ Stone Guest"Dargomyzhsky, "Ruslan and Lyudmila" by Glinka, "The Golden Cockerel" by Rimsky-Korsakov, "The Demon" by Rubinstein, etc. At the beginning of the twentieth century, a real revolution in music was made by the brave experimenter Scriabin, an apologist for synthetic art, who stood at the origins of light music. In the symphonic score he he wrote the part for light in a separate line. His works such as “are filled with fantastic imagery.” Divine Poem"(3rd Symphony, 1904), "Poem of Fire" ("Prometheus", 1910), "Poem of Ecstasy" (1907). And even such recognized "realists" as Shostakovich and Kabalevsky used the technique of fantasy in their musical works But, perhaps, the real flowering of “fantastic music” (music in science fiction) began in the 70s of our century, with the development of computer technology and the appearance of the famous films “2001: A Space Odyssey” by S. Kubrick (where, by the way, they were very successfully used). classical works R. Strauss and I. Strauss) and "Solaris" by A. Tarkovsky (who in his film, together with composer E. Artemyev, one of the first Russian "synthesizers", created a simply wonderful sound "background", combining mysterious cosmic sounds with brilliant music J.-S. Bach). Is it really possible to imagine the famous “trilogy” of J. Lucas? Star wars" and even "Indiana Jones" (which was directed by Steven Spielberg - but the idea was Lucas!) without the fiery and romantic music of J. Williams, performed by a symphony orchestra.

Meanwhile (by the beginning of the 70s), the development of computer technology reaches a certain level- musical synthesizers appear. This new technique opens up brilliant prospects for musicians: it has finally become possible to give free rein to imagination and model, create amazing, downright magical sounds, weave them into music, “sculpt” the sound like a sculptor!.. Perhaps this is real science fiction. in music. So from now on it begins new era, a galaxy of first master synthesizers and authors-performers of their works appears. Comic images The fate of the comic in music was dramatic. Many art critics do not mention the comic in music at all. The rest either deny the existence of musical comedy or consider its possibilities to be minimal. The most common point of view was well formulated by M. Kagan: “The possibilities of creating a comic image in music are minimal. (...) Perhaps only in the 20th century did music begin to actively seek its own, purely musical means for creating comic images. (...) And yet, despite the important artistic discoveries, made by musicians of the 20th century, in musical creativity the comic has not won and, apparently, will never win the place that it has long occupied in literature, drama theater, fine arts, cinema.” So, the comic is funny and has broad significance. The task is “correction with laughter.” A smile and laughter become “companions” of the comic only when they express the feeling of satisfaction that a person’s spiritual victory evokes over what contradicts his ideals, what is incompatible with them, what is hostile to him, since to expose what that contradicts the ideal, to realize its contradiction means to overcome the bad, to free oneself from it. Consequently, as the leading Russian esthetician M. S. Kagan wrote, the collision of the real and the ideal lies at the basis of the comic. It should be remembered that the comic, unlike the tragic, occurs only if it does not cause suffering for others and is not dangerous for humans.

Shades of the comic are humor and satire. Humor is a good-natured, gentle mockery of individual shortcomings and weaknesses of an overall positive phenomenon. Humor is friendly, good-natured laughter, although not toothless. Satire is the second type of comic. Unlike humor, satirical laughter is a menacing, cruel, withering laughter. In order to hurt evil, social deformities, vulgarity, immorality and the like as much as possible, the phenomenon is often deliberately exaggerated and exaggerated. All forms of art have the ability to create comedy. There is no need to talk about literature, theater, cinema, painting - it is so obvious. Scherzo, some images in operas (for example, Farlaf, Dodon) - realize the comic in music. Or let’s remember the finale of the first movement of Tchaikovsky’s Second Symphony, written on the theme of the humorous Ukrainian song “Crane”. This is music that makes the listener smile. Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" is full of humor (for example, "Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks"). Rimsky-Korsakov’s “The Golden Cockerel” and many musical images of the second movement of Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony are sharply satirical.

11.Concepts

Song or song - the simplest but most common form vocal music, combining poetic text with melody. Sometimes accompanied by orcestics (also facial expressions). A song in a broad sense includes everything that is sung, subject to the simultaneous combination of words and tune; in a narrow sense - small poetic lyrical genre, existing among all nations and characterized by simplicity of musical and verbal construction. Songs differ in genres, composition, forms of performance and other characteristics. The song can be performed either by one singer or by a choir. Songs are sung both with instrumental accompaniment and without it (a cappella).

Musical image

Musical content manifests itself in musical images, in their emergence, development and interaction.

No matter how uniform a piece of music may be in mood, all sorts of changes, shifts, and contrasts can always be discerned in it. The appearance of a new melody, a change in rhythmic or textural pattern, or a change in section almost always means the emergence of a new image, sometimes similar in content, sometimes directly opposite.

How in development life events, natural phenomena or movements human soul There is rarely only one line, one mood, and in music development is based on figurative wealth, the interweaving of various motives, states and experiences.

Each such motive, each state either contributes new image, or complements and generalizes the main one.

In general, in music there are rarely works based on a single image. Only a small play or a small fragment can be considered unified in its figurative content. For example, Scriabin's Twelfth Etude presents a very integral image, although upon careful listening we will definitely note its internal complexity, the interweaving of various states and means in it musical development.

Many other small-scale works are built in the same way. As a rule, the duration of a play is closely related to the peculiarities of its figurative structure: small plays are usually close to a single figurative sphere, while large ones require a longer and more complex figurative development. And this is natural: all major genres in various types x arts are usually associated with the embodiment of complex life content; they are inherent large number heroes and events, while small ones are usually addressed to some particular phenomenon or experience. This, of course, does not mean that large works are certainly distinguished by greater depth and significance, it is often even the other way around: a small play, even its individual motive, is sometimes able to say so much that their impact on people turns out to be even stronger and deeper.

There is a deep connection between the duration of a musical work and its figurative structure, which is found even in the titles of the works, for example “War and Peace”, “Spartacus”, “Alexander Nevsky” suggest a multi-part embodiment in a large-scale form (opera, ballet, cantata), while while “Cuckoo”, “Butterfly”, “Lonely Flowers” ​​are written in the form of miniatures.

Why do works that do not have a complex figurative structure sometimes move people so deeply?

Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that, by concentrating on a single imaginative state, the composer invests in small piece all the soul, all the creative energy that his artistic design? It is no coincidence that in the music of the 19th century, in the era of romanticism, which said so much about man and the innermost world of his feelings, it was the musical miniature that reached its highest peak.

A lot of small-scale, but striking in image works were written by Russian composers. Glinka, Mussorgsky, Lyadov, Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and other outstanding Russian composers created a whole gallery of musical images. Huge figurative world, real and fantastic, celestial and underwater, forest and steppe, was translated into Russian music, in the wonderful names of its program works. You already know many of the images embodied in the plays of Russian composers - “Aragonese Jota”, “Dwarf”, “Baba Yaga”, “ Old castle", "Magic Lake"...

No less rich is the figurative content in non-programmatic works that do not have a special title.

Lyrical images

In many works known to us as preludes and mazurkas, the deepest imaginative riches are hidden, revealed to us only in living musical sound.

One of these works is S. Rachmaninov’s Prelude in G sharp minor. Her mood, at the same time tremulous and melancholy, is in tune with the Russian musical tradition of embodying images of sadness and farewell.

The composer did not give the piece a title (Rachmaninov did not designate any of his preludes with a programmatic subtitle), but the music feels a poignant autumnal state: the trembling of the last leaves, drizzling rain, the low gray sky.

The musical image of the prelude is even complemented by a moment of sound-imagery: in the melodic and textured sound one can discern something similar to the farewell crowing of cranes leaving us for a long, long winter.

Perhaps because in our area the cold lasts for so long, and spring comes slowly and reluctantly, every Russian person feels the end of the warm summer with particular acuteness and says goodbye to it with melancholy sadness. And therefore, the images of farewell are closely intertwined with the theme of autumn, with autumn images, of which there are so many in Russian art: flying leaves, drizzle, crane wedge.

How many poems, paintings, musical pieces related to this topic! And how unusually rich the imaginative world of autumn sadness and farewell is.

Here they are flying, here they are flying...Open the gates quickly!
Come out quickly to look at your tall ones!
Now they are silent - and again the soul and nature are orphaned
Because - shut up! - no one can express them that way...

These are lines from Nikolai Rubtsov’s poem “Cranes,” in which the image of the Russian soul and Russian nature, embodied in the high farewell flight of the cranes, is so piercingly and accurately depicted.

And although Rachmaninov, of course, did not introduce such an accurate picture into his work, it seems that the crane motif in the figurative structure of the prelude is not accidental. Cranes are a kind of symbolic image, as if floating above the general figurative picture of the prelude, giving its sound a special height and purity.

The musical image is not always associated with the embodiment of subtle lyrical feelings. As in other forms of art, images are not only lyrical, but sometimes acutely dramatic, expressing clashes, contradictions, and conflicts. The embodiment of great life content gives birth to epic images, characterized by particular complexity and versatility.

Let us consider various types of figurative and musical development in their connection with the characteristics of musical content.

Dramatic images

Dramatic images, like lyrical ones, are very widely represented in music. On the one hand, they arise in music based on dramatic literary works(these are opera, ballet and other stage genres), however, much more often the concept of “dramatic” is associated in music with the peculiarities of its character, the musical interpretation of characters, images, etc.

Sample dramatic work F. Schubert's ballad “The Forest King”, written to a poem by the great German poet J. W. Goethe. The ballad also combines genre-dramatic features - after all, it represents a whole scene with the participation of various characters! - and the sharp drama inherent in the character of this story, stunning in depth and power.

What does it say?

Let us note right away that the ballad is performed, as a rule, in the original language - German, therefore its meaning and content require translation.

Such a translation exists - the best translation of Goethe's ballad into Russian, despite the fact that it was made almost two centuries ago. Its author, V. Zhukovsky, is a contemporary of Pushkin, a unique, very subtle, deeply lyrical poet, who gave this interpretation of Goethe’s “Terrible Vision”.

Forest king

Who gallops, who rushes under the cold darkness?
The rider is late, his young son is with him.
The little one came close to his father, shuddering;
The old man hugs him and warms him.

“Child, why are you clinging to me so timidly?”
“Darling, the king of the forest sparkled in my eyes:
He wears a dark crown and a thick beard.”
“Oh no, the fog is white over the water.”

“Child, look around, baby, towards me;
There is a lot of fun in my side:
Turquoise flowers, pearly streams;
My palaces are made of gold.”

“Dear, the king of the forest speaks to me:
It promises gold, pearls and joy.”
“Oh no, my baby, you misheard:
Then the wind, waking up, shook the sheets.”

“Come to me, my baby! In my oak grove
You will recognize my beautiful daughters;
When it's month they will play and fly,
Playing, flying, putting you to sleep.”

“Darling, the forest king called his daughters:
I see they are nodding to me from the dark branches.”
“Oh no, everything is calm in the depths of the night:
The gray willows stand to the side.”

“Child, I was captivated by your beauty:
Willy-nilly or willy-nilly, you will be mine.”
“Darling, the forest king wants to catch up with us;
Here it is: I’m stuffy, it’s hard for me to breathe.”

The timid rider does not gallop, he flies;
The baby yearns, the baby cries;
The rider urges on, the rider gallops...
In his hands lay a dead baby.

Comparing the German and Russian versions of the poem, the poet Marina Tsvetaeva notes the main difference between them: in Zhukovsky, the Forest King appeared to the boy, in Goethe, he actually appeared. Therefore, Goethe’s ballad is more real, more terrible, more reliable: his child dies not from fear (as in Zhukovsky), but from the real Forest King, who appears before the boy in all the strength of his might.

Schubert, an Austrian composer who read the ballad in German, conveys all the terrible reality of the story about the Forest King: in his song he is as reliable a character as the boy and his father.

The speech of the Forest King is noticeably different from the excited speech of the narrator, the child and the father in the predominance of affectionate insinuation, softness, and enticement. Pay attention to the nature of the melody - abrupt, with an abundance of questions and rising intonations in the parts of all the characters, except for the Forest King, for him it is smooth, rounded, melodious.

But not only the nature of the melodic intonation - with the appearance of the Forest King, the entire textural accompaniment changes: the rhythm of a frantic jump, permeating the ballad from beginning to end, gives way to more calm-sounding chords, very euphonious, gentle, lulling.

There is even a peculiar contrast between the episodes of the ballad, so agitated and alarming in character as a whole, with only two glimpses of calm and euphony (two phrases of the Forest King).

In fact, as often happens in art, it is in such tenderness that the most terrible thing lurks: the call to death, irreparability and irrevocability of departure.

Therefore, Schubert’s music leaves us no illusions: as soon as the sweet and terrible speeches of the Forest King cease, the frantic galloping of the horse (or the beating of the heart?) bursts in again, showing us with its swiftness the last push towards salvation, towards overcoming the terrible forest, its dark and mysterious depths .

This is where the dynamics of the musical development of the ballad ends: because at the end, when there is a stop in movement, the last phrase sounds like an afterword: “In his hands lay a dead baby.”

Thus, in the musical interpretation of the ballad, we see not only the images of its participants, but also images that directly influenced the construction of the entire musical development. Life, its impulses, its aspirations for liberation - and death, frightening and attractive, terrible and lulling. Hence the two-dimensionality of the musical movement, realistic and figurative in the episodes associated with the galloping of the horse, the confusion of the father, the gasping voice of the child, and distantly affectionate in the calm, almost lullaby-like speeches of the Forest King.

The embodiment of dramatic images requires maximum concentration from the composer expressive means, which leads to the creation of an internally dynamic and, as a rule, compact work (or its fragment), based on the figurative development of a dramatic nature. That is why dramatic images are so often embodied in the forms of vocal music, in instrumental genres on a small scale, as well as in individual fragments of cyclic works (sonatas, concertos, symphonies).

Epic images

Epic images require long and unhurried development; they can be exhibited for a long time and slowly develop, introducing the listener into an atmosphere of a unique epic flavor.

One of the brightest works, imbued with epic imagery, is the epic opera “Sadko” by N. Rimsky-Korsakov. It is the Russian epics, which became the source of numerous plot fragments of the opera, that give it its epic character and leisurely musical movement. The composer himself wrote about this in the preface to the opera “Sadko”: “Many speeches, as well as descriptions of scenery and stage details, are borrowed entirely from various epics, songs, plots, lamentations, etc. Therefore, the libretto often preserves the epic verse with its characteristic features."

Not only the libretto, but also the music of the opera bears the stamp of the features of the epic verse. The action begins from afar, with a leisurely orchestral introduction called “Blue Ocean-Sea.” Ocean-Sea is listed in the list of characters as the King of the Sea, that is, a completely reliable, albeit mythological character. IN big picture heroes of various fairy tales The King of the Sea occupies the same definite place as the King of the Forest - the hero of Schubert's ballad. However, how differently these fairy-tale heroes, representing two completely different types of musical imagery!

Remember the beginning of Schubert's ballad. The fast-paced action captivates us from the very first beat. The clatter of hooves, against which the excited speech of the characters sounds, gives the musical movement a character of confusion and growing anxiety. This is the law of development of dramatic images.

Opera "Sadko", in some plot motives having similarities with the “Forest King” (just as the boy fell in love with the Forest King and was taken by force to the forest kingdom, so Sadko fell in love with the Sea Princess and was sank to the bottom of the “ocean sea”), has a different character, devoid of dramatic poignancy.

The undramatic, narrative nature of the musical development of the opera is also revealed already in its first bars. It is not the length of the plot that is represented in the musical image of the introduction “Ocean-Sea Blue”, but the poetic beauty of this magical musical picture. The play of sea waves is heard in the intro music: not menacing, not powerful, but enchantingly fantastic. Slowly, as if admiring its own colors, the sea water shimmers.

In the opera "Sadko" it is associated with her image most plot events, and from the nature of the introduction it is clear that they will not be tragic, endowed with acute conflicts and clashes, but calm and majestic, in the spirit of folk epics.

This is the musical interpretation of various types of imagery, characteristic not only of music, but also of other forms of art. Lyrical, dramatic, epic figurative spheres form their own meaningful features. In music, this is reflected in its various aspects: the choice of genre, the scale of the work, the organization of expressive means.

We will talk about the uniqueness of the main features of the musical interpretation of content in the second part of the textbook. Because in music, like in no other art, every technique, every stroke, even the smallest, is meaningful. And sometimes a very minor change - sometimes a single note - can radically change its content, its impact on the listener.

Questions and tasks:

1. How does an image more often manifest itself in a piece of music - simultaneously or multifacetedly and why?
2. How is the nature of the musical image (lyrical, dramatic, epic) related to the choice musical genre and the scale of the work?
3. Can a small piece of music express a deep and complex image?
4. How to musical expressiveness convey the figurative content of the music? Explain this using the example of F. Schubert’s ballad “The Forest King”.
5. Why did N. Rimsky-Korsakov use authentic epics and songs when creating the opera “Sadko”?

Presentation

Included:
1. Presentation - 13 slides, ppsx;
2. Sounds of music:
Rachmaninov. Prelude No. 12 in G sharp minor, mp3;
Rimsky-Korsakov. “Blue Ocean-Sea” from the opera “Sadko”, mp3;
Schubert. Ballad “Forest Tsar” (3 versions - in Russian, German languages and piano without vocals), mp3;
3. Accompanying article, docx.