World music culture has evolved over the years. One of the leading places in it is also the Russian national school. This is an absolutely justified statement, because many famous composers in Russia are highly valued to this day around the world. Famous Russian composers, thanks to their works, glorified their country, and also had a direct influence on their foreign colleagues.
A bit of history
The heyday of Russian musical culture falls on the eighteenth century. This period is also considered to be an era of great shifts. At this time, the first Russian composer school appears, the main traditions of musical performance are being formed. As for genres, the most complex of them developed quite rapidly: opera, choral and instrumental music. However, the main genre should still be considered opera, and during this period it was popular not only among Russian composers, but also abroad. In Russia, an opera, unlike a foreign one, was presented in a more understandable, accessible, concise and realistic form, based on a folk basis. Together with her, choral music developed, which certainly accompanied every performance. In this article you will find not only interesting information, but also photos of famous composers.
XVIII century
At this stage, the first famous Russian composers appeared, one of them was Dmitry Bortnyansky. Thanks to him, Russian music received new traditions and trends in the genre of choral concert, for example. He was famous for his own style of processing - he combined the features of old tunes with modern harmonic trends. He could enrich any, even the simplest texture and turn it into something unique thanks to the use of rhythmic diversifications, the diverse use of choral composition, and remarkable polyphonic mastery. It is also worth mentioning that the composer worked in the court singing chapel and had a considerable influence on her performing style, like many famous Russian composers. The most famous choral concerts of Dmitry Bortnyansky are "Do not reject me in my old age" and choral concert number 33.
Mikhail Glinka
Famous Russian composers began to appear from the eighteenth century, however, in fact, the real heyday of Russian classical music came at the end of the eighteenth century. He is associated primarily with Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka. It was this composer who opened a new historical period in music. His main achievement was the refraction of the main classical trends. Glinka worked, one might say, in all musical genres, he wrote operas, works for a symphony orchestra, plays for the piano, many romances and vocal compositions, his creations for chamber ensembles are also known. The innovative role of Mikhail Ivanovich is quite large, many well-known composers sought to match his unique style. Glinka deeply understood the nationality, it is rather well reflected in the opera Ivan Susanin. The composer is also known for his special approach to peasant song; often in his works he used chanting and variation. It is worth noting that before Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka, many famous composers wrote similar works, but it is he who is considered the founder of the Russian national classical opera. The most famous in our time are the works "Ruslan and Lyudmila" and "Ivan Susanin."
Alexander Dargomyzhsky
In the nineteenth century, an advanced social movement developed in Russia, critical realism flourished , this applies to both art as a whole and music. Alexander Sergeevich Dargomyzhsky was a representative of his own unique style - intonational realism. Like many of his contemporaries, also well-known composers, he continued the traditions and innovations introduced by Mikhail Glinka, but introduced some innovative originality, emphasizing his bright style. One of the greatest achievements of Alexander Sergeyevich is the opera Mermaid. Its innovation, first of all, lies in the fact that this is the first lyric-psychological drama in the Russian classical opera school using cross-cutting development. It is important that almost all innovative elements are shown in choral scenes, they are characterized by melody and some similarities with the once popular urban romance. It is also the first opera in which character images are quite original - these are ordinary people of different social strata and mystical mermaids. Another popular work by Dargomyzhsky is considered to be the vocal chamber ensemble "Petersburg Serenades".
The most famous composers, the association "Mighty Handful"
Quite significant was this period. The end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth became one of the most significant stages in the development of Russian culture. It was during this period that famous musical composers created the modern, well-known community, The Mighty Handful. This group made an unusually significant contribution to the development of the Russian national composer school. And this is absolutely not surprising. After all, it included such famous composers, as Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, Alexander Porfirevich Borodin, Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov, Mili Alekseevich Balakirev and Caesar Antonovich Cui. Their work is characterized by profound stylistic changes in the genre of opera, in particular, great importance was attached to historical drama and mass scenes.
Despite the fact that all their activities, in principle, were aimed at maintaining the unique traditions of Alexander Dargomyzhsky and Mikhail Glinka, they supplemented them with a mass of changes and innovations, which subsequently brought them incredible popularity outside of Russia.
Modest Mussorgsky
Mussorgsky is the founder of a completely modernized direction in the Russian classical opera school. Quite often, he was compared with Rubinstein. He created the direction of musical drama. His opera work is also remembered for the fact that the works use such unique features as new means of musical expression used to characterize the image of the people, differentiation of the choir and the allocation of specific voices in its composition, frequent use of melodic recitative, dialogues. It is worth noting that the choral scenes are quite majestic. Following the unique trends of Dargomyzhsky, Mussorgsky used the same scenes of end-to-end development. However, the composer's achievements are not limited only to the opera genre; he was very successful in choral processing of folk songs, independent piano works and large-scale compositions for the choir, and vocal and symphonic masterpieces. The most popular in our time are the operas of the composer Khovanshchina and Boris Godunov. Thanks to them, Modest Petrovich was recognized by many famous composers of the world.
Sergey Rachmaninov
One of the most popular composers of the twentieth century in Russia can rightfully be considered Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninov. In his works, they clearly conveyed the role of melody. The main source of inspiration for the composer was the connection with Russian folk songs, with the ancient choral culture. The main principle of his work can also be called sincerity, direct expression of feelings and realistic transmission of a life picture. The most successful genre for the composer was vocal and symphonic works. They are endowed with incredible psychological depth and philosophical thought. Popular in our time cantata "Spring" and "Bells". By the way, the latter is an essay thanks to which the famous composers of the world were inspired to write their own masterpieces . It was Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitry Shostakovich, George Sviridov. Also, this includes the famous Soviet composer Yuri Alexandrovich Shaporin.
Most musicians also highly appreciated and appreciate the piano compositions of Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninov, his preludes and sketches are incredibly beautiful, one of the most popular concert works is the famous "Elegy".
Below you can see the original photos. There are not so many famous Soviet composers, however, they had a considerable influence on the musical culture of Russia. Among them are Dmitry Shostakovich, Andrei Eshpay, Rodion Shchedrin, Alexandra Pakhmutova.
Famous composers of the world. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
If we talk about the famous composers in the world, the first who is most often remembered is, of course, Mozart. The composer was born in Salzburg, he began to play very early, in fact, at the age of 6 he toured and gave concerts. There is an opinion that the boy had a phenomenal hearing, as well as memory. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart played the violin, piano, organ and harpsichord, also had excellent conducting skills and the ability to masterly improvisation. Many classical composers, known for their original works, sought to imitate the unique style of Mozart. Nowadays, his most popular works include the opera The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute, as well as the fundamental Requiem.
Composers of France: Georges Bizet
Famous French composers are quite popular these days. One of the most outstanding is Georges Bizet - a unique representative of the period of romanticism. He wrote a large number of orchestral works, romances and plays for the piano. However, the most famous, and perhaps the most successful genre in which the composer worked, is opera. Of course, the most famous can be called the incomparable "Carmen". Another, not so famous, but no less successful was the opera "Seekers of Pearls."
In conclusion, we can say that the songs of famous classical composers in Russia and around the world, as well as their piano and symphonic creations, remain popular today. Quite often, such works are heard at concerts, on television in films and even in advertising. This suggests that the musical culture, over time acquiring a new cut, still remembers those classical traditions that were established by the most famous composers.