Spiritual choir concert. The role of the spiritual concert in church practice

The life of musical genres is similar to the life of a person: birth - childhood - formation - youth - growing up - maturity - aging - fading. However, the existence of a genre in itself is not continuous - often a period of prosperity and wide public recognition suddenly gives way to many years of sluggish vegetation, and even complete oblivion, which can also suddenly be replaced by a stormy revival of the genre, its social and artistic reincarnation. The reasons for this lie in secrets public consciousness, the comprehension of which from century to century is the subject of philosophical reflection.

The genre of spiritual choral concerto has gone exactly this way. Born in the Renaissance under the echoing vaults of the Venetian Cathedral of St. Mark, in a short time - by the standards of history - he won sympathy European composers. Following the Italians Willaert, Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli, the German Schutz, the Poles Zelensky, Melchevsky, Ruzhitsky, the time has come for Russian authors to “compose concerts”. Through the labors of Nikolai Diletsky, Vasily Titov, Fyodor Redrikov, Yakov Rezvitsky and our other composers, the partes choral style flourished in pre-Petrine Russia. But this was only the prehistory of the Russian spiritual choral concert.

With the arrival in St. Petersburg of foreign bandmasters - Sarti, Tsoppi, Galuppi - the genre and style of the many-movement concert-motet penetrates into domestic choral music. And now Russian composers of the late 18th - early 19th centuries create their spiritual compositions in this style: M. Berezovsky, D. Bortnyansky.A. Vedel, S. Degtyarev, S. Davydov, and in mid-nineteenth century - General A. Lvov. But more and more one can feel in their work the desire to get away from the mechanical imitation of Western European models, to create an original style. musical language. That was the time rapid development Russian national musical culture, and in this development a new understanding of the purpose and tasks of sacred music was born.

The next stage in the history of the spiritual choral concert genre was inextricably linked with the flourishing of the brilliant art of the Synodal Choir and the emergence of turn of XIX and XX centuries of the new Russian school of composers church music. In the works of A. Arkhangelsky, A. Grechaninov, M. Ippolitov-Ivanov, Viktor Kalinnikov, A. Kastalsky, A. Nikolsky, Yu. use in the writings of all known means musical language. Spiritual music began to increasingly go beyond the walls of the temple, turning from a modest commentator on ordinary actions into a powerful means of spiritual and aesthetic education. It is no coincidence that A. Grechaninov declared in November 1917: “Yes, it will be allowed to us, the sons eastern church, following St. writing "Praise God in timbrel and lyre, in strings and organ", to sing to the glory of God, without binding your free inspiration in any way.

The long period of forcible suppression of Russian sacred music that followed after 1917 temporarily suspended creative searches. domestic composers. However, with the first glimpses of the revival of religious life, these searches resumed. And then it turned out that a large part of what was found and tested by previous generations of authors has not lost its viability even today. At the same time, features modern development national and world musical culture inevitably have an impact on the nature of Russian sacred music.

The genre of spiritual choral concert has also acquired new features in our days. The changes affected literally all its features. The many-part form, built on a contrasting comparison of completed sections, is increasingly replaced by a through development that combines elements of reprise with variation and strophicity. The brevity of the author's statement, characteristic of the era, led to the fact that the scale of the works was much reduced (the playing time of one number rarely exceeds 4 minutes). The contrast of the external order (according to the principle of “quiet-loud”, “quick-slow”, “major-minor”, ​​“soloist-choir”) is increasingly being replaced by an internal, hidden contrast (polymode, polymetric, etc.), acting on minimum time period. The result of the often emerging veiled dialogism was that the number of concertos written for a soloist with a choir has significantly decreased (compared to the era of Chesnokov). The melodic basis of the compositions became more modest, and even poorer, giving way to harmonic and onomatopoeic coloring. The main feature of modern sacred music has become the use of the freely interpreted principle of concert quality - in almost all compositions created on canonical texts.

The attitude of modern authors to the text of spiritual compositions is indicative. If in early XIX centuries, the poetic basis of spiritual concerts were the verses of psalms or individual lines of stichera and troparia performed at Matins, then already at the beginning of the 20th century, any canonical texts, up to purely service ones, could become the reason for writing a work in the “concert style”. Suffice it to mention the spiritual works of P. Chesnokov, A. Kastalsky, A. Grechaninov, A. Nikolsky and other authors of the pre-revolutionary era: it was they who began to apply the principle of concerto to the texts of the Vespers, Liturgy, Panikhida, Funeral Service, monastic rites, etc. And it should be recognized that the spiritual and cleansing effect of these texts became much deeper when emphasized and enhanced by expressive and talented music.

Today, the experiences of the outstanding composers of the Moscow school of church singing are being further developed. creative development. Using the techniques of concerto, contemporary authors they set luminaries, icoses, troparia, prayers, etc. to music. At the same time, one can often observe how the author does not compose an original melody, but also does not quote an everyday tune, but chooses a certain “middle” path - creatively, i.e. quite freely processes the vowel melody, retaining some of its elements and at the same time giving it the features of an expressive melodic recitative. At the same time, the harmonic language of choral accompaniment can be the most diverse - from the traditional diatonic of church modes to poly-mode constructions or chromatically colored variability. The textural methods of presentation are largely associated with the traditional church singing tradition: reading, psalmody, hysson, antiphon, responsorship, etc.

Perhaps the artistic results of the creativity of modern Russian authors sacred music will seem more modest than the centuries-old achievements of their predecessors. This is quite understandable: after a long break, much has to be started anew, carefully connecting the past with the present, trying on modern musical tastes all the most valuable and fruitful of the experience of past centuries. There is an intense, multifaceted, sometimes hardly noticeable to others, search for expressive means, stylistic originality, moral and aesthetic continuity, spiritual depth and meaningfulness. The result of this search should be the upcoming update. Renewal of the spiritual choral concert genre, renewal of Russian sacred music, renewal of the national spiritual and musical culture. And then the prophesied will come true: "Your youth will be renewed, like an eagle."

Konstantin NIKITIN.

Spiritual music

Spiritual music - musical works associated with texts of a religious nature, intended to be performed during a church service or at home. Sacred music in a narrow sense means church music of Christians; in a broad sense, sacred music is not limited to the accompaniment of worship and is not limited to Christianity. The texts of sacred music compositions can be either canonical (for example, a Catholic Mass) or free, written on the basis of or under the influence of sacred books (for Christians, the Bible).

In what follows, we are talking about sacred music in the broadest sense. On sacred music, understood as a synonym for liturgical music (for Christians - church music).

Genres of Christian sacred music

The most common genres of Christian sacred music, Catholic and Protestant, are borrowed from church music; it is a chorale, a psalm, a hymn (including Te Deum, Ave Maria), a mass (including a requiem for the dead - Requiem), a sequence and passions.

Each of the listed genres has its own history, but the common thing for all is that they were born (or formed) in the church and the right to compose works of a spiritual nature - not only texts, but also their musical design - initially belonged exclusively to the ministers of the church (for example, , the authorship of most of the chants of the Roman liturgy was attributed by medieval tradition to Pope Gregory I).

Psalms- musical works of small form, based on the text of the Psalter. The most ancient genre, since hymns and prayers to the verses of David were composed in Judea even in pre-Christian times. In the 16th century, psalms became widespread in professional non-cult music, especially “De profundis” (from Latin - “From the depths”) - the text of the 129th psalm, which, both initially among the Jews and later among Catholics, was often used as a funeral prayers; are known, in particular, "De profundis" by Ya. D. Zelenka and K. V. Gluck, Bach, Handel.

Masses- cyclic vocal or vocal-instrumental works, which are a collection of parts of the Catholic liturgy. AT Protestant Church short masses were adopted, consisting only of the first two parts of the Catholic ordinary - Kyrie eleison and Gloria. Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven

Requiems- originally Catholic funeral masses. The first work of this genre, written in a canonical Latin text, is considered to be Dufay's Requiem, which has not come down to us; the first to survive, an a capella composition in polyphonic style, is by Johannes Okegem (15th century). Mozart, Verdi.

Passion- vocal and dramatic works dedicated to the events of Holy Week, originally based on the gospel texts; however, with early XVIII centuries for the writings of this genre, texts written based on the gospels were increasingly used famous poets, including opera librettists. Bach, Salieri,

Stabat mater(stabet mater) - Catholic hymn (sequence) to the Latin text by Jacopone da Todi. Pergolesi, Rossini

Ave Maria(Ave Maria) - catholic prayer facing the Virgin Mary. The most famous belongs to Franz Schubert(originally written in non-canonical text), gounod

Spirituals(from English spiritual - spiritual) - the spiritual songs of African Americans can be considered as an offshoot of Christian sacred music, since the spiritual hymns brought to America by Europeans served as a source for them, and their subjects are traditionally biblical stories

Orthodox sacred music

Vespers

Starting from the 18th century, Russian composers created works of a concert nature based on the texts of the All-Night Vigil - "Vespers", which could be performed outside of worship; the "All-Night" by A. L. Vedel and S. A. Degtyarev are known. From the second half of the 19th century, the Vespers often took the form of original choral compositions or fairly free arrangements of ancient chants; such works were created, in particular, by A. A. Arkhangelsky, A. T. Grechaninov, P. G. Chesnokov. The best examples genre are considered "All-night" P.I. Tchaikovsky and Sergei Rachmaninov.

Russian spiritual concert

The spiritual concerto that came to Russia from the West at the end of the 17th century, which was a “competition” of two or more choirs opposed to each other, at first developed as a genre of purely church music and corresponded to the traditions of Orthodox worship: unlike Western European, it did not involve instrumental accompaniment and was written in in the form of partes polyphony, which was established by that time in the church, in which the number of voices usually ranged from 3 to 12 (in some concerts it reached 48). But in the second half of the 18th century, the spiritual concert went beyond the church; classical compositions in this genre were created by Maxim Berezovsky and Dmitry Bortnyansky.

Alexander Arkhangelsky

Alexander Arkhangelsky was born on October 11, 1846 in the family of a priest in the village of Staroe Tezikovo, Narovchatsky district, Penza province. In addition to the younger Alexander, the family had two more children. Peasant life and the sudden loss of his father (Sasha was 7 years old) from early childhood taught the future regent and composer to constant hard work. In childhood, Alexander's main interest was also manifested - in singing and music, and his son's ear for music was brought up by his mother, Elizaveta Fedorovna (daughter of the priest of the village of Staroe Tezikovo), who herself loved singing and music.

After graduating from the rural parochial school, Sasha entered the nearest Krasnoslobodsky theological school, where his musical abilities and beautiful voice (alto) were immediately noticed and the gifted boy was included in the singing school. It must be said that the choirs of theological schools and seminaries of Russia were the best among the choirs of other educational institutions. In 1859, the voice of Sasha Arkhangelsky was noticed by the Penza Bishop Varlaam traveling around the diocese. And in the fall of 1859, the talented young man was immediately transferred to the second grade of the Penza Provincial Theological School and enrolled as a singer-soloist in the bishop's choir. And after successfully graduating from college in 1862, Arkhangelsky was transferred to the Penza Theological Seminary. And here the 16-year-old seminarian had the opportunity to “become” the choir director (there was an unexpected need to replace the choir director). Success, respect and authority were earned by the young regent in the Penza musical circles. But this did not turn his head, Arkhangelsky understood well that self-education needed to be supplemented with deeper knowledge. Alexander all his free time and spends modest earnings on music lessons: for 7 years he has been learning to play the violin with an accompanist opera house Rubinovich. He takes lessons in music theory and harmony from the famous Penza musician N. Potulov. Expands his horizons in the field of music history. And the Penza amateur conductor and singer P. Fedotov, who appreciated the conductor's abilities of Arkhangelsky, willingly leads his classes, initiating the "secrets" of the conductor's art.

After graduating from the seminary, Arkhangelsky continues to work as the second, and then the first director of the bishop's choir in Penza. But his cherished dream is getting a higher education. “Since the time of studying at the seminary, I have made it necessary for myself to receive higher education, even whatever it is, ”Arkhangelsky wrote in his autobiographical notes.

In the summer of 1870, at the age of 24, the young regent went to St. Petersburg and became a volunteer in the surgical department of the Military Medical Academy. At the same time, he accumulates and deepens his musical and professional knowledge: he takes private lessons in piano and solo singing. Arkhangelsky believed that the regent-conductor should sing professionally himself, know the rules for staging the voice, so as not to "spoil" the voices of the singers. And soon Alexander Arkhangelsky realizes that the profession of a surgeon, to which he aspires, does not correspond to his spiritual interests and physical capabilities. And then a 26-year-old student of the Technological Institute submits a petition to the director of the Singing Chapel N.I. Bakhmetev for an external exam for the title of regent. After receiving a high-level certificate, Arkhangelsky receives the post of regent of the Sapper Battalion, then the Horse Guards Regiment, and finally the Court Stable Church. Due to difficult material conditions, the regency had to be combined with public service. Thanks to the Minister of Railways F. Neronov, Arkhangelsky gets a position as a clerk in the legal department of the ministry. F. Neronov helps the "enthusiastic regent" to get his own choir in the Post Office Church. What enthusiasm, what enormous willpower, was necessary in order to fulfill his long-standing dream - to create his own choir, already in 1880! Already three years after its creation, the Arkhangelsky Choir began an intensive concert activity in St. Petersburg and other cities of Russia, at the same time participating in church services. Until 1918, the choir was divided into groups of 14-20 people and was “fixed” to churches: these “small” choirs were led by the assistant choir directors of Arkhangelsky. The choir, consisting of 75 singers, gave its first concert in 1883 in St. Petersburg. And immediately received high praise from prominent contemporary composers and musicians: A. Rubinstein, P. Tchaikovsky, N. Napravnik.

For his choir, Arkhangelsky began to select female voices, replacing the voices of boys. This hitherto unknown innovation initially met with many opponents. But such a radical reorganization of choral work was soon picked up by Arkhangelsky, first in St. Petersburg, and then in other cities of Russia. In 1887, the complete replacement of the voices of boys by women was completed. In 1898, the choir made its first concert tour of Russia, visiting 27 cities! In 1901, the choir's second tour of Russia took place. And in 1907, the choir already performed in Dresden, Paris and met with an enthusiastic reception everywhere.

On the turn of XIX-XX centuries, the Arkhangelsk choir asserts its position as a "star of the first magnitude" along with other "stars" - the Court Singing Chapel and the Moscow Synodal Choir.

Alexander Arkhangelsky directed his choir for 43 years - a phenomenon unique in the entire history of Russian choral art.

One of the most brilliant achievements of the Arkhangelsk Choir was the famous "historical concerts" (even then they were called "choral meetings"). These were thematic performances by A. Arkhangelsky with his choir, at which the audience was introduced to musical masterpieces Russian spiritual composers: M. Berezovsky, Vedel, Dekhterev and others (later Western composers). There were nine such concerts, the last, the ninth took place in 1890. These "historic concerts" of the Arkhangelsk Choir have always been a great success with the Russian public, which rewarded the choir with laurel wreaths and the conductor with a silver laurel wreath.

The press noted that each "concert gave the listeners the conviction of a serious pedagogical value this business" and that Mr. Arkhangelsky is not only a serious musician, but also a remarkable expert in the field, which he serves with love and rare energy."

In 1891, Arkhangelsky made his first trip to Moscow with the choir in order to show fragments of "historical concerts" there. Muscovites received the concerts very positively. "Arkhangeltsev" was appreciated by S. Smolensky - the director of the Synodal School, and V. Orlov - the conductor of the Synodal Choir, and A. Sakharov - the conductor of the famous choir of the Chudov Monastery, and many other experts.

"Historical Concerts" - only one of the pages of the life of Arkhangelsky (and his choir) - evokes a feeling of deep respect and appreciation for the creative activity of Alexander Andreevich Arkhangelsky.

Arkhangelsky's successes as a composer are also connected with the beginning of the choir's concert activities. In the life of the Arkhangelsk composer creativity occupied a significant place. Researchers of his life path note that Arkhangelsky, along with such authors as Bortnyansky, A. Lvov, Rimsky-Korsakov, made a "major step forward" towards creating his own original Russian church music. His spiritual writings (and this is the main thing in his work) were distinguished by a high professional level (about a hundred spiritual works). The first creations of Arkhangelsky came out in 1887. These were prayer chants: “To the Mother of God diligently” and “Assuage the disease” (arrangements of the tunes of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra), as well as two “Graces of the World”. To texts church hymns the composer treated with the greatest respect, not allowing himself to make permutations of words or their repetition. Almost at the same time, a number of other works appeared: “The Liturgy of John Chrysostom”, “The Mercy of the World” (No. 3, 4, 5), “ All-night vigil”(this was an arrangement of everyday tunes for eight voices), the Triodi Service, memorial services, etc. By 1904, Arkhangelsky was already the author of many spiritual works (besides those named): eight Cherubic, eight “Grace of the World”, 16 hymns (instead of “communion verses "). The composer often addressed his spiritual compositions to parochial schools, where the opportunities for performance were more modest. I would especially like to single out from the works of Arkhangelsky his "Requiem Liturgy", which was the only Liturgy of a requiem nature and was imbued with unity of mood. N. Berensky wrote: "In our church music, the type of the whole Liturgy has not yet been fully developed, as we see it in the West, and therefore Arkhangelsky's work is of double value to us."

His famous spiritual concerto “Thou hast rejected me” was written to the text of the irmos of the fifth song of the Sunday canon (8 tones) and belongs to the genre of Russian church music of the late 17th century (partes polyphony style).

The spiritual concert "Thinking of a terrible day" was created in 1898.

The musical harmonic language of Arkhangelsky is natural, just as human speech is natural and expressive. His compositions are distinguished by unusual softness, clarity, warmth in music, prayerfulness. Perhaps that is why they said that all of Russia loved to pray to the sounds of the chants of A. Arkhangelsky. And up today Arkhangelsky's works are sung by almost all Orthodox church and secular choirs.

According to the observation of one of Arkhangelsky's contemporaries, “the one who prays ... is fascinated not only by the beauty of voice leading, but, most importantly, is lit up under the influence of Arkhangelsky's music with an even stronger religious feeling. The reason for this influence is the deep religious feeling of the author himself.

It is necessary to say at least briefly about the extensive public work of Arkhangelsky. In 1902, Arkhangelsky founded the St. Petersburg Charitable Singing Society, whose task was to provide assistance (medical and financial) to choir singers (not only of his own choir) in times of illness, disability and old-age pensions. This work to unite singing forces in Russia was then the impetus for the convening of the First All-Russian Congress of Regents in 1908. And the St. Petersburg "initiative" of Arkhangelsky has already been taken up in Russia: church singing charitable societies are being organized in Moscow, Kharkov, Penza, Chernigov, Rostov, Saratov.

The political storm approaching Russia did not touch Alexander Arkhangelsky at all. He was far from everything that somehow did not concern music. However, the October upheaval posed difficult life tasks for Arkhangelsky and his choir. The choir was renamed the First State Choir.

In the winter of 1921, the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Arkhangelsky's choir activity took place in Petrograd. And in connection with the renaming of the St. Petersburg Court Singing Chapel into the State Academic Chapel, the existence of two state choirs. And Arkhangelsky was offered to organize the State Chapel in Moscow. However, Arkhangelsky refused this offer, citing illness and advanced age.

For some time (and refusing to serve in the Political Education), Arkhangelsky conducted "foreign" choirs in Moscow, Penza and, finally, in Prague. After suffering a serious illness in 1923, Arkhangelsky moved to Prague. He became the head of a large student choir, with which he gave concerts in Prague with constant success. But why did the famous Russian conductor end up in Prague at the end of his life? Did Arkhangelsky think that his spiritual concert “I Think of a Terrible Day” would become prophetic and that at the end of his life, a 77-year-old elder, he would have to go to a foreign land in search of his daily bread?

A stunning letter from Arkhangelsky to his friend A. Kastorsky in Penza (dated 1922) has been preserved. Here are fragments of this large letter: “Under difficult circumstances, I am writing to you, my dear Alexei Vasilyevich; in addition to all the troubles that have befallen the intelligentsia, I and we have a famine in the future. I can’t go to my estate, because everything there has already been plundered by the “comrades”, and I don’t know where to lay my head for the coming summer. And so I decided to go to my homeland ... Can I somehow get a job in Penza or in some village? ..

I can't say anything special about my life in Petrograd; my choir (in a reduced composition) is functioning, but everything around me is so burdensome ... And what should I do? The devastation is complete and general ... "

And it so happened that on the way back from Penza, Arkhangelsky met the composer A.T. Grechaninov, who invited him to work with the choir in Prague. From that time begins a short, about two years, foreign period of the life of Alexander Arkhangelsky.

But due to the growing illness, Arkhangelsky has to go to the clinic. At the insistence of doctors, he spent the summer of 1924 in Italy. Upon his return to Prague, he resumed his studies with the choir. However, on November 16, 1924, on the day of the scheduled rehearsal with the choir, Arkhangelsky died suddenly. A modest sign hangs on one of the Prague streets: “Alexander Andreevich Arkhangelsky lived and died in this house in 1923-1924. 1846-1924".

“In October 1925, the ashes of Alexander Andreevich, in accordance with his expressed will, were transported by his wife to Petrograd, and there, after the conciliarly performed funeral Liturgy in the Kazan Cathedral, with the singing of the “former” choir, A.A. Arkhangelsky was buried at the Alexander Tikhvin cemetery -Nevsky Lavra"

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"Spirit Concerts"

(French "Concerts spirituels") - concerts organized in Paris in 1725 adv. oboist and composer A. Philidor (Danikan), who belonged to famous family French musicians. "D. to." were among the first regular public concerts in Europe. Administratively, they were subordinate to the t-py Royal Academy of Music and were arranged on church days. holidays when shopping malls were closed. Concerts were held in the "Swiss" hall of the Tuileries Palace. Originally in "D. to." only religions were performed. Prod., later their program included secular instr. and wok. music. The xopa and the orchestra included opera and court artists. musicians. The meaningful programs of the concerts, the participation of first-class performing forces in them contributed to the wide popularity of "D. k.", which soon occupied one of the important places in the music 18th century Parisian life After the death of Philidor (1728) at the head of "D. to." were prominent French musicians, incl. J. J. Mype, J. H. P. Royer, A. Dovergne, composer and violinist P. Gavinier (jointly with F. J. Gossec), and others. Major foreign musicians performed as soloists. artists. Bloom "D. k." continued until the Great French. revolution; at the end of the 18th century they were renewed, but they no longer had their former significance. On the model of the Parisian "D. to." (and under the same name) similar concerts were held in decomp. European countries (Germany, England, Austria). In Russia, similar concerts have been organized since cep. 70s 18th century participants of foreign adv. troupes during Lent. B 1780 Italian. violinist A. Lolly announced a cycle of three "D. to." with the participation of singers chapels. At the end of the 18th century the organization of such concerts was undertaken by the St. Petersburg Directorate. imp. t-ditch (for example, in 1800 the cycle "D. to." passed, in which, among other works, Guglielmi's "New Italian Oratorio" was performed).
Literature: Keldysh Yu., Russian music of the 18th century, M., 1965, p. 126-31; Bobillier M. (pseudo Brenet M.), Les concerts en France sous l "ancien régime, P., 1900. Yu. B. Keldysh.

Musical encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, Soviet composer. Ed. Yu. V. Keldysha. 1973-1982 .

See what "Spiritual Concerts" is in other dictionaries:

SPIRITUAL MUSIC- music. works of Christ. content not intended to be performed during worship. D. m. is often opposed to secular music, and in this sense, an extremely wide range of phenomena from liturgical music is sometimes referred to this area ... ... Orthodox Encyclopedia

PUBLISHING HOUSES AND EDITIONS SPIRITUAL AND MUSICAL- state, church and private organizations in Russia and other countries that issued printed editions of Orthodoxy. church hymns and their publications. In Russia in the XVII beginning. 20th century In the 17th century publication of hook singers. books in Russia did not take place either in 1652, when ... ... Orthodox Encyclopedia

- (Paris) the capital of France, one of the largest cultural centers in Europe. 2455 thousand inhabitants (1974). Big P. apprx. 10 million inhabitants (1974). Already in the 12th century. at the monasteries and churches of P., schools (metrisas) began to appear, where special attention was paid to ... ... Music Encyclopedia

The origins of A. m. date back to the first centuries of our era. It developed in constant interaction with the muses. By the lawsuit of other peoples, the territories first adjoined, and then became part of the Habsburg empire. In addition to close ties with the music. ... ... Music Encyclopedia

The origins of F. m. go back to the folklore of the Celtic, Gallic and Frankish tribes who lived in ancient times on the territory of present-day France. Nar. song art, as well as Gallo-Roman culture, became the foundation for the development of F. m. Ancient lit. and… … Music Encyclopedia

BEREZOVSKY Maxim Sozontovich- Maxim Sozontovich (10/16/1745 (?), Glukhov, Little Russia 03/22/1777, St. Petersburg), Russian. composer. Creativity (especially sacred music) of B., who became the first composer among the masters of the Catherine era V. A. Pashkevich, I. E. Khandoshkin, D. S. ... ... Orthodox Encyclopedia

Music performed by a choir or intended for a choir. execution. X. m. belongs to the most democratic types of lawsuits. Great impact force wide circle listeners defines it means. role in the life of society. Educational and... Music Encyclopedia

DEGTYAREV- [Dekhterev, Dekhtyarev] Stepan Anikievich (1766, Borisovka settlement, Khotmyzh district, Belgorod province, later Graivoron district, Kursk province, April 23, 1813, Moscow), Russian composer, one of the significant masters choral music the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, ... ... Orthodox Encyclopedia

- (Hammerschmidt, Hammerschmied) Andreas (1611 or 1612, Brüx, Czech Republic, now Most, Czechoslovakia 29 X 1675, Zittau) German. composer and organist. The son of a saddler who emigrated to the middle. 20s 17th century from the Czech Republic to Saxony. Information that has come down to us about... Music Encyclopedia

- (lat. Germania, from Germans, German Deutschland, literally the country of Germans, from Deutsche German and Land country) a state in Europe (with its capital in Berlin), which existed until the end of the Second World War 1939 45. I. Historical outline ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

9. Genres of choral music

Choral singing has the same ancient history like monophonic singing. Let us remember that the ancient ritual songs sing collectively. True, everyone sings the same tune, sing in unison. For many centuries choral singing remained unison, that is, actually monophonic. The first examples of choral polyphony in European music refer to 10th century.

AT folk music Have you seen polyphony in lingering songs. From folk polyphony came the tradition of singing songs in chorus. Sometimes these are simply arrangements of monophonic songs for the choir, and sometimes songs specially designed for choir performance. But choral song this is not an independent genre, but one of the varieties genre songs.

Choral miniature

Choral miniature is small work for the choir. In contrast to the song, the choral miniature has a more developed polyphonic choral texture, often using a polyphonic warehouse. Many choral miniatures were written for unaccompanied choir (the Italian term a cappella"a cappella").

This is how the Russian composer uses the choral texture in the choral miniature "Winter Road" to the verses of A. S. Pushkin (original in b flat minor):

Allegro moderato. Leggiero [Moderately fast. Easily]

Here the composer highlights the soprano part as the main melody, the rest of the voices "echo" pick up their phrases. They sing these phrases in chords that support the first soprano part like an instrumental accompaniment. In the future, the texture becomes more complicated, at times the leading melodic line will appear in other voices.

Choral concert

Despite such a "concert" name, this genre not intended for concert performance. Choral concerts were performed in Orthodox Church during a solemn, festive service. It's a genre Russian Orthodox sacred music.

A choral concerto is no longer a miniature, but a large multi-part work. But not a cycle of miniatures. It can be called a musical "story" in several "chapters", each new part of the choral concerto is a continuation of the previous one. Usually there are small pauses between the parts, but sometimes the parts flow into each other without a break. All choral concertos are written for the choir a cappella, since musical instruments are prohibited in the Orthodox Church.

The great masters of the choral concert of the XVIII century were and.

In our time, secular choral concerts have also appeared. For example, in the work of G. V. Sviridov.

Cantata

You have probably already felt that this word has the same root as the word "cantilena". "Cantata" also comes from the Italian "canto" ("singing") and means "a work that is sung." This name arose at the beginning of the 17th century, along with the names "sonata" (a work that is played) and "toccata" (a work that is played on keyboard instruments). Now the meaning of these names has changed a little.

FROM XVIII century under cantata understand not any work that is sung.

In its structure, the cantata is similar to a choral concerto. As well as choral concertos, the first cantatas were spiritual works, but not in the Orthodox, but in catholic Western European Church. But already in XVIII century appear and secular cantatas intended for concert performance. Many spiritual and secular cantatas were written by J.S. Bach.

In the 19th century, the cantata genre became less popular, although many composers continued to write cantatas.

In the twentieth century, this genre is reborn again. Remarkable cantatas were created by S. S. Prokofiev, G. V. Sviridov, outstanding German composer, contemporary Petersburg composer.

Oratorio

The word "oratorio" originally meant not at all musical genre. Oratories were called rooms for prayer in churches, as well as prayer meetings that took place in these rooms.

Service in catholic church was in Latin, which was no longer spoken. He was only understood educated people mainly the priests themselves. And so that the parishioners would also understand what the prayers are about, theatrical performances on religious subjects were arranged liturgical dramas. They were accompanied by music and singing. It is from them that it arose in XVII century genre oratorios.

As in the cantata, the oratorio is attended by singer-soloists, choir and orchestra. An oratorio differs from a cantata in two ways: much larger size(up to two, two and a half hours) and cohesive storyline. Ancient oratorios were created, as a rule, on biblical plots and were intended both for church, and for secular execution. In the first half of #null, the German composer, who lived in England for many years, became especially famous for his oratorios #null . At the end of the 18th century, interest in the oratorio was weakening, but in England they still remember and love Handel's oratorios. When the Austrian composer Haydn visited London in 1791, he was captivated by these oratorios and soon wrote three huge works in this genre himself: "Seven Words of the Savior on the Cross", "Seasons" and "World creation".

In the 19th century, composers created oratorios, but they were not successful, as well as cantatas. Opera replaced them. In the 20th century, they reappeared significant works this genre such as Joan of Arc at the stake French composer , Pathetic oratorio Sviridov based on the poem "Good". In 1988, a significant event musical life Petersburg was the performance of the oratorio "The Life of Prince Vladimir" to an ancient story.

A message about sacred music will briefly help you prepare for the lesson and deepen your knowledge of the art. Also from the article you will learn what genres sacred music is divided into and get acquainted with the main works.

"Sacred Music" report

As you already understood from the name itself, sacred music is not a subject of secular entertainment. It is connected with the religious side of the peoples living on Earth. Sacred music has a religious content of texts and is intended for church or temple worship.

Ideas about it in different religious traditions differ:

• In Christianity, spiritual music is divided into Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant. The most common genres of sacred music are psalms, chorales, hymns, sequences, masses, and passions. In Orthodoxy, a special place is given to the All-Night Service.
• Sacred music plays an important role in Jewish beliefs. It was introduced into the church ritual during the reign of King David - in every temple there was an orchestra and a choir. To date, synagogue music with a prayer genre is developing.
• In Islam, it originated in India in the 13th century in the process of merging indian music and Persian poetry. It is called kavalli, and praises the saints, the prophet Mohammed and Allah.

Genres of sacred music

At the beginning of the emergence of sacred music, only church ministers could write it. The most widespread were the writings of Pope Gregory I, the monks Tommaso da Celano and Jacopone da Todi. Later, secular composers could compose sacred music. After the Reformation, hymns, chorales, Passions were popular. They were written primarily by Martin Luther. By the way, the Passion appeared in the 17th century and was based on the events of Holy Week, the chapters of the Gospel, stories from the Old Testament. For example, such works of sacred music are “Seven Words of Christ on the Cross” (Heinrich Schutz), “Seven Words of the Savior on the Cross” ( Joseph Haydn), "A Christmas Carol" (Heinrich Schutz), "Christmas Oratorio" (Bach), "Israel in Egypt" (Handel). After the Renaissance, requiems and masses began to be created. Let's take a closer look at each genre.

1. Psalms- These are small pieces of music that are based on the texts of the Psalter. Considered the oldest genre of sacred music. Since the 16th century, they have been used as a funeral prayer. In the 19th and 20th centuries, revised or original psalms were written by Mendelssohn, Handel, Reger, Penderetsky, Yanchenko. The most famous psalms of I. F. Stravinsky called "Symphony of Psalms".
2. Masses are vocal-instrumental or vocal works, which are a collection of Catholic liturgy. The first author's mass was written by Guillaume de Machaux in the middle of the XIV century - Messe de Notre Dame. At the beginning of the 19th century, the mass was separated from worship and became part of concert practice. The authors of such works were,. In the twentieth century, interest in it began to fade.
3. Requiems- it is originally mortuary catholic masses. Most early writing- Latin canonical text, Dufay's Requiem. It has not survived to this day. The first surviving text is "a capella" by Johannes Okeghem (15th century). From the second half of XVIII centuries, requiems have become part of not only sacred music. Famous authors, Berlioz, Fauré, Cherubini, Brahms, Britten, Zelenka and Bieber.
4. Passion- these are vocal and dramatic works that are dedicated to Holy Week and were originally based on the texts of the Gospel. Most early works belong to Orlando Lasso and Jacob Obrecht (XV-XVI centuries). This genre sacred music was popular right up to mid-eighteenth century. After the composers forgot about him until the twentieth century. Hugo Distler contributed to the revival of the Passion by writing the Choral Passion.
5. Stabat mater- These are Catholic chants in the Latin text of Jacopone da Todi.

We hope that the report on spiritual music helped you prepare for the lesson and deepen your knowledge in the field of art. And you can leave your story about sacred music through the comment form below.