Claude Debussy symphony of festivities. Claude Debussy

MKOU "Novousmanskaya secondary school No. 4"

Music lesson

in the 7th grade

Symphonic painting "Celebrations" by C. Debussy.

Instrumental concert.

MKOU "Novousmanskaya secondary school No. 4"

Makukhina Marina Nikolaevna

With. New Usman

year 2014

Topic of the lesson: Symphonic picture "Celebrations" by C. Debussy.

SLIDE 1

Purpose of this lesson:

Enrichment of cultural and spiritual world children, through the musical, literary and artistic heritage of the peoples of the world.

Tasks:

By using information technologies reveal the diversity and richness of the culture of peoples.

Development of diverse interests in various fields of art, education of love and respect for musical, literary and artistic heritage other peoples, lay the foundations aesthetic perception surrounding life.

Enrichment of the spiritual world of children. Education of their musical, artistic and aesthetic taste.

SLIDE 2

Lesson plan:

No. p / p

Stages of the lesson

Time, min.

Organizing time

Preparation for active and conscious assimilation of new material.

Formation of knowledge. Presentation of new material, both musical and literary

Practical work

Consolidation of new knowledge

Song "Orange Summer"

Summarizing

SLIDE 3

Teacher: Guys, what do you see on the screen?

Pupils: Frame

Teacher: What is the purpose of this frame?

Pupils: This is a picture frame.

Teacher: How can you call the pictures differently?

Pupils: Painting

Teacher: What can you call painting and music?

Pupils: Art.

Teacher: Please give a definition: what is art?

Pupils: Art - process and result meaningful expression feelings in the image.

Art is one of the forms public consciousness, component...

Music can be seen and art can be heard. Painting will express what cannot be said in words, reveal the most subtle shades human soul. Teacher: So, our lesson can be called, not just music?

SLIDE 4

Pupils: "Picturesque music"

SLIDE 5

Targets and goals; create an atmosphere of enthusiasm and interest in the classroom. Develop holistic skills musical analysis. Invite the children to express their mood from the music they listened to. Highlight intonations to reveal the image of the work. Awaken creativity.

To form in students an emotionally conscious perception of the musical image.

Teacher: Music has different directions. What do you know MUSICAL directions STYLES OF MUSIC?

Students:

1 folk music

2 Sacred music

3 Indian classical music

4 Arabic classical music

5 European classical music

6 Latin American music

7 Blues

8 R&B

9 Jazz

10 Country

12 Electonic music

13 Rock

14 Pop

15 Rap (Hip-hop)

16. Folklore

17. Classical, etc.

SLIDE 6

Listening to the music "Celebrations" - Claude Debussy

SLIDE 7

Teacher: Who knows this work and the author7

Pupils: "Celebrations" by Claude Debussy

Teacher: Achille-Claude Debussy - French composer, music critic.

In 1872, at the age of ten, Claude entered the Paris Conservatoire. In the piano class, he studied with the famous pianist and teacher Albert Marmontel, in the elementary solfeggio class with the eminent traditionalist Albert Lavignac, and Cesar Franck himself taught him the organ. Debussy studied quite successfully at the conservatory, although as a student he did not shine with anything special. Only in 1877 did the professors appreciate Debussy's piano talent, awarding him a second prize for the performance of Schumann's sonata.

Debussy began to systematically study composition only in December 1880 with a professor, a member of the Academy Fine Arts, Ernest Guiraud. Six months before entering Guiro's class, Debussy traveled to Switzerland and Italy as a home pianist and music teacher in the family of a wealthy Russian philanthropist Nadezhda von Meck. Debussy spent the summers of 1881 and 1882 near Moscow, on her estate Pleshcheyevo. Communication with the von Meck family and stay in Russia had a beneficial effect on the development young musician. In her house, Debussy got acquainted with the new Russian music of Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Balakirev and composers close to them.

SLIDE 8

Debussy's composition "Moonlight" shines with love. Claude Debussy generally loved the light of the silvery satellite of the Earth. He wrote better on moonlit nights.

Composer N. Ya. Moskovsky wrote about Debussy's work: "... In the moments when he (Debussy) undertakes to capture his perception of nature, something incomprehensible happens: a person disappears, as if dissolved or turns into an elusive speck of dust, and reigns over everything as if it were eternal, changeless, unchanging, pure and quiet, all-consuming nature itself, all these silent, sliding "clouds", soft overflows and upsurges of "playing waves", rustles and rustles of "spring round dances", gentle whispers and languid sighs of the wind talking to the sea - Isn't this the true breath of nature! great artist, not an exceptional poet?"

His music is based on visual images, filled with the play of chiaroscuro, transparent, as if weightless colors that create the feeling of sound spots.

The influence of painting on composers was so great that he gave many of his compositions titles related to the visual arts: “Prints”, “Sketches”, etc. Understanding how an orchestra can paint picturesque paintings, came to K. Debussy largely from the Russian composer N. Rimsky-Korsakov.

Debussy was not only one of the most significant French composers, but also one of the most significant figures in music on turn of XIX and XX centuries; his music is transitional form from later romantic music to modernism in the music of the 20th century.

Teacher: Guys, what other composers do you know:

Pupils: Tchaikovsky, Liszt, Glinka, Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart, Shostakovich, Schnittke, and others.

Teacher? What do you know musical works?

Students: " Swan Lake”,“ Nutcracker ”, Leningrad Symphony- "the invasion of the Nazis during the Great Patriotic War”, “Moonlight”, “Seasons”. "Waltz" and others.

Teacher: Can you define music?

Pupils: Music is rhythm, sound, tempo…… Music is needed for the soul.

SLIDE 9

Listening to the music "Moonlight" by Claude Debussy

SLIDE 10 - 16

Teacher: When you listened to music, did you imagine something? Maybe you saw colors, paints or something else?

The answers are varied. From warm tones to the coldest, from white color to black.

Teacher: Guys, can everything that we have heard just now be portrayed?

Students: Yes.

Teacher: NOW WE'LL MAKE A SMALL practical work. Depict what you have now HEARD. Let's split into three groups. Some work with gouache. Others work with ink and thread. Still others work with colored paper, cardboard and glue. Let's get to work.

Work protection.

SLIDE 17

Melodeclamation of poems to the music of C. Debussy

"In the Moonlight"

In moments of sadness in the hour of the night

Tired of adversity

Not in the vanity of worldly joys,

In peace you seek happiness.

Forget, merging with silence,

Throwing away everything earthly

Alone with sadness alone

Talk to Luna.

Luna, that's why I love you

What's only in the moonlight

I forget about winter

And I think about Lethe.

Executioner of my mind

Severe, but beautiful - the Moon!

I, looking at her,

I'm losing my mind.

The moon disturbs and attracts,

And, melting in the moonlight,

I rest from worries

Forgetting about the past.

The night luminary amuses the gaze

I'm drunk on dreams

And in the fabric of dreams moonlight

It pours in, intertwining -

Weaving into a thin veil

From weightless lace...

Noise. Doors creak.

I got stuck again, not finding myself.

"Moonlight"

Vladimir Vodnev

Give me a moonstone

Give me moonlight!

Slightly noticeable strokes

I draw moonlight

What pours on the ground for centuries

The one that is closest to all the planets.

Let it be sung more than once

But still beckoning

And captivates all poets

pale color her cheeks.

Only if we are alone

(Already checked more than once!) -

The mood will lift

The light of her cold eyes.

And driven by insomnia

Both artist and poet

Draw for your beloved

Silver moonlight.

There is no better gift

In the night of a short spring

Starry sky under the arch -

The gaze of the bewitching moon...

"NIGHT MOON"

And again the evening replaces the night,

Darkness surrounds the world

And the path of heaven begins

Night Wanderer-Moon.

From year to year, echoing the same road,

She hazy illuminates the darkness,

And her light is understood only by a few,

Who could comprehend the beauty of nature.

The light of the moon is dim, but we are not worth it

To blame her innocent for that sin,

Dark earthly night, but still,

In it, without the moon, you can’t see anything at all.

We got so used to it that we stopped

Her celestial campaign to notice

Only the elect, calling with them in the distance,

She never ceased to amaze.

And there is something in the moonlight,

That I couldn't understand

No wonder lovers love so much

To appoint dates in the moonlight.

SLIDE 18 - 19

Teacher:

And at ten, and at seven, and at five

All children love to draw.

And everyone boldly draws

Everything that interests him.

Everything is interesting:

deep space, near forest,

Flowers, cars, fairy tales, dances...

Let's draw everything!

There would be colors

Yes, a piece of paper on the table

Yes, peace in the family and on Earth.

SLIDE 20 - 21

Teacher: Let's have a quiz. Let's find out the correct answer.

Teacher: Guys, now I would really like to know: what new did you learn today in the lesson?

Student responses.

Teacher: Can you see the song?

Students: Yes.

Teacher: What is penny?

SLIDE 22

Pupils: A song is a bridge between poetry and music.

SLIDE 23 - 31

Teacher: Let's do a little warm-up with you. And we will end our lesson with a wonderful song. "Orange Planet"

Summarizing.

SLIDE 32

Teacher: Thanks for the lesson.

In 1894, even before the completion of the prelude "", Claude Debussy conceived the idea of ​​a three-part cycle called "Nocturnes". If the previous work was indirectly - through poetry - connected with the picture French painter, then in relation to the "Nocturnes" the composer himself describes his musical idea in terms visual arts. In one of his letters, he likens the work to a "study in gray tones". By these tones, he means various combinations of instruments that should accompany the solo violin. In one case, these should be strings, in another, brass and harp, and in the third piece, all these instruments should have been combined. As for the violin solo, Claude Debussy created it for Eugene Ysaye, declaring that he would not give it to anyone else - even Apollo himself.

In subsequent years, the composer's plans changed, and after three years he created three purely orchestral pieces - without a solo violin. different from the original intent and orchestral composition– however, it varies from number to number. Calling his symphonic cycle nocturnes, he meant not so much the features of the corresponding genre as "impressions and sensations from the light" associated with this word. This impression plays leading role even in the program formulated by the author for each of the three parts.

The first nocturne - "Clouds" - is particularly subtle. This is facilitated by the composition of the orchestra chosen for him: no brass, except for the French horn. Woodwinds create a rippling backdrop reminiscent of Impressionist paintings with their sense of "flowing" air. Brief motive seems gloomy due to the unusual modal coloring in combination with the timbre of the English horn ("melancholy floating gray clouds"). The introduction of the harp in the middle section lends a lighter color to this painting. The cor anglais solo returns in the reprise.

In the piece "Celebrations" the orchestral palette is richer: trumpets, tubas and trombones are included, cymbals and a snare drum are added from drums. There is a version that this nocturne reflected the memories of the visit of Nicholas II to France and the solemn meeting arranged by Russian emperor in Paris. In contrast to the contemplative "Clouds", here everything is extremely bright and mobile: the "dance" of strings and woodwinds, the jubilant "exclamations" of brass, the bright "waves" of the gliding harp. The picture of the festival is complemented by the approaching procession: new topic, starting at the muted pipes, accompanied by a snare drum, gradually captures the entire orchestra, after which the material of the first section returns to gradually “retreat” and subside.

The final part of the cycle - "Sirens" - is close in pace to the first part, but is opposed to that gloomy picture with its light color. In terms of timbre “colors”, it is especially unusual - along with orchestral means, the composer uses female choir who sings without words, with his mouth closed. This singing appears not so much in a melodic function, but in a timbre and harmonic one - like, by the way, everything orchestral instruments. There are no extended melodies as such here at all - only the play of short motifs, chords and timbres, forming a picture of the sea, from the depths of which comes the surreal singing of sirens.

The premiere of "Nocturnes" took place in December 1900, conducted by Camille Chevillard. But on that day, only two parts were performed - "Clouds" and "Festivities", a full three-part cycle was performed in 1901. In subsequent years, this practice has been preserved - "Sirens" are performed less often than other parts.

Music Seasons

Debussy,
The languid profile of the piano,
Other people's flowers on the clavier,
The choked echo of sadness
silhouettes,
dawns,
bridges,
And the accident with which you
Debussy,
Debussy,
Debussy.

Evenings
Chiaroscuro "Nocturnes",
mood,
moments
canvases,
Whimsical score pattern,
innocence,
involvement,
dreams
Fading - "God, I'm sorry!",
Debussy, Debussy, Debussy.

poems by Vladimir Yanke.

Among the symphonic works Claude Debussy(1862-1918) are distinguished by their brightly picturesque coloring "Nocturnes". It's three symphonic paintings, united in a suite not so much by a single plot, but by a close figurative content: "Clouds", "Festivities", "Sirens".

Having not yet completed his first mature symphonic work, " afternoon rest faun”, Debussy in 1894 conceived “Nocturnes”. On September 22, he wrote in a letter: “I am working on three Nocturnes for solo violin and orchestra; the orchestra of the first is represented by strings, the second - by flutes, four horns, three trumpets and two harps; the orchestra of the third combines both. In general, this is a search for various combinations that the same color can give, as, for example, in painting a study in gray tones. This letter is addressed to Eugène Ysaye, the famous Belgian violinist, founder of string quartet, who was the first to play the Debussy Quartet the previous year. In 1896, the composer claimed that the "Nocturnes" were created specifically for Izaya - "the person whom I love and admire ... Only he can perform them. If Apollo himself asked me for them, I would refuse him! However, the next year the idea changes, and for three years Debussy has been working on three "Nocturnes" for a symphony orchestra.
He announces their completion in a letter dated January 5, 1900.

The premiere of "Nocturnes", which took place in Paris at the Lamoureux Concerts on December 9, 1900, was not complete: then only "Clouds" and "Festivities" were performed under the baton of Camille Chevillard, and "Sirens" joined them a year later, on December 27, 1901 . This practice of separate performance survived a century later - the last "Nocturne" (with a choir) sounds much less frequently.

Each picture has a small literary preface author. It, according to the composer himself, should not have a plot meaning, but is intended to reveal only the pictorial and pictorial intention of the composition: “The title -“ Nocturnes ”- has a more general meaning, and especially a more decorative one. Here the point is not in the usual form of the nocturne, but in everything that this word contains from impressions and special sensations of light.

In a conversation with one of his friends, Debussy said that the impetus for the creation of "Celebrations" was the impression of festivities in the Bois de Boulogne and from the solemn fanfare of the orchestra of the Republican Guard, and in the music of "Clouds" the picture of thunderclouds was reflected, which struck the author during a walk through Paris at night; the siren of a ship passing along the river, which he heard on the bridge of Concord, turned into an alarming phrase on an English horn.

The title "Nocturnes" itself originated from the name of the landscapes of the English Pre-Raphaelite artist James Whistler, which the composer became interested in in his younger years, when, after graduating from the conservatory with the Rome Prize, he lived in Italy, at the Villa Medici (1885-1886). This passion continued until the end of his life. The walls of his room were decorated with color reproductions of Whistler's paintings.

“Nocturne in blue and silver. Chelsea”

“Symphony in gray and green. Ocean"

On the other hand, French critics wrote that the three "Nocturnes" by Debussy are a sound recording of three elements: air, fire and water, or an expression of three states - contemplation, action and rapture.

"Nocturnes"

Triptych "Nocturnes" opens with an orchestral piece "Clouds". The idea to name the composer's work this way was inspired not only by real clouds that he observed while standing on one of the Parisian bridges, but also by Joseph Mallord William Turner's album, consisting of seventy-nine cloud studies. In them, the artist conveyed the most diverse shades of the cloudy sky. The sketches sounded like music, shimmering with the most unexpected, subtle combinations of colors. All this came to life in the music of Claude Debussy.
“Clouds,” the composer explained, “is a picture of a motionless sky with slowly and melancholy passing clouds, floating away in gray agony, gently tinted with white light.”
Listening to "Clouds" by Debussy, we seem to find ourselves elevated above the river and look at the monotonously dull overcast sky. But in this monotony there is a mass of colors, shades, overflows, instant changes.

Debussy wanted to reflect in the music "the slow and solemn march of the clouds across the sky". The winding theme on the woodwinds paints a beautiful but melancholy picture of the sky. Viola, flute, harp and cor anglais - a deeper and darker relative of the oboe in timbre - all instruments add their own timbre coloring to big picture. Music in dynamics only slightly exceeds the piano and, in the end, completely dissolves, as if clouds disappear in the sky.

The second "nocturne" - "Celebrations"- stands out among other works of Debussy with a bright genre flavor. The play is built by the composer as a scene in which two musical genre- dance and march. In the preface to it, the composer writes: “Celebrations” is a movement, a dancing rhythm of the atmosphere with explosions of sudden light, it is also an episode of a procession ... passing through a holiday and merging with it, but the background remains all the time - this is a holiday ... this is a mixture music with luminous dust, which is part of the overall rhythm. The connection between painting and music was obvious.
Bright picture literary program finds its reflection in the picturesque music of "Celebrations". Listeners are immersed in a world full of sound contrasts, intricate harmonies, and the playing of instrumental timbres of the orchestra. The mastery of the composer is manifested in his amazing gift of symphonic development.
Festivities” are filled with dazzling orchestral colors. The bright rhythmic introduction of the strings paints a lively picture of the holiday. In the middle part, the approach of the parade is heard, accompanied by brass and woodwinds, then the sound of the entire orchestra gradually grows and pours into a culmination. But now this moment disappears, the excitement passes, and we hear only a slight whisper of the last sounds of the melody.

In "Celebrations" he depicted pictures of folk amusements in the Bois de Boulogne.

The third piece of the triptych "Nocturnes" - "Sirens", for orchestra with female choir.
In the literary explanation to it, only picturesque landscape motifs and the element introduced into them are revealed. fairy tale fiction: “Sirens” is the sea and its infinitely diverse rhythm; among the waves silvered by the moon arises, crumbles with laughter and the mysterious singing of the sirens is removed.

Many poetic lines are devoted to these mythical creatures- birds with the heads of beautiful girls. Even Homer described them in his immortal Odyssey.
With bewitching voices, sirens lured travelers to the island, and their ships perished on coastal reefs, and now we can hear their singing. The female choir sings - sings with closed mouths. There are no words - only sounds, as if born by the play of waves, floating in the air, disappearing as soon as they arise, and reborn again. Not even melodies, but only a hint of them, like strokes on the canvases of impressionist artists. And as a result, these sound spangles merge into a colorful harmony, where there is nothing superfluous, accidental.
All creative fantasy the composer is directed in this picture ... to an attempt to convey the richest lighting effects and combinations by means of music color combinations appearing on the sea under different lighting conditions.

The cycle "Nocturnes", created in 1897-1899, was reservedly accepted by contemporaries...

Nocturne(from French nocturne - "night") - spread from early XIX century the name of plays (usually instrumental, less often vocal) of a lyrical, dreamy nature.

Debussy. "Nocturnes"

"Clouds"

Orchestra composition: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, timpani, harp, strings.

"Celebrations"

Orchestra composition: 3 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, 3 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, 2 harps, timpani, snare drum (distant), cymbals, strings.

"Sirens"

Orchestra composition: 3 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, 3 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 2 harps, strings; female choir (8 sopranos and 8 mezzo-sopranos).

History of creation

Having not yet completed his first mature symphonic work, " Afternoon of a Faun”, Debussy in 1894 conceived “Nocturnes”. On September 22, he wrote in a letter: “I am working on three Nocturnes for solo violin and orchestra; the orchestra of the first is represented by strings, the second - by flutes, four horns, three pipes and two harps; the orchestra of the third combines both. In general, this is a search for various combinations that the same color can give, as, for example, in painting a study in gray tones. This letter is addressed to Eugène Ysaye, the famous Belgian violinist, founder of the string quartet, who was the first to play the Debussy Quartet the previous year. In 1896, the composer claimed that the "Nocturnes" were created specifically for Izaya - "the person whom I love and admire ... Only he can perform them. If Apollo himself asked me for them, I would refuse him! However, the next year the idea changes, and for three years Debussy has been working on three "Nocturnes" for a symphony orchestra.

He reports about their completion in a letter dated January 5, 1900, and writes in the same place: “Mademoiselle Lily Texier changed her dissonant name to the much more harmonious Lily Debussy ... She is incredibly blond, beautiful, as in legends, and adds to these gifts that that she is by no means in the “modern style”. She loves music ... only according to her imagination, her favorite song is a round dance, which talks about a little grenadier with a ruddy face and a hat on one side. The composer's wife was a fashion model, the daughter of a minor employee from the provinces, for whom he inflamed a passion in 1898 that almost drove him to suicide the following year, when Rosalie decided to part with him.

The premiere of "Nocturnes", which took place in Paris at the Lamoureux Concerts on December 9, 1900, was not complete: then only "Clouds" and "Festivities" were performed under the baton of Camille Chevillard, and "Sirens" joined them a year later, on December 27, 1901 . This practice of separate performance was preserved a century later - the last "Nocturne" (with a choir) sounds much less frequently.

The Nocturnes program is known from Debussy himself:

The title "Nocturnes" has a more general meaning, and especially a more decorative one. Here the point is not in the usual form of the nocturne, but in everything that this word contains from the impression and sensation of light.

"Clouds" is a motionless image of the sky with gray clouds slowly and melancholy floating and melting; receding, they go out, gently tinted with white light.

"Celebrations" is a movement, a dancing rhythm of the atmosphere with explosions of sudden light, it is also an episode of a procession (dazzling and chimerical vision) passing through the holiday and merging with it; but the background remains all the time - this is a holiday, this is a mixture of music with luminous dust, which is part of the overall rhythm.

“Sirens” is the sea and its infinitely varied rhythm; among the waves silvered by the moon arises, crumbles with laughter and the mysterious singing of the sirens is removed.

At the same time, other author's explanations have been preserved. Regarding Clouds, Debussy told his friends that it was “a look from a bridge at clouds driven by a thunderstorm; the movement of a steamboat along the Seine, the whistle of which is recreated by a short chromatic theme of an English horn. "Celebrations" resurrect "the memory of the former amusements of the people in the Bois de Boulogne, illuminated and flooded with a crowd; the trio of trumpets is the music of the republican guard playing the dawn." According to another version, the impressions of the meeting of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II in 1896 by Parisians are reflected here.

Many parallels arise with the paintings of French Impressionist artists who loved to paint flowing air, the brilliance of sea waves, and the variegation of the festive crowd. The title "Nocturnes" itself originated from the name of the landscapes of the English Pre-Raphaelite artist James Whistler, which the composer became interested in in his younger years, when, after graduating from the conservatory with the Rome Prize, he lived in Italy, at the Villa Medici (1885-1886). This passion continued until the end of his life. The walls of his room were decorated with color reproductions of Whistler's paintings. On the other hand, French critics wrote that the three "Nocturnes" by Debussy are a sound recording of three elements: air, fire and water, or an expression of three states - contemplation, action and rapture.

Music

« Clouds” are painted with thin impressionistic colors of a small orchestra (only horns are used from copper). The unsteady gloomy background is created by the measured swaying of the woodwinds, forming fancy sliding harmonies. The peculiar timbre of the English horn enhances the modal unusualness of the short main motive. The color brightens in the middle section, where the harp enters for the first time. Together with the flute, she leads a pentatonic theme into the octave, as if saturated with air; it is repeated by solo violin, viola, cello. Then the gloomy melody of the English horn returns, echoes of other motives arise - and everything seems to float away into the distance, like melting clouds.

« Festivities» form a sharp contrast - the music is impetuous, full of light and movement. The flying sound of stringed and wooden instruments is interrupted by sonorous exclamations of brass, tremolo timpani and spectacular glissandos of harps. A new picture: on the same dancing background of the stringed oboe leads a fervent theme, picked up by other wind instruments in an octave. Suddenly everything breaks. A procession is approaching from afar (three trumpets with mutes). The hitherto silent snare drum (in the distance) and low brass ones enter, building up to a deafening climax of the tutti. Then light passages of the first theme return, and other motifs flicker, until the sounds of the festival fade away.

AT " Sirens"Again, as in the Clouds, a slow pace prevails, but the mood here is not twilight, but illuminated by light. The surf is quietly splashing, waves are running in, and in this splash one can distinguish the alluring voices of sirens; repeated chords without small group words female choir complement the sound of the orchestra with another bizarre color. The smallest motifs of two notes vary, grow, intertwine polyphonically. They echo the themes of the previous Nocturnes. In the middle section, the sirens' voices become more insistent, their melody more extended. The variant at the trumpets unexpectedly approaches the theme of the English horn from Clouds, and the similarity is even stronger in the roll call of these instruments. At the end, the singing of the sirens fades, as the clouds melt and the sounds of the festival disappear in the distance.

A. Koenigsberg

Impressionism in music

AT late XIX century in France, a new trend appeared, called "impressionism". This word is translated from French means "impression". Impressionism arose among artists.

In the 70s, various Parisian exhibitions appeared original paintings C. Monet, C. Pissarro, E. Degas, O. Renoir, A. Sisley. Their art differed sharply from the smooth and faceless works of academic painters.

The Impressionists came out of their workshops into the free air, learned to reproduce the play of the living colors of nature, the sparkle of the sun's rays, the multi-colored glare on the water surface, the diversity of the festive crowd. They used a special technique of spots-strokes, which seemed to be chaotic up close, and at a distance gave rise to a real feeling of a lively play of colors. The freshness of an instant impression in their canvases was combined with the subtlety of psychological moods.

Later, in the 80s and 90s, the ideas of impressionism found expression in french music. Two composers - C. Debussy and M. Ravel - most clearly represent impressionism in music. In their piano and orchestral sketch pieces, the sensations caused by the contemplation of nature are expressed with particular novelty. The noise of the sea surf, the splash of a stream, the rustle of the forest, the morning chirping of birds merge in their works with the personal experiences of the musician-poet, in love with the beauty of the surrounding world.

founder musical impressionism Achille-Claude Debussy is considered to have enriched all aspects of composing skills - harmony, melody, orchestration, form. At the same time, he embraced the ideas of a new french painting and poetry.

Claude Debussy

Claude Debussy is one of the most significant French composers who influenced the development of the music of the 20th century, both classical and jazz.

Debussy lived and worked in Paris, when this city was the Mecca of the intellectual and artistic world. The composer's captivating and colorful music greatly contributed to the development of French art.

Biography

Achille-Claude Debussy was born in 1862 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, a little west of Paris. His father Manuel was a peaceful shop owner, but after moving to Big city plunged into dramatic events 1870 - 1871, when due to Franco-Prussian War there was an uprising against the government. Manuel joined the rebels and was imprisoned. In the meantime, the young Claude began taking lessons from Madame Mote de Fleurville and obtained a position at the Paris Conservatoire.

New trend in music

Having gone through such a bitter experience, Debussy proved himself to be one of the most talented students of the Paris Conservatory. Debussy was also a so-called "revolutionary", often shocking teachers with his new ideas about harmony and form. For the same reasons, he was a great admirer of the work of the great Russian composer Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky - a hater of routine, for whom there were no authorities in music, and he paid little attention to the rules of musical grammar and was looking for his new musical style.

During the years of study at the Paris Conservatory, Debussy met Nadezhda von Meck, a famous Russian millionaire and philanthropist, close friend Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, at whose invitation in 1879 he made his first foreign trip to Western Europe. Together with von Meck they visited Florence, Venice, Rome and Vienna. After traveling through Europe, Debussy made his first trip to Russia, where he performed at "home concerts" by von Meck. Here he first learned the work of such great composers as Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky. Returning to Paris, Debussy continued his studies at the conservatory.

Soon he received the long-awaited Prix de Rome for the cantata " Prodigal son and studied in the capital of Italy for two years. There he met Liszt and heard Wagner's opera for the first time. At the 1889 World's Fair in Paris, the sounds of the Javanese gamelan piqued his interest in exotic music. This music was insanely far from the Western tradition. The Eastern pentatonic scale, or scale of five steps, which differs from the scale adopted in Western music, all attracted Debussy. From this unusual source, he drew a lot, creating his amazing and wonderful new musical language.

These and other impressions formed own style Debussy. Two key works: The Afternoon of a Faun, written in 1894, and the opera Pelléas et Melisande (1902), were proof of his full maturity as a composer and opened a new trend in music.

constellation of talents

Paris in the early years of the 20th century was a haven for cubist artists and symbolist poets, and the Diaghilev Ballets Russes attracted a whole constellation of brilliant composers, costume designers, decorators, dancers and choreographers. This is the dancer-choreographer Vatslav Nijinsky, the famous Russian bass Fyodor Chaliapin, the composer Igor Stravinsky.

In this world, there was a place for Debussy. His amazing symphonic sketches "The Sea", his most wonderful notebooks of preludes and notebooks "Images" for piano, his songs and romances - all this speaks of the extraordinary originality that distinguishes his work from other composers.

After a turbulent youth and first marriage, in 1904 he married the singer Emma Bardak and became the father of a daughter, Claude-Emma (Shusha), whom he adored.

twist of fate

Debussy's infinitely gentle and refined musical style has been taking shape for a long time. He was already in his thirties when he completed his first significant work- Prelude "Afternoon of a Faun", inspired by the poem of his friend, symbolist writer Stéphane Mallarme. The work was first performed in Paris in 1894. During rehearsals, Debussy constantly made changes to the score, and after the first performance, he probably had a lot of work to do.

Gaining fame

Despite all the difficulties and the fact that the prelude was performed at the end of a long and tedious program, the audience felt that they were hearing something amazingly new in terms of form, harmony and instrumental color, and immediately called for an encore of the work. From that moment on, the name of the composer Debussy became known to everyone.

Obscene satyr

In 1912, the great Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev decided to show a ballet to the music of The Afternoon of a Faun, choreographed and performed by the famous Vaslav Nijinsky. The erotic depiction of the image of a faun, or satire, caused some scandal in society. Debussy, by nature closed and humble person, was angry and embarrassed by what had happened. But all this only added glory to the work, which put it at the forefront of composers. contemporary music, and ballet won a firm place in the world classical repertoire.

With the start of the war

The intellectual life of Paris was shaken by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. By that time, Debussy was already seriously ill with cancer. But he still created outstanding new music, such as piano etudes. The beginning of the war caused an upsurge of patriotic feelings in Debussy, in the press he emphatically called himself a "French musician". He died in Paris in 1918 during the bombardment of the city by the Germans, just a few months before the final Allied victory.

Sounds of music

Nocturne (nocturne), translated from French - night.

In the XVIII century. - a cycle of small pieces (a kind of suite) for an ensemble of wind instruments or in combination with strings. They were performed in the evening, at night in the open air (like a serenade). Such are the nocturnes of W. Mozart, Michael Haydn.

From the nineteenth century - a piece of music by a melodious, for the most part, of a lyrical, dreamy character, as if inspired by the silence of the night, night images. The nocturne is written at a slow or moderate tempo. The middle section sometimes contrasts with its more lively tempo and agitated character. The genre of nocturne as a piano piece was created by Field (his first nocturnes were published in 1814). This genre was widely developed by F. Chopin. Nocturne is also written for other instruments, as well as for an ensemble, an orchestra. The nocturne is also found in vocal music.

"Nocturnes"

Debussy finished three symphonic works, collectively called "Nocturnes", at the very beginning of the twentieth century. He borrowed the name from the artist James McNeill Whistler, of whom he was a fan. Some engravings and paintings by the artist were just called "nocturnes".

In this music, the composer acted as a true impressionist, who was looking for special sound means, methods of development, orchestration to convey the immediate sensations caused by the contemplation of nature, the emotional states of people.

The composer himself, in an explanation to the Nocturnes suite, wrote that this name has a purely “decorative” meaning: “We are not talking about the usual form of a nocturne, but about everything that this word contains, from impressions to special light sensations.” Debussy once admitted that the natural impetus for the creation of the Nocturnes was his own impressions of contemporary Paris.

The suite has three parts - "Clouds", "Celebrations", "Sirens". Each part of the suite has its own program written by the composer.

"Clouds"

The triptych "Nocturnes" opens with the orchestral piece "Clouds". The idea to name the composer's work in this way was inspired not only by the real clouds that he observed while standing on one of the Parisian bridges, but also by Turner's album, consisting of seventy-nine cloud studies. In them, the artist conveyed the most diverse shades of the cloudy sky. The sketches sounded like music, shimmering with the most unexpected, subtle combinations of colors. All this came to life in the music of Claude Debussy.

“Clouds,” the composer explained, “is a picture of a motionless sky with slowly and melancholy passing clouds, floating away in gray agony, gently tinted with white light.”

Listening to "Clouds" by Debussy, we seem to find ourselves elevated above the river and look at the monotonously dull overcast sky. But in this monotony there is a mass of colors, shades, overflows, instant changes.

Debussy wanted to reflect in the music "the slow and solemn march of the clouds across the sky". The winding theme on the woodwinds paints a beautiful but melancholy picture of the sky. Viola, flute, harp and cor anglais - a deeper and darker timbre relative of the oboe - all instruments add their own timbre coloring to the overall picture. Music in dynamics only slightly exceeds the piano and, in the end, completely dissolves, as if clouds disappear in the sky.

"Celebrations"

The calm sounds of the first part are replaced by a feast of colors of the next play "Celebrations".

The play is built by the composer as a scene in which two musical genres are compared - dance and march. In the preface to it, the composer writes: “Celebrations” is a movement, a dancing rhythm of the atmosphere with explosions of sudden light, it is also an episode of a procession ... passing through a holiday and merging with it, but the background remains all the time - this is a holiday ... this is a mixture music with luminous dust, which is part of the overall rhythm. The connection between painting and music was obvious.

The bright picturesqueness of the literary program is reflected in the picturesque music of "Celebrations". Listeners are immersed in a world full of sound contrasts, intricate harmonies, and the playing of instrumental timbres of the orchestra. The mastery of the composer is manifested in his amazing gift of symphonic development.

Festivities” are filled with dazzling orchestral colors. The bright rhythmic introduction of the strings paints a lively picture of the holiday. In the middle part, the approach of the parade is heard, accompanied by brass and woodwinds, then the sound of the entire orchestra gradually grows and pours into a culmination. But now this moment disappears, the excitement passes, and we hear only a slight whisper of the last sounds of the melody.

In "Celebrations" he depicted pictures of folk amusements in the Bois de Boulogne.

"Sirens"

The third piece of the triptych "Nocturnes" - "Sirens", for orchestra with women's choir.

“This is the sea and its countless rhythms,” the composer himself revealed the program, “then, in the middle of the waves, silvered by the moon, the mysterious singing of the Sirens arises, crumbles with laughter and subsides.”

Many poetic lines are devoted to these mythical creatures - birds with the heads of beautiful girls. Even Homer described them in his immortal Odyssey.

With bewitching voices, sirens lured travelers to the island, and their ships perished on coastal reefs, and now we can hear their singing. The female choir sings - sings with closed mouths. There are no words - only sounds, as if born by the play of waves, floating in the air, disappearing as soon as they arise, and reborn again. Not even melodies, but only a hint of them, like strokes on the canvases of impressionist artists. And as a result, these sound spangles merge into a colorful harmony, where there is nothing superfluous, accidental.