Today we will consider the work created by M. P. Mussorgsky - “ old lock". It was originally written for the piano, but was repeatedly arranged by composers for orchestral performance and processed in various musical styles.

Story

Let's start with how Mussorgsky created his work. "The Old Castle" is a piece that is part of the "Pictures at an Exhibition" suite. A series of musical "images" is dedicated to the memory of the composer's friend, the artist and architect V. A. Hartman.

Mussorgsky, "The Old Castle": features of the composition

The work was created in 1874. The basis for the play was Hartmann's watercolor with the architecture of Italy. The sketch of the painting has not been preserved. The exhibited works were actively sold, the location of the inspiring canvas is unknown. Mussorgsky's The Old Castle describes the corresponding medieval structure. A troubadour sings before him. The composer manages to revive this character. To do this, he uses a thoughtful, smooth melody that sounds against the background of a monotonous measured accompaniment. Such music evokes a lyrical contemplative mood. The song of the troubadour is filled with knightly Middle Ages. Music conveys the idea that the artist has depicted through paint.

Author

Mussorgsky, according to contemporaries, is an excellent pianist. He captivated the audience when he sat down at the instrument. Through sound, he was able to recreate any picture. At the same time, this composer composed relatively little instrumental music. Opera attracted him the most. It was dedicated to her most creative forces Mussorgsky. The "Old Castle", however, is among its most famous works. He set himself the artistic task of creating psychological portrait and penetrated into the souls of their characters.

PICTURES FROM THE EXHIBITION

old lock

“Pictures at an Exhibition” is a well-known suite of 10 pieces by M. P. Mussorgsky with interludes, created in 1874 in memory of Mussorgsky’s friend, artist and architect V. A. Hartman. Originally written for the piano, it has been repeatedly arranged for orchestra by various composers and processed in a wide variety of musical styles.

Architect and speaking modern language, designer Viktor Alexandrovich Hartman went down in history Art XIX century as one of the founders of the "Russian style" in architecture. He was distinguished by a desire for Russian originality and a wealth of imagination.

At the end of 1870, in Stasov's house, Mussorgsky first met the 36-year-old artist. Hartmann possessed a liveliness of character and ease in friendly communication, and a warm friendship and mutual respect were established between him and Mussorgsky. That's why sudden death Hartmann in the summer of 1873 at the age of 39 shocked Mussorgsky to the core.

In February - March 1874, at the Imperial Academy of Arts, on the initiative of Stasov and with the assistance of the St. Petersburg Society of Architects, a posthumous exhibition was held of about 400 works by Hartmann created over 15 years - drawings, watercolors, architectural projects, sketches theatrical scenery and costumes, sketches of art products. There were many sketches brought from foreign travels at the exhibition.

Mussorgsky's visit to the exhibition served as the impetus for the creation of a musical "walk" through an imaginary exhibition gallery. The result was a series of musical pictures that only partly resemble the works seen; for the most part, the plays were the result of free flight awakened fantasy of the composer. As the basis for the "exhibition" Mussorgsky took Hartmann's "foreign" drawings, as well as two of his sketches on Russian themes. The exhibited works were sold, so today the location of most of them is unknown. Of the drawings mentioned in the cycle, six can now be restored.

The idea to create a piano suite arose during the days of the exhibition, and already in the spring of 1874 some of the "pictures" from the future cycle were improvised by the author. But the final plan took shape in the summer. The whole cycle was written on a creative upsurge in just three weeks from June 2 to June 22, 1874. The suite's working title was Hartmann. Stasov, whose help meant a lot to Mussorgsky, he dedicated the suite.

During Mussorgsky's lifetime, "Pictures" were not published or performed, although they received approval among " mighty handful". They were published only five years after the death of the composer, in 1886, in the edition of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov. But the recognition of the general public came only after Maurice Ravel created his well-known orchestration in 1922 according to the same version of Rimsky-Korsakov, and in 1930 its first recording was released.

The suite is a vivid example of program music with its own peculiarities. It combines pictures from real life co fabulous fantasy and images of the past. Plays - "paintings" are interconnected by the theme-interlude "Walk", depicting the passage through the gallery and the transition from picture to picture. Such themes and construction of the suite are unique in classical musical literature.

Mussorgsky, according to contemporaries, was an excellent pianist, literally fascinated the audience, sitting down at the instrument, and could portray anything. However, he composed relatively little instrumental music; he was most attracted to opera. Mussorgsky sets the task of creating a psychological portrait, penetrating into the depths of his characters, which fundamentally distinguishes his work from Hartmann's simple sketches.

The theme of the Walk is repeated several times throughout the suite. It is reminiscent of Russian folk chants: the melody begins with one voice (“singer”) and is picked up by the “choir”. In this theme, Mussorgsky simultaneously portrayed himself, moving from picture to picture: “My physiognomy is visible in the intermedes,” he wrote to Stasov. The melodic line in most interludes is played ponderously, which is sometimes seen as an imitation of the author's gait.

The theme of "Walks" varies, showing the change in the mood of the author; the key also changes, modulating to prepare the listener for the next piece.

The play is based on a watercolor by Hartmann when he studied architecture in Italy (the sketch has not been preserved, as the exhibited works were sold, so today the whereabouts of most of them are unknown, including the "Old Castle"). In the accompanying program for Mussorgsky's suite, Stasov wrote that this play depicts "a medieval castle in front of which a troubadour sings his song." But Hartmann did not have a troubadour in any of the two paintings depicting a medieval landscape with a castle.. It was invented by Mussorgsky, reviving the landscape. A thoughtful, smooth melody sounds against the background of a measured, monotonous accompaniment. It evokes a contemplative lyrical mood. The song of the troubadour smells of chivalrous Middle Ages - the music conveys what the artist depicted with paints.

The middle part, turning into a major, creates a gap, which is then replaced by sadness again, then the first theme returns, gradually fading away, as if falling into a dream. An unexpectedly loud finale ends the play with a short goodbye.

The French composer M. Ravel made a wonderful orchestral arrangement of the suite. In his instrumentation, "Pictures at an Exhibition" is often performed in symphony concerts.

Presentation

Included:
1. Presentation, ppsx;
2. Sounds of music:
Mussorgsky. Pictures from the exhibition:
Walk (in symphonic performance), mp3;
The Old Castle (in 2 versions: symphonic and piano), mp3;
3. Accompanying article, docx;
4. Notes for performance by the teacher, jpg.

Open music lesson in the 4th grade according to the Cretan program

Lesson topic : M.P. Mussorgsky “Pictures at an Exhibition”

The purpose of the lesson: Acquaintance with music from the piano suite "Pictures at an Exhibition" -

"Old lock"

Tasks:

To be able to hear the performing instruments, determine and compare the character, mood of music, means musical expressiveness;

Name the idea of ​​​​creating a suite;

Cultivate love for Mussorgsky's music;

To form interest in the subject, aesthetic education of students; knowledge about the composer and his works.

Planned result: to show a personal attitude in the perception of musical works, emotional responsiveness of students.

Equipment: computer, CDs with music, music textbooks E.D. Cretan, 4th grade.

On the desk: portraits of composers P. Tchaikovsky and M. Mussorgsky, pictures for musical works by M. Mussorgsky, pictures of musical instruments: cello, piano.

On student tables: table of emotional states, test quiz, text of the song “Change is small”, music textbook grade 4, E.D. Kritskoy.

Organizing time:

Musical greeting:

Teacher: Today, friends, like yesterday, our day begins in the morning,

All languages ​​are spoken, millions of children speak

U-Xia: Good morning!

Woo: Good morning! With these words, children begin their day.

Wu: Good morning!

Woo: Good morning!

All: Good morning!

During the classes:

The music of P. Tchaikovsky "Variations on a Rococo Theme" sounds(4 cl. 5 h. No. 2 disk)

Wu: What piece did you listen to? Name it.

U-Xia: Variations on a Rococo Theme.

U-Xia: P.I. Tchaikovsky.

Wu-l: What are variations?

Wu-Xia: Development, change of music. When the same music sounds in different options develops, changes.

Wu-l: What does rococo mean?

U-Xia: This is a French word, which in translation into Russian means - a shell.

Wu-l: Where did this style originally originate? What does this mean?

U-Xia: In architecture. Which means sophistication, grace, grace. It was her image that was often placed in the center of the ornament.

(drawing in the Rococo style p. 76, textbook)

U-l: What is the difference between musical works in the rococo style?

Wu-Xia: Sophistication, grace, grace?

U-l: By what means of musical expression was this achieved?

(work on the table)

Wu-Xia: Slow tempo, quiet dynamics, graceful rhythm, major.

U-l: What intonations do we hear in Tchaikovsky's music?

U-Xia: Joking, marching, lyrical, sincere.

Wu-l: What do these intonations give to music?

Y-Xia: Russian character.

U-l: For what instrument did the composer write this work?

Wu Xia: For cello and orchestra.(show picture of cello)

Wu-l: Who is the soloist on the cello?

U-Xia: Mstislav Rostropovich.

(Fizminutka)

U-l: Today at the lesson we will get acquainted with the music from the suite of the Russian composer M.

Mussorgsky "Pictures at an Exhibition".(portrait of the composer)

We have already met some of them.

Name the pieces from the suite that you know. (look at the pictures on the board)

U-Xia: "Baba Yaga", "Dwarf", "Ballet of unhatched chicks."

What is a suite?

Wu-Xia: A series, a sequence of diverse plays.

Wu-l: Do you remember the idea of ​​creating a suite?

After the death of a friend M.P. Mussorgsky, the artist Viktor Hartmann, the composer selected 10 of his favorite paintings and wrote music for them in the form of a suite.

After each picture, an interlude called "Walk" sounds, i.e. transition from one picture to another. Intermedia is a detached work that has nothing to do with the plot.

"Walk" - listening.

The composer interpreted the artist's pictures in his own way. For example: Hartmann's drawing depicted a clock in the form of a hut on chicken legs. And Mussorgsky in his music decided to show the hut inhabited. He called this picture "Baba Yaga".

U-l: Let's mentally transport ourselves to the Middle Ages, to the times of castles and knights, beautiful ladies, troubadours and minstrels - itinerant singer-musicians.

(Figure p.79, textbook)

U-l: How did we see the castle in the picture?

Wu-Xia: Gray, gloomy, mysterious.

Woul: And now let's compare it with Mussorgsky's music.

"Old Castle" - Hearing(disc 4 cl. 5 h. No. 3)

Wu-l: How did this music sound?(table of emotional states)

Wu-Xia: Quiet, mysterious, bewitching.

Wu-l: What does this music say? Does the mood change in the music?

Wu-Xia: A memory of the past of this castle, where there was both joy and sadness, where life was once in full swing.

U-l: By what means of musical expression did the composer achieve this?

Wu-Xia: Quiet dynamics, gradually rising and falling, calm tempo, minor.

U-l: What instrument sounded?

Wu: Piano.

U-l: What did the accompaniment remind you of?

U-Xia: Songs of the troubadours.

U-l: Why does the picture end with a loud chord?

Wu-l: What would you say about this musical picture? What would you draw?

Let this task be homemade.

Lesson Summary:

Test quiz

1. Who is the composer of Pictures at an Exhibition?
2. According to the sketches of which artist, the work “Pictures at an Exhibition” by M.P. was created. Mussorgsky?
3. What is a suite?
4. How many parts are in the suite “Pictures at an Exhibition” by M.P. Mussorgsky?
5. What is an interlude?
6. What is the name of the interlude in the suite?

(students read out questions and answers, compare them, mark the correct answers)

The teacher announces grades for the lesson. Homework is recorded.

U-l: The lesson ends, soon the change. Let's sing a song.

"Change is small" - performance.

MOU-sosh s. login

Open music lesson:

M.P. Mussorgsky "Pictures at an Exhibition" - "Old Castle»

4th grade

music teacher Boyko T.I.

Pictures from the exhibition- one of the best masterpieces in Russian piano music(1874). In form, this is a suite consisting of ten pieces, each of which reflects the content of one of the paintings by the artist Viktor Aleksandrovich Hartmann.

Victor Hartmann especially brightly showed himself not so much as an artist as a talented architect who formed his own style in architecture. own style called "Russian style".

For Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, he was a very close friend, therefore sudden death Hartmann at a young age (only 39 years old!) Literally shocked the composer.

A year after this tragic event, at the suggestion of Stasov, an exhibition of paintings by Viktor Hartmann was held, dedicated to his memory. However the best monument the piano cycle written by his friend became the artist.

The idea of ​​its creation came to Mussorgsky during a visit to the exhibition, and in three weeks the cycle was ready! Some of the paintings can hardly even be called paintings. These are rather sketches, sketches, sometimes just sketches for theatrical costumes.

Only two paintings have a Russian theme - the rest of the drawings are "foreign". The whole cycle consists of ten plays (pictures) connected by one leitmotif called "Walk".

This is Mussorgsky himself, who walks around the exhibition hall and from time to time stops in front of the next painting that interests him (click on the pictures to enlarge them). Here they are:

Picture #1 Gnome.

Picture No. 2 "Old Castle" - the image of the old medieval castle has not been preserved.

Picture No. 3 "Tuileries Garden" - this picture depicted a garden in the Tuileries Palace (Paris). The weather is fine, the nannies are walking with the children. The picture also did not survive.

Picture No. 4 "Cattle" ("Sandomierz cattle", according to Mussorgsky himself). The painting was of a Polish cart drawn by oxen, and the effect of the approach and then the removal of this huge cart with squeaky wheels is clearly audible in the music. The picture also did not survive.

Picture number 5 "Ballet of unhatched chicks." In principle, this is not so much a picture as a sketch for ballet costumes for the dance of canary chicks (three-part form).

Picture No. 6 "Two Jews: rich and poor." With Hartmann, these characters did not exist in one picture. There were two paintings: “A rich Jew in a fur hat”:

and "Poor Jew": Both Jews are of Polish origin (Jews of Sandomierz). In Mussorgsky they have a conversation, during which each reveals his character.

Picture No. 7 Limoges market (France): market noise, hubbub, gossip, fuss. The picture also did not survive.

Picture No. 8 “Catacombs. Roman tomb" or "With the dead in a dead language". In the foreground, Hartmann depicted himself. On the right you can barely see the dimly lit skulls.

Picture No. 9 "Hut on chicken legs" (Baba Yaga). Hartmann has only a sketch of a watch. Mussorgsky has the image of "evil spirits".

Picture No. 10 “Bogatyr Gates. In the capital city of Kyiv. The painting is a project of the Kyiv Gates. These gates were never built, but their construction was planned after an unsuccessful attempt on the life of Emperor Alexander II and his miraculous rescue. Mussorgsky's play sounds like a triumph of Orthodoxy, depicting a very realistic festive chime.

Personally, I got acquainted with "Pictures" at the age of ten: my mother bought a record of Svyatoslav Richter's game. The impression was so vivid that for many years I literally dreamed of having a glimpse of the pictures that inspired Mussorgsky to create this miracle.

Today, thanks to the Internet, it has become a reality. However, what I saw greatly disappointed me: Mussorgsky's music is many times superior to the original source in its artistic value!

In addition, paintings were sold at the exhibition. Obviously, they were also sold after the exhibition, so only 6 paintings remained in the public domain. You can see them on my blog. Of course, these are just reproductions, and even in electronic form, but still better than nothing.

The fate of this piano cycle is very curious. Firstly, it was not published during the author's lifetime and, accordingly, was never performed during the composer's lifetime.

Secondly, fame for this work came due to orchestral processing. French composer Maurice Ravel, a recording of this arrangement came out half a century after Mussorgsky's death.

However, the cycle was written specifically for the piano! I don’t know about anyone else, but personally I like this option the most. Moreover, I never thought that the performance of Richter could ever recede into the background for me, I did not imagine a performer who could “outplay” Svyatoslav Richter himself in this masterpiece!

But today I am literally captivated by the interpretation of Mikhail Pletnev. I consider it the best and that is why I chose it for posting on my blog.

I suggest you enjoy getting to know this “pearl” of the Russian piano heritage, and even in an absolutely wonderful version:

Alexander MAYKAPAR

M. Mussorgsky. "Pictures at an Exhibition"

Genre: suite for piano.
Year of creation: June 1874
First edition: 1886, as amended by N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov.
Dedicated to: V.V. Stasov.

Modest Mussorgsky

From the history of creation and publication

The reason for the creation of "Pictures at an Exhibition" was an exhibition of paintings and drawings by the famous Russian artist and architect V.A. Hartman, which was organized at the Academy of Arts on the initiative of V.V. Stasov in connection with the sudden death of the artist. Stasov responded to the death of V. Hartmann with the article “Current Art in Europe. Artistic Notes on the World Exhibition of 1873 in Vienna. It contains, perhaps, the most profound characteristic of the work of this master: “Not only in Russia did they understand the original talent of Hartmann and sympathize with the novelty and freshness of the ideas of this young artist: in Vienna, he also found worthy connoisseurs. When Hartmann’s drawings arrived there and were unpacked in front of a commission of architects, these latter, at first sight, were truly delighted both with the skill of the draftsman (Hartmann was one of the most excellent watercolorists that I had ever met), and with the novelty and richness of his imagination.

Of those works by the artist, according to which Mussorgsky's "Pictures" were written, only six are known.

Viktor Hartman

Viktor Aleksandrovich Hartman(1834–1873) was an outstanding Russian architect and artist. He graduated from the course at the Academy of Arts, after studying the construction business he spent several years abroad, making sketches of architectural monuments everywhere, fixed with a pencil and watercolor folk types and scenes street life. Later invited to participate in the organization of the All-Russian Manufactory Exhibition in 1870 in St. Petersburg, he made about 600 drawings, according to which various pavilions of the exhibition were built. These drawings demonstrate the artist's inexhaustible imagination, delicate taste, and great originality. It was for this work that he was awarded the title of academician in 1872. He created several architectural projects (for example, the People's Theater in St. Petersburg), made drawings of scenery and costumes for M. Glinka's opera "Ruslan and Lyudmila", participated in the arrangement of the Moscow Polytechnic Exhibition in 1872. A house for the Mamontov printing house, a suburban dacha for Mamontov and several private houses.

Mussorgsky, who knew the artist well, was shocked by his death. He wrote to V. Stasov: “We, fools, are usually consoled in such cases by the wise: “he” does not exist, but what he managed to do exists and will exist; and, they say, how many people have such a happy share - not to be forgotten. Again the cue ball (with horseradish for tears) from a human vanity. To hell with your wisdom! If "he" did not live in vain, but created, so what a scoundrel one must be in order to reconcile with the pleasure of "consolation" with the fact that "he" stopped creating. There is not and cannot be peace, there is not and should not be consolation - this is flabby.

A few years later, in 1887, when an attempt was made to second edition of Pictures at an Exhibition (the first, edited by N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, was reproached for departing from the author’s intention; we will note some of these deviations in our comments) , V. Stasov wrote in the preface: “Brilliant, elegant sketches of a genre painter, many scenes, types, figures from everyday life, captured from the sphere of what rushed and circled around him - on the streets and in churches, in the Parisian catacombs and Polish monasteries, in Roman lanes and Limoges villages, carnival types a la Gavarni, workers in blouses and pateri riding on a donkey with an umbrella under their arm, French old women praying, Jews smiling from under a yarmulke, Parisian rag-pickers, cute donkeys rubbing against a tree, landscapes with a picturesque ruin, wonderful distances with a panorama of the city ... "

On "Pictures" Mussorgsky worked with extraordinary enthusiasm. In one of his letters to Stasov, he wrote: “Hartmann boils like Boris boiled,” sounds and thoughts hung in the air, I swallow and overeat, I barely have time to scratch on paper ... I want to do it faster and more reliably. My physiognomy is visible in the interludes ... How well it works. While Mussorgsky was working on this cycle, the work was referred to as "Hartmann"; the name "Pictures at an Exhibition" appeared later.

Many contemporaries found the author's - piano - version of "Pictures" not a piano work, inconvenient for performance. There is some truth in this. AT " encyclopedic dictionary"Brockhaus and Efron we read:" Let us point out another series musical sketches under the title "Pictures at an Exhibition", written for piano in 1874, in the form of musical illustrations for watercolors by V.A. Hartmann". It is no coincidence that there are many orchestrations of this work. The orchestration by M. Ravel, made in 1922, is the most famous, besides, it was in this orchestration that Pictures at an Exhibition gained recognition in the West. Moreover, even among pianists there is no unanimity of opinion: some perform the work in the author's version, others, in particular W. Horowitz, transcribe it. In our collection "Pictures at an Exhibition" are presented in two versions - the original pianoforte (S. Richter) and orchestrated by M. Ravel, which makes it possible to compare them.

Plots and music

Pictures at an Exhibition is a suite of ten plays, each inspired by one of Hartmann's stories. Mussorgsky invented an absolutely wonderful way to combine these musical pictures of his into a single artistic whole: for this purpose he used musical material introductions, and since the exhibition is usually walked around, he called this introduction "Walk".

So, we are invited to the exhibition ...

Walk

This introduction does not form the main - substantive - part of the exhibition, but is an essential element of the whole musical composition. For the first time, the musical material of this introduction is presented in full; in the future, the motif of the "Walk" in different versions: sometimes calm, sometimes more excited - is used as interludes between plays, which wonderfully expresses psychological condition the viewer at the exhibition, when he moves from one painting to another. At the same time, Mussorgsky creates a feeling of unity of the whole work with maximum contrast. musical- and we clearly feel that visual also (Hartmann's paintings) - the content of the plays. Regarding his discovery (how to connect the pieces), Mussorgsky spoke (in the letter to Stasov quoted above): “The links are good (on the“ promenade ”) ... My physiognomy is visible in the interludes.”

The coloring of "Walks" immediately attracts attention - its distinctly palpable Russian character. The composer in his remark gives an indication: nelmodoRussian(Italian - in Russian style). But this remark alone would not be enough to create such a feeling. Mussorgsky achieves this by several means.

First, with the help of musical mode. “Walk”, at least at first, was written in the so-called pentatonic mode (“penta” - five), that is, using only five sounds - sounds that form semitones with neighboring ones are excluded. The remaining and used in the theme are separated from each other by a whole tone. The sounds excluded in this case are la and E-flat Further, when the character is outlined, the composer uses the entire scale. The pentatonic scale itself gives the music a distinct folk character.

Secondly, the rhythmic structure: at first, odd meter (5/4) and even meter (6/4, the second half of the piece is already all in even meter) struggle (or alternate?). The seeming indeterminacy of the rhythmic structure, or rather the lack of squareness in it, is also one of the features of the warehouse of Russian folk music. We are not concerned here with a very large and important problem. interpretations music, reading and reports author's note and author's intent. For, as the poet Witold Degler said,

Sometimes the thought worthy of a standing ovation,
May die from interpretation ...

Mussorgsky supplied his work with rather detailed remarks concerning the nature of the performance (tempo, mood, etc.). For this, he used, as is customary in music, the Italian language.

The remark for the first "Walk" is as follows: AllegroGiusto , nelmodoRussian , senzaallergezza , mapocosostenuto. In publications that provide translations of such Italian remarks, you can see the following translation: "Soon, in the Russian style, without haste, somewhat restrained." There is little sense in such a set of words. How to play: "soon" "without haste" or "somewhat restrained"?

The fact is that, firstly, in such a translation, an important word was left without attention Giusto , which literally means "correctly", "in proportion", "exactly"; in relation to interpretation, "a tempo appropriate to the character of the play". The character of this play is determined by the first word of the remark - allegro, and in this case it is necessary to understand it in the sense of "briskly" (and not "quickly"). Then everything falls into place and the whole remark is translated as follows: “play cheerfully, at the appropriate pace, in the Russian spirit, without haste, somewhat restrained.” Probably everyone will agree that this is the state of mind that usually possesses us when we first enter the exhibition. Another thing is our feelings from new impressions from what we saw ...

Vladimir Stasov

In some cases, the motive of "Walks" turns out to be a link for neighboring plays. This happens when moving from No. 1 - "Gnome" to No. 2 - "Old Castle" or from No. 2 to No. 3 - "Tuileries Garden". In the course of the work, these transitions are unmistakably recognizable. In other cases, on the contrary, the motive becomes sharply separating - then the "Walk" is designated as a more or less independent section, for example, between No. 6 - "Two Jews, rich and poor" and No. 7 - "Limoge. Market".

Each time, depending on the context in which the motive of the Walk appears, Mussorgsky finds special means of expression: the motive is either close to its original version, as we hear after No. 1 (we have not gone far in our walk around the exhibition), or it sounds not so moderate and even heavy (after the "Old Castle"; note in notes: pesante- ital. hard).

Mussorgsky arranges the whole cycle in such a way that he completely avoids any kind of symmetry and predictability. This also characterizes the interpretation of the musical material of the “Walk”: the listener (aka the viewer) either remains impressed by what he heard (seen), then, on the contrary, shakes off his thoughts and feelings from the picture he saw. And nowhere is the mood repeated exactly. And all this with the unity of the thematic material "Walks"! Mussorgsky in this cycle (as, indeed, in his other works, for example, in vocal cycles"Children's", "Without the Sun", "Songs and Dances of Death", not to mention operas) appears as an extremely subtle psychologist.

1. "Gnome"

Hartmann's drawing depicted a Christmas toy: nutcrackers in the form of a small gnome. For Mussorgsky, this play gives the impression of something more sinister than just a Christmas decoration: an analogy with the Nibelungs (a breed of dwarfs living deep in mountain caves- the characters of R. Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung) does not seem so ridiculous. In any case, Mussorgsky's dwarf is more bitter than the gnomes of Liszt or Grieg. In music, there are sharp contrasts: fortissimo is replaced piano, lively (performed by S. Richter - impetuous) phrases alternate with stops of movement, melodies in unison are opposed to episodes set out in chords. If you do not know the author's title of this piece, then in M. Ravel's orchestration - extremely inventive - it appears more like a portrait of a fairy-tale giant and, in any case, not a musical embodiment of the image of a Christmas tree toy (as it is with Hartmann).

V. Hartman. Costume design for G. Gerber's ballet "Trilby". Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg

2. "Old castle"

Hartmann, as you know, traveled around Europe, and one of his drawings depicted an ancient castle. To convey the scale, the artist depicted a singer - a troubadour with a lute against its background. This is how Stasov explains this drawing (in the catalog of the artist's posthumous exhibition, such a drawing does not appear). It does not follow from the picture that the troubadour sings a song full of sadness and hopelessness. But it is precisely this mood that Mussorgsky's music conveys.

The composition of the piece is amazing: all its 107 measures are built on one unchanging bass sound - G-sharp! This technique in music is called "organ point" and is used quite often; as a rule, it precedes the onset of a reprise, that is, that section of a work in which, after a certain development, the original musical material returns. But it's hard to find another piece of the classic musical repertoire, in which the entire work from beginning to end would be built on an organ point. And this is not just Mussorgsky's technical experiment - the composer created a true masterpiece. This technique is highly appropriate in a play with a given plot, that is, for musical embodiment images of a medieval troubadour: the instruments on which the musicians of that time accompanied themselves had a bass string (if we are talking about a stringed instrument, such as a fidel) or a pipe (if we are talking about a wind instrument, such as a bagpipe), which made only one sound - thick deep bass. Its sound for a long time created a mood of some kind of stiffness. It is this hopelessness - the hopelessness of the troubadour's plea - that Mussorgsky painted with sounds.

3. "Tuileries Garden" ("Quarrel of children after the game")

The laws of psychology require contrast in order for the artistic and emotional impression to be vivid. And this play brings this contrast. The Tuileries Garden is a place in the center of Paris. It extends approximately one kilometer from Place Carousel to Place de la Concorde. This garden (now it should rather be called a square) is a favorite place for walking Parisians with children. Hartmann's painting depicted this garden with many children and nannies. The Tuileries Garden, captured by Hartmann-Mussorgsky, is about the same as Nevsky Prospekt, captured by Gogol: “At twelve o’clock, tutors of all nations raid Nevsky Prospekt with their pets in cambric collars. The English Joneses and the French Koks go hand in hand with the pets entrusted to their parental care and with decent solidity explain to them that the signboards above the shops are made in order to be able to find out through them what is in the shops themselves. The governesses, pale misses and rosy Slavs, walk majestically behind their light, fidgety girls, ordering them to lift their shoulders a little higher and keep straighter; in short, at this time Nevsky Prospekt is the pedagogical Nevsky Prospekt.

The play very accurately conveys the mood of that time of the day when this garden was occupied by children, and it is curious that the fidgetiness of girls noticed by Gogol was reflected in Mussorgsky's remark: capriccioso(Italian - capriciously).

It is noteworthy that the play is written in a three-part form, and, as it should be in this form, the middle part forms a certain contrast with the extreme ones. The realization of this, in general, simple fact is important not in itself, but because of the conclusions that flow from it: a comparison of the piano version (performed by S. Richter) with the orchestral version (instrumentation by M. Ravel) suggests that Richter, who smoothes this contrast rather than emphasizes it, the participants in the scene are only children, perhaps boys (their collective portrait is drawn in the extreme parts) and girls (the middle part, more graceful in rhythm and melodic pattern). As for the orchestral version, in the middle part of the piece, the image of nannies arises in the mind, that is, someone adult who is trying to gently settle the quarrel of the children (admonishing intonations of the strings).

4. "Cattle"

V. Stasov, presenting the "Pictures" to the public and giving explanations to the plays of this suite, specified that the redneck is a Polish cart on huge wheels, drawn by oxen. The dull monotony of the work of the oxen is conveyed by an ostinato, that is, an invariably repeating, elementary rhythm - four even beats per beat. And so it goes throughout the play. The chords themselves are placed in the lower register, they sound fortissimo - so in Mussorgsky's original manuscript; in the edition of Rimsky-Korsakov - piano. Against the background of chords, a mournful melody depicting a driver sounds. The movement is quite slow and heavy. Author's note: sempermoderato , pesante(Italian - all the time moderately, hard). The invariably monotonous sound conveys hopelessness. And the oxen is just an “allegorical figure”: we, the listeners, clearly feel the devastating effect on the soul of any dull, exhausting, meaningless labor.

The driver leaves on his oxen: the sound subsides (until ppp), chords are thinned out, "drying out" to intervals (that is, two simultaneously sounding sounds) and in the end to one - the same as at the beginning of the piece - sound; the movement also slows down - two (instead of four) beats per bar. Author's note here - perdendosi(Italian - freezing).

Three plays - "The Old Castle", "The Tuileries Garden", "Cattle" - are a small triptych inside the entire suite. In its extreme parts, the general key is G-sharp minor; in the middle - parallel major(B major). These tonalities, being related by nature, express, thanks to the composer's imagination and talent, polar emotional states: despair and hopelessness in the extreme parts (in the sphere of quiet and in the sphere of loud sounding) and elevated excitement - in the middle piece.

We move on to another picture. The theme of "Walks" sounds calm.

5. "Ballet of unhatched chicks"

The title is inscribed in the autograph in pencil by Mussorgsky.

Contrast again: oxen are replaced by chicks. Everything else: instead of moderato , pesante - vivoleggiero(Italian - lively and easy), instead of massive chords fortissimo in the lower register - playful grace notes (small notes, as if clicking along with the main chords) in the upper register on piano. All this is intended to give an idea of ​​​​small nimble creatures, moreover, not yet ... hatched. We must pay tribute to the ingenuity of Hartmann, who managed to find a form for unhatched chicks; this drawing of his is a sketch of costumes for the characters in G. Gerber's ballet "Trilby" staged by Petipa in Bolshoi Theater in 1871

V. Hartman. Sketch of the city gates in Kyiv. Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg

6. "Two Jews, rich and poor"

And again, the maximum contrast with the previous play.

It is known that during his lifetime, Hartmann presented the composer with two of his drawings, made when the artist was in Poland: “A Jew in a fur hat” and “Poor Jew. Sandomierz. Stasov recalled: "Mussorgsky greatly admired the expressiveness of these pictures." So this play, strictly speaking, is not a picture "from an exhibition", but rather from Mussorgsky's personal collection. But, of course, this circumstance does not affect our perception in any way. musical content"Pictures". In this play, Mussorgsky almost teeters on the brink of caricature. And here this ability of his - to convey the very essence of character - manifested itself unusually brightly, almost more visible than in the best creations of the greatest Wanderers artists. The statements of contemporaries are known that he had the ability to depict anything with sounds.

Mussorgsky contributed to the development of one of the oldest themes in art and literature, as, indeed, in life, which received a different design: either in the form of the plot of "The Happy and the Unlucky", or "thick and thin" (Chekhov), or " the prince and the pauper” (M. Twain), or “the kitchen of the fat and the kitchen of the skinny” (a cycle of engravings by Pieter Brueghel the Elder).

For sound characteristic rich Jew Mussorgsky uses the baritone register, and the melody sounds in octave doubling. The national flavor was achieved using a special scale. Notes for this image: Andante . Graveenergico(Italian - leisurely; important, energetic). The speech of the character is conveyed by indications of various articulations (these indications are extremely important for the performer). The sound is loud. Everything gives the impression of imposingness: maxims rich do not tolerate objections.

The poor Jew is depicted in the second part of the play. He literally behaves like Porfiry (Chekhov’s thin) with his “hee-hee-s” (this is wonderfully conveyed by a rapidly repeating note with grace notes “fastened” to it), when he suddenly realizes what “heights”, it turns out, he has reached in former high school friend.

In the third part of the play, both musical images are combined: the monologues of the characters here turn into a dialogue, or rather, these are the same alternating monologues: each asserts his own. Suddenly, both fall silent, suddenly realizing that they are not listening to each other (general pause). And here is the last phrase of the poor man: a motive full of melancholy and hopelessness (remark: condolore[ital. - with longing; sad]) - and the answer of the rich : loudly, decisively and categorically.

The play produces a poignant, perhaps even depressing impression, as always happens when faced with blatant social injustice.

Walk

We have reached the middle of the cycle - not so much in arithmetic terms (in terms of the number of numbers already sounded and still remaining), but in terms of the artistic impression that this work gives us as a whole. And Mussorgsky, clearly realizing this, allows the listener a longer rest: here the “Walk” sounds almost exactly in the version in which it sounded at the beginning of the work: the last sound is extended by one “extra” measure: a kind of theatrical gesture - raised up forefinger(Something else will be!).

7. Limoges. Market" (" big news»)

The autograph contains a remark (in French, later crossed out by Mussorgsky): “Big news: Mr. Pimpan from Ponta-Pontaleon has just found his cow: Runaway. “Yes, madame, that was yesterday. - No, madame, it was the third day. - Well, yes, madam, a cow wandered in the neighborhood. “Well, no, madam, the cow didn’t roam at all. Etc.""

The plot of the play is comical and simple. A glance at the music pages involuntarily suggests that the "French" in this cycle - the Tuileries Garden and the market in Limoges - Hartmann-Mussorgsky saw in the same emotional key. Reading by performers highlights these plays in different ways. This play, depicting "bazaar women" and their dispute, sounds more energetic than a children's quarrel. At the same time, it should be noted that the performers, wishing to enhance the effect and sharpen the contrasts, in a certain sense ignore the composer's instructions: both in S. Richter and in the performance of the orchestra conducted by E. Svetlanov, the pace is very fast, in essence, this presto . There is a feeling of rapid movement somewhere. Mussorgsky has prescribed allegretto. He paints with sounds a lively scene taking place on one place surrounded by the "Brownian movement" of the crowd, as can be observed in any crowded and busy market. We hear a stream of colloquial speech, a sharp increase in sonority ( crescendi), acute accents ( sforzandi). At the end, in the performance of this piece, the movement accelerates even more, and on the crest of this whirlwind we "fly" into ... a Roman tomb.

8. “Catacombs (Roman tomb). with the dead on dead language»

Before this number in the autograph there is Mussorgsky's note in Russian: “NB: Latin text: with the dead in a dead language. It would be nice to have a Latin text: the creative spirit of the deceased Hartmann leads me to the skulls, calls to them, the skulls quietly boasted.

Hartmann's drawing is one of the few that have survived. It depicts the artist himself with his companion and another person who accompanies them, lighting the way with a lantern. Around racks with skulls.

Stasov described this play in a letter to Rimsky-Korsakov: “In the same second part (“Pictures at an Exhibition.” - A.M.) there are several lines of unusually poetic. This is the music for Hartmann's picture "Catacombs of Paris", all consisting of skulls. At the Musoryanin (as Stasov affectionately called Mussorgsky. - A.M.) first depicts a gloomy dungeon (long drawn chords, often orchestral, with large fermatas). Then the theme of the first promenade plays in a tremolando in a minor key - the lights in the turtles lit up, and then suddenly Hartmann's magical, poetic call to Mussorgsky is heard.

W. Hartman. Parisian catacombs. Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

9. "Hut on chicken legs" ("Baba Yaga")

Hartmann's drawing depicted a clock in the form of a baba-yaga hut on chicken legs, Mussorgsky added a baba-yaga train in a mortar.

If we consider “Pictures at an Exhibition” not only as a separate work, but in the context of Mussorgsky’s entire work, then we can see that the destructive and creative forces in his music exist in continuity, although one of them prevails at every moment. So in this play we will find a combination of sinister mystical black colors, on the one hand, and light ones, on the other. And the intonations here are of two types: viciously dashing, frightening, piercingly sharp and cheerful, cheerfully inviting. One group of intonations, as it were, depresses, the second, on the contrary, inspires, activates.

The image of Baba Yaga, according to folk beliefs, is the focus of everything cruel, destroying good motives, interfering with the implementation of good, good deeds. However, the composer, showing the Baba Yaga from this side (remark at the beginning of the play: feroce - ferociously), led the story to a different plane, opposing the idea of ​​destruction to the idea of ​​growth and victory good beginnings. By the end of the piece, the music becomes more and more impulsive, the joyful ringing grows, and in the end, a huge sound wave is born from the bowels of the dark registers of the piano, finally dissolving all sorts of gloomy impulses and selflessly preparing the coming of the most victorious, most exultant image of the cycle - the anthem "The Bogatyr Gates".

This play opens up a series of images and works depicting all sorts of devilry, evil spirit and obsession - “Night on Bald Mountain” by M. Mussorgsky himself, “Baba Yaga” and “Kikimora” by A. Lyadov, Leshy in “The Snow Maiden” by N. Rimsky-Korsakov, “Delusion” by S. Prokofiev ...

10. "Bogatyr Gates" ("In the capital city in Kyiv")

The reason for writing this play was Hartmann's sketch for the city gates in Kyiv, which were to be installed in commemoration of the fact that Emperor Alexander II managed to escape death during the assassination attempt on April 4, 1866.

In the music of M. Mussorgsky, the tradition of such final celebratory scenes in Russian operas found a vivid expression. The play is perceived precisely as such an opera finale. You can even point to a specific prototype - the choir "Glory", which ends "Life for the Tsar" ("Ivan Susanin") by M. Glinka. The final play of Mussorgsky's cycle is the intonational, dynamic, textural culmination of the entire work. (This is especially vividly conveyed in the orchestral version of "Pictures at an Exhibition" instrumented by M. Ravel.) The composer himself outlined the nature of the music with the words: Maestoso . Congrandezza(Italian - solemnly, majestically). The theme of the piece is nothing more than a jubilant version of the melody "Walks".

The whole work ends festively and joyfully, with a powerful ringing of bells. Mussorgsky laid the foundation for the tradition of such bell ringing, recreated by non-bell means - First piano concert in B flat minor by P. Tchaikovsky, the Second Piano Concerto in C Minor by S. Rachmaninov, his first Prelude in C Sharp Minor for piano…

"Pictures at an Exhibition" by M. Mussorgsky is a completely innovative work. Everything is new in it - musical language, form, sound recording techniques. Wonderful as a work piano repertoire (although for a long time it was considered “non-pianistic” by pianists - again due to the novelty of many techniques), it appears in all its splendor in orchestral arrangements. There are quite a few of them, in addition to the one made by M. Ravel, and among them the most frequently performed is S.P. Gorchakov (1954).

Transcriptions of "Pictures" were made for different instruments and for different compositions of performers. One of the most brilliant is the organ transcription by the outstanding French organist Jean Guillou. Individual pieces from this suite are heard by many even outside the context of this creation by Mussorgsky. So, the theme from the "Bogatyr Gates" serves as the call sign of the radio station "Voice of Russia".

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Stasov V.V. Favorites. Painting, sculpture, graphics. T. II. M. - L. 1951. S. 229.

R. Wagner's opera The Rhine Gold, the first part of Der Ring des Nibelungen, was staged in Munich on September 22, 1869. In any case, the chronological data do not contradict the hypothesis that Mussorgsky knew these images of Wagner.

Liszt F. Concert etude "Dance of the Dwarfs" (1863).

Grieg E. "Procession of the Dwarves" from the cycle "Lyric Pieces" for piano, book V, op. 54, no. 3.

Gogol N. Nevsky Avenue. - Collection. op. v. 3. M. 1984. S. 7.

In M. Ravel's orchestration, which is based on N. Rimsky-Korsakov's version, the play also begins quietly, in the course of its development it seems that the driver is approaching. Here he is passing by us and now he is moving away.

Literally at the same time, I. Repin painted his famous painting Barge Haulers on the Volga (1873).

It so happened that almost simultaneously with M. Mussorgsky, P. Tchaikovsky wrote "Dance of the Little Swans" (ballet " Swan Lake", 1876).

E if in the play "Forest" by A.N. Ostrovsky to consider the author’s remarks in the conversation between Schastlivtsev and Neschastlivtsev, you can see that Neschastlivtsev constantly says “gloomy”, “menacingly”, “thick bass”, and in contrast to him, Schastlivtsev answers with a “half-ingratiating-half-mocking tone”, “timidly”, which immediately speaks of the character of both: Neschastlivtsev - strong character, Schastlivtsev - weak. In Mussorgsky's play, on the contrary, the rich Jew speaks in lower register, the poor Jew speaks in high. Mussorgsky has his own logic: the rich speak low and weighty, the poor speak in a high register and fussily.

A scale is a set of sounds used in music arranged in ascending or descending order. This or that alternation of various intervals between sounds gives each such scale a special flavor. For some national musical cultures has its own special sound. Along with the characteristic rhythm (which is conveyed in this piece), Jewish music is given a special flavor by the presence of two extended seconds (this is the name of the interval between adjacent sounds of the scale), which sharpens the inclination of some sounds into others and thereby gives the music a more expressive character.

We again draw attention to the characteristic details of the interpretation, since the performer, especially when it comes to a great artist, always brings his personal understanding and attitude to the work.