In what form is the romance written? A romance is a short lyrical piece of music

A romance is a chamber vocal work, which is characterized by a poetic form and lyrical content of a love theme. In other words, these are poetic works for singing to instrumental accompaniment.

The romance is similar in form to the song, only with a limited theme of a love-lyrical nature. A romance is usually performed to the accompaniment of a single instrument, most often. The main emphasis in works of this kind is on the melody and semantic load.

The origin of the romance

The term "romance" itself originated in Spain, where it was used to name secular songs in Spanish that needed to be separated from religious hymns sung in Latin. The Spanish word "romance" or the late Latin "romanice" is translated in this way: "in Romance" or "in Spanish", which is actually the same thing. The term "romance" has taken root in many languages ​​in parallel with the term "song", although in German and English these two concepts are still not separated, denoting them with the same word (German Lied and English Song).

So, romance is a type of song that took shape in the period of the 15th-19th centuries.

Western European romance

From the middle of the 18th century, romance gained particular popularity in Germany and France and became a separate genre on the verge of music and poetry. The poetic basis for the romances of this era was the poems of such great poets as Heine and Goethe.

Already in the 19th century, national schools of romance were formed in Germany, Austria, France and Russia. During this period, the famous romances of the Austrians Schumann, Brahms and Schubert, the French Berlioz, Bizet and Gounod were created.

Characteristic for European schools was the combination of romances into whole vocal cycles. Beethoven created the first such cycle "To a Distant Beloved". His example was followed by Schubert (cycles of romances "Winter Way" and "The Beautiful Miller's Woman"), Schumann, Brahms, Wolf ... From the middle of the 19th century and in the 20th century, national schools of romance were formed in the Czech Republic, Poland, Norway, Finland.

Gradually, in addition to the classical chamber form of romance, such a genre as everyday romance is also developing. It was designed for non-professional singers and was widely popular in society.

Russian romance

The Russian school of romance originated under the influence of romantic moods in art and was finally formed by the middle of the 19th century. Alyabyeva, Gurilev, Varlamova, who often turned to gypsy themes in their work, are considered its founders.

Alexander Alyabiev

Later, separate trends were formed in the genre of Russian romance - salon romance, cruel romance ... The apogee of development of Russian romance is experienced at the beginning of the 20th century, in the era of creativity of Vertinsky and Vyaltseva, Plevitskaya and Panina. The traditions laid down by these brilliant musicians were successfully continued by Alla Bayanova and Petr Leshchenko, and already in the era of the existence of the Soviet Union - by Vadim Kozin, Tamara Tsereteli, Isabella Yuryeva.

Unfortunately, in the Soviet era, the romance genre was not welcomed by the party leadership, since it was considered a non-proletarian genre, a relic of tsarism. and performers of romances were persecuted and repressed.

Only in the 70s. In the 20th century, romance is experiencing a revival when romances performed by Valentina Ponomareva and Nani Bregvadze, Nikolai Slichenko and Valentin Baglaenko gain popularity.

With instrumental accompaniment. The origin of the romance is due to Spain, where the term “romance” itself arose, which at that time meant a secular song in Spanish (Romance) language not on a religious plot, hence the name romance. At the end of the 19th century, romance began to be performed solo with vihuela or guitar accompaniment.

It is impossible to tell everything about the Russian romance, because this genre is so loved by our compatriots, and a huge number of works in this genre have been created. Romance came to Russia from France in the second half of the 18th century. This period was the heyday of Russian poetry and the new genre in vocal art came in handy, having absorbed the characteristic Russian poetic features. The very concept of Russian romance appeared much later, when folk song melodies penetrated the minds of educated social democrats. It is in Russian folk art that the origins of the birth of Russian romance as a separate genre in vocal art are located. The song art of the middle of the 18th - 19th centuries, which has come down to us, is mostly represented by anonymous authors. In those days, this genre was transmitted orally, so both the words and the melody changed. Over time, people began to appear who tried to collect works of the new genre together and record them. Perhaps they themselves brought something to these works. Later, many composers began to turn to the romance genre. The most famous Russian composers who composed in the Russian romance genre are Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Rimsky-Korsakov, Alyabyev, Varlamov, Glinka, Gumilyov, Dargomyzhsky, Cui, Sviridov and many others. A.S. Pushkin had a very strong influence on the development of the Russian romance. A huge number of romances written on his poems.

In the future, composers begin to combine romances into vocal cycles, thereby creating works of a larger form, in which contrasting musical and poetic images were often used, which would be impossible to fit into the size of one romance.

The further development of the romance genre in the 20th century begins with the expansion of new tasks: the development of new musical forms, a new synthesis of music and poetry. There is a new genre - "poetry with music." S.I. Taneyev, S.V. Rakhmaninov, N.K. Medtner, S.S. Prokofiev have such works. To achieve an approximation to the intonations of natural speech, composers use both prose and works written in "blank verse". Also, the instrumental part of the Russian romance begins to develop, this was especially clearly expressed in the piano parts, which, along with the melody and the poem, performed an important musical and figurative function. Folklore themes also penetrate into the romance, which is clearly expressed in the work of the composer I.F. Stravinsky. Further, Soviet composers continue to develop the classical direction of the vocal-poetic genre, strengthening the song beginning in the Russian romance and bringing the romance closer to the song.

Romance (Spanish) romance) is a chamber vocal work for voice with instrumental accompaniment. The term "romance" originated in Spain and originally denoted a secular song in Spanish ("Romance"), and not in the Latin accepted in church hymns. Collections of such songs, often united by a common plot, were called "romanceros". Having spread in other countries, the term "romance" began to denote, on the one hand, a poetic genre: a particularly melodious lyric poem (as well as a poem intended for music), and on the other, a genre of vocal music. In France, the term "romance" ( romance) was used along with the term chanson in the 18th and early 19th centuries, then it was replaced by the concept of mélodie, introduced by G. Berlioz as a genre designation for a vocal work with accompaniment. In some countries, romance is denoted by one word: German. Lied, English song. In Russia, the name "romance" was originally given to vocal works written in French text (even if by a Russian composer). Romances with text in Russian were called "Russian songs".

In a romance, the melody is more detailed than in a song, it is connected with the verse, reflecting not only its general character, type of stanza, poetic meter, but also individual poetic images, their development and change, the rhythmic and intonational pattern of individual phrases. Instrumental accompaniment in a romance has an important expressive meaning and is often an equal member of the ensemble. Romances are divided into separate genre varieties: ballads, elegies, barcarolles, romances in dance rhythms, etc.

The immediate predecessors of the romance in the modern sense of this term, along with the song genres, were vocal subtexts of dance forms: minuets, Sicilians, etc. (Sperontes, “The Muse Singing on the River Place” - “Singende Muse an der Pleiße”, 1736-45; G. N. Teplov, “Idleness between business”, 1759, and others).

The development of the romance as a synthetic, musical and poetic genre begins in the second half of the 18th century. In the work of composers of the Berlin school (M. Agricola, K. F. E. Bach, F. Benda, etc.), E. N. Megul, A. M. Burton and N. Daleirak in France, A. M. Dubyansky and O. A. Kozlovsky in Russia, one can find examples of a subtle fusion of music and verse. At the same time, the theoretical understanding of the problems of combining music and words began (in the works of K. G. Krause, A. E. M. Grétry).

In the 19th century, especially in the work of composers of the romantic direction, romance became one of the leading genres, reflecting the trends characteristic of the era: an appeal to the inner, spiritual world of a person and to the treasures of folk art. In the work of the largest authors of the romance of the XIX century. the close interaction of these lines is noticeable. First of all, a new type of romance took shape in Austrian music; F. Schubert, who was the founder of the German and Austrian schools of romance of this type, is rightfully considered its creator (in addition to Schubert, R. Schumann, I. Brahms, X. Wolf and others). Other bright national schools of romance soon arose: French (G. Berlioz, Ch. Gounod, J. Bizet, J. Massenet), Russian (M. I. Glinka, A. S. Dargomyzhsky, M. A. Balakirev, Ts. A. Cui, M. P. Mussorgsky, A. P. Borodin, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, P. I. Tchaikovsky, S. V. Rachmaninov). Along with chamber vocal classics in the 19th century. everyday romance also developed, designed for amateur singers and stylistically close to the song. These two areas of romance were not isolated and constantly interacted, especially in Russia. The romances of A. A. Alyabyev, A. E. Varlamov, A. L. Gurilev, P. P. Bulakhov, A. I. Dyubyuk have undeniable artistic merit and have not lost their significance. The work of the great masters of the romance developed in interaction with poetic trends. In the history of art, the names of F. Schubert and J.-V. Goethe, R. Schumann and G. Heine, M. I. Glinka and A. S. Pushkin, P. I. Tchaikovsky and A. K. Tolstoy, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov and A. N. Maikov. Pushkin's work had a strong influence on the Russian romance. This was manifested not only in the number of works written on his poems - many of these romances (especially those of Glinka and Rimsky-Korsakov) reflected both the aesthetic and stylistic principles of the poet.

Russian composers of the 19th century paid special attention to the problem of declamation (A. S. Dargomyzhsky, M. P. Mussorgsky). Romance in their work sometimes acquires the features of a theatrical scene performed by a specific character (Dargomyzhsky - "Worm", "Titular Advisor", Mussorgsky - "Seminarist", "Svetik Savishna", "Mischievous" and others). In Tchaikovsky's work, romance often approaches an opera aria with a broad, symphonic development ("Does the Day Reign"). This type of romance is also characteristic of Rachmaninoff ("Spring Waters").

The expansion of the expressive possibilities of the romance is carried out in another way. Composers often combine romances into a vocal cycle, creating a relatively large and thematically rich work of the "suite" type, in which, in particular, such a sharp opposition of contrasting musical and poetic images can be used, which is impossible within a single romance. The genre of the vocal cycle allows the composer to give a versatile description of his main characters, to present the very development of poetic images and plot by musical means. The first vocal cycle belongs to L. Beethoven ("To the Distant Beloved", 1816), quite mature examples of this genre were created by F. Schubert ("The Beautiful Miller's Woman", 1823, and "The Winter Road", 1827). In the future, vocal cycles were written by Schumann, Brahms, Mahler, Wolf and other composers, including Russians: Glinka, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov.

In the 2nd half of the XIX - early XX centuries. in the field of romance, representatives of young national schools are nominated: Czech (B. Smetana, A. Dvorak, L. Novak), Polish (M. Karlovich, K. Shimanovsky), Finnish (J. Sibelius), Norwegian (H. Hjerulf, E. Grieg), who made a significant contribution to the development of the genre.

The development of the romance in the XX century. - already in its first decades - presents a more complex picture. Along with the continuation of the tradition of the XIX century. composers strive to solve a number of new problems or find new solutions to old ones. For example, the problem of the synthesis of music and poetry is posed in a new way; composers try to find in each work its individual solution, outside of typical genres and forms. This is how a new kind of chamber-vocal work arises - “a poem with music”. S. I. Taneyev, S. V. Rachmaninov, N. K. Medtner, S. S. Prokofiev (“Five poems by Akhmatova”), French composers (C. Debussy, “Cinq Poémes de Baudelaire” and others). On a new basis, without relying on the traditions of opera declamation, the problem of musical and speech intonation is solved in the romance. To get as close as possible to the intonations of natural speech, composers turn to texts written in free verse and even prose (Debussy - "Songs of Bilitis", Prokofiev - "The Ugly Duckling"), use freely intoned "musical dialect" (Sprechstimme, Sprechgesang). The first and most radical example of Sprechgesang was A. Schoenberg's Lunar Pierrot cycle (1912), later this technique was used mainly as an episodic one. On the other hand, in the romance of the XX century. the instrumental beginning develops intensively. The piano part often becomes so independent and imaginative that one can speak of a special genre of “romance-prelude” (“Lilacs” by Rachmaninov, many romances by Debussy). It should also be noted that elements of folklore penetrated into the romance, mainly folk musical and speech genres (I.F. Stravinsky - "Jests"), interest in the dialectal features of folk songs (M. Ravel, M. de Falla). A large number of stylistic finds in the romance of the XX century. could not, however, compensate for some loss of sociability, accessibility, characteristic of the classics of this genre.

Soviet composers in the first examples of romances continue the tradition of pre-revolutionary decades, then find their own way. In the Soviet romance, both the creative development of classical chamber vocal genres (An. A. Aleksandrov, N. Ya. Myaskovsky, Yu. A. Shaporin, Yu. V. Kochurov), and their renewal by strengthening the song beginning (G. V. Sviridov) or the beginning of intonation-characteristic (S. S. Prokofiev, D. D. Shostakovich). In the 60-70s. the range of performing means of the romance is greatly expanded, cycles appear for several performers-singers or for a voice and an ensemble of instruments, which brings vocal cycles closer to cantata and even vocal-symphonic works. Vocal and instrumental cycles have become widespread in modern foreign music (P. Boulez, B. Britten).

Brief history of romance. LITERATURE. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cui Ts. A., Russian romance, St. Petersburg, 1896;

Rindeisen N., Russian art song. (Romance), M.-Leipzig, ;

Glebov I. (Asafiev B.V.), Introduction, in his book: Russian poetry in Russian music (notographic index), P., 1922;

his own, The most important stages in the development of Russian romance, in the book: Russian romance, M.-L., 1930;

his own, Russian romance of the 19th century, in his book: Russian music from the beginning of the 19th century, M.-L., 1930, L., 1968;

Levasheva O. E., Romance and song. A. D. Zhilin, D. N. Kashin, in the book: Essays on the history of Russian music. 1790-1825, L., 1958;

Vasina-Grossman V. A., Russian classical romance of the 19th century, M., 1956;

her own, Romantic song of the XIX century, M., 1966;

her own, Masters of the Soviet romance, M., 1968;

her own, Chamber vocal music, in the book: Music of the XX century. Essays, part 1, book 1, M., 1976;

Gusev V. E., Introductory article in the collection: Songs and romances of Russian poets, M.-L., 1965;

Kurysheva T. A., Chamber vocal cycle in modern Russian Soviet music, in the collection: Questions of musical form, issue 1, M., 1966;

Ruchievskaya E., On the relationship between word and melody in Russian chamber vocal music of the early 20th century, in the collection: Russian music at the turn of the 20th century, M.-L., 1966;

her own, On the methods of implementation and the expressive meaning of speech intonation, in the collection: Poetry and Music, M., 1973;

Russian poetry in Russian music(until 1917), issue 1-2, M., 1966 - 69;

Mosec H. J., Das deutsche Lied seit Mozart, Bd 1-2, B.-Z., Tutzing, 1968;

Gougelot H., La romance française sous la Revolution et l "Empire, pt. 1-2, Melun, 1938-43;

Bucken E., Das deutsche Lied, Hamb., 1939;

Noske Fr., La mélodie française de Berlioz a Duparc, P., 1954;

Beaufils M., Le lied romantique allemand, ;

Friedlander M., Das deutsche Lied im 18. Jahrhundert, Bd 1-2, Stuttg., 1902, Hildesheim, 1962;

Kretzschmar H., Geschichte des neuen deutschen Liedes, Lpz., 1911, Hildesheim-Wiesbaden, 1966.

Romance is a genre of vocal and instrumental music. A romance is a work written for voice accompanied by an ensemble or one instrument. "Romance" is a Spanish word meaning "in Spanish", that is, performed as in Spain. This term appeared in the Middle Ages. It meant that the vocal work was performed by a Spanish singer in the Spanish style. Soon the whole world began to call secular song "romance".

The main difference between a romance and a song is that in the first one the melody is very closely connected with the literary text. Each word is emphasized by the melody, rhythm and character of the music, while in the song the music serves only as an accompaniment. Therefore, in a romance, the accompaniment is no less important than the vocal part. There are several varieties of romance: ballad, elegy and romance in dance rhythms.

In the 18th century, a widespread passion for romance began. This happened due to the fact that the great poets created their works at this particular time. A lot of romances were written to the verses of I. V. Goethe, A. S. Pushkin, M. Yu. Lermontov, A. A. Fet. In the 19th century, national schools of romance appeared. Each representative of these schools wrote works, adhering to one style. This is how the Russian, German, Austrian and French schools of romance appeared.

A completely new type of romance has appeared in Russia - the “gypsy romance”. Naturally, it is designed for simple guitar and violin accompaniment, as well as for non-professional singing of the performer. However, the gypsy romance became quite popular in the 19th century and has survived into modern times. Romances were composed by many Russian composers: M.I. Glinka, P.I. Tchaikovsky, N. Rimsky-Korsakov, S.S. Prokofiev and many others paid tribute to this wonderful vocal genre.

Modern performers of the romance are Oleg Pogudin and Leonid Srebryannikov. The popular singer Alexander Malinin is considered an excellent performer of romances in the pop style of their presentation.

Its main characteristics and components, as well as the history of the origin and development of the old genre. The role of Mikhail Glinka in the development of Russian romance.

A wonderful lyrical performance accompanied by live music has always touched the hearts of listeners and connoisseurs of the classics. It's amazing how such a short musical creation can touch the most distant strings of our soul. Romance is an amazing combination of poetry and music that has found many admirers. In the melodic-poetic genre, three varieties are distinguished: barcarolle (rhythmic song), elegy (reflection song), ballad (story song).

Romance is an old genre

Its history goes back to the Middle Ages. The term “romance” itself originated in medieval Spain. During that period of history, a genre of secular songs appeared, usually these were poems by famous poets of the Romantic era, set to music and conveying deep feelings. By the way, today the words “romance” and “song” are identical in many languages.

Over time, this one gained such popularity that single works began to be combined into entire vocal cycles. It is symbolic that the first such cycle was created by the genius of world music and the father of the classics - Beethoven. His idea was picked up and continued by no less famous musicians such as Brahms, Schumann and Schubert.

The main characteristics of the romance

A romance is a musical poem similar to a song. But still there are significant differences in the construction of the work. For example, there is absolutely no chorus in it, or, as it is also called, a refrain. Although practice shows that there are exceptions to the rules. Interestingly, the romance is usually performed solo, less often by a duet, and almost never by a chorus.

A special distinguishing feature of this genre is its semantic load. His lines always carry a certain story that is close to both the author and his listeners. It can be an autobiographical story about an unhappy love story, or the author's thoughts on a particular life topic. Romance is not exclusively a melancholic genre. There are many examples of satirical and merry verse narratives set to music.

A bit about Russian romance

After a while, with the advent of musical instruments in the homes of wealthy people, the romance also seeped into Russian culture. Perhaps this was inspired by the spirit of romanticism that permeated the entire early nineteenth century. He was very to the taste of the demanding public, and he was instantly picked up by such composers as Varlamov ("Don't wake her at dawn"), Gurilev ("The bell sounds monotonously"), Alyabyev ("The Nightingale"). Some of them considered it necessary to introduce the spirit of freedom and cheerfulness into the Russian romance and at the same time allowed the performer to demonstrate his vocal abilities. The accompaniment here is just a background, but organically connected with the poetic basis.

Sadly, in the Soviet era, its cultural development stopped, as severe censorship believed that the ideology promoted in romances had a detrimental effect on the working Soviet person. Old romances were not welcomed, their subject matter was considered "decadent". The trend was patriotic, folk and humorous songs with a simple melody.

Nevertheless, romances in some of their forms, for example, “urban”, continued to exist, passed from mouth to mouth by ordinary people. It was thanks to them that over time the long-awaited revival of this genre took place, which took place approximately in the seventies.

Russian composer Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka

An invaluable contribution to the history of Russian romance was made by Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka. As you know, he wrote more than eighty works of different directions. Glinka's romances are unique masterpieces, the creation of which is only possible for such talented and gifted individuals as Mikhail Ivanovich. His favorite romances were based on the poems of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. He always appreciated good poetry and realized that a real romance cannot exist without it.

The most significant work is the opera "Ruslan and Lyudmila" based on Pushkin's poem of the same name, which did not receive universal recognition, but revealed the full potential of the composer. And Glinka's famous romances to the verses of the great Russian poet - "I remember a wonderful moment", "I'm here, Inezilla", "Health Cup", "For health, Mary".

To date, there are millions of fans of the world famous genre. Thanks to the love and support of the public, he does not stand still, but develops and moves forward every day. Of course, no matter how much time passes, the romance will remain one of the leading and most important trends in chamber music.

An increasing number of people find in it something close to themselves, some kind of outlet in their experiences and problems. It is comforting to know that the romance has not faded into the background over time, it remains a favorite genre of vocals.