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What the Musorgsky saw in the gallery. Analysis of the work of M.P.

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Introduction

The first large finished work after the opera "Boris Godunov" was "Pictures at an Exhibition". This became a new page in the work of not only Mussorgsky himself, but also in the piano program music of his time.

In the difficult life of Mussorgsky, June 1874 became a rare island of pure joy and complete intoxication with creativity.

At this time, the composer created a work truly unique in world musical literature - the piano suite "Pictures at an Exhibition".

The title exactly corresponds to the content. “Pictures” were written by Mussorgsky under the impression of the posthumous exhibition of the artist and architect V.K. Hartmann.

Hartmann was a lively, easy-to-communicate, enthusiastic person. The richness of fantasy and imagination, ingenuity in all sorts of inventions and practical jokes made the artist indispensable in a friendly company. With Mussorgsky, Hartmann had a warm friendship and mutual respect. Therefore, the terrible news of the sudden death of a friend in 1873 shocked Modest Petrovich. Mussorgsky originally titled his work, born under the impression of an exhibition in memory of a friend, Hartmann.

The organizers of the exhibition collected paintings, watercolors, architectural projects, sketches of theatrical scenery and costumes, drawings from life, as well as artistic products - for example, a Russian-style stone clock in the form of a hut on chicken legs, tongs for cracking nuts. Here were genre scenes and types drawn by Hartmann during his travels in Italy, France and Poland, as well as borrowed from Russian national poetry and life. Of these, Mussorgsky translated 10 works into the language of music, which made up a pre-original suite - an alternation of picture sketches.

"Pictures at an Exhibition" were created by him at the height of inspiration and in an unusually short time - for 3 weeks in June 1874. During work, he tells Stasov: “My dear generallissime, 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 ... I still consider it successful.” MP Mussorgsky in the memoirs of his contemporaries. Moscow, 2009

This recognition of good luck is especially valuable, because the author has always been strict to himself to the point of captiousness.

He very freely approached the interpretation of certain works of Hartmann. Taking as a basis for a separate issue of the suite the plot of one or another drawing, sketch or layout, he then gave complete freedom to his imagination. So a whole series of musical sketches grew up. These included pictures of everyday life and nature, portraits, comic and even fairy-tale scenes.

1. The structure of the work

The unity given to Pictures at an Exhibition by the development of the refrain far from exhausts the means of unification used in this work. "Walk" is a refrain of a very special kind. This is not the usual main idea in the rondo, but rather a kind of background against which the play-pictures unfold, a kind of embodiment of the author's "angle of view" in the perception of all the pictures. Therefore, the refrain is associated with the embodiment of the subject of experiences (let us recall Stasov's interpretation of it), the play-picture - with the objects of experiences. The refrain, therefore, plays in this case, on the one hand, a greater role than the constructive fastening of the entire suite, and on the other hand, a smaller one than in the usual rondo.

Imagine for a while that the suite has no refrain at all and that it consists of a series of pieces. However, in this case, you can find factors that contribute to their unification into a single whole.

All the pieces-pictures of the suite are clearly divided into two groups - fast and slow.

The first ones (fast ones) cover all odd numbers:

No. 1 - "Gnome",

No. 3 - "Tuillier Garden",

No. 5 - "Ballet of unhatched chicks",

No. 7 -- Limoges. Market",

No. 9 - "Baba Yaga".

All the pieces of this group (except for "Gnome") are distinguished by a vivid characteristic of images, common features characteristic of the scherzo genre, and (with the exception of "Gnome") the predominance of the major mode. Symmetry is found in the very arrangement of the pieces. The extreme and central numbers (1st, 5th, 9th) contain significant contrasting forms with very clear and defined edges of sections. At the same time, the central piece - "The Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks" - was written in the clearest form with a classical trio. By its nature, this is a pure joke - the embodiment of the scherzo genre in its original understanding and the only piece in the suite, noted by the composer: scherzino. The extreme pieces are brought together by the fabulousness, the fantasticness of the characters embodied in them and the angularity of the melodic outlines associated with this, the sharpness of the rhythm; Numbers 3 and 7 do not contain significant internal contrasts. Their plots are similar. These are original sketches of French everyday scenes Berchenko R. E. Composer direction of Mussorgsky. Moscow: URSS, 2003. .

The second group is pieces written in a slow tempo and in a minor key:

No. 2 -- "Old Castle",

No. 4 - "Cattle",

No. 6 - "Two Jews",

No. 8 - "Catacombs",

No. 8a - “With the dead in a dead language” (variant of the refrain).

No. 10 - "Bogatyr Gates" - the final synthetic finale of the suite.

The second group is characterized by the development from pure lyrics ("Old Castle") through characteristic dramatic plays ("Cattle" and "Two Jews") to drama ("Catacombs").

The version of the refrain "With the dead in a dead language" adjoining the last play brings us back to the lyrics, although of a completely different nature than in the "Old Castle". As a result, symmetry is also formed.

The extreme plays are quiet, as if far from reality. On the one hand, this is a picture of the past (“The Old Castle”), on the other hand, a “musical obituary” about a departed friend (“With the Dead in a Dead Language”). Three middle plays are loud, dramatic pictures: "Cattle", a Polish cart drawn by oxen, is a symbol of peasant poverty, "Two Jews" is the embodiment of the social contrast between wealth and poverty, "Catacombs" is a tragic image of the past .

These play-pictures are brief but significant in concept. Of the five slow pieces, only one - and it is precisely the central one" (No. 6, "Two Jews") - is based on thematic contrast, the remaining four are mono-dark.

In the fast plays, out of five, only two were in one dark. The successive contrast of odd and even numbers is the usual periodic opposition of fast and slow works. But their relationship is of particular interest. Finally, the general order of the plays by type of content creates a many-part symmetry.

Fast pieces of the scherzo type (up to and including Baba Yaga) predominate, and slow pieces take place against their background. Therefore, the first ones are a kind of genre refrain:

"Pictures at an Exhibition" by Mussorgsky is a worthy and inexhaustible object for numerous studies. This work can be viewed from many different points of view. This article analyzes only the general compositional principles that ensure the complete unity of this unique suite. After all, unlike many other works of this genre, "Pictures at an Exhibition" are perceived as an integral non-cyclical work, although each of the pieces of the cycle is complete and independent.

The unity of any cyclic work (let's call it cyclic unity) is based mainly on an ideological and figurative basis and, to a much lesser extent, on a structural and thematic one. Therefore, the regularities of the cyclic form, and especially the suite, are mobile, diverse and in many cases appear in a uniquely individualized form. But at the same time, a general trend can be noted: the strength of cyclic unity depends on the unity and special properties of the ideological content. The multiplicity of parts of the cyclic form arises in this case as a consequence of the fact that the very idea of the work requires the division of the musical whole into a number of separate independent pieces. These conditions are fully met by the suite "Pictures at an Exhibition". Comparison of Mussorgsky's music with the artistic prototypes of Hartmann (some have come down to us in reproductions, some are known from descriptions) suggests that the artist's plots were significantly transformed by the composer's creative imagination.

So, for example, the model of a toy - a gnome - evokes in Mussorgsky a deeply tragic image of a person offended by fate. Other objects of musical embodiment are subjected to the same creative rethinking. Mussorgsky conveyed with sounds not so much what could be directly seen in the paintings and sketches of Hartmann, but what he himself saw behind them Kholopov Yu. N. Mussorgsky as a composer of the XX century // Mussorgsky and music of the XX century Moscow, 2009. .

The unity of the suite is reflected primarily in the special role of the play "The Walk". The meaning of "Walk" is well known - it combines the functions of one of the parts of the suite with the function of a refrain. The combination of functions is one of the factors of the cyclical unity of Pictures at an Exhibition. Therefore, the analysis of the latter should begin with the "advancement" of the refrain in the form of the suite. For simplicity, in the future, all its numbers are divided into a series of refrains and play-pictures (like episodes of a rondo).

2. Analysis of form and musical material

As an example for analysis, consider only slow pieces:

1. "In the old castle" . The modal nature of the piece is a natural minor (gis-moll) with some complication in the process of development towards the Phrygian mode (second lower step). Deviation into the realm of the subdominant also creates a Phrygian variety of the minor and leads to close contact of chords at a distance of a tritone. The intonational basis of the piece is a melodious melody, not without the participation of trichord chants with a large role of the initial “call-up” ascending fourth and subsequent “dense” second moves. A calm rhythm complements the picture, forming an artistically justified static.

2. "Cattle" . The modal nature of the piece is similar to the previous example, the same gis-moll with a Phrygian tinge and tritone juxtapositions. The intonation basis, while similar to the previous example, is new in many ways. In addition, the heavy chord texture, creating clear pictorial associations, contains certain dramatic expressive possibilities, fully realized in the joint action of all components of the musical language. In addition, we note the symmetry abc c1b1a1 of the first integral melodic turn of this piece: In this case, "a1" is a development of "b".

3. Two Jews" The dramatic nature of the piece is closely connected with its modal system, based on the natural and harmonic minor with the IV raised step with the Phrygian mode in the middle section. This alone brings this play closer to The Gnome. In addition, the initial melodic turn contains the same emphasis on the third of the tonic, which is familiar to us from the "Gnome". Next, let's pay attention to the descending chromatism in the code of the piece. The symmetry of the initial period of the play is also important. The rhythm of the play is brightly individual and forms a contrast between the two sections, associated with the social characteristics of the characters. The grace note and the splitting of the strong beat in the trio of the piece play a particularly large expressive role.

4. "Catacombs". The mode of the piece is basically a chromatically complicated minor with a Phrygian element. It should be noted the expressive value of descending chromatism in the bass, which evokes associations with ancient genres. Then d-moll appears, that is, a minor key at a distance of a minor third, revealed through a deviation into its subdominant (g-moll), which sounds on the dominant bass. Thus, the "Catacombs" contains the strongest diatonic violation in the series of slow pieces.

5. "With the Dead in a Dead Language" To what has been said about this piece as a variant of the refrain, the following should be added. Of great importance is the descending chromatism of the upper voice, "undermining" the already disturbed diatonic of the lower layer. A glimpse of "chromatic chanting" reinforces this process. An essential role in the overall "atmosphere" of the piece is played by the tremolo of the upper voice. Let us recall the author's remark on the manuscript: "the skulls quietly glowed...". In all likelihood, the tremolo directly reflects the "glow" - after all, this is Mussorgsky's favorite technique, as, for example, in the corresponding stanza of Martha's song in "Khovanshchina" by Vasiliev A. Russian labyrinth. Biography of M. P. Mussorgsky. Pskov: Pskov Regional Printing House, 2008. . The picture here is close to what we observed in the fast plays. The similarity lies in a noticeable violation of diatonicism in the Catacombs, similar to the same phenomenon in Baba Yaga. But there are also differences: firstly, the initial slow pieces, according to their lyrical and lyrical-dramatic character (“In the Old Castle” and “Cattle”), are more diatonic than fast pieces. Therefore, the through development in the plays of the studied group is more rapid, more intense. Secondly, after the maximum departure from diatonicism (“Catacombs”), there is a slight decrease in the role of chromatism (return to the position of the play “Two Jews”), which as a result creates a semblance of an open wave.

The intonation "arches" within the slow pieces are simple. The most typical of the “arch” connections can be noted in the plays “In the Old Castle” and “Cattle” (let us recall what role the second lower step and the deviation into the subdominant play in them). An important role is also played by the ratio of the concentric type formed between the extreme pieces - "In the Old Castle" and "With the Dead in a Dead Language" - they are dominated by the pianissimo sound, the general softness noted in the analysis of the static.

The whole cycle of "Pictures at an Exhibition" can be divided into a number of large sections. The border of the first two runs between the play "Cattle" and the fourth refrain. Here, as mentioned above, a sharp tonal jump (gis-moll - d-moll) is formed, the beginning of the second section forms the filling of this jump. In this place is the line between the subdominant and dominant tonal spheres. After the fourth refrain, a tendency towards greater unity begins to operate. The fourth passage of the refrain in the harmonic minor is the beginning of "disturbances" - the first manifestation of the influence of chromatic violations of the diatonic and the minor of the pieces-pictures on the pure diatonic and the major of the refrain. The line between the second and third sections is the fifth passage of the refrain in its initial key of B-dur, followed by the piece-picture Limoges in the main key of the Es-dur cycle, playing the role of a tonal reprise.

It is also necessary to note intergroup intonational and structural connections. The refrain correlates mainly with slow pieces. The plays "In the Old Castle" and "Cattle" are united by a large role in them trichord.

Structural analogies also attract attention - the symmetrical structure of the “properly thematic grain” (the first two-bar) of “Walks” is reflected in the symmetry of the initial constructions of the plays “Cattle” and “Two Jews”. However, there are also significant differences here. If in "The Walk" symmetry extends to a laconic two-bar cell, then in the other two pieces it covers more detailed constructions, which is explained by the brevity of the refrain and the greater scale of the pieces.

The links between the refrain and the fast pieces are weak and of an accidental nature, which, naturally, results from the sharp figurative-genre contrast of these two groups of pieces.

The analogies between the two types of play-pictures are more definite and are based primarily on the modal commonality of all plays of a dramatic nature. These are plays - "Dwarf", "Two Jews", "Catacombs", "With the dead in a dead language". They are united (as partly indicated above) by the following complex of intonational and modal phenomena: minor with an elevated IV degree, Phrygian minor, descending chromatism, chromatic singing.

To this we must add similar register oppositions within these two pieces, close flat keys.

The main contrast that determines the unity of the modal and intonation development is the contrast of the mostly pure diatonics of the natural major of the refrain and various types of chromatic disturbances of the natural major and minor in the picture pieces; the contrast of the trichord structure of the refrain and the chromatism of the play-pictures. The struggle between the two spheres leads to an intensification of the onslaught of chromaticism, to an "assault" of the original pure diatonic and trichord nature of the refrain. "Storm" reaches its greatest strength in the plays "Catacombs", "With the Dead" and "Baba Yaga". In the latter, for a long time, on the sound of fortissimo, with a lively rhythmic movement, forces are raging, trying to “explode” the diatonic of the refrain, the diatonic of the main intonational background of “Pictures at an Exhibition”. This raging stream invades with great force (there is no caesura between pieces) into the finale of the cycle and immediately turns into its opposite - into a dynamized and final reprise of the original pure diatonic and trichord. Thus, the struggle of the diatonic basis of the cycle with the "hostile" forces turns the latter into a creative principle that contributes to the reconstruction of the original thesis on a stronger basis. This is the essence and logic of the modal-intonation through development Fedyakin S. R. Mussorgsky // Life of remarkable people. Moscow: Young Guard, 2009. .

In Pictures at an Exhibition, texture is also the most important formative factor. An important role in the through development of the suite is played by the contrast of the registers of adjacent pieces, the strength of which increases towards the end of the cycle. Its effect is especially clear in those cases where two neighboring pieces-pictures are connected without interruption with the help of attacca.

Note the contrast between the high register of the "Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks" and the low register of the immediately following play "Two Jews". Added to this is the contrast of the actual texture. Sharply different from each other and three consecutive plays: Limoges, Catacombs and With the Dead in a Dead Language.

The principle of transition from the first of the above-mentioned pieces (Lomoges) to the second is repeated in the transition from Baba Yaga to the finale - the same type of piano presentation - alternating blows of the right and left hands, forming a magnificent cascade of sounds.

Conclusion

As a result of the analysis, the following factors of the “cyclic unity” of the “Pictures at an Exhibition” suite can be formulated:

1. Cross-cutting development in structural terms - from dismemberment to greater unity.

2. End-to-end development in terms of modal-intonation based on the contrast of diatonic and trichordic refrain with different forms of their chromatic complication. "Storm" of diatonic by the end of the cycle.

3. Generalizing synthesizing and summarizing final.

4. The presence of a common dynamic culmination of the cycle.

5. Concentricity in the arrangement of the play-pictures.

6. The organization of the cycle is similar to the non-cyclic double three-part form.

7. The introduction of refrain into the suite, the presence of "arches", intonation connections.

In the last two, purely compositional factors, regularities are manifested, the influence of which can be traced in many cyclic works of the 19th century, which go beyond the norms of a strictly regulated symphony or sonata.

It is not only about the penetration of reference or the formation of a double tripartiteness. A single continuous through development, the presence of a common culmination in Mussorgsky's suite are also factors that are primarily inherent in non-cyclic forms.

Two oppositely directed shifts play a decisive role in the composition of Pictures at an Exhibition. This is a special, new form of implementing a dramatic device based on the principle of preliminary diversion of the action to the side opposite to that where the true goal lies. This technique is a manifestation of the essential principle of artistic influence not only in music, but also in other arts. The other is the “principle of multiple and concentrated action”, meaning that “an essential artistic result, an important expressive effect ... is usually achieved using not any one means, but several means aimed at the same goal” - embodied in the composition "Pictures at an Exhibition" is especially graphic. The introduction of the principle of a non-cyclic form into a cyclic one, rondality and rondality (double tripartiteness) into a suite is the first link in the chain of these means. Further links are the transformation of the refrain into a passing refrain and the associated compositional modulation from the suite to the contrast-composite form. This is the first consequence of the introduction of the principle of non-cyclic form into a cyclic one - after all, the contrast-composite form occupies an intermediate position between them, making it possible to manifest the principles of through development more clearly than in a cycle and at the same time not depriving the composition of contrasts of a cyclic type. The emerging through development, in turn, merges the individual stages of the form, since the two pre-final climax-cadences (within the emerging contrast-composite form) form the zone of compositional preparation of the last highest final climax. This is how a single undulating line of ascending compositional and related modal-intonational development from the “Walk” to the “Bogatyr Gates” arises. This whole chain of factors combined with each other forms that special individual form of cyclic unity, which was found by Mussorgsky in this particular work. The composer's creative imagination transformed the individual disparate impressions from Hartmann's paintings.

List of used literature

musical compositional suite

1. Berchenko R. E. Composer direction of Mussorgsky. Moscow: URSS, 2003. - 400 p.

2. Vasilyeva A. Russian labyrinth. Biography of M. P. Mussorgsky. Pskov: Pskov Regional Printing House, 2008. - 255 p.

3. M. P. Mussorgsky in the memoirs of his contemporaries. Moscow, 2009. - 279 p.

4. Fedyakin S. R. Mussorgsky // Life of wonderful people. Moscow: Young Guard, 2009. - 378 p.

5. Kholopov Yu. N. Mussorgsky as a composer of the 20th century // Mussorgsky and music of the 20th century. Moscow, 2009. - 320 p.

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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 Viktor Hartman (1834 - 1873), which was organized at the Academy of Arts on the initiative of V.V. Stasov in connection with the sudden death of the artist. Hartmann's paintings were sold at this exhibition. Of those works by the artist, on which Mussorgsky's Pictures were written, only six have survived in our time.

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 practical construction business, mainly under the guidance of his uncle P. Gemillen, spent several years abroad, making sketches of architectural monuments everywhere, fixing folk types and scenes of street life with a pencil and watercolor. Invited then to participate in the organization of the All-Russian Manufactory Exhibition of 1870 in St. Petersburg, he made about 600 drawings, according to which various pavilions of the exhibition were built. These drawings demonstrate the inexhaustible imagination, delicate taste, great originality of the artist. It was for this work that he was worthy of the title of academician in 1872. After that, he created several architectural projects (the gate, which was supposed to be built in Kiev, in memory of the events of April 4, 1866, the People's Theater in St. Petersburg and others), made drawings of scenery and costumes for M. Glinka's opera "Ruslan and Lyudmila", participated in organization of the Moscow Polytechnic Exhibition in 1872. According to his designs, a house was built for the printing house of Mamontov and Co., a country cottage for Mamontov and several private houses.

Mussorgsky, who knew the artist well, was shocked by his death. He wrote to V. Stasov (August 2, 1873): “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 in the preface wrote: ... brisk, elegant sketches of a genre painter, many scenes, types, figures from everyday life, captured from the sphere of what rushed and circled around him - in the streets and in churches, in Parisian catacombs and Polish monasteries, in Roman alleys and Limoges villages, types of carnival à la Gavarni, workers in a blouse and pateri riding 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 overlooking the city…”

On "Pictures" Mussorgsky worked with extraordinary enthusiasm. In one of the letters (to the same to V. Stasov), he wrote: “Hartmann boils, as 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" to be a non-piano work, not convenient for performance. There is some truth in this. In the "Encyclopedic Dictionary" of Brockhaus and Efron we read: "Let's point out another series musical sketches entitled "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 unity of opinion: some perform the work in the author's version, others, in particular, V. Horowitz, make its transcription. 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 the musical material of the introduction, and since people usually walk around the exhibition, he called this introduction "The Walk".

So, we are invited to the exhibition ...

Walk

This introduction does not make up the main - meaningful - part of the exhibition, but is an essential element of the entire musical composition. For the first time, the musical material of this introduction is presented in full; later on, the motif of "Walk" in different versions - sometimes calm, sometimes more excited - is used as interludes between plays, which perfectly expresses the psychological state of the viewer at the exhibition, when he moves from one picture to another. At the same time, Mussorgsky achieves the creation of a sense of unity of the entire work with maximum contrast. musical- and we clearly feel that visual also (paintings by W. Hartmann) - the content of the plays. Regarding his discovery of how to connect the plays, Mussorgsky spoke out (in the letter to V. Stasov quoted above): walk]) (...) My physiognomy is visible in the interludes.”

The coloring of "Walks" immediately attracts attention - its distinctly tangible Russian character. The composer in his remark gives an indication: nelmodoRussian[ital. - in Russian style]. But this remark alone would not be enough to create such a feeling. Mussorgsky achieves this in several ways: firstly, through a musical mode: "Walk", at least initially, was written in the so-called pentatonic mode, that is, using only five sounds (hence the term, which is based on the word "penta", then there are "five") - the sounds that form with the neighboring so-called semitone. Remaining and used in the topic, they will be separated from each other by whole tone. The sounds excluded in this case are la And E-flat Further, when the character is outlined, the composer already uses all the sounds of the scale. The pentatonic scale in itself gives the music a distinctly folk character (here it is not possible to go into an explanation of the reasons for such a feeling, but they exist and are well known). Secondly, the rhythmic structure: at first, odd (5 / 4) and even (6 / 4) time struggle (or alternate?); the second half of the piece is already all in this, even, time signature. This 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.

Mussorgsky supplied this work of his with rather detailed remarks concerning the nature of the performance - tempos, moods, etc. For this, they used, as is customary in music, the Italian language. The remark for the first "Walk" is as follows: Allegrogiusto,nelmodorussico,senzaallergezza,mapocosostenuto. In publications that provide translations of such Italian remarks, one can see such a translation of it: “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”, “proportionately”, “exactly”; in relation to the interpretation - “tempo corresponding to the nature 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: to play "cheerfully at a pace appropriate to this, in the Russian spirit, leisurely, somewhat restrained." Probably everyone will agree that it is this state of mind that usually possesses us when we first enter the exhibition. Another thing is our sensations from new impressions from what we saw ...

In some cases, the motive of "Walking" turns out to be binder for neighboring pieces (this happens when moving from No. 1 "Gnome" to No. 2 "Old Castle" or from No. 2 to No. 3 "Tuileries Garden"; this series is easy to continue - in the course of the work these transitions, in the literal and figurative sense, unmistakably recognizable), in others - on the contrary - sharply separating(in such cases, "The Walk" is designated as a more or less independent section, as, for example, between No. 6 "Two Jews, rich and poor" and No. 7 "Limoges. Market"). Each time, depending on the context in which the “Walk” motif appears, Mussorgsky finds special means of expression for it: sometimes the motif is close to its original version, as we hear after No. 1 (we have not yet gone far in our walk through the exhibition ), then it does not sound so moderate and even heavy (after "Starogozamok"; note in notes: pesante[in Mussorgsky - pesamento- a kind of hybrid of French and Italian] -Ital. hard).

M. Mussorgsky builds the whole cycle in such a way that he completely avoids any tone of symmetry and predictability. This also characterizes the interpretation of the musical material of the “Walk”: the listener (aka the viewer) either remains under the impression of what he heard (= seen), then, on the contrary, shakes off his thoughts and sensations from the picture he sees. And nowhere is the same mood repeated exactly. And all this with the unity of the thematic material "Walks"! Mussorgsky in this cycle appears as an unusually subtle psychologist.

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 tree toy: the 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 gnome is more bitter than the gnomes of Liszt or Grieg. In music, there are sharp contrasts: fortissimo[ital. – very loudly] is replaced by piano [ital. - quietly], lively (performed by S. Richter - impetuous) phrases alternate with stops in 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 the extremely inventive orchestration by M. Ravel, it appears more like a portrait of a fairy-tale giant (and not a dwarf) and, in any case, not a musical embodiment of the image of a Christmas tree decoration (as it is with Hartmann).

Hartmann, as you know, traveled around Europe, and one of his drawings depicted an ancient castle. To convey its scale, the artist depicted a singer, a troubadour with a lute, against its background. This is how V. Stasov explains this drawing (there is no such drawing in the catalog of the artist's posthumous exhibition). 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 striking: all its 107 measures are built on one unchanging bass sound - sol-sharp! This technique in music is called the organ point, and is used quite often; as a rule, it precedes the onset of a reprise, that is, that section of the work in which, after a certain development, the original musical material returns. But it is difficult to find another work of the classical musical repertoire in which All work from start to finish would have been built on an organ station. And this is not just Mussorgsky's technical experiment - the composer created a true masterpiece. This technique is highly appropriate in a play with this plot, that is, for the musical embodiment of the image 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, for example, a fidel) or a pipe (if about wind - for example, bagpipes), which made only one sound - a 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.

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, or rather the Tuileries Garden (by the way, that's how it is in the French version of the name) 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 walks of 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. Governesses, pale misses and rosy Slavs, walk majestically behind their light, fidgety girls, ordering them to raise their shoulders a little higher and keep straighter; in short, at this time Nevsky Prospekt is the pedagogical Nevsky Prospekt.

This 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 this play is written in a three-part form, and, as it should be in such a form, the middle part forms a certain contrast with the extreme ones. The realization of this generally simple fact is important not in itself, but according to the conclusions that flow from this: a comparison of the piano version (performed by S. Richter) with the orchestral version (instrumentation by M. Ravel) suggests that Richter, who this the contrast smoothes rather than emphasizes, 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 appears in the mind, that is, someone of an adult who is trying to gently settle the quarrel of the children (admonishing intonations of the strings).

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 the ostinato, that is, 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(Italian - very loud). 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 moderate, 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 (Sisyphean) labor.

The driver leaves on his oxen: the sound subsides (until ppp), the chords are thinned, "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) hitting the bar. Author's note here - perdendosi(Italian - freezing).

NB! 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 part - parallel major (B major). At the same time, these keys, being by nature related, 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).

The title is inscribed with an autograph in pencil by M. Mussorgsky.

Contrast again: oxen are replaced by chicks. Everything else: instead of moderato,pesante – vivoleggiero(Italian - lively and easily), 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(quiet). 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 is his drawing, representing a sketch of costumes for the characters in G. Gerber's ballet "Trilby" staged by Petipa at the Bolshoi Theater in 1871.)

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 the exhibition" (but rather from Mussorgsky's personal collection). But, of course, this circumstance does not affect our perception of the musical content of 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 works of major artists (Wanderers). 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 a plot of "fortunate and unlucky", or "fat and thin", or "prince and beggar ", or" the kitchen of the fat and the kitchen of the skinny.

For the sound characterization of a wealthy 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 behaves literally like Porfiry (Chekhov's thin) with his “hee-hee-s” (how wonderfully this fawning is conveyed by a rapidly repeating note with grace notes “fastened” to it), when he suddenly realizes what “heights”, it turns out, his friend from the gymnasium reached in the past. In the third part of the play, both musical images are combined - the monologues of the characters here turn into a dialogue, or, perhaps, more precisely, these are the same monologues uttered simultaneously: 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 sentence. poor: a motive full of longing and hopelessness (remark: condolore[ital. - with longing; sadly]) - and the answer rich: loud ( fortissimo), resolutely and categorically.

The play produces a poignant, perhaps even depressing impression, as it always does when confronted with flagrant social injustice.

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 - a raised index finger: “Something else will happen!...”).

The autograph contains a note (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, ma'am, it was the third day. Well, yes, ma'am, a cow roamed the neighborhood. “Well, no, madam, the cow didn’t roam at all. Etc."".

The plot of the play is comically simple. A glance at the music pages involuntarily suggests that the "French" in this cycle - the Tuileries Garden market in Limoges - Hartmann-Mussorgsky saw in the same emotional key. Readings by the performers highlight 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 State Orchestra conducted by E. Svetlanov, the pace is very fast, in essence, this Presto. There is a feeling of rapid movement somewhere. Mussorgsky is prescribed Allegretto. He paints with sounds a lively scene taking place on one place surrounded by "Brownian motion" tolyp, 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 “fall” into ...

... How not to remember the lines of A. Maykov!

ex tenebris lux

Your soul is grieving. From the day - From a sunny day - fell You're right into the night and, cursing everything, A phial has already taken up a mortal ...

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 surviving ones on which Mussorgsky wrote his "Pictures". It depicts the artist himself with his companion and another person who accompanies them, lighting the way with a lantern. Around racks with skulls.

V. Stasov described this play in a letter to N. 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.) a gloomy dungeon is first depicted (in long, drawn chords, often orchestral, with large fermatas). Then the theme of the first promenade goes on the tremolando in a minor key - the lights in the turtles lit up, and then suddenly Hartmann's magical, poetic call to Mussorgsky is heard.

Hartmann's drawing depicted a clock in the form of Baba Yaga's hut on chicken legs, Mussorgsky added Baba Yaga's 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 colors on the other. And the intonations here are of two types: on the one hand, viciously daring, frightening, piercingly sharp, on the other, peppy, cheerfully inviting. One group of intonations, as it were, depresses, the second, on the contrary, inspires, activates. The image of Baba Yaga, according to popular beliefs, is the focus of everything cruel, destroying good motives, interfering with the implementation of good, good deeds. However, the composer, showing Baba Yaga from this side (remark at the beginning of the play: feroce[ital. - ferociously]), led the story to a different plane, opposing the idea of destruction to the idea of growth and victory of good principles. 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 depths of the dark registers of the piano, finally dissolving all sorts of gloomy impulses and selflessly preparing the coming of the most victorious, most jubilant image of the cycle - the hymn "The Bogatyr Gates".

This play opens up a series of images and works depicting all sorts of devilry, evil spirits 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 ...

The reason for writing this play was Hartmann's sketch for the city gate in Kiev, which was to be installed in commemoration of the fact that Emperor Alexander II managed to escape death during the assassination attempt on him 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. The composer himself outlined the nature of the music with the words: Maestoso.Congrandezza(Italian - solemnly, majestically). The theme of the play is nothing more than a jubilant version of the melody "Walks". The whole work ends with a festive and joyful, powerful chime of bells. Mussorgsky laid the foundation for the tradition of such bell-ringing, recreated by non-bell means - the First Piano Concerto in B flat minor by P. Tchaikovsky, the Second Piano Concerto, in C minor by S. Rachmaninov, his first Prelude in C-small 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, for example, tremolo in the 2nd half of the piece “With the Dead in a Dead Language”), 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. Gorchakova (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 eminent French organist Jean Guillou. Individual pieces from this suite are widely known even outside the context of this creation by M. Mussorgsky. So, the theme from the "Bogatyr Gates" serves as the call sign of the radio station "Voice of Russia".

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Slides captions:

Mussorgsky's musical painting Piano Suite "Pictures at an Exhibition"

Art Gallery

Drawings by W. Hartmann

M.P. Mussorgsky Russian composer (1839-1881)

Victor Hartman Russian artist, architect, designer (1834-1873)

Piano suite "Pictures at an Exhibition" The suite consists of 10 pieces: Dwarf Old castle Tuileries garden Cattle Ballet of unhatched chicks Two Jews, rich and poor Limoges market Catacombs. Roman tomb. Hut on chicken legs Bogatyrsky Gate

A suite is a piece of music, consisting of several independent parts, united by a common idea. "Walk"

A hut on chicken legs

Ballet of Unhatched Chicks W. Hartmann. Costume design for the ballet "Trilby"

Preview:

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Slides captions:

Bogatyr Gates

Creative task! (find a pair) Instrumental Timbre Sound 7 notes Composer instruments Palette 7 rainbow colors Paints, brushes artist Coloring coloring

Maurice Ravel

Dear friend! We invite you to the exhibition-concert. Students' drawings for Mussorgsky's music will be presented. We are waiting for you on Saturday, November 14 in the music class at 12 o'clock Invitation card

1. If you see a river in the picture, Or spruce and white frost, Or a garden and clouds, Or a snowy plain, Or a field and a hut, The picture must be called LANDSCAPE. Grigory Gladkov - "About Paintings"

2. If you see in the picture a Cup of coffee on the table, Or fruit drink in a large decanter, Or a rose in crystal, Or a bronze vase, Or a pear, or a cake, Or all items at once, Know that this is STILL LIFE.

3. If you see that someone is looking at us from the picture, Or a prince in an old raincoat, Or a climber in a robe, A pilot, or a ballerina, Or Kolya, your neighbor, The picture must be called a PORTRAIT.

Thank you for your attention

Preview:

Music lesson in 5th grade. Theme of the lesson: “Musical painting of Mussorgsky. Piano Suite Pictures at an Exhibition” is part of the “Music and Visual Arts” section and is designed for 1 hour (lesson).

Since students are familiar with the “Pictures at an Exhibition” cycle by M. Mussorgsky from the second, as well as the third and fourth grades, this lesson islesson-expansion of acquired knowledge.

The purpose of the lesson: expansion of knowledge, further acquaintance with the work of Mussorgsky, consolidation in the minds of students of the close relationship between music and painting. Development of a sense of beauty, creative thinking, imagination, development of auditory perception of music through the students' own creativity.

Tasks: 1. Educational: Evoke an emotional response to music.

Cultivate a sense of respect and love for

Creativity of M. P. Mussorgsky and V. A. Hartmann.

2. Educational:To acquaint with the pieces from the piano suite "Pictures at an Exhibition". Determine the means of musical expression.

3. Developing. To develop the ability to analyze musical works, to compare the means of expression with the content of the works.

Lesson equipment: audio recording - CD, presentation, dictionary of aesthetic emotions, mood maps, computer, projector, screen

Lesson type : combined.

Methods and methodological techniques: conversation, visual-sound and visual-visual methods, partly search methods.

During the classes

Organizing time:

musical greeting;

Warm up.

Blitz Poll

What is a "software"?
Does the introduction come at the beginning or at the end of the piece?
How many notes are there in music?
What is "tempo"?
What is the name of an ensemble consisting of three performers?
What is "opera"?
What is the name of a large number of people who sing together?
What is "dynamics"?
What is the name of an ensemble consisting of two people?
What form does the song take?

We often talk about the connection of music with literature and fine arts. ( slide 2 Exhibition of paintings)

What do you see on this slide? (art gallery, exhibition) Let's go and see what's interesting in the exhibition.(slide 3 ) Look at these pictures, they are different. But something unites them. What do you think?(They are in the same exhibition.)

We say that if there are not enough words to express feelings and moods, music helps us. And can music draw any pictures, plots in our imagination?(Maybe )

What are we going to talk about today?

About the connection between music and fine arts and we are going to an exhibition of paintings, and the music of a Russian composer will help us in this ( slide 4 - portrait of Mussorgsky) - name it.

What do you know about him? The guys were given the task of being ahead of the curve - to prepare a report about Mussorgsky. One of the students speaks.

In addition to the story, we will watch a fragment of the film about Mussorgsky, and then we will answer a few questions. ( slide 5)

MP Mussorgsky was a very unusual person. In order to liberate the serfs, he refused to pay the ransom payments and was left without any means of subsistence. His whole life was a great labor feat.

The music that he wrote was not understood by his contemporaries, his friends - composers often harshly criticized what was written. Meanwhile, in the works of this composer there are a lot of pictorial, colorful moments. M.P. Mussorgsky created many nationally vivid musical images, in which he reveals the uniqueness of the Russian character.

One of the main features of MP Mussorgsky's music is a melody built on the intonations of human speech.

Mussorgsky had a friend Viktor Hartmann ( slide 6 ) and tell us about it .... (advance task)

Hartmann was one of Mussorgsky's few friends. V.A. Hartman was a cheerful, lively person, quick to invent and very demanding of himself and others. Quite unexpectedly, he died at the age of 39. And his friends, in order to honor the memory of the artist, organized an exhibition of works by a talented artist.

Mussorgsky was shocked and excited. In just three weeks, he created a composition for piano called "Pictures at an Exhibition".

So, we are going to an exhibition of paintings with the help of Mussorgsky's music.

What do you think: what name did the composer give his music? ( slide 7)

"Pictures at an Exhibition". There are 10 pieces in the piano suite, but we will focus on only a few. We will try to prove that Mussorgsky did not just write a musical arrangement for each drawing, but created his own “pictures”, sometimes completely different from Hartmann’s sketches, and offered his own vision. Of course, he did not limit himself to simple musical illustrations for paintings, but rethought what he saw and created a vivid theatrical spectacle, told in sounds.

Let's remember: what is a suite? After answer - slide 8)

"Walk"

The “Walk” cycle is fastened, it sounds several times and, as it were, leads us from picture to picture. Here Mussorgsky depicted himself moving from painting to painting. Imagine that you are walking from picture to picture. Does your mood change depending on the content of the picture? What do you think: does the mood of the Walk change? (changes) That is why "Walk" sounds somewhat changing, i.e. varies.

Try to "walk" to this music.

What do you see in this picture? What mood? ( slide 9) This "Clock in the Russian style." Children's answers: fairy tale hut, etc.

Listen and think, is the nature of the music similar to this house?(No, here the composer came up with his own story, not like a drawing.)

Mussorgsky pushed off from this sketch and his imagination presented the mistress of this house. What is her name? Of course Baba Yaga. What is she? What in music prompted such an answer?

Right. So it seems that an evil spirit is flying from afar, knocking, quickly approaching, and already very close it whistled and rushed in its mortar, driving a broom.In the middle part, an enchanted forest is shown: sounds tremble, rustle, a mysterious knock is heard - a few strokes show the night nature.

Slide 10 " Ballet of unhatched chicks»

The prototype of the play was Hartmann's sketches for the costumes for the Trilby ballet. In "Trilby" there was an episode in which a group of young pupils and pupils of the theater school performed. In total, Hartmann created 17 costume designs for the ballet, of which 4 have survived to this day.

Let's hear how Mussorgsky managed to portray this scene. To express your attitude to music, you can use the dictionary of emotions, feelings and images.

(A fragment of the play "The Ballet of Unhatched Chicks" sounds.)

What means of expression did the composer use?(High register, fast tempo, fancy rhythm, lots of embellishments.)
Right.
Slide 11 " City gates in Kyiv»
“Bogatyr Gates” according to the sketch by V. A. Hartman “City Gates in Kyiv”. What does the sketch of the gate look like? (hero's helmet)

This play is close to Russian folk songs in intonations. The character is majestic, solemn.

(A fragment of the play "Bogatyr Gates" sounds.)

Slide 12 "Two Jews, rich and poor."

These drawings inspired the composer to create his musical sketch, where we can observe the dialogue of two Jews. Listen to the excerpt and tell us about your impressions.(the speech of the rich is imperious, rude, and the speech of the poor is trembling, stammering)

Please note that the music was performed by the orchestra.

There are several arrangements of this suite for orchestra, but the most successful and popular is the orchestration by the French composer Maurice Ravel ( slide 14).

And now, I propose to complete a creative task: find a couple. ( slide 13)

The pictures of Victor Hartmann inspired Mussorgsky to create music. And on the basis of Mussorgsky's music, a new, synthetic art form is born - animation. Dlet's see how the film director I. Kovalevskaya imagined the image of Baba Yaga, who created the cartoon based on the musical work "Baba Yaga" from the piano cycle "Pictures at an Exhibition". ( slide 15)
Many pictures were sold out and their fate is unknown, so we cannot see them, but we can present our pictures with the help of Mussorgsky's music. (slide 16) The guys are happy to draw their pictures based on their impressions of the music. I also suggest that you draw your own picture as homework.
"Quiz"
- What is the name of the cycle of plays based on sketches and paintings by V.A. Hartman?("Pictures at an Exhibition.")
- How many plays are in the cycle?(Ten.)
- What instrument was the cycle written for?(For piano.)
- What does Victor Hartman have to do with the work of M.P. Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" (M.P. Mussorgsky visited the posthumous exhibition of V. Hartmann. This was the main idea behind the creation of the work “Pictures at an Exhibition”)
- Is there a version for orchestra?(Yes.)
- Who made the orchestral arrangement of this suite? (French composer Maurice Ravel)

At the end of the lesson, I propose to learn Gennady Gladkov's song "About Pictures".

Viktor Hartman.

"Pictures at an Exhibition" (1876).

The first work to appear after "Boris Godunov", in the year of its first production, was the suite " Pictures from the exhibition". When, after the death of Hartmann, Stasov arranged an exhibition of his works in St. Petersburg, Mussorgsky, inspired by it, wrote a suite and dedicated it to the memory of his deceased friend.

This is the largest and at the same time the most significant of all works for the piano composed by Mussorgsky. This time, the composer transferred his amazing art of painting real life scenes in sounds, recreating the appearance of living people to the field of piano music, opening up completely new colorful and expressive possibilities of the instrument.

All this is united by the passage of the leading theme, which opens the suite, then appears in a series of links between "pictures" and finally leads into the finale. According to the composer, he depicted himself with this theme walking around the exhibition of Hartmann's works (hence the name " Walk” assigned to the intro and connecting episodes). But at the same time, Mussorgsky gave the topic a generalized character. You can even catch echoes of epic and laudatory folk songs in it, and the piano at times successfully conveys the sound of the choir. This, in essence, is not so much a self-portrait as the embodiment of the Russian folk spirit. Repeating throughout the suite, the theme of "Walks" constantly changes its appearance. It sounds either calm, or tense, or light, or mournful, depending on what images it is compared with. But the majestic and popular character in it is invariably preserved. On the whole, the suite presents a motley string of pictures. With all their diversity, each of them, however, is marked by Mussorgsky's characteristic perception of life.

Here is the episode titled Dwarf". Bizarre breaks in the melody, convulsive rhythm convey the antics of this funny, ugly little man. But no, no, yes, intonations of complaint and groan break through; they make us warmly and sympathetically treat the hidden grief of this destitute creature. - Deeply poetic picture " old lock". A medieval castle is drawn to the imagination and a wandering troubadour knight singing in front of it. A heartfelt sad melody flows - one of the best among Mussorgsky's instrumental themes. It tells about the past, the irrevocable. - But then a cheerful hubbub is heard: these are the kids having fun in one of the parks of Paris (" Tuileries"). - Episode " redneck” evokes the idea of rural nature. The approaching creak of a wagon is heard, the cries of a peasant urging oxen. Here he sang a mournful song. She is akin to his unhappy thoughts. And the wagon is already moving away, and the song fades away. - This is followed by a semi-fantastic, semi-joking light, graceful scherzo " Ballet of unhatched chicks”(it is inspired by sketches of ballet costumes).

But what is it? As if there is a dialogue. Mussorgsky transferred his art of truthful transmission of human speech to the instrumental realm. Two people are talking. One of them speaks authoritatively, importantly, holding himself impregnable. The other fawns, begs, begs. This is a scene Two Jews, rich and poor».

The intonations of the rich become more and more strict and inexorable, the speech of the second becomes more and more mournful and mournful. At the very end, two short phrases are contrasted: the exclamation of despair of the poor man and the formidable cry of the rich man. - Then follows the most cheerful and cheerful of the numbers of the suite - " Limoges. Market"(Limoges is a city in France.). You can hear the incessant chatter of gossips passing the city gossip to each other. - Suddenly, the cheerful conversation breaks off. The colors are thickening. A series of chords frozen in immobility evokes images of a gloomy dungeon, death, decay. Only at times the stupor is interrupted by mournful exclamations. This picture is " Catacombs. Roman tomb».

Here Mussorgsky described the state of a man who is trying in vain to penetrate the sinister mystery of death. The sharp feeling of pain that had not yet cooled down, caused in the soul of the composer by the death of Hartmann, had an effect. - A direct continuation of the "Catacombs" is the episode " With the dead in a dead language". Sadness for the dead is expressed even more strongly here. The theme “Walks” sounds sad and heartfelt in a high register. Then, intonations of a mournful question repeatedly arise. - Heavy thoughts are replaced by a contrasting picture in the folk-fiction spirit. This - " A hut on chicken legs».

In the image of the fabulous Baba Yaga, a terrible, sinister beginning bizarrely merged with humor. The music has power and scope. The appearance of folk-dance rhythms becomes, as in the scene near Kromy from Boris Godunov, an expression of a rampant power. And in the finale of the suite, called " Bogatyr Gates”, the mighty power of the people is already openly and directly sung.

A bright, picturesque picture is created. The bells are ringing. Wanderers who came from distant lands to the capital city of Kyiv pass with singing. Gradually, a sense of festivity grows. The sonority of the piano takes on an almost orchestral brilliance and grandiosity. The conclusion is full of bright, courageous life-affirmation. Here Mussorgsky echoes Glinka, especially with the mighty hymn "Glory" from Ivan Susanin.

Piano cycle M.P. Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" is an original, unparalleled piece of music, which is included in the repertoire of the most famous pianists around the world.

The history of the creation of the cycle

In 1873, the artist W. Hartmann died suddenly. He was only 39 years old, death caught him in the prime of life and talent, and for Mussorgsky, who was a friend and like-minded artist, she was a real shock. “What horror, what grief! - he wrote to V. Stasov. “This incompetent fool mows down death without reasoning ...”

Let's say a few words about the artist V.A. Hartmann, because without a story about him, the story of M. Mussorgsky's piano cycle cannot be complete.

Viktor Aleksandrovich Hartman (1834-1873)

V.A. Hartmann

V.A. Hartmann was born in St. Petersburg in the family of a French staff doctor. Orphaned early and brought up in the family of an aunt, whose husband was a famous architect - A.P. Gemilian.

Hartman successfully graduated from the Academy of Arts and worked in various types and genres of art: he was an architect, stage designer (he was engaged in the design of performances), an artist and ornamentalist, one of the founders of the pseudo-Russian style in architecture. The pseudo-Russian style is a trend in Russian architecture of the 19th - early 20th centuries, based on the traditions of ancient Russian architecture and folk art, as well as elements of Byzantine architecture.

Increased interest in folk culture, in particular, in the peasant architecture of the XVI-XVII centuries. Among the most famous buildings of the pseudo-Russian style was the Mamontov printing house in Moscow, created by V. Hartmann.

The building of the former printing house of Mamontov. contemporary photography

It was precisely the desire in his work for Russian originality that brought Hartmann closer to the participants in the Mighty Handful, which included Mussorgsky. Hartmann sought to introduce Russian folk motifs into his projects, which was supported by V. V. Stasov. Mussorgsky and Hartmann met in his house in 1870, becoming friends and like-minded people.

Returning from a creative trip to Europe, Hartmann began the design of the All-Russian Manufactory Exhibition in St. Petersburg and in 1870 received the title of academician for this work.

Exhibition

A posthumous exhibition of works by V. Hartmann was organized in 1874 on the initiative of Stasov. It featured the artist's oil paintings, sketches, watercolors, sketches of theatrical scenery and costumes, and architectural projects. There were also some products that Hartmann made with his own hands at the exhibition: a clock in the form of a hut, tongs for cracking nuts, etc.

Lithograph based on a sketch by Hartmann

Mussorgsky visited the exhibition, it made a huge impression on him. There was an idea to write a software piano suite, the content of which would be the works of the artist.

Of course, such a powerful talent as Mussorgsky interprets the exhibits in his own way. For example, the sketch for the ballet "Trilby" depicts Hartmann's tiny chicks in their shells. Mussorgsky turns this sketch into the Ballet of Unhatched Chicks. The clock-hut inspired the composer to create a musical drawing of Baba Yaga's flight, etc.

Piano cycle by M. Mussorgsky “Pictures at an Exhibition”

The cycle was created very quickly: in three weeks in the summer of 1874. The work is dedicated to V. Stasov.

In the same year, "Pictures" received the author's subtitle "Memories of Viktor Hartmann" and were prepared for publication, but published only in 1876, after Mussorgsky's death. But several more years passed before this original work entered the repertoire of pianists.

It is characteristic that in the play "The Walk", which connects the individual pieces of the cycle, the composer meant himself walking around the exhibition and moving from picture to picture. Mussorgsky in this cycle created a psychological portrait, penetrated into the depths of his characters, which, of course, was not in Hartmann's simple sketches.

So, Walk. But this play constantly varies, showing a change in the mood of the author, and its tone also changes, which is a kind of preparation for the next play. Sometimes the melody of "Walks" sounds ponderous, which indicates the author's gait.

"Dwarf"

This piece is written in the key of E-flat minor. Its basis is Hartmann's sketch depicting nutcrackers ("nutcracker") in the form of a gnome on crooked legs. First, the gnome sneaks, and then runs from place to place and freezes. The middle part of the play shows the character's thoughts (or his rest), and then he, as if frightened of something, starts his run again with stops. The climax is the chromatic line and departure.

"Old lock"

The key is G-sharp minor. The play was created based on a watercolor by Hartmann, created by him while studying architecture in Italy. The drawing depicted an ancient castle, against which a troubadour with a lute was drawn. Mussorgsky created a beautiful drawn-out melody.

« Tuileries garden. Children quarrel after playing»

Key in B major. The intonations, the tempo of the music, its major scale depict an everyday scene of children's games and quarrels.

"Bydło" (translated from Polish - "cattle")

The play depicts a Polish cart on large wheels, drawn by oxen. The heavy step of these animals is conveyed by a monotonous rhythm and rough strokes of the lower register keys. At the same time, a sad peasant tune sounds.

"Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks"

This is one of the most popular pieces in the cycle. It was created in the key of F major according to Hartmann's sketches for the costumes for Y. Gerber's ballet Trilby staged by Petipa at the Bolshoi Theater (1871). In an episode of the ballet, as V. Stasov wrote, “a group of little pupils and pupils of the theater school, dressed up as canaries and running around the stage. Others were inserted into the eggs, as if into armor. In total, Hartmann created 17 costume designs for the ballet, 4 of them have survived to this day.

V. Hartman. Costume design for the ballet "Trilby"

The theme of the play is not serious, the melody is playful, but, created in a classical form, it receives an additional comic effect.

"Samuel Goldenberg and Shmuyle", in the Russian version "Two Jews, rich and poor"

The play was created on the basis of two drawings presented to Mussorgsky by Hartmann: “A Jew in a fur hat. Sandomierz” and “Sandomierz [Jew]”, created in 1868 in Poland. According to Stasov, "Mussorgsky greatly admired the expressiveness of these pictures." These drawings served as prototypes for the play. The composer not only combined two portraits into one, but also forced these characters to speak among themselves, revealing their characters. The speech of the first one sounds confident, with imperative and moralizing intonations. The speech of the poor Jew is in contrast to the first one: on the top notes with a rattling tint (flamboyant notes), with mournful and pleading intonations. Then both themes sound simultaneously in two different keys (D-flat minor and B-flat minor). The play ends with a few loud notes in an octave, it can be assumed that the rich have the last word.

"Limoges. Market . Big news »

Hartmann's drawing has not survived, but the piece's melody in E-flat major conveys the noisy bustle of the market, where you can find all the latest news and discuss them.

« Catacombs. Roman tomb»

Hartmann depicted himself, V. A. Kenel (a Russian architect) and a guide with a lantern in his hand in the Roman catacombs in Paris. Faintly lit skulls are visible on the right side of the picture.

V. Hartmann "Paris Catacombs"

The dungeon with the tomb is depicted in the music with unisons of two octaves corresponding to the theme and quiet "echoes". The melody appears among these chords like shadows of the past.

"Hut on chicken legs (Baba Yaga)"

Hartmann has a sketch of an elegant bronze clock. Mussorgsky has a vivid, memorable image of Baba Yaga. It is drawn with dissonances. At first, several chords sound, then they become more frequent, imitating a "run-up" - and a flight in a mortar. Sound "painting" very clearly depicts the image of Baba Yaga, her lame walk (after all, a "bone leg").

"Bogatyr Gates"

The play is based on Hartmann's sketch for the architectural design of the Kyiv city gates. On April 4 (according to the old style) April 1866, an unsuccessful attempt was made on the life of Alexander II, which later became officially called the “April 4 event”. In honor of the emperor's salvation, a gate project competition was organized in Kyiv. Hartmann's project was created in the old Russian style: a dome with a belfry in the form of a heroic helmet and a decoration above the gate in the form of a kokoshnik. But later the competition was canceled, and the projects were not implemented.

V. Hartman. Sketch for the gate project in Kyiv

Mussorgsky's play paints a picture of the people's triumph. The slow rhythm gives the piece grandeur and solemnity. The broad Russian melody is replaced by a quiet theme, reminiscent of church singing. Then the first theme enters with renewed vigor, another voice is added to it, and in the second part a real bell ringing is heard, created by the sounds of the piano. First, the ringing is heard in a minor, and then goes into a major. Smaller and smaller bells join the big bell, and at the end small bells sound.

Orchestrations of M. Mussorgsky's cycle

Bright and picturesque "Pictures at an Exhibition", written for the piano, were repeatedly arranged for the symphony orchestra. The first orchestration was done by Rimsky-Korsakov's student M. Tushmalov. Rimsky-Korsakov himself also orchestrated one play in the cycle, The Old Castle. But the most famous orchestral embodiment of "Pictures" was the work of Maurice Ravel, a passionate admirer of Mussorgsky's work. Created in 1922, Ravel's orchestration became as popular as the author's piano version.

The orchestra in the orchestral arrangement of Ravel includes 3 flutes, a piccolo flute, 3 oboes, an English horn, 2 clarinets, a bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, a contrabassoon, an alto saxophone, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, a tuba, timpani, triangle, snare drum, whip, rattle, cymbals, bass drum, tom-tom, bells, bell, xylophone, celesta, 2 harps, strings.

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