Anatoly Lyadov: biography, interesting facts, videos, creativity. The fairy tale world of Anatoly Lyadov A to Lyadov interesting facts

Fairy tale world of Anatoly Lyadov

The musical fate of A. K. Lyadov at first developed very happily: he was born on April 29, 1855 in a family of hereditary musicians. His father and grandfather were conductors, his father was also a composer. The authority of the pope as an opera conductor (he was the conductor of the Russian Opera in St. Petersburg, the conductor of symphony concerts) was very great. Even M. I. Glinka consulted with him in some matters. The choice of the profession of a musician for Anatoly and his family was a decided matter. The father noticed the great talent of his son at an early age.

At the age of 15, Anatoly Lyadov entered the conservatory. He was enrolled in a scholarship named after Konstantin Lyadov (his father), established by the artists of the Russian Opera.

Anatoly began studying piano, theory and composition. Among his teachers - N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov.

For the formation of his talent, communication with M. A. Balakirev, A. P. Borodin, M. P. Mussorgsky, who highly appreciated his talent, played an important role. M. P. Mussorgsky wrote: “A new, undoubted and Russian talent has appeared.” And the young "talent" at that time was only eighteen years old. The first opuses of the young composer were four romances, as well as cycles of piano pieces "Spikers" and "Arabesques", which immediately became known among musicians. But teaching at the conservatory was not smooth.

A. K. Lyadov's talent was great. His teacher N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov considered him an "indescribably talented" but negligent student. It was said about A. K. Lyadov that when he lived in his sister's house, he himself asked not to feed him dinner until he had completed the conservatory assignments. He attended classes poorly. And in the winter of 1876, “for not attending classes,” he was expelled from the conservatory along with his friend, the talented pianist G. O. Dyutsh. When young people came to N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov's house with a request for restoration and a promise to study, the professor remained adamant: “I was unshakable and flatly refused. Where, one wonders, did such dispassionate formalism attack me? Of course, Lyadov and Dyutsha should have been accepted as prodigal sons ... But I did not. You can only console yourself with the fact that everything is for the best in this world - both Dyutsh and Lyadov later became my friends.

The exclusion from the conservatory was a heavy blow for A. K. Lyadov. But two years later it was restored. The cantata submitted for examination was corrected by the Artistic Council. And he was awarded a small gold medal and a diploma of a free artist. Immediately after that, the twenty-three-year-old composer was enrolled as a teacher at the conservatory.

Among the students of A. K. Lyadov were N. Ya. Myaskovsky, S. S. Prokofiev, S. M. Maykapar and others. Famous pedagogical aphorisms were passed down by students “by inheritance” from older to younger. “After all, the ear thinks, develop auditory thinking”, “One must be an aristocrat of feelings and tastes,” he told his students. You, too, remember these words and try to follow them. Of course, not all of his students were as talented as those listed.

And work at the conservatory took a lot of strength and energy. But he could not leave her and devote himself entirely to creativity. In the poetic "Message to a Friend" A. K. Lyadov, with his characteristic humor, but also with some sadness, wrote:

The red summer is over!
And so the days go by...
I don't have long to live here
Again for the hateful work.
To teach girls, boys,
There must be a lot of patience
And I've been tired for a long time
To repeat the whole year is all the same.
How pathetic is the one who explains
Sound to the deaf, color to the blind.
By God, there is no use in this!
Just wasting time.
I'm going to such a thing -
My sad fate.

In St. Petersburg, A. K. Lyadov met M. P. Belyaev and joined a new numerous artistic association - the Belyaevsky circle. The significance of the composers of the Belyaevsky Commonwealth lay not only in their new creative achievements, but also in their enormous educational work, which strengthened high musical professionalism in Russia.

As N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov said, “Balakirev’s circle corresponded to the period of“ storm and onslaught ”in the development of Russian music, M. P. Belyaev’s circle corresponded to the period of a calm march forward.”

During these years, A. K. Lyadov created a huge number of piano miniatures, program pieces "Bagatell", "Musical Snuffbox", "About Antiquity", etc., "Children's Songs", arrangements of folk songs.

One of the best miniatures of A. K. Lyadov "Musical snuffbox". With what wit the composer imitates in it the sound of a toy clockwork instrument. The author gave the miniature a single designation: "automaticamente", that is, "automatically". Rhythmic monotony, repetition of an unpretentious waltz, "glassy" sonority, subtly noticed grace notes and trills typical of a "music box" convey the special mechanical nature of the music.

“And how sweet it is with you in the Snuffbox, when suddenly something grunts or sneezes at the top! Oh, how sweet, oh, how comical and graceful!” - wrote V. V. Stasov to Lyadov after the performance of "Snuffbox" in the author's edition for a small instrumental composition.

Very characteristic of A. K. Lyadov is the play “About Antiquity”. Already at the first sounds, the image of the ancient Russian singer Bayan arises. In the goose chime - a slightly modified truly folk melody "Blow, blow, bad weather." Later, A. K. Lyadov arranged this piece for a symphony orchestra and prefaced the epigraph from the Tale of Igor's Campaign: "Let's tell, brethren, a legend from the time of the ancient Vladimirs."

The revolutionary events of 1905 stirred him up as well. In protest against the dismissal of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, A. K. Lyadov and A. K. Glazunov left the conservatory. A. K. Lyadov responded to the forced departure from the Moscow Conservatory of S. I. Taneyev with an “open letter” in the newspaper: “Dear Sergey Ivanovich! With deep regret, I learned from the newspapers that you are forced to leave the Moscow Conservatory. But I did not feel sorry for you, I feel sorry for the conservatory, which in the person of you has lost an indispensable professor, a wonderful musician and a bright, pure person, always ready to unrelentingly stand for the truth. You are the golden page of the Moscow Conservatory, and no one's hand is able to tear it out. Yours deeply, An. Lyadov.

V. V. Stasov, having learned about this, wrote in admiration: “Dear Lyadushka, only yesterday I recognized your letter to S. I. Taneyev in Rus. You me devil knows how delighted. These are the people, these are the artists.” Only after the election of A. K. Glazunov as director and the return of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov did A. K. Lyadov return to the conservatory.

1900s were a period of enormous creative flourishing of the composer. During this period, he created the symphonic cycle "Eight Russian Folk Songs for Orchestra" and the wonderful program miniatures "Baba Yaga", "Magic Lake", "Kikimora". They expressed the composer's search for an ideal in unearthly art. A fairy tale is that "clearance" into another life, enticing the artist, leading away from the ordinary into a dream.

"Fairy Pictures", as the composer called these works, are one-movement symphonic pieces. Bright picturesqueness, "picturesqueness" of the idea determined the colorfulness of all expressive means.

“Kikimora” has a program: “Kikimora lives, grows with a magician in the stone mountains. From morning to evening, Kikimora Kot-bayun amuses - he tells overseas tales. From evening until broad daylight, Kikimora is rocked in a crystal cradle.

Exactly seven years later, Kikimora grows up. Thin, black, that Kikimora, and her head is small, tiny, from thimble, and her body cannot be recognized with a straw. Kikimora knocks, rattles from morning to evening; whistles, hisses Kikimora from evening until midnight; from midnight until broad daylight, he spins a hemp tow, twists hemp yarn, warps a silk warp. Evil on the mind keeps Kikimora honest for all the people.

Very figuratively, the music of the miniature draws both the gloomy land where Kikimora, Kota-bayun with his lullaby, and the ghostly sound of the “crystal cradle” initially live.

But what an evil draws the music itself Kikimora! She expresses not only her ugliness, but also the inner essence of Kikimora, ready to destroy all life. The play ends with the mournful squeak of the piccolo flute, as if someone jokingly destroyed and crushed the source of this great noise. This play is a must listen.

Close "Kikimore" in plot and "Baba Yaga". From Afanasiev's fairy tale "Vasilisa the Beautiful", the composer chose the most dynamic episode: the appearance of Yaga, her flight through the dense forest on a mortar and disappearance. The music accurately depicts the details of this program: the whistle of Yaga, and then a swift movement, as if Baba Yaga is approaching us, and then is carried away. Listen to this miniature too. Swiftness, flight, humorousness allow us to call it a Russian symphonic scherzo.

By the way, this figurative sphere - scherzo, humorous - was close to A. K. Lyadov. Enormous material for characterizing his humor is provided by the albums of his drawings and three notebooks of poems. He was a good poet and could immediately, in a conversation, compose a small pun, an epigram, a congratulation. His letters to friends almost always contained poems. For example, living in the country, in one letter he complained about the heat in a quatrain:

Oh, why am I not a skeleton!
The wind in the ribs would play
I wouldn't know the heat
And the shame that is not dressed.

If "Baba Yaga" and "Kikimora" are close in color, then "Magic Lake" has a completely different character. It was one of the few works by A. K. Lyadov, which he himself loved very much: “Oh, how I love him! How picturesque, pure, with stars and mystery in the depths!

In this piece, the composer wanted to emphasize that this is not so much a sketch from life of a particular lake (although it existed, and A. K. Lyadov often went to him in his Polynovka), but a mysterious lake in which the artist’s imagination could see the most unusual things. "Magic Lake" is not a fairy tale itself, but a state in which a fairy tale can be born.

Of course, in terms of the breadth of coverage of reality, the work of A.K. Lyadov is inferior to his great contemporaries. But the composer nevertheless occupied a prominent place in the history of Russian music. He made contributions to all areas of music that he touched.

The features of a new original style also appeared in his piano pieces, and especially in symphonic miniatures, which opened a new independent line in Russian symphony.

Questions:

1. Name the years of life of A. K. Lyadov.
2. What city is the composer's activity connected with?
3. How did A. K. Lyadov react to the dismissal of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov from the St. Petersburg Conservatory?
4. What was the main feature of the work of A. K. Lyadov?
5. List the works of A. K. Lyadov known to you.

List of works by A. K. Lyadov:
For orchestra: "Baba Yaga", "Kikimora", "Magic Lake", "Amazon Dance", "Sorrowful Song", etc.
For piano: "Spikers", "Arabesques", "About Antiquity", "Idyll", pieces, preludes, waltzes.
For choir a cappella: "10 Russian Folk Songs", "15 Russian Folk Songs", 10 arrangements from Everyday life, etc.
For voice and piano: 18 children's songs based on folk words, collections of folk songs, romances and much more.

Presentation

Included:
1. Presentation, ppsx;
2. Sounds of music:
Works by Anatoly Lyadov:
Baba Yaga. Picture for Russian folk tale, mp3;
Magic lake. Fairy picture, mp3;
Kikimora. Folk tale, mp3;
Musical snuffbox, mp3;
About antiquity. Ballad for orchestra, mp3;
3. Accompanying article, docx.

Anatoly Lyadov Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov (April 29 (May 4), 1855, St. Petersburg August 15 (28), 1914, Polynovka estate, near Borovichi, now Novgorod region) Russian composer, conductor and teacher, professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory ... Wikipedia

Lyadov, Anatoly Konstantinovich- Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov. LYADOV Anatoly Konstantinovich (1855-1914), composer, conductor, teacher. He is successively connected with the composers of The Mighty Handful. He was a member of the so-called Belyaevsky circle (see M.P. Belyaev). He gravitated toward the genre of miniature ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

Russian composer, conductor, teacher. He came from a family of musicians. In 1878 he graduated from the Petersburg ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

- (born in 1855) one of the most talented contemporary composers. The son of Konstantin Nikolaevich L. He received his musical education in St. Petersburg. conservatory, student of Rimsky Korsakov. Since 1878 he has been teaching music theory at the conservatory. Wrote ... ... Big biographical encyclopedia

Lyadov Anatoly Konstantinovich- (18551914), composer, conductor, teacher, musical public figure. Born in St. Petersburg, in 1878 he graduated from the conservatory in composition class with N. A. Rimsky Korsakov, from the same year he taught there (from 1886 professor), from 1884 ... ... Encyclopedic reference book "St. Petersburg"

- (1855 1914) Russian composer, conductor. Member of the Belyaevsky circle. Master of symphonic and piano miniatures. Symphonic paintings of Baba Yaga (1904), Kikimora (1909) and others (on fairy tales), arrangements of Russian folk songs. ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

See the article Lyadovs (a family of musicians) ... Biographical Dictionary

- (1855 1914), composer, conductor, teacher, musical public figure. Born in St. Petersburg, in 1878 he graduated from the conservatory in composition class with N. A. Rimsky Korsakov, from the same year he taught there (from 1886 professor), from 1884 ... ... St. Petersburg (encyclopedia)

- (1855 1914), composer, conductor. A student of N. A. Rimsky Korsakov. Member of the Belyaevsky circle. Master of symphonic and piano miniatures. Symphonic paintings "Baba Yaga" (1904), "Kikimora" (1909) and others (on fairy tales), processing ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

- (11 V 1855, St. Petersburg 28 VIII 1914, Polynovka estate, now Novgorod region) ... Lyadov modestly assigned himself the area of ​​​​piano and orchestral miniatures and worked on it with great love and thoroughness of an artisan and with taste, first-class ... ... Music dictionary

Books

• Selected Easy Works for Piano. Notes, Lyadov Anatoly Konstantinovich. A. K. Lyadov (1855-1914) is an unsurpassed master of piano miniatures. His work became a milestone in the history of Russian music. This collection contains opuses available to pianists…
• Paraphrases on an unchanging theme. For piano. Notes, Borodin Alexander Porfiryevich, Cui Caesar, Lyadov Anatoly Konstantinovich. "Paraphrases on an Unchangeable Theme" is a collection of 24 variations and 17 pieces created by the composers of the Balakirev circle, Shcherbachev and Liszt. At the heart of each play is the simplest theme, ...

This composer did not compose great works, there are no operas or symphonies in his creative heritage, but, nevertheless, he took a prominent place in Russian music and made a significant contribution to its development. His name is Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov - an unsurpassed master of musical miniatures. He wrote few works, but what! His creations are real masterpieces, in which he filigree honed every note. Lyadov was a bright and original person, in his art he wanted to reflect what he lacked in everyday life - a fairy tale.

Read a brief biography of Anatoly Lyadov and many interesting facts about the composer on our page.

Brief biography of Lyadov

On May 11, 1855, a joyful event took place in the family of Konstantin Nikolayevich Lyadov, the conductor of the Imperial Opera and Ballet Theater, well-known in the musical circles of St. Petersburg: a boy was born, to whom happy parents gave the beautiful name Anatoly. The baby's mother, Ekaterina Andreevna, was a talented pianist, but, unfortunately, she passed away early, leaving her daughter Valentina and son Tolya, who at that time was six years old, to her husband. The father loved his children very much, but in order to provide for his family, he had to work hard, so the brother and sister, who grew up without maternal attention, care and love, were actually left to their own devices. A chaotic bohemian atmosphere reigned in the house, which negatively affected the formation of the personality of the future composer. Passivity, internal lack of concentration and lack of will - such psychological traits acquired from childhood subsequently adversely affected his creative work.

Theatrical childhood

Lyadov's biography says that from an early age, the boy began to show amazing versatile talents, not only musical talent, but also excellent artistic and poetic abilities. Anatoly received his first piano lessons from his aunt V.A. Antipova, although it should be noted that these classes were intermittent, but the first school where the boy’s musical development took place very intensively was the Mariinsky Theater (the father often took the children to work with him). Interesting communication with talented people, presence at rehearsals of musical performances, the opportunity to listen operatic And symphonic music- all this had a beneficial effect on the future musician. He memorized the parts of many opera heroes and then emotionally portrayed them at home in front of a mirror. In addition, Anatoly had another activity in the theater that he enjoyed doing - this was the role of an extra: the boy participated in various mass scenes.

Studying at the conservatory

Extraordinary musical abilities predetermined the future of the younger Lyadov, and in 1867 his relatives sent him to study at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Anatoly had to part with his parents' house, because for family reasons (his father's illness) he was settled in the boarding house A.S. Shustov, from where on holidays and vacation days the boy was taken to rest by his maternal relatives. Lyadov's conservative teachers were A.A. Panov (class violins), A.I. Rubts (music theory), J. Johansen (theory, harmony), F. Begrov and A. Dubasov (piano class). Studying did not give the young man much pleasure, he was not very diligent and often missed classes. However, Lyadov showed an interest in theoretical disciplines and studied counterpoint in depth. Anatoly had a great desire to get into the composition class for Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov and he succeeded. In the autumn of 1874, the young man became a student of the outstanding maestro, who immediately highly appreciated his talent. Nevertheless, the authority of the famous teacher could not influence the negligent student: in the spring of 1875 he did not appear for the exam, and six months later he was expelled from the number of students.

Outside the walls of the conservatory, Lyadov spent two years, but this time was not in vain for him, since the young man communicated very closely with composers " mighty handful". Community members: Stasov, Mussorgsky And Borodin he was introduced by Rimsky-Korsakov back at the time when the outstanding professor admired the talents of his student and did not take offense at him for his negligent attitude to study. In addition, in the Balakirev circle, Anatoly met Alexander Glazunov, with whom a strong friendship began, which lasted throughout his life. The Kuchkists treated the young talent very warmly, because, despite his youthful age, he managed to establish himself as a professional musician. For example, in the winter of 1876 Mily Balakirev asked Lyadov to help prepare the scores of opera works for the second edition M.I. Glinka. This work was done so carefully that Rimsky-Korsakov changed his attitude towards the disobedient student, and even soon they became good friends.

In 1878, Lyadov applied to the directorate of the conservatory with a request to restore it. The petition was granted, and already in the spring he graduated with honors from an educational institution, submitting to the examination committee a cantata written with great professionalism for the final scene of F. Schiller's drama The Bride of Messina. The Artistic Council of the Conservatory awarded Lyadov a small silver medal, but with a caveat: the graduate will receive it when he pays back his debts in scientific subjects. In addition, the leadership of the institution offered Anatoly Konstantinovich to take the position of a teacher in theoretical subjects and instrumentation in his native "alma mater". He agreed and subsequently engaged in teaching activities throughout his life, raising many outstanding musicians.

Creative upsurge

The following year, 1879, also brought many new impressions to Lyadov. In the St. Petersburg circle of music lovers, he made his debut as a conductor for the first time, and here he met a great music lover Mitrofan Petrovich Belyaev, who played the viola in this amateur group. This acquaintance gradually turned into friendship. Since 1884, the philanthropist began to arrange musical evenings of chamber music every week in his house, which laid the foundation for the community of outstanding musicians, and which later became known as the Belyaevsky Circle. And from the next year, when Belyaev founded a music publishing company in Germany, Lyadov was instructed to select and edit new works by Russian composers. According to Lyadov's biography, 1884 was also marked by a very important event, but already in the personal life of Anatoly Konstantinovich: he married Nadezhda Ivanovna Tolkacheva, with whom he lived happily until the end of his days. In the same year, the composer, at the invitation of Balakirev, who was appointed manager of the Court Singing Chapel, he began to work as a teacher of theoretical disciplines in the regency and instrumental classes of the main choir of Russia, and in 1886 he received a professorship at the conservatory.

During this period, in the musical circles of St. Petersburg, Lyadov became known not only as a composer, but also as a conductor, in this role he successfully performed in the Russian Symphony Concerts founded by Mitrofan Belyaev. 1887 for Anatoly Konstantinovich was marked by acquaintance with Tchaikovsky and Rubinstein. He subsequently conducted in the "Public Symphony Concerts" organized by Anton Grigorievich. In 1889, Lyadov, at the invitation of Belyaev, visited Paris at the World Art Exhibition. There, the philanthropist arranged concerts at which the works of Russian composers, including Anatoly Konstantinovich, were performed.

By the mid-nineties, Lyadov's authority as a composer, conductor and teacher reached its peak. In 1894 he met Alexander Scriabin and approaches Sergey Taneev, who came to St. Petersburg to stage the opera Oresteia.

Difficult years of the twentieth century

The first years of the twentieth century brought great grief to Lyadov, since in 1904 his great friend Mitrofan Belyaev passed away. According to the will of the philanthropist, Anatoly Konstantinovich became a member of the Board of Trustees, organized to reward domestic musicians and composers. Then came the bloody year 1905. Lyadov, along with other teachers in support of the dismissed Rimsky-Korsakov, left the walls of the conservatory and returned there only after Glazunov took over as director. The last decade in the composer's life was constantly overshadowed by the loss of people close to him: Stasov died in 1906, and Rimsky-Korsakov died in 1908. Sad experiences from the loss of friends greatly affected the health of Anatoly Konstantinovich, and in 1911 he himself was struck down by a serious illness from which he could no longer recover. Doctors prescribed him a careful attitude to himself. Lyadov almost did not go anywhere, only occasionally visited the conservatory. Nevertheless, the merits of the composer were clearly noted in 1913. The 35th anniversary of his creative activity was memorably celebrated at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Then again there were strong shocks. In the autumn of 1913, Lyadov's beloved elder sister, Valentina Konstantinovna Pomazanskaya, died, and in the summer of the following year, the composer sent his eldest son to military service. Experiences broke Anatoly Konstantinovich. The composer died on August 28, 1914 in the village of Polynovka, his wife's estate, located near the town of Borovichi.

Interesting facts about Lyadov

• When Mitrofan Belyaev founded a music publishing company in Leipzig, he obliged Lyadov to correct the works being prepared for publication. Anatoly Konstantinovich did this work so scrupulously that the philanthropist jokingly began to call him "the laundress".
• From the biography of Lyadov, we learn that Anatoly Konstantinovich was endowed with many talents. In addition to the composer's gift, he had excellent abilities for fine arts and poetic creativity. The witty pictures and poems that have come down to us can tell a lot about the character of their author. For example, Lyadov painted a lot for his sons, and then arranged entire exhibitions of his creations, hanging them all over the apartment. At this exhibition, one could see caricatures full of humor of famous people, as well as images of various mythological creatures: crooked devils or strange-looking men.
• When Lyadov was asked why he prefers to compose small pieces of music, the composer always joked that he could not withstand music for more than five minutes.

• Lyadov dedicated almost all of his compositions to someone. They could be teachers, relatives or close friends. He considered it important for himself to address the work to a specific person, whom he treated with great love and respect, and perhaps that is why he worked so carefully on each of his creations.
• Many argue that Lyadov was the laziest Russian musical classic and that is why he wrote so few works. However, some biographers of the composer categorically deny this. He was engaged in a lot of teaching activities, since it was she who made it possible for Lyadov to support his family. In letters to Belyaev, who wanted Anatoly Konstantinovich to leave his work at the conservatory and fully engage in composing, the composer rejected any material support from the patron.

• The composer's contemporaries recalled that Anatoly Konstantinovich was the kindest person. It was always a pleasure to communicate with him, as he could easily keep up the conversation and be an interesting conversationalist. In addition, Lyadov was also characterized as a carefree person who was very fond of drinking and having fun, which may have affected the undermining of health and early death.
• Immediately after the death of Anatoly Lyadov, he was buried in St. Petersburg at the Novodevichy Cemetery, but in 1936 his remains were transferred to the Necropolis of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
• Despite the ostentatious bohemian nature, the composer was a secretive person and did not even let friends into his personal life. In 1882, in the city of Borovichi, he met Tolkacheva Nadezhda, a graduate of the Higher Women's Courses, and in 1884 married her without informing anyone. In 1887, the wife made the composer happy with the birth of a son, who was named Mikhail. In 1889, the second son, Vladimir, appeared in the Lyadov family. Mikhail and Vladimir Lyadov died in 1942 during the blockade.
• Pedagogical activity occupied a significant place in Lyadov's life. He began teaching immediately after graduating from the conservatory and worked in this field until his last days. The students of the outstanding maestro were B. Asafiev, N. Myaskovsky, S. Prokofiev, S. Maykapar, A. Olenin, V. Zolotarev are remarkable personalities who made an invaluable contribution to the development of Russian, and then Soviet musical culture.

• Anatoly Konstantinovich was very fond of reading and was keenly interested in the novelties that appeared in literature. He had his own opinion on everything, which he was not afraid to express. For example, everyone knew that he praised Dostoevsky and Chekhov and disliked Gorky and Tolstoy.
• The composer, being in a serious condition and anticipating his death, burned the sketches of all the works he had begun before his death.

Creativity of Anatoly Lyadov

The creative heritage left by Anatoly Lyadov is relatively small. The composer was engaged in pedagogical activity so much that there was almost no time left for composing music, and in a year he managed to write two, at best three works. Anatoly Konstantinovich preferred small musical forms, therefore all his compositions, and more than sixty numbered and about twenty unnumbered opuses have survived to this day, are small works, laconic miniatures, many of which are recognized as unsurpassed masterpieces of musical art. Lyadov worked on the plays very carefully, finely honing every detail, thanks to which the composer's works, imbued with the spirit of the Russian folk epic, captivate with their expressiveness, melodic melodiousness, gentle lyricism and clarity of musical thinking, and some creations simply captivate with cheerfulness and humor.

With the exception of four romances written at the age of nine and music for the fairy tale "Aladdin's Magic Lamp", composed in 1871, the beginning of Lyadov's composing activity is considered to be 1874. His first works, which saw the light and printed as op. 1 were four romances. He created these vocal miniatures under the influence of members of the Mighty Handful, and, despite good reviews, he never returned to this genre, as he lost all interest in it.

According to the memoirs of his contemporaries, Lyadov was an excellent pianist, which is obviously why among the first works he composed were pieces for the piano. In 1976, Anatoly Konstantinovich created an original cycle called " Spillikins”, in which his outstanding composer talent was already clearly manifested. Further, the maestro continued to write in the genre of musical miniatures and small pieces came out from under his pen, on which he honed his composing skills, finely working out each phrase. As a result, the composer gave us more than 50 magnificent piano works, including arabesques, intermezzos, mazurkas, bagatelles, waltzes, mazurkas and preludes. They very clearly manifested the features characteristic of his work, that is, the filigree working out of every detail of the work, the brevity and clarity of the presentation of musical material.

However, Lyadov's most famous works are his works for a symphony orchestra. They are also written in the genre of musical miniature and brilliantly confirm the creative evolution of the composer. Of the twelve symphonic works of the composer, pictorial poems are very popular. "Magic Lake", "Baba Yaga", "Kikimora", "Sorrowful Song" and the suite "Eight Russian Songs".

In addition to these wonderful creations, Anatoly Konstantinovich left to his descendants six chamber-instrumental works, about two hundred arrangements of folk songs, eighteen children's songs, a cantata and several choirs.

Theatrical and musical dynasty of the Lyadovs

Anatoly Konstantinovich belonged to the famous theatrical and musical dynasty in Russia, the founder of which was the composer's grandfather, Nikolai Lyadov. He held the position of bandmaster at the Philharmonic Society of St. Petersburg. Nikolai Grigorievich had nine children, seven of whom connected their lives with music, and five of them served in court theaters.

The eldest son Nikolai played the cello in the orchestra of the Imperial Italian Opera.

Alexander worked as a conductor of the Russian ballet and the court ball orchestra.

Elena was a chorus girl at the Imperial Italian Opera.

Vladimir - sang in the choir of the Mariinsky Theater and sometimes performed minor bass parts in opera performances.

Konstantin - the composer's father, served as a conductor of the Russian opera troupe, the first conductor of the Mariinsky Theater.

Subsequently, the Imperial Theater was replenished with the next generation of the Lyadov family. The troupe included two cousins ​​of Anatoly Konstantinovich Vera and Maria.

The composer's sister, Valentina, became a dramatic actress who performed on the stage of the Alexandrinsky Theatre, but both of her husbands, M. Sariotti and I. Pomazansky, were professional musicians.

Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov is an outstanding musician, whose composer's work, recognized as a classic, is ranked among the "golden fund" of Russian musical culture. Composers of today learn the art of orchestration and conciseness of musical presentation on his compositions. His works are heard at concert venues around the world, not only in the original, but also in various modern musical arrangements.

Video: watch a film about Lyadov

Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov(May 11, 1855 – August 28, 1914) Russian composer, conductor and teacher.

A. K. Lyadov entered the history of music as one of the largest students of Rimsky-Korsakov, a highly authoritative representative of his composer school - a teacher of numerous Russian musicians for over thirty years.

Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov belonged to a one-of-a-kind family of professional musicians. Since childhood, the musical atmosphere surrounded the future composer. Several generations of the Lyadov family replenished the domestic musical cadres - from a modest ordinary orchestra member or chorister to a prominent musical figure, such as Father Konstantin Nikolayevich Lyadov.

Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov was born on May 11, 1855 in St. Petersburg. His whole life is connected with this city, with its artistic environment. He grew up in the artistic world. An excellent school for him was the Mariinsky Theater, where his father worked, then a famous conductor of Russian opera. The entire operatic repertoire of the theater was familiar to Lyadov from childhood, and in his youth he himself often participated in performances as an extra. “He, the darling of the acting troupe, was very fascinated by the stage. The boy, coming home, portrayed Ruslan and Farlaf in front of the mirror.

Lyadov's rare talent was manifested not only in his musical talent, but also in his excellent abilities for drawing, poetic creativity, as evidenced by the many surviving witty, humorous poems and drawings of the composer.

He received his first piano lessons from the pianist V. A. Antipova, his mother's sister. However, there were no regular classes for a long time. The disorderly life of his father, the "bohemian" atmosphere in the house, the lack of real parental affection, care, love (Lyadov lost his mother at the age of six), the disorder and chaos of life - all this not only did not contribute to the planned development of the young musician, but, on the contrary, formed it contains some negative psychological traits, for example, internal disorganization, passivity, lack of will, which subsequently negatively influenced the entire creative process of the composer.

There is reason to believe that already in the early years of his life, Lyadov also came into contact with the treasury of folk songs, since one of his Children's Songs (Lullaby op. 22 No. 1) is marked: "I heard from my nanny in childhood." From there, the captivating world of folk tales entered his work, the charm of which retained its power over him for life. The very first composing experience was also connected with the magical world. It was the music for the fairy tale "Aladdin's Magic Lamp" from "A Thousand and One Nights", staged by him and performed together with his cousins.

The boy's early musical talent naturally determined the decision of his relatives to send the younger representative of the Lyadov family along the mainstream of the "family" profession. In January 1867, he entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory with an honorary personal scholarship named after his father. Studying forever separated Lyadov from his parental home. At first, the boy was placed in a boarding house with A. S. Shustov, but he spent Sundays and holidays in the Antipov family.

During the first three years he studied violin with A. A. Panov, attended theory with A. I. Rubets. Lyadov studied with professors J. Johansen (theory, harmony), F. Beggrov and A. Dubasov (piano). In the autumn of 1874, he finally entered the composition class of Rimsky-Korsakov. He immediately appreciated the talent of his student: "Indescribably talented."

In his student years, Lyadov turned to the genre of romance, popular in Russia. But he quickly lost his taste for romance lyrics and repeatedly emphasized in his statements that "The glory acquired by romances is cheap laurels."

Possessing outstanding musical abilities, the young composer treated his duties far from being in accordance with these data. “Little diligence”, “small visitation” “was very skimpy,” as Rimsky-Korsakov recalls in The Chronicle of My Musical Life. He cites a characteristic dialogue between Lyadov and his sister: “Tolya, I won’t let you have dinner because you didn’t write a fugue. You yourself asked me about it, - says the sister. “As you wish, I’ll go to dinner with my aunt,” answered Anatoly. In contrast to classwork, he was passionately fond of independent creativity.

However, the authority of Rimsky-Korsakov could not force Lyadov to overcome his dislike for systematic academic work. The result of his first year of study in the class of the famous composer in the spring of 1875 reads: "A. Lyadov did not appear for the exam." Finally, in the middle of the next academic year, the directorate of the conservatory was forced to expel Lyadov, together with his friend Dyutsch, from the student body.

This episode, however, did not play a special role for the composer's creative biography. The next two years spent by him outside the conservatory were not in vain. For his general and musical development, acquaintance with members of the Balakirev circle was incomparably more important. While still a student, with the assistance of Rimsky-Korsakov, he entered the community of composers "The Mighty Handful", who warmly accepted the gifted young man into their clan as the successor to the "new Russian school". Thus, acquaintance with Mussorgsky, Borodin, Stasov and familiarization with the aesthetic ideals of the Kuchkists took place. And although Lyadov found the circle already in the period of decline and the inevitable split caused by the natural self-determination of its brilliant representatives, he still could not help but feel the powerful influence of the great tradition. It was from her that he inherited that “endless devotion to art and self-awareness as a Russian, national artist”, which he carried through his whole life. By the time Lyadov was expelled from the conservatory, he had established himself as a talented and, despite his youth, professionally experienced musician.

Already at the end of 1876, Balakirev attracted him to cooperate in preparing for a new edition of the scores of Glinka's operas. Probably such work contributed to the strengthening of friendly relations between the former teacher and student, when "the former relationship of the professor to the recalcitrant student disappeared." They become best friends.

Lyadov was an excellent pianist, although he did not consider himself a virtuoso and did not engage in public concert activity. All contemporaries who heard his playing noted the elegant, refined chamber style of performance. The most original cycle is Spills, created in 1876 and immediately revealing the talent of the twenty-year-old composer. From "Spikers" and breathes freshness, youthful inspiration. Lyadov's piano pieces are a kind of musical and poetic sketches of individual life experiences, pictures of nature, displayed in the artist's inner world.

In 1878, in order to formalize his maturity as a composer, Lyadov applied for admission to the ranks of the students of the conservatory. At the final exams in May, he completely rehabilitated himself. Already an experienced composer, he brilliantly graduated from the conservatory, presenting the cantata The Bride of Messina, according to Schiller, performed at a high professional level as a thesis.

In the mid-1880s, Lyadov became a member of a new association of St. Petersburg musicians - the Belyaevsky Circle, where he immediately took a leading position, becoming a member of the leading triumvirate of Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov, Lyadov. This leading group, with the support of Belyaev, performed the most difficult work of selecting, editing, and publishing new works.

Lyadov also took an active part in musical meetings known as "Belyaevsky Fridays", where his compositions were constantly performed, which had a significant impact on younger contemporaries, representatives of the St. Petersburg school. With exceptional care, Lyadov also carried out the work of proofreading the works published by Belyaev. Knowing the exceptional scrupulousness and exactingness of Lyadov regarding the purity of the letter, Belyaev entrusted this work to him at that time and jokingly called him "the laundress".

In 1884, Lyadov met both P.I. Tchaikovsky and his relatives. Friendly communication with Modest Tchaikovsky continued until the last days. In the mid-1890s, Taneyev and Scriabin came to the Belyaevsky circle. The latter owes the strengthening of friendly ties with the publishing house to Lyadov. He was attracted by the combination of subtle lyrical spirituality with nobility of taste, elegance and formal completeness.

As an artist, Lyadov was formed quite early, and throughout his entire activity one cannot notice any sharp transitions from one stage to another. Already in his early years, Lyadov was prone to protracted gestation of his ideas, which for a long time were not brought to the final finish. The slowness of the composer and his relatively low productivity embarrassed and upset everyone who was sympathetic to his talent. One of the reasons for this is the financial insecurity of Lyadov, who was forced to do a lot of pedagogical work.

In 1878 he was invited to the conservatory as a professor and held this position until the end of his life. And since 1884, he also taught in the instrumental classes of the Court Singing Chapel. I must say that as a teacher, Lyadov achieved considerable success. Among his students are Prokofiev, Asafiev, Myaskovsky. Teaching took at least six hours a day. Lyadov composed, in his own words, "in the cracks of time", and this made him very sad.

“I compose little and tight,” he wrote to his sister in 1887. - Am I just a teacher? Wouldn't like that very much! But it seems that I will end with this ... ”In addition, since 1879 he has been actively engaged in conducting activities. Apparently, conducting attracted the composer from an early age. Along with the symphonic repertoire, his programs included vocal and choral works, and solo works, Beethoven, Mozart, Mussorgsky, Schubert, Rimsky-Korsakov. “Although it didn’t go well, thanks to an amateur orchestra, Lyadenka is becoming a good conductor.”

From a young age, Lyadov also formed that characteristic skeptical worldview, which by the end of his life took on a pessimistic coloring. In Lyadov's correspondence, one always feels dissatisfaction with life, with oneself, with one's work. In almost every letter he writes about boredom, longing, which prevents him from concentrating both on work and on leisure. Everywhere, wherever he is, he is haunted by sad thoughts, forebodings of the "fatal end", which have been aggravated over the years.

And in the very way of life, in his habits, he remained conservative. Outwardly, his years passed calmly and extremely monotonously. “30 years in one apartment - in winter; 30 years in one dacha - in the summer; 30 years in a very closed circle of people, ”said A. N. Rimsky-Korsakov. By the way, all the most significant works of the composer were written in the summer in the village of Polynovka, Novgorod province. The enjoyment of freedom from conservatory duties was associated with hopes for new compositions: Variations on a Theme by Glinka, "Barcarolle", "About Antiquity". He was given a separate house with a piano. “My house is wonderful, but I don’t know if it will help me write something.”

In general, the quantitative results of Lyadov's work as a composer turned out to be quite modest. He published 2-3 essays a year.

Lyadov entered the period of creative development by the end of the 1880s, showing himself as a master of miniature. This inclination manifested itself already in his first piano compositions, in which brevity inherent in him, sharpness of musical thought and form, and jewelry finishing of details crystallized. Critics wrote about his music: "The finest artist of sound", "in place of the imposing feeling puts forward the frugality of feeling, admiring the grains - the pearls of the heart."

The pinnacle of the chamber form was undoubtedly Lyadov's preludes. It is quite possible to call him the founder of the Russian piano prelude. This genre was especially close to the aesthetic worldview of Lyadov the miniature painter. It is not surprising that it was in it that the individual, specific features of his handwriting were most clearly manifested. Of the works of the 1890s, “Preludes-Reflections” stand out, deeply psychological, inspired by some kind of inconsolable sadness.

But not only instrumental music fascinated the composer. Three notebooks of "Children's Songs" written by Lyadov in 1887-1890 were very popular. They were based on genuinely folk texts of ancient, pre-bile genres - spells, jokes, sayings.

In the original author's melodies of "Children's Songs", the intonations of "nanny's tunes", gentle lullabies, familiar from childhood, are easily recognizable. "Children's Songs" by Lyadov amaze with amazing sensitivity, touching love and deep understanding of the child's soul. The composer presents the melody either with mild humor, or with fervent playfulness, or in a deliberately important, narrative tone, or in terms of grotesque and even paradox. In each of the "Children's Songs" subtle Lyadov's humor slips - affectionate and kind. But almost all of them leave in the soul a feeling of slight sadness, pity, and sometimes a slightly eerie feeling of hopelessness and "disorganization" of life.

“Couldn't Lyadov better testify to his Russian spirit than in his arrangements of Russian songs,” wrote the famous music critic Vitol. The publication of the first of four collections of "Songs of the Russian people for one voice with piano accompaniment" (30 songs) dates back to 1898, although Lyadov began to study Russian folklore as early as the 1880s. In total, Lyadov processed 150 Russian folk songs.

Lyadov did not allow anyone into his personal life. In this regard, the fact of hiding his marriage in 1884 from friends turned out to be very characteristic of him. He did not introduce any of them to his wife N. I. Tolkachev, with whom he lived happily all his life, raising two sons.

Lyadov seemed to be specially fenced off from the outside world, fearing his invasion of his life, any changes in it for the worse. Perhaps it was precisely this intrusion from outside that he lacked for creative activity. Unlike many Russian artists, who found the strongest stimuli for creative thought in foreign travels and new impressions, Lyadov, due to his natural inertia and lethargy, was afraid to "budge". Only twice the smooth course of life in St. Petersburg was disturbed by short trips abroad to the World Art Exhibition in Paris in the summer of 1889, where his compositions were performed, and to Germany in 1910.

The last stage of Lyadov's life path is marked by some changes in the inertia formed over the previous years. The monotonous way of life of the composer, established over the years, was for a time sharply destroyed by the first Russian revolution. A tense socio-political struggle directly captured the field of musical art. Lyadov's departure from the conservatory was a demonstration of his sincere indignation at the attitude of the leaders of the conservatory towards Rimsky-Korsakov, who was dismissed on March 19, 1905 for supporting the revolutionary part of the student body.

Lyadov fully shared the demand put forward by the professors for the autonomy of the conservatory, that is, the independence of the artistic council and director from the leadership of the RMS. The events of these months evoke a completely exceptional activity of Lyadov, which is usually not characteristic of him.

In addition to the eventually restored teaching work at the conservatory, Lyadov's musical and social activities in the last decade of his life were associated with the board of trustees to encourage Russian composers and musicians, which arose in January 1904, after the death of Belyaev, according to his will.

In the 1900s, he became closer friends with A. Siloti, who was one of the first performers of Lyadov's symphonic works - "Kikimory", "From the Apocalypse". He was also close to R.M. Gliere, N.N. Cherepnin, L. Godovsky, I. Paderevsky.

At the same time, Lyadov became close to representatives of the World of Art group, with Diaghilev, with the artists Golovin, Roerich, Bilibin, to whom he dedicated Eight Russian Folk Songs for Orchestra.

To art, he made demands of beauty, aristocracy, and novelty. The thirst for new content, leading away from everyday life, is declared by Lyadov in the words: “My ideal is to find the unearthly in art. Art is the realm of what is not in the world, I am so full of the prose of life that I want only the extraordinary - at least get on your head. Give me a fairy tale, a dragon, a Mermaid, a goblin, give me something that is not there, only then I am happy, in art I want to eat a fried bird of paradise.

A brilliant confirmation of the creative evolution of Lyadov are his famous program miniatures, symphonic masterpieces - "Baba Yaga", "Magic Lake", "Kikimora". Created in 1904-1910, they reflected not only the traditions of their predecessors, but also the creative quest of the present. Orchestral fairy-tale paintings by Lyadov, for all the independence of their ideas, can be regarded as a kind of artistic triptych, the extreme parts of which (“Baba Yaga” and “Kikimora”) are bright “portraits” embodied in the genre of fantastic scherzos, and the middle one (“Magic lake") - a bewitching, impressionistic landscape.

The latest work in the field of symphonic music - "Kesh" ("Sorrowful Song"), is associated with the symbolist images of Maeterlinck. “Sorrowful Song” turned out to be Lyadov’s “swan song”, in which, according to Asafiev, the composer “opened a corner of his own soul, from his personal experiences he drew material for this sound story, truthfully touching, like a timid complaint.”

This "confession of the soul" ended the creative path of Lyadov, whose original, subtle, lyrical talent as a miniature painter, perhaps, manifested itself somewhat ahead of his time.

The death of friends - Stasov, Belyaev, his sister, the departure of the eldest son to the war, another creative crisis had a negative impact on the composer's health.

Russian composer and teacher Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov was born in St. Petersburg on April 29 (May 11), 1855 in a family of musicians - Lyadov's father was a conductor of the Mariinsky Theater, his mother was a pianist. He studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory but was expelled by Rimsky-Korsakov from his harmony class for being "incredibly lazy".

Russian composer and teacher Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov was born in St. Petersburg on April 29 (May 11), 1855 in a family of musicians - Lyadov's father was a conductor of the Mariinsky Theater, his mother was a pianist. He studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory but was expelled by Rimsky-Korsakov from his harmony class for being "incredibly lazy". Soon, however, he was reinstated at the conservatory and began to help M. A. Balakirev and Rimsky-Korsakov in preparing a new edition of the scores of Glinka's operas A Life for the Tsar and Ruslan and Lyudmila. In 1877 he graduated with honors from the conservatory and was left there as a professor of harmony and composition. Among Lyadov's students are S. S. Prokofiev and N. Ya. Myaskovsky. In 1885, Lyadov began teaching theoretical disciplines at the Court Singing Chapel. Somewhat later, on behalf of the Imperial Geographical Society, he was engaged in the processing of folk songs collected on expeditions and published several collections highly valued by researchers of Russian folklore.

Lyadov's legacy as a composer is small in scope and consists mainly of works of small forms. The most famous are the picturesque symphonic poems - "Baba Yaga", "Magic Lake" and "Kikimora", as well as "Eight Russian Folk Songs" for orchestra, two collections of children's songs (op. 14 and 18) and a number of piano pieces (among them "Music Box"). He composed two more orchestral scherzos (op. 10 and 16), the cantata "The Bride of Messina" after Schiller (op. 28), music for Maeterlinck's play "Sister Beatrice" (op. 60) and ten church choirs (Ten arrangements from Everyday life, collection of Orthodox hymns). In 1909, S. P. Diaghilev commissioned Lyadov for the Parisian "Russian Seasons" ballet based on the Russian fairy tale about the Firebird, but the composer delayed the execution of the order for so long that the plot had to be transferred to I. F. Stravinsky. Lyadov died in a village near the town of Borovichi on August 28, 1914.