"Mozart and Salieri": a small tragedy by S. Pushkin and opera N
Unfortunately, this remarkable work by Rimsky-Korsakov is underestimated. The history of the creation of this opera is interesting.
In early 1897, Rimsky-Korsakov set to music a short scene from Pushkin's "little tragedy" Mozart and Salieri. In the summer, the composer wrote two more scenes, and in August of the same year he completed the opera. Many reasons prompted him to turn to this story.
"The best biography of Mozart" called Pushkin's tragedy A. K. Lyadov. Rimsky-Korsakov bowed to Pushkin. He was especially captivated by the poet's wisdom in glorifying the optimal, ethically perfect principle in human activity. The composer himself sought to reflect the bright sides of life in his music. “This composition,” the composer pointed out, “was really purely vocal; the melodic fabric, following the curves of the text, was composed ahead of everything else; accompaniment, rather complex, was formed after, and the initial sketch of it was very different from the final form of orchestral accompaniment.
In November 1897, Rimsky-Korsakov showed Mozart and Salieri at his home. “Everyone liked it. V. V. Stasov made a lot of noise, ”the composer later noted. The public premiere took place on November 6 (18), 1898 on the stage of the Russian Private Opera (S. I. Mamontov's theatre). The role of Salieri was played by F. I. Chaliapin, who had great, ever-increasing success. The brilliant actor was very fond of this role and, at his request, the opera was often given by Russians. musical theaters. (On the stage of the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theater first staged in 1905). In music arose a new style. It was a tribute to the times.
“The new style,” said Rimsky-Korsakov, “could be characterized by the word ‘plastic’, and this type of music was especially clear in the romances, as well as in the ariose style of the recitatives of Sadko and Mozart and Salieri.” Immediately after the end of "Mozart and Salieri" was given to learn the mammoth troupe, but the composer this case was not sure of the suitability of the composition for the stage. In a letter to Krutikov, who played the role of head of the repertoire at the Private Opera, he expresses doubts: “I’m afraid that the Mozart orchestra is too simple and modest (which, meanwhile, is necessary) and requires fine finishing, since it does not have the usual modern splendor, to which everyone is now accustomed. I'm also afraid that "Mozart" is simply chamber music capable of making an impression in a room, with a piano, without any stage, and losing all its charm on big stage.
Director of the Musical Drama School of the Moscow Philharmonic Society Semyon Nikolaevich Kruglikov wrote to Rimsky-Korsakov: "Your play, upon careful listening ... is simply amazing.<...> This great work . Of course, his intimacy, his avoidance of general operatic effects is not for the daily opera audience... but still, she is great work...". A few months earlier, after listening to the opera performed by Chaliapin (he sang both parts) to the accompaniment of Rachmaninov, N. I. Zabela expressed a similar impression: “The music of this piece is so elegant, touching and at the same time so smart ...”.
In some reviews after the premiere, the opinion was expressed that, despite the generally successful "declamation" and "interesting" music, the composer was absorbed here. poetic text and the sound in the opera only sets off the word. It would seem that this opinion resonates with the composer’s own judgment about the style of Mozart and Salieri: “This kind of music ... is exceptional and in large quantities undesirable ... but I wrote this piece out of a desire to learn ... This, on the one hand to find out how difficult it is - and on the other hand, and moreover, because of a somewhat hurt pride. However, the musical dramaturgy of the work does not at all copy the source, it puts its own accents in Pushkin's "little tragedy".
The excellent analyzes of “Mozart and Salieri” by A. I. Kandinsky show how this happens (Kandinsky A. I. History of Russian Music. M., 1979. Vol. II. Book 2; Kandinsky A. I. O musical characteristics in Rimsky-Korsakov's operas of the 1890s). First of all, if in Pushkin the center of tragedy is undoubtedly the figure of Salieri, then in the opera the image of Mozart and his art dominates, which is deeply consistent with the general concept of Rimsky-Korsakov's work, always directed towards the ideal of harmony. This is expressed in the composition of two scenes of the opera: the first scene is a concentric form, where Salieri's monologues frame his conversation with Mozart, the core of which is Mozart's improvisation; the core of the second scene is Mozart's story about the "black man" and the Requiem. According to A. I. Kandinsky, the difference between the characters is expressed in various types of their musical and intonational characteristics. So, in the part of Salieri, recitative-ariose writing, close to the manner of The Stone Guest, prevails; in the part of Mozart, not only fragments of his music constantly appear - an elegant aria from Don Giovanni, a piano improvisation stylized by Rimsky-Korsakov on the model of the Sonata and Fantasia in D minor, a fragment of the Requiem (for comparison: in the part of Salieri only two bars are quoted from his "Tarara", and it is not the author who sings these bars, but Mozart), but the speech episodes are melodic, complete in nature: Mozart's personality is music itself. In addition, the stylistic inclination of Salieri’s part to the signs of the “pre-Mozart” era, the intonation-genre elements of the “serious”, “high” style is important - a theme in the spirit of the sarabande from the orchestral introduction, a polyphonic episode from Salieri’s first monologue (“When the organ sounded high. .."), etc. This "strict style" in the neighborhood with the "free" music of Mozart creates a certain dramatic contrast.
As an aesthetic phenomenon "Mozart and Salieri" - in the highest degree interesting work.
The choirmaster of our St. Petersburg University alumni choir, Philipp Selivanov, invited us to the premiere of the opera staged by the Youth Opera theatre Youth House "Record" (Sadovaya 75)
Philip Selivanov
Musical director And chief conductor Youth opera theater
And this is the Hall of the House of Youth "Record", where the great opera of my favorite Russian composer will be presented
Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky Korsakov "Mozart and Salieri". Good luck guys.
The Youth Opera House is created by young people in order to promote the art of the chamber opera house.
What is a chamber theatre?
Chamber theater- the name comes from English chamber and French chamber, which means in translation room- a small room. The works are performed in a small theater and are intended for a narrow circle of listeners and spectators.
IN XVIII-XIX centuries chamber music sounded in drawing rooms, in salons, in small halls. At the courts there were even special positions of chamber musicians. Despite the change in social conditions, chamber music has not disappeared, it has received new, more democratic forms existence in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The atmosphere of chamber music suggests a rather relaxed atmosphere, when listeners and performers are close to each other. Unlike great halls and theaters, in a chamber setting, performers can know all their listeners, see them well, play and sing especially for specific people they know, and address them with their art.
This leaves an imprint on the music, which is distinguished by subtlety, confidence, sophistication, depth. Chamber music is designed for a narrower circle of listeners experienced in this art form.
With the ability to penetrate deep into inner world human, chamber music, when you listen to it, seems to be written especially for you. When you sometimes hear it on the radio in the evening, at home it becomes cozier, warmer, there is a feeling of comfort, non-fussiness, stability, traditionalism.
There are a great many genres and forms of chamber music: sonatas, duets, trios, quartets, quintets, sextets, etc., romances, all kinds of miniatures (nocturnes, preludes, intermezzos, etc.). Concerts, cantatas, fantasies, suites, fugues can be chamber. In the XX century they began to write works that are called "chamber music".
Chamber theaters began to be created.
The chamber theater existed in the Yusupov family in their house on the Moika, in form it was an exact copy Bolshoi Theater, but the size of the hall was designed for 150 seats, and the house also had an acoustic musical lounge and a reception hall, where the orchestra was located on the second floor.
In 1910, on the initiative of Count Alexander Dmitrievich Sheremetev, a home theater, consisting of chamber orchestra and choir.
The Hermitage also had a small theater - the Hermitage, in which performances were given.
IN last years life of A. S. Dargomyzhsky undertook an unprecedented in history opera genre experiment - to create an opera on full text literary work. Death prevented him from completing the opera; other composers completed it, including him. And now, 28 years later, he repeated the experience of A. S. Dargomyzhsky, writing on title page dedication to him. Even the story for new opera was taken from the same literary work - "Little Tragedies" by A. S. Pushkin, the composer preferred "Mozart and Salieri".
The opera Mozart and Salieri, on the one hand, stands apart in the work of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, on the other hand, it echoes his other works. Its plot is extremely realistic, real people are brought to the stage (as in historical operas), but what is told about them is more a legend than a story (although quotes refer to the real one - Zerlina's aria from the opera Don Juan, which is played by violinist, a fragment from, performed by Mozart himself, and to the real Salieri - a melody from his opera "Tarar", again sung by Mozart, and not by the author himself). The heroes of many of the composer's operas were singers who personified the wonderful power of art - Levko in the opera "May Night", Lel in, Sadko - two "sons of harmony" act here at once, moreover, they are the only characters (the silent violinist does not count) . And if in other operas of the composer, people of art were precisely the embodiment of harmony, then here a terrible discovery is made: it turns out that music is not always able to make a person beautiful!
What distinguishes the opera "Mozart and Salieri" from other works of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov is its extreme intimacy. The plot disposes to this even to a greater extent than in The Stone Guest, which served as a model for him. This work, according to N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, is more “decorative”: Spain, singing Laura, a cemetery, a statue of the Commander. In "Mozart and Salieri" the action takes place in a room, the characters are dressed in ordinary costumes - and practically nothing happens, all the actions are in the dialogues of the characters ("No one will even notice Mozart's poisoning," said N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov) .
Features of the plot determined musical language opera "Mozart and Salieri", which is in line with the creative searches of the composer. At that time they were directed towards a melodic composition that exactly followed the text (during this period, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov created several dozen romances). A recitative-ariose warehouse, reminiscent of A. S. Dargomyzhsky's "Stone Guest", is especially characteristic of Salieri's part, while in Mozart's part, completed melodies often appear, accompany this hero and fragments from his compositions, and stylization for them (his piano improvisation resembles Fantasia D minor). But the author does not forget that Salieri is also a composer, only his creative appearance is completely different, it has more of a “high” style: in the orchestral introduction, a theme reminiscent of a sarabande is associated with his image, and in the first monologue a polyphonic episode appears.
Not being divided into numbers, built on freely developing monologues and dialogues, the opera "Mozart and Salieri" gravitates towards a concentric form, the features of which can be seen in both of its scenes: in the first of them, the dialogue of characters, including Mozart's improvisation, is framed by Salieri's monologues, and the middle part of the second scene is Mozart's narration of the "black man".
Considering the intimacy of the opera “Mozart and Salieri”, which the author called “a purely vocal composition”, he even doubted: was it worth it to orchestrate, would it not have sounded better in a chamber setting under the piano? Really, famous singer N. I. Zabela-Vrubel argued that in this version the opera sounded great (although, at the same time, they participated in the performance, who performed both parties, and). Nevertheless, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov orchestrated the opera, but he used a smaller orchestra - in his words, without “the modern splendor that everyone is used to now”: string group, a single composition of woodwinds, two horns, occasionally trombones. Such a composition is associated not only with the intimacy of the work, but is also associated with the era in which the action takes place. Used in opera and piano - Mozart plays it.
The opera Mozart and Salieri premiered on 18 November 1898 at the Moscow Private Russian Opera. The first performer of the role of Salieri was F. I. Chaliapin, and Mozart - V. P. Shkafer. Musical critic S. N. Kruglikov noted that this work is “not for the daily opera public”, but “when listening carefully, it is simply amazing.” The opera was a success, and the part of Salieri entered the repertoire of F. I. Chaliapin (before his departure from Russia, he was the only performer of this role).
Musical seasons
The most famous operas in the world. original name, author and short description.
Mozart and Salieri, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov
Dramatic scenes (opera in two scenes) Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov to the text (with slight reductions) of the "little tragedy" of the same name by A. S. Pushkin
Characters:
Mozart (tenor), Salieri (baritone), Blind violinist (without singing).
In the second scene (picture) backstage choir (optional).
Time of action: the end of the 18th century.
Location: Vienna.
First performance: Moscow, November 6 (18), 1898.
HISTORY OF CREATION.
In early 1897, Rimsky-Korsakov set to music a short scene from Pushkin's "little tragedy" Mozart and Salieri. In the summer, the composer wrote two more scenes, and in August of the same year he completed the opera. Many reasons prompted him to turn to this story.
"The best biography of Mozart" called Pushkin's tragedy A. K. Lyadov. The richness of her thoughts with the laconic presentation is amazing: here the image of the great musician is poetically accurately and in relief, important questions are raised about the essence of art, about the role of the ethical principle in it, characterized creative process artist. “What a deep and instructive tragedy,” V. G. Belinsky enthusiastically wrote about her. - What a huge content and in what endless art form!" In addition, it also testifies to the poet's many-sided knowledge: he knew perfectly well creative destiny Mozart. He also knew the biography of his older contemporary, the Italian composer Antonio Salieri, who lived in Vienna. The death of Mozart, his funeral is still shrouded in romantic mystery, which gave food for various interpretations reasons that led to his death. Among them there was also a version that has not yet been definitively refuted that Salieri poisoned Mozart. Pushkin took advantage of this version: he was fascinated by the idea of opposing the genius, to whom everything is subject, the painful doubts of an envious rival.
Pushkin's drama, a masterpiece of high poetry, completed in 1830 (the first drafts, apparently, date back to 1826), was repeatedly staged (premiered in St. Petersburg in 1832).
Rimsky-Korsakov bowed to Pushkin. He was especially captivated by the poet's wisdom in glorifying the optimal, ethically perfect principle in human activity. The composer himself sought to reflect the bright sides of life in his music. It is not surprising, therefore, that he was attracted by the radiant appearance of Mozart. At the same time, one of the leading themes of Rimsky-Korsakov's work was the glorification of the mighty creative power of art. This is how the image of the noble Levko arose in “ May night”, or the shepherd Lelya in The Snow Maiden, or the harpman Sadko in the opera of the same name. Pushkin's "little tragedy" is also devoted to the development of this theme. Turning to her, the composer also wanted to solve another, this time specifically musical problem.
During these years, Rimsky-Korsakov paid special attention to melodic expressiveness, which resulted in the creation of about 50 romances. The opera was conceived in the same manner. “This composition,” the composer pointed out, “was really purely vocal; the melodic fabric, following the curves of the text, was composed ahead of everything else; accompaniment, rather complex, was formed after, and the initial sketch of it was very different from the final form of orchestral accompaniment. The model for the composer was Dargomyzhsky's "Stone Guest", also sustained in an ariose-recitative manner. Like Dargomyzhsky, Rimsky-Korsakov wrote music to an almost unaltered Pushkin text (he only made slight cuts to Salieri's monologues). Following them, Ts. A. Cui (“A Feast during the Plague”, 1900) and S. V. Rachmaninov (“ Miserly knight", 1905).
In November 1897, Rimsky-Korsakov showed Mozart and Salieri at his home. “Everyone liked it. V.V. Stasov made a lot of noise, ”the composer later noted. The public premiere took place on November 6 (18), 1898 on the stage of the Russian Private Opera (S. I. Mamontov's theatre). The role of Salieri was played by F. I. Chaliapin, who had great, ever-increasing success. The brilliant actor was very fond of this role and, at his request, the opera was often given by Russian musical theaters. (On the stage of the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theater was first staged in 1905).
PLOT.
Salieri, who has achieved fame and recognition through hard work, indulges in heavy thoughts. His path to art was difficult and thorny. At first he "believed harmony with algebra", then he began to create, achieved a prominent position in music world. But his peace is broken - Mozart appeared. Everything comes easily to him, for he is a genius. Painfully jealous of Salieri. Mozart comes to him in excellent spirits; he had an old violinist with him, who played popular melodies from his operas in the street. But Salieri is annoyed by the old man's inept play - he drives him away. Mozart sits down at the piano, plays his new fantasy. Salieri is shocked by its depth, courage, harmony ... The decision is ripe: Mozart must die - "otherwise we will all die, we are all priests, ministers of music" ...
Salieri invited Mozart to dine with him in a tavern. But he is thoughtful, cloudy. Bad forebodings oppress him. Once a man dressed in all black came to him and ordered a funeral mass - a requiem. And it seems to Mozart that he writes this requiem for himself, that he does not have long to live. At this time, Salieri furtively throws poison into his glass of wine. Mozart drinks it, plays a passage from the requiem, then leaves. And again, Salieri's soul is seized with tormenting doubts: is it really, as Mozart casually said, "genius and villainy are two things that are incompatible?"
MUSIC.
Mozart and Salieri is Rimsky-Korsakov's most concise opera. It is distinguished by the finest psychological development of images, which causes a continuous fluidity of the musical fabric. However, individual episodes of the action are clearly outlined. The richness of the melodic content marked this opera.
Short orchestral introduction conveys a concentrated sad mood. Salieri's first monologue appears “Everyone says: there is no truth on earth! But there is no higher truth." Nothing yet portends a tragic denouement: these are the thoughts of a man who has gone through a great life path. The central place of the monologue falls on the words “I, at last, have reached a high degree in boundless art” - at this point the sad motive of the introduction sounds. The arrival of Mozart is characterized by lighter music, which is completed by the melody of an aria from Mozart's "Don Giovanni" (Zerlina's aria "Well, beat me, Masetto"), performed by a street violinist. Next important episode- piano fantasy composed by Rimsky-Korsakov in the spirit of Mozart. Its content is determined by the following words: “I am cheerful ... Suddenly: a vision of a grave, sudden darkness, or something like that ...” Salieri's second monologue is full of great tension; at the end, dramatic episodes from Mozart's fantasy sound.
In the orchestral introduction to the second scene (picture) initial, light pages the same fantasy: this enhances the contrast to subsequent episodes, in which the tragic coloring is more and more pumped up. Ominously, like the sentence of Salieri, who planned to kill Mozart, the words of the latter sound: "Genius and villainy are two incompatible things." After the performance of an excerpt from the Requiem, the words stand out with penetrating warmth: “If only everyone would feel the power of harmony like that! But no: then the world could not exist.” The final short monologue of Salieri, extremely dramatic, ends with solemnly gloomy chords.
“In memory of A. S. Dargomyzhsky” - this is what is written on the title page of this opera. This is an author's dedication. In him deep meaning. This is Rimsky-Korsakov's recognition of the enormous merit of Dargomyzhsky in creating the genre chamber opera. But not only this. Dargomyzhsky laid the foundation for the "voicing" of Pushkin's brilliant "little tragedies", written, one can safely say, as ideal opera librettos. And this dedication is also a token of appreciation for that. After Dargomyzhsky and Rimsky-Korsakov, Caesar Cui (“A Feast in the Time of the Plague”, 1900) and Sergei Rachmaninov (“The Miserly Knight”, 1905) turned to “little tragedies”.
Unfortunately, this remarkable work by Rimsky-Korsakov is underestimated: people tend to listen to (and watch) it on a large scale. opera stage. At the same time, the listener is almost always disappointed by the lack of operatic and theatrical effects, and the orchestra was deliberately taken by the composer with a reduced composition, while it makes a much greater impression in a chamber, if not homely, setting. By the way, the witnesses of the birth of this masterpiece, in particular, the wonderful singer N. I. Zabela (wife of the artist M. A. Vrubel), who performed all the female lyrical parts in Rimsky-Korsakov’s operas, spoke enthusiastically about the chamber performance of this opera (though we are talking about such luminaries as F. Chaliapin, who performed both parts in such an environment, and S. Rachmaninov, who accompanied on the piano). In this sense, the words of the composer himself deserve attention: “I'm afraid that Mozart is just chamber music that can make an impression in a room with a piano, without any stage and loses its charm on a big stage. After all, such is almost the "Stone Guest"; but that one is still somewhat more decorative. There is still Spain, a cemetery, a statue, Laura with songs - and I have a room, ordinary costumes, even if from the last century, and conversations. No one will even notice the poisoning of Mozart. Everything is too intimate and chamber-like. Maybe it shouldn't have been instrumented at all; at least that's what has crossed my mind many times." Be that as it may, if you wish to give opera performance, without resorting to the stage tricks of the "big" opera, it is difficult to find a work more grateful than Mozart and Salieri.
Discography: CD-Olympia. Conductor Ermler, Fedin (Mozart), Nesterenko (Salieri).
Sections: Literature, Music
Goals:
Methodical techniques: mini-lecture; conversation, students' messages, work with the text of artistic and musical works.
Organizational forms: frontal (teacher's lecture, conversation), individual (problem issue).
Materials for the lesson: the text of the tragedy by A.S. Pushkin "Mozart and Salieri", slide presentation on the topic of the lesson, musical materials for listening and analysis: V.A. “Mozart” Symphony No. 40”, “Little Night Serenade”, “Requiem”; ON THE. Rimsky-Korsakov Fragments of the opera "Mozart and Salieri".
During the classes
I. Organizing time/sound fragment – “Symphony №40”/
II. Theme and purpose of the lesson
- generalization of the topic of the lesson;
- problematic issue;
- goal setting
III. Explanation of new material
1. From the history of the creation of "Little Tragedies"
/teacher's lecture with elements of conversation is accompanied by a slide presentation/
In 1830, Pushkin wrote four plays in Boldino: The Miserly Knight, Mozart and Salieri, The Stone Guest, and Feast During the Plague.
In a letter to V. A. Pletnev, Pushkin reported that he had brought “several dramatic scenes, or small tragedies.” The plays began to be called "Little Tragedies". They are really small in volume, have a small number of scenes and characters. “Dramatic Scenes”, “Dramatic Essays”, “Dramatic Studies” - these are the names Pushkin wanted to give his plays, emphasizing their difference from traditional ones.
"Little Tragedies" is characterized by a rapid development of action, a sharp dramatic conflict, a depth of penetration into the psychology of the characters covered by strong passion, a truthful depiction of characters distinguished by their versatility, individual and typical features.
In the “Little Tragedies” passions or vices that are all-consuming the soul of a person are shown:
- pride that despises everyone;
- greed, which does not give a person even a minute to think about the spiritual;
- envy, leading to atrocity;
- gluttony, not knowing any fasts, combined with a passionate attachment to various amusements;
- anger that causes terrible destructive actions.
The "Miserly Knight" reflects the Middle Ages of Western Europe, the life and customs of a knight's castle, shows the power of gold over the human soul.
In The Stone Guest, the old Spanish legend about Don Juan, who lives only for himself and does not take into account moral standards, is developed in a new way; courage, dexterity, wit - all these qualities he directed to the satisfaction of his desires in the pursuit of pleasure.
“A feast during the plague” is a philosophical reflection on human behavior in the face of the danger of death.
2. The theme of the tragedy “Mozart and Salieri”
What theme is revealed in the tragedy "Mozart and Salieri"? / In “Mozart and Salieri” the destructive power of envy was revealed /
Subject - artistic creativity and envy as an all-consuming passion of a person, leading him to villainy. The original name of the tragedy “Envy” has been preserved, which largely determines its theme. /sound snippet/
3. Legend and facts of the life of Mozart and Salieri / messages from students /
The heroes of the tragedy are real people: the Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) and italian composer, conductor, teacher Antonio Salieri (1750-1825).
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is an Austrian composer. Mozart has been composing music since the age of five. At fourteen he became a court musician in Salzburg. Then he lived and worked in Vienna. He visited Italy, was elected a member of the Philharmonic Academy in Bologna. In 1787, the first performance in Prague of his opera Don Giovanni took place. The following year it was staged in Vienna, Salieri was present.
High harmony, grace, nobility, humanistic orientation of Mozart's works were noted by his contemporaries. Critics wrote that his music is “full of light, peace and spiritual clarity, as if earthly sufferings awakened only the Divine sides of this person, and if at times a shadow of sorrow sweeps, about it is visible peace of mind, arising from complete obedience to Providence.” Mozart's music is distinctive and original. He created 628 works, including 17 operas: Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute, and others.
"Requiem" - a work on which Mozart worked before his death, remained unfinished.
Requiem is a mournful vocal or vocal-instrumental piece of music. /Sound fragment/.
Mozart's premature, early death is associated with the legend of his poisoning by Salieri, who lived and worked in Vienna from 1766, was the court chamber conductor and composer of the Italian opera in Vienna. Then he went to Paris, where he became close to the composer Gluck, became his student and follower. Returning to Vienna, he took up the post of court conductor. Salieri's students were L. Van Beethoven, F. Liszt, F. Schubert. Salieri wrote 39 operas: "Ta-rar", "Falstaff" (comic opera), etc.
The version that Salieri allegedly poisoned Mozart has no exact confirmation and remains a legend. It is based on the assertion circulated in the German press that Salieri confessed the sin of killing Mozart on his deathbed.
Why was A. S. Pushkin interested in the legend of the poisoning of Mozart? (The legend of Mozart's poisoning was of interest to Pushkin because it allowed revealing the psychological reasons for the birth of envy in the soul of a person, leading him to an irreconcilable conflict and crime. Historical figures, documentary facts from life acquired an artistic generalization)
4. Heroes of tragedy /work in groups/
Mozart is a composer of fame and glory. As a person, he considers the Divine world order reasonable and just. He accepts earthly life with its joys and sufferings, comprehends high ideals coming from God. Mozart is a genius, he was chosen by heaven to convey goodness and beauty to people in the harmony of music as enduring, eternal values.
Salieri realizes the genius of Mozart.
/Mozart “Little Night Serenade”/
What depth!
What courage, and what harmony!
You, Mozart, are a god, and you yourself do not know it;
I know I am.
Mozart himself understands that there are few servants of the beautiful on earth, if everyone were given the gift of creativity,
Then I couldn't
And the world to exist; no one would
Take care of the needs of low life;
All indulged in free art.
Realizing his gift, Mozart feels like an ordinary mortal. He jokingly replies to Salieri who called him the god:
Ba! Right? May be...
But my god is hungry.
Cheerful, carefree from the immensity of talent, deeply humane Mozart creates his works easily, as if they arise by themselves. This is not the result of hard work and knowledge of technical methods, but a Divine gift - genius. At the same time, he does not hide the fact that his works are the fruits of “insomnia, light inspirations”:
What did you bring me?
No - so; trifle. The other night
My insomnia tormented me.
And two or three thoughts came to my mind.
Today I sketched them. wanted
I hear your opinion...
Life and art for Mozart - a single whole. true artist, he does not create for personal gain, "contemptible benefit", but for the sake of art itself. A true artist gives himself to art without demanding glory in return - such is Mozart's point of view. His music is popular, this is evidenced by its performance by a blind violinist from a tavern, he cannot see the notes and memorized both her and other works of the composer by ear. In the tavern, the violinist performed Cherubino's aria from the opera The Marriage of Figaro, and at Salieri's he performed an aria from the opera Don Giovanni. Inaccurate performance makes Mozart laugh, he does not feel contempt for the old man, thanks for the work.
Mozart is disturbed by a gloomy foreboding, his black man is the personification of death. He does not associate his anxiety with Salieri, whom he considers his friend and brilliant composer. And this is quite understandable: Mozart does not know envy, is not capable of villainy. He is convinced that “the chosen one of heaven - a genius who shows examples of perfection, high ideals in his art - cannot commit villainy:
He's a genius.
Like you and me. And genius and villainy -
Two things are incompatible. Isn't it true, is it?
“Note: Mozart not only does not reject the title of genius offered to him by others, but he calls himself a genius, at the same time calling Salieri a genius. In this, amazing good nature and carelessness are visible: for Mozart, the word “genius” is nothing; tell him that he is a genius, he will respectfully agree with it; start proving to him that he is not a genius at all, he will agree with this, and in both cases equally sincerely. In the person of Mozart, Pushkin presented a type of direct genius, which manifests itself without effort, without counting on success, not at all suspecting its greatness. It cannot be said that all geniuses are like that; but such ones are especially unbearable for talents like Salieri,” wrote V. G. Belinsky in the eleventh article “On Pushkin’s Work”.
Salieri also belongs to the world of art, he too famous composer. But his attitude to the Divine world order is different from that of Mozart:
Everyone says: there is no truth on earth.
But there is no truth - and above. For me
So it is clear, like a simple gamma.
With these words of Salieri, the tragedy begins. They express his opposition to the Divine world order, his conflict with life. Serving art, Salieri set a goal to achieve fame, he loves art and does not like life, he fenced himself off from it, began to deal only with music:
/Fragment of the opera “Mozart and Salieri” by Rimsky-Korsakov/
I early rejected idle amusements;
Sciences alien to music were
Shame on me; stubbornly and haughtily
I renounced them and surrendered
One music.
Craft
I set a footstool for art...
In his music, "harmony" was verified by "algebra", the mortified music was dissected like a corpse. In other words, it was created on the basis of possession of technical methods. Salieri did not understand that a true work of art cannot be constructed purely technically, it is always the fruit of inspiration bestowed from above. He became a follower of Gluck and through hard work, finally achieved recognition and fame, therefore he considers the service of art to be his feat and treats the uninitiated with contempt, rises above them, considering them artisans.
Why in the soul of Salieri, as he himself says about it, an irreconcilable envy of Mozart is born? Salieri realized that Mozart was endowed with God's gift, and could not accept that this gift was given to an ordinary person, an "idle reveler", and not to him, a tireless worker. He is jealous of his friend's genius. Some researchers believe that his words, comparing an envious person with a snake, reflect an understanding of envy as a demonic obsession, for the snake is one of the hypostases of Satan. This is how Salieri's irreconcilable conflicts with the world order and with Mozart are connected. Salieri takes it upon himself to correct, as it seems to him, the injustice of the sky.
/ dramatization of an excerpt from the tragedy by A. S. Pushkin “Mozart and Salieri”. Final chapter/
He realizes that Mozart's music is immortal and, trying to find a justification for his atrocity, more and more reveals the evil essence as a person and the mediocrity of the composer. He speaks to his "deaf" glory, that he belongs to the "children of the dust." For many years he carries poison, which was a “gift of love”, and sends it to the “cup of friendship”.
Salieri, having poisoned Mozart, listens to his game and cries. But it is not the harmony of music, as Mozart thinks, that touches the killer: now there will be no friend and he will feel like a genius. The villainy has happened, but there is no peace in Salieri's soul:
you will fall asleep
For a long time, Mozart! But is he right?
And I'm not a genius? Genius and villainy
Two things are incompatible.
“Eternal rest I will give them” - these words begin an ancient prayer. The first word "peace" - and there is a translation from Latin - a requiem. Requiem is a mournful piece of music for mixed choir, soloists and orchestra, performed in the church in memory of the deceased.
Mozart and Salieri is Pushkin's only drama where music takes up most of the stage time. In none of his dramas did Pushkin use music on its own, without words. In “Mozart and Salieri” he inserted three works. The music, as it were, anticipates the development of the action already in the first scene, revealing to the reader the depths of Mozart's soul.
/ The overture of the first scene of the opera sounds /
Almost half a century after Pushkin's tragedy, the opera of the same name by the Russian composer N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov was created. Vrubel, with the participation of Fedor Ivanovich Chaliapin, our fellow countryman, the greatest baritone in the world, whose 140th anniversary is celebrated in Kazan with the international Chaliapin Festival. What was the composer talking about when he made Pushkin and his heroes his interlocutors?
One of the key ideas of the opera is the glorification of the beauty of art, the radiant names of Mozart and Pushkin. The composer was also close to the high ethical meaning of Pushkin's tragedy.
Rimsky-Korsakov began work on the opera when he was at the height of his skill and fame, and this guaranteed success in such a bold project as Mozart and Salieri. The composer allowed himself to interpret Pushkin's text differently. In the opera, Salieri's lines do not sound excited, but calm and thoughtful.
The “plastic” vocal style found by him in novels was used by Rimsky-Korsakov in Pushkin's Mozart and Salieri. This style seemed to allow the characters to reflect on themselves and their lives.
Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin was the first performer of the part of Salieri. It was the performance of the part by Chaliapin that brought success to the opera, and Fyodor Ivanovich himself a triumphant ascent to the stage of the Russian opera stage.
/a fragment of the opera sounds/
Salieri's monologue is the intonation of reflection. This is the image on which the dramatic interest rests, both in tragedy and in opera. Creating a musical characterization of Salieri, Rimsky-Korsakov approaches the comprehension of Antonio Salieri's prototype, rather than Pushkin's brilliant literary mysticism.
The composer was already 50, in the spring of 1894, when he wrote a one-act opera, but in his soul spring blossomed - festive, exultant.
/ Sounds “Spring” Mozart /
The skill of the mature composer helped not only to correctly perform, but also to correctly hear the text of the opera, the music of which provides more food for thought than feeling in search of an answer to the "eternal questions" of Pushkin's tragedy.
/Fragments of the original opera/
Mozart's music, irrational and divinely inspired, overturns the dry and soulless logic of Salieri. His ideology of service to art turns out to be powerless in the face of Mozart's accidentally dropped remark: "Genius and villainy are two incompatible things."
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a radiant musical genius. His work was honored with such unconditional, unconditional love, and life served as an object of such close attention and study, interest in his life, short and brilliant, does not weaken in our time.
“The ageless Mozart sounds” is a line from a poem by the poet Viktor Bokov, and it begins with the words “happiness”
10 student:
Happiness!
Sounds like an ageless Mozart!
I am inexpressibly favored by music
Heart in a fit of high emotions
Everyone wants goodness and harmony.
/ sounds Fantasy in D minor. Mozart/
In conclusion of the lesson, I want to wish that our hearts do not get tired of giving people goodness and harmony, and let the ageless music of the great Mozart help in this, because. Mozart is the sun! This is an eternally young spring, bringing to mankind the joy of spring renewal.
IV. Lesson summary
The answer to the problematic question (individually). Mozart was convinced of this eternal, enduring truth, he is a genius. Salieri, who committed the murder, is a villain. This is how the ideological meaning of the tragedy of A.S. Pushkin.
V. Homework
The answer to the question: "What life lessons gives us the study of the classics?” (on the example of A.S. Pushkin’s tragedy “Mozart and Salieri”). Reflect in a mini-essay.
