The meaning of the word overture in the dictionary of musical terms. Music genres

Already with L. Beethoven, the overture develops as an independent genre of instrumental program music, preceding the symphonic poem. Beethoven's overtures, especially the overture to J.W. Goethe's drama "Egmont" (1810), are complete, extremely saturated musical dramas, with intensity and activity of thought not inferior to his symphonies.

Overture by L. Beethoven "Egmond"

Carl Maria von Weber wrote two concert overtures: "The Lord of the Spirits" (Der Beherrscher der Geister, 1811, a reworking of his overture to the unfinished opera "Rübetzal") and "Jubilee Overture" (1818).
However, as a rule, the first concert overture is considered to be "Dream in midsummer night" (1826) Felix Mendelssohn, his other works in this genre are "Sea Silence and happy journey" (Meeresstille und gluckliche Fahrt, 1828), "The Hebrides, or Fingal's Cave" (1830), "Beautiful Melusina" (1834) and "Ruy Blas" (1839).
Other notable early concert overtures are Privy Judges (1826) and Le Corsaire (1828) by Hector Berlioz; Robert Schumann created his overtures based on the works of Shakespeare, Schiller and Goethe - "The Bride of Messina", "Julius Caesar" and "Hermann and Dorothea"; overtures by Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka "Hunting of Aragon" (1845) and "Night in Madrid" (1848), which were the creative result of a trip to Spain and written in Spanish folk themes.

In the second half of the 19th century, concert overtures began to be replaced by symphonic poems, the form of which was developed by Franz Liszt. The difference between the two genres was the freedom to form musical form depending on external software requirements. The symphonic poem has become the preferred form for more "progressive" composers such as Richard Strauss, Cesar Franck, Alexander Scriabin and Arnold Schoenberg, while more conservative composers such as A. Rubinstein, P. I. Tchaikovsky, M. A. Balakirev , I. Brahms remained faithful to the overture. At a time when the symphonic poem had already become popular, Balakirev wrote "Overture on the themes of three Russian songs" (1858), Brahms created the "Academic Festival" and "Tragic" overtures (1880), Tchaikovsky's fantasy-overture "Romeo and Juliet" (1869 ) and the solemn overture "1812" (1882).

In the 20th century, the overture became one of the names of one-movement, medium-length orchestral works, without a definite form (more precisely, not in sonata form), often written for holiday events. Notable works in this genre in the 20th century are "Welcome Overture" (1958) by A. I. Khachaturian, "Festive Overture" (1954) by D. I. Shostakovich, which continues the traditional form of the overture and consists of two interrelated parts.

"Festive Overture" by D.I. Shostakovich

That the easiest way to start an opera is not to write any serious overture to it, and as a result we are unlikely to find a musical performance that does not begin with a large or small orchestral introduction. And if a short introduction is what it is customary to call - Introduction, then a detailed prelude to opera performance called Overture...

Alexander Maykapar

Music genres: Overture

We ended the first article of our series “Musical Genres”, dedicated to opera, with the words of the wit Gioacchino Rossini that the easiest way to start an opera is not to write any overture to it. Few composers have taken this advice seriously, and as a result, we are unlikely to find a musical performance that does not begin with a larger or smaller orchestral introduction. And if a short introduction is called the Introduction, then the extended prelude to an opera performance is called the Overture.

With the word (as well as with the concept itself), the overture is inextricably linked with the idea of ​​an introduction to something. And this is understandable, because the word is borrowed from French, which, in turn, came from Latin: aperture means opening, beginning. Subsequently - and we will also talk about this - composers began to write independent orchestral pieces, in the program of which a certain dramaturgy and even stage action were conceived (P. Tchaikovsky's overture-fantasy "Romeo and Juliet", "Festive Overture" by D. Shostakovich). We will begin our discussion of the overture with the overture to the opera; it was in this capacity that the overture established itself at its first appearance.

History of appearance

The history of the overture goes back to initial stages development of opera. And this takes us to Italy at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries. and France in the 17th century. It is generally accepted that the first overture is the introduction to the opera by the Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi "Orpheus" (more precisely, "The Tale of Orpheus"). The opera was staged in Mantua at the court of Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga. It begins with a prologue, and the prologue itself begins with an opening fanfare. This introduction - the ancestor of the overture genre - is not yet an overture in itself. modern understanding, that is, not an introduction to the musical world of the entire opera. This is, in essence, a salutatory cry in honor of the duke (a tribute to the ritual), who, as can be assumed, was present at the premiere held on February 24, 1607. The musical fragment is not called an overture in the opera (the term did not exist then).

Some historians wonder why this music is called Toccata. Indeed, at first glance, it is strange, because we are used to the fact that the toccata is a clavier piece of a virtuoso warehouse. The fact is that it was probably important for Monteverdi to distinguish music that is played on instruments, that is, by means of fingers touching strings or wind instruments, as in this case (Italian toccare - touch, hit, touch) from that which is sung (Italian cantare - to sing).

So, the idea of ​​an introduction to the stage musical performance was born. Now this introduction was destined to turn into a true overture. In the 17th and, perhaps, even to a greater extent in the 18th century, in the era of the codification of many, if not all, artistic concepts and principles, the overture genre also received aesthetic comprehension and constructive design. Now it was a well-defined section of the opera, which should be built according to the strict laws of musical form. It was a "symphony" (but not to be confused with more late genre classical symphony, which we are talking about ahead), which consisted of three sections contrasting in character and tempo: fast - slow - fast. In the extreme sections, a polyphonic writing technique could be used, but at the same time the final section had a dance character. The middle part is always a lyrical episode.

More for a long time it never occurred to composers to introduce into the overture musical themes and images of the opera. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the operas of that time consisted of closed numbers (arias, recitatives, ensembles) and did not yet have bright musical characteristics of the characters. It would be unjustified to use the melody of one or two arias in the overture, when there could be up to two dozen of them in the opera.

Later, when at first timidly arose, and then turned into a fundamental principle (as, for example, with Wagner), the idea of ​​leitmotifs, that is, certain musical characteristics of characters, the idea naturally arose to announce these musical themes (melodies or harmonic constructions) as if to announce in an overture. At this point, the introduction to the opera became a true overture.

Since any opera is a dramatic action, the struggle of characters and, above all, male and feminine, it is natural that the musical characteristics of these two principles constitute the dramatic spring and musical intrigue of the overture. For a composer, the temptation may be the desire to fit into the overture all the bright melodic images of the opera. And here talent, taste and, last but not least, common sense set limits so that the overture does not turn into a simple potpourri of opera melodies.

Great operas have great overtures. It's hard to resist not to give short review even the most famous ones.

Western composers

W. A. ​​Mozart. Don Juan

The overture begins with solemn and formidable music. One caveat must be made here. The reader remembers what was said about the first overture - Monteverdi to his "Orpheus": there fanfares called the listener to attention. Here, the first two chords formally seem to play the same role (by the way, A. Ulybyshev, a passionate admirer of Mozart, the author of the first detailed study of his work, thought so). But this interpretation is fundamentally wrong. In Mozart's overture, the opening chords are the same music that accompanies the fateful appearance of the Stone Guest in the last scene of the opera.

Thus, the entire first section of the overture is a picture of the denouement of the opera in a kind of poetic foresight. In essence, this is a brilliant artistic find by Mozart, which later, also with the light hand of Weber (in the overture to his Oberon), became the artistic property of many other composers. These thirty measures of the introduction to the overture are written in D minor. For Mozart, this is a tragic tone. Supernatural powers are at work here. It's just two chords. But what amazing energy lies in the significant pauses and in the unparalleled syncopation effect that follows each chord! “It seems as if the distorted face of Medusa is staring at us,” notes G. Abert, the greatest connoisseur of Mozart. But these chords pass, the overture breaks out in a sunny major and now it sounds extraordinarily lively, as the overture to dramma giocoso (Italian - a cheerful drama, as Mozart called his opera) should sound. This overture is not only a brilliant piece of music, it is a brilliant dramatic creation!

K. M. von Weber. Oberon

Regular visitors symphony concerts are so familiar with the Oberon overture as an independent work that they rarely think that it is constructed from themes that play an important role in the opera itself.

Scene from the opera "Oberon" by K.M. Weber. Munich Opera (1835)

However, if you look at the overture in the context of the opera, you will find that each of its unusually familiar themes is associated with one or another dramatic role of this tale. So, the introductory soft call of the horn is a melody that the hero himself performs on his magic horn. The rapidly descending chords on woodwinds are used in opera to create a background or atmosphere. fairy kingdom; the agitated violins rising upwards, opening the fast section of the overture, are used to accompany the flight of the lovers to the ship (we, unfortunately, cannot present the entire plot of the opera in detail here). The marvelous, prayer-like melody, first performed by the solo clarinet and then by the strings, really turns into a hero's prayer, while the triumphal theme, performed calmly at first and then in a joyful fortissimo, reappears as the culmination of the soprano's grandiose aria - "Ocean you are a mighty monster."

So Weber in the overture surveys the main musical images operas.

L. van Beethoven. Fidelio

Shortly before his death, Beethoven donated the score of his only opera close friend and biographer Anton Schindler. “Of all my offspring,” the dying composer once said, “this work cost me the most pain at its birth, later brought me the greatest grief, and therefore it is dearer to me than all others.” Here we can safely say that few of the opera composers boasts of writing music as expressive as the overture to Fidelio, known as Leonora No. 3.

Naturally, the question arises: why "No. 3"?

Scene from the opera "Fidelio" by L. Beethoven. Austrian Theater (1957)

Opera directors have a choice of four (!) overtures. The first - it was composed before the rest and performed at the premiere of the opera in 1805 - is currently known as Leonore No. 2. Another overture was composed for the production of the opera in March 1806. It was this overture that was somewhat simplified for the planned but never realized production of the opera in Prague in the same year. The manuscript of this version of the overture was lost and found in 1832, and when it was discovered, it was suggested that this version was the first. This overture has thus been misnamed "Leonore No. 1".

The third overture, written for the performance of the opera in 1814, is called the Fidelio Overture. It is she who in our days is usually performed before the first act and, more than all the others, corresponds to it. And finally, Leonora No. 3. It is often performed between two scenes in the second act. To many critics, the anticipation in it of the musical and dramatic effects that are present in the scene following it seems to be an artistic miscalculation of the composer. But in itself this overture is so strong, so dramatic, so effective thanks to the calling of the trumpet behind the scenes (repeated, of course, in the opera) that it does not need any stage performances to convey the musical message of the opera. That is why this greatest orchestral poem - "Leonore No. 3" - must be preserved exclusively for the concert hall.

F. Mendelssohn. A dream in a summer night

It is difficult to resist not to give the reasoning of another brilliant composer- - about this overture, which precedes the famous "Wedding March" among other numbers of the cycle.

“The overture, with its originality, symmetry and euphony in the organic fusion of heterogeneous elements, freshness and grace, is decidedly on the same level as the play. The wind chords at the beginning and at the end are like eyelids that quietly close over the eyes of a sleeper and then quietly open when waking up, and between this lowering and raising of the eyelids is a whole world of dreams, in which elements, passionate, fantastic and comic, masterfully expressed each separately, meet and intertwine with each other in the most skillful contrasts and in the most elegant combination of lines. Mendelssohn's talent is most happily related to the cheerful, playful, charming and enchanting atmosphere of this luxurious Shakespearean creation.

Comments of the translator of the article, the outstanding Russian composer and musician A. Serov: “What would seem to be required from music in relation to picturesqueness, such as, for example, the overture to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, where, in addition to the general magically capricious atmosphere, everything is so vividly drawn the main points of the plot?<…>Meanwhile, do not be over this overture of its title, do not make Mendelssohn's signature under each of constituent parts this music, which he used during the drama itself, in its various places, if it weren’t for all this, and hardly any of the millions of people who listened to this overture so often could guess what it was about, what exactly he wanted to express author. Without Liszt's article, it would not have occurred to many that the quiet chords of wind instruments with which the overture begins and ends express the closing of the eyelids. Meanwhile, it is now impossible to argue about the correctness of such an interpretation.

Russian composers

M. I. Glinka. Ruslan and Ludmila

The idea of ​​the work - the triumph of the bright forces of life - is already revealed in the overture, in which the jubilant music of the opera's finale is used. This music is imbued with the expectation of a holiday, a feast, a feeling of the eve of a celebration. In the middle section of the overture, mysterious, fantastic sounds arise. The material of this brilliant overture came to M. I. Glinka's head when one night he was riding in a carriage from the village of Novospasskoye to St. Petersburg.

I. Bilibin. Set design for M. Glinka's opera "Ruslan and Lyudmila" (1913)

N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov. The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Virgin Fevronia

Introduction to the opera - symphonic picture. It is called "Praise to the Desert" (meaning the desert - this is how the ancient Slavs called a secluded place not inhabited by people). The music begins with a quiet chord in a deep lower register: from the bowels of the earth they rush into clear sky gentle sounds of a harp, as if the wind carries them up. The harmony of soft-sounding strings conveys the rustle of the leaves of centuries-old trees. The oboe sings, a bright melody sways over the forest - the theme of the maiden Fevronia, the birds whistle, trill, the cuckoo screams ... The forest came to life. His harmony became majestic, immense.

There is a beautiful jubilant chant of the hymn - the praise of the desert. It rises to the sun itself, and it seems that you can hear how all living things echo it, merging with the sound of the forest. (The history of music knows several amazing incarnations in music of the noise of the forest and the rustle of leaves, for example, in addition to this overture, the 2nd scene from the II act of R. Wagner's opera "Siegfried"; this episode is well known to fans symphonic music, since it is often performed as an independent concert number and in this case is called "Rustle of the Forest".)

P. I. Tchaikovsky. Solemn Overture "1812"

The premiere of the overture took place in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior on August 20, 1882. The score was published in the same year by P. Jurgenson, who gave the order for it to Tchaikovsky (in fact, he was the composer's attorney in all his publishing affairs).

Although Tchaikovsky spoke coolly about the order, the work captivated him, and the work that was born testifies to the composer's creative inspiration and his great skill: the work is filled with deep feeling. We know that patriotic themes were close to the composer and excited him vividly.

Tchaikovsky very ingeniously built the dramaturgy of the overture. It begins with the dark sounds of the orchestra, imitating the sound of a Russian church choir. It is like a reminder of the declaration of war, which was carried out in Russia during the church service. Then immediately sounds festive singing about the victory of Russian weapons.

This is followed by a melody representing the marching armies, played by trumpets. The French anthem "La Marseillaise" reflects the victories of France and the capture of Moscow in September 1812. The Russian army is symbolized in the overture by the Russians folk songs, in particular, a motif from the duet of Vlasyevna and Olena from the opera "Voevoda" and the Russian folk song "At the gates, gates of the fathers." The flight of the French from Moscow at the end of October 1812 is indicated by a descending motif. The thunder of the cannons reflects the military successes in approaching the borders of France.

At the end of the episode depicting the war, the sounds of the choir return, this time performed by the whole orchestra against the background of the bell ringing in honor of the victory and liberation of Russia from the French. Behind the cannons and the sounds of the march, according to the author's score, the melody of the Russian national anthem "God Save the Tsar" should sound. The Russian anthem is opposed to the French anthem that sounded earlier.

It is worth paying attention to this fact: in the overture (in the author's recording) the anthems of France and Russia are used, as they were installed in 1882, and not in 1812. From 1799 to 1815 there was no anthem in France, and "La Marseillaise" was not restored as an anthem until 1870. "God Save the Tsar" was written and approved as the anthem of Russia in 1833, that is, many years after war.

Contrary to the opinion of Tchaikovsky, who believed that the overture “does not seem to contain any serious merits” (letter to E.F. Napravnik), its success increased every year. Even during the life of Tchaikovsky, it was performed repeatedly in Moscow, Smolensk, Pavlovsk, Tiflis, Odessa, Kharkov, including under the direction of the composer himself. She had great success abroad: in Prague, Berlin, Brussels. Under the influence of success, Tchaikovsky changed his attitude towards her and began to include her in his author's concerts, and sometimes, at the request of the public, performed an encore.

Our choice of outstanding works in the overture genre is by no means the only one possible, and only the scope of the article limits it. It so happens that the end of one essay naturally leads us to the topic of the next. So it was with the opera, the discussion of which led us to the story of the overture. This is what happens this time too: the classical type of the Italian overture of the 18th century turned out to be the initial form, the further development of which led to the birth of the symphony genre. About her will be our next story.

According to the materials of the magazine "Art" No. 06/2009

On the poster: Overture to the opera "The Enchantress", photo by unknown

In some countries, it persisted until the end of the 18th century: even W. A. ​​Mozart in 1791 called the overture to his The Magic Flute "symphony".

History of the opera overture

The first overture is considered to be the toccata in the opera Orpheus by Claudio Monteverdi, written in 1607. The fanfare music of this toccata transferred to the opera the long-established drama theater the tradition of beginning the performance with an inviting fanfare.

In the 17th century, two types of opera overtures developed in Western European music. The Venetian consisted of two parts - slow, solemn and fast, fugue; this type of overture was subsequently developed during French opera, her classic patterns, and already three-part ones (the extreme parts in slow motion, the middle part in fast motion), were created by J.-B. Lully. In the first half of the 18th century, "French" overtures were also found in the works of German composers- J. S. Bach, G. F. Handel, G. F. Telemann, not only in operas, cantatas and oratorios, but also in instrumental suites; in this case, the entire suite cycle was sometimes called the overture.

The functions of the opera overture were already controversial in the first half of the 18th century; not everyone was satisfied with its predominantly entertaining character (the overture was usually performed at a time when the audience was just filling the auditorium). The requirement for an ideological and musical-figurative connection between the overture and the opera itself, put forward by authoritative theorists I. Mattheson, I. A. Scheibe and F. Algarotti, to some composers, including G. F. Handel and J. F. Rameau, in one or another succeeded in some other way. But the real turning point came in the second half of the century.

Gluck reform

In Gluck's reformist operas, the cyclic (three-part) form gave way to a one-part overture, designed to convey the nature of the main conflict of the drama and its dominant tone; sometimes the overture was preceded by a short, slow introduction. This form was also adopted by Gluck's followers - Antonio Salieri and Luigi Cherubini. Already at the end of the 18th century, the musical themes of the opera itself were sometimes used in the overture, as, for example, in Gluck's Iphigenia in Aulis, The Abduction from the Seraglio and Don Giovanni by W. A. ​​Mozart; but this principle became widespread only in the 19th century.

A student of Salieri and a follower of Gluck, L. van Beethoven strengthened the thematic connection of the overture with the music of the opera in his Fidelio, such are his Leonora No. 2 and Leonora No. 3; he followed the same principle of program, in fact, overture in music for theatrical performances(overtures "Coriolanus" and "Egmont").

Opera overture in the 19th century

Beethoven's experience was further developed in the work of the German romantics, who not only saturated the overture with the thematic of the opera, but also selected the most important musical images for it, from R. Wagner and his followers, including N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, - keynotes. Sometimes composers sought to bring the symphonic development of the overture in line with the deployment of the opera plot, and then it turned into a relatively independent “instrumental drama”, like overtures to The Free Gunner by K. M. Weber, The Flying Dutchman or Tannhäuser by R. Wagner .

Wherein Italian composers, as a rule, they preferred the old type of overture, sometimes to such an extent not connected with either musical themes or plot, that G. Rossini could use an overture composed for another in one of his operas, as was the case, for example, with The Barber of Seville » . Although there were exceptions here too, such as the overtures to the operas William Tell by Rossini or The Force of Destiny by G. Verdi, with an exemplary Wagnerian leitmotif.

But already in the second half of the century, in the overture, the idea of ​​a symphonic retelling of the content of the opera was gradually supplanted by the desire to prepare the listener for its perception; even R. Wagner eventually abandoned the extended program overture. It was replaced by a more concise and no longer based on sonata principles introduction, associated, for example, in Lohengrin by R. Wagner or Eugene Onegin by P. I. Tchaikovsky, with the image of only one of the characters in the opera and seasoned, respectively , in one character . Such introductory parts, which are also common in G. Verdi's operas, were already called not overtures, but introductions, introductions or preludes. A similar phenomenon was observed in both ballet and operetta.

If in late XIX century since new form introductions still competed with overtures sustained in sonata form, then in the 20th century the latter were already extremely rare.

concert overture

Opera overtures, which at that time were even more often called "symphonies", at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries were often performed outside the musical theater, in concerts, which contributed to their transformation, already in the first third of the 18th century (around 1730), into an independent form orchestral music- a symphony in the modern sense.

The overture as a genre of symphonic music became widespread in the era of romanticism and owed its appearance to the evolution of the opera overture - the tendency to saturate the instrumental introduction with the thematic of the opera, turning it into a program symphonic work.

A concert overture is always a program composition. Even at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, overtures of an applied nature appeared - “holiday”, “solemn”, “anniversary” and “welcome”, dedicated to a specific celebration. In Russia, overtures by Dmitry Bortnyansky, Evstigney Fomin, Vasily Pashkevich, Osip Kozlovsky became the most important source of symphonic music.

In overtures of an applied nature, the simplest - generalized, extra-plot - type of program, expressed in the title, was used. He also met in many compositions that did not imply an applied function - for example, in the overtures of Felix Mendelssohn "The Hebrides" and "Sea Quiet and Happy Swimming", in the Tragic Overture by Johannes Brahms, In the era of romanticism, symphonic works, including overtures, with a generalized-plot and sequential-plot (characterized by greater plot concretization) type of program. Such, for example, are the overtures of Hector Berlioz (“Waverley”, “King Lear”, “Rob Roy” and others), “Manfred” by Robert Schumann, “1812” by P. I. Tchaikovsky. Berlioz included a choir in his The Tempest, but here, as in Tchaikovsky's fantasy overtures Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, the concert overture was already developing into another genre beloved by romantics - a symphonic poem.

In the 20th century, concert overtures were composed much less frequently; one of the most famous is Dmitri Shostakovich's Festive Overture.

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Notes

1. , With. 674.
2. , With. 347-348.
3. , With. 22.
4. Abbert G. W. A. ​​Mozart. Part two, book two / Per. with him., comment. K. K. Sakva. - M .: Music, 1990. - S. 228-229. - 560 p. - ISBN 5-7140-0215-6.
5. 111 symphonies. - St. Petersburg: Kult-inform-press, 2000. - S. 18-20. - 669 p. - ISBN 5-8392-0174-X.
6. , With. 343, 359.
7. , With. 213-214.
8. , With. 675.
9. , With. 112.
10. , With. 675-676.
11. Konigsberg A. K., Mikheeva L. V. 111 symphonies. - St. Petersburg: Kult-inform-press, 2000. - S. 11. - 669 p. - ISBN 5-8392-0174-X.
12. , With. 444-445.
13. Soklov O. V. . - Nizhny Novgorod, 1994. - S. 17.
14. , With. 676.

Literature

• Krauklis G.V. Overture // Musical encyclopedia / ed. Yu. V. Keldysh. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1981. - V. 5.
• Konen V.D. Theater and symphony. - M .: Music, 1975. - 376 p.
• Khokhlov Yu. N. Program music // Musical encyclopedia / ed. Yu. V. Keldysh. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1978. - T. 4. - pp. 442-447.
• Steinpress B.S. Symphony // Musical encyclopedia / ed. Yu. V. Keldysh. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1981. - V. 5. - S. 21-26.

An excerpt characterizing the Overture

- Mon prince, je parle de l "empereur Napoleon, [Prince, I'm talking about Emperor Napoleon,] - he answered. The general patted him on the shoulder with a smile.
“You will go far,” he said to him, and took him with him.
Boris was among the few on the Neman on the day of the meeting of the emperors; he saw rafts with monograms, Napoleon's passage along the other bank, past the French guards, he saw the pensive face of Emperor Alexander, while he silently sat in a tavern on the banks of the Neman, waiting for Napoleon's arrival; I saw how both emperors got into the boats and how Napoleon, having first landed on the raft, went forward with quick steps and, meeting Alexander, gave him his hand, and how both disappeared into the pavilion. From the time of his entry into the higher worlds, Boris made it a habit to carefully observe what was happening around him and write it down. During a meeting in Tilsit, he asked about the names of those people who came with Napoleon, about the uniforms that they were wearing, and listened carefully to the words that were spoken by important people. At the same time as the emperors entered the pavilion, he looked at his watch and did not forget to look again at the time when Alexander left the pavilion. The meeting lasted an hour and fifty-three minutes: he wrote it down that evening, among other facts that, he believed, had historical meaning. Since the emperor’s retinue was very small, it was very important for a person who valued success in his service to be in Tilsit during the meeting of the emperors, and Boris, having got to Tilsit, felt that from that time on his position was completely established. He was not only known, but they got accustomed to him and got used to him. Twice he carried out assignments for the sovereign himself, so that the sovereign knew him by sight, and all those close to him not only did not be ashamed of him, as before, considering him a new face, but would be surprised if he were not there.
Boris lived with another adjutant, the Polish Count Zhilinsky. Zhilinsky, a Pole brought up in Paris, was rich, passionately loved the French, and almost every day during his stay in Tilsit, French officers from the guards and the main French headquarters gathered for lunch and breakfast at Zhilinsky and Boris.
On June 24, in the evening, Count Zhilinsky, Boris' roommate, arranged a dinner for his French acquaintances. At this supper there was an honored guest, one adjutant of Napoleon, several officers of the French guards and a young boy of an old aristocratic French family, Napoleon's page. On that very day, Rostov, taking advantage of the darkness so as not to be recognized, in civilian clothes, arrived in Tilsit and entered the apartment of Zhilinsky and Boris.
In Rostov, as well as in the whole army, from which he came, the revolution that took place in the main apartment and in Boris was still far from being accomplished in relation to Napoleon and the French, who had become friends from enemies. Still continued in the army to experience the same mixed feeling of anger, contempt and fear for Bonaparte and the French. Until recently, Rostov, talking with a Platovsky Cossack officer, argued that if Napoleon had been taken prisoner, he would have been treated not as a sovereign, but as a criminal. More recently, on the road, having met with a French wounded colonel, Rostov got excited, proving to him that there could be no peace between the legitimate sovereign and the criminal Bonaparte. Therefore, Rostov was strangely struck in Boris's apartment by the sight of French officers in those same uniforms that he was accustomed to look at in a completely different way from the flanker chain. As soon as he saw the French officer leaning out of the door, that feeling of war, hostility, which he always felt at the sight of the enemy, suddenly seized him. He stopped on the threshold and asked in Russian if Drubetskoy lived there. Boris, hearing someone else's voice in the hallway, went out to meet him. His face in the first minute, when he recognized Rostov, expressed annoyance.
“Oh, it’s you, very glad, very glad to see you,” he said, however, smiling and moving towards him. But Rostov noticed his first movement.
“I don’t seem to be on time,” he said, “I wouldn’t come, but I have a business,” he said coldly ...
- No, I'm just surprised how you came from the regiment. - "Dans un moment je suis a vous", [I'm at your service this minute,] - he turned to the voice of the one who called him.
“I see that I am not on time,” repeated Rostov.
The expression of annoyance had already disappeared from Boris's face; apparently having considered and decided what to do, he took him by both hands with special calmness and led him into the next room. Boris's eyes, calmly and firmly looking at Rostov, were as if covered with something, as if some kind of shutter - the blue glasses of the hostel - were put on them. So it seemed to Rostov.
- Oh, come on, please, can you be at the wrong time, - said Boris. - Boris led him into the room where dinner was laid, introduced him to the guests, naming him and explaining that he was not a civilian, but a hussar officer, his old friend. - Count Zhilinsky, le comte N.N., le capitaine S.S., [count N.N., captain S.S.] - he called the guests. Rostov frowned at the French, reluctantly bowed and was silent.
Zhilinsky, apparently, did not happily accept this new Russian face to his circle and said nothing to Rostov. Boris did not seem to notice the embarrassment that had occurred from the new face, and with the same pleasant calmness and veiled eyes with which he met Rostov, he tried to revive the conversation. One of the French turned with ordinary French courtesy to Rostov, who was stubbornly silent, and told him that it was probably to see the emperor that he had come to Tilsit.
"No, I have business," Rostov answered curtly.
Rostov became out of sorts immediately after he noticed the displeasure on Boris's face, and, as always happens with people who are out of sorts, it seemed to him that everyone was looking at him with hostility and that he interfered with everyone. Indeed, he interfered with everyone and alone remained outside the newly ensued general conversation. "And why is he sitting here?" said the glances cast at him by the guests. He got up and walked over to Boris.
“However, I’m embarrassing you,” he said to him quietly, “let’s go and talk about business, and I’ll leave.”
“No, not at all,” said Boris. And if you're tired, let's go to my room and lie down and rest.
- And in fact ...
They entered the small room where Boris slept. Rostov, without sitting down, immediately with irritation - as if Boris was to blame for something before him - began to tell him Denisov's case, asking if he wanted and could ask about Denisov through his general from the sovereign and through him to convey a letter. When they were alone, Rostov was convinced for the first time that it was embarrassing for him to look Boris in the eyes. Boris, crossing his legs and stroking the thin fingers of his right hand with his left hand, listened to Rostov, as the general listens to the report of his subordinate, now looking to the side, then with the same obscured look in his eyes, looking directly into Rostov's eyes. Rostov felt awkward every time and lowered his eyes.
– I have heard about such cases and I know that the Emperor is very strict in these cases. I think we should not bring it to His Majesty. In my opinion, it would be better to directly ask the corps commander ... But in general, I think ...
“So you don’t want to do anything, just say so!” - Rostov almost shouted, not looking Boris in the eyes.
Boris smiled: - On the contrary, I will do what I can, only I thought ...
At this time, the voice of Zhilinsky was heard in the door, calling Boris.
- Well, go, go, go ... - said Rostov and refusing dinner, and left alone in a small room, he walked back and forth in it for a long time, and listened to a cheerful French dialect from the next room.

Rostov arrived in Tilsit on the day least convenient for intercession for Denisov. He himself could not go to the general on duty, since he was in a tailcoat and arrived in Tilsit without the permission of his superiors, and Boris, even if he wanted to, could not do this the next day after Rostov's arrival. On this day, June 27, the first terms of peace were signed. The emperors exchanged orders: Alexander received the Legion of Honor, and Napoleon received the 1st degree, and on this day a dinner was appointed for the Preobrazhensky battalion, which was given to him by the battalion of the French guard. The sovereigns were to attend this banquet.
Rostov was so awkward and unpleasant with Boris that when Boris looked in after dinner, he pretended to be asleep and the next day, early in the morning, trying not to see him, left the house. In a tailcoat and a round hat, Nikolai wandered around the city, looking at the French and their uniforms, looking at the streets and houses where the Russian and French emperors lived. On the square, he saw tables being set up and preparations for dinner; on the streets he saw draperies thrown over with banners of Russian and French colors and huge monograms A. and N. There were also banners and monograms in the windows of the houses.
“Boris does not want to help me, and I do not want to contact him. This matter is settled, thought Nikolai, everything is over between us, but I will not leave here without doing everything I can for Denisov and, most importantly, without handing over the letter to the sovereign. Sovereign?! ​​... He is here! thought Rostov, involuntarily going back to the house occupied by Alexander.
Riding horses stood at this house and a retinue gathered, apparently preparing for the departure of the sovereign.
“I can see him at any moment,” thought Rostov. If only I could hand him the letter directly and tell him everything, would I really be arrested for wearing a tailcoat? Can't be! He would understand which side justice is on. He understands everything, knows everything. Who can be more just and generous than him? Well, if I were arrested for being here, what's the trouble? he thought, looking at the officer going up to the house occupied by the sovereign. “After all, they are rising. - E! it's all nonsense. I’ll go and submit a letter to the sovereign myself: so much the worse for Drubetskoy, who brought me to this. And suddenly, with a decisiveness that he himself did not expect from himself, Rostov, feeling the letter in his pocket, went straight to the house occupied by the sovereign.
“No, now I won’t miss the opportunity, as after Austerlitz,” he thought, expecting every second to meet the sovereign and feeling a rush of blood to his heart at this thought. I will fall at my feet and beg him. He will raise, listen and thank me again.” “I am happy when I can do good, but correcting injustice is the greatest happiness,” Rostov imagined the words that the sovereign would say to him. And he walked past those who were looking at him curiously, on the porch of the house occupied by the sovereign.
From the porch a wide staircase led straight up; to the right was a closed door. Downstairs under the stairs was a door to the lower floor.
- Who do you want? someone asked.
“Submit a letter, a request to His Majesty,” said Nikolai with a trembling voice.
- Request - to the duty officer, please come here (he was pointed to the door below). They just won't accept it.
Hearing this indifferent voice, Rostov was frightened of what he was doing; the idea of ​​meeting the sovereign at any moment was so seductive and therefore so terrible for him that he was ready to run, but the chamber fourier, who met him, opened the door to the duty room for him and Rostov entered.
A short, stout man of about 30, in white pantaloons, over the knee boots, and in one batiste shirt, which had just been put on, was standing in this room; the valet was fastening beautiful new straps embroidered with silk on his back, which for some reason Rostov noticed. This man was talking to someone in the other room.
- Bien faite et la beaute du diable, [The beauty of youth is well built,] - this man said, and when he saw Rostov, he stopped talking and frowned.
– What do you want? Request?…
- Qu "est ce que c" est? [What is this?] someone asked from the other room.
- Encore un petitionnaire, [Another petitioner,] - answered the man in the harness.
Tell him what's next. It's out now, you have to go.

Overture(from fr. overture, introduction) in music - an instrumental (usually orchestral) piece performed before the start of any performance - a theatrical performance, opera, ballet, movie, etc., or a one-part orchestral piece, often belonging to program music.

The overture prepares the listener for the upcoming action.

The tradition of announcing the beginning of a performance with a short musical signal existed long before the term "overture" was entrenched in the work of first French, and then others. European composers 17th century Until the middle of the XVIII century. overtures were composed according to strictly defined rules: their sublime, generalized music usually had no connection with the subsequent action. However, gradually the requirements for the overture changed: it more and more obeyed the general artistic design of the work.

Having retained the function of a solemn “invitation to the spectacle” for the overture, composers, starting with K. V. Gluck and W. A. ​​Mozart, significantly expanded its content. By means of music alone, even before the theatrical curtain rises, it turned out to be possible to set the viewer in a certain way, to tell about upcoming events. It is no coincidence that the sonata became the traditional form of the overture: capacious and effective, it made it possible to present various acting forces in their confrontation. Such, for example, is the overture to the opera by K. M. Weber “The Free Gunner” - one of the first to contain an “introductory review of the content” of the entire work. All diverse themes - pastoral and gloomy-ominous, restless and full of jubilation - are associated either with the characteristics of one of actors, or with a certain stage situation and subsequently appear repeatedly throughout the opera. The overture to “Ruslan and Lyudmila” by M. I. Glinka was also solved: in a whirlwind, impetuous movement, as if, in the words of the composer himself, “at full sail”, dazzlingly cheerful main topic(in the opera it will become the theme of the choir glorifying the liberation of Lyudmila), and the sing-song melody of Ruslan and Lyudmila's love (it will sound in Ruslan's heroic aria), and the whimsical theme of the evil wizard Chernomor.

The more fully and perfectly the plot-philosophical collision of the composition is embodied in the overture, the faster it acquires the right to a separate existence on the concert stage. Therefore, L. Beethoven's overture is already developing as an independent genre of symphonic program music. Beethoven's overtures, especially the overture to J. W. Goethe's drama "Egmont", are complete, extremely saturated musical dramas, with intensity and activity of thought not inferior to his large symphonic canvases. In the 19th century the concert overture genre is firmly established in the practice of Western European (F. Mendelssohn's overture "A Midsummer Night's Dream" based on the comedy of the same name by W. Shakespeare) and Russian composers ("Spanish Overtures" by Glinka, "Overture on the Themes of Three Russian Songs" by M. A. Balakirev, overture-fantasy "Romeo and Juliet" by P. I. Tchaikovsky). At the same time, in the opera of the 2nd half of the 19th century. the overture is increasingly transformed into a short orchestral introduction that directly sets into action.

The meaning of such an introduction (also called an introduction or prelude) can be to proclaim the most significant idea - a symbol (the motive for the inevitability of tragedy in G. Verdi's Rigoletto) or to characterize the main character and at the same time create a special atmosphere that largely determines the figurative structure of the work ( introduction to "Eugene Onegin" by Tchaikovsky, "Lohengrin" by R. Wagner). Sometimes the introduction is both symbolic and pictorial in nature. Such is the symphonic picture Dawn on the Moscow River that opens the opera by M. P. Mussorgsky “Khovanshchina”.

In the XX century. composers successfully use various types of introductions, including the traditional overture (overture to the opera Cola Breugnon by D. B. Kabalevsky). In the genre of concert overture on folk themes, “Russian Overture” by S. S. Prokofiev, “Overture on Russian and Kyrgyz Folk Themes” by D. D. Shostakovich, “Overture” by O. V. Takt a-kishvili were written; for Russian orchestra folk instruments- "Russian Overture" by N. P. Budashkin and others.

Tchaikovsky Overture

The 1812 Overture is an orchestral work by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in memory of Patriotic War 1812.

The overture begins with the gloomy sounds of the Russian church choir, reminiscent of the declaration of war, which was carried out in Russia at church services. Then, immediately, a festive singing about the victory of Russian weapons in the war sounds. The declaration of war and the reaction of the people to it was described in Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace.

This is followed by a melody representing marching armies played with trumpets. The French anthem "La Marseillaise" reflects the victories of France and the capture of Moscow in September 1812. Russian sounds folk dance symbolize the Battle of Borodino. The flight from Moscow at the end of October 1812 is indicated by a descending motif. The thunder of the cannons reflects the military successes in approaching the borders of France. At the end of the war, the sounds of the choir return, this time performed by a whole orchestra with echoes of bell ringing in honor of the victory and liberation of Russia from French occupation. Behind the cannons and the sounds of the march, the melody of the Russian national anthem "God Save the Tsar" is heard. The Russian anthem is opposed to the French anthem that sounded earlier.

In the USSR, this work by Tchaikovsky was edited: the sounds of the anthem "God Save the Tsar" were replaced by the chorus "Glory!" from Glinka's opera Ivan Susanin.

The actual cannonade, as conceived by Tchaikovsky, is usually replaced by a bass drum. Sometimes, however, cannon fire is used. Recorded this version for the first time Symphony Orchestra Minneapolis in the 1950s Subsequently, similar recordings were made by other groups using advances in sound technology. Cannon fireworks are used in performances by the Boston Pops orchestra, dedicated to the Day independence of the United States, and held annually on July 4 on the banks of the Charles River. It is also used in the annual graduation parade of the Australian Defense Forces Academy in Canberra. Although this piece has nothing to do with US history (including the Anglo-American War, which also began in 1812), it is often performed in the US along with other patriotic music, especially on Independence Day.

Overture - an instrumental introduction, music that sounds, according to the composer's intention, before the curtain rises. During the existence opera genre received both a different semantic load and different names: in addition to the French term "overture", which was established in the 17th century, it could also be called, for example, introduction, prelude, symphony (sinfonia - consonance) and the introduction itself.

Henceforth, only operas with a single type of overture - the "Italian overture" - should be played in the court theater - such an order was issued in 1745 by Frederick II, King of Prussia. After all, this is not a duke from Zakharovsky's "Munchausen", but a great commander, albeit a great fan of playing the flute; 1745 is the year of the turning point in the War of the Austrian Succession, and between battles and negotiations, the king finds it necessary to make a directive about which overture is better.

So what is this - an overture, why is it? If opera is "an action initiated by singing," then what is it like for music to perform before this very action without singing?

Let's say right away: she is not so comfortable at this cutting edge, and disputes about what the correct overture should be, in what form it is necessary, statistically arose even more often than discussions about the essence of opera as such.

The authors of the very first operas had no doubt that a prologue was necessary before the beginning of the action - after all, they dreamed of reconstructing ancient theatricality, while Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides had prologues. But only those first operatic prologues are almost always precisely scenes with singing, and not independent instrumental numbers. The priority of word and narrative seemed obvious; conditional characters like Tragedy, Harmony or Music in an exquisite form announced to the public the plot of the upcoming action. And they reminded that it was from antiquity that this idea itself was adopted - recitar cantando, "to speak with singing."

Over time, this idea lost its acute novelty and ceased to need such a lofty apologetics, but the prologues did not disappear for decades. Often, in addition, the glorification of one or another monarch arose in them: with the exception of the Venetian Republic, the opera of the 17th century remained primarily court entertainment, closely associated with official festivities and ceremonies.

A full-fledged overture appears in the 1640s in France. The model of the so-called "French overture" introduced by Jean-Baptiste Lully is a steel formula: a slow and pompous first movement in a recognizable punctuated rhythm (a kind of jumping iambic), a fast second movement with a fugitive beginning. It, too, is connected in spirit with the strict order of the court of Louis XIV, but became unusually popular throughout Europe - even where French operatic music was generally met with hostility.

Over time, the Italians responded with their own formula: an overture in three parts, fast-slow-fast, less ceremonial, already without scientific undertakings like fugato - this is the very "Italian overture" that Frederick the Great demanded. The rivalry between these two overtures is actually very revealing. The French overture fell into disuse by the middle of the 18th century, but before that it had outgrown the operatic context: Lully's invention is easily recognized in the introductions of even Bach's orchestral suites, even Handel's Music for Royal Fireworks. The Italian overture (usually called sinfonia) lived longer in the opera context, but its completely different life is much more important - its transformation in the last third of the century from an opera overture into an independent work, from a sinfonia into a symphony.

And what about the opera? Meanwhile, the opera, represented by Gluck and his contemporaries, thought that it would be good for the overture to be thematically and emotionally, organically connected with the material of the drama itself; that one should not act as before - when, according to the same scheme, riveted introductions were written to operas of any content. And this is how one-movement overtures in sonata form appeared, this is how hitherto unseen quotations from thematic material the opera itself.

The departure from rigid schemes made the 19th century a century of famous overtures. Motley, ceremonial, presenting at once a bouquet of tenacious motifs - like "Force of Destiny" or "Carmen". Lyrical, delicate, economical in quoting - like "Eugene Onegin" or "La Traviata". Symphonically plentiful, complex, lingering - like Parsifal. But, on the other hand, the overture of the era of romanticism is crowded within the framework of a theatrical event - other overtures turn into important symphonic hits, the genre of the "concert overture", which is no longer connected with opera, is established. And then, in the 20th century, the opera overture insensitively turned into an anachronism: there are no overtures either in Salome by Richard Strauss, or in Berg's Wozzeck, or in Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, or in Prokofiev's War and Peace .

Being a kind of frame for the opera, functionally the overture embodies the idea of ​​order - that's why the king of Prussia was so attentive to it. Order, firstly, in the etiquette sense, but also in a more sublime sense too: it is a means to distinguish between the everyday human time and the timing of the musical performance. But just now it was just a crowd, a random collection of more or less smart people. Once - and all of them are already spectators and listeners. But this very moment of transition had time, in addition to any music, to acquire ritual prefaces - the fading light, the dignified exit of the conductor, and so on - which in the time of Frederick II were simply unthinkable.

For today's listener, it is not all these ritual or ideological considerations that are more important, but the performing side of the matter. Overture - business card conductor's interpretation of this or that opera: we have the opportunity precisely in these first minutes, before the singers have yet appeared on the stage, to try to understand how the conductor perceives the composer, era, aesthetics, what approaches to them he tries to find. This is enough to feel how huge changes have taken place and continue to take place in our perception of music. Even though Gluck's or Mozart's overtures are themselves of constant magnitude, the difference between how they sounded by Furtwängler in the early 1940s and those of modern conductors is impressive evidence that the existence of opera scores in the cultural and taste field turns out to be not a hardened fact. , but a living process.

overture with ceremony

Orpheus by Claudio Monteverdi (1607)

Monteverdi preceded the prologue of his "Orpheus" with an independent instrumental "toccata". With a jubilant solemn spirit, it is simple and even archaic: in fact, it is a thrice-repeated fanfare, which was then accompanied by ceremonial events (this is how the composer wanted to greet his main audience, Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga). Nevertheless, in fact, it can be called the first opera overture, and for Monteverdi himself it was not just "music for the occasion", judging by the fact that he later used it in his "Vespers of the Blessed Virgin"

overture with tragedy

Alcesta by Christoph Willibald Gluck

In the preface to Alceste, Gluck wrote that the overture should prepare the viewer for the events of the opera. It was a revolution not only by the standards of the earlier 18th century, but also by the standards of the reformer himself - the overture to his "Orpheus and Eurydice" (1762) does not in any way prepare the listener for the subsequent scene of mourning for Eurydice. On the other hand, the darkly agitated D-minor overture to Alceste, an example of "storm and onslaught" in music, finally organically correlates with a specific opera, where everything, according to Rousseau, revolves "between two feelings - sorrow and fear."

overture with drums

The Thieving Magpie by Gioacchino Rossini (1817)

For a long time, the first chord of the overture was supposed to be loud for signal purposes, but the overture to "The Thieving Magpie" turned out to be one of the records in this sense. This is a lengthy sonata composition with typical Rossini's carelessness, melodic affection and fiery crescendos, but it opens with a deafeningly effective march featuring two military drums. The latter was such an unheard-of innovation that some of the first listeners, indignant at the "unmusical barbarism," threatened to shoot the composer.

overture with atonality

Tristan and Isolde by Richard Wagner (1865)

"Reminds me of an old Italian painting with a martyr, whose guts are slowly rolled up on a roller," wrote the venomous Eduard Hanslik about the introduction to "Tristan". The prelude, which opens with the famous "Tristan Chord", blatantly violates the classical notions of tonality. But it is not a matter of transgression, but of an almost physical sensation of great languor, a deep but unquenchable desire that is created as a result. No wonder many conservative critics scolded "Tristan" not at all for purely musical rebellion, but for intoxication with "animal passion".