Presentation

About Russian Music

What it is all about

• Russia

• Russian music

Russia

Russia is a large and extremely culturally diverse country, with

dozens of ethnic groups, each with their own forms of music. Although

the majority of Russia's music is produced by Russians, it has also seen contributions by numerous minorities (such as the Jewish,

Ukrainians, Gypsies and others) who populated the Russian Empire, the

Soviet Union and modern day Russia.

Music Tracing its roots from early traditional songs, Russian music developed through centuries. It includes several prominent 19th

century classical composers, such as P.I. Tschaikovsky and N.

Rimsky-Korsakov, and Russian romance. The 20th century Soviet music saw the rise of

Russian popular music, including bard music and early Russian rock. In modern Russia, Western-style rock and pop music are still the

most popular musical forms.

First period

of music

 

In the 18th century, during the reign of Empresses Elisabeth and Catherine, the Russian

imperial court attracted many prominent musicians of the time, mostly from Italy[2]. They brought with them Italian traditions of opera and

classical music in general, to inspire future generations of Russian composers.

The first important Russian composer was Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857), who composed the

early Russian operas Ivan Susanin and Ruslan and Lyudmila. They were neither the first operas in the Russian language nor the first by a

Russian, but they gained fame for relying on distinctively Russian tunes and themes. Glinka was taking his inspiration from Russia's sacred and folk music, as well as from Italian operatic

tradition.

This period also saw the foundation of the Russian Musical Society in 1859,

led by composers Anton and Nikolay Rubinstein. Glinka and the

Five were the Russian Music Society's rivals, with the Five embracing their

Russian national identity and the RMS being musically conservative.

Another prominent Russian composer was Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, best known for ballets like Swan Lake,

Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker. He remains Russia's best-known

composer outside Russia, and his fame as the country's most famous composer

is unquestioned.

Second periodThe late 19th and early 20th century saw the third wave of Russian classics: Stravinsky,

Scriabin, Sergei Prokofiev and Shostakovich. They were experimental in style and musical

language. Some of them emigrated after Russian revolution, while others, like Prokofiev,

remained and contributed to Soviet music as well.

In the late 19th to early 20th centuries, romances—in exotic Russian, Caucasian, Gypsy and Italian styles—became very popular. The

greatest and most popular singers of romances usually sang in operas at the same time. The most popular was Fyodor Shalyapin. Singers usually composed music and wrote the lyrics,

such as Alexander Vertinsky, Konstantin Sokolsky, Pyotr Leshchenko.

The End

I hope,that now you know something about our music