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By E.Epstein
This year marks 200 years since the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin was born. The jubilee is broadly celebrated not only in Russia, but also in the world as a whole. His works became an integral part of world culture, including music. Pushkin's poems gained greater popularity through musical works based on them.
In Russian music the 19th century was inseparable from the name of Alexander Pushkin. Glinka and Rimsky-Korsakov, Musorgski and Tchaikovsky - many of their works were prompted by Pushkin's poetry. A major work of Modest Musorgski - the opera "Boris Godunov" - was inspired by Pushkin's tragedy of the same name. The Russian public responded to the opera with enthusiasm, because it was the first time the people were the main character of an opera. "I consider the people as a great personality inspired by a common idea," Musorgski said. The final scene of a popular uprising the opera culminated in was excluded from it for a long time: the censors had banned it because of its revolutionary meaning.
Piotr Tchaikovsky wrote three operas based on Pushkin's works: "Yevgeny Onegin", "Queen of Spades" and "Mazepa". He wrote in one of his letters: "The force of his genius often tears Pushkin out of the narrow field of poetry, taking him into the infinite sphere of music. His verses contain something which penetrates the very depths of human soul. This "something" is music."
In 1877 Tchaikovsky turned to Pushkin's novel in verse "Yevgeny Onegin". He was fascinated by the idea of reflecting the novel, which literary critics described as encyclopaedia of 19th-century life, in music. The independent character of the novel's heroine Tatiana, her strong will and ardent feelings provided rich material for the musical interpretation of her image. Following the poet's concept, Tchaikovsky expressed in his opera his thoughts concerning the destiny of Russian women, and created one of the most lyrical and charming images in world opera.
Georgy Sviridov accounts for one of the most successful expressions of Pushkin's poetry in Russian 20th-century music. By the way, his first creative achievement was lyrics based on Pushkin's verses. Today they are viewed as vocal classics belonging to the repertoire of many outstanding singers. Years later Sviridov, already a well-known composer, turned to Pushkin again and wrote a work that became a noticeable event in his country's musical life - the choral cycle "Pushkin's Wreath". "To me Pushkin sounds as the realization of the high predestination of man. Each epoch interprets him in its own way. Averse to idealizing the Pushkin era, I do not want to give him a modern interpretation either. I simply try to follow him into his unattainable heights as best I can," Sviridov wrote. The ten parts of the "Pushkin's Wreath" cycle reflect many facets of the poet's art: lyrical, epical, folk. The composer turned to verses written in different times, to different themes, to different moods: their interpretation in music reflected the spirit of Pushkin's poetry to perfection. "Pushkin's Wreath" gained the Russian public's love and appreciation among the lovers of music abroad.
Pushkin's heroes came to life in choreography too. In 1934 Boris Asafiev's ballet "The Fountain of Bakhchisaray" based on Pushkin's poem was staged in Leningrad (now St.Petersburg). 15 years later Reinhold Gliere's ballet "The Copper Horseman" based on another poem by Pushkin was staged on the occasion of Pushkin's 150th birth anniversary. Like Pushkin, Gliere glorified the city founded by the Russian Czar Peter the Great on the banks of the River Neva in the early 18th century and named St.Petersburg in his honour.
So far we have spoken about musical works inspired by Pushkin's poetry. In conclusion we'll mention a vocal-choreographic symphony devoted to Alexander Pushkin himself - a rare case when the poet's image is reflected in music. It was written by the well-known composer Andrei Petrov. "It was my old dream to devote a symphony to the brilliant poet," he said in an interview. "His verses will feature prominently in it. It is impossible to perceive the depth of his thoughts without it. I focused on the last years of Pushkin's life, when his conflicts with the czar, with the censors, with the high society became particularly obvious." The composer chose for his six-part symphony the verses in which Pushkin speaks about his own fate. The vocal-choreographic symphony "Pushkin" was written for a reciter, dancer, chorus and orchestra.
Musical works inspired by Pushkin's poetry have sounded from the stages of big and small theaters and in concert halls for a century and a half now, never failing to find grateful listeners and viewers .
 
 


THE OUTSTANDING RUSSIAN COMPOSER VALERY GAVRILIN HAS DIED

By Larisa Roshchina
The outstanding Russian composer Valery Gavrilin has died in St. Petersburg at the age of 59 following two severe heart attacks. "He is such a modest and quiet person , and yet produces such powerful music with a deep insight into the spiritual life of the people," the prominent Russian actor Mikhail Ulianov once said of Gavrilin. "Little remains after us, but Gavrilin's music will remain ," said another distinguished composer Georgy Sviridov shortly before he died. Both masters drew on the deep layers of folk art for their music .
Born in the northern Russian town of Vologda, Valery Gavrilin perceived folk music with his heart. "In Vologda," the composer recollected later, "I had firsthand experience of life . I met people who helped me understand real beauty and kindness and the true value of life and people. My musical life started there."
Then Gavrilin moved to St. Peterburg and linked his musical career with th at city. He graduated from the Conservatoire as composer and folklorist and won recognition for his vocal cycles "The Russian Notebook" to folk texts and "German Notebooks" to the verse of Heinrich Heine. Then he created his masterpiece, the Choral Symphony , which earned him the 6prestigious State Prize.
A rare gift for melody made Gavrilin an excellent composer of songs. "All music," the composer often said , "has its origins in vocal music, and the human voice is its first carrier. It's hard to imagine how music could have survived the centuries if people had not had this wonderful instrument, the voice, always ready at hand. Thanks to the presence of words vocal music is easier for the general public to understand and this is crucial for me."
Valery Gavrilin composed several operas and oratorios. One of his three ballets, "Anyuta", was written at the request of the Russian ballet stars Yekaterina Maximova and Vladimir Vasiliev and ran for years on the Bolshoi stage. His last work was music for the play "Woe to Wit" by the 19th - century Russian writer Alexander Griboedov.
The composer had many plans. But his life came to a sudden end.
 
 

 
 
 
 

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