An Approach to the Russian Art-Song

Author(s): Oda Slobodskaya

Source: Tempo, New Series, No. 39 (Spring, 1956), pp. 6-8
Published by: Cambridge University Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/943415
Accessed: 14-02-2020 15:51 UTC

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6 TEMPO

He
He knew
knew every
everybar bar
of his
ofscore,
his score,
and knewand it knew
in termsit of
in the
terms
theatr
o
had
hadan anunerring
unerring sense
sense
of the
oftheatrical
the theatrical
and could and
interpret
could any
interp
char
situation
situation in in
thethe
mostmost
graphic
graphic
way toway
his casts.
to his He casts.
understood
He understo
the psych
of
of the
theperformer.
performer. " I hear
" I hear
no mistakes
no mistakes
in performance
in performanc
" he said,
in
in rehearsal."
rehearsal." He He
tooktook
that that
attitude
attitude
so strongly
so strongly
that he oncethat
apolog
he
player
playerinin ourour
orchestra
orchestra
at Covent
at Covent
Garden Garden
because he because
glared at
hethe
glared
fello
he
he had
hadmade
madea mistake
a mistake
in performance.
in performance.
He
He gave
gavethree
three
firstfirst
performances
performances
at Covent
at Garden,
Covent TheGarden,
Queen of
ThS
Wozzeck
Wozzeck amd
amdElektra.
Elektra.
He also
Heconducted
also conducted
Rosenkavalier
Rosenkavalier
in three seasons,
in thC
The
TheMagic
Magic Flute,
Flute,
Rigoletto
Rigoletto
The Marriage
The Marriage
of Figaroof
and
Figaro
Tristanand
and Tris
Isold
Wozzeck
Wozzeck inspired
inspired
Berg's
Berg's
publisher
publisher
to cableto
some
cable
Viennese
some authorities
Viennese toa
to Covent Garden to see how the work should be done.
His performances at Covent Garden were among the very best we have
had since the war. He was an inspiration to his artists and he loved our orchestra,
who returned his affection in full measure. He was the greatest craftsman I have
met in music, and his rehearsals were the most exciting I have ever known.
He raised the Covent Garden Opera Company from its intense hard-working
first years to a period of achievement.

AN APPROACH TO THE
RUSSIAN ART-SONG
by Oda Slobodskaya
Of all the forms of Russian music it is perhaps in the Art-Song that we
most comprehensive picture of this diverse and colourful people. The f
Russia is not a country, but a continent, comprising many differe
tongues, customs and traditions accounts as much as any other sing
for the rich variety of their folklore. But in all this diversity there w
unifying factor: the vast illiterate masses were bound together by c
of oppression; suffering and poverty were their common lot, their
accepted condition. Forced by the monotony of their miserable exis
find an outlet for their emotions, they found expression for their rich
and alleviation of their frustration in Song and Dance. This produced a
of folklore, varied in rhythm and colour, which came to life a little m
a hundred years ago when Glinka discovered the treasures of this folkl
made use of them in his operas A Lifefor the Tsar and Russian and Ludmi
From the time of Peter the Great up to the Napoleonic Wars, a
lesser degree even later, polite society in Russia was interested only in
culture, and not at all in their own native genius. Everything from the
was to be admired, but the home product was not to be considered by a
of taste, except as an accompaniment to an evening of revelry. Even th
of Glinka were looked upon at first as music for coachmen, for mujiks
the aristocratic taste. The dominating languages were French and Germ
the affectation was carried to the extent that it became the fashion to
Russian with a foreign accent.
After the Napoleonic Wars, however, a change took place: R
cultured society began to turn away from Western influences and s

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 AN APPROACH TO THE RUSSIAN ART-SONG 7

look towards native sources for inspiration, and here were found the in
treasures that have since continued to be drawn upon by writers
present generation of Soviet composers.
Glinka is of course rightly recognised as the father of Russian m
founder of the nationalistic movement, whose lead was followed a
developed by the great composers of the latter half of the Igth cent
during his life and even before he had written his operas, we see other
tentatively exploring the ground: Verstovsky, who wrote the first f
Pan Ivardorsky in 1828, and Askaldor's Tomb, which was accorded a great r
Alabyev, who, besides his opera The Moonlight Night (1822) wrote m
of which the best known to our generation is The Nightingale, a lovely
with variations for coloratura soprano. Other lesser song writers of
were Titor, Pashkalov, Prince Katchubey and Kaschkin, but none of t
can stand comparison with those of the post-Glinka composers: Tscha
the Great Five, Rachmaninov, Medtner and others.
So much for the paternity of the Russian Art Song. Now to
briefly the nature of these songs, and how they differ from their Western
parts. The Romantic Age in the West, which witnessed the songs of S
Schumann, Brahms, etc. found no parallel in Russia. The Russian song
time belongs to the modern type of song: its appeal is dramatic
full of character and vivid in colour. Our composers were not sat
the conventional method of writing, like the Italian or German, and
they learned from the old foreign masters the traditions of composi
were seeking new forms of expression in music.
Already Dargomizhsky, a contemporary of Glinka, shows his i
for the dramatic phrase, for the recitative form. His opera The Stone
example, whereas Russalka is cast in the classical mould. Moussorgsky
matters a step forward, translated the spoken word into musical term
were nearer to human speech, in a way that is strikingly modem. This
shown in his admirable set of Children's Songs, for which he wrote his
In Hobby Horse, for instance, he becomes himself a child, a mixture of
and guile; here the whole impression is of a very high pitched childis
and it is with surprise that one discovers that the interval is only a "
and that the " high " note is only D. The accompaniment in this
example of the utmost economy of means, another striking example
is to be found in the poignantly satirical Dissonance of Borodin.
The Russian song often takes its colour from the environmen
brought it into being: a woman of the upper classes mourns her absen
by dropping soft tears upon her wedding ring (Glinka, The Star of th
The simple peasant woman, however, knows no inhibitions or r
invokes the moon, the stars and the high winds in her clamour for her
whom she has been bereft (Rachmaninov, The Soldier's Wife). Or perhaps sh
in silence (Dargomizhsky, Resignation) a subtly expressive song in recita
In Moussorgsky's Trepak we glimpse a universal truth expressed in a
Russian setting: the majestic indifference of Nature to the suffer
individual. Here is a wretched peasant, who, to alleviate his misery, h
a little drink-and another little drink. ... He lies dying in the sno
the song is heard not only the storm, but Death dancing with his vic
the sun shines upon his frozen corpse: Spring has come and the birds a
as they always will.

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8 TEMPO

But
But there
there
are other
arekinds
otherof song
kinds
of which
of mention
song must
of which
be made, mention
although m
they
they are are
not strictly
not strictly
of the genreof of Art-Song.
the genre The gipsy
of Art-Song.
songs were banned
The gip
from
from the the
repertory
repertory
of the Conservatoires,
of the Conservatoires,
they were considered ofthey
a low and
were co
vulgar
vulgar tastetaste
that would
that have
would
a badt effect
have onathe
badt
style effect
of the art on
song,the
but they
style o
fascinated
fascinated us andus
we sung
and them
we in sung
secret.them
These are
inthesecret.
ballads and
These
gipsy songs
are the
which
which werewere
extremely
extremely
popular among
popular
society. Small
amongintimate
society.
parties would
Small
gather
gather afterafter
a theatre
a or
theatre
dinner at or
somedinner
friend's house,
at some
and to the
friend's
accompaniment
house, a
of
ofa guitar,
a guitar,familiar
familiar
songs in thesongs
old tradition
in thewouldold
be sung,
tradition
as one sat would
by the be
stove.
stove. These
These
might be
might
gay or nostalgic
be gay (ofor
such
nostalgic
is The Forest(of
of the
such
FrontisLine,
The by For
the
theSoviet
Soviet
composer
composer
Blanter). Blanter).
We
We often
oftenhad very
had talented
very singers
talented
for thissingers
kind of song: forVariathis
Panina,
kind o
who
who sang
sang
gipsy gipsy
songs, and
songs,
Pleviskaya,
and whoPleviskaya,
had a large repertory
whoofhad folk asongs
large r
from
from different
different
parts of Russia.
partsSuch ofsingers
Russia.brought
Such these
singers
songs intobrought
the large th
concert
concert halls,halls,
and withand
theirwith
power oftheir
characterisation,
power of theircharacterisation,
humour and their
poetry,
poetry, they they
commanded
commanded
great popularity,
great
and they
popularity,
are still sung toandthis they
day. are
The
The folk-songs
folk-songsare the expression
are theofexpression
the people and theofpeople
the of people
Russia have
and the
not
not changed.
changed.They constitute
They constitute
an unbroken tradition
an unbroken
that is a sourcetradition
of strength that
to
tothethe
composers
composers
of to-day,of
as itto-day,
was to those
asofitthewas
I9th to
century.
those of the I9th
But
But what
what
of theof
interpretation
the interpretation
of the Russian Art-Song?
of the I feel
Russian
that it isArt-So
wrong
wrong to betotoobe
dogmatic
too dogmatic
on such a matter,
on which
such is a
dependent
matter, on the
which
imagination
is depe
and
and musical
musical
instinctinstinct
of the performer.
of the Butperformer.
one thing is certain:
But oneone
should
thing
know
know the the
people,people,
their language,
their history
language,
and traditions
history
and be able
and to traditio
enter
into
intotheir
their
spirit,spirit,
into the very
intorhythm
the of
very
their rhythm
life, in order of
to make
their
one life,
short in
song
song convincing
convincing
to one's audience;
to one's because
audience;
to convincebecause
your audience,
to you
convin
must
must yourself
yourself
be convinced.
be convinced.
There
Therewould
would
therefore
therefore
seem to be anseem
insuperable
to bebarrier
an toinsuperable
the authentic barr
performance
performance of Russian
of songs-the
Russian field
songs-the
of research isfield
too vast.of
But,
research
happily, is to
this
this is not
is the
notcase:
the our case:
composers
our have
composers
already done this
havework
already
for us. It is
done
all
allthere
there
on theonprinted
the page,
printed
if we take
page,
the trouble
if we to observe
take the faithfully
trouble
every to o
marking
marking that the
thatcomposer
the has
composer
put there for
hasus, put
with imagination
there for and us,
under-
with i
standing.
standing. It is this
It is
which
this
gives
which
us the clue
gives
to interpretation,
us the clue and this,
to interpreta
after all,
is
isthe
the
clueclue
to the to
interpretation
the interpretation
of any song, whatever
of any
its nationality.
song, whatever it

SERGEII IVANOVITCH
TANEIEFF
by Thomas de Hartmann
War time, June 91 g. On the 8th a telegram reached me in the Tzarskoie Selo,
the residence of the Emperor, where I was stationed as a reserve officer: it
informed me of the death of my great friend Sergeii Ivanovitch Taneieff-a
tremendous blow to me. I had met him first in 1896; later we had become
friends, and remained so up to that moment.
Though relatively less well known than some others, Taneieff is one of the
greatest of Russian composers. His chamber music has always been highly valued
by musicians: Rudolf Lui, the oustanding Munich critic, wrote of his quartet
music that its style could only be compared with that of Beethoven. His orchestral
works are also very fine-especially the Cantatas On The Death of Nicholas

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