Mussorgsky. Vocal cycle "Children's".

Vocal scenes - episodes from childhood life belong to the lyrical pages of Mussorgsky's work. This is not children's music, written for pedagogical educational purposes and not to be performed by the children themselves. These are songs for adults, but written on behalf of a child. There are eight songs in the cycle, their images are very different - both sad and funny, but they are all permeated with sincere love for children. These vocal miniatures embodied the distant memories of Mussorgsky's village childhood, as well as sensitive observations of the life of the composer's little friends. Mussorgsky did not just love children from the outside. He knew how to communicate with them in their language and understand them, think in children's images. V. Komarova, D. Stasov's daughter, who had known Mussorgsky since childhood and called him “Musoryanin” recalled: “He did not pretend to be with us, did not speak that false language that adults usually speak with children in houses where they are friendly with their parents ... we talked to him completely freely, as with an equal. The brothers, too, were not at all shy of him, they told him all the incidents of their life ... "

One of the brilliant properties of great Artists is the ability to take the place of another and create a work on his behalf. In this cycle, Mussorgsky managed to become a child again and speak on his behalf. It is interesting to note that here Mussorgsky is not only the author of music, but also of words. The songs-scenes were written at different times, that is, not according to the principle "conceived - done" and not by any order. They were collected in a cycle gradually and were published after the death of the author. Some of the songs remained unwritten on paper, although they were performed by the composer in a close circle of friends. For us, they remained only in the memories of our contemporaries. This is "Fantastic dream of a child", "Quarrel of two children." We can hear a cycle of seven scene plays.

The first of the scenes "With the Nanny" was created in the spring of 1968. Mussorgsky showed it to his respected friend, the composer Dargomyzhsky, and he bequeathed him to continue this magnificent undertaking. In 1970, four more scenes appeared, and under the general title "Children's" the plays were published in St. Petersburg in the publishing house of V. Bessel. And two years later, two more plays appeared, but they were published much later under the editorship of N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov under the general name "At the dacha" in 1882.

In addition to this cycle, Mussorgsky had other "children's music": "Children's games-corners" (scherzo for piano), "From childhood memories" ("Nanny and I", "The first punishment" for piano), children's song "In the garden , oh, in the little garden. "

The cycle "Nursery" is one of the few works by Mussorgsky, who were fortunate enough to see the light of day during the composer's life and to meet with a good disposition not only from the public, but even from critics. “There was no end to the performances of the“ Children's ”scenes in the best Petersburg music circles,” wrote V. Stasov. Even the most retrogrades and enemies could no longer dispute the talent and novelty of these masterpieces, small in size, but large in content and significance. "

In the first scene reflected Mussorgsky's childhood impressions of the nanny's fairy tales, from which, according to his recollections, he "sometimes did not sleep at night." Images of two fairy tales are crowded in the child's head. One "about a terrible beech ... how that beech carried children into the forest, and how he gnawed their white bones ...". And the second - funny - about the lame king ("as he stumbles, so the mushroom grows") and the sneezing queen ("as he sneezes - the windows are to smithereens!"). All the music of the scene is permeated with folk tunes that create the flavor of Russian fabulousness. At the same time, the author vividly shows the perception of magic by the impressionable soul of a child.

- the second play-scene of their cycle "Children's" by Mussorgsky. Its plot is simple: the nanny, angry with the pranks of her little pet, puts him in a corner. And the punished prankster in the corner offendedly blames the kitten - he did it all, not Misha. But the plaintive sobbing intonations clearly expressed in the music (“I did nothing, nanny”) betray Misha: he feels bitter resentment and his guilt. But his childish consciousness does not know how to reconcile this first "contradiction" in his life. Trying to get out of the predicament, he begins to tease the nanny. Mournful intonations give way to whimsical, mischievous ("And the nanny is angry, old ...") But even in them you can hear notes of humility. Such a deep psychological understanding of the child's character by the author is the uniqueness of the music of this cycle.

- the third play-scene from the cycle "Children's" - a mysterious story with a beetle that struck the imagination of a child. A beetle, "huge, black, terrible," sat on a house built of splinters, buzzing and wiggling its mustache, and hitting it in the temple. Frightened, the child hid, barely breathing ... A friend sees - the beetle lies helplessly on its back, "only the wings are trembling." “What happened to the beetle? He hit me, but he fell down! " In the music, with great wit and emotionality, one can hear the agitated tone of a child's change of mood: the blow and fall of the beetle are replaced by fear, anxiety. The hanging question shows the boy's boundless surprise in front of all the incomprehensible and mysterious world.

- the fourth play in the cycle "Children's" - dedicated by the composer to his little nephews "Tanya and Goga Mussorgsky" It was also called "Lullaby". The girl rocks her doll "tyapa", telling the nanny a story about a beech and a gray wolf and, fascinated by the rhythm of lulling, conjures up a magic dream about "a wonderful island, where no one reaps, no sows, where bulk pears ripen, day and night, sing birds. gold ". The gentle melody of a lullaby, with its crystal-ringing seconds, slides like a mysterious vision from the world of childhood dreaminess.

- the fifth scene of the cycle "Children's" - a gift to the godson of Mussorgsky, the newborn son of Cui Sasha. The little heroine of the scene babbles a memorized prayer before going to bed, diligently mentioning in it both dad and mom, and brothers, and an old grandmother, and all the aunts and uncles, and her many courtyard friends "And Filka, and Vanka, and Mitka, and Petka ..." ... Interestingly, the music reflects the mood with which the names are pronounced: the elders are concentrated and serious, but when it comes to the children in the yard, the seriousness disappears and a playful children's talk sounds. At Dunyushka, "prayer" is interrupted. How next? The nanny, of course, will tell you ...

- the sixth scene from the cycle "Children's" - an example of children's humor, a story about a small domestic incident. The sly cat crept up to the cage with the bullfinch, prepared to snatch his prey, and at the same moment was swatted by the girl who outwitted him. Her fingers hurt, but she is happy: the bullfinch is saved, and the prankster cat is punished.

- the seventh play in the "Children's" cycle. This is a playful play scene, a sketch from nature: the kid dashingly jumps on a stick near the dacha, imagining that he “went to Yucca” (a nearby village). In the music, a comical syncopated (“lame”) rhythm depicts the ride of a daring man who, in the most interesting place ... stumbles and, having bruised his leg, roars. The mother consoles her Serzhinka, which serves as a pretext for a funny lyrical intermezzo (a small digression). Finally, the merry Serzhinka sits down on his wand again and, declaring that he has already "gone to Yucca", hurries home in the same gallop: "there will be guests ...".

Inna Astakhova

Based on the book by G. Khubov "Mussorgsky"

Moscow, publishing house "Music" 1969

Choirs

Joshua, choir for soloists, choir and piano ;; cit .: 1866 (1st ed.), 1877 (2nd ed.); dedicated to: Nadezhda Nikolaevna Rimskaya-Korsakova; ed .: 1883 (edited and instrumented by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov).

Shamil's March, for tenor, bass, chorus and orchestra; cit .: 1859; dedicated: to Alexander Petrovich Arseniev.

The Defeat of Sennacherib for choir and orchestra to words by J. NG Byron from Jewish Melodies; cit .: 1867 (1st ed.), 1874 (2nd ed.; Mussorgsky's postscript: "The second presentation, improved according to the comments of Vladimir Vasilyevich Stasov"); dedicated: Miliy Alekseevich Balakirev (1st ed.); Vladimir Vasilievich Stasov (2nd ed.); ed .; 1871 (1st ed. For chorus with piano).

“Oh, you drunken grouse” (From the adventures of Pakhomych), song to the words of the composer; cit .: 1866; dedicated: to Vladimir Vasilievich Nikolsky; ed .: 1926 (as amended by A. N. Rimsky-Korsakov).
"Without the sun", vocal cycle to the words of A. A. Golenishchev-Kutuzov (1. "Within four walls"; 2. "You did not recognize me in the crowd"; 3. "An idle noisy day is over"; 4. "Miss you" ; 5. "Elegy"; 6. "Over the river"); cit .: 1874; dedicated to A. A. Golenishchev-Kutuzov; ed .: 1874.
"Merry Hour", drinking song to lyrics by A. V, Koltsov; cit .: 1858; dedicated<: Василию Васильевичу Захарьину; изд.: 1923.
"Evening Song" to lyrics by A. N. Plescheev; cit .: 1871; dedicated: Sofia Vladimirovna Serbina (Fortunato); ed .: 1912 (in the free edition of V.G. Karatygin), 1929 (ed. ed.).
"Vision", a romance to the words of AA Golenishchev-Kutuzov; cit .: 1877; dedicated to: Elizaveta Andreevna Gulevich; ed .: 1882 (as amended by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov), 1934 (ed. ed.).
"Where are you, little star", song to the words of N. P. Grekov; cit .: 1858; dedicated: I, L. Grunberg; ed .: 1909 (only with French text), 1911 (with Russian and German text as edited by V.G. Karatygin).
"Hopak", a song to the words from the poem "Haidamaki" by T. G. Shevchenko in trans. L.A. Mey; cit .: 1866; dedicated to: Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov; ed .: 1933.
“The Soul Flying Slowly in Heaven”, a romance to the words of A. K. Tolstoy; cit .: 1877; ed .: 1882 (as amended by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov), 1934 (ed. ed.).
"Children's" (Episodes from a child's life), a vocal cycle to the words of the composer (1. "With a nanny"; op .: 1868; dedicated: A. Dargomyzhsky; 2. "In the corner", op .: 1870; dedicated .: V. A. Hartman; 3. "Beetle"; op .: 1870; dedicated: V. V. Stasov; 4. "With a doll", lullaby; op .: 1870; dedicated: Tanya and Goga Mussorgsky; 5. "Coming to sleep"; op .: 1870; dedicated to Sasha Cui); ed .: 1871 (№ 2, 3, 4), 1872 (in full) and 1907 (with the addition of the songs "Cat Sailor" and "Ride on a stick").
"Children's Song" to the words of L. A. Mey from "Russian National Songs" (No. 2 "Nana") op .: 1868; ed .: 1871.
“Winds are blowing, violent winds”, a song to the words of A. V. Koltsov; cit .: 1864; dedicated to: Vyacheslav Alekseevich Loginov; ed .: 1909 (Paris; only with French text), 1911 (in the editorship of V.G. Karatygin), 1931 (ed. ed.).
"Jewish Song" to the words of L. A. Mei (from "Song of Songs"); cit .: 1867;
dedicated to: Filaret Petrovich and Tatiana Pavlovna Mussorgsky; ed .: 1868

"Desire", a romance to the words of G. Heine in the lane. M. I. Mikhailova; cit .: 1866; dedicated to: Nadezhda Petrovna Opochinina ("in memory of her trial over me"); ed .: 1911 (in the editorship of V.G. Karatygin), 1933 (ed. ed.).
"Forgotten", vocal. Ballad to the words of AA Golenishchev-Kutuzov "from Vereshchagin"; cit .: 1874; dedicated to: V.V. Vereshchagin; ed .: 1874 (not allowed to be published) and 1877.
"Evil Death", a gravestone letter for voice with piano. to the words of the composer; cit .: 1874 (under the impression of the death of NP Opochinina); ed .: 1912 (as amended by V.G. Karatygin, who completed the last 12 bars).
“Much has grown out of my tears”, a romance to the words of G. Heine (translated by MI Mikhailov); cit .: 1866; dedicated: to Vladimir Petrovich Opochinin; ed .: 1933.
"Kalistrat", a song to the words of N. A. Nekrasov (slightly modified); cit .: 1864; dedicated to: Alexander Petrovich Opochinin; ed .: 1883 (as amended by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov), 1931 (ed. ed.).
"Classic", music. a pamphlet on the words of the composer; cit .: 1867; dedicated to: Nadezhda Petrovna Opochinina; ed .: 1870.
"Goat", a secular tale to the words of the composer; cit .: 1867; dedicated to: Alexander Porfirevich Borodin; ed .: 1868.
"Eremushki's Lullaby", song to words by N. A. Nekrasov; cit .: 1868; dedicated: “The great teacher of musical truth, Alexander Sergeevich Dargomyzhsky”; ed .: 1871.

"Cat Sailor", song to the words of the composer for the cycle "Children's" (see), no. 6; cit .: 1872; ed .: 1882 (in the editorship of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, together with the song "I went on a stick" under the general title "At the dacha") and 1907 (as No. 6 of the "Children's" cycle).
"The leaves rustled dejectedly", muses. story to the words of A. N. Plescheev; cit .: 1859; dedicated to: Mikhail Osipovich Mikeshin; ed .: 1909 (Paris, with one French text), 1911 (with Russian text, in the editorship of V.G. Karatygin), 1931 (ed. ed.).
"Baby", a romance to the words of A. N. Pleshcheev; cit .: 1866; dedicated: L.V. Azaryevo, ed .: 1923.
“I have many towers and gardens”, a romance to the words of A. V. Koltsov; cit .: 1863; dedicated to: Platon Timofeevich Borispolets; ed .: 1923.

"Prayer", a romance to the words of M. Yu. Lermontov; cit .: 1865; dedicated to: Yulia Ivanovna Mussorgskaya; ed .: 1923.
"Incomprehensible", a romance to the words of the composer; cit .: 1875; dedicated to: Maria Izmailovna Kostyurina; ed .: 1911 (in the editorship of V.G. Karatygin), 1931 (ed. ed.).
“But if I could meet with you”, romance to the words of V. S. Kurochkin; cit .: 1863; dedicated to: Nadezhda Petrovna Opochinina; ed .: 1923, 1931 (ed. ed.).

"Night", fantasy to the words of A. Pushkin; cit .: 1864 (1st ed.), 1871
(2nd ed. With a free presentation of Pushkin's poem); dedicated to: Nadezhda Petrovna Opochinina; ed .: 1871 (2nd ed.), 1923 (1st ed.), 1931 (ed. ed.). "Mischievous", song to the words of the composer; cit .: 1867; dedicated: to Vladimir Vasilievich Stasov; ed .: 1871.
"Oh, is it honor to the young man to spin flax", song to the words of A. K. Tolstoy;
cit .: 1877; ed .: 1882 (as amended by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov), 1934 (ed. ed.).

"Outcast", an experience of recitative to the words of Yves. G. M .; cit .: 1865; ed .: 1923.

“Why, Tell Me, Maiden,” a song to the words of an unknown author; cit .: 1858; dedicated: Zinaida Afanasyevna Burtseva; ed .: 1867. "Songs and Dances of Death", vocal cycle to the words of AA Golenishchev-Kutuzov (1. "Lullaby"; op .: 1875; dedicated: Anna Yakovlevna Petrova-Vorobyeva; 2. "Serenade"; cit .: 1875; dedicated: Lyudmila Ivanovna Shestakova; 3. "Trepak"; op .: 1875; dedicated: Osip Afanasyevich Petrov; 4. "General"; op .: 1877; dedicated: Arseny Arkadyevich Golenishchev-Kutuzov) ; ed .: 1882 (as amended by I.A.Rimsky-Korsakov), 1928 (ed. ed.).
"Song of the Elder" to the words of JV Goethe (from "Wilhelm Meister"); cit .: 1863; dedicated to: Alexander Petrovich Opochinin; ed .: 1909 (Paris, with one French text), 1911 (with Russian text in the editorship of V.G. Karatygin), 1931 (ed. ed.). "Song of Mephistopheles" to the words of I. V. Goethe (from "Faust" in the lane, A. N. Strugovshikov); cit .: 1879; dedicated: Daria Mikhailovna Leonova; ed .: 1883 (as amended by I.A.Rimsky-Korsakov), 1934 (ed. ed.). "Revel", story for voice and piano. to the words of A. V. Koltsov; cit .:
1867; dedicated to: Lyudmila Ivanovna Shestakova; ed .: 1868. "For mushrooms", a song to the words of L. A. Mey; cit .: 1867; dedicated: to Vladimir Vasilievich Nikolsky; ed .: 1868. “I went on a stick”, song to the words of the composer for the cycle “Children's” (see), no. 7; cit .: 1872; dedicated: to Dmitry Vasilyevich and Poliksena Stepanovna Stasov; ed .: 1882 (in the editorship of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov together with the song "Cat Sailor" under the general title "At the dacha") and 1907 (as No. 7 of the "Children's" cycle). “A Garden Blossoms Above the Don”, song to the words of A. V. Koltsov; cit .: 1867;
ed .: 1883 (as amended by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov), 1929 (ed. ed.). "Paradise", muses, joke for voice with piano. to the words of the composer; cit .:
1870; dedicated: to Vladimir Vasilievich Stasov; ed .: 1871. "Scatters, Parting", song to the words of A. K. Tolstoy; cit .: 1877; dedicated to: Olga Andreevna Golenishcheva-Kutuzova; ed .: 1882 (as amended by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov), 1934 (ed. ed.). "Svetik Savishna", song to the words of the composer; cit .: 1866; dedicated:
Caesar Antonovich Cui; ed .: 1867. "Seminarist", song to the words of the composer; cit .: 1866; dedicated to: Lyudmila Ivanovna Shestakova; ed .: 1870.
"Orphan", a song to the words of the composer; cit .: 1868; dedicated to: Ekaterina Sergeevna Protopopova; ed .: 1871,
"Arrogance", song to the words of A. K. Tolstoy; cit .: 1877; dedicated to: Anatoly Evgrafovich Palchikov; ed .: 1882 (as amended by N.A.Rimsky-Korsakov).
Sleep, Sleep, Peasant Son, a lullaby to the words of A. N. Ostrovsky (from the comedy Voevoda); cit .: 1865; dedicated: In memory of Yulia Ivanovna Mussorgskaya; ed .: 1871 (2nd ed.), 1922 (1st ed.).
The Wanderer, a romance to words by A. N. Pleshcheev; cit .: 1878; ed .: 1883 (as amended by N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov), 1934 (ed. ed.).
"White-sided Chimer", a joke for voice with piano. to the words of A. Pushkin (from the poems "Chime-white-sided" and "Bells are ringing" - with minor changes); cit .: 1867; dedicated to: Alexander Petrovich and Nadezhda Petrovna Opochinin; ed .: 1871.
"King Saul", a Jewish melody to the words of J.N.G. Byron in trans.
P. A. Kozlova; cit .: 1863 (1st and 2nd ed.); dedicated to: Alexander Petrovich Opochinin (1st ed.); ed .: 1871 (2nd ed.), 1923 (1st ed.).
“What are the words of love to you”, a romance to the words of A. N. Ammosov; cit .: 1860; dedicated to: Maria Vasilievna Shilovskaya; ed .: 1923.
Meines Herzens Sehnsuchb (Desire of the Heart), a romance to a German text by an unknown author; cit .: 1858; dedicated to: Malvina Bamberg; ed .: 1907.

"Give yourself all to people - that's what you need now in art", - the thought expressed
M.P. Mussorgsky, not only has not lost its significance and relevance, but with a new
strength and life-affirming sounds today.

Mussorgsky M.P. "CHILDREN'S"

MODEST PETROVICH MUSORGSKY (b. 1839 - 1881) - Russian composer, pianist. Born in the village of Karevo, now the Kuninsky district of the Pskov province. At the age of 6 he began to play the piano under the guidance of his mother. The first experiments of musical improvisation, inspired by the fairy tales of a nanny - a serf peasant, date back to this time.

Pictures of village life left a deep imprint on the mind of the future composer. According to the testimony of his brother Filaret, from his adolescent years he "... treated everything national and peasant with special love ..."

In 1849 he entered the Peter and Paul School in St. Petersburg, and in 1852-56 he studied at the school of guards ensigns. At the same time he studied piano with the pianist A. Gerke. In 1852, his first work for piano polka "Ensign" was published. In 1856, after graduating from school, he was promoted to officer. Two years later, he retired and took up music closely.

His acquaintance with A.S. Dargomyzhsky, M.A. Balakirev, V.V. Stasov. Mussorgsky joined the group of young composers "The Mighty Handful", who united under the slogan of the struggle for advanced national art around Balakirev.

Under his leadership, Mussorgsky began to study composition. At the head of his creative interests was the opera genre. ("Boris Godunov", "Khovanshchina", "Sorochinskaya Fair")

He shared many of the views of the Russian revolutionary enlighteners - N.G. Chernyshevsky, N.A. Dobrolyubov, under whose influence his creative principles were formed.

The main means of characterizing the image was the live intonation of human speech for Mussorgsky. He developed the creative principles of Dargomyzhsky, whom he called "the great teacher of truth."

Shades of speech intonation in Mussorgsky's works are very diverse: from simple everyday dialect or intimately confidential conversation to melodic declamation turning into song.

The best in the chamber-vocal work of the composer are three vocal cycles. Among them are the cycle "Children's" (1868 -72), texts by M.P. Mussorgsky. I think that before writing the music, Mussorgsky sketched the scenes of all the numbers and created the prosaic "stanzas" of the words.

And in some numbers, the text followed the musical image created by the composer at the piano. Perhaps the process of creating music and lyrics went in parallel. It is truly difficult to look into the composer's creative laboratory from outside. We can assume or judge about this by the external features of the work. In several numbers, the composer made dedications.

When I was organizing the library collection at school, I was interested in the notes from 1950. It was the cycle "Children's" by M.P. Mussorgsky. I took notes for analysis.

Such simple and typical images and situations that a child finds himself in, but every time how resourceful and ingenious they are, they are solved by the composer.

In the first issue "WITH A NANY" - dedicated to Alexander Sergeevich Dargomyzhsky, - expressive melodeclamation, many strokes, agogics *, constantly changing meter, atonal development of musical material. The child, worried, asks to tell the nanny about the "terrible beech":

Tell me nanny, tell me honey
About that, about a terrible beech, like that beech
He wandered through the woods, as that beech carried children into the woods ...

In the second - "IN THE CORNER", dedicated to Viktor Alexandrovich Hartman, - bright pictoriality. Against the background of the nanny's vocal part, we literally see how, in the piano accompaniment, the knitting tangle of the nanny is “unwound”. And how good are the intonational "throws" of the nanny "Oh, you prankster! .. Into the corner! Into the corner! " Intonation exactly repeats speech:

Oh, you prankster! Unwound the ball
Lost the rods! Ah - ti! I lowered all the loops!
The stocking is all splattered with ink!
Into the corner! Into the corner! I went to the corner! Prankster!

After the nanny's solo, the child's melody sounds capricious, making excuses as if the nanny is “moaning” forgiveness:

I didn’t do anything nanny
I didn't touch the stocking, nanny!
The little ball has unwound the kitten,
And the kitten scattered the rods.
And Mishenka was good,
Mishenka was clever.

The child believes in his infallibility, looks for flaws in the nanny and, as a result, in his hearts is indignant at the "unjust" punishment:

And the nurse is angry, old,
The nanny's nose is dirty;
Misha is clean, combed,
And the nanny has a cap on her side.
Nanny Mishenka offended,
I put it in a corner in vain
Misha will no longer love his nanny, that's what!

Surprisingly accurately, the melody follows the text and "kinks" in the child's mood.

In the third issue - "BEETLE", dedicated to Vladimir Vasilyevich Stasov, the "meeting" of a child with a beetle is dramatically reliably conveyed: his fright, then a confused story. "Confusion" is achieved by musical means of expressiveness - rhythm, jumps in melody, strokes, dynamics.

At the same time, in the piano part, we hear a "creeping" intonation within a third. At the beginning of the number, the melody gradually "climbs", then, as it were,. rolling over obstacles, "falls" and rises again. We “see” how the beetle moves and the “drama” between the beetle and the child develops. Tremolo, then a meteoric rise in chromaticity to an accent and again a tremolo: we hear the buzzing of a beetle, we see it take off and hit!

And he flew, hit me in the temple! -
the kid tells further ... With amazing accuracy, the music "draws on" all this unpretentious "conflict" between the beetle and the child. The texture is simple but so ingenious.

The fourth issue "WITH A DOLL", dedicated to Tanyushka and Goga Mussorgsky, (the composer's nephews) is a child's lullaby, full of naive imagination:

Tyapa, bai, bai, Tyapa, sleep, sleep, take you quietly!
Tyapa, you need to sleep! Sleep, sleep! He will eat a beech tyapa,
The gray wolf will take it, carry it to the dark forest!

Fifth number - “RIDING ON A STICK” - an active game with a stick played by a mischief-maker. At first, uniform syncopations, eighths, exclamations in the vocal part create the image of a rhythmically galloping horse with a rider.

Gay! Gop, gop, gop! Gop, gop, gay, go! Gay! Gay!
Hey, go! Gop, gop, gop, gop, gop! Gop, gop, gop, gop, gop,
Gay! Gay, gay, gay, gay! Ta-ta-ta, ta-ta-ta, ta-ta-ta, ta-ta-ta ...
Gradually, the movement accelerates: the eighths are replaced by triplets, then the rhythm "gets lost" - there are syncopes, duoles, again triplets, sixteenths, which, "could not resist", "fall" into the sforzando:

Ouch! Oh, it hurts! Oh, leg! Oh, it hurts! Oh, leg!

The number is rhythmically and intonationally difficult for a vocalist and technically for a concertmaster.

Number six - "CAT MATROS" - a miniature - a scene, the girl's excited story about the cunning tricks of the cat she saw. There is an abundance of strokes, nuances, expressive melody moves, glissandos depicting the "scratching" of a cat's paw on a cage with a bird, development to a climax and a girl's fingers hitting past the cat, on the cage.

The number ends with an intonationally capricious Moderato complaint:

Mom, what a solid cage! My fingers hurt so much, mom, mom!
Right at the tips, here it whines so, whines so ...
No, what is the cat, Mom ... huh? - the girl is surprised with irony.

The final phrase in the piano part, “flying up” from the lower register to the upper register from piano - to forte and sforzando - the cat quickly disappears - this scene ends.

I offered the sheet music to Irina Valerievna for acquaintance. She liked the music. The vocal cycle "Children's" required a lot of professional and performing work.

In essence, the musical language of the cycle was the forerunner of the modern modernist style with its complex harmonic language and tonal plan, more often - its absence, unexpected intonation, melodic twists.

Working on the cycle, and then performing it in concerts appeared for me and for accompanist I.V. Odarchuk. a real test of professional maturity. But the joy of satisfaction was no less.

Despite the complexity of the musical language, the cycle "Children's" was well received by the public here, in the Children's Art School in April 1989, and in November 1991 - in the concert hall of the Gatchina Palace in a school subscription concert, and in the Nikolskaya Children's Music School - in January 1993 of the year.

This miniature completed the main romance cycle of memoirs.

An addition follows.

VOCAL CYCLE "CHILDREN"

“No one has addressed the best in us with greater tenderness and greater depth. He [Mussorgsky] is unique and will remain unique thanks to his art without far-fetched techniques, without draining rules. Never before has such a refined perception been expressed by such simple means of expression "

K. Debussy about the cycle "Children's" (9).

“The vocal cycle“ Children's ”, created at the turn of the 60s and 70s, became the highest embodiment of Mussorgsky's conscious principles of vocal chamber theater. After all, it is the first song of the future cycle - "With a nanny" - that the composer mentions in a number of plays that perform a specific artistic task ("Savishna", "Orphan", "Eremushki's Lullaby" and others). Seven small songs, united by the originality of the vision of the children's world, by their appearance aroused genuine delight among the musicians who surrounded Mussorgsky ”- writes EE Durandina (12). In turn, V.V. Stasov in his writings expresses his impressions as follows: forms unprecedented, not yet touched by anyone ”(34). V. Stasov and C. Cui among Russian music critics, and behind them Western European composers F. Liszt and C. Debussy, gave an enthusiastic assessment of Children's. What are the reasons for this tremendous success of humble vocal plays about children?

Let's start with the history of the "Nursery" cycle. We turned to various sources: letters from M.P. Mussorgsky, the memoirs of contemporaries, the works of researchers (33). Our musical culture is considered one of the largest in the world. Modest Petrovich is undoubtedly one of the first among Russian composers. His music is a great national treasure, it has a Russian essence. The Pskov land became the cradle of this all-human music. Tatiana Georgievna Mussorgskaya, the composer's grandniece, said that the nanny in the house was revered as an equal member of the family, "the most loyal person." She lived next to the nursery, ate from the master’s table and, in addition, “in charge” of the samovar, which “made noise” almost round the clock - at any time, on demand, hot tea, “from the spring,” was served. The "smart and good nanny" had her own voice, she could not only arrange for the children to be dragged out, but even scold the master himself and "spoke to him." In this regard, the opinion of Academician D.S.Likhachev about the attitude of the progressive nobles to their serfs is interesting. According to the scientist, good relations were often established between gentlemen and servants and peasants - this gave stability to everyday life. True intellectuals never humiliated the weak, did not show their superiority - a typical feature of a cultured person. The Mussorgsky estate was like a charitable house, and the landowners were its merciful owners, compassionate and sympathetic to the grief of others. This undoubtedly had a huge impact on the formation of the future composer. To create such romances as "Savishna", "The Orphan", "Mischievous", the image of the Holy Fool in "Boris Godunov", it was necessary not only to see the "humiliated and insulted", but also to empathize with them. As the old-timers said, the barchuk were not forbidden to make friends with peasant children. Tatyana Georgievna Musorgskaya said: "Dad often recalled the words of my grandfather Filaret Petrovich - a child must necessarily grow up surrounded by children." The Mussorgsky family album contained a photograph of Filaret and Modest in peasant trousers and shirts. This once again confirms that parents tried not even outwardly to separate their children from their serf peers. The fact that Modest communicated with peasant children and their parents, visited the huts, is the testimony of the composer himself: “It was not for nothing that peasants loved to listen to them in childhood and deigned to be tempted by their songs”. This land has long been considered a song. But the time has come, childhood in Kareva is over. In 1849, the parents took Filaret and Modest to St. Petersburg to assign them to study. For Modest, a new, Petersburg, period began, the longest in his short life. At the end of March 1868, Mussorgsky probably managed to escape for a short time from Petersburg in order to visit the grave of his beloved mother and formalize her commemoration in the church, as he had done before. Modest Petrovich stopped, of course, in his Karev, of which he was listed as the owner. Meetings with the old-timers of the estate evoked memories of childhood, of the nanny. As you know, Mussorgsky nurtured musical ideas until "the time was ripe to record." And, returning to St. Petersburg, he composes the song "Child" (the author's date on the manuscript is "April 26, 1868"). This is the first name, there were also such options: "Tell me, nanny", "Child with a nanny", "Child". The song will be included in the cycle "Children's" at number 1 with the final and now well-known name "With a nanny". Mussorgsky dedicated this work to Alexander Sergeevich Dargomyzhsky - “the great teacher of musical truth,” as Modest Petrovich writes. He played the song to him first, after which Dargomyzhsky said: "Well, this one gagged me in the belt." The first performer of the song was Alexandra Nikolaevna Purgold, married Molas, singer, teacher, member of the Balakirev circle. Mussorgsky himself, apparently, attached particular importance to this work. In a letter to LI Shestakova, he writes: “I have depicted a part of what life gave me in musical images ... I would like this to be. In order for my characters to speak on stage, as living people speak ... my music must be an artistic reproduction of human speech in all its subtlest curves. This is the ideal that I strive for (Savishna, Orphan, Eremushka, Child). " The recognition of the song by his friends prompted the composer to compose four more pieces: "In the corner", "Beetle", "With a doll", "For the coming sleep". These five works, at the suggestion of Stasov, were given the general name "Children's. Episodes from a Child's Life ". The critic admired the cycle: "What a string of pearls and diamonds, what unheard of music!" Repin heard “Children's room”, calling it “a truly wonderful thing,” and, conquered by the “picturesqueness” of all five scenes, drew the title page for the cycle. In 1872, the music publisher V. Bessel published "Children's" with drawings by Repin, and music fans in Russia and abroad could get acquainted with it. In Weimar, the great Liszt played the Nursery, and she delighted him and everyone present. Mussorgsky, who idolized Liszt, learned about this and shared his joy with Stasov: “I never thought that Liszt, with a few exceptions, choosing colossal subjects, could seriously understand and appreciate Children's, and most importantly, admire it; after all, the children in it are Russians, with a strong local smell. "

Who are these Russian children? Where does this knowledge of child psychology come from?

At the time of the creation of the vocal cycle, Mussorgsky for the most part lived in the family of his brother, whose children grew up in front of the composer's eyes. Modest Petrovich was the godfather of George's nephew. The baptism took place in the court Mariinsky Church in Pavlovsk, where the couple had two dachas. Tatyana Georgievna repeated more than once that her father was the composer's favorite nephew. Modest Petrovich idolized him and treated him like his own son. When Georgy studied at the Marine Corps, he spent all his free time with his uncle, since by this time his parents had left Petersburg for the Ryazan estate, which belonged to Filaret Petrovich's wife. For his birthday, Modest Petrovich presented his nephew with a bronze candlestick for two candles with the image of a knight. The Mussorgskys especially cherished this candlestick as a family heirloom, since the composer worked under it. The last keeper was Tatiana Georgievna. However, the candlestick disappeared during the siege, when the house was shelled. But the most expensive gift remained forever - the famous uncle dedicated to his nephews the play "With a Doll" from the "Children's" cycle. On the score sheet of the play, the author's date “December 18, 1870. Tanyushka and Goga Mussorgsky ". So, perhaps, the composer "copied" "Children's" from his nephews. And in addition, he used observation of children when he was in the houses of friends in St. Petersburg, at their dachas. The memoirs of the composer's contemporaries speak in favor of this assumption. For example, this: "Cui's children loved him [Mussorgsky] very much for the fact that, playing with them, he did not do any indulgence and frolic with them like a child, from the heart ..." However, the episodes described by Mussorgsky are clearly not summer cottages and do not in any way resemble Pavlovsk, with its luxurious palaces and parks. And the little heroes of the plays do not look like St. Petersburg children. In "Children's", pictures of village life are captured, and this is a village very far from the capital, with a clear Pskov dialect and peculiarities. And although the composer does not specifically name the scene of the action, he feels from the text that it is well known and close to him. The first play of the cycle "With a nanny" is written in the first person: "Tell me, nanny, tell me, honey." The composer mentioned in the lines of his Autobiography that the Musorgskys' nanny was an expert in telling fairy tales: “Under the direct influence of the nanny, I became closely acquainted with Russian fairy tales.” The wise and kind Karevsky nanny also knew many legends, sayings and applied them in all cases of life. In the play, the child asks the nanny to tell about something good - a kind, cheerful fairy tale: “You know, nanny: don't tell me about the beech! "It is more interesting for a child to hear about a tsar who limped:" as he stumbles, a mushroom grows, "or about a wonderful island," where they neither reap nor sow, where bulk pears grow and ripen. " This island is quite real - it stands on Lake Zhizhytskoe and is called Dolgiy. There you can still collect a bucket of strawberries with blueberries or raspberries in half a day. And don't the main characters of Detskoy - dad, mom, nanny, two brothers Mishenka and Vassenka and the "old grandmother" - the Musorgsky family - father, mother, brothers Filaret and Modest, nanny Ksenia Semyonovna and grandmother Irina Egorovna ... Even more attention is drawn to the "similarity" with the life of the play "On the Coming Dream." Here the nanny teaches a serf girl who is brought to her brothers by her cousin to pray. In the cycle "Prayer" and in the "Confessions Paintings" the same names: aunt Katya, aunt Natasha, aunt Masha, aunt Parasha ... uncles Volodya, Grisha, Sasha, as well as children: Filka, Vanka, Mitka, Petka, Dasha, Pasha, Dunyasha ... It seems that the play "Beetle" is also inspired by the composer's childhood memories. Such games, such close communication with nature is possible only in a small rural estate, and certainly not in a dacha in Pavlovsk. “I played there, on the sand, behind the pavilion, where there are birches; I built a house out of maple splinters, the ones that my mother, my mother herself, nibbled. " The cradle of this brilliant, powerful sensitivity of Mussorgsky is his homeland, the land of Pskov, it was here that the composer first heard, as he noted in one of his letters, "the sound of his own string ..."

Mussorgsky conceived a large vocal cycle dedicated to children in the spring of 1868. Perhaps this idea was prompted by communication with the children of Stasov, whom he often visited in those years. Not songs for children, but vocal and poetic miniatures that reveal the child's inner world, his psychology - that was the focus of the composer's attention. He began to compose on his own texts and it was not by chance that after finishing the first number of the cycle, "With a nanny" at the same time, Mussorgsky made a significant dedication to "the great teacher of musical truth, Alexander Sergeevich Dargomyzhsky." This was six months before the death of Dargomyzhsky, who highly appreciated the experience of the young author and advised him to continue his work without fail. However, Mussorgsky, who was at that time busy finishing Boris Godunov, postponed it for a long time. Only at the beginning of 1870 four more numbers were written - "In the corner", "Beetle", "With a doll" and "For the coming dream." The last two plays, "The Cat Sailor" and "On a Stick", appeared only in 1872. Two more were composed - "A Child's Dream" and "A Quarrel of Two Children." The composer played them to friends, but did not record them, and they are absent in the final version of the cycle.

"Children's" is a completely unusual work that had no analogues before. These are not songs, not romances, but subtle vocal scenes, in which the world of a child is revealed with amazing precision, deeply and lovingly. There is no information about when the cycle was first executed. It is only known that it was often sung by a young lover A. N. Purgold, the sister of Rimsky-Korsakov's wife, who with her took an ardent part in the life of the musical circle grouped around Dargomyzhsky. Soon after it was written, in 1873, "Children's" was published by V. Bessel in an elegant design by Repin and immediately received public recognition. At the same time, Bessel, along with some other works by young Russian composers, sent the Children's Room to Liszt, who was delighted with it. The publisher's brother informed Mussorgsky that his work by Liszt “stirred him up to such an extent that he fell in love with the author and wanted to devote him an une“ bluette ”(trinket - L.M.). “I’m stupid or not in music, but in Detskaya, it seems, I’m not stupid, because understanding children and looking at them as people with a kind of world, and not as funny dolls, should not recommend the author from the stupid side, - Mussorgsky wrote to Stasov. - ... I never thought that Liszt, who chooses colossal subjects with a few exceptions, could seriously understand and appreciate Detskaya, and most importantly, admire it: after all, the children in it are Russians, with a strong local smell .. . "

Six of the seven numbers in the cycle are dedicated. “In the corner” - to Viktor Alexandrovich Hartman, a friend of the composer, artist and architect, who soon died in his prime of life from a heart disease (his posthumous exhibition inspired the composer to create one of his best creations - the “Pictures at an Exhibition” cycle). The Beetle is dedicated to the ideological inspirer of the composer's circle, the author of the winged name The Mighty Handful, Vladimir Vasilyevich Stasov. Above the play "With a Doll" is the inscription "Dedicated to Tanyushka and Goga Mussorgsky" - the composer's nephews, children of his older brother Filaret. "Coming to sleep" is dedicated to Sasha Cui, and the last issue, "I went on a stick", which has one more title - "At the dacha", is dedicated to Dmitry Vasilyevich and Poliksena Stepanovna Stasov (V. V. Stasov's brother and his wife). Only "Cat Sailor" was left without dedication.

Music

In "Children's", melodious recitative prevails, conveying the subtlest nuances of speech. The accompaniment is sparse, emphasizing the peculiarities of the melodic line, helping to create a bright, expressive image.

No. 1, "With a Nanny", is remarkable for its amazing flexibility of melody, supported by harmoniously inventive accompaniment. No. 2, In the Corner, is a scene between an angry nanny and a punished child. Stormy, accusing intonations of the nanny are contrasted with the child's phrases, at first justifying, plaintive, whining, and then, when the child convinces himself of innocence, turning into an aggressive cry. No. 4, "With a Doll," is a monotonous lullaby with which a girl rocks her doll. The monotonous melody is interrupted by an impatient exclamation (in imitation of the nanny: "Tyapa, you need to sleep!"), And then the unhurried lullaby unfolds again, freezing at the end - the doll fell asleep. No. 5, “For the Coming Dream,” may be the brightest - the evening prayer of a child. The girl prays for her loved ones, relatives, playmates. Her speech accelerates in an endless listing of names and suddenly stumbles ... A confused appeal to the nanny follows - how next? - and her grumpy answer, followed by a slow completion of the prayer: "Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner too!" and a quick, on one sound, question: “So? nanny? " No. 6, "Cat Sailor", is a choking tongue twister built on an agitated pulsating rhythm, with witty sound-visual techniques in the accompaniment - a story about a cat who has thrown his paw into a cage with a bullfinch. The cycle ends with a live scene "Ride on a stick". In the beginning it is a fun ride on an imaginary horse (recitation on one note), a conversation with a friend, funny jumps. But the baby fell. His mother responds calmly and pacifyingly to his groans and complaints, distracts him from the pain. And now the calmed boy jumps again.