A. Glazunov "Stenka Razin"
Stepan Razin - Don Cossack, the leader of the popular uprising in Russian history is a very bright figure, the interest in which does not decrease to this day. The people about him composed songs and epics, poets composed poems, writers novels, and artists displayed in their paintings. The outstanding Russian composer Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov, who composed the symphonic poem Stenka Razin, is a wonderful piece filled with the spirit of liberty and love of freedom. In it, the author, through music, recreated a well-known historical event, but without affecting the social essence of the popular uprising in his work, he only portrayed the tragically romantic relationships of the national hero and the beautiful slave woman that ended.
Story
The idea to compose the symphonic poem "Stenka Razin" came to Glazunov not by chance, but by coincidence of certain circumstances. In 1882, he met a wonderful composer, member of the Mighty Handful Commonwealth, A.P. Borodin. The music of the works of Alexander Porfiryevich and especially of his "Bogatyr Symphony" so embodied the majestic images of the heroes and sang patriotism and the power of the Russian people, that with one introduction she called to stand up for her native land.
Glazunov, admiring Borodin’s talent and being impressed by his writings, also planned his new works to give a heroic and epic character. So, the young composer had the intention to write a symphonic overture and to use the folk song "Hey, We Gone!" As the main theme. However, in the autumn of the same year, Alexander's plans changed and he began work on a symphonic poem called Stenka Razin, a work with folk historical themes, in which the composer recreated the image of an uncommon leader of a spontaneous popular revolt. A. Glazunov transferred all the musical themes originally conceived in the overture into this work, and, besides this, by the convincing insistence of V.V. Stasov gave him a verbal program.
Alas, but the young composer had a habit of working simultaneously on several works, so he completed work on Stenka Razin only after three years, and his first performance was held only in the autumn of 1885. It was a significant concert, since it marked the beginning of the “Russian Symphony Concerts,” initiated by Glazunov’s great friend, the delicate connoisseur and music expert M. Belyaev. The philanthropist organized everything with his usual scope: he rented the best capital hall of the Nobility Assembly, hired the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra and invited eminent soloists. There were not many listeners at this event, because the music of domestic composers designated in the program was not particularly popular among the ordinary public, but after several concerts visiting these concerts became so active that they soon became considered very significant events in the cultural life of St. Petersburg . The first performance of Stenka Razin was successful, and the work received approval and a good rating from A.P. Borodin, V.V. Stasova and N.A. Rimsky-Korsakogo.
Interesting Facts
- The author dedicated the poem "Stenka Razin" to the talented composer A.P. Borodin, about this says the inscription on the title page of the score, which was first printed in 1888 in the Leipzig music publishing house M. Belyaev. Unfortunately, Alexander Porfirevich by that time had already passed away.
- Alexander Glazunov, when he worked on the poem "Stenka Razin", was so fascinated by the works of A.P. Borodin, that while choosing the tonal plan of the work, he stopped on C minor - Alexander Porfirievich’s favorite tonality.
- Glazunov, he conceived in 1882 the overture "Hey, let's go", eventually transformed into the symphonic suite "Stenka Razin". However, the work with the name of the burlatsky song still came out from the pen of the composer, only now it was a concert for chorus and symphony orchestra. With this work, the author showed his attitude towards the revolutionary events that took place in Russia in 1905.
- Symphonic poem "Stenka Razin" famous choreographer and reformer A.A. Gorsky in 1918 embodied on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater.
- The poem "Stenka Razin" was successfully performed not only in Russia, but also abroad. For the first time abroad, it successfully sounded in Paris in 1889 as part of the World Exhibition (conducted by the author himself). The audience was very surprised when they learned that the author of the poem is only twenty years old.
- To date, there are about ten recordings of this work, made not only in the homeland of the composer, but also in countries such as Germany, Switzerland. Argentina, England and Scotland.
Content
The creative period to which the essay of the poem "Stenka Razin" belongs, musicologists and biographers of A. Glazunov, is called youthful or Kruchkist. At this time, he in his works really unquestioningly followed the traditions of composers from the creative community "The Mighty Handful". Therefore, "Stenka Razin" is a work with a folk-historical plot, a musical thematism based on folk melodies, and an extensive program, which in fact was not a plan for the composer, but only helped an inexperienced listener to set up his imagination. Glazunov built it on folklore, glorifying the courage of the free chieftain and his distant Cossacks. The content of the literary introduction is as follows: the richly decorated canoons of Stenka Razin float along the Volga - Mother. On the first boat, the chieftain himself sat with his comrades and the beautiful Persian princess, who was captured in full. Sitting in the brocade tent, the girl tells the dream that she had a dream the day before: she would drown in the river, the chieftain would be executed, and the free Cossacks would be put in prison.
The composition is written in the form of a sonata allegro, but the composer interprets it quite freely. He begins a poem with a detailed introduction, and then uses certain compositional techniques, that is, smoothes the boundaries between development and reprise, in which the main climax rises and completes the work with a grandiose coda, which merges the main storm in the heart, the princess’s sleep, her death and reckless prowess irrepressible squads.
The composer in "Stenka Razin", as predetermined in sonata form, made a contrast comparison of the main and side parts. In the main game, Glazunov used the song of the Volga barge haulers “Hey, let’s go” to create a picture of the elemental rebellious band. At first, it appeared in the introduction in the form of small intonations, and then, gradually developing and tying together, at the end of the work menacingly and majestically sounds in a complete form performed by brass instruments. The side game is a gentle, contemplative melody depicting the image of a beautiful eastern princess. It is the same as the main party, in the process it is gradually figuratively transformed and in the reprise it becomes energetic and strong-willed.
While composing "Stenka Razin", twenty-year-old Alexander Glazunov already at that time, proficient in various composer techniques: form and texture, orchestral and harmonic means, richly saturated the work with bright pictorial and colorful effects. In the music of the poem you can hear the splashing of water, the clatter of galloping horses and the clang of rattling weapons. In addition, all the action takes place against the backdrop of the colorful splendor of the Volga nature, which is picturesquely reflected in the music of the work.
The symphonic poem "Stenka Razin" is a work that completed the youthful period of the career of Alexander Glazunov. In it, a twenty-year-old youth appeared as an artist, fluent in various methods of musical development and having an established symphonic thinking. And the bright musical images created by him in the poem and the perfection of their realization allowed this work to stand in line with other works of Russian symphonic music that deserve special attention.
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