Abstract: The research subject is a monumental semi-orchestral composition created by an outstanding Russian composer of the late 20th century Boris Tischenko “Requiem” with lyrics by A. Akhmatova. A funeral service over Akhmatova was read at the church of St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral in Leningrad on March 10, 1966. The score of the “Requiem” was finished on August 16, 1966. Thus, the composition with the lyrics by Akhmatova has become a tribute to her, a musical offering, and even the first monument not built with hands. The author gives special attention to the symphonic form of the “Requiem”, differences in the interpretations of the poetic theme in the works of Tischenko and Akhmatova, the role of the symphonic orchestra and the leading singers; the author also considers an important issue of a high-quality performance of the hardest scores created by Tischenko. The main conclusion of the research is the fact that Tischenko’s “Requiem” has become an important element in the process of renovation of Russian symphonic style of the 1960s - the 1970s. As a composition, written in a modern language, it has become one of the drivers of this renovation. As such, the composition is a vocal symphony, and the composer develops the symphonic form step-by-step. The scientific novelty of the research consists in the fact that it is the first work in Russian musicology to consider Tischenko’s “Requiem” in detail, to reveal the contensive aspect of the composition, and to analyze the difficulties of performing the composition. The author reasonably reckons the symphonic composition by Tischenko among the most significant pieces in the history of Russian music.   

Keywords: Symphony orchestra, tenor, soprano, Symphony, Requiem, Dmitry Shostakovich, Anna Akhmatova, Boris Tishchenko, poetry, drama

Abstract: Jazz was the first type of music where the earliest stage of its development was recorded. A single performance recorded in 1917 by the New Orleans quintet, the Original Dixieland “Jass” Band, is known as the first jazz record in history. In the academic community, there’s the perception that the musical content featured on this record cannot be viewed as a typical representative of jazz music from that period. The music was performed by white musicians, though most first jazz bands were black, and the music was far from a genuine solo improvisation. However, the very act of recording the music made it atypical to begin with. The subject of this article is the influence of sound recording technology on jazz culture at this stage of its foundation. At that time, jazz musicians had to consider various technical peculiarities of sound recording technology if they wished to create a recording. The author pays special attention to analyzing the consequences of the reproducibility of these recordings for jazz musicians and the audience’s perception. In this article, the author uses a comprehensive methodology that involves analyzing historical sources and memoirs of jazz musicians related to the sound recording industry. The research proves that audio recordings are insufficient as a source to critically research the first jazz gramophone record and suggests alternative approaches to its interpretation. In those years, if jazz musicians wanted to make a recording they had to bear in mind numerous peculiarities of sound recording technology. The author gives special attention to the analysis of the consequences of reproducibility of a recording for jazz musicians, and for the audience’s perception. As a research methodology, the author uses the comprehensive approach which includes the study of historical sources and jazz musicians’ memoirs related to the sound recording industry. The research proves that audio recordings are not sufficient as a source for critical research of the first jazz gramophone record, and suggests alternative approaches to its interpretation.   

Keywords: Henry Ragas, Nick LaRocca, ODJB, phonogram, sound recording, pop music, jazz, Larry Shields, Edwin Edwards, Tony Sbarbaro

Abstract: In the last work by S.I. Taneev - a cantate “At the reading of a psalm” - a multifaceted mastery of the composer, his artistic convictions, which had defined his life journey, manifested themselves to the highest degree. In some research works of the Soviet period, rather ambiguous and tendentious assertions about the meaning and the content of the cantata can be found. Usually, they disavow the key - religious and philosophical - context of the composition, and only the works of the recent decades focus on this aspect. The author of this article offers the variant of the interpretation of the religious and philosophical concept of the composition based on the analysis of the composer’s work with a literary text and the detection of semantic interrelations between the poetic and the musical contents of the cantata. The author concludes that Taneev doesn’t set himself a task to literally reflect the literary text in music, but uses it, principally, as a source of colorful vivid associations, the preassigned order of which allows him to create a particular religious and philosophical worldview. The musical part of the cantata can be divided into two conceptual spheres: macrocosm - the universe in its religious and philosophical understanding (NN 1-4), and microcosm - a person and the way of her spiritual evolvement in the world, leading to the understanding of the highest moral fundamentals of life, formulated in the sacred text (NN 5-9).   

Keywords: microcosm, metaphor, symbol, allegory, Christianity, Khomyakov, musical semantics, cantata, Taneev, macrocosm

Abstract: The author considers L. Berger’s vocal cycle “The Beautiful Miller Maid” in the connection with the latest composition by Schubert, determined by the usage of poetic texts of W. Müller. The research subject is the system of internal linkages both in poetic texts and the music of songs of the vocal cycle: the tone logic and thematic and genre design. The author takes into account the new features of the genre Lied in Berlin singing style, which is the point of contact between a folklore song and an author’s work. The intensification of the author’s element leads to the emergence of a dialogue tensity in a text simulating a “Lied im Volkston”. In the cycle, symphonic and structure linkages become apparent  bringing it closer to the type of a vocal cycle as a diary that would be typical for the works of F. Schubert and R. Schumann. Such a design is based on the organization of the cycle around the figure of a Miller as a central character and a defining role in the cycle of images of Müller’s poetry. The analysis of the cycle allows concluding that the vocal cycle by L. Berger develops this genre in the direction of Schubert’s masterpieces far more so than Beethoven’s cycle “To the distant beloved”. The key idea of the research is as follows: the initial linkage to the play (Liederspiel) is overcome in the design of Müller and Berger, and the decisive role in this concept  is the one of the composer.   

Keywords: symbolism, circle of songs, the Berlin song school, leaderspiel, Schubert vocal cycles, romanticism, Ludwig Berger, Wilhelm Mueller, German Lied, The Lovely Maid of the Mill

Abstract: Boris Tchaikovsky is the author of bright and original symphonic compositions. A timbre-orchestra palette is, undoubtedly, one of the key components of the music language of his works. The authors of this research analyze Tchaikovsky’s  Violin concerto and Piano concerto, the symphonic poems “The Juvenile” and “The Winds of Siberia”, the Symphony No 3 “Sevastopol”, and the Symphony with Harp, in order to consider particular aspects connected with the timbre-orchestra language of his symphonic compositions, such as: the timbre-texture embodiment of thematic invention (the peculiarities of orchestra compositions); the ensemble combinations of instruments and their meaning. The authors also analyze the composer’s favorite timbre-texture techniques. The authors define and consider the phenomenon of “timbre pointillism” typical for the timbre writing of the composer. The original symphonic works by Tchaikovsky have been studied many times. In 2019 a research by Yu. Abdokov was published in which the author considers the peculiarities of an orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s theatrical music. The orchestra in his symphonic compositions also has theatrical features, however with some peculiarities. The features of Tchaikovsky’s timbre-orchestra writing haven’t been analyzed yet, and this fact determines the scientific novelty of the research. The authors attempt to generalize the peculiarities of the timbre writing of the composer. Tchaikovsky himself always emphasized the necessity of a single and final variant of orchestration.   

Keywords: timbre, orchestra, symphonic work, symphonic music, symphony, Boris Tchaikovsky, modern music, Russian music, orchestral aspect, orchestral techniques

Abstract: The author studies the problem of intercultural cooperation between Russia and Italy in the field of ballet art. Since this type of interaction has been ongoing for several centuries, the research is divided into two vectors: the historical-cultural and the critical ones. Besides, the author considers an important issue of the origins of the cultural cooperation stemming from the opera art, traditional for Italy. The article considers not only the chronological component of Russia-Italy cooperation during the 18th - the 21st centuries, but also explains (in the socio-cultural and critical ways) the processes of surge and slump of interest in this form of cultural communication. The author detects and explains a unique pattern - the initial priority of Italians at the Russian scene of the 19th century, and the following radical change of this influence - a triumphal conquering of Europe by the Russian masters, whose talent is still appreciated. The scientific novelty of the research consists in the fact that for the first time attention is not only given to the very historical chronology of the visits of Italian dancers to the Russian Imperial Ballet Scene, but also the dynamics of this process is explained. Moreover, the article is the first work focusing on the change of a locomotive component in the system of the Italy-Russia cultural exchange which  took place in the late 20th century. Thus, the scientific novelty and importance of the research consist in the attempt to study the process of intercultural cooperation in its development from the 18th century to the present moment. Such an approach allows detection the historical, socio-cultural and critical components, and helps to reveal the topicality of this problem for the modernity, when art is still a soft mechanism of, among other things, political and geographical interaction between countries, forming a “cultural portrayal” of the country on the world map.   

Keywords: Saint-Petersburg, art, intercultural dialogue, dancer, ballerina, theater, XVIII - XXI century, Italy, Russia, ballet

Abstract: The opera by Jacques Offenbach “The Tales of Hoffmann” is a unique phenomenon in the history of the opera genre attracting the attention of interpreters and researchers. Dealing with the text, musicians face particular problems caused by an unusual story behind the opera and its other peculiarities. The purpose of this article is to study the specificity of the opera at the literary, music, and stage levels using  the hermeneutical approach. The three independent original works of Hoffmann were combined in a grand drama composed by J. Barbier and M. Carré, and then in a libretto (J. Barbier) by means of deconstruction of romantic stereotypes of the main character, which reveals the peculiarities of the opera under consideration and explains the topicality of this research. The music analysis is aimed at the detection of expressive means through which the composer had managed to explain the idea of the authors of the literary text and get it across to the audience. The key formative way of building a music drama is a “romantic irony” (M. Ya. Kuklinskaya). That’s where the genre dualism of the opera under consideration comes from, which manifested itself in the form of the synthesis of the genres opera comique and opera lyrique. The authors also detect the interaction of elements of both genres helping to create an unusual atmosphere of the opera, and the play with the audience, allowing manipulating the spectators’ expectations, which is more typical of operetta than of opera genre.   

Keywords: opera lyrique, opera comique, academic vocals, romantic irony, deconstruction, interpretation, Tales of Hoffman, Offenbach, musical theater, musical hermeneutics

Abstract: The author is the first to raise the problem of reconstruction of the musical-epic traditions of Novgorod region. The research object is chant-declamation forms of folklore, typologically related to the bylina tradition. The research subject is their structural and stylistic peculiarities. For the first time, all facts of existence of musical epos, recorded in Novgorod region by various collectors, are gathered in one source - from the auditory notations of A.K. Lyadov (1890) to the latest evidence of existence of the musical-epic tradition (the recordings of Leningrad - St.Petersburg conservatory of the 1980s - 1990s). As the materials for comparison, the author uses the folklore images from Vologda, Arkhangelsk and Tver regions. Some musical texts are published for the first time. The author defines the genre composition of the musical-epic area of Novgorod folklore (buffoonery and takes, ballads, spiritual poems and memorial songs), describes the forms of composition of the main samples (one-line verses, long speeches and strophical). The research material gives reasons to assume that in Novgorod folklore traditions of the late 19th - the 20th centuries, the forms of recitation of music were widespread, typologically related to two North-Russian styles - the symbolic brief-chant and rhapsodical. The author concludes that the lake Ilmen basin and the adjacent territories was one of the places where these styles had been forming. On the one hand, the discovery of the typological relation of Novgorod and the North-Russian forms of musical narration helps define the structure and evaluate the style of single facts of Novgorod folklore. On the other hand, the parallels found are of key importance for the confirmation of Novgorod origins of the North-Russian bylina traditions.   

Keywords: memorial chants, spiritual verses, ballads, musical epos, local traditions, Russian North, folklore genres, folklore archive, Novgorod folklore, folk songs