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Litera
Reference:

Music in the Lyrics of A.N. Apukhtin

Yukhnova Irina Sergeevna

Doctor of Philology

Professor, Department of Russian Literature, National Research Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod

603950, Russia, Nizhegorodskaya oblast', g. Nizhnii Novgorod, pr. Gagarina, 23

yuhnova1@mail.ru
Other publications by this author
 
 

DOI:

10.25136/2409-8698.2023.2.39810

EDN:

COUDZX

Received:

19-02-2023

Published:

05-03-2023

Abstract: The article examines the theme of music and features of the use of musical imagery in Alexei Apukhtin’s poetry. The object of the research are “poems for occasion”, friendly messages and dedications for musicians-friends as well as poems “Barrel organ”, “Life”, “Fate”. To Beethoven’s Symphony No.5 author gives historical-cultural comments on Apukhtin’s works, analyses their ideological and artistic meaning and form. The author pays special attention to analysing the biographical context, summarising the information on the poet’s friendly contacts with composers and musicians, on Apukhtin's perception of music, understanding of his aesthetic position. The other direction of the research is the analysis of the works, in which music is used as a basis for an allegorical depiction of the life path. The novelty of the research lies in the systematic consideration of the theme of music in Apukhtin's works. The article analyses in detail the works addressed to Petr Tchaikovsky, a friend of Apukhtin, demonstrates how their intonation and mood change from irony to sadness. These poems not only reflect the stages of the friendly relations between the poet and the composer, but give an assessment of their own creative destiny. The article reveals the polemical plan of the poem "A Singer in the Camp of Russian Composers" shows what innovations in contemporary opera Apukhtin rejects. The study pays particular attention to poems, the plot of which the poet bases on the very process of perceiving music when trying to find a verbal equivalent to a musical text.

Keywords:

Alexei Apukhtin, music, barrel organ, Petr Tchaikovsky, Russian poetry, Mighty bunch, russian opera, musical ekphrasis, the writer 's worldview, the theme of fate
This article is automatically translated.

This is exactly what the system of repetitions conveys – the ominous and inexorable tread of fate – an old woman with a stick: the refrain "knock–knock-knock", the rhythmic structure of the poem, "an extensive system of phonic, stylistic, syntactic repetitions, as well as emerging trends towards the use of musical form in lyrical construction" [11, p. 71]. The ominous context is reinforced by a quote from Pushkin's "Anchar" "Fate, like a formidable sentry, / follows us everywhere" [1, p. 134]. The way Apukhtin perceived Beethoven's work reflects his pessimistic, depressive moods, "feelings of a confused and even depressed person" [12, p. 244], who even in moments of happiness hears the annoying knock of a stick. German romantics discovered that "music does not express or depict anything concrete; it strives for the ultimate and hidden" [13, p. 384], and "music is both a work and a producing principle, a kind of natura naturans; in this capacity, its meaning goes far beyond the world of sounds" [13, p. 384]. p. 387]. Actually, Apukhtin is trying to verbally express this secret, to put into words what "goes beyond the world of sounds".

Thus, the musical theme in Apukhtin's work is presented not only as a response to the musical events of the epoch, as a form of reflection (and in this respect it can be considered as an artistic document of the epoch), but also is associated with the search for new artistic forms, the source of which is the structure of the musical work.

References
1. Apukhtin, A.N. (1991). The complete collection of poems. St. Petersburg: Soviet writer, Leningrad Publishing House.
2. Baevsky, V.S. (1994). History of Russian poetry. Smolensk: Rusich.
3. Kovarsky, N.A.(1961). A.N. Apukhtin. In: Apukhtin A.N., Poems (5-53). Moscow: Soviet Writer.
4. New materials about A. N. Apukhtin from the archive of A.V. Zhirkevich (publication by N.G. Podleskikh-Zhirkevich, notes by S.V. Sapozhkov and N.G. Podleskikh-Zhirkevich) (1998). Russian literature, 4, 123-157.
5. Gukovsky, G.A. (1995). Pushkin and Russian Romantics. Moscow: Intrada.
6. Ermakova, S. S., Navasardyan, R. G. (2020). On some features of the musical-historical phenomenon "mighty bunch". In: Scientific community of students: problems of art and music education, V (89-94). Cheboksary: I.Ya. Yakovlev Chuvash State Pedagogical University.
7. Keldysh, Yu. V. (1976). Mighty Bunch. In: Musical Encyclopedia, 3. (619-621). Moscow: Soviet Encyclopedia.
8. Spachil, O. V. (2016). Poetic metaphor “the sound of a broken string” (A.N. Apukhtin and A.P. Chekhov). In: Fiction as a cultural ensemble (164-174). Moscow: Publishing House "Pero".
9. Sorokina, S.P. (2021). Barrel organ and organ-grinders in Russian literature of the 1840s. Studia Litterarum, 6(1), 206-227. doi 10.22455/2500-4247-2021-6-1-206-227.
10. Alpatov, S. V. (2019). "Katerina-barrel organ": name – thing – sign. Culture of Slavs and culture of Jews: dialogue, similarities, differences, 2019, 157-168. doi 10.31168/2658-3356.2019.10
11. Kuznetsova, E. R. (1999). Musical element as a feature of plot-building in Russian lyrical poetry of the XIX-XX centuries (A. N. Apukhtin, Ya. P. Polonsky, A. A. Fet, N. S. Gumilev, G. V. Ivanov, evolution of musicality). Samara.
12. Korovin, V.I. (1997). Russian poetry of the XIX century. Moscow: ROST.
13. Makhov, A.E. (2014). Music and musical in the spiritual culture of German Romanticism. In: History of German literature: new and modern times (380-392). Moscow: Russian State University for the Humanities.

Peer Review

Peer reviewers' evaluations remain confidential and are not disclosed to the public. Only external reviews, authorized for publication by the article's author(s), are made public. Typically, these final reviews are conducted after the manuscript's revision. Adhering to our double-blind review policy, the reviewer's identity is kept confidential.
The list of publisher reviewers can be found here.

The purpose of the reviewed article is to analyze the musical contexts of A.N. Apukhtin's lyrics. As the author notes at the very beginning of the work, "music occupied a large place in the life and work of A.N. Apukhtin, although, according to his biographers, the poet did not really understand it. Meanwhile, Apukhtin played music (there is a photo of him at the piano), constantly attended musical evenings, concerts, did not miss opera productions, famous musicians and composers entered his circle of communication." It seems that the chosen vector of study is quite interesting, partly new, and productive. The article uses historical-typological, cultural-historical methods of analysis, as well as elements of the biographical method, techniques of motivic and structural analysis. Syncretism is welcome in this case, because the topic cannot be fully disclosed only in the mode of one approach. Stylistically, the text of the work is homogeneous, the author's desire for a scientific type of narrative is noticeable. For example, "the early poems are ironic, full of everyday details and grow out of everyday life. In the first of the extant poems addressed to Tchaikovsky, Apukhtin acts from the position of a poetic "master". And this is understandable. At that time, Apukhtin was a promising and already critically acclaimed young poet, they saw in him almost the heir of Pushkin," or "in a message to a composer friend, the poet uses musical terminology - that is, he speaks to him in the familiar Tchaikovsky language, the one in which he addresses people, God, the universe. And it turns out that you can talk about life in this way. The language of music is used by Apukhtin as an allegory of the life path," or "Apukhtin responds differently to the cycle of "historical" concerts by A.G. Rubinstein, which took place in 1885-1886 in Russia and Europe. They realized a global goal – the history of the development of world music was presented. In the poetic dedication preserved in the composer's autograph album, Apukhtin sees the main merit of A.G. Rubinstein in the fact that he managed to avoid tendentiousness, focus on social dissonances, and presented music as an expression of universal and universal values, managed to convey in it "What was dear to obsolete generations, // What is like a bright ray, / / The oppressive darkness of life sometimes dispersed, // That it helped to live with equal love // Both the poor and the rich!", etc. The work has a pronounced practical character, the material can be used when reading cultural studies courses in higher educational institutions. In my opinion, there are enough examples illustrating the theme of "musical contexts in the lyrics of Aputikhna"; the references and citations are correct. The purpose of the study has been achieved, the available text volume is sufficient. In the final section of the work, the author argues that "the musical theme in Apukhtin's work is presented not only as a response to the musical events of the epoch, as a form of reflection (and in this regard it can be considered as an artistic document of the epoch), but also associated with the search for new artistic forms, the source of which is the structure of a musical work." Thus, we state: the work is independent, original, holistic; the author's point of view is presented objectively, consistently. I recommend the article "Music in the lyrics of A.N. Apukhtin" for open publication in the magazine "Litera".
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