Monthly Archives: December 2018

The Huron Noël, or “Jesous Ahatonhia”

31 Monday Dec 2018

Posted by in Canada, Christmas, Folklore

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Ojibwa Camp Northern Shore of Lake Huron by Frederick A. Verner (1873)
Indian encampment on Lake Huron, by Paul Kane (1848–50)

Missionaries to New France had to adapt Christianity so their converts could understand it. Amerindian languages were simple languages that did not provide “black robes” with ways of expressing abstract notions. To befriend Amerindians they, therefore, chose to sing with their congregation.

“Jesous Ahatonhia”

The best-known piece composed for Amerindians is the Huron carol entitled: “Jesous Ahatonhia.”  It was composed in 1643 for the Hurons at Ste Marie, in all likelihood, by Jean de Brébeuf, a Jesuit missionary, who was tortured to death by Iroquois Amerindians and has become a mythic figure. The Huron Noël belongs to Canada‘s répertoire of Christmas carols. The melody was borrowed from a French song entitled: Une jeune pucelle (A Young Maiden).

Jesous was translated into French by Paul Picard, an Amerindian notary at Quebec City and, into English, by Jesse Edgar Middleton. It was then adapted for voice and piano by Healey Willan (ca 1927), an Anglo-Canadian organist and composer (12 October 1880 in Balham, London – 16 February 1968, in Toronto, Ontario).

I have written down two stanzas of the Huron carol and two stanzas of its French translation, and a full English translation. To access the French lyrics, please click on Jesous Ahatonhia.

Huron lyrics

Ehstehn yayau deh tsaun we yisus ahattonnia/ O na wateh wado:kwi nonnwa ‘ndasqua entai / ehnau sherskwa trivota nonnwa ‘ndi yaun rashata / Iesus Ahattonnia, Ahattonnia, Iesus Ahattonnia / 

Asheh kaunnta horraskwa deh ha tirri gwames / Tishyaun ayau ha’ndeh ta aun hwa ashya a ha trreh / aundata:kwa Tishyaun yayaun yaun n-dehta /  Iesus Ahattonnia, Ahattonnia, Iesus Ahattonnia /

French lyrics

Chrétiens, prenez courage, / Jésus Sauveur est né! / Du malin les ouvrages / À jamais sont ruinés. / Quand il chante merveille, / À ces troublants appas / Ne prêtez plus l’oreille: / Jésus est né: In excelsis gloria!

Oyez cette nouvelle, /Dont un ange est porteur! /Oyez! âmes fidèles, / Et dilatez vos cœurs. / La Vierge dans l’étable / Entoure de ses bras / L’Enfant-Dieu adorable. / Jésus est né: In excelsis gloria!

English lyrics (Huron Noël) 🎶

‘Twas in the moon of wintertime when all the birds had fled
That mighty Gitchi Manitou sent angel choirs instead;
Before their light the stars grew dim and wondering hunters heard the hymn,
Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, in excelsis gloria.

Within a lodge of broken bark the tender babe was found;
A ragged robe of rabbit skin enwrapped his beauty round
But as the hunter braves drew nigh the angel song rang loud and high
Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, in excelsis gloria.

The earliest moon of wintertime is not so round and fair
As was the ring of glory on the helpless infant there.
The chiefs from far before him knelt with gifts of fox and beaver pelt.
Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, in excelsis gloria.

O children of the forest free, O seed of Manitou
The holy Child of earth and heaven is born today for you.
Come kneel before the radiant boy who brings you beauty peace and joy.
Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, in excelsis gloria. 

I attempted to copy this post, written six years ago, but couldn’t. I rewrote it.

RELATED ARTICLES

Sources and Resources

  1. Timothy J. McGee, The Music of Canada (New York, London: W.W. Norton, 1985)
  2. The Canadian Encyclopedia
    https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/jesous-ahatonhia-emc

A Happy New Year to everyone 🎄

Hymn of the Cherubim

31 Monday Dec 2018

Posted by in Russian Art, Russian Music, Spirituality

≈ 8 Comments

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In the forest at winter by Isaac Levitan, 1855 (WikiArt.org.)

Let this be my shortest post. The painting is by Isaac Levitan and the music, Tchaikovsky‘s. Choirs are Russian or Bulgarian.

 

Love to everyone 💛

Hymn of the Cherubim by The USSR Ministry Of Culture Chamber Choir

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In the forest at winter by Isaac Levitan, 1855 (WikiArt.org.)

© Micheline Walker
31 December 2018
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The Art of Aleksey Savrasov

27 Thursday Dec 2018

Posted by in Russian Art, Russian Music

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Early Spring Thaw by Aleksey Savrasov, 1785 (Wikiart.org.)

Early Days and Education

  • a Romantic

I have mentioned Savrasov (1830 – 1897) in two earlier posts. In one of these posts, I combined a short discussion of the artist and a list of newspapers. I also wrote that Aleksey Savrasov was Isaac Levitan’s teacher and had been a member of the Peredvizhniki group. The Peredvizhniki (the Wanderers) group protested academic restrictions. I will add that, at the beginning of his career, Savrasov’s paintings were considered Romantic. The romantics expressed sentiment and individualism as their country entered its Industrial Age, William Blake‘s “dark, satanic mills.”

Savrasov was born in Moscow and studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (MSPSA) under professor Karl Rabus (1800-1857). In 1852, Sarasov traveled to the Ukraine. Then, in 1854, the Grand Duchess Maria Nikolayevna, President of the Imperial Academy of Arts, commissioned several works from him. Savrasov therefore moved to Oranienbaum, near Saint Petersburg.

Oranienbaum

“View in the Neighbourhood of Oranienbaum,” 1754, earned Savrasov his membership in the Russian Academy of Arts.

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View in the Neighourhood of Oranienbaum, Aleksey Savrasov, 1854 (Wikiart.org.)

In 1854, Savrasov’s View in the Neighbourhood of Oranienbaum (1854), earned him membership in the Imperial Academy of Arts. By the invitation of the Grand Duchess Maria Nikolayevna, President of the Imperial Academy of Arts, he moved to the neighbourhood of St. Petersburg.

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Winter by Aleksei Savrasov, 1873 (Wikiart.org.)

Winter by Aleksei Savrasov, 1870 (Wikiart.org.)

The Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (MSPSA)

  • a teacher
  • a friendship with Vasily Perov
  • a rich social life

In 1857, the year Savrasov married Sophia Karlevna Hertz, the sister of art historian Karl Hertz (1820-1883), he became a teacher at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (MSPSA). His best students were Isaac Levitan and Konstantin Korovin, who had fond memories of him.

In Moscow, he and his wife entertained art lovers and art collectors, including Pavel Tretyakov, who gave his art gallery to Russia in 1892. At this time in his life, Savrasov had a fine and productive relationship with artist Vasily Perov. Savrasov helped Perov paint his Bird catcher and Hunters on Bivouac and Perov helped Savrasov paint the boat trackers in his Volga.

The International Exhibition in England

  • England
  • Switzerland

In 1662, Savrasov travelled to Europe to see England’s International Exhibition and also went to visit Switzerland. The lesson he drew from visiting the International Exhibition in England was that no academies could so promote an artist as an international exhibition. (See Aleksey Savrasov, Wiki2.org.)

Alcoholism and Death

In the late 1870s, after the death of this daughter, Savrasov became an alcoholic. No one could help. In 1882, he was dismissed from the MSPSA. The following line is very moving: “Only the doorkeeper of the MSPSA and Pavel Tretyakov, founder of the Tretyakov Gallery, were present at his funeral in 1897.” (See Aleksey Savrasov, Wiki2.org.)

The Rooks have returned by Aleksey Savrasov, 1871  (Wikiart.org.)

A Spring Day by Aleksei Savrasov, 1873 (Wikiart.org)

Comments

  • masterpieces
  • the transitional & the eternal
  • the lyrical landscape

Savrasov’s “The Rooks have returned” (1871) is considered one of his finest, if not his finest, painting. But so many of Savrasov’s paintings are masterpieces that saying one is the best is a genuine challenge.

For instance, “A Spring Day” (1873) is perfection and it touches us because it depicts the beginning of a season. Human beings have painted the seasons for a very long time and they have kept Books of Hours. Jean de France, duc de Berry‘s Très Riches Heures depicts each month of the year and its labour. Savrasov’ paintings often portray transitions and, therefore, renewal They show the end or beginning of a season, the end of winter, in particular. Seasons follow seasons eternally. Life rises again, irrepressibly.

Note that smoke comes out of the chimney of the first little brown homes. Until now, the Industrial Revolution, humans have protected themselves. We have dealt with the elements, found a refuge and built roads and fences. The pale green of trees in the background allows us to get a clear view of the disheveled trees burgeoning.

From the point of view of composition, “A Spring Day” has several golden sections. A golden section/ratio resembles an off-center crucifix. One of two lines, an horizontal and a vertical line, is longer than the other line. “A Spring Day” shows a long horizontal line that crosses a vertical line. The meeting point is a group trees. Perspective is achieved by the change in colouring from dark to pale. Moreover, there is a road, or vanishing point (le point de fuite). There is no flaw in the composition of “A Spring Day.”

The sky sits above a long arched line supported by small trees on the right and the bulkier houses on the left.

“A Spring Thaw,” the painting placed at the beginning of this post, combines diagonal and other lines. They are hints of Japonisme. Moreover, the colouring is very smooth.

Savrasov’s softens his landscapes as though each were a praise of nature and a prayer.

RELATED ARTICLE 

  • The Art of Isaac Levitan (8 December 2018)

Sources and Resources

 

Love to everyone 💕

On the music of Sergei Prokofieff

Basso profondo as accompaniment

The Rooks have arrived by Aleksey Savrasov, 1880 (Wikiart.org)

© Micheline Walker
27 December 2018
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A Merry Christmas to All

25 Tuesday Dec 2018

Posted by in Russian Art, Russian Music

≈ 20 Comments

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I wanted to copy a post, but something went wrong. My computer or platform could not copy the post. I did not attempt to revive the computer.

However, I found a winter scene painted by Aleksey Savrasov. Aleksey Savrasov was Isaac Levitan‘ teacher. Savrasov created the lyrical landscape and Levitan, the mood landscape. The terms are interchangeable.

Both joined the Peredvizhniki group, but Levitan did so later than Savrasov.

The group was superseded by Mir iskusstva, a movement, but later a magazine, whose chief editor was Sergei Diagnilev, of the future Ballets Russes.

The post I wanted to publish a second time was Salve Regina: the Season’s Antiphon, published on 3 August 2017.

RELATED ARTICLE

I lost my voice on 11 December. I phoned my doctor, whispering. He asked that I visit him at the clinic. When I phoned, whispering, he diagnosed sinusitis. He was busy. The pharmacy sent a nose cleaning kit. It was and remains bronchitis. The pharmacy will send medication this afternoon.

The video is a short piece, but very moving. I am very fond of liturgical music.

My best wishes to all of you.  May this be your finest Christmas or holidays ever.

—ooo—

“Our Father” from “Sacred Treasures III:”
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Performed by St. Petersburg Chamber Choir
Directed by Nikolai Korniev
Recorded in St. Catherine’s Lutheran Church, St. Petersburg, Russia

The Rooks have come back by Savrasov, 1871 (Wikiart.org.)

© Micheline Walker
25 December 2018
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Pushkin, Bilibin, and Rimsky-Korsakov

24 Monday Dec 2018

Posted by in Russian Art, Russian Literature, Russian Music

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The 19th century was the century of nationalism. The Brothers Grimm went from German-language land to German-language land to collect folklore, which they believe would help reveal distinct German roots. Germany had yet to unify and become the German Empire.

As for The Five, our Slavic composers, they attempted to express Eastern Russia. Music in Russia had been westernized since Peter the Great. The Five did not turn their back fully on classical harmony and counterpoint, but they started using whole-tone scales leading Western composers to create new scales.

The Programme

However, the “programme” remained to be established. In the 19th century, several composers favoured “programmatic” music. Music had to tell a story. Despite his early death, in a duel, poet Alexandre Pushkin (1799-1837), wrote poems that were Russian fairy tales, whatever their origin. A nation acculturates folktales.

Our examples are Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s operas entitled The Tale of the Tsar Saltan, which premiered in 1900, and The Tale of the Golden Cockerel first completed in 1907  and premiere in 1909, with a set designed by Ivan Bilibin. Ivan Bilibin who had gained notoriety in 1899, when he published illustrations of Russian fairy tales, including The Tale of the Tsar Saltan and The Tale of the Golden Cockerel (Le Coq d’or). The Tale of the Golden Cockerel had Arabic roots, the Legend of the Arabian Astrologer. It had been retold by Washington Irving (The Tales of Alhambra), Friedrich Maximilian Klinger (Der goldene Hahn [1785]) and Russian fabulist Ivan Krylov (Kaib [1792]). Yet, it was Russian folklore. It had been acculturated.

“In turn, all of them borrowed from the ancient Copts legend first translated by the French Arabist Pierre Vattier in 1666 using the 1584 manuscript from the collection of Cardinal Mazarin.”

(See The Tale of the Golden Cockerel, Wiki2.org)

Ivan Bilibin had studied at the Anton Abže Art School in Munich and had been influenced by Art Nouveau and Japanese prints. But he also studied under Ilya Repin. However, he became interested in folklore. It was a magnet. He graduated from the Anton Abže Art School after publication of his illustrations of Russian fairy tales. He was associated with Mir iskusstva, an association and a magazine. Bilibin fled Russia, during the October Revolution in 1917. In 1925, he settled in Paris where he worked for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes and decorated private mansions and Orthodox churches. But he was homesick. After decorating the Soviet Embassy, in 1936, he returned to Soviet Russia. He died of starvation during the Siege of Leningrad, in the land whose fairy tales he had illustrated.

Ivan Bilibin‘s 1909 stage set design for Act 2: The Tsardom of Tsar Dadon, Town Square (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Comments

At first, we associate The Tale of the Tsar Saltan and The Tale of the Golden Cockerel with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s operas. But operas are programmatic music or program music. So, the full dimension of the above-mentioned operas is not revealed until we know that their programmes were fairy tales written by legendary poet Alexander Pushkin. The libretto, in Russian and French, of The Tale of the Golden Cockerel, is by Vladimir Belsky.

As for Ivan Bilibin‘s delightful illustrations of Pushkin’s fairly, they are yet another lovely and universally enjoyable expression of a ‘distinct’ Russia.

Sources and Resoources

The Gallery

(above)
-Tsar Dadon meets the Shemakha Queen
The Tale of the Golden Cockerel, 1906
(below)
–The Merchants visit Tsar Saltan (WikiArt.org.)
–Princess in the prison tower ‘The White Duck’ (WikiArt.org.)
–From the Tale of the Tsar Saltan (The Isle of Buyan; WikiArt.org.)
–The Tsaritsa and Her Son Afloat in the Barrel (WikiArt.org.)
–From the Tale of the Tsar Saltan (WikiArt.org.)

800px-bilibin3_saltan

bilibin_-_the_tsaritsa_and_her_son_afloat_in_the_barrel


Love to everyone 💕


illustration-for-alexander-pushkin-s-fairytale-of-the-tsar-saltan-1905(1).jpg!PinterestSmall
© Micheline Walker
23 December 2018
revised 24 December 2018
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A Nightmare

22 Saturday Dec 2018

Posted by in Russian Art, Russian Music

≈ 18 Comments

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I had to use the new editor, and couln’t.

Do we have to use the new editor?

Micheline Walker
21 December 2018
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Mikhail Glinka & Mily Balakirev

17 Monday Dec 2018

Posted by in Russian Art, Russian Music

≈ Comments Off on Mikhail Glinka & Mily Balakirev

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Portrait of the Composer Mikhail Glinka by Ilya Repin, 1887 (Wikiart.org.)

The Five may have been looked upon as lesser musicians by members of the musical establishment in Russia. For instance, Mily Balakirev did refuse appointments because he had little formal training. I spent the most important years of my life in academic establishments and have seen colleagues finding fault with other colleagues. So, the Russian Five may been ridiculed.

However, I would like to point out that Mikhail Glinka (1 June 1804 – 15 February 1857) respected Mily Balakirev (2 January 1837 – 29 May 1910), the leader of The Five, and that Tchaikovsky applauded Balakirev.

The Five took their lead from him Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka, who could be called the father of classical music in Russia. Moreover, Mily Balakirev befriended Glinka and they composed music together. When Glinka and Balakirev’s patron, Alexander Ulybyshev (Oulibicheff) (1794-1858) died, Balakirev lost support that was vital to him.

In other words, The Five did not oppose classical music. Their wish was to give Russian classical music its Slavic character. As we have seen, Rimsky-Korsakov sent Tchaikovsky ten fugues he had composed, which Tchaikovsky (7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) examined and found “impeccable.” (See RELATED ARTICLE.)

As for Tchaikovsky himself, let us read:

“Tchaikovsky’s training set him on a path to reconcile what he had learned with the native musical practices to which he had been exposed from childhood. From this reconciliation he forged a personal but unmistakably Russian style—a task that did not prove easy.”
(See Tchaikovsky, Wiki2.org.)

800px-Porträt_des_Komponisten_Pjotr_I._Tschaikowski_(1840-1893)

Nikolay Kuznetsov‘s portrait of the composer Tchaikovsky, 1893

A National Effort

I should also note that in 1867, after hearing a concert given by Slavic composers, critic Vladimir Stasov wrote an article entitled Mr. Balakirev’s Slavic Concert. Composers included Mikhail Glinka,  Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Mily Balakirev, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The concert was performed for visiting Slav delegations at the “All-Russian Etnographical Exhibition” in Moscow.

God grant that our Slav guests may never forget today’s concert; God grant that they may forever preserve the memory of how much poetry, feeling, talent, and intelligence are possessed by the small but already mighty handful of Russian musicians.

— Vladimir Stasov, Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti, 1867

A Consecration

Vladimir Stasov’s article was consecration for The Five and Slavic composer Alexander Dargomyzhsky. Their work now belonged to an all-Russian effort to express Russia’s distinct and distinguishable Slavic roots.

Similarly, the great Glinka, associated with Romanticism, recognized The Five. He and Balakirev composed The Lark.

It could be said that The Five were a baudelaireian frisson nouveau: a new shudder. But were it not for The Five and Tchaikovsky, would classical music have inherited its internationally-acclaimed Russian répertoire?

Glinka drawn in the 1840s, portrait by Yanenko (Wiki2.org.)

RELATED ARTICLE

Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (29 November 2018)

—ooo—

Love to everyone 💕

Glinka – Nocturne In E-flat major – Valeri Kamyshov, piano

 

Mikhail Pletnev plays Glinka-Balakirev The Lark – live 1982

© Micheline Walker
17 December 2018
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On Mily Balakirev, not to mention all the scales

15 Saturday Dec 2018

Posted by in Russian Art, Russian Music

≈ 19 Comments

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We have already seen the above image. It represents The Five  Slavophile composers, including their leader Mily Balakirev (1837 – 1910) and unidentified figures. The Five were: Mily Balakirev, Alexander Borodin, César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, and Nikolai Rimski-Korsakov.

This post was to contain a discussion of the three gentlemen portrayed below, but I divided my subject matter, so that we would first be acquainted with changes brought about by The Five. How did they express an Eastern Russia? There had to be technical departures from traditional harmony and counterpoint. 

It also seemed important to feature the music composed by Mily Balakirev, the rather troubled leader of The Five. Balakirev had a fine piano teacher in Karl Eisrach. Through Eisrach, he found a patron in count Alexander Ulybyshev, Alexandre Oulibicheff FR, and a kind predecessor in Mikhail Glinka. But Bakakirev was not born to a well-to-do family and, at times, he lacked tack. When the opportunity arose to work as a director of the Russian Musical Society (RMS), replacing Anton Rubinstein, his expressed preference for modern composers alienated Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, the conservative patron of the RMS. He was dismissed. 

It would seem, however, that the greatest disservice Balakirev did to himself was to refuse formal instruction in harmony and counterpoint. It could be that tuition fees were unaffordable, but even less affordable was his disdain for such disciplines. He would turn down possible appointments because he had not studied theory: harmony and counterpoint, yet say that formal instruction was unnecessary. Truth be told, he knew harmony and counterpoint, but could not, for instance, put little numbers identifying chords. (See the example in Wiki2.org.’s entry on Figured Bass.)

An example of figured bass in context. Taken from Beschränkt, ihr Weisen, by J. S. Bach (BWV 443) (Wiki2.org.)

At any rate, when Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov started purchasing paintings from contemporary artists, he also called for portraits of eminent contemporaries. Ilya Repin heard the request and included the Slavic composers, The Five, several portraits of authors, Tolstoy in particular, and various prominent figures in the world of visual arts,  music, literature, or culture in general. Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov is the founder of the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, which he donated to the Russian nation in 1892.

I wanted to discuss the three gentleman featured at the centre of Ilya Repin’s Slavic Composers. The next post features Mikhail Glinka, a predecessor and collaborator to Mily Balakirev. In the middle, smoking a cigar, is Prince Vladimir Odoyevsky. Vladimir Odoyevsky was an aficionado of Gothic fiction, a music critic, and more. He published The Living Corpse, in 1844.

Portrait of (left to right) Balakirev,  Vladimir Odoyevsky and  Mikhail Glinka by Ilya Repin. The painting is somewhat anachronistic – Balakirev is depicted as a man approaching middle age, with a full beard; however, Glinka died in 1857, when Balakirev was only 20 years old. (Balakirev, Wiki2.org.)

Traditional Scales

One may skip the technical information.

The following are useful sites: Diatonic and Chromatic scales (Wiki2.org, and Chords, Wiki2.org.)

The C major scale

The C major heptatonic (7) scale consists of two identical tetrachords (4) c-d-e-f and g-a-b-c. A tone separates c & d, but e & f are placed next to one another on a keyboard. They are a semitone. C major has no sharps ♯ or flats ♭. On a keyboard, it is played entirely on the seven white keys. The second tetrachord, g-a-b-c-, is the beginning of the following scale in one sharp ♯.  The scale following C major is G major (f ♯ ).  It starts on the dominant (5th degree) of  C major. These scales contain sharps (♯).

 

The F major scale has a key signature: b♭. The next scale following the F major scale begins on the fourth note (the subdominant) b♭. Both tetrachords (4 notes) are identical. The scale following B♭ major begins on e♭. It is E♭ major or E-flat major. Its key signature has three flats ♭ (b♭, e♭, a♭).

There are seven ♯ and seven ♭.

The A minor scale

Each major key has a relative minor key located a tone and a half lower than its relative major key. Students play the A harmonic minor scale, but there are a natural A minor scale and a melodic A minor scale.

The Keyboard: 12 keys

A keyboard has seven (7) white keys and five (5) black keys: 7 + 5 = 12. A scale may begin on all twelve keys. J. S. Bach composed The Well-Tempered Clavier, 48 Preludes and Fugues. (See Chromatic scale, Wiki2.org.)

Whole-Tone Scales

The Five did not hesitate to use different scales, such as whole-tone scales and other scales. The did so systematically. Whole-tone scales consist of full-steps (tones rather than semitones). European and Russian composers started to experiment with new scales. Whole tones had been used in Western music, but not systematically. To know changes made by The Five, see their Wiki2.org entry.

Whole-tone scale (Wiki2.org.)

1947 coloring book (Wiki2.org.)

After The Five, several scales would be developed: octatonic, pentatonic, twelve-tone technique… Inspired by The Five, European and Russian composers started using other scales or made change to certain degrees of scales: major, minor, sharp and flat. The Five exerted enormous influence on Western composers: Maurice Ravel, Olivier Messiaen, Claude Debussy, and Russian composers. Maurice Ravel arranged Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, a remembrance of Viktor Hartmann 🎶(Viktor Hartmann) ten suites for the piano, for an orchestra. Paul Dukas’ L’Apprenti-sorcier 🎶(The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) is “Russian.” French composer Hector Berlioz has been looked upon as a precursor of Russian music. Sergei Prokofiev‘s Peter and the Wolf 🎶is a delightful Russian composition.

New scales do not necessarily yield better compositions. I have often run back to Tomás Luis de Victoria.

Balakirev’s Islamey &  Ouverture on 3 Russian Themes

Mily Balakirev’s Islamey, an Oriental Fantasy is western music with departures that give pieces Slavic flavour. It is a very difficult to play. To make it simpler, or more difficult, one may use and ossia, an alternative rewriting. The word ossia (ou soit; or else) is associated with Balakirev’s Islamey.

However, consummate virtuoso pianists, such as Franz Liszt (1811 – 1886) and Vladimir Horowitz (1903 – 1989) could play such pieces without encountering difficulties. We will listen to Horowitz’s interpretation.

Love to everyone 💕
I apologize for the delay. It’s bronchitis. I cannot speak.

Vladimir Horowitz plays Balakirev’s Islamey

Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev: Overture on 3 Russian Themes ❤

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The Church in Plyos by Isaac Levitan, 1888 (Wikiart.org.)

© Micheline Walker
15 December 2018
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Shostakovich, Preludes & Fugues

11 Tuesday Dec 2018

Posted by in Russian Art, Russian Music

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A spring day by Alexei Savrasov (Wikiart.org.)

Alexei Savrasov (24 May  1830 – 8 October 1897) was Isaac Levitan‘s (1860 – 1900) mentor. He created the “lyrical landscape.” I have already featured Savrasov, but deleted the post inadvertently. A new post is under construction.

We are still listening to Russian music and looking at the works of Russia’s artists. The piece of music I have inserted below is a lovely interpretation of one of Shostakovich‘s (25 September 1906 – 9 August 1975) Twenty-four Preludes and Fugues on the chromatic scale. Chromatic scales contain twelve semitones (C – C# – D – D# – E – F – F# – G – G# – A – A# – B). J. S. Bach wrote 48 preludes and fugues on each scale, The Well-Tempered Clavier. These exemplify equal temperament, an invention of Vincenzo Galilei, Galileo’s father.

On equal temperament, see:

Our cellists are renowned French cellist Gautier Capuçon and Québec cellist Stéphane Tétreault. Few renditions of this Prelude, one of Shostakovich’s Twenty-four Preludes and Fugues, are so sensitive and touching. The pianist is Oleksandr Gaydukov.

Love to everyone 💕

Prelude – Duo pour violoncelles – Shostakovich (1950-51)

Pines on the shores of lake by Alexei Savrasov, 1890 (Wikiart.org.)

© Micheline Walker
11 December 2018
WordPress

 

 

 

 

The Art of Isaac Levitan

08 Saturday Dec 2018

Posted by in Russian Art, Russian Music

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Quiet Cloister  by Levitan 1890 (WikiArt.org.)

Isaac Ilyich Levitan (30 August 1860 – 4 August 1900: aged 40) was one of Alexei  Savrasov‘s (1830 – 1897) students. Savrasov created the “lyrical landscape.” As for Levitan, he aimed to produce “mood landscapes,” a form of “lyrical” landscapes.

From Lithuania to Moscow

Levitan was born in Lithuania, now Russia. He was the son of Elyashiv Levitan, and the grandson of a rabbi. In 1870, the Levitan family moved to Moscow and, three years later, Isaac entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Levitan’s mother died in 1875 and his father fell ill and died two years later, in 1877. Levitan’s family was then impoverished.

Autumn Day. Sokolniki, 1879

Impoverishment did not prevent 17-year-old Levitan from attending school.  He was awarded a scholarhip. His teachers were Alexei Savrasov, Vasily Perov and Vasily Polenov. Isaac Levitan’s paintings soon proved favourites in group exhibitions and, in 1880, famous philanthropist and art collector Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, the founder of the Tretyakov Gallery, purchased Levitan’s Autum Day, Sokolniki, shown below.

Autumn day, Sokolniki, 1879 - Isaac Levitan

Autumn Day by Isaac Levitan (WikiArt.org)

220px-Isaac_Levitan_selfportrait1880

The Peredvizhniki

Alexei Savrasov, Levitan’s mentor, had joined the Peredvizhniki, in 1870. Members of the Peredvizhniki, or wanderers, were a group of landscape painters, wishing to free themselves from the restraints of Academic painting. In Russia, however, artists and writers also wished to avoid government censorship. Levitan joined the movement in 1991. In 1884, Levitan participated in a travelling exhibition by members of the Peredvizhniki and, in 1891, he joined the movement in 1891. This organization would be succeeded by the Association of Travelling Art Exhibits. (See Peredvizhniki, Wiki2.org.)

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In the forest at winter by Levitan, 1885 (WikiArt.org)

An attempt on Alexander II’s life: Jews deported

Russian Jews were the victims of pogroms, massacres. So Levitan had to leave Moscow when Alexander Soloviev attempted to assassinate Tsar Alexander II, in May 1879.[1] The failed attempt triggered a “mass deportation” of Jews living in Russia’s larger cities. Levitan’s family left for Saltykovka, a suburb. (See Isaac Levitan, Wiki2.org.) Levitan was soon returned to cities. In 1898, two years before his death, Levitan, then famous, would be elected to the Imperial Academy of Arts.

Levitan loved the “lyrical charm of the Russian landscape.” (see Levitan, Wiki2.org.)  Moreover, as a gifted artist, he befriended élite members of the world of art and literature. In 19th-century Russia, talent was often recognised. Moreover, artists and authors formed communities where ethnicity and creed had little significance, which benefited both artists and authors. Levitan had already met author Anton Chekhov and artist, or future artist, Nikolai Chekhov. In the early 1880s, Levitan provided illustrations for the magazine “Moscow,” published by the Chekhov brothers. (Levitan, Wiki2.org.) 

Levitan and Anton Chekhov became very close friends. Isaac Levitan spent his last year and died at Anton Chekhov’s home in Yalta, Crimea. Anton was a medical doctor who died of tuberculosis in 1902, two years after Levitan’s death.

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Sunset. Forest Edge by Levitan, 1890 (WikiArt.org.)

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Spring. High Waters by Levitan, 1897 (WikiArt.org.)

“Lyrical” & “Mood” landscapes

We have seen that Russian musicians composed programmatic” music or music that told a story: words and music. Savrasov’s “lyrical” landscapes and Levitan’s “mood” landscapes were an attempt to unite painting and poetry.

In 19th-century Europe, musicians composed Symphonic poems. The Symphonic poem is “a piece of orchestral music in a single continuous section (a movement) in which the content of a poem, a story or novel, a painting, a landscape or another (non-musical) source is illustrated or evoked.” (Symphonic Poem, Wiki2.org.) In other words, it is “programmatic.”

The Symphonic poem

The Symphonic poem can be associated with Symbolism in art as well as French literature. Symbolism was a European rather than national movement. The Symphonic poem is the German Tondichtung, first used by Carl Loewe. Franz Liszt coined the term “Symphonic poem.” 

Conclusion

A discussion of Isaac Levitan differs, to a rather large extent, from a dicussion of The Five. Although Pavel Tretiakov wanted to create a Russian Art Gallery and members of the Peredvizhniki painted the Russian landscape, athey did not attempt, at least not primarily, to give their art an Eastern appearance. Orientalism pervades 19th-century art, but in Russia, Orientalism was expressed by composers mainly. I suspect, however, that Russian communities of artists and writers would include composers. All were creative minds. Ilya Repin portrayed the Slavic composers, meeting at the Moscow Conservatory.

As for “mood” and “lyrical landscapes,” these could stimulate more than one sense, as in synesthesia, but they could simply be evocative and melancholic. Romanticism was an important movement. Vanishing points, are a common feature in the visual arts. But when roads and lanes vanish into the distance, we know not where they lead.

At the end of Rachmaninoff’s All-night Vigil, Vespers, 🎶 one can hear a basso profondo or profundo. This vocal range is more common in Russia and Eastern Europe than in most countries.

Love to everyone ♥

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Church in Plyos, 1888 (WikiArt.org.)

Feodor Chaliapin sings Jules Massenet‘s Élégie (op. 10 no. 5)

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Moonlit Night by Levitan (WikiArt.org.)

© Micheline Walker
8 December 2018
WordPress