Analysis of a piece of music. Professional and amateur analysis of musical works: features and examples Why is musical analysis needed?

Musical theoretical analysis involves covering a wide range of issues related to determining the form of a work, its relationship with the form of the text, genre basis, mode-tonal plan, features of harmonic language, melodic, phrasing, tempo-rhythmic features, texture, dynamics, correlation of the choral score with accompaniment and connection of music with poetic text.

When carrying out musical theoretical analysis, it is more expedient to go from the general to the specific. It is of great importance to decipher all the notations and instructions of the composer, understand them and understand the means of their expression. It is also necessary to remember that the structure of a choral work is largely determined by the peculiarities of the construction of the verse; it organically combines music and words. Therefore, it is advisable to first pay attention to the construction of the literary text, find the semantic culmination, and compare works based on the same text written by different composers.

The analysis of musical expressive means should be especially careful and detailed in terms of harmonic analysis. The solution to a number of issues of subordination of parts of the whole, the determination of particular and general culminations largely depends on the correct assessment of the data of harmonic analysis: the increase and decrease of tension, modulations and deviations, diatonic and altered dissonance, the role of non-chord sounds.

Musical theoretical analysis should help to identify the main and secondary in the musical material, logically, taking everything into account, to build the dramaturgy of the work. The emerging idea of ​​a work as a complete artistic integrity, already at this stage of study, will bring you closer to comprehending the author’s intention.

1. The form of the work and its structural features

As a rule, musical theoretical analysis begins with determining the form of the work. At the same time, it is important to find out all the structural components of the form, starting with intonations, motives, phrases and ending with sentences, periods and parts. Characterizing the relationships between the parts includes comparing their musical and thematic material and determining the depth of contrast or, conversely, the thematic unity inherent between them.

Various musical forms are used in choral music: period, simple and complex two- and three-part, couplet, strophic, sonata and many others. Small choirs and choral miniatures are usually written in simple forms. But along with them, there are also so-called “symphonic” choirs, where the usual sonata, strophic or rondo form is used.

The process of formation in a choral work is influenced not only by the laws of musical development, but also by the laws of versification. The literary and musical basis of choral music is manifested in the variety of forms of the period, in the verse-variation form and, finally, in the free interpenetration of forms, in the appearance of a strophic form, which is not found in instrumental music.

Sometimes the artistic design allows the composer to preserve the structure of the text, in which case the form of the musical work will follow the verse. But very often the poetic source undergoes significant processing, some words and phrases are repeated, some lines of text are left out altogether. In this case, the text is completely subject to the logic of musical development.

Along with the usual forms, polyphonic forms are also used in choral music - fugues, motets, etc. Fugue is the most complex of all polyphonic forms. Depending on the number of topics, it can be simple, double or triple.

2. Genre basis

The key to understanding a work is to correctly determine its genre origins. As a rule, a whole complex of expressive means is associated with a certain genre: the nature of melody, style of presentation, meter rhythms, etc. Some choirs are entirely within the same genre. If the composer wants to emphasize or shade different aspects of one image, he can use a combination of several genres. Signs of a new genre can be found not only at the junctions of large parts and episodes, as is often the case, but also in the simultaneous presentation of musical material.

Musical genres can be folk and professional, instrumental, chamber, symphonic, etc., but we are primarily interested in the folk song and dance origins that underlie choral scores. As a rule, these are vocal genres: song, romance, ballad, drinking, serenade, barcarolle, pastoral, march song. The dance genre basis can be represented by a waltz, polonaise or other classical dance. The choral works of modern composers often rely on newer dance rhythms - foxtrot, tango, rock and roll and others.

Example 1. Yu. Falik. "Stranger"

In addition to the dance-song basis, the genre is also determined, associated with the peculiarities of the performance of the work. This may be an a cappella choral miniature, an accompanied choir or a vocal ensemble.

Types and kinds of musical works, historically developed in connection with various types of content, in connection with certain of its life purposes, are also divided into genres: opera, cantata-oratorio, mass, requiem, liturgy, all-night vigil, requiem, etc. Very often, genres of this kind are mixed and form hybrids such as opera-ballet or symphony-requiem.

3. Fret and tonal base

The choice of mode and key is determined by a certain mood, character and image that the composer intended to embody. Therefore, when determining the main tonality of a work, it is necessary to analyze in detail the entire tonal plan of the work and the tonality of its individual parts, determine the sequence of tonalities, methods of modulation and deviations.

The fret is a very important means of expression. The coloring of the major scale is used in music that expresses fun and cheerfulness. At the same time, by means of harmonic major, the work is given shades of sorrow and increased emotional tension. The minor scale is typically used in dramatic music.

Various tonalities, as well as modes, have certain coloristic associations that play an important role in choosing the tonality of a work. For example, composers widely use the light coloring of C major for enlightened, “sunny” fragments of choral works.

Example 2. S. Taneyev. "Sunrise"

The keys E-flat minor and B-flat minor are firmly associated with gloomy, tragic images.

Example 3. S. Rachmaninov. “Now you are letting go.”

In modern scores, composers very often do not set key signs. This is primarily due to very intense modulation or functional uncertainty of the harmonic language. In both cases, it is important to identify tonally stable fragments and, starting from them, draw up a tonal plan. It should, however, be remembered that not every modern work is written in a tonal system. Often composers use atonal ways of organizing material; their modal basis requires a different type of analysis than the traditional one. For example, the composers of the so-called New Viennese school, Schoenberg, Webern and Berg, instead of mode and tonality, used a twelve-tone series in their compositions [A twelve-tone series is a series of 12 sounds of varying heights, none of which can be repeated before the rest of the sounds of the series have been heard. For more details, see the book: Kohoutek Ts. Composition technique in the music of the twentieth century. M., 1976.], which is the source material for both the harmonic vertical and the melodic lines.

Example 4. A. Webern. "Cantata No. 1"

4. Features of harmonic language

The methodology for harmonic analysis of a choral score is presented to us in the following sequence.

One should begin the theoretical study of a work only after it has been worked out in historical and aesthetic terms. Consequently, the score sits, as they say, in the ears and heart, and this is the most reliable way to protect yourself from the danger of breaking away from the content in the process of harmonic analysis. It is advisable to look through and listen to the entire composition chord by chord. It is impossible to guarantee in each individual case interesting results from the analysis of harmony - not every work is sufficiently original in terms of harmonic language, but “grains” will certainly be discovered. Sometimes it is some complex harmonic revolution or modulation. Imprecisely recorded by the ear, upon closer examination they can turn out to be very important elements of form, and, therefore, clarify the artistic content of the work. Sometimes this is a particularly expressive, formative cadence, harmonic accent or multifunctional consonance.

Such a targeted analysis will help to identify the most “harmonic” episodes of the score, where the first word belongs to harmony, and, conversely, more harmonic-neutral sections, where it only accompanies the melody or supports contrapuntal development.

As already mentioned, the importance of harmony in formation is great, therefore the structural analysis of a work is always closely linked with the study of the harmonic plan. Analysis of harmony helps to identify the functional meaning of certain of its elements. For example, a long build-up of dominant harmony greatly dynamizes the presentation and increases the intensity of development in the final sections, while the tonic organ point, on the contrary, gives a feeling of calm and stability.

It is also necessary to pay attention to the coloristic possibilities of harmony. This is especially true of harmony in the choral works of modern composers. In many cases, the methods of analysis that are applicable to the works of earlier eras are not suitable here. In modern harmony, an important role is played by consonances of the nethertz structure, bifunctional and polyfunctional chords, clusters [Cluster is a consonance formed by the concatenation of several large and small seconds]. Very often, the harmonic vertical in such works arises as a result of the combination of several independent melodic lines. This, or as it is also called, linear harmony, is characteristic of the scores of Paul Hindemith, Igor Stravinsky, and composers of the already mentioned Novo-Viennese school.

Example 5. P. Hindemith. "Swan"

In all of the above cases, it is important to find out the features of the composer’s creative method in order to find the correct method for analyzing the harmonic language of the work.

5. Melodic and intonation basis

When analyzing a melody, not only external signs are taken into account - the ratio of jumps and smooth movement, forward movement and a long stay at the same height, melodiousness or intermittency of the melodic line, but also internal signs of the expression of a musical image. The main thing is awareness of its figurative and emotional meaning, taking into account the abundance of arrests, the presence of half-tone intonations, increased or decreased intervals, the singing of sounds and the rhythmic design of the melody.

Very often, melody is mistakenly understood as only the upper voice of a choral score. This is not always true, since primacy is not assigned once and for all to any one voice, it can be transferred from one to another. If the work is written in a polyphonic style, then the concept of a melodically main voice becomes completely unnecessary.

Melody is inextricably linked with intonation. Musical intonation refers to small particles of melody, melodic turns that have a certain expressiveness. As a rule, one can talk about one or another character of intonation only in certain contexts: tempo, meter-rhythmic, dynamic, etc. For example, when talking about the active nature of fourth intonation, as a rule, they mean that the interval of the ascending fourth is clearly highlighted, directed from the dominant to the tonic and from the offbeat to the strong beat.

Like individual intonation, melody is a unity of different aspects. Depending on their combination, we can talk about lyrical, dramatic, masculine, elegiac and other types of melody.

When analyzing a melody, consideration of its modal side is important in many respects. The features of the national originality of the melody are very often associated with the modal side. No less important is the analysis of the modal side of the melody to clarify the immediate expressive nature of the melody and its emotional structure.

In addition to the modal basis of the melody, it is necessary to analyze the melodic line or melodic pattern, that is, the set of movements of the melody up, down, at the same height. The most important types of melodic pattern are the following: repetition of sound, singing of sound, ascending or descending movement, incremental or spasmodic movement, wide or narrow range, varied repetition of a segment of melody.

6. Metrorhythmic features

The importance of metrhythm as an expressive musical means is extremely great. It reveals the temporal properties of music.

Just as musical pitch relationships have a modal basis, musical rhythmic relationships develop on the basis of meter. Meter is the sequential alternation of strong and weak beats in rhythmic movement. The downbeat forms a metrical accent by which a piece of music is divided into measures. Meters are simple; two- and three-beat, with one strong beat per bar, and complex, consisting of several heterogeneous simple ones.

Meter should not be confused with size, since size is the expression of meter by the number of specific rhythmic units - counting beats. Very often a situation arises when, for example, a two-beat meter is expressed in size 5/8, 6/8 at a moderate tempo or 5/4, 6/4 at a fast tempo. Similarly, the three-beat meter can appear in sizes 7/8, 8/8, 9/8, etc.

Example 6. I. Stravinsky. "Our Father"

In order to determine what meter is in a given work, and, therefore, to correctly choose the appropriate conducting scheme, it is necessary, through a metrical analysis of the poetic text and the rhythmic organization of the work, to determine the presence of strong and weak beats in a measure. If the score does not have divisions into bars, as, for example, in everyday chants of the Orthodox Church, it is necessary to independently determine their metric structure based on the textual organization of the musical material.

Rhythm, as an expressive means associated with the metrical organization of music, is the organization of sounds according to their duration. The simplest and most common pattern of the joint action of meter and rhythm is their parallelism. This means that stressed sounds are predominantly long, and unstressed sounds are short.

7. Tempo and agogic deviations

The expressive properties of metrhythm are closely related to tempo. The importance of tempo is very high, since the nature of each musical image corresponds to a more or less certain speed of movement. Very often, to determine the tempo of a work, the composer sets the metronome designation, for example: 1/8 = 120. As a rule, the counting beat indicated by the author corresponds to the metrical one and helps to correctly find the conducting pattern necessary in a given work.

But what to do in the case when instead of a metronome, only the nature of the tempo is indicated: Allegro, Adagio, etc.?

First, the tempo instructions need to be translated. Secondly, remember that in every musical era the sense of tempo has been different. Third: there are certain traditions for the performance of this or that work, they also relate to its tempo. Consequently, when starting to learn the score, the conductor (and in our case, the student) needs to carefully examine all possible sources of the necessary information.

In addition to the main tempo and its changes in each work, there are so-called agogic changes in tempo. These are short-term, usually on the scale of a bar or phrase, acceleration or deceleration within the framework of the main tempo.

Example 7. G. Sviridov. "Night Clouds"

Sometimes agogic changes in tempo are regulated by special instructions: a piacere - freely, stretto - compressing, ritenuto - slowing down, etc. Fermata is also of great importance for expressive performance. In most cases, the fermata is found at the end of the work or completes part of it, but it is also possible to use it in the middle of a musical work, thereby emphasizing the special significance of these places.

The current opinion that fermata doubles the duration of a note or pause is true only in relation to pre-classical music. In later works, a fermata is a sign of prolongation of sound or a pause for an indefinite period of time, suggested by the performer’s musical flair.

8. Dynamic shades

Dynamic shades are a concept related to the strength of sound. The designations of dynamic shades put down by the author in the score are the main material on the basis of which it is necessary to analyze the dynamic structure of the work.

Dynamic designations are based on two main terms and concepts: piano and forte. Based on these two concepts, varieties arise that denote one or another sound strength, for example, pianissimo. To achieve the quietest and, conversely, the loudest sound, designations are often indicated with three, four or even more letters.

There are two main terms to denote a gradual increase or decrease in sound strength: crescendo and diminuendo. On shorter sections of music, individual phrases or measures, graphic indications of increasing or decreasing sonority are usually used - expanding and narrowing “forks”. Such designations show not only the nature of the change in dynamics, but also its boundaries.

In addition to the indicated types of dynamic shades, which extend over a more or less long period of music, choral scores also use others, the effect of which relates only to the note over which they are placed. These are various kinds of accents and designations of a sudden change in sound strength, for example, sf, fp.

Usually the composer indicates only the general nuance. Finding out everything that is written “between the lines”, developing a dynamic line in all its details - all this is material for the conductor’s creativity. Based on a thoughtful analysis of the choral score, taking into account the stylistic features of the work, he must find the right nuance arising from the content of the music. A detailed discussion about this can be found in the “Performance Analysis” section.

9. Textural features of the work and its musical composition

The analysis of the musical theoretical features of the choral score also includes an analysis of the texture of the work. Like rhythm, texture often carries the hallmarks of genre in music. And this greatly contributes to the figurative understanding of the work.

The concepts of texture and musical composition should not be confused. Texture is the vertical organization of a work and includes both harmony and polyphony, viewed from the perspective of the actual sounding layers of the musical fabric. Characteristics of texture can be given in a variety of ways: they talk about complex and simple texture, dense, thick, transparent, etc. There is a texture typical for one genre or another: waltz, choral, marching. These are, for example, forms of accompaniment in some dances or vocal genres.

Example 8. G. Sviridov. "Old Dance"

A change in texture in musical works, including choral ones, occurs, as a rule, at the boundaries of parts, which largely determines the formative significance of the texture.

The musical warehouse is, in turn, one of the components of the concept of texture. The musical structure determines the specifics of the deployment of voices in the horizontal and vertical organization of the work. Here are some of the types of musical storage.

Monophony is characterized by a monodic disposition. It is characterized by unison or octave presentation of musical material. The presentation of the same melody in all parts leads to a certain textural uniformity, so this structure is used mainly sporadically. The exception is the archaic melodies of the Gregorian chant or the performance of Znamenny Orthodox chants, where this type of presentation is leading.

Example 9. M. Mussorgsky. "Angel Crying"

Polyphonic texture can be polyphonic and homophonic-harmonic. A polyphonic structure is formed when two or more melodic lines are sounded simultaneously. There are three types of polyphony - imitative polyphony, contrastive and subvocal.

A subvocal structure is a type of polyphony in which the main melody is accompanied by additional voices - subvocals, often seemingly varying the main voice. Typical examples of this type are adaptations of Russian lyrical songs.

Example 10. R.n.p. in arr. A. Lyadova "Clean Field"

Contrasting polyphony is formed when different melodies are played simultaneously. An example of such a structure can be the motet genre.

Example 11. J. S. Bach. "Jesu, meine Freude"

The principle of imitative polyphony consists in the non-simultaneous, sequential entry of voices carrying out the same melody or its close variations. These are canons, fugues, fugatos.

Example 12. M. Berezovsky. "Do not reject me in my old age"

In a homophonic-harmonic structure, the movement of voices is subject to changing harmony and the melodic lines of each choral part are interconnected by the logic of functional relationships. If in a polyphonic voice all voices are in principle equal, then in a homophonic-harmonic voice they differ in their meaning. This contrasts the main (or melodic) voice with the bass and harmonic voices. In this case, any of the four choral voices can act as the main voice. In the same way, accompanying functions can be performed by any connections of the remaining parties.

Example 13. S. Rachmaninov. "Quiet light"

In the 20th century, new varieties of musical styles emerged. Sonorous [Sonoristics is one of the methods of composing in music of the 20th century, based on operating with timbre-colorful sonorities. In it, the overall impression of sound color is of leading importance, and not individual tones and intervals as in tonal music] - formally polyphonic, but, in essence, consisting of a single line of indivisible sonorities that have only a colorful-timbre meaning. In pointillism [Pointillism (from the French point) is a method of modern composition. The musical fabric in it is created not by a combination of melodic lines or chords, but from sounds separated by pauses or jumps] - individual sounds or motifs located in different registers and voices form a melody transmitted from one voice to another.

In practice, different types of musical styles tend to be mixed. The qualities of polyphonic and homophonic-harmonic nature can exist in sequence and simultaneously. Identifying these qualities is necessary for the conductor to understand the logic of development of the musical material.

10. Relationship between choral score and accompaniment

There are two ways of choral performance - singing without accompaniment and singing with accompaniment. The accompaniment makes it much easier for the choir to intonate and maintains the correct tempo and rhythm. But this is not the main purpose of escort. The instrumental part in a work is one of the most important means of musical expression. Combining choral writing techniques with the use of instrumental timbre colors significantly expands the composer's sound palette.

The ratio of choir and accompaniment may vary. Very often, the choral part is duplicated note for note by the instrumental part, or the accompaniment is a simple accompaniment, as in most popular songs.

Example 14. I. Dunaevsky. "My Moscow"

In some cases, the choir and accompaniment are equal; their textural and melodic solutions do not allow one to be emphasized at the expense of the other. An example of this type of choral music is cantata-oratorio works.

Example 15. R. Shchedrin. "Little Cantata" from op. "Not only love"

Sometimes instrumental accompaniment performs the main function, and the choir fades into the background. Very often this situation arises in the coda sections of works, when the choral part stops on a long-sounding note, and in the instrumental part at the same time there is a rapid movement towards the final chord.

Example 16. S. Rachmaninov. "Pine"

Depending on the situation chosen by the composer, the ratio of the sonority of both performing groups should be provided for. It is also worth paying attention to the distribution of thematic material between the choir and accompaniment. It is not uncommon, especially in fugate music, that the main thematic material can be performed alternately in both the choir and the orchestra. The clarity of its presentation by the conductor largely depends on the correct distribution of attention during performance between the main and secondary fragments of the score.

11. The connection between music and poetic text

Literary speech combines individual words into larger units into sentences, within which divisions into smaller components that have independent speech design are possible. By analogy, similar structural divisions exist in music.

Literary and musical structures interact in different ways in choral and vocal works. Interaction can be complete or incomplete. In the first case, the poetic and musical phrases completely coincide, while in the second, various structural discrepancies are possible.

Let's consider both options. It is known that one syllable of a text can have a different number of melody sounds. The simplest ratio is when there is one sound for each syllable. This ratio is applied in various cases. First of all, it is closest to ordinary speech and therefore finds a place in choral recitatives, in mass songs and in general choirs with a pronounced motor and dance element.

Example 17. Czech village in arr. I. Malat. "Anechka the miller"

On the contrary, in melodies of a lyrical nature, in works with a slow, gradual disclosure of the text and development of action, syllables are often found that have several sounds. This is especially typical for choral arrangements of Russian plangent or lyrical songs. On the other hand, in works of a cult nature by Western European composers, there are also very often entire fragments and even parts where one word or phrase serves as the text: Amen, Alleluia, Kurie eleison, etc.

Example 18. G.F. Handel. "Messiah"

Like musical structures, there are pauses in poetic structures. If the purely musical division of a melody coincides with its verbal division (which is typical, in particular, for folk songs), a distinct caesurality is created. But very often these two types of division do not coincide. Moreover, the musical may not coincide with either the verbal or metric division of the text. As a rule, this kind of discrepancy increases the unity of the melody, since both of these types of division become somewhat conventional due to their contradictions.

It must be remembered that in most cases the discrepancy between various aspects of musical and poetic syntax is due to the author’s desire to express this or that artistic image as fully as possible. In this case, it is possible, for example, that there may be a discrepancy between stressed and unstressed beats in works based on folklore texts, or their complete absence in works in some languages, for example, Japanese. Finding out the stylistic features of such works and avoiding attempts to “improve” the author’s text is the task that every conductor-choirmaster should set for himself.

Holistic analysis of a musical work

using the example of Rondo from Sonata h – minor by F.E. Bach

Plan for analyzing the form of a musical work

A. General preview

1) Type of form (simple three-part, sonata, etc.)

2) Digital diagram of the form in large strokes, with letter designations of topics (parts) and their names (I period, development, etc.)

B. Analysis of each of the main parts

1) The function of each part in the form (I period, middle, etc.)

2) Type of presentation (expositional, middle, etc.)

3) Thematic composition, its homogeneity or contrast; his character and the means of achieving this character

4) Which elements undergo development; methods of development (repetition, variation, comparison, etc.); thematic transformations

5) Place of climax, if any; the ways in which it is reached and left.

6) Tonal structure, cadences, their relationship, closedness or openness.

7) Detailed digital diagram; characteristics of the structure, the most important points of summation and fragmentation; "breath" is short or wide; characteristic of proportions.

The structure of this rondo is as follows:

R EP1 EP2 R EP3 R R EP4 R EP5 R EP1

4t.+ 4t. 8t. 4t. 4t. 4t. 4t. 4t. 4t. 4t. 8t. 4t.+4t. 8t.

period period period period period period period period

With extension

Exposition Development Reprise

Where P is a refrain, EP is an episode, the numbers indicate the number of bars of each section. The composer handles the form quite freely. The refrain actively develops, transposes into different keys with repeated repetitions. There are variable changes in the refrain and a variety of its cadences.

The melody of the refrain and episodes is uniform, not contrasting. It is distinguished by flexibility, whimsical rhythmic and intonation, which is achieved with the help of tied notes, syncopation, small durations, mordents and other melismas, the beginning of phrases from the beat, from a weak beat after the sixteenth pause. The melodic pattern combines progressive movement, leaps at various intervals, and half-tone gravity.

The bass line does not carry a melodic and semantic load, but is mainly a descending incremental movement in quarter notes. Its role (bass) is harmonic support of the melody.

In general, the structure of the rondo in B minor can be compared with the sections of sonata form: exposition (1 - 16 bars), development (17 - 52 bars) and reprise (53 - 67 bars). Moreover, the musical material of the reprise completely and without changes repeats the material of the exposition.

“Exposition” is a kind of two-part form, where 1 part (refrain) is a period of square structure. The first sentence ends with a half cadence on the dominant, the second - with a full cadence. The second part of the two-part form (episode 1) is also a period of two sentences that end with half and full cadences, respectively.

In the second section of the rondo, the so-called “development”, the refrain sounds in the following keys: D – dur (21 – 24 bars), h – moll (29 – 32 bars), G – major (33 – 36 bars), e moll ( 41 – 44 measures). The major refrain (bars 33–36) leads to a climax on the forte dynamics. Then comes the exit from the climax in bars 37–40. Here the composer used the technique of sequential development - a descending sequence of three links. By the way, at the climax the usually progressive movement of the bass changes to a spasmodic, quarto-fifth one. The line of the lower voice here harmoniously supports the sequential development of the melody.

In connection with the peculiarities of the structure of the form, I would also like to note EP5 (the fifth episode), where the expansion of the sentence in bars 47–52 occurs due to the improvisational development of the melody on a sustained “organ” bass on the VII step of the main key. This technique smoothly leads to the expected denouement - the so-called “recapitulation”. Musical material 53 – 68 bars completely repeats the sound of the first refrain and the first episode. Such a return of the theme, as it were, frames the musical form of this work as a whole, leads to its logical conclusion, drawing a semantic and intonation arc between the beginning and the end.

In general, the rondo from the B minor sonata is a classic implementation of the rondo form in the work of C.F.E. Bach.

1. Period structure: A). square - 8 bars (small), 16 bars (large); b). not square - 7t, 10, 17; V). repeated or non-re-built.

2. Structures organizing the period: A). summation, fragmentation, pair of periodicities, etc.; b). due to what the expansion of the structure occurs: due to expansion - the appearance of additional measures before the cadence; due to the addition - “extra” bars appear after the cadence.

3. The nature of the music in the proposed fragment: In creating a character, harmony, tempo, and strokes are necessarily involved - all this must be indicated.

4. Melody type:A). vocal ( cantilena - the melody of “wide breathing”, flowing without interruption by pauses; recitation -“speech melody” with many nuances: pauses, short leagues; recitative -“dry”, nondescript melody with a small sound volume, almost at the same height); b).instrumental (wide leaps, complex passages and strokes).

5. Texture (nature of interaction between melody and accompaniment): A). monodic - fundamental monophony, characteristic of Gregorian chants and Znamenny singing; b). heterophonic - multi-layered monophony (the leading melody is presented in several voices - see Mussorgsky, Borodin's romances, Rachmaninov's piano works; V). homophonic-harmonic or homophonic - a clear division of texture into melody and accompaniment - most of the classical and romantic music of the 18th-20th centuries); G). polyphonic - the presence of several leading melodies; d). mixed - the presence in one work or its fragment of several textural principles at the same time, for example, homophonic and polyphonic - see. Chopin, Polonaise No. 1, middle section (“dialogue” of voices).

6. Type of figures in the invoice: A). chord; b). harmonic - to the sounds of harmonic revolutions; V). albertian basses- most often present in the classical music of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and their foreign and Russian contemporaries - this is a simplified harmonic figuration; G). melodic - the figuration in its complexity resembles the melody or even surpasses it - see Musical moment No. 4 by Rachmaninov, works by Liszt F,

7. Features of the harmonic structure of the period: A). write a diagram indicating deviations and modulations, if any; b). identify the defining feature of the harmonic structure of the period - for example, its harmonies are simple or, on the contrary, complex, authentic or plagal phrases are predominantly used.

8. Genre origins of the period: A). chorale - slow or moderate tempo of movement, strict chord texture, declamatory or cantilena melody; b). aria - cantilena melody, vocal flourishes, homophonic texture; V). vocal piece - a melody of a cantilena or declamatory nature that can be sung; G). instrumental piece- a fundamentally non-vocal melody: wide leaps, a large number of counter signs, chromaticisms and other technical difficulties. d). march - even meter, moderate or moderately fast tempo of movement, chord texture, “angular” melody based on movement according to the sounds of the main harmonic functions; e). dance - dynamic tempo, bass-two-chord texture, instrumental type of melodies.

9. Metro - rhythmic features of this fragment: characteristic rhythmic pattern ( rhythm formula): march -, polonaise -, waltz -; features of violation of regular accent (syncopation, crushing of the strong beat), variable meter or size - why was this done by the composer?

10. Style features of the composer or era: Baroque - polyphonic texture, use of rhetorical figures, features of ancient dances - allemandes, chimes, sarabands. gigues, gavotte or toccata genre; preclassicism - homophonic texture, but somewhat angular, “awkward” development techniques based on repetitions of a melodic fragment at different heights; classicism - homophonic texture, Albertian basses, clear harmonic scheme with obligatory cadences, characteristic instrumental melody, figures of game logic; romanticism - mixed type of texture, several leading melodies (most often correlated with each other according to the principle of dialogue), complex harmonic comparisons affecting tonalities of the 2nd and 3rd degree of relationship, detailed nuances of dynamics and strokes; XX century - the use of various techniques of the 20th century: serial technique, alleatorics, complex melody with counter signs, texts.

Artistic result: what happened in the synthesis of all means of musical expression, what is the artistic intention of the composer in this fragment of the work?

Example of analysis of the classical period:

The period proposed for analysis in structure is a small non-square period (10 clock cycles) of repeated construction with expansion in the second sentence. The first sentence is organized by the structure of a pair of periodicities; in the second sentence, an element of game repetition arises (the figure of a “stuck tone”), due to which the structure of the period expands. The melody of this musical period is of a pronounced instrumental type, as evidenced by wide leaps, virtuoso passages, and reliance on the sounds of the main triads. The “stuck tone” effect that appears in the second sentence creates a moment of dialogue, argument, which suggests that this period belongs to the era of classicism, since it was in the works of the Viennese classics and Russian composers of the 18th century that elements of instrumental theater were often used.

The belonging of a given period to the named era can also be justified by verified harmonic relationships with a clear organization of cadences, the use of a simple deviation into the tonality of the first degree of kinship, and the advantage of authentic turns. The interrupted phrase at the end of the second sentence (where the expansion of the structure occurs) is also an expected and typical element at this point in the structure of the classical period. Harmonic circuit This fragment looks like this:

The diagram clearly shows uniform harmonic pulsation(i.e., two functions per clock throughout the entire period). Appearing in the second sentence, the ascending diatonic sequence creates tonal movement and prerequisites for development. This technique is also often found in classical music.

Invoicing decision of this period maintained in homophonic-harmonic texture with a clear division of voices into leading and accompanying. The harmonic figuration is presented in the form of Albertian basses, which creates a single and integral tempo of movement.

Metro rhythmic organization period maintains a uniform harmonic pulsation (four quarters). The harmonic figuration set out in eighth notes creates a solid foundation for the moving rhythmic organization of the melody, which includes movement in sixteenth notes and syncopation. The characteristic rhythmic pattern of this period conveys liveliness and splashing energy - a short dotted line and 4 sixteenth notes.

Summarizing the observation period carried out during the analysis and taking into account the sufficient melodic simplicity and modesty in the invention of developmental techniques, we can assume that this musical fragment is borrowed from the instrumental music of J. Haydn, which is part of a sonata or symphony.

Such melodies are characteristic, for example, of vocal genre scenes by Dargomyzhsky and Mussorgsky, and are typical of the music of the twentieth century.

According to the typology of V. Konen.

As an example for harmonic analysis, we suggest considering a fragment of Waltz by P.I. Tchaikovsky from Serenade for string orchestra:

moderato. Tempo di Valse

Before performing a fragment on a musical instrument, you should pay attention to the tempo instructions, and then play this fragment at a moderate waltz tempo.

It should be noted that the nature of the music is characterized by danceability, a light romantic coloring, which is due to the genre of the musical fragment, the roundness of four-bar phrases, the smoothness of the ascending with graceful leaps and the wave-like movement of the melody, which is carried out mainly by even quarter and half durations.

It should be noted that all this is fully consistent with the romantic style of music of the second half of the 19th century, when P.I. lived and worked. Tchaikovsky (1840 – 1893). It was this era that brought enormous popularity to the waltz genre, which at that time penetrated even such large works as symphonies. In this case, this genre is presented in a concert piece for string orchestra.

In general, the analyzed fragment represents a period consisting of 20 measures and expanded in the second sentence (8+8+4=20). The homophonic-harmonic texture was chosen by the composer in full accordance with the already designated genre, so the expressive meaning of the melody comes to the fore. However, harmony not only provides functional support, but is also a means of shaping and development. The general direction of development in this completed construction is largely determined by its tonal plan.

First sentence tonally stable ( G major), consists of two square four-bar phrases and ends on the dominant of the main key:

T - - T DD 2 T - - T - - T D T 4 6 T 6 - -

D D 7 - D 9

In harmony, only authentic tonic-dominant turns are used, affirming the main tonality G major.

The second sentence (bars 8–20) is a single indivisible continuous phrase of 8 bars, to which is added a four-bar complement that arises as a consequence of the internal rich tonal movement. In the second half of the second sentence there is a deviation into the dominant key (bars 12–15):

7 8 9 10 11 (D major) 12

D D 7 D 9 D T Т 2 S 6 S 5 6 S 6 D 5 6 - - T=S - - #1 DD 5 6

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

K 4 6 - - D 2 T 6 ( D major) S - - K 4 6 - - D 7 - - T - - T

Scheme of harmonic development the analyzed musical fragment will look like this:

1 2 3 V 4 5 6 7 V 8 910

3/4 T T - | DD 2 - - | T T - | T - - | T D T | T 6 - - | D D 7 - | D 9 D T 6 | S 6 VI S 6 | D 6 5 - -|

11 12 13 14 15 V 16 17 18 19 20

| T - - | #1 D 6 5 k A major| K 6 4 - - | D 2 k D major| T 6 ( D major) | S - - | K 4 6 - -| D 7 - - | T - - | T ||

The deviation (bars 12–15) is carried out by introducing a cadence, preceded by a common chord (T=S) and a double dominant in the form of #1 D 7 k A major, but it is not resolved, but goes into a cadence quartet-sex chord, D 2 with resolution in T 6 of a new key ( D major).

The modulation prepared by the deviation repeats the cadence turn that was already used in the deviation, but the construction ends differently - with a final full authentic perfect cadence, in contrast to the authentic imperfect cadence in the deviation and the half authentic imperfect cadence at the end of the first sentence.

Thus, it should be noted that the entire development of the harmonic vertical in this fragment plays a formative role and corresponds to the general direction of development of the musical image. It is no coincidence that the culmination of the entire theme occurs at the most intense moment (bar 19). In the melody it is emphasized by an ascending leap to the seventh, in harmony - by a dominant seventh chord, followed by its resolution into the tonic as the completion of the musical idea.

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The musical work “...” was written by Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov to the verses of S. Yesenin and is included in the opus “Two Choirs to the Poems of S. Yesenin” (1967).

Sviridov Georgy Vasilievich (December 3, 1915 - January 6, 1998) - Soviet and Russian composer, pianist. People's Artist of the USSR (1970), Hero of Socialist Labor (1975), laureate of the Lenin (1960) and State Prizes of the USSR (1946, 1968, 1980). Student of Dmitry Shostakovich.

Sviridov was born in 1915 in the city of Fatezh, now the Kursk region of Russia. His father was a postal worker, and his mother was a teacher. Father, Vasily Sviridov, a supporter of the Bolsheviks in the civil war, died when Georgy was 4 years old.

In 1924, when Georgy was 9 years old, the family moved to Kursk. In Kursk, Sviridov continued to study at primary school, where his passion for literature began. Gradually, music began to take first place in his circle of interests. In elementary school, Sviridov learned to play his first musical instrument - the balalaika. Learning to play by ear, he demonstrated such talent that he was accepted into the local folk instrument ensemble. From 1929 to 1932 he studied at the Kursk Music School with Vera Ufimtseva and Miron Krutyansky. On the latter’s advice, in 1932 Sviridov moved to Leningrad, where he studied piano with Isaiah Braudo and composition with Mikhail Yudin at the Central College of Music, from which he graduated in 1936.

From 1936 to 1941, Sviridov studied at the Leningrad Conservatory with Pyotr Ryazanov and Dmitry Shostakovich (since 1937). In 1937 he was admitted to the Union of Composers of the USSR.

Mobilized in 1941, a few days after graduating from the conservatory, Sviridov was sent to the military academy in Ufa, but was discharged at the end of the year for health reasons.

Until 1944 he lived in Novosibirsk, where the Leningrad Philharmonic was evacuated. Like other composers, he wrote war songs. In addition, he wrote music for performances of theaters evacuated to Siberia.

In 1944, Sviridov returned to Leningrad, and in 1956 he settled in Moscow. He wrote symphonies, concerts, oratorios, cantatas, songs and romances.

In June 1974, at a festival of Russian and Soviet songs held in France, the local press introduced Sviridov to its sophisticated public as “the most poetic of modern Soviet composers.”

Sviridov wrote his first works back in 1935 - a cycle of lyrical romances based on the words of Pushkin, which became famous.

While he studied at the Leningrad Conservatory, from 1936 to 1941, Sviridov experimented with different genres and different types of composition.

Sviridov's style changed significantly in the early stages of his work. His first works were written in the style of classical, romantic music and were similar to the works of the German romantics. Later, many of Sviridov's works were written under the influence of his teacher Dmitry Shostakovich.

Beginning in the mid-1950s, Sviridov acquired his own bright, original style, and tried to write works that were exclusively Russian in nature.

Sviridov's music remained little known in the West for a long time, but in Russia his works enjoyed tremendous success among critics and listeners for their simple but subtle lyrical melodies, scale, masterful instrumentation and the clearly expressed national character of the statement, equipped with world experience.

Sviridov continued and developed the experience of Russian classics, primarily Modest Mussorgsky, enriching it with the achievements of the 20th century. He uses the traditions of ancient cant, ritual chants, znamenny singing, and at the same time, modern urban mass song. Sviridov's creativity combines novelty, originality of musical language, precision, exquisite simplicity, deep spirituality and expressiveness. Apparent simplicity combined with new intonations and transparency of sound seems especially valuable.

musical comedies --

“The Sea Stretches Widely” (1943, Moscow Chamber Theater, Barnaul), “Sparks” (1951, Kiev Musical Comedy Theater);

“Liberty” (words of the Decembrist poets, 1955, unfinished), “Brothers!” (words by Yesenin, 1955), “Poem in memory of Sergei Yesenin” (1956), “Pathetic Oratorio” (words by Mayakovsky, 1959; Lenin Prize, 1960), “We do not believe” (Song about Lenin, words by Mayakovsky, 1960), “Kursk Songs” (folk words, 1964; USSR State Prize, 1968), “Sad Songs” (words by Blok, 1965), 4 folk songs (1971), “Bright Guest” (words by Yesenin, 1965-75);

cantatas --

“Wooden Rus'” (small cantata, words by Yesenin, 1964), “Snow is falling” (small cantata, words by Pasternak, 1965), “Spring cantata” (words by Nekrasov, 1972), Ode to Lenin (words by R. I. Rozhdestvensky, for reader, choir and orchestra, 1976);

for orchestra --

“Three Dances” (1951), suite “Time, forward!” (1965), Little triptych (1966), Music for the monument to the fallen on the Kursk Bulge (1973), “Blizzard” (musical illustrations for Pushkin’s story, 1974), symphony for string orchestra (1940), Music for chamber orchestra (1964); concerto for piano and orchestra (1936);

chamber instrumental ensembles --

piano trio (1945; USSR State Prize, 1946), string quartet (1947);

for piano --

sonata (1944), sonatina (1934), Little Suite (1935), 6 pieces (1936), 2 partitas (1947), Album of pieces for children (1948), polka (4 hands, 1935);

for choir (a cappella) --

5 choirs to the words of Russian poets (1958), “You sing me that song” and “The soul is sad about heaven” (to the words of Yesenin, 1967), 3 choirs from the music to A. K. Tolstoy’s drama “Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich” (1973 ), Concert in memory of A. A. Yurlov (1973), 3 miniatures (round dance, spring song, carol, 1972-75), 3 pieces from the Album for Children (1975), “Blizzard” (words by Yesenin, 1976); “Songs of the Wanderer” (to the words of ancient Chinese poets, for voice and orchestra, 1943); “Petersburg Songs” (for soprano, mezzo-soprano, baritone, bass with piano, violin, cello, lyrics by Blok, 1963);

poems: “Country of Fathers” (words by Isaakyan, 1950), “Rus' Set Away” (words by Yesenin, 1977); vocal cycles: 6 romances to words by Pushkin (1935), 8 romances to words by M. Yu. Lermontov (1937), “Slobodskaya Lyrics” (words by A. A. Prokofiev and M. V. Isakovsky, 1938-58), “Smolensky horn" (words by various Soviet poets, different years), 3 songs to the words of Isahakyan (1949), 3 Bulgarian songs (1950), From Shakespeare (1944-60), Songs to the words of R. Burns (1955), "I have a father -peasant" (words by Yesenin, 1957), 3 songs to words by Blok (1972), 20 songs for bass (different years), 6 songs to words by Blok (1977), etc.;

romances and songs, arrangements of folk songs, music for dramatic performances and films.

Works by G.V. Sviridov for choir, and cappella, along with works of the oratorio-cantata genre, belong to the most valuable section of his work. The range of topics that are raised in them reflects his characteristic desire for eternal philosophical problems. Basically, these are thoughts about life and man, about nature, about the role and purpose of the poet, about the Motherland. These themes also determine Sviridov’s selection of poets, mainly domestic ones: A. Pushkin, S. Yesenin, A. Nekrasov, A. Blok, V. Mayakovsky, A. Prokofiev, S. Orlov, B. Pasternak... Carefully recreating the individual features of the poetry of each them, the composer at the same time brings their themes closer together during the selection process, combining them into a certain circle of images, themes, and plots. But the final transformation of each of the poets into a “like-minded person” occurs under the influence of music, which powerfully invades the poetic material and transforms it into a new work of art.

Based on a deep penetration into the world of poetry and his reading of the text, the composer, as a rule, creates his own musical and figurative concept. In this case, the determining factor is the identification in the content of the poetic primary source of that main, humanly universally significant thing, which makes it possible to achieve a high degree of artistic generalization in music.

The focus of Sviridov’s attention is always the person. The composer loves to show people who are strong, courageous, and restrained. Images of nature, as a rule, “perform” the role of a background to human experiences, although they also match people - calm pictures of the vast expanse of the steppe...

The composer emphasizes the commonality of images of the earth and the people who inhabit it, endowing them with similar features. Two general ideological and figurative types predominate. Heroic images are recreated in the sound of a male choir, dominated by wide melodic leaps, unisons, sharp dotted rhythm, chord structure or movement in parallel thirds, forte and fortissimo nuances. On the contrary, the lyrical beginning is characterized mainly by the sound of a female choir, a soft melodic line, subvocality, movement in even durations, and quiet sonority. This differentiation of means is not accidental: each of them carries a certain expressive and semantic load in Sviridov, and the complex of these means constitutes a typical Sviridov “image-symbol”.

The specificity of any composer's choral writing is revealed through his characteristic types of melody, vocal techniques, methods of using various types of texture, choral timbres, registers, and dynamics. Sviridov also has his favorite techniques. But the common quality that connects them and defines the national-Russian beginning of his music is songfulness in the broad sense of the word, as a principle that colors both the modal basis of his thematics (diatonic), and texture (unison, subvocality, choral pedal), and form ( verse, variation, strophicity), and intonation-figurative structure. Another characteristic property of Sviridov’s music is inextricably linked with this quality. Namely: vocality, understood not only as the ability to write for the voice: as vocal convenience and melodiousness of melodies, as an ideal synthesis of musical and speech intonations, which helps the performer achieve speech naturalness in the pronunciation of a musical text.

If we talk about the technique of choral writing, then, first of all, we should note the subtle expressiveness of the timbre palette and textural techniques. Equally mastering the techniques of subvocal and homophonic development, Sviridov, as a rule, is not limited to just one thing. In his choral works one can observe an organic connection between homophony and polyphony. The composer often uses a combination of a subvoice with a theme presented homophonically - a kind of two-dimensional texture (the subvoice is the background, the theme is the foreground). The supporting voice usually gives a general mood or paints a landscape, while the other voices convey the specific content of the text. Often Sviridov's harmony consists of a combination of horizontals (a principle coming from Russian folk polyphony). These horizontal lines sometimes form entire textured layers, and then their movement and connection give rise to complex harmonic consonances. A special case of textural multi-layering in Sviridov is the technique of duplicated voice leading, leading to parallelism of fourths, fifths and whole chords. Sometimes such duplication of texture simultaneously in two “floors” (in the male and female choir or in high and low voices) is caused by the requirements of a certain timbre colorfulness or register brightness. In other cases, it is associated with “poster” images, with the style of Cossack and soldier songs (“A son met his father”). But most often parallelism is used as a means of sound volume. This desire for maximum saturation of the “musical space” finds vivid expression in the choirs “The Soul Is Sad About Heaven” (to the words of S. Yesenin), “Prayer”, in which the performing ensemble is divided into two choirs, one of which duplicates the other.

In Sviridov's scores we will not find traditional choral textural techniques (fugato, canon, imitation) or standard compositional schemes; there are no general, neutral sounds. Each technique is predetermined by a figurative purpose, any stylistic turn is expressively specific. In each play, the composition is completely individual, free, and this freedom is determined and internally regulated by the subordination of musical development with the construction and meaningful dynamics of the poetic fundamental principle.

The dramatic peculiarity of some choirs is noteworthy. Two contrasting images, presented at first in the form of independent, complete constructions, in the final section seem to be brought to a single denominator, merging into one figurative plane (“In the blue evening”, “The son met his father”, “How the song was born”, “Herd” ) - the principle of dramaturgy, coming from instrumental forms (symphony, sonata, concert). In general, the implementation in the choir of techniques borrowed from instrumental, in particular orchestral, genres is typical for the composer. Their use in choral works significantly expands the range of expressive and formative possibilities of the choral genre.

The noted features of Sviridov’s choral music, which determine its artistic originality, led to the widespread recognition of the composer’s choirs and the rapid growth of their popularity. Most of them are heard in the concert programs of leading domestic professional and amateur choirs, recorded on records released not only in our country, but also abroad.

Yesenin Sergei Aleksandrovich (September 21, 1895 - December 28, 1925) - Russian poet, representative of new peasant poetry and lyrics.

Yesenin’s father went to Moscow, got a job there as a clerk, and therefore Yesenin was sent to be raised in the family of his maternal grandfather. My grandfather had three adult unmarried sons. Sergei Yesenin later wrote: “My uncles (three unmarried sons of my grandfather) were mischievous brothers. When I was three and a half years old they put me on a horse without a saddle and let me gallop. They also taught me how to swim: they put me in a boat, sailed to the middle of the lake and threw me into the water. When I was eight years old, I replaced one of my uncle’s hunting dogs and swam through the water after shot ducks.”

In 1904, Sergei Yesenin was taken to the Konstantinovsky Zemstvo School, where he studied for five years, although according to the plan, Sergei was supposed to receive education for four years, but due to bad behavior, Sergei Yesenin was left for the second year. In 1909, Sergei Aleksandrovich Yesenin graduated from the Konstantinovsky Zemstvo School, and Sergei’s parents sent him to a parochial school in the village of Spas-Klepiki, 30 km from Konstantinov. His parents wanted their son to become a rural teacher, although Sergei himself dreamed of something else. At the Spas-Klepikovskaya teacher's school, Sergei Yesenin met Grisha Panfilov, with whom he later (after graduating from the teacher's school) corresponded for a long time. In 1912, Sergei Aleksandrovich Yesenin, having graduated from the Spas-Klepikovskaya teacher's school, moved to Moscow and settled with his father in a dormitory for clerks. His father got Sergei to work in the office, but soon Yesenin left there and got a job in the printing house of I. Sytin as a subreader (assistant proofreader). There he met Anna Romanovna Izryadnova and entered into a civil marriage with her. On December 1, 1914, Anna Izryadnova and Sergei Yesenin had a son, Yuri.

In Moscow, Yesenin published his first poem “Birch”, which was published in the Moscow children's magazine “Mirok”. He joined the literary and musical circle named after the peasant poet I. Surikov. This circle included aspiring writers and poets from the worker-peasant environment.

In 1915, Sergei Aleksandrovich Yesenin went to St. Petersburg and met there the great poets of Russia of the 20th century: Blok, Gorodetsky, Klyuev. In 1916, Yesenin published his first collection of poems, “Radunitsa,” which included poems such as “Do not wander, do not crush in the crimson bushes,” “The hewn roads began to sing,” and others.

In the spring of 1917, Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin married Zinaida Nikolaevna Reich, they had 2 children: daughter Tanya and son Kostya. But in 1918 Yesenin separated from his wife.

In 1919, Yesenin met Anatoly Maristoff and wrote his first poems - “Inonia” and “Mare Ships”. In the fall of 1921, Sergei Yesenin met the famous American dancer Isadora Duncan and already in May 1922 officially registered his marriage with her. Together they went abroad. We visited Germany, Belgium, and the USA. From New York, Yesenin wrote letters to his friend A. Maristof and asked to help his sister if she suddenly needed help. Arriving in Russia, he began working on the cycles of poems “Hooligan”, “Confession of a Hooligan”, “Love of a Hooligan”.

In 1924, a collection of poems by S.A. Yesenin “Moscow Tavern” was published in St. Petersburg. Then Yesenin began working on the poem “Anna Snegina” and already in January 1925 he finished working on this poem and published it. Having separated from his ex-wife Isadora Duncan, Sergei Yesenin married Sofya Andreevna Tolstoy, who was the granddaughter of the famous Russian writer of the 19th century, Leo Tolstoy. But this marriage lasted only a few months.

From Yesenin's letters of 1911-1913, the complex life of the aspiring poet and his spiritual maturation emerge. All this was reflected in the poetic world of his lyrics of 1910-1913, when he wrote over 60 poems and poems. Here his love for all living things, for life, for the Motherland is expressed. The surrounding nature especially sets the poet in this mood.

From the very first verses, Yesenin’s poetry includes themes of homeland and revolution. The poetic world becomes more complex, multidimensional, and biblical images and Christian motifs begin to occupy a significant place in it.

Sergei Yesenin speaks about the connection of music with poetry, painting, and architecture in his literary essays, comparing patterned folk embroideries and ornaments with its majestic solemnity. Yesenin's poetic work is intertwined with his musical impressions. He had “an extraordinary sense of rhythm, but often, before putting his lyrical poems on paper, he played them... apparently for self-test, on the piano, testing them for sound and hearing, and, ultimately, for simplicity, crystal clarity and intelligibility to the human heart, to the people’s soul.”

Therefore, it is no coincidence that Yesenin’s poems attract the attention of composers. More than 200 works were written based on the poet’s poems. There are operas (“Anna Snegina” by A. Kholminov and A. Agafonov) and vocal cycles (“You, O Motherland” by A. Flyarkovsky, “My Father is a Peasant” by Sviridov). 27 works were written by Georgy Sviridov. Among them, especially noteworthy is the vocal-symphonic poem “In Memory of Sergei Yesenin”.

The work “You Sing Me That Song” is included in the cycle “Two Choirs to the Poems of S. Yesenin,” written for homogeneous compositions: the first for a female choir, the second for a double male choir and a baritone solo.

The choice of performing ensembles in this case was based on the principle of contrasting interaction, and the timbre comparison was deepened by the contrast of moods, in one piece - lyrically fragile, in another - courageous and stern. Perhaps the factor of performing practice also played a certain role in this (located in the middle of the concert program, such works provide alternate rest for different groups of the mixed choir). These features, combined with the stylistic unity of the literary basis (the works are based on the words of one poet), allow us to consider “Two Choirs” as a kind of diptych.

Analysis of literary text

The literary source of the work is S. Yesenin’s poem “You sing me that song that before...”, dedicated to the poet’s sister Shura.

You sing me that song from before

The old mother sang to us.

Without regretting the lost hope,

I can sing along with you.

I know, and I am familiar,

That's why you worry and worry...

You sing to me, well, and I’m with this one,

With the same song as you,

I'll just close my eyes a little...

I see dear features again.

That I have never loved alone

And the gate of the autumn garden,

And fallen leaves from rowan trees.

You sing to me, well, I’ll remember

And I won’t frown forgetfully:

So nice and so easy for me

Seeing the mother and the yearning chickens.

I am forever for fog and dew

I fell in love with the birch tree,

And her golden braids,

And her canvas sundress.

I need a song and some wine

You seemed like that birch tree

What is under the birth window.

Sergei Yesenin had a very difficult relationship with his sister Alexandra. This young girl immediately and unconditionally accepted revolutionary innovations and abandoned her previous way of life. When the poet came to his native village of Konstantinovo, Alexandra constantly reproached him for his short-sightedness and lack of a correct worldview. Yesenin chuckled quietly and rarely got involved in socio-political debates, although he internally worried that he was forced to find himself on opposite sides of the barricades with someone close to him.

Nevertheless, it is to his sister that Yesenin addresses himself in one of his last poems, “You sing me that song that before...”, written in September 1925. The poet feels that his life’s journey is coming to an end, so he sincerely wants to preserve in his soul the image of his native land with its traditions and foundations, which are so dear to him. He asks his sister to sing him the song that he heard in his distant childhood, noting: “Without regretting the lost hope, I will be able to sing along with you.” Being hundreds of kilometers from his parents' house, Yesenin mentally returns to the old hut, which once seemed to him like a royal mansion. Years have passed, and now the poet realizes how primitive and wretched the world in which he was born and raised was. But it was here that the author felt that all-consuming happiness, which gave him the strength not only to live, but also to create amazingly imaginative poems. For this he is sincerely grateful to his small homeland, the memory of which still excites his soul. Yesenin admits that he was not the only one who loved “the gate of the autumn garden and the fallen leaves of rowan trees.” The author is convinced that his younger sister also experienced similar feelings, but she very soon stopped noticing what was truly dear to her.

Yesenin does not blame Alexandra for the fact that she has already lost the romanticism inherent in her youth, having fenced herself off from the outside world with communist slogans. The poet understands that everyone has their own path in this life, and they will have to go through it to the end. No matter what. However, he sincerely feels sorry for his sister, who, for the sake of other people’s ideals, rejects what she absorbed with her mother’s milk. The author is convinced that time will pass and her views on life will change again. In the meantime, Alexandra seems to the poet “that birch tree that stands under the birthplace window.” Just as fragile, tender and helpless, capable of bending under the first gust of wind, the direction of which can change at any moment.

The poem consists of 7 stanzas, four stanzas each. The main meter of the poem is a trimeter anapest (), the rhyme is cross. Sometimes a three-beat meter changes to two beats (trochee) within one line (stanza 2 (1 line), stanza 3 (1, 3 lines), stanza 4 (1 line), stanza 5 (1, 3 lines), stanza 6 (2nd line), 7th stanza (3rd line)).

In the chorus, the poem is not used in full; stanzas 2, 3 and 5 are omitted.

You sing me that song from before

The old mother sang to us.

Without regretting the lost hope,

I can sing along with you.

Sing to me. After all, my joy is

That I have never loved alone

And the gate of the autumn garden,

And fallen leaves from rowan trees.

I am forever for fog and dew

I fell in love with the birch tree,

And her golden braids,

And her canvas sundress.

That's why it's not hard on the heart...

I need a song and some wine

You seemed like that birch tree

What is under the birth window.

What stands under the birthmark window. Sviridov made some changes to the text that affected the details. But even these minor discrepancies reflected Sviridov’s creative approach to the borrowed text, special care in polishing the sounding word and vocal phrase. In the first case, the changes are caused by the desire of the author of the music to facilitate the pronunciation of individual words, which is important in singing; in the other, the alignment of the third line (due to its lengthening by one syllable) in relation to the first line facilitates the subtext of the motive and the natural placement of stress.

Sing to me. After all, my joy - You sing to me, dear joy

And fallen leaves from rowan trees. - And fallen rowan leaves.

You seemed like that birch tree - You seemed like a birch tree to me,

The chorus “You sing me that song” is one of the brightest examples of Sviridov’s song lyrics. The naturally sung, clearly diatonic melody embodies various genre features. It contains both the intonations of a peasant song and (to a greater extent) echoes of an urban romance. This combination embodied different aspects of reality: both the memory of the village life dear to the poet’s heart, and the atmosphere of city life that really surrounded him. It is not for nothing that in conclusion the poet draws a metaphorical image that appears in his imagination as a clear dream shining through the fog.

That's why it's not hard on the heart...

I need a song and some wine

You seemed like that birch tree

What is under the birth window.

The last line repeated by the composer sounds like a quiet song fading in the distance.

2. Music-theoretical analysis

The form of the chorus can be defined as verse-strophic, where each verse is a period. The form of the choir reflected the specifics of the song genre (squareness, variability of melody). The number of couplets corresponds to the number of stanzas (4). Verse variation is kept to a minimum, with the exception of the third verse, which performs a function close to the developing middle of the three-part form.

The first verse is a two-sentence square period. Each sentence consists of two equal phrases (4 + 4), where the second continues the development of the first. The middle cadence is based on a tonic triad, thanks to which the initial musical image acquires integrity.

The second sentence develops similarly to the first and consists of two phrases (4 + 4).

This structure is maintained throughout the entire work, making it simple and understandable, close to folk songs.

The final construction, based on the repetition of the last line, is a four-bar episode that completely duplicates the final phrase of the fourth verse.

The choir's melody is simple and natural. The initial appeal motive sounds soulful and lyrical. The ascending movement I - V - I and the “filled” diatonic return to the V degree (F#) becomes the basis of the melodic organization.

The second phrase, outlining the same ascending fifth, only from the IV degree, again returns to the V degree in cadence.

At the climax, the melody “takes off” for a short moment into a high register (ascending octave progression), conveying the subtle emotional experiences of the main character, after which it returns to the reference tone (F#).

In this simple and heartfelt line, contradictory feelings are embodied and intertwined: bitterness about “faded hopes” and a fragile dream of returning to the past. In leaps and bounds (^ch5 and ch8), the composer subtly emphasizes the main textual peaks (“without sparing”, “I can do it”).

Verses 2 and 4 develop similarly.

The third verse adds new color. The parallel major hesitantly “sprouts” like a reverent memory of one’s native land. The soft movement along the sounds of a major triad sounds gentle and touching.

However, the general mood of the melody is preserved in the appearance of the V degree of the main key. At the end it is emphasized by a quart song, sounding dreamy and soulful.

The second sentence begins not with an octave move, but with a softer, melodious one (^m6), returning in the second phrase to the previous melodic organization.

The final episode is built on the final intonation of the first sentence. The fact that the melody does not come to the tonic at the end, but remains on the fifth sound, introduces a special “unfinished” intonation of hope, a bright image of a dream about days gone by.

The texture of the choir is harmonic, with a melody in the upper voice. All voices move in a single rhythmic content, revealing one image. With the introduction of an echo in the last verse (the unison of three sopranos), this image seems to bifurcate, further developing simultaneously in two parallel planes: one corresponds to the ongoing confidential and intimate conversation, the other takes the artist’s imagination to a distant dream, personified in the image of a birch tree. Here we see a technique characteristic of Sviridov, when a bright memory is expressed in a solo timbre, personified.

The main key is natural h-moll. The main feature of the tonal plan of the work is modal variability (H-moll/D-dur), passing from verse to verse, which colors the melody with the colors of opposite modal inclinations (the contrast of juxtaposition of parallel tonalities is especially expressive on the edges of verses) and creates the effect of harmonic chiaroscuro. Periodic minor-major modulations to some extent convey the changing shades of sadness and bright dreams. Of the four verses, only the third begins not in the main key, but in parallel major (D-dur), and is thematically transformed (its second half varies less significantly). The last phrase (a four-bar coda addition) returns the main key of B minor after modulation to parallel major.

Clockwise Harmonic Analysis Circuit

		VI6 III53 d6(-5)
		III53(-5) t64 II6(#3.5)(DD6)	s53 III53(-5) d43(-3)
		VI6 III53 III53(-5)= T53(-5)
					T53(-5) = III53(-5)
		III6 II6(#3.5)(DD6)	s6 III6 II6(#3.5) (DD6)
		VI64 III53= T53 T53(-5)
		VI6 III53 d6(-5)
		VI43 (#1,-5) VI(#1) II6(#3,5) (DD6)	s53 III53(-5) d43(-3)
		VI6 III53 III53(-5)= T53(-5)
		VI6 III53 d6(-5)

The harmonic language is simple, which corresponds to folk songs; third movements between voices, simple triads, and sixth chords are used. The use of elevated IV and VI degrees (bars 9, 25, 41, 57) gives the melody vagueness, “blurriness”: it becomes veiled, as if in a haze, which makes it especially poetic. Sometimes, thanks to the melodic movement of voices, which is the main genre principle in this work, chords appear with missing tones or, on the contrary, doublings. The combination of chords and unisons sounds contrasting at the junctions of parts, where the melody “unfolds” into a harmonic vertical.

Simple chords and patterns present colorful parallelisms. The work is characterized by wide passages of some voices against the background of ostinatos of others. The repetition of consonances serves as a stable background for the free intonational development of the melody.

Triadic chords are a feature of Sviridov’s harmony. At the climactic places and boundaries of phrases, Sviridov's sixth chord sometimes appears - a sixth chord with a double third.

The tempo of the work is moderate (not in a hurry). The movement indicated by the composer indicates a calm, unhurried development, in which it will be possible to convincingly convey to the listeners the main idea of ​​the poem - appeal and reflection. The tempo in the coda of the work gradually slows down (poco a poco ritenuto), the music gradually fades away, personifying a fading dream.

The meter - 3/4 - does not change throughout the entire composition. It was chosen by the composer in accordance with the three-syllable size of S. Yesenin’s poem.

Speaking about the rhythmic side of the work, it is appropriate to note that, with a few exceptions, the rhythm of the choral parts is based on one rhythmic formula.

The off-beat movement is born from the poetic meter and carries within it a striving forward. With the help of a dotted rhythm (a quarter with a dot - an eighth), the composer “sings” the second beat, and he emphasizes each first with a tenuto (consistent) stroke. All phrase endings are organized using a sustained chord. This gives the impression of a measured swaying. The lulling repetition of the ostinato rhythm, moving from phrase to phrase, in combination with the same type of square constructions with an almost universal quiet sound, creates distinct associations with a lullaby.

The dynamics of the work and its character are closely related. Sviridov gives instructions close to the tempo - quietly, soulfully. Starting in the PP nuance, the dynamics very subtly follow the development of the phrases. There is a lot of dynamic author direction in the choir. At the climax, the sound increases to the mf nuance (the culmination of the first and second verses), after which the dynamic plan becomes quieter, reducing to the rrrrr nuance.

In the fourth verse, the composer, with the help of dynamics, clearly emphasizes the main choral line and the supporting voice of the three sopranos and the difference in their figurative plans by the ratio of performing nuances: chorus - mp, solo - pp.

Dynamic plan of the choir.

You sing me that song from before

The old mother sang to us,

Without regretting the lost hope,

I can sing along with you.

Sing to me, dear joy -

That I have never loved alone

And the gate of the autumn garden,

And fallen rowan leaves.

I am forever for fog and dew

I fell in love with the birch tree,

And her golden braids,

And her canvas sundress.

That’s why the heart isn’t hard,

what's behind the song and the wine?

You seemed like a birch tree to me,

What is under the birth window.

What is under the birth window.

3. Vocal and choral analysis

The work “You Sing Me That Song” was written for a female four-voice choir.

Batch ranges:

Soprano I:

Soprano II:

Overall range of the choir:

Analyzing the ranges, one can notice that in general the work has convenient tessitura conditions. All parts are quite developed, the lower sounds of the range are used sporadically, in unison moments, and the highest notes appear in climactic places. The largest range - 1.5 octaves - is in the part of the first sopranos, since the upper voice performs the main melodic line. The total range of the choir is almost 2 octaves. Basically, throughout the entire sound, the parts are in the working range. If we talk about the degree of vocal load of the parts, then they are all relatively equal. The choir is written without musical accompaniment, so the singing load is quite large.

In this work, the main type of breathing is in phrases. Within phrases, chain breathing should be used, which is obtained by quick, imperceptible changes in breathing by the singers within the choral part. When working on chain breathing, it is necessary to strive to ensure that the alternate entry of singers does not destroy the single line of development of the theme.

Let's look at the complexities of choral structure. One of the main conditions for a good horizontal structure is unison within the party, in work on which the main attention should be directed to developing in singers the ability to listen to their choral part, adapt to other voices and strive for fusion in the overall sound. When working on the melodic structure, the choirmaster must follow certain rules for intonation of the degrees of the major and minor modes, developed by practice. These rules were first systematized by P. G. Chesnokov in the book “The Choir and Its Management.” Intonation should be built on a modal basis, on awareness of the modal role of sounds. The initial stage of working on tuning is to build the unison and melodic line of each part.

The top voice is always of no small importance in any score. The first soprano part serves as the leading voice throughout the work. Tessitura conditions are quite comfortable. It is characterized by both simple singing intonations and complex intonation moments of the romance type. The game contains a combination of both spasmodic and progressive movements. Difficult moments (execution of jumps ch5^ (bars 1, 4-5, 12-13, 16-17, 20-21, 28-29, 44, 48-49, 52-53, 60-61, 64-65), ch4^ (bars 1-2, 13-14, 17-18, 29-30, 33-34, 38, 45-46, 49-50, 61-62), ch8 ^ (bars 8-9, 24-25 , 56-57), h4v (bars 11-12, 27-28, 38-39, 60), h5v (bars 15-16, 47-48), m6^ (bars 40-41)) you need to isolate and sing them like exercise. Choristers must be clearly aware of the relationship between sounds. The main melodic line should sound prominent, with full breath, in the right character.

It is also necessary to draw the attention of singers to the fact that small intervals require one-sided narrowing, and pure intervals require pure and stable intonation of sounds. All ascending ch4 and ch5 must be performed accurately, but at the same time softly.

When working on the tuning in the second soprano part, you need to pay attention to moments when the melody is at the same pitch (bars 33-34, 37-38) - a decrease in intonation may occur. Execution of such moments with an upward tendency will allow you to avoid this. Performers' attention should be paid to maintaining a high singing position.

This part has a smoother melodic line than the upper voice, but it also contains leaps that require precision in execution. They appear both in unison with the first soprano part, and independently, often in tertian correlation with the upper voice (m6^ (bars 8-9, 24-25, 56-57), h4v (bars 10, 26, 58)).

The second soprano part also contains alterations - measures 38, 41-42. The sound G# should be intoned with a tendency to increase.

The parts of the first and second violas have a rather soft melodic line, built mainly on stepwise and third movements. The choirmaster's attention will require the precise execution of leaps that occasionally occur in the lower voices (first altos - ch4^ (bars 9, 25), second altos - ch5^ (bars 8, 24, 56), ch4v (bars 14-15, 29-30, 45-46, 61-62, 63-64), ch4^ (bars 30-31, 38, 46-47, 62-63)). Jumps should be performed carefully, using good breathing and a soft attack. This also applies to movement along the sounds of a major triad in the second viola part (VI step) (bars 4-5, 12-13,20-21,28-29, 52-53, 60-61)

Alterations appear quite often in the melodic lines of these parts: passing (bars 9-10, 25-26, 57-58) and auxiliary (bars 41-42), where the basis of intonation will be modal inclinations.

Proper staging of vocal work in a choir is the key to a clean and stable structure. The quality of intonation of a melody is interconnected with the nature of sound production and the high singing position.

The quality of the horizontal structure is influenced by such factors as a single (covered) manner of formation of vowels and vibrato. Choristers must find a unified manner of sound formation in which the degree of rounding of vowels should be maximum.

The purity of intonation also depends on the direction of the melody. Staying at the same height for a long time can cause a decrease in intonation; it is in this direction that the initial part of the melodic line in the viola part is set out. To eliminate the difficulty, you can ask singers to mentally imagine the opposite movement when singing. This advice can also be used when working with horse racing.

In this work, work on the melodic structure should be carried out in close connection with the harmonic structure. Intonation should be built on a modal basis, on awareness of the modal role of sounds. The tertian mode sound often appears in the soprano part, and here the following performance rule must be followed: a major tertian sound must be sung with a tendency to rise. In order to verify chord sequences, the choirmaster is recommended to sing them not only in the original performance, but also to use them as chanting turns.

When working on the harmonic structure in this work, it is useful to use the technique of performing with a closed mouth, which allows you to activate the singers’ musical ear and direct it to the quality of performance.

Particular attention should be paid to working on the general choral unison, which occurs occasionally between parts (bars 8, 16, 24, 32, 39, 40, 44, 48, 56). Often the unison appears at the beginning of formations after pauses, and the choir needs to develop the skill of “pre-hearing” the unison.

Sustained clear intonation and a dense, free sound are facilitated by the diaphragmatic type of breathing and a soft attack of sound. To overcome inaccuracies, it is advisable to sing difficult passages in parts. Singing with your mouth closed or on a neutral syllable is also useful.

An ensemble in any form of art means a harmonious unity and consistency of details that form a single compositional integrity. The concept of “choral ensemble” is based on the coordinated, balanced and simultaneous performance of a choral work by singers. In contrast to the purity of intonation, which can be cultivated individually for each singer, ensemble singing skills can only be developed in a group, in the process of joint performance.

An important aspect of vocal-choral analysis is addressing issues of private and general ensemble. When working on a private ensemble, a unified manner of vocal and choral performance technique, unity of nuance, subordination of the particular and general climaxes of the work, and the overall emotional tonality of the performance are developed. Each choir member needs to learn to listen to the sound of his part, determining its place in the sound of the entire group as a whole, and the ability to adjust his voice to the general choral sound.

As already written, in a private ensemble a single emotional tone of performance is outlined; it involves working on unison within the party. In a general ensemble, when combining unison groups, various options for the ratio of sound strength are possible (in the subvocal texture it is necessary to maintain the balance of all parts, timbre colors, and the nature of the pronunciation of the text). Thus, at the beginning of the work, the main melodic line is in the first soprano part, and the other parts are performed by the supporting line, but the composer indicates a single dynamic relationship between the parts.

Let's turn to other types of ensemble.

The dynamic ensemble is important in this work. In this work we can talk about a natural ensemble, since the voices are in equal tessitura conditions, and the soprano part is slightly higher tessitura. From the point of view of a dynamic ensemble, unison moments are also interesting, where a balanced and uniform choral sound is required. This will require the ability to regulate the dynamics of sound through the active work of singing breathing. In the final part, the echo of three sopranos appears, which should sound quieter, although they are tessitura above the main theme.

A rhythmic ensemble will require performers to have precise and precise intra-lobe pulsation, which will allow them not to shorten the duration, and not to speed up or load the initial tempo. This is due to a single rhythmic organization, where all parts must move from chord to chord as accurately as possible. A moderate pace, without relying on the internal pulse, can lose momentum and slow down. The difficulty in these episodes is the introduction of voices after pauses, on which all the junctions of the episodes are built.

Work on a rhythmic ensemble is closely related to developing the skills of choir members to simultaneously take breath, attack and release sound. A serious drawback for choral singers is the inertia of tempo-rhythmic movement. There is only one way to combat this: to accustom singers to the possibility of every second change in tempo, which automatically entails stretching or shortening of rhythmic units, and to cultivate their performing flexibility.

The following techniques can be used when working on a choir’s metro-rhythmic ensemble:

Clapping a rhythmic pattern;

Pronouncing musical text using rhythmic syllables;

Singing with tapping intralobar pulsation;

Solfaging with division of the main metric beat into smaller durations;

Singing at a slow tempo with crushing the main metric beat, or at a fast tempo with enlargement of the metric beat, etc.

The most common tempo violations in the choir are associated with acceleration when singing at a crescendo and slowing down when singing at a diminuendo.

This also applies to the diction ensemble: in moments of a single textual material, the singers will have to pronounce words together, taking into account the nature of the text, relying on intralobar pulsation. The following points pose difficulties:

pronouncing consonants at the junction of words that must be sung together with the next word, as well as consonants in the middle of words at the junction of syllables (for example: you sing me that song from before, etc.);

pronouncing the text in dynamics p while maintaining diction activity;

clear pronunciation of consonants at the end of a word (for example: mother, sing along, one, rowan, birch, etc.);

performance of words including the letter “r”, where its somewhat exaggerated pronunciation is used (for example: before, dear joy, under the birthmark, birch tree)

Turning to issues of choral diction, it is important to note the need for all choir singers to use common rules and articulation techniques. Let's name some of them.

The beautiful, expressive sound of vowels ensures the beauty of the vocal sound, and conversely, the flat sound of vowels leads to a flat, ugly, non-vocal sound.

Consonants in singing are pronounced at the height of vowels, to

which they are adjacent to. Failure to comply with this rule

leads in choral practice to the so-called “entrances”, and sometimes to impure intonation.

In order to achieve dictionary clarity, in the choir it is necessary to expressively read the text of the choral work in the rhythm of the music, highlighting and practicing difficult to pronounce words and combinations.

The timbre ensemble, like the nature of the text’s pronunciation, is closely interconnected with the nature of the music: a light, warm timbre must be maintained throughout the entire work. The character of the sound is calm and peaceful.

The work “You Sing Me That Song” is a choral song that combines folk traditions and classical incarnation, and requires greater cover, roundness of sound, performers need to develop a unified manner of forming sound and timbre. To perform it, a small or medium-sized cast of performers is required. It can be performed by an educational or amateur choral group that has a developed range and masters the skills of ensemble singing.

Based on musical-theoretical and vocal-choral analysis, a performance analysis of the work can be made.

The author created an amazingly beautiful choral miniature. Precisely following the poetic word and using various means of musical expressiveness: moderate tempo, textural features, expressive moments emphasizing the text, subtle dynamics, the composer paints a picture of his native land, conveys melancholy and dreams of days gone by. As already written above, “You Sing Me That Song” is a choral miniature. This genre poses certain tasks for performers, the main one of which is to reveal a poetic image in a relatively small work, develop it, and at the same time maintain an even sound and smoothness. The main performing principle is the continuous development and unity of the image.

Agogy in this chorus is closely related to phrasing and climaxes.

Each motive contains its own small peak, from which private culminations are gradually formed.

G. Sviridov very accurately indicated the climactic moments with the help of dynamics and line instructions.

The first climax appears in bar 2 on the word “song”, and the next in bar 6 (“old”), the author indicates them with a tenuto stroke, diminuendo and movements of the melodic line. These small peaks prepare the partial climax of the first verse, which sounds on the words “not regretting the lost hope.” The climax appears suddenly, without long preparation. After this peak, a number of supporting sounds appear.

A long movement from the top can cause some difficulty; you need to calculate the dynamic scale so that the decay is uniform.

The second verse develops similarly, but with bolder dynamics and very expressive (espressivo). Its apex is also at the beginning of the second sentence. Here the composer warns that this moment should be performed tenderly and softly.

The third verse sounds in the dynamics of ppp, which comes suddenly (subito ppp) and the climactic episode, despite the intonation rise, should sound in the same dynamics (sempre ppp).

The fourth verse contains the main peak. The composer uses tenuto to highlight the words “that is why the heart is not hard”; they sound in the dynamics of mp (espressivo).

Afterwards again a quiet climax in the nuance pp.

Particular attention should be paid to the execution of strokes. The main type of sound control in this choir is light legato (connected). There are many notes in the score under the tenuto (holding) stroke, which indicates the utmost coherence of the notes being played.

In a choral work without instrumental accompaniment, the play of register and timbre colors of singing voices is most clearly manifested, the extraordinary emotional impact of music and words, and the beauty of the human voice are fully revealed.

For performance analysis, it is also important to consider the tasks facing the conductor and determining the stages of work on the work with the performing group.

When working with this choir, the conductor must master the following techniques. Accurate display of the prepared aftertaste to organize the choir’s entry at the beginning of the work and in the future.

The next necessary aftertact is a combined one. With its help, joints between parts will be organized. In a combined aftertact, it is important to accurately show the removal and move on to the entry.

The separation of hand functions is of great importance, since the conductor needs to simultaneously solve several performing tasks, for example, showing a long note (left hand) and maintaining the pulse (right hand). The left hand will also solve dynamic and intonation problems during the execution process. For example, showing a small crescendo, in addition to the gradually extending left hand, the conductor will need to gradually increase the amplitude of the gesture, bringing the choral sonority to a louder nuance. The main type of sound engineering will require the conductor to have a collected brush and an accurate display of the conductor's point and a smooth interlobal aftertaste in a legato stroke.

The conductor must lead the choir, clearly showing the development in phrases and climaxes. More careful attention will be required at the end of the work, where the conductor must correctly and evenly distribute the dynamic “ascent” while maintaining the tempo. Intralobar pulsation will be the support for solving this problem. Performing a long ppp in the third verse will also require the conductor's attention.

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