How to define a musical image. What is a musical image? Lyrical images in music

SUBJECT: “Musical image”

GOAL: development of active, emotional and conscious perception of music by students based on identifying musical images in it, determining their nature, content and construction.

• developing in students the ability to determine by ear the character, mood and human feelings that music conveys;
• developing the skill of thoughtful listening to a piece of music, the ability to analyze its content and means of expression;
• development of the ability to identify characteristic stylistic features of music;
• development of independent thinking in students, manifestation own initiative and creativity;
• consolidation of the skill of pure intonation of a melody, correct breathing and accurate articulation of words when singing;

MUSICAL MATERIAL:

Concerto No. 2 for piano and orchestra, part I

S.V. Rachmaninov;

Song "Native places", music by Yu. Antonov.

VIEWER:

“Wet meadow” F.A. Vasilyeva;

“Evening ringing”, “Spring trees”, “Evening. Golden Reach”, “Eternal Peace”, I.I. Levitan;

“Oka”, V. D. Polenova;

U. Hello, guys! Sit back, try to feel as if you were in concert hall. By the way, what is the program for today's concert? No one knows? The trouble is, you were in such a hurry that none of you paid attention to the poster at the entrance to the hall. Well, okay, don't be upset! I think that the music that will be played today will help you determine not only its composer and musical content, but will also help you feel and realize the depth of feelings that it will convey.

So, imagine that the lights in the hall began to dim, steps were heard, complete silence ensued, and many listeners froze in a daze to catch the maestro appearing on stage. He came out and walked steadily towards the piano, sat down and thought for a few moments. His expressive face was turned to the instrument. He looked at the piano with such deep concentration that some kind of unearthly hypnotic power was felt in it. The musician began to play and the music began to play.

The exposition of the first part of the Second Concerto for Piano and Orchestra by S.V. Rachmaninov.

U. Who participates in the performance of a piece of music?

D. Piano and symphony orchestra.

U. So, can we define the genre of music? Is it an opera, a ballet, a symphony?

U. Who has the leading role?

D. In music we hear alternately a piano and an orchestra.

I think they serve the same role.

U. So what should we call this piece of music? We have already encountered a work of this genre.

D. This is a Concerto for piano and orchestra.

There is a help message about the word “concert” that one of the students prepared as homework.

U. What does music set us up for?

D. For reflection. Listening to her, I want to think.

U. Think about it Which composer could have written this piece of music: Russian or foreign? Why?

Children's answers.

U. This contemporary composer or a composer who lived a long time ago?

Student answers.

W. Indeed, this is a Russian composer - Sergei Vasilyevich Rahmaninov, who lived at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries. He was not only a talented composer, but also a wonderful conductor and a brilliant pianist.

Listen to how the composer himself described himself:

“I am a Russian composer, and my homeland has left its mark on my character and my views. My music is the fruit of my character, and therefore it is Russian music.”

Rachmaninov was a man of amazing destiny. A born poet and singer of Russia, he was born near Novgorod and died in America. Sergei Vasilievich loved native land and remained faithful to her until the end of his days.

The composer's creative path was not easy. The fact is that almost every talent, after the first inspiring successes, is faced with a misunderstanding of his art; creative ups and downs occur in his life. The year 1897 was such a difficult year, in many ways a turning point, a turning point for Rachmaninov. His truly first adult work as a composer, Symphony No. 1, was a failure. This failure became a tragedy for the young composer. It brought him not only bitter disappointments, but also a prolonged creative crisis, aggravated by a severe nervous illness. For several years Rachmaninov did not write anything significant. Time passed. And then the year 1901 came.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE COMPOSER OVER THESE YEARS?

Music, those feelings, thoughts and moods with which it is filled, will help us answer this question. It is the music that will help you figure out what the person who composed it was like and define him state of mind for that period of time. And to make it easier for us to understand the moral essence of Rachmaninov’s music, let’s simulate a situation of this type. Let's agree that the solo piano will convey the behavior, thoughts, feelings and experiences of our hero, and the world around him (society, nature, people, Motherland) will be a symphony orchestra.

Music is playing.

U. You said that in music we hear lingering, melodiousness, beautiful melodies, and a wide range of sound. Do melodious and drawn-out intonations also sound at the beginning of the Concert?

The teacher plays the intro chords on the piano.

D. No. Chords sound.

U. What sensations do you get when you hear these chords on the piano? What does this sound remind you of??

D. Reminds me of the ringing of bells, as if they are ringing bells or an alarm bell.

And I get the feeling that someone or something is approaching.

U. Why did you decide so?

D. Because there is little dynamic development in music.

U. Yes, the short introduction is built on a sequence of chords, which are answered by booming “bell” strikes in the bass. And the increase in sonority from pianissimo to powerful fortissimo creates the feeling of a gradual approach of some image. But which one? The following musical fragment will help us determine it.

The exposition of the first part of the Concert is played.

U. How many musical images are there in the work?

U. They look alike?

U. What are they represented by?

D. Musical themes.

U. What does the 1st theme express? What feelings does it convey? What is she like?

The teacher plays the 1st theme on the piano.

D. Severe, courageous, decisive.

U. What is the nature of the 2nd topic?

The teacher plays the 2nd musical theme on the piano.

D. Lyrical, bright, dreamy.

U. Let's see to it What musical means of expression did the composer use to show each musical image?

D. The theme that the 1st image represents is performed by Symphony Orchestra. In music we hear

Children hum the melody of the 1st musical theme.

U. What image or image of what did the composer embody with this musical theme, making extensive use of bright musical means of expression?

D. I think this is a Russian image. If a symphony orchestra leads the theme, then it is an image of everything that surrounds a person - the image of Russia, the image of the Russian people, the image of Russian nature.

U. But the Russian artist Ilya Efimovich Repin shared his impressions of the music he listened to: “This is the image of a powerful bird of power, smoothly and deeply slowly soaring over the water element.”

Does Rachmaninov’s nature exist on its own? Or is it an integral part of the life of a person, our hero, who is represented by the piano part?

D. I think that nature and man are one whole.

It seems to me that against the backdrop of the image of Russian nature, the composer conveyed various emotional states of a person.

U. What feelings, thoughts, mood is the music filled with? How does it convey the composer’s state of mind?

The main part of the exposition of the first part of the Concerto sounds.

Children express their opinions and answer questions.

W. This is what the composer himself said: “ It was the most difficult and critical period of my life, when I thought that everything was lost and further struggle was useless...”

The composer experienced a long creative crisis, aggravated by a serious nervous illness. Then the relatives and friends of S.V. Rachmaninov decided to contact Dr. Nikolai Vladimirovich Dahl. At that time, Dahl became a very famous specialist, who would now be called a psychotherapist, because he practiced hypnosis widely. The essence of his therapeutic sessions with Rachmaninov was that he sat Sergei Vasilyevich in a comfortable chair and talked peacefully with him. The conversations were aimed at raising the patient's general mood, getting him to sleep well at night, and arousing in him the desire and confidence to compose music.

Quite soon, those around him noticed signs of improvement in Sergei Vasilyevich’s condition. The composer himself was most worried about piano concert, which I started working on. Dahl knew about this and made every effort to instill in the composer confidence in overcoming the psychological difficulties that stood in his way.

And now the work on the piano concerto was completed. The Second Concerto for Piano and Orchestra was first performed in 1901 in Moscow. And in 1904, Rachmaninov received the prestigious Glinkin Prize for this composition.

Thus, the composer finally believed in himself, in his creative salvation. And what was the real merit of the doctor, who instilled faith in the disheartened composer, is best seen in the dedication, which was written in the hand of the author of the Second Piano Concerto on a donated printed copy of the score: “Dedicated to the respected Nikolai Vladimirovich Dahl by a sincerely grateful patient.”

U. Did the composer want to convey only his personal feelings and experiences with the 1st musical theme?

D. I think that Rachmaninov wanted to show or convey the atmosphere of the time in which he lived, he and his contemporaries worked, the character and ideals of that time.

W. Indeed, in his music we hear the anxiety and excitement that reigned in Russian society at that time.

“The theme of his most inspiring Second Concerto is not only the theme of his life, but invariably produces the impression of one of the most bright themes Russia... Every time from the very first strike of the bell you feel how Russia rises to its full height,” Nikolai Karlovich Medtner, a famous Russian composer, wrote about this work.

Rachmaninov's music is deep in content. It includes various musical images, one of which we have analyzed. Let's turn now to the 2nd topic.

A side party sounds.

Children disassemble musical language 2nd topic.

D. The theme is led by the piano. It solos. We hear the quiet sound of a melody; soft major, high notes; smooth movement of the melody, moderate pace, light, lyrical intonation, song genre.

U. What musical image did the composer want to show with the 2nd theme?

D. This is an image of Russian nature - quiet and calm.

U. What other thoughts would you have? Maybe someone thinks differently?

D. The theme is performed by the piano, which, as we agreed, conveys the thoughts and feelings of a person.

U. Are these turbulent experiences? What does music set us up for?

D. On lyrical feelings. These are a person’s reflections on his fate, this is a lyrical confession.

U. Why did you decide that a person thinks, reflects?

D. In music we hear a quiet sound, a smooth and calm movement of the melody. This is the kind of music that makes you want to think and dream.

U. What is our man thinking about?

D. About the Motherland, about Russia, about its people, about beautiful nature.

U. Determine our character’s attitude to what surrounds him.

D. He loves his people, his homeland, its nature. A person treats all this with trepidation and tenderness.

U. Why?

D. Because music expresses feelings such as kindness, affection, tenderness, some bright feelings.

U. What musical image did the composer want to convey?

D. The image of love for the Motherland, nature, Russia.

Children hum the melody of the side part with love and tenderness.

U. Pictures of native nature have always excited composers. However, her images were embodied not only in music, but also in other types of Russian art.

The teacher offers students reproductions of paintings by Russian artists.

U. At the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. In the field of fine arts, there is a wide development of landscape lyrics; prominent representatives were Russian artists I.I. Levitan, F.A. Vasiliev, V. D. Polenov, Savrasov and others.

Children in groups perform a creative task. QUESTIONS:

1. What does the image in the paintings symbolize the Russian image, the image of Russia?
2. What pictures are consonant with the music of the 1st and 2nd themes?
3. What are the similarities between a musical work and a painting?
4. What do you see in the picture that allows you to detect the presence of a person?
5. What is common between the state of nature and the feelings of our hero, which are expressed in music?

The music of the first part of the Concert sounds. Children work in groups, exchange opinions, and make decisions. Discussion.

W. An outstanding Russian artist, master of lyrical landscape was Isaac Ilyich

Levitan. With deep poetry, he captured images of the Russian land and nature on his canvases. His works are characterized by clarity and sincerity, beauty and harmony, the absence of bright colors and sharp lines. In his paintings, the artist reflected a wide variety of human feelings and experiences. Maybe that's why I.I. Levitan was once called the creator of a new type of landscape, which is usually called “MOOD LANDSCAPE”. Have you noticed how amazingly consonant the picture and the music are! Which are related, identical human feelings, the mood is evoked in the viewer and listener by two different works of art.

So, in the music of the first part of the Second Concerto for piano and orchestra, we identified two musical images: 1st - the image of Russia, the Motherland, 2nd - the image of love for the Motherland. How each of them will develop and interact with each other in the future, as for musical dramaturgy, we will follow and try to figure it out in the next lesson.

Now pay attention to these dates: 11873. and 2008 How long does it take to connect

These dates? The children answer.

This year, 2008, S.V. Rachmaninov would have turned 135 years old. More than a hundred years have passed, and his music is heard in our lessons today. Do you think it can be said that the music of this Russian composer is modern even now, that it has passed through time? Why are his works still so successful today?

D. I think it is possible.

Music by S.V. Rachmaninov, who lived at the turn of the 19th-21st centuries, continues to excite us, living at the turn of the 20th-21st centuries, even now, because she conveys such human feelings, embodies such aspects of life that are understandable and close to every Russian person.

U. And not only Russian. Rachmaninoff's music is very popular and famous in musical circles all over the world. Very often his works are included in their concert repertoire by many famous performers and famous symphony groups of Europe and the world. Rachmaninov's music has withstood the strictest and most fair trial, which is possible in art, is the judgment of time.

What is its appeal? What characteristic features of the music of this wonderful Russian composer allow us to distinguish it from the huge stream of musical material?

Think about it and try to determine main features of S.V.’s music Rachmaninov.

• songfulness, length and nationality of melodies;
• strict rhythm;
• full sound, breadth and freedom of texture;
• spreading, undulating passages;
• active, courageous minor and lyrical, soft major;
• constant ebb and flow of dynamics;
• the predominance of the sound of strings and wooden instruments in the orchestra.

U. Rachmaninov created works of various directions. But no matter what genre he turns to, his music is recognizable - this is our Russian music: melodious, melodic, drawn-out and beautiful. As beautiful as our vast Motherland - Russia with its mighty Russian nature, wonderful people, multinational culture, its folk customs, morals and spiritual traditions, native spaces and places that are so dear to every Russian person.

Students perform the song “NATIVE PLACES”, music by Y. Antonov.

The teacher works on clear intonation of the melody, correct breathing, accurate diction and articulation.

U. At the end of our meeting, I would like to wish both you and myself that our hearts never tire of believing in ourselves, in our loved ones, friends, in the great value of life. And let Rachmaninov’s music help with this, which is very attractive, goes to our heart, comes from the depths of the soul.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1. “Russian music at school”, methodological essays, G.P. Sergeeva, T.S. Shmagina, MIROS, Moscow 1998;
2. “Rachmaninov and his time”, Yu Keldysh, “Music”, Moscow 1973.

Preview:

To use presentation previews, create an account for yourself ( account) Google and log in: https://accounts.google.com

Slide captions:

General lesson on the topic: “Musical image” Music teacher of State Budgetary Educational Institution Lyceum No. 419 Kats A.V.

1. Find the definition of a musical image: A) A story about wonderful countries and the eternal poetry of nature, immersing us in the distant past or a dream about the future creates the characters of heroes - even those that are already known to us from works of literature and fine art. B) Life embodied in music, at least a small part of it. A feeling, an experience, a thought, a reflection, an act, a human action, a manifestation of nature, an event.

2. Choose which of the musical works are programmatic: A) S. V. Rachmaninov - Prelude No. 12 B) N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov. “Scheherazade” B) A. N. Scriabin - Etude No. 12 D) C. Debussy - “Moonlight” D) F. Chopin - Waltz No. 69

4 . To which work of P. I. Tchaikovsky do the following lines relate: Don’t look longingly at the road And don’t rush after the troika, And quickly drown out the sad anxiety in your heart forever! a) “The Doll’s Disease” b) “October. Autumn Song" B) "November On Troika"

B 5. Sign the portraits of composers: A B

6. Determine what musical images exist: a) epic b) dramatic c) poetic d) lyrical e) melodic f) symbolic

7. Indicate: - the name of the composer - the title of the musical work - name the image

8. Indicate: - the name of the composer - the title of the musical work - name the image

9. Indicate: - the name of the composer - the title of the musical work - name the image

10. Select means from the suggested terms musical expressiveness: a) texture b) vocals c) tempo d) composer e) rhythm f) melody g) folklore h) timbre i) harmony j) dynamics

11. Use arrows to connect the names of the means of musical expression with their definitions: Rhythm Tempo Melody Timbre Dynamics Harmony Texture Chords accompanying the melody Sound volume Musical thought expressed monophonically Method of presentation musical material Sound speed Alternation of sounds of different durations Color of sound or voice

Use arrows to connect the names of the means of musical expression with their definitions: Rhythm Tempo Melody Timbre Dynamics Harmony Texture Chords accompanying the melody Sound volume Musical thought expressed monophonically Method of presentation of musical material Speed ​​of sound Alternation of sounds of different durations Color of sound or voice

What a pity that our lesson has come to an end, but the music remains in my soul. And we rejoiced, listening to her, and saddened again, The captivating sounds drew us along. We will leave these feelings in our souls forever. And we will never forget, my friend, the wonderful world of magical art!

On the topic: methodological developments, presentations and notes

Music lesson in 6th grade "Musical image"

During the lesson, the concept of a musical image is given, children listen to classical music, a bard song. musical portrait Anna German....

Musical image

Listening to the episode of the fascist invasion from D. Shostakovich’s symphony No. 7, students will be able to note the means of expression, features of the development of the image in symphonic music, compare with already known pro...

The lesson should help students understand the essence of musical dramaturgy, using the example of a fragment from the oratorio “In the Footsteps of Rustaveli” by composer Otar Taktakishvili....

Music classes by new program focused on development musical culture students. The most important component musical culture is the perception of music. There is no music outside of perception, because... it is the main link and a necessary condition study and knowledge of music. It is the basis for composing, performing, listening, teaching and musicological activities.

Music as a living art is born and lives as a result of the unity of all types of activity. Communication between them occurs through musical images, because Outside of images, music (as an art form) does not exist. In the mind of the composer, under the influence of musical impressions and creative imagination, a musical image is born, which is then embodied in piece of music.

Listening to a musical image, - i.e. vital content embodied in musical sounds determines all other facets of musical perception.

Perception is a subjective image of an object, phenomenon or process that directly affects the analyzer or system of analyzers.

Sometimes the term perception also denotes a system of actions aimed at becoming familiar with an object that affects the senses, i.e. sensory-research activity of observation. As an image, perception is a direct reflection of an object in the totality of its properties, in objective integrity. This distinguishes perception from sensation, which is also a direct sensory reflection, but only of individual properties of objects and phenomena affecting the analyzers.

An image is a subjective phenomenon that arises as a result of objective-practical, sensory-perceptual, mental activity, which is a holistic integral reflection of reality, in which the main categories (space, movement, color, shape, texture, etc.) are simultaneously presented. In information terms, an image is an unusually capacious form of representation of the surrounding reality.

Figurative thinking is one of the main types of thinking, distinguished along with visual-effective and verbal-logical thinking. Images-representations act as an important product of figurative thinking and as one of its functioning.

Imaginative thinking is both involuntary and voluntary. The first technique is dreams, daydreams. “-2nd is widely represented in creative activity person.

The functions of figurative thinking are associated with the presentation of situations and changes in them that a person wants to cause as a result of his activity, transforming the situation, with the specification of general provisions.

With the help of figurative thinking, the whole variety of different factual characteristics of an object is more fully recreated. The image can capture the simultaneous vision of an object from several points of view. Very important feature figurative thinking - the establishment of unusual, “incredible” combinations of objects and their properties.

Various techniques are used in figurative thinking. These include: an increase or decrease in an object or its parts, aglutination (the creation of new ideas by attaching parts or properties of one object in the figurative plane, etc.), the inclusion of existing images in new outline, generalization.

Figurative thinking is not only a genetically early stage in development in relation to verbal-logical thinking, but also constitutes independent species thinking, receiving special development in technical and artistic creativity.

Individual differences in figurative thinking are associated with the dominant type of ideas and the degree of development of techniques for representing situations and their transformations.

In psychology creative thinking sometimes described as a special function - imagination.

Imagination - psychological process, which consists in creating new images (ideas) by processing the material of perceptions and ideas obtained in previous experience. Imagination is inherent only to man. Imagination is necessary in any type of human activity, especially when perceiving music and the “musical image”.

There is a distinction between voluntary (active) and involuntary (passive) imagination, as well as reconstructive and creative imagination. Recreating imagination is the process of creating an image of an object based on its description, drawing or drawing. Creative imagination called independent creation of new images. It requires the selection of materials necessary to construct an image in accordance with one’s own design.

A special form of imagination is a dream. This is also the independent creation of images, but a dream is the creation of an image of a desired and more or less distant one, i.e. does not directly and immediately provide an objective product.

Thus, the active perception of a musical image suggests the unity of two principles - objective and subjective, i.e. what is inherent in the work of art, and those interpretations, ideas, associations that are born in the listener’s mind in connection with it. Obviously, the wider the range of such subjective ideas, the richer and more complete the perception.

In practice, especially among children who do not have sufficient experience with music, subjective ideas are not always adequate to the music itself. Therefore, it is so important to teach students to understand what is objectively contained in music, and what is introduced by them; what in this “own” is determined by the musical work, and what is arbitrary, contrived. If in the fading instrumental conclusion of E. Grieg’s “Sunset” the children not only hear, but also see a picture of the sunset, then only the visual association should be welcomed, because it comes from the music itself. But if the Third Song of Lelya from the opera “The Snow Maiden” by N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, the student noticed “raindrops”, then in this and in similar cases it is important not just to say that this answer is incorrect, unreasonably invented, but also, together with the whole class, to understand why it is incorrect, why it is unreasonable, confirming your thoughts evidence available to children at this stage of development of their perception.

The nature of fantasizing to music seems to be rooted in the contradiction between a person’s natural desire to hear its life content in music and the inability to do this. Therefore, the development of the perception of a musical image should be based on an ever more complete disclosure of the vital content of music in unity with the activation associative thinking students. The more broadly and multifacetedly the connection between music and life is revealed in the lesson, the deeper the students will penetrate into the author’s intention, the greater the likelihood that they will develop legitimate personal life associations. As a result, the interaction process author's intention and the listener’s perception will be more full-blooded and effective.

What does music mean in a person’s life?

From the most ancient times, the beginning of which even the most meticulous human sciences are unable to establish, primitive At first I tried purely sensually to adapt, adapt, adapt to the rhythms and modes of the rhythmically changing, developing and sounding world. This is recorded in the most ancient objects, myths, legends, tales. The same can be observed today if you carefully observe how a child behaves and feels literally from the first hours of life. It’s interesting when we suddenly notice that some sounds cause a child to become restless, abnormal, agitated to the point of screaming and crying, while others lead him to a state of peace, calm and satisfaction. Now science has proven that the musically rhythmic, calm, measured, spiritually rich and versatile life of the expectant mother during pregnancy has a beneficial effect on the development of the embryo and its aesthetic future.

A person “sprouts” very slowly and gradually into the world of sounds, colors, movements, plasticity, comprehending all the multifaceted and infinitely different figurative world to create a figurative form of reflection of this world by his consciousness through art.

Music, in itself, as a phenomenon is so strong that it simply cannot pass by a person unnoticed. Even if in childhood it was a closed door for him, then in adolescence he still opens this door and rushes into rock or pop culture, where he greedily satiates himself with what he was deprived of: the possibility of wild, barbaric, but genuine self-expression. But the shock that he experiences at the same time might not have happened - in the case of a “prosperous musical past.”

Thus, music contains enormous potential for influencing a person, and this influence can be controlled, as has been the case in all past centuries. When a person treated music as a miracle given for communication with the higher spiritual world. And he could communicate with this miracle constantly. Divine services accompanied a person throughout his life, nourished him spiritually and at the same time educated and educated him. But worship is basically words and music. A huge song and dance culture is associated with calendar agricultural holidays. The wedding ceremony in artistic refraction is a whole science of life. Folk round dances teach geometry, foster spatial thinking, not to mention the culture of dating, communication, courtship, etc. The epic - and this is history - was presented musically.

Let's look at the objects at school Ancient Greece: logic, music, mathematics, gymnastics, rhetoric. This was probably enough to raise a harmonious person. What remains of this today, when our programs contain words about a harmonious personality everywhere? Only mathematics. Nobody knows what logic and rhetoric are in school. Physical education is nothing like gymnastics. It’s also not clear what to do with the music. Nowadays, music lessons after the 5th grade are no longer mandatory; at the discretion of the school administration, they can be replaced with any “art history” subject. Most often it depends on the availability of the right teacher, and where he is, music is taught. But in school curriculum many other items were added, but harmony, mental and physical health disappeared.

The musical image has objective and subjective sides. It conveys the essence of the phenomenon, its typical features. A musical image is a specific form of a generalized reflection of life through the means of musical art. The basis of the musical image is the musical theme. A musical image is a unity of objective and subjective principles. Contents artistic The image in music is human life.

The musical image embodies the most essential, typical features of the phenomenon - this is objectivity. The second side of the image is subjective, associated with the aesthetic aspect. The image conveys a phenomenon in development. The subjective factor is of great importance in music, both in the creative process of creating a musical work and in the process of its perception. However, in both cases, the exaggeration of the subjective principle leads to subjectivism in the concept of music. Speaking about the reflection of the subjective and emotional side in music, one cannot help but draw attention to the fact that the abstractly generalized is subject to music. An image in music is always a reflection of life passed through the artist. Each musical image can be called life, which is reflected in the music by the composer. When defining a musical image, you need to keep in mind not only the means with which it was created by the composer, but also what he wanted to embody in it. At the same time, it is important that even the most modest musical images in content and artistic form necessarily contain at least a slight development.

The initial structural element of music is sound. It differs from real sound in its physical sense. Musical sound has height, saturation, length, timbre. Music as sound art is less specified. Such a property as visibility remains practically outside the boundaries of the musical image. Music conveys the world reality and phenomena through sensory-emotional associations, i.e. not directly, but indirectly. That is why musical language is the language of feelings, moods, states, and then the language of thoughts.
The specificity of a musical image is a problem for musical-aesthetic theory. Throughout the history of its development, music has sought in different ways specify musical image. The methods for this specification were different:
1) sound recording;

2) the use of intonations with a clearly defined genre belonging(marches, songs, dances);

3) program music and, finally,

4 ) establishment of various synthetic connections.

Let's consider these methods of concretizing musical images. There are two types of sound recording: imitation and associative.

Imitation: imitations of real-life sounds reality: the singing of birds (nightingale, cuckoo, quail) in Beethoven’s “Pastoral Symphony”, the sound of bells in Berlioz’s Symphony Fantastique, the take-off of an airplane and the explosion of a bomb in Shchedrin’s Second Symphony.

Associative sound recording is built on the ability of consciousness to create images-representations by association. The range of such associations is quite large: associations 1) by movement ("Flight of the Bumblebee" ). Associations arise in the listener due to 2) the height and high-quality coloring of the sound (bear - low register of sound, etc.).
Associations represent a separate form of associations in music 3) by color when, as a result of the perception of a piece of music, an idea of ​​the color of the phenomenon arises.

Associative sound recording is more common compared to imitation. Regarding the use of intonations with a bright genre belonging, then there are an infinite number of examples here. Thus, in the scherzo from Tchaikovsky’s symphony there is both a march theme and the Russian folk song “There was a birch tree in the field...”.

Program music is of particular importance for concretizing the musical image. In some cases, the program is: 1) the title of the work itself or an epigraph. At other times, the program presents 2) the detailed content of a musical work. In language programs, a distinction is made between picture and story programs. A textbook example can serve as a painting - “The Seasons” by Tchaikovsky, the piano preludes of the impressionist Debussy “The Girl with Flaxen Hair”. The names themselves speak for themselves.
The plot program includes musical works based on an ancient or biblical myth, folk legend or original work - a literary genre - from lyrical works to drama, tragedy or comedy. Story programs can be sequentially developed. Tchaikovsky used a detailed plot for the symphonic fantasy “Francesca do Rimini” by Dante. This work was written based on the Fifth Canto of “Inferno” from The Divine Comedy.

Sometimes the program in a musical work is determined by a painting. Program music brought the genre to life programmatically - instrumental and program-symphonic music. If the listener is not familiar with the program, then his perception will not be adequate in detail, but there will not be any special deviations (the character will be unchanged in the perception of the music). Concretization of musical images of non-program music ( instrumental) occurs at the level of perception and depends on the subjective factor. It is no coincidence that different people have different thoughts and feelings when listening to non-program music.

Musical image

Musical content manifests itself in musical images, in their emergence, development and interaction.

No matter how uniform a piece of music may be in mood, all sorts of changes, shifts, and contrasts can always be discerned in it. The appearance of a new melody, a change in rhythmic or textural pattern, or a change in section almost always means the emergence of a new image, sometimes similar in content, sometimes directly opposite.

As in the development of life events, natural phenomena or movements human soul There is rarely only one line, one mood, and in music development is based on figurative wealth, the interweaving of various motives, states and experiences.

Each such motive, each state either contributes new image, or complements and generalizes the main one.

In general, in music there are rarely works based on a single image. Only a small play or a small fragment can be considered unified in its figurative content. For example, Scriabin’s Twelfth Etude presents a very integral image, although upon careful listening we will definitely note its internal complexity, the interweaving of various states and means in it musical development.

Many other small-scale works are built in the same way. As a rule, the duration of a play is closely related to the peculiarities of its figurative structure: small plays are usually close to a single figurative sphere, while large ones require a longer and more complex figurative development. And this is natural: everything major genres in various types of art they are usually associated with the embodiment of complex life content; they are inherent a large number of heroes and events, while small ones are usually addressed to some particular phenomenon or experience. This, of course, does not mean that large works are certainly distinguished by greater depth and significance, it is often even the other way around: a small play, even its individual motive, is sometimes able to say so much that their impact on people turns out to be even stronger and deeper.

There is a deep connection between the duration of a musical work and its figurative structure, which is found even in the titles of the works, for example “War and Peace”, “Spartacus”, “Alexander Nevsky” suggest a multi-part embodiment in a large-scale form (opera, ballet, cantata), while while “Cuckoo”, “Butterfly”, “Lonely Flowers” ​​are written in the form of miniatures.

Why do works that do not have a complex figurative structure sometimes move people so deeply?

Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that, concentrating on a single imaginative state, the composer puts into a small work his whole soul, all the creative energy that his artistic plan awakened in him? It is no coincidence that music of the XIX century, in the era of romanticism, which said so much about man and the hidden world of his feelings, it was the musical miniature that reached its highest flowering.

A lot of small-scale, but striking in image works were written by Russian composers. Glinka, Mussorgsky, Lyadov, Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and other outstanding Russian composers created a whole gallery of musical images. A huge imaginative world, real and fantastic, celestial and underwater, forest and steppe, was embodied in Russian music, in the wonderful names of its program works. You already know many of the images embodied in the plays of Russian composers - “Aragonese Jota”, “Dwarf”, “Baba Yaga”, “ old lock", "Magic Lake"...

No less rich is the figurative content in non-programmatic works that do not have a special title.

Lyrical images

In many works known to us as preludes and mazurkas, the deepest imaginative riches are hidden, revealed to us only in living musical sound.

One of these works is S. Rachmaninov’s Prelude in G sharp minor. Her mood, at the same time tremulous and melancholy, is in tune with the Russian musical tradition of embodying images of sadness and farewell.

The composer did not give the piece a title (Rachmaninov did not designate any of his preludes with a programmatic subtitle), but the music feels a poignant autumnal state: the trembling of the last leaves, drizzling rain, the low gray sky.

The musical image of the prelude is even complemented by a moment of sound-imagery: in the melodic and textured sound one can discern something similar to the farewell crowing of cranes leaving us for a long, long winter.

Perhaps because in our area the cold lasts for so long, and spring comes slowly and reluctantly, every Russian person feels the end of the warm summer with particular acuteness and says goodbye to it with melancholy sadness. And therefore, the images of farewell are closely intertwined with the theme of autumn, with autumn images, of which there are so many in Russian art: flying leaves, drizzle, crane wedge.

How many poems, paintings, musical pieces related to this topic! And how unusually rich the imaginative world of autumn sadness and farewell is.

Here they are flying, here they are flying...Open the gates quickly!
Come out quickly to look at your tall ones!
Now they are silent - and again the soul and nature are orphaned
Because - shut up! - no one can express them that way...

These are lines from Nikolai Rubtsov’s poem “Cranes,” in which the image of the Russian soul and Russian nature, embodied in the high farewell flight of the cranes, is so piercingly and accurately depicted.

And although Rachmaninov, of course, did not introduce such accurate picture, I think that in the figurative structure of the prelude the crane motif is not accidental. Cranes are a kind of symbolic image, as if hovering above the general figurative picture of the prelude, giving its sound a special height and purity.

The musical image is not always associated with the embodiment of subtle lyrical feelings. As in other forms of art, images are not only lyrical, but sometimes acutely dramatic, expressing clashes, contradictions, and conflicts. The embodiment of great life content gives birth to epic images, characterized by particular complexity and versatility.

Let us consider various types of figurative and musical development in their connection with the characteristics of musical content.

Dramatic images

Dramatic images, like lyrical ones, are very widely represented in music. On the one hand, they arise in music based on dramatic literary works(these are opera, ballet and other stage genres), however, much more often the concept of “dramatic” is associated in music with the peculiarities of its character, the musical interpretation of characters, images, etc.

Sample dramatic work F. Schubert's ballad “The Forest King”, written to a poem by the great German poet J. W. Goethe. The ballad also combines genre-dramatic features - after all, it represents a whole scene with the participation of various characters! - and sharp drama, inherent in character this story of amazing depth and power.

What does it say?

Let us immediately note that the ballad is performed, as a rule, in the original language - German, therefore its meaning and content require translation.

There is such a translation - best translation Goethe's ballad into Russian, despite the fact that it was made almost two centuries ago. Its author, V. Zhukovsky, a contemporary of Pushkin, a unique, very subtle, deeply lyrical poet, gave the following interpretation: “ A terrible vision» Goethe.

Forest king

Who gallops, who rushes under the cold darkness?
The rider is late, his young son is with him.
The little one came close to his father, shuddering;
The old man hugs him and warms him.

“Child, why are you clinging to me so timidly?”
“Darling, the king of the forest sparkled in my eyes:
He wears a dark crown and a thick beard.”
“Oh no, the fog is white over the water.”

“Child, look around, baby, towards me;
There is a lot of fun in my side:
Turquoise flowers, pearly streams;
My palaces are made of gold.”

“Dear, the king of the forest speaks to me:
It promises gold, pearls and joy.”
“Oh no, my baby, you misheard:
Then the wind, waking up, shook the sheets.”

“Come to me, my baby! In my oak grove
You will recognize my beautiful daughters;
When it's month they will play and fly,
Playing, flying, putting you to sleep.”

“Darling, the forest king called his daughters:
I see they are nodding to me from the dark branches.”
“Oh no, everything is calm in the depths of the night:
The gray willows stand to the side.”

“Child, I was captivated by your beauty:
Willy-nilly or willy-nilly, you will be mine.”
“Darling, the forest king wants to catch up with us;
Here it is: I’m stuffy, it’s hard for me to breathe.”

The timid rider does not gallop, he flies;
The baby yearns, the baby cries;
The rider urges on, the rider gallops...
In his hands lay a dead baby.

Comparing the German and Russian versions of the poem, the poet Marina Tsvetaeva notes the main difference between them: in Zhukovsky, the Forest King appeared to the boy, in Goethe, he actually appeared. Therefore, Goethe’s ballad is more real, more terrible, more reliable: his child dies not from fear (as in Zhukovsky), but from the real Forest King, who appears before the boy in all the strength of his might.

In Schubert's Austrian composer, who read the ballad in German, conveyed the whole terrible reality of the story about the Forest King: in his song this is as reliable a character as the boy and his father.

The speech of the Forest King is noticeably different from the excited speech of the narrator, the child and the father in the predominance of affectionate insinuation, softness, and enticement. Pay attention to the nature of the melody - abrupt, with an abundance of questions and rising intonations in the parts of all the characters, except for the Forest King, for him it is smooth, rounded, melodious.

But not only the nature of the melodic intonation - with the appearance of the Forest King, the entire textural accompaniment changes: the rhythm of a frantic jump, permeating the ballad from beginning to end, gives way to more calm-sounding chords, very euphonious, gentle, lulling.

There is even a peculiar contrast between the episodes of the ballad, so agitated and alarming in character as a whole, with only two glimpses of calm and euphony (two phrases of the Forest King).

In fact, as often happens in art, it is in such tenderness that the most terrible thing lurks: the call to death, irreparability and irrevocability of departure.

Therefore, Schubert’s music leaves us no illusions: as soon as the sweet and terrible speeches of the Forest King cease, the frantic galloping of the horse (or the beating of the heart?) bursts in again, showing us with its swiftness the last push towards salvation, towards overcoming the terrible forest, its dark and mysterious depths .

This is where the dynamics of the musical development of the ballad ends: because at the end, when there is a stop in movement, the last phrase sounds like an afterword: “In his hands lay a dead baby.”

Thus, in the musical interpretation of the ballad, we see not only the images of its participants, but also images that directly influenced the construction of the entire musical development. Life, its impulses, its aspirations for liberation - and death, frightening and attractive, terrible and lulling. Hence the two-dimensionality of the musical movement, realistic and figurative in the episodes associated with the galloping of the horse, the confusion of the father, the gasping voice of the child, and distantly affectionate in the calm, almost lullaby-like speeches of the Forest King.

The embodiment of dramatic images requires maximum concentration from the composer expressive means, which leads to the creation of an internally dynamic and, as a rule, compact work (or its fragment), based on the figurative development of a dramatic nature. That's why dramatic images so often embodied in forms vocal music, in instrumental genres of a small scale, as well as in individual fragments of cyclic works (sonatas, concertos, symphonies).

Epic images

Epic images require long and unhurried development; they can be exhibited for a long time and slowly develop, introducing the listener into an atmosphere of a unique epic flavor.

One of the brightest works, permeated epic imagery, is the epic opera “Sadko” by N. Rimsky-Korsakov. It is the Russian epics, which became the source of numerous plot fragments of the opera, that give it its epic character and leisurely musical movement. The composer himself wrote about this in the preface to the opera “Sadko”: “Many speeches, as well as descriptions of the scenery and stage details, are borrowed entirely from various epics, songs, plots, lamentations, etc. Therefore, the libretto often preserves the epic verse with its characteristic features."

Not only the libretto, but also the music of the opera bears the stamp of the features of the epic verse. The action begins from afar, with a leisurely orchestral introduction called “Blue Ocean-Sea.” Ocean-Sea is listed in the list of characters as the King of the Sea, that is, a completely reliable, albeit mythological character. IN big picture Heroes of various fairy tales, the King of the Sea occupies the same definite place as the King of the Forest - the hero of Schubert's ballad. However, how differently these fairy-tale heroes, representing two completely different types of musical imagery!

Remember the beginning of Schubert's ballad. The fast-paced action captivates us from the very first beat. The clatter of hooves, against which the excited speech of the characters sounds, gives the musical movement a character of confusion and growing anxiety. This is the law of development of dramatic images.

Opera "Sadko", in some plot motives resembling " Forest king“(just as the boy fell in love with the Forest King and was taken by force to the forest kingdom, so Sadko fell in love with the Sea Princess and was sank to the bottom of the “ocean sea”), has a different character, devoid of dramatic poignancy.

The undramatic, narrative nature of the musical development of the opera is also revealed already in its first bars. It is not the length of the plot that is presented in the musical image of the introduction “Blue Ocean-Sea,” but the poetic beauty of this magical musical picture. A game sea ​​waves is heard in the intro music: not menacing, not powerful, but enchantingly fantastic. Slowly, as if admiring its own colors, the sea water shimmers.

In the opera "Sadko" it is associated with her image most of plot events, and from the nature of the introduction it is clear that they will not be tragic, endowed with acute conflicts and clashes, but calm and majestic, in the spirit of folk epics.

This is the musical interpretation various types imagery, characteristic not only of music, but also of other forms of art. Lyrical, dramatic, epic figurative spheres form their own meaningful features. In music, this is reflected in its various aspects: the choice of genre, the scale of the work, the organization of expressive means.

We will talk about the uniqueness of the main features of the musical interpretation of content in the second part of the textbook. Because in music, like in no other art, every technique, every stroke, even the smallest one, is meaningful. And sometimes a very minor change - sometimes a single note - can radically change its content, its impact on the listener.

Questions and tasks:

1. How does an image more often manifest itself in a piece of music - simultaneously or multifacetedly and why?
2. How is the nature of the musical image (lyrical, dramatic, epic) related to the choice of musical genre and scale of the work?
3. Can a small piece of music express a deep and complex image?
4. How do the means of musical expression convey the figurative content of music? Explain this using the example of F. Schubert’s ballad “The Forest King”.
5. Why did N. Rimsky-Korsakov use authentic epics and songs when creating the opera “Sadko”?

Presentation

Included:
1. Presentation - 13 slides, ppsx;
2. Sounds of music:
Rachmaninov. Prelude No. 12 in G sharp minor, mp3;
Rimsky-Korsakov. “Blue Ocean-Sea” from the opera “Sadko”, mp3;
Schubert. Ballad “Forest Tsar” (3 versions - in Russian, German languages and piano without vocals), mp3;
3. Accompanying article, docx.