Who was not part of the mighty bunch. Composers of the "Mighty Handful" - a characteristic of creativity

creative community of Russian composers

Mighty bunch

« mighty bunch"(Balakirev circle, New Russian School of Music) is a creative community of Russian composers that developed in St. Petersburg in the late 1850s and early 1860s. It included: Mily Alekseevich Balakirev (1837-1910), Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (1839-1881), Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin (1833-1887), Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) and Caesar Antonovich Cui (1835-1918) . The ideological inspirer and main non-musical consultant of the circle was art critic, writer and archivist Vladimir Vasilyevich Stasov (1824-1906).

Name " mighty bunch” is first found in Stasov’s article “Slavonic Concert of Mr. Balakirev” (1867): “How much poetry, feelings, talent and skill a small, but already powerful handful of Russian musicians have.” The name "New Russian Music School" was put forward by the members of the circle themselves, who considered themselves the heirs of M. I. Glinka and saw their goal in the embodiment of the Russian national idea in music.

Group " mighty bunch” arose against the backdrop of revolutionary ferment, which by that time had seized the minds of the Russian intelligentsia. Riots and uprisings of peasants became the main social events of that time, returning artists to folk theme. In the implementation of the national aesthetic principles proclaimed by the ideologists of the Commonwealth Stasov and Balakirev, M. P. Mussorgsky was the most consistent, less than others - Ts. A. Cui. Participants « mighty handful » systematically recorded and studied samples of Russian musical folklore and Russian church singing. They embodied the results of their research in one form or another in the works of chamber and major genre, especially in operas, among which " royal bride”, “Snow Maiden”, “Khovanshchina”, “Boris Godunov”, “Prince Igor”. Intensive search for national identity in the " mighty handful” were not limited to arrangements of folklore and liturgical singing, but also extended to dramaturgy, genre (and form), up to individual categories musical language(harmony, rhythm, texture, etc.).

Initially, the circle included Balakirev and Stasov, who were keen on reading Belinsky, Dobrolyubov, Herzen, Chernyshevsky. They also inspired the young composer Cui with their ideas, and later they were joined by Mussorgsky, who left the rank of officer in the Preobrazhensky Regiment in order to study music. In 1862, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov and A. P. Borodin joined the Balakirev circle. If Rimsky-Korsakov was a very young member of the circle, the views and musical talent which were just beginning to be determined, then Borodin by this time was already mature man, an outstanding chemist, friendly with such giants of Russian science as Mendeleev, Sechenov, Kovalevsky, Botkin.

Meetings of the Balakirev circle always proceeded in a very lively creative atmosphere. Members of this circle often met with writers A. V. Grigorovich, A. F. Pisemsky, I. S. Turgenev, artist I. E. Repin, sculptor M. A. Antokolsky. There were also close, though by no means always smooth, ties with Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

In the 70s" mighty bunch as a close-knit group ceased to exist. Activity " mighty handful"became an era in the development of Russian and world musical art.

Sequel to "The Mighty Bunch"

With the cessation of regular meetings of five Russian composers, the increment, development and living history « mighty handful' are by no means completed. The center of Kuchkist activity and ideology, mainly due to pedagogical activity Rimsky-Korsakov moved to the classes of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and also, starting from the mid-1880s, to the "Belyaev circle", where Rimsky-Korsakov was the recognized head and leader for almost 20 years, and then, with the beginning of the 20th century, divided his leadership in the "triumvirate" with A. K. Lyadov, A. K. Glazunov and a little later (from May 1907) N. V. Artsybushev. Thus, with the deduction of Balakirev's radicalism, the "Belyaev circle" became a natural continuation of " mighty handful". Rimsky-Korsakov himself recalled this in a very definite way:

“Can the Belyaev circle be considered a continuation of the Balakirev circle, was there a certain amount of similarity between the one and the other, and what was the difference, in addition to changing it over time? personnel? The similarity, indicating that the Belyaev circle is a continuation of the Balakirev one, except for the connecting links in the person of me and Lyadov, consisted in the common advancement and progressiveness to both of them; but the circle of Balakirev corresponded to the period of storm and onslaught in the development of Russian music, and the circle of Belyaev - to the period of a calm march forward; Balakirev’s was revolutionary, Belyaev’s was progressive…”

- (N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, “Chronicle of my musical life»)
Among the members of the Belyaev circle, Rimsky-Korsakov names separately himself (as the new head of the circle instead of Balakirev), Borodin (in the short time that remained before his death) and Lyadov as "connecting links". Since the second half of the 1980s, musicians of such different talents and specialties as Glazunov, the brothers F. M. Blumenfeld and S. M. Blumenfeld, conductor O. I. Dyutsh and pianist N. S. Lavrov. A little later, as they graduated from the conservatory, the number of Belyaevites included such composers as N. A. Sokolov, K. A. Antipov, Ya. Vitol and so on, including a large number of later graduates of Rimsky-Korsakov in composition. In addition, the "venerable Stasov" always maintained good and close relations with Belyaev circle, although his influence was "far from the same" as in Balakirev's circle. New composition The circle (and its more moderate leader) also defined the new face of the “post-Kuchkists”: much more academically oriented and open to a variety of influences, previously considered unacceptable within the Mighty Handful. Belyaevites experienced a lot of "alien" influences and had wide sympathies, starting from Wagner and Tchaikovsky, and ending "even" with Ravel and Debussy. In addition, it should be especially noted that, being the successor to the "Mighty Handful" and generally continuing its direction, the Belyaev circle did not represent a single aesthetic whole, guided by a single ideology or program.

In turn, Balakirev did not lose his activity and continued to spread his influence, releasing more and more new students during his tenure as head of the court chapel. The most famous of his later students (who later also graduated from the class of Rimsky-Korsakov) is the composer V. A. Zolotarev.

It wasn't just about direct teaching and classrooms. free composition. The ever more frequent performance of new operas by Rimsky-Korsakov and his orchestral works on the stages of the imperial theaters, the staging of Borodino's "Prince Igor" and the second edition of Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov", many critical articles and the growing personal influence of Stasov - all this gradually multiplied the ranks of the nationally oriented Russian music school. Many of the students of Rimsky-Korsakov and Balakirev, in terms of the style of their writings, fit perfectly into the continuation of the general line of the “Mighty Handful” and could be called, if not its belated members, then in any case, faithful followers. And sometimes it even happened that the followers turned out to be much more “true” (and more orthodox) than their teachers. Despite some anachronism and old-fashionedness, even in the times of Scriabin, Stravinsky and Prokofiev, until the middle of the 20th century, the aesthetics and predilections of many of these composers remained completely “Kuchkist” and most often not subject to fundamental stylistic changes. However, over time, more and more often in their work, the followers and students of Rimsky-Korsakov discovered a certain “fusion” of the Moscow and St. Petersburg schools, to one degree or another combining the influence of Tchaikovsky with the “Kuchkist” principles. Perhaps the most extreme and distant figure in this series is A. S. Arensky, who, until the end of his days, maintaining an emphasized personal (student) loyalty to his teacher (Rimsky-Korsakov), nevertheless, in his work was much closer to the traditions Tchaikovsky. In addition, he led an extremely riotous and even "immoral" lifestyle. This is what primarily explains the very critical and unsympathetic attitude towards him in the Belyaev circle. No less indicative is the example of Alexander Grechaninov, also a faithful student of Rimsky-Korsakov, most while living in Moscow. However, the teacher speaks much more sympathetically about his work and, as a compliment, calls him "partly a Petersburger." After 1890 and the frequent visits of Tchaikovsky to St. Petersburg, the Belyaev circle grew eclectic tastes and an increasingly cool attitude towards the orthodox traditions of the Mighty Handful. Gradually, Glazunov, Lyadov and Rimsky-Korsakov also personally approached Tchaikovsky, thereby putting an end to the previously irreconcilable (Balakirev's) tradition of "enmity of schools". By the beginning of the 20th century, most of the new Russian music increasingly reveals a synthesis of two directions and schools: mainly through academicism and blurring " pure traditions". Rimsky-Korsakov himself played a significant role in this process. According to L. L. Sabaneev, Rimsky-Korsakov's musical tastes, his "openness to influences" were much more flexible and broader than those of all his contemporary composers.

Many Russian composers late XIX- the first half of the 20th century are considered by music historians as the direct successors of the traditions mighty handful; among them:

• Fedor Akimenko
• Nicholas Amani
• Konstantin Antipov
• Anton Arensky
• Nikolay Artsybushev
• Yazep Vitol
• Alexander Glazunov
• Alexander Grechaninov
• Vasily Zolotarev
• Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov
• Vasily Kalafati
• Georgy Kazachenko

The fact that the famous French “Six”, assembled under the leadership of Eric Satie (as if “in the role of Mily Balakirev”) and Jean Cocteau (as if “in the role of Vladimir Stasov”) deserves special mention, was a direct response to the “Russian Five "- as the composers of the Mighty Handful were called in Paris. An article by the famous critic Henri Collet, which announced the birth of the world new group composers, and was called: "Russian five, French six and Mr. Satie."

mighty bunch, mighty bunch wikipedia
(Balakirev circle, New Russian Music School) is a creative community of Russian composers that developed in St. Petersburg in the late 1850s and early 1860s. it included: Mily Alekseevich Balakirev (1837-1910), Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (1839-1881), Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin (1833-1887), Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) and Caesar Antonovich Cui (1835-1918). The ideological inspirer and main non-musical consultant of the circle was the art critic, writer and archivist Vladimir Vasilyevich Stasov (1824-1906).

The name "Mighty Handful" is first found in Stasov's article "Slavonic Concert of Mr. Balakirev" (1867): "How much poetry, feelings, talent and skill a small but already mighty handful of Russian musicians have." The name "New Russian Musical School" was put forward by the members of the circle, who considered themselves the heirs of M. I. Glinka and saw their goal in the embodiment of the Russian national idea in music.

The Mighty Handful group arose against the backdrop of revolutionary ferment that had by that time engulfed the minds of the Russian intelligentsia. Riots and uprisings of peasants became the main social events of that time, returning artists to the folk theme. implementation of the national aesthetic principles proclaimed by the ideologists of the Commonwealth Stasov and Balakirev, the most consistent was M. P. Mussorgsky, less than others - Ts. A. Cui. Members of the "Mighty Handful" systematically recorded and studied samples of Russian musical folklore and Russian church singing. They embodied the results of their research in one form or another in compositions of the chamber and major genres, especially in operas, including The Tsar's Bride, The Snow Maiden, Khovanshchina, Boris Godunov, and Prince Igor. The intensive search for national identity in The Mighty Handful was not limited to arrangements of folklore and liturgical singing, but also extended to dramaturgy, genre (and form), up to individual categories of musical language (harmony, rhythm, texture, etc.).

Initially, the circle included Balakirev and Stasov, who were keen on reading Belinsky, Dobrolyubov, Herzen, Chernyshevsky. They also inspired the young composer Cui with their ideas, and later they were joined by Mussorgsky, who left the rank of officer in the Preobrazhensky Regiment in order to study music. In 1862, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov and A. P. Borodin joined the Balakirev circle. If Rimsky-Korsakov was a very young member of the circle, whose views and musical talent were just beginning to be determined, then Borodin by this time was already a mature person, an outstanding chemist, friendly with such giants of Russian science as Mendeleev, Sechenov, Kovalevsky , Botkin.

Meetings of the Balakirev circle always proceeded in a very lively creative atmosphere. Members of this circle often met with writers A. V. Grigorovich, A. F. Pisemsky, I. S. Turgenev, artist I. E. Repin, sculptor M. A. Antokolsky. Close, though far from always smooth ties were with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

In the 70s, the "Mighty Handful" ceased to exist as a close-knit group. The activities of the "Mighty Handful" became an era in the development of Russian and world musical art.

Sequel to "The Mighty Bunch"

With the cessation of regular meetings between the five Russian composers, the expansion, development and living history of the Mighty Handful was by no means completed. The center of Kuchkist activity and ideology, mainly due to the pedagogical activity of Rimsky-Korsakov, moved to the classes of the St. and then, with the beginning of the 20th century, he shared his leadership in the “triumvirate” with A.K. Lyadov, A.K. Glazunov and a little later (from May 1907) N.V. Artsybushev. Thus, minus Balakirev's radicalism, the Belyaev Circle became a natural continuation of the Mighty Handful.

Rimsky-Korsakov himself recalled this in a very definite way:

“Can the Belyaev circle be considered a continuation of the Balakirev circle, was there a certain amount of similarity between the one and the other, and what was the difference, besides the change in its personnel over time? The similarity, indicating that the Belyaev circle is a continuation of the Balakirev one, except for the connecting links in the person of me and Lyadov, consisted in the common advancement and progressiveness to both of them; but the circle of Balakirev corresponded to the period of storm and onslaught in the development of Russian music, and the circle of Belyaev - to the period of a calm march forward; Balakirev’s was revolutionary, Belyaev’s was progressive…”

- (N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, "Chronicle of my musical life")

Among the members of the Belyaev circle, Rimsky-Korsakov names separately himself (as the new head of the circle instead of Balakirev), Borodin (in the short time that remained before his death) and Lyadov as "connecting links". Since the second half of the 1980s, musicians of such different talents and specialties as Glazunov, the brothers F. M. Blumenfeld and S. M. Blumenfeld, conductor O. I. Dyutsh and pianist N. S. Lavrov. A little later, as they graduated from the conservatory, the number of Belyaevites included such composers as N. A. Sokolov, K. A. Antipov, Ya. Vitol and so on, including a large number of later graduates of Rimsky-Korsakov in composition. In addition, the "venerable Stasov" always maintained good and close relations with the Belyaev circle, although his influence was "far from the same" as in Balakirev's circle. The new composition of the circle (and its more moderate head) also determined the new face of the “post-Kuchkists”: much more academically oriented and open to a variety of influences, previously considered unacceptable within the framework of the “Mighty Handful”. Belyaevites experienced a lot of "alien" influences and had wide sympathies, starting from Wagner and Tchaikovsky, and ending "even" with Ravel and Debussy. In addition, it should be especially noted that, being the successor to the "Mighty Handful" and generally continuing its direction, the Belyaev circle did not represent a single aesthetic whole, guided by a single ideology or program.

In turn, Balakirev did not lose his activity and continued to spread his influence, releasing more and more new students during his tenure as head of the court chapel. The most famous of his later students (who later also graduated from the class of Rimsky-Korsakov) is the composer V. A. Zolotarev.

The matter was not limited to direct teaching and classes of free composition. The ever more frequent performance of new operas by Rimsky-Korsakov and his orchestral works on the stages of the imperial theaters, the staging of Borodino's "Prince Igor" and the second edition of Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov", many critical articles and the growing personal influence of Stasov - all this gradually multiplied the ranks of the nationally oriented Russian music school. Many of the students of Rimsky-Korsakov and Balakirev, in terms of the style of their writings, fit perfectly into the continuation of the general line of the “Mighty Handful” and could be called, if not its belated members, then in any case, faithful followers. And sometimes it even happened that the followers turned out to be much more “true” (and more orthodox) than their teachers. Despite some anachronism and old-fashionedness, even in the times of Scriabin, Stravinsky and Prokofiev, until the middle of the 20th century, the aesthetics and predilections of many of these composers remained completely “Kuchkist” and most often not subject to fundamental stylistic changes. However, over time, more and more often in their work, the followers and students of Rimsky-Korsakov discovered a certain “fusion” of the Moscow and St. Petersburg schools, to one degree or another combining the influence of Tchaikovsky with the “Kuchkist” principles. Perhaps the most extreme and distant figure in this series is A. S. Arensky, who, until the end of his days, maintaining an emphasized personal (student) loyalty to his teacher (Rimsky-Korsakov), nevertheless, in his work was much closer to the traditions Tchaikovsky. In addition, he led an extremely riotous and even "immoral" lifestyle. This is what primarily explains the very critical and unsympathetic attitude towards him in the Belyaev circle. No less indicative is the example of Alexander Grechaninov, also a faithful student of Rimsky-Korsakov, who lived most of the time in Moscow. However, the teacher speaks much more sympathetically about his work and, as a compliment, calls him "partly a Petersburger." After 1890 and the frequent visits of Tchaikovsky to St. Petersburg, the Belyaev circle grew eclectic tastes and an increasingly cool attitude towards the orthodox traditions of the Mighty Handful. Gradually, Glazunov, Lyadov and Rimsky-Korsakov also personally approached Tchaikovsky, thereby putting an end to the previously irreconcilable (Balakirev's) tradition of "enmity of schools". By the beginning of the 20th century, most of the new Russian music increasingly reveals a synthesis of two directions and schools: mainly through academicism and the erosion of “pure traditions”. Rimsky-Korsakov himself played a significant role in this process. According to L. L. Sabaneev, Rimsky-Korsakov’s musical tastes, his “openness to influences” were much more flexible and wider than those of all his contemporary composers.

Many Russian composers of the late 19th and first half of the 20th centuries are considered by music historians as direct successors to the traditions of the Mighty Handful; among them

• Fedor Akimenko
• Nicholas Amani
• Konstantin Antipov
• Anton Arensky
• Nikolay Artsybushev
• Yazep Vitol
• Alexander Glazunov
• Alexander Grechaninov
• Vasily Zolotarev
• Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov
• Vasily Kalafati
• Georgy Kazachenko
• Vasily Kalinnikov
• Ivan Kryzhanovsky
• Anatoly Lyadov
• Sergei Lyapunov
• Nikolay Tcherepnin.

The fact that the famous French “Six”, assembled under the leadership of Eric Satie (as if “in the role of Mily Balakirev”) and Jean Cocteau (as if “in the role of Vladimir Stasov”) deserves special mention, was a direct response to the “Russian Five "- as the composers of the Mighty Handful were called in Paris. The article by the well-known critic Henri Collet, which informed the world about the birth of a new group of composers, was called: "The Russian Five, the French Six and Mr. Satie."

Notes

1. 1 2 Musical encyclopedic Dictionary/ Ch. ed. G. V. Keldysh. - M .: " Soviet Encyclopedia”, 1990. - S. 348. - 672 p. - 150,000 copies. - ISBN 5-85270-033-9.
2. 1 2 3 4 5 Rimsky-Korsakov N.A. Chronicle of my musical life. - ninth. - M.: Music, 1982. - S. 207-210. - 440 s.
3. 1 2 Steinpress B.S., Yampolsky I.M. Encyclopedic musical vocabulary. - M.: "Soviet Encyclopedia", 1966. - S. 48. - 632 p. - 100,000 copies.
4. Rimsky-Korsakov N.A. Chronicle of my musical life. - ninth. - M.: Music, 1982. - S. 293. - 440 p.
5. Rimsky-Korsakov N.A. Chronicle of my musical life. - ninth. - M.: Music, 1982. - S. 269. - 440 p.
6. Rimsky-Korsakov N.A. Chronicle of my musical life. - ninth. - M.: Music, 1982. - S. 223-224. - 440 s.

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Mighty bunch of information about

Caricature of the Mighty Handful (pastel pencil, 1871). From left to right are depicted: Ts. A. Cui in the form of a fox wagging its tail, M. A. Balakirev in the form of a bear, V. V. Stasov (sculptor M. M. Antokolsky on his right shoulder in the form of Mephistopheles, on the pipe in the form of a monkey V. A. Gartman), N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov (in the form of a crab) with the Purgold sisters (in the form of domestic dogs), M. P. Mussorgsky (in the form of a rooster); A. P. Borodin is depicted behind Rimsky-Korsakov, A. N. Serov is throwing angry thunderbolts from the clouds at the top right.

"Mighty bunch" (Balakirev circle, New Russian Music School) is a creative community of Russian composers that developed in St. Petersburg in the late 1850s and early 1860s. It included: Mily Alekseevich Balakirev (1837-1910), Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (1839-1881), Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin (1833-1887), Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) and Caesar Antonovich Cui (1835-1918) . The ideological inspirer and main non-musical consultant of the circle was the art critic, writer and archivist Vladimir Vasilyevich Stasov (1824-1906).

The name "Mighty Handful" is first found in Stasov's article "Slavonic Concert of Mr. Balakirev" (): "How much poetry, feelings, talent and skill a small but already mighty handful of Russian musicians have." The name "New Russian Musical School" was put forward by the members of the circle, who considered themselves the heirs of M. I. Glinka and saw their goal in the embodiment of the Russian national idea in music.

The Mighty Handful group arose against the backdrop of revolutionary ferment that had by that time engulfed the minds of the Russian intelligentsia. Riots and uprisings of peasants became the main social events of that time, returning artists to the folk theme. In the implementation of the national aesthetic principles proclaimed by the ideologists of the Commonwealth Stasov and Balakirev, M. P. Mussorgsky was the most consistent, less than others - Ts. A. Cui. Members of the "Mighty Handful" systematically recorded and studied samples of Russian musical folklore and Russian church singing. They embodied the results of their research in one form or another in the works of the chamber and major genres, especially in operas, including The Tsar's Bride, The Snow Maiden, Khovanshchina, Boris Godunov, and Prince Igor. The intensive search for national identity in The Mighty Handful was not limited to arrangements of folklore and liturgical singing, but also extended to dramaturgy, genre (and form), up to individual categories of musical language (harmony, rhythm, texture, etc.).

Initially, the circle included Balakirev and Stasov, who were keen on reading Belinsky, Dobrolyubov, Herzen, Chernyshevsky. They also inspired the young composer Cui with their ideas, and later they were joined by Mussorgsky, who left the rank of officer in the Preobrazhensky Regiment in order to study music. In 1862, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov and A. P. Borodin joined the Balakirev circle. If Rimsky-Korsakov was a very young member of the circle, whose views and musical talent were just beginning to be determined, then Borodin by this time was already a mature person, an outstanding chemist, friendly with such giants of Russian science as Mendeleev, Sechenov, Kovalevsky , Botkin .

In the 70s, the "Mighty Handful" ceased to exist as a close-knit group. The activities of the "Mighty Handful" became an era in the development of Russian and world musical art.

Sequel to "The Mighty Bunch"

With the cessation of regular meetings between the five Russian composers, the expansion, development and living history of the Mighty Handful was by no means completed. The center of Kuchkist activity and ideology, mainly due to the pedagogical activity of Rimsky-Korsakov, moved to the classes of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and also, starting from the mid-s, to the “belyaevsky circle”, where Rimsky-Korsakov was the recognized head and leader for almost 20 years , and then, with the beginning of the 20th century, he shared his leadership in the "triumvirate" with A. K. Lyadov, A. K. Glazunov and a little later (from May 1907) N. V. Artsybushev. Thus, minus Balakirev's radicalism, the Belyaev Circle became a natural continuation of the Mighty Handful. Rimsky-Korsakov himself recalled this in a very definite way:

“Can the Belyaev circle be considered a continuation of the Balakirev circle, was there a certain amount of similarity between the one and the other, and what was the difference, besides the change in its personnel over time? The similarity, indicating that the Belyaev circle is a continuation of the Balakirev one, except for the connecting links in the person of me and Lyadov, consisted in the common advancement and progressiveness to both of them; but the circle of Balakirev corresponded to the period of storm and onslaught in the development of Russian music, and the circle of Belyaev - to the period of a calm march forward; Balakirevskiy was revolutionary, while Belyaevskiy was progressive…”

- (N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, “Chronicle of my musical life”)

Among the members of the Belyaev circle, Rimsky-Korsakov names separately himself (as the new head of the circle instead of Balakirev), Borodin (in the short time that remained before his death) and Lyadov as "connecting links". Since the second half of the 80s, such musicians of different talent and specialty as Glazunov, brothers F. M. Blumenfeld and S. M. Blumenfeld, conductor O. I. Dyutsh and pianist N. S. Lavrov. A little later, as they graduated from the conservatory, such composers as N. A. Sokolov, K. A. Antipov, Ya. Vitol and so on, including a large number of later graduates of Rimsky-Korsakov in the composition class, joined the number of Belyaevites. In addition, the "venerable Stasov" always maintained good and close relations with the Belyaev circle, although his influence was "far from the same" as in Balakirev's circle. The new composition of the circle (and its more moderate head) also determined the new face of the “post-Kuchkists”: much more academically oriented and open to a variety of influences, previously considered unacceptable within the framework of the “Mighty Handful”. The Belyaevites experienced a lot of “alien” influences and had wide sympathies, starting from Wagner and Tchaikovsky, and ending “even” with Ravel and Debussy. In addition, it should be especially noted that, being the successor to the "Mighty Handful" and generally continuing its direction, the Belyaev circle did not represent a single aesthetic whole, guided by a single ideology or program.

The matter was not limited to direct teaching and classes of free composition. The ever more frequent performance of new operas by Rimsky-Korsakov and his orchestral works on the stages of the imperial theaters, the staging of Borodino's "Prince Igor" and the second edition of Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov", many critical articles and the growing personal influence of Stasov - all this gradually multiplied the ranks of the nationally oriented Russian music school. Many of the students of Rimsky-Korsakov and Balakirev, in terms of the style of their writings, fit perfectly into the continuation of the general line of the “Mighty Handful” and could be called, if not its belated members, then in any case, faithful followers. And sometimes it even happened that the followers turned out to be much more “true” (and more orthodox) than their teachers. Despite some anachronism and old-fashionedness, even in the times of Scriabin, Stravinsky and Prokofiev, until the middle of the 20th century, the aesthetics and predilections of many of these composers remained quite "Kuchkist" and most often - not subject to fundamental stylistic changes. However, over time, more and more often in their work, the followers and students of Rimsky-Korsakov discovered a certain “fusion” of the Moscow and St. Petersburg schools, to one degree or another combining the influence of Tchaikovsky with the “Kuchkist” principles. Perhaps the most extreme and distant figure in this series is A. S. Arensky, who, until the end of his days, maintaining an emphasized personal (student) loyalty to his teacher (Rimsky-Korsakov), nevertheless, in his work was much closer to traditions Tchaikovsky. In addition, he led an extremely riotous and even "immoral" lifestyle. This is what primarily explains the very critical and unsympathetic attitude towards him in the Belyaev circle. No less significant is the example of Alexander Grechaninov, also a faithful student of Rimsky-Korsakov, who lived most of the time in Moscow. However, the teacher speaks much more sympathetically about his work and, as a compliment, calls him "partly a Petersburger." After 1890 and the frequent visits of Tchaikovsky to St. Petersburg, an eclectic taste and an increasingly cool attitude towards the orthodox traditions of the Mighty Handful are growing in the Belyaev circle. Gradually, Glazunov, Lyadov and Rimsky-Korsakov also personally approached Tchaikovsky, thereby putting an end to the previously irreconcilable (Balakirev's) tradition of "enmity of schools". By the beginning of the 20th century, most of the new Russian music increasingly reveals a synthesis of two directions and schools: mainly through academicism and the erosion of "pure traditions". Rimsky-Korsakov himself played a significant role in this process, whose musical tastes (and openness to influences) were generally much more flexible and broader than those of all his contemporary composers.

Many Russian composers of the late 19th and first half of the 20th centuries are considered by music historians as direct successors to the traditions of the Mighty Handful; among them

The fact that the famous French “Six”, assembled under the leadership of Eric Satie (as if “in the role of Balakirev”) and Jean Cocteau (as if “in the role of Stasov”) deserves special mention, was a direct response to the “Russian Five” - as the composers of the "Mighty Handful" were called in Paris. An article by the famous critic Henri Collet, which announced the birth of a new group of composers, was called: "Russian five, French six and Mr. Satie".

Notes

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See what the "Mighty Handful" is in other dictionaries:

POWERFUL BUNCH- the creative community of Russian composers, which has developed in con. 1850s early 1860s; also known as the Balakirev Circle, the New Russian Music School. The name Mighty Handful was given to the mug by its ideologue critic V.V. Stasov. ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

POWERFUL BUNCH- "THE POWERFUL BUNCH", the creative community of Russian composers, which has developed in con. 1850s early 1860s; also known as the Balakirev Circle, the New Russian Music School. The name "Mighty Handful" was given to the mug by its ideologue ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

mighty bunch- creative community of Russian composers, formed in St. Petersburg in the late 50s and early 60s. 19th century (also known as the Balakirev Circle, "New Russian Musical School"). In "M. to." included M. A. Balakirev (head ... ... St. Petersburg (encyclopedia)

mighty bunch- From the review of the Russian art critic and scientist Vladimir Vasilievich Stasov (1824 1906) on a concert arranged in honor of the arrival of the Slavic delegation in St. Petersburg ("St. Petersburg Vedomosti" dated May 13, 1867). "Mighty bunch" he called ... ... Vocabulary winged words and expressions

mighty bunch- noun, number of synonyms: 1 clan (3) ASIS synonym dictionary. V.N. Trishin. 2013 ... Synonym dictionary

The Mighty Handful is a creative community of Russian composers that formed in the late 1950s and early 1960s. 19th century. It is also known under the name "New Russian Musical School", Balakirev Circle.

The Mighty Handful included M. A. Balakirev, A. P. Borodin, Ts. A. Cui, M. P. Mussorgsky, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov. The source of the figurative name was the article music critic V. V. Stasov “Slavic concert of Balakirev” (in occasion of the concert conducted by Balakirev), which ended with the wish that the guests “forever keep memories of how much poetry, feelings, talent and skill a small but already powerful handful has Russian musicians. The concept of the "New Russian Musical School" was put forward by the members of the "Mighty Handful", who considered themselves followers and successors of the work of the senior masters of Russian music - M. I. Glinka and A. S. Dargomyzhsky. In France, the name "Five" or "Group of Five" ("Groupe des Cinq") is adopted according to the number of the main representatives of the "Mighty Handful".

"The Mighty Handful" brought together the most talented composers younger generation, advanced in the late 50s - early 60s, with the exception of P. I. Tchaikovsky, who was not included in any groups. The leading position in the "Mighty Handful" belonged to Balakirev (hence the Balakirev Circle). Closely associated with it was Stasov, who played an important role in developing the common ideological and aesthetic positions of the Mighty Handful, in shaping and promoting the creativity of its individual members.

The center of musical and educational activities of the "Mighty Handful" was Free music school(Created in 1862 on the initiative of Balakirev and G. Ya. Lomakin), in whose concerts the works of members of the Mighty Handful and Russian and foreign composers close to her in the direction were performed.

The fundamental principles for the "Kuchkist" composers were nationality and nationality. The theme of their work is mainly associated with images of folk life, the historical past of Russia, folk epic and fairy tales, ancient pagan beliefs and rituals.

One of the most important sources of creativity was the folk song for the composers of The Mighty Handful. Their attention was attracted mainly by the old traditional peasant song, in which they saw the expression of the fundamental foundations of the national musical thinking. folk song received a variety of interpretations in the operatic and symphonic work of the composers of the Mighty Handful. They also showed interest in the folklore of other peoples, especially those of the East. Following Glinka, the "Kuchkists" widely developed intonations and rhythms of the peoples of the East in their works, and thereby contributed to the emergence of their own national composer schools among these peoples.

Creative activity The Mighty Handful is the most important historical stage in the development of Russian music. Based on the traditions of Glinka and Dargomyzhsky, the Kuchkist composers enriched it with new conquests, especially in opera, symphony and chamber music. vocal genres. Such works as "Boris Godunov" and "Khovanshchina" by Mussorgsky, "Prince Igor" by Borodin, "Snow Maiden" and "Sadko" by Rimsky-Korsakov belong to the heights of Russian opera classics. Their common features are national character, realism of images, wide scope and important dramaturgical significance of popular scenes. The desire for pictorial brightness, concreteness of images is also inherent in symphonic creativity composers of the "Mighty Handful".

In its innovative aspirations, the "Mighty Handful" approached the leading representatives of the Western European musical romanticism- R. Schumann, G. Berlioz, F. Liszt. The "Kuchkist" composers highly valued the work of L. Beethoven, whom they considered the founder of all new music.

In this way, main merit composers of the "Mighty Handful" - the development, enrichment of Russian composer music and their musical and educational activities

By the mid 70s. The "Mighty Handful" as a close-knit group ceased to exist. The main reason for the collapse of the "Mighty Handful" is in internal creative differences. Borodin saw in the collapse of the "Mighty Handful" a manifestation of the natural process of creative self-determination and finding one's own individual path each of the composers included in it.

The Mighty Handful is a creative community of Russian composers that formed in the late 1950s and early 1960s. 19th century. It is also known under the name "New Russian Musical School", Balakirev Circle. The "Mighty Handful" included M. A. Balakirev, A. P. Borodin, Ts. A. Cui, M. P. Mussorgsky, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov. A. S. Gussakovsky, H. H. Lodyzhensky, N. V. Shcherbachev, who subsequently departed from composer activity. The source of the figurative name was the article by V. V. Stasov “Slavic Concert of the City of Balakirev” (concerning the concert conducted by Balakirev in honor of the Slavic delegations at the All-Russian Ethnographic Exhibition in 1867), which ended with the wish that the Slavic guests “forever keep the memories of how much poetry, feeling, talent and skill a small, but already powerful handful of Russian musicians have.” The concept of the "New Russian Musical School" was put forward by the members of the "Mighty Handful", who considered themselves followers and successors of the work of the senior masters of Russian music - M. I. Glinka and A. S. Dargomyzhsky. In France, the name "Five" or "Group of Five" ("Groupe des Cinq") is adopted according to the number of the main representatives of the "Mighty Handful".

The "Mighty Handful" is one of the free communities that arose during the democratic upsurge of the 1960s. 19th century in various areas of Russian artistic culture with the aim of mutual support and struggle for progressive social and aesthetic ideals (the literary circle of the Sovremennik magazine, the Artel of Artists, the Association of Travelers art exhibitions"). Like the Artel of Artists in fine arts, which opposed itself to the official course of the Academy of Arts, the "Mighty Handful" resolutely opposed the inert academic routine, separation from life and neglect modern requirements, leading the advanced national trend in Russian music. The "Mighty Handful" brought together the most talented composers of the younger generation, who came to the fore in the late 1950s and early 1960s, with the exception of P. I. Tchaikovsky, who was not a member of any groups. The leading position in the "Mighty Handful" belonged to Balakirev (hence the Balakirev Circle). Closely associated with it was Stasov, who played an important role in developing the common ideological and aesthetic positions of the Mighty Handful, in shaping and promoting the creativity of its individual members. From 1864, Cui systematically appeared in the press, whose musical and critical activity largely reflected the views and trends inherent in the entire Mighty Handful. Her positions are also reflected in the printed speeches of Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov. The center of the musical and educational activities of the Mighty Handful was the Free Music School (established in 1862 on the initiative of Balakirev and G. Ya. Lomakin), in whose concerts works by members of the Mighty Handful and Russian and foreign composers close to it in the direction were performed.

The fundamental principles for the "Kuchkist" composers were nationality and nationality. The themes of their work are mainly associated with images of folk life, the historical past of Russia, folk epic and fairy tales, ancient pagan beliefs and rituals. Mussorgsky, the most radical of the members of the "Mighty Handful" in his artistic convictions, with huge force embodied the images of the people in music, many of his works are distinguished by an openly expressed socio-critical orientation. People's liberation ideas of the 60s. were reflected in the work of other composers of this group (the overture "1000 years" by Balakirev, written under the influence of A. I. Herzen's article "The Giant Wakes up"; "Song dark forest» Borodino; veche scene in Rimsky-Korsakov's The Maid of Pskov. At the same time, they showed a tendency towards a certain romanticization of the national past. In the ancient, primordial principles of people's life and worldview, they sought to find support for the affirmation of a positive moral and aesthetic ideal.

One of the most important sources of creativity was the folk song for the composers of The Mighty Handful. Their attention was attracted mainly by the old traditional peasant song, in which they saw the expression of the fundamental foundations of national musical thinking. The principles of processing folk song melodies characteristic of the "Kuchkists" were reflected in Balakirev's collection "40 Russian Folk Songs" (compiled by Balakirev on the basis of his own recordings made during a trip along the Volga with the poet N. V. Shcherbina in 1860). Rimsky-Korsakov paid much attention to the collection and processing of folk songs. The folk song received various refractions in the operatic and symphonic works of the composers of the Mighty Handful. They also showed interest in the folklore of other peoples, especially those of the East. Following Glinka, the "Kuchkists" widely developed intonations and rhythms of the peoples of the East in their works, and thereby contributed to the emergence of their own national composer schools among these peoples.

In search of truthful intonational expressiveness, the "Kuchkists" relied on Dargomyzhsky's achievements in the field of realistic vocal recitation. The opera " stone guest", in which the composer's desire to embody the word in music is most fully and consistently realized ("I want the sound to directly express the word"). They considered this work, along with Glinka's operas, the basis of Russian opera classics.

The creative activity of the "Mighty Handful" is the most important historical stage in the development of Russian music. Based on the traditions of Glinka and Dargomyzhsky, the Kuchkist composers enriched it with new conquests, especially in opera, symphony and chamber vocal genres. Such works as "Boris Godunov" and "Khovanshchina" by Mussorgsky, "Prince Igor" by Borodin, "Snow Maiden" and "Sadko" by Rimsky-Korsakov belong to the heights of Russian opera classics. Their common features are national character, realism of images, wide scope and important dramaturgical significance of popular scenes. The desire for pictorial brightness, concreteness of images is also inherent in the symphonic work of the composers of The Mighty Handful, hence the large role of programmatic visual and genre elements in it. Borodin and Balakirev were the creators of Russian national epic symphonism. Rimsky-Korsakov was consummate master orchestral color, in his symphonic works pictorial and pictorial beginning prevails. In the chamber vocal creativity"Kuchkists" subtle psychologism and poetic spirituality are combined with sharp genre specificity, drama and epic breadth. A less significant place in their work is occupied by chamber instrumental genres. In this area, works of outstanding artistic value were created only by Borodin, the author of two string quartets and piano quintet. Balakirev's "Islamei" and Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" occupy a unique place in piano literature in terms of originality of conception and coloristic originality.

In its innovative aspirations, the "Mighty Handful" drew close to the leading representatives of Western European musical romanticism - R. Schumann, G. Berlioz, F. Liszt. The "Kuchkist" composers highly valued the work of L. Beethoven, whom they considered the founder of all new music. At the same time, in their relation to the musical heritage of the pre-Beethoven period, as well as to a number of phenomena of contemporary foreign art ( Italian opera, R. Wagner, etc.) showed signs of one-sided negativism and bias. In the heat of controversy and struggle for the approval of their ideas, they sometimes expressed too categorical and insufficiently substantiated negative judgments.

In the Russian musical life of the 60s. The “mighty handful” was opposed by the academic direction, the centers of which were the RMO and the St. Petersburg Conservatory, headed by A. G. Rubinshtein. This antagonism was to a certain extent analogous to the struggle between the Weimar school and the Leipzig school in German music mid 19th century While rightly criticizing the “conservatives” for their excessive traditionalism and their sometimes misunderstanding of the nationally peculiar ways of developing Russian music, the leaders of the “Mighty Handful” underestimated the importance of a systematic professional music education. Over time, the sharpness of the contradictions between these two groups softened, they drew closer on a number of issues. So, Rimsky-Korsakov in 1871 became a professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory.

By the mid 70s. The "Mighty Handful" as a close-knit group ceased to exist. This was partly due to Balakirev's severe mental crisis and his departure from active participation in musical life. But main reason the collapse of the "Mighty Handful" - in internal creative differences. Balakirev and Mussorgsky disapproved of Rimsky-Korsakov's teaching activities at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and viewed this as a surrender of principled positions. With even greater acuteness, the differences that had ripened in The Mighty Handful appeared in connection with the opera Boris Godunov staged at the Mariinsky Theater in 1874, the assessment of which by the members of the circle was not unanimous. Borodin saw in the collapse of the "Mighty Handful" a manifestation of the natural process of creative self-determination and finding their own individual path by each of the composers that were part of it. “... This is always the case in all industries human activity, - he wrote in 1876 to the singer L. I. Karmalina. “As activity develops, individuality begins to take precedence over the school, over what a person has inherited from others.” At the same time, he emphasized that "the general musical warehouse, the general blemish characteristic of the circle, remained." "Kuchkism" as a direction continued to develop further. Aesthetic principles and the work of the "Mighty Handful" influenced many Russian composers of the younger generation. The Belyaevsky circle is successively connected with the "Mighty Handful", which, however, did not possess the innovative fighting fuse inherent in it and did not have a certain ideological and artistic platform.