• In the middle of the 1st millennium AD, Slavic tribes settled in the European part of Russia, glorifying themselves as musicians, singers and dancers. Byzantine and German sources report this. It is known that in 591 the Avar Khan sent Slavic singers with harp as ambassadors to the Byzantine emperor.

• Old Russian musical culture has its origins in the pagan traditions of the Slavs. Folk songs, invocations of spring, laments accompanying rites of remembrance of the dead, funerals or weddings, songs during the harvest or during military campaigns have always been an integral part of the life of our ancestors.

IN Ancient Rus' There were two original concepts - musicia (music) and singing. These concepts were opposed, and only instrumental music was called musicia. Playing stringed musical instruments was called humming, and playing wind instruments was called puffing. The game often accompanied singing. Instrumental music sounded in Rus' since pagan times and throughout the Middle Ages. Some ancient instruments have remained in folk music to this day.

Monuments of literature and art - chronicles, frescoes, icons - tell about the music of Ancient Rus' (IX-XII centuries). The life of the Novgorod bishop Nifont (XIII century), the teachings of the monk George (XIII century) and a number of other documents contain information that musicians performed on the streets and squares of cities. Music was an obligatory part of ritual holidays - Maslenitsa (farewell to winter and welcome of spring), Ivan Kupala (day summer solstice) etc. They usually took place with a large crowd of people and included games, dancing, wrestling, equestrian competitions, and performances by buffoons - traveling actors and musicians. The buffoons played the harp, trumpets, nozzles, tambourines, and whistles.

Night of Ivan Kupala.

Wedding Maslenitsa

• Music was played during ceremonies at the court of princes. Thus, the change of dishes at feasts was accompanied by instrumental music or epics.

• Epics, epic songs composed by the people in Ancient Rus' and reflecting historical reality mainly of the 11th-16th centuries. In the process of centuries-long development, Bylinas changed, absorbed events of later times, and sometimes events of an earlier era.

• At the center of the epic are images of heroes, endowed with high moral qualities, selflessly devoted to the Motherland. In the image of a beloved hero

Ilya Muromets, the people created a poetic biography of a peasant son with his calm self-confidence and unprecedented strength. He is at the head heroic outpost, blocking the path of enemies (this topic was formed even in the conditions Mongol invasion). Equally poetic are the images of other heroes guarding native land, - Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich. The theme of defending the Motherland is naturally merged into epics with the theme of people's life and work. So, the first feat that Ilya Muromets performed after healing was uprooting stumps and clearing a field for arable land. In epics about Volga and Mikula Selyaninovich reflected the eternal dream of the working people about easy plowing, about work that ensures life.

Boyan

Musical instruments in Ancient Rus' were used in various fields- in court, princely life, drums in military affairs and many different folk instruments. Folk instruments were rich and varied. The harp especially stood out here - as an instrument accompanying epic songs, tales, and glories. Guslar-storytellers were revered people. One of them, the storyteller Boyana, is described in outstanding monument ancient Russian literature, "The Tale of Igor's Campaign". Boyan, who composed glories, legends, songs, sang, accompanying them with playing the harp. The author of “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign” draws an inspired image of the storyteller: he laid his fingers on the strings, and the strings, as if alive, under his fingers themselves rumbled the glory of princes Yaroslav and Mstislav.

Gusli is a stringed musical instrument, most common in Russia. It is the most ancient Russian stringed musical instrument. There are wing-shaped and helmet-shaped harps. The first have a triangular shape and from 5 to 14 strings, helmet-shaped - 10-30 strings. On winged harp(they are also called ringed) are played, as a rule, by rattling all the strings and muffling unnecessary sounds with the fingers of the left hand; on helmet-shaped strings they pluck with both hands.

Gudok is an ancient Russian musical instrument. The earliest mentions date back to the 11th and 12th centuries new era. Playing the gudok in Rus' was prescribed only to men. This instrument was also made exclusively by men. The buzzer is similar to a violin, but larger in size. It had three strings, which were played with a bow. Moreover, the top string is the main one. The bottom two serve as bass strings.

• The horn is a conical straight tube with five playing holes on top and one on the bottom. There is a small bell at the lower end. The horn is made from birch, maple or juniper. In the past, they were made from two halves held together with birch bark.

• The sound of the horn is strong, but soft. Producing sound on an instrument is quite difficult. There are 2 types of horn: for solo and ensemble playing.

• Skomorokhs are Russian medieval actors, at the same time singers, dancers, animal trainers, musicians and authors of most of the verbal, musical and dramatic works they performed. They arose no later than the middle

Buffoons, traveling actors of Ancient Rus' - singers, wits, musicians, skit performers, trainers, acrobats. Their detailed description is given by V. Dal: “A buffoon, a buffoon, a musician, a piper, a wonder-player, a bagpiper, a guslar, who makes his living by dancing with songs, jokes and tricks, an actor, a comedian, a funny man, a bugbear, a clown, a buffoon.” Known since the 11th century, they gained particular popularity in the 15-17th centuries.

They were persecuted by the church and civil authorities. Popular character Russian folklore, main character sets folk sayings: “Every buffoon has his own hooters”, “The buffoon’s wife is always cheerful”, “The buffoon will tune his voice to the horns, but will not arrange his life”, “Don’t teach me how to dance, I’m a buffoon myself”, “The buffoon’s fun is Satan’s joy”, “God gave the priest, the devil the buffoon,” “The buffoon is not a friend of the priest,” “And the buffoon cries at other times,” etc. The time of their appearance in Rus' is unclear. They are mentioned in the original Russian chronicle as participants in the princely fun. The meaning and origin of the word “buffoon” itself has not yet been clarified. A.N. Veselovsky explained it with the verb “skomati”, which meant to make noise; later he suggested a rearrangement in this name from the Arabic word “mashara”, meaning a disguised jester. A.I. Kirpichnikov and Golubinsky believed that the word “buffoon” comes from the Byzantine “skommarch”, translated as a master of laughter. This point of view was defended by scientists who believed that buffoons in Rus' originally came from Byzantium, where “amusements”, “fools” and “laughmakers” played a prominent role in folk and court life. In 1889, A.S. Famintsyn’s book, Skomorokhi in Rus', was published. The definition given by Famintsyn of buffoons as professional representatives secular music in Russia since ancient times, who were often simultaneously singers, musicians, mimes, dancers, clowns, improvisers, etc., entered the Maly encyclopedic Dictionary Brockhaus and Efron (1909). In the Middle Ages, at the courts of the first German rulers there were amusements, clowns and fools who wore various Greco-Roman nicknames, they were most often called “jugglers”. They began to gather in troupes - “colleges”, headed by archimim. They were often identified with charlatans, magicians, healers, and mendicant priests. Usually they took part in feasts, wedding and funeral ceremonies, and various holidays. A distinctive feature of the Byzantine and Western hypocrites was their wandering lifestyle. All of them were people on the move, wandering from place to place, and therefore acquired in the eyes of the people the significance of experienced, knowledgeable, and resourceful people. During their wanderings around the world, both Byzantine and Western “cheerful people” visited Kyiv and other Russian cities. There is a lot of evidence about buffoons as gifted singers and storytellers. ancient writing. In particular, they are mentioned in the Tale of Bygone Years (1068). In Rus', as in Byzantium and the West, buffoons formed artels, or squads, and wandered around in “bands” for their trade. “Regardless of whether the art of Russian buffoons came from Byzantium or from the West,” Famintsyn emphasized, “it was already in the 11th century. rooted in the everyday life of Russian folk life. From now on, it can be considered as a phenomenon that has acclimatized and developed here independently, taking into account local conditions and the character of the Russian people.” In addition to the wandering buffoons, there were sedentary buffoons, mostly boyars and princes. It is the latter that folk comedy owes a lot to. Buffoons also appeared in the form of puppeteers. Performances of puppet comedy, constantly accompanied by the display of a bear and a “goat” that constantly hit “spoons,” have been given in Rus' for a long time. The comedian would put on a skirt with a hoop at the hem, then lift it up, covering his head, and perform his performance from behind this makeshift curtain. Later, puppeteers staged everyday tales and songs. Thus, the puppet comedy, like the performance of everyday farces by mummers, was an attempt at an original processing of the various elements of drama contained in Russian folk poetry or brought in from outside. “We also had our own “actors” - buffoons, our own Meistersingers - “passing kaliki”, they spread “acting” and songs throughout the country about the events of the “Great Troubles”, about “Ivashka Bolotnikov”, about battles, victories and death Stepan Razin" (M. Gorky, About plays, 1937). Another version about the origin of the term "buffoon" belongs to N.Ya. Marr. He established that, according to the historical grammar of the Russian language, “skomorokh” is plural the word “skomorosi” (skomrasi), which goes back to Proto-Slavic forms. Next, he traces the Indo-European root of this word, common to all European languages, namely the word “scomors-os”, which originally referred to a wandering musician, dancer, comedian. This is where the origins of the independent Russian term “skomorokh” come from, which exists in parallel in European languages ​​when denoting folk comic characters: the Italian “scaramuccia” and the French “scaramouche”. Marr's point of view completely coincides with the generally accepted position in art history that mimes are a phenomenon of international order. In relation to Russian buffoons, Marr’s concept allows us to speak about their original emergence on the basis of the professionalization of participants in the pagan religious rites of the ancient Slavs, invariably accompanied by music, singing, and dancing.

Buffoons are mentioned in various Russian epics. Byzantine historian of the 7th century. Theophylact writes about the love of the northern Slavs (Vends) for music, mentioning the citharas they invented, i.e. gusli. The gusli as an indispensable accessory of buffoons is mentioned in ancient Russian songs and epics of the Vladimirov cycle. From a historical perspective, buffoons are known primarily as representatives of folk musical art. They become regular participants in village holidays, city fairs, perform in boyar mansions, and even penetrate church rituals. As evidenced by the decree of the Stoglavy Council of 1551 directed against buffoons, their gangs reach “up to 60-70 and up to 100 people.” Princely amusement is depicted in the frescoes of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv (1037). On one of the frescoes there are three dancing buffoons, one solo, the other two in pairs, and one of them either parodies a woman’s dance or performs something similar to the “quinto” dance with a scarf in his hand. On the other there are three musicians - two play horns, and one plays the harp. There are also two tightrope walkers: an adult, standing, supports a pole along which a boy is climbing. There's a musician nearby string instrument. The fresco depicts baiting or hunting a bear and a squirrel, a fight between a man and a costumed animal, and equestrian competitions; in addition, the hippodrome - the prince and princess and their retinue, the audience in the boxes. In Kyiv, apparently, there was no hippodrome, but horse racing and baiting of animals took place. The artist depicted the hippodrome, wanting to give his fresco greater pomp and solemnity. Thus, the performances of buffoons united different types arts - both dramatic and circus. It is known that back in 1571 they recruited “cheerful people” for state amusement, and at the beginning of the 17th century, the troupe of banquets was part of the Amusement Chamber, built in Moscow by Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. Then at the beginning of the 17th century. Princes Ivan Shuisky, Dmitry Pozharsky and others had buffoon troupes. Prince Pozharsky’s buffoons often walked around the villages “for their craft.” Just as medieval jugglers were divided into feudal jugglers and folk jugglers, so were Russian buffoons differentiated. But the circle of “court” buffoons in Russia remained limited; ultimately, their functions were reduced to the role of household jesters. The bulk of Russian buffoons were folk amusements. Their appearance spoke about engaging in “demonic” crafts; they dressed in short-skirted caftans, and wearing short-skirted clothing in Rus' was considered a sin. They also often resorted to masks in their performances, although back in the 9th century. masking met with sharp condemnation from the church, and they used foul language in their speeches. With all their everyday behavior, buffoons opposed themselves to the generally accepted way of life old Rus', in their work were conductors of oppositional sentiments. Guselniks-buffoons not only played their instruments, but at the same time “said” works of Russian folk poetry. Performing as singers and dancers, they at the same time amused the crowd with their antics and gained a reputation as witty jesters. As their performances progressed, they also introduced “conversational” numbers and became popular satirists. In this capacity, buffoons played a huge role in the formation of the Russian folk drama. The German traveler Adam Olearius, who visited Russia in the 1630s, in his famous Description travels to Muscovy... talks about buffoon amusements: “Street violinists publicly sing shameful deeds on the streets, while other comedians show them in their puppet shows for the money of the common youth and even children, and the leaders of the bears have with them such comedians who, by the way, can immediately present some kind of joke or prank, like ... the Dutch with the help of dolls. To do this, they tie a sheet around the body, lift its free side up and arrange something like a stage above their heads, from which they walk through the streets and perform various performances on it with dolls.” Olearius’ story is accompanied by a picture depicting one of these performances by puppet comedians, in which you can recognize the scene “how a gypsy sold a horse to Petrushka.” Buffoons like characters appear in many epics of the North. The famous epic is Vavilo and the buffoons, the plot of which is that the buffoons invite the plowman Vavilo with them to make a buffoon and set him up as king. Researchers of epics attribute to buffoons a significant share of participation in the composition of epics and attribute many, especially amusing buffoon stories, to their work. It should be noted that, along with buffoon players by profession, the epics also mention amateur singers from among noble persons, princes and boyar families. Such singers were Dobrynya Nikitich, Stavr Godinovich, Solovey Budimirovich, Sadko, mentioned in epics. Playing musical instruments, songs and dances were linked to the customs of folk masquerade. The ritual dressing of men as women and vice versa has been known since ancient times. The people did not give up their habits, their favorite Yuletide amusements, the ringleaders of which were the buffoons. During his feasts, Tsar Ivan the Terrible loved to disguise himself and dance with the buffoons. During the 16th-17th centuries. organs, violins and trumpets appeared at the court, and buffoons also mastered playing them. Around the middle of the 17th century. wandering bands are gradually leaving the stage, and settled buffoons are more or less retraining as musicians and stage performers in the Western European style. From now on the buffoon becomes an obsolete figure, although individual species his creative activity continued to live among the people for a very long time. Thus, the buffoon-singer, performer of folk poetry, gives way to representatives of the emerging from the end of the 16th century. poetry; a living memory of him was preserved among the people - in the person of epic storytellers in the North, in the form of a singer or bandura player in the South. The buffoon-buzzer (guselnik, domrachey, bagpiper, surnachey), dance player turned into an instrumental musician. Among the people, his successors are folk musicians, without whom not a single folk festival is complete. The buffoon-dancer turns into a dancer, leaving in turn traces of his art in the daring folk dances. The buffoon-laugher turned into an artist, but the memory of him survived in the form of Christmas fun and jokes. Famintsyn concludes his book Buffoons in Rus' with the words: “No matter how crude and elementary the art of buffoons may be, we should not lose sight of the fact that it represented the only form of entertainment and joy that suited the tastes of the people for many centuries, which completely replaced them the latest literature, the latest stage spectacles. Skomorokhs...were the oldest representatives in Russia folk epic, folk stage; At the same time, they were the only representatives of secular music in Russia...”

Chapter II

Musical culture of Ancient Rus'

The earliest written monuments of ancient Russian art indicate high level development of musical culture in Rus'. The epics of the Novgorod-Kiev cycle, “The Tale of Igor’s Host” - these wonderful examples of poetic creativity, closely related to music - themselves give us an idea, they themselves tell us about the ancient Russian epic guslar singers, about the music of princely squads, about folk music, in particular about ancient ritual song.

Musical art Old Russian state, undoubtedly had deep origins, and on the other hand, broad cultural connections.

Some Russian folk songs retain traces of very ancient times; Thus, songs of lamentation for the dead, ritual wedding songs, imbued with the poetry of pantheism, reviving and deifying nature, are associated with ancient traditions. Perhaps these songs keep distant connections with art Eastern Slavs, who inhabited the territory of Rus' from the first centuries AD, i.e., to some extent reflect the life of tribes that were at an early stage of development, living in a patriarchal-tribal system. Their poetic examples are often associated with the pagan ideas of the Proto-Slavs, with their ritualism, various aspects of life, in particular, with the earth

K.N. Kostrikov “Russian musical culture from ancient times to late XVIII century"

business processes. The worship of nature - the sun, mountains, trees, "white-flammable stone", fire, river - determined a number of characteristic images in these songs, thanks to which we feel their ancient historical origins, although the songs themselves were recorded only in the 19th century

XX centuries.

IN The poem of the era “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign” (XII century) reflects the folk, basically poetic appeal of Yaroslavna - “crying” on the Putivl wall (to the Wind, to the Dnieper, to the Sun). So is characteristic image the cuckoo she wants to turn into. All this is undoubtedly connected with the Russian folk poetic tradition of singing and musical art.

I will fly like a cuckoo, He says, along the Danube I will wet the beaver sleeve along the Kayala River, I will wipe the prince’s bloody wounds

On his hardened body...

Oh the wind blew! Why, sir, are you using violence? Nasty arrows

On the wings of your peaceful ones On the army of the dear

K.N. Kostrikov “Russian musical culture from ancient times to the end of the 18th century”

Are you driving to what?.. O bright, thrice bright, Sun!

You are warm and welcoming to everyone! So why, sir, do you extend your hot ray to the dear army?

From the time of the unification of the eastern tribes around significant city centers (Novgorod, Kyiv, Vladimir, Suzdal, Ryazan and other ancient cities), with the transition from the clan system, tribal unions to unity, to the state, the history of Ancient Rus' itself begins. Within its boundaries, a certain cultural unity and cultural identity emerges. After the victory in 882 of the Novgorod north over the Kyiv south, Oleg made Kyiv the capital of a unified Russian state. From this moment on, we can talk about a certain period in the development of musical culture.

At the same time, it should be taken into account that the art of the Russian land was still of a largely generalized, undifferentiated nature. At the same time, their differentiation begins; for example, epic genre as one of the most significant.

The ancient artistic culture of the Eastern Slavs was the soil on which the culture of Kievan Rus grew. But this is not at all

K.N. Kostrikov “Russian musical culture from ancient times to the end of the 18th century”

means that even in this early historical period ancient Russian art was of a narrowly local, provincial nature. The musical culture of Kievan and Novgorod Rus' had wide historical connections. There is extensive and accurate information about some of them, for example, about connections with Byzantium, as one of the most important Christian centers of the Middle Ages. It is also known that very early in Rus' cultural ties were established with South Slavs, in particular with the Bulgarians. But Ancient Rus' undoubtedly had connections, at least indirectly, with distant eastern countries through its eastern neighbors. Probably eastern (maybe Arab origin) the instrumentation became known very early to Ancient Rus', and not only to the West of Europe.

Novgorod early entered into a cultural relationship with foreign countries, and the progressive influences of the Renaissance are felt in many monuments of his art (icon painting, poetry). The Galician-Volyn principality had the most direct ties with the West. In addition, it must be taken into account that Rus' could perceive the heritage of ancient culture in its own way, thanks to the Greek colonies in the south, the cultural traces of which were preserved for a long time. Thus, the art of ancient Rus' developed on a broad historical basis.

The first written monuments of musical art (liturgical books with notation) remain from the times of Novgorod-Kievan Rus, which in itself already gives full grounds to assert the beginning of the actual historical period in the development of Russian music.

K.N. Kostrikov “Russian musical culture from ancient times to the end of the 18th century”

cal culture. Now these early musical notations are being deciphered by specialists, but so far this difficult work still requires time and, today, we can only have general idea about the cult music of the 19th centuries. But about the musical culture of Kyiv and Novgorod in general, about music in everyday life, about military and ceremonial music, about the music of the epic, about music in the church, about musical instruments, authentic historical evidence has been preserved - in monuments of poetry, painting and chronicles.

Judging by numerous literary data, since ancient times very great importance There was military music in Rus'. The difficult struggle against the nomads, waged by the princely squads of the Russians, defending their native land from their invasions, required special attention to military affairs. Chronicles constantly mention trumpeters, trumpets, and tambourines in connection with stories about the military campaigns of Russian princes. This is also discussed in the poem “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” Images of trumpets and horns are also preserved in miniatures of ancient manuscripts. In the squads of the capital princes, such professionals as rhapsodist singers, representatives epic poetry, telling about the glorious exploits of heroes, legendary heroes, about the struggle for Rus' with external enemies, steppe inhabitants (for example, with the Polovtsians, later with the Mongol invasion).

The poetic image of such a singer-Boyan gives the introduction to “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”:

For the prophetic Boyan.

Who wanted to create songs,

K.N. Kostrikov “Russian musical culture from ancient times to the end of the 18th century”

Then his thought rushed like a flying eyelid through a tree, like a gray wolf along the ground, like a gray eagle under the clouds; He sang, remembering the initial times of the strife.

AND Then he let ten falcons fly upon the flock of swans:

When the falcon reaches the swan, that song is the first to sing...

But Boyan, brothers,

He sent more than ten falcons to the flock of swan:

He laid his prophetic fingers on the living strings,

And the strings themselves

Glory to the Princes Rokotali.

In all likelihood, the “Tale of Igor’s Campaign” itself was chanted by a rhapsodist singer to the sounds of the gusli. One of the oldest instruments on Rusigusli had a noticeable similarity with the

K.N. Kostrikov “Russian musical culture from ancient times to the end of the 18th century”

Western European psalterium. Ancient harps were made in the shape of a triangle or trapezoid with rounded contours. Strings were stretched onto a wooden base, which were plucked with both hands of the performer, while the harp stood on his knees. Apparently, at the same time when the “Word” arose (XI century), a cycle of epics was taking shape, and singers like Boyan, mentioned in the “Word”, composed and performed them. It was heroic epic, who embodied the best poetic ideas of the Russians about brave, warlike exploits, about strength and courage, about the outstanding image of the people's hero, the hero. In the Age of Ancient Rus', epics about Ilya-Muromets and Dobrynya-Nikitich arose, which lived among the people and developed and were supplemented over many centuries.

The epics themselves contained stories about singers, guslars, music at feasts, at funeral feasts of princes, especially Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, the “Red Sun,” who ruled Russia in 980-1015.

And Vladimir Stolnokievsky said: “Oh, you, Dobrynyushka Nikitich young, And take the spring goose, put it in gilded strings, Play for us in a sad way, in a touching way, Play in another way and in a cheerful way.”

Among the musical instruments, epics mention, in addition to the gusel, “golden trumpets” and sapoochki (pipes). Chronicles are also called harps, tambourines, snuffles (wind instruments). Frescoes St. Sophia Cathedrals in Kyiv, Novgorod (XI century) give a clear idea of ​​the whole range of

K.N. Kostrikov “Russian musical culture from ancient times to the end of the 18th century”

de instruments known in Ancient Rus'. In addition to trumpets, these are harp and lute instruments, as well as ancient flutes and cymbals. Apparently, the very ancient eastern instruments harps and lutes received a new development in Rus' due to the connection of Kievan Rus with the East. At all music life Kyiv was not at all isolated. The Kyiv princes visited Byzantium, and court music undoubtedly developed under the influence of the lush Byzantine palace culture. Numerous foreign merchants lived in Kyiv and Novgorod itself; trade relations were very wide; It is natural that foreign customs, song culture, and instruments enriched Russian art.

Representatives of the secular musical and poetic art of Ancient Rus' were not only rhapsodist singers and epic composers, but also buffoon singers, dancers and actors, indispensable participants in various everyday celebrations, closely connected with all folk life. The art of buffoons is truly diverse: music, poetry, dance, acrobatics, and various elements of theater were woven together. Like jugglers and other traveling actors (for example, spilmans in the Middle Ages in German-speaking countries), they were original successors of the traditions of syncretic actors, the so-called “mimes,” on a new historical basis. It is known that somewhat later, especially in Novgorod, the buffoons acquired extremely great influence and may have established cultural ties with Western traveling musicians of a similar type.

K.N. Kostrikov “Russian musical culture from ancient times to the end of the 18th century”

Cult music has acquired growing importance in Kyiv, especially in connection with its reception and dissemination in Rus' Christian culture(since the 10th century). It was this culture, which at that time was more progressive in comparison with the pagan one, that laid the foundation for written music, which, of course, played a role historical role on the formation of cult music. In Rus', Byzantium was a direct influence, an ancient influential center of Christian culture, which largely determined the development of this culture in Western Europe.

The forms and techniques of church singing, its modal system, and finally, the notation system, already established in Byzantine practice, undoubtedly influenced the initial development of church music in Kyiv. Probably Greek and Bulgarian singers brought to Rus' thanks to Byzantine and West Slavic connections during the planting era Christian religion, they also spread here the very principle of the so-called “chants” - characteristic sample melodies established in Byzantium and then among the Bulgarians for various occasions of worship. Finally, the recording method that took root here and is similar to the neumas in the West (the neumas themselves were also eastern origin), in its idea also turned out to be closely related to early Christian notation in general. From it the so-called banners or hooks gradually developed in Rus'.

Thus, the cult music of Rus' acquired distinctive features and began to move away from the common root of world Christian culture. Judging by the most ancient and later written memories,

K.N. Kostrikov “Russian musical culture from ancient times to the end of the 18th century”

Nika, the most widespread here is the so-called Znamenny monophonic singing, which combines recitative-psalmodic and melodic elements, but is not particularly melismatic in complexity.

Some monuments of a peculiar, so-called kondokar notation (preserved from the 11th-16th centuries and still not fully deciphered) also indicate that, along with the znamenny chant, Ancient Rus' also knew melismatic, ornamentally developed church singing(with a large stretching of individual syllables), suggesting the existence of a fairly high singing culture.

This area of ​​musical art, cult music, was maintained only until a secular, professional and written musical culture emerged. This happened on a broad national basis only during the time of Muscovite Rus'. Until this time, cult music had traveled a long historical path, enriching itself in its best examples from the depths of folk art, but in general still gradually losing its progressive historical meaning in the hands of the feudal church.

The difficult and heroic struggle of Ancient Rus' with external enemies, and most of all against Mongol yoke, were reflected in the most ancient layers of folk songs. Back at the beginning of the twentieth century folk memory stored the songs: “The Battle of Dobrynya and Alyosha with the Tatar”, “Mother and Daughter in Tatar Captivity” and many others.

In Ancient Rus', vocal art developed primarily. Its primary sources were Russian folk songs, because they reflect all of life common people. These include everyday themes, as well as themes of work and faith. The most famous ancient songs are:

Lullabies,

Pagan,

Calendar-ritual cycle.

But songs like these have a narrow range.

IX-XII centuries - the time of the existence of the state of Kievan Rus. In 988, Christianity was adopted, which came from Byzantium. It was then that three centers of musical art were formed:

1. folk song, in which there is a connection with paganism. Buffoons stood out from the people - talented people who amused others with musical and circus acts. But they were subject to persecution by the church. Instrumental music was not approved by the church. Only vocal and spiritual were recognized.

2. Prince's courtyard. Here central figure- singer-storyteller, composing and singing epics and songs dedicated to the exploits of the prince and his squad. The most popular musical instruments at that time were:

3. The church was the most important center for the development of writing and iconography. At that time, prayer-songs appeared, performed by a male choir in unison. These are harsh tunes with a smooth melody and a narrow range. They were recorded with banners (signs), some of which were hooks. They indicated the direction of the melody (down or up). For this they received the name “znamenny chant.” Composed by chanting monks. The most famous are Savva Rogov and Fyodor Krestyanin. The unique texts were first written in Byzantine and then translated. Later the znamenny chant became the source of Russian musical classics(Mussorgsky, Rachmaninov, etc.).

After the collapse of Kievan Rus, the Principality of Novgorod emerged. Here the buffoonery was not persecuted by the church, and therefore flourished. In those days, many epics were composed in which ingenuity and dexterity were glorified.

During the time of Muscovite Rus', many songs and epics were composed about the capture of Kazan. Great development musical art received at the court of Ivan IV. It was he who brought such musical instruments like the clavichord and the organ, he created the “Chorus of State Singing Deacons”. That time was marked by the appearance of the first Russian polyphony, and divine services became even more magnificent and exciting. Line singing appeared - the main voice + 2 voices above and below it.

• The presentation was made by
• primary school teacher
• Efanova L.E.

• Russian music was initially associated with the culture and life of the ancient Russian Slavs.
• The ancient Slavs were pagans and worshiped nature.
• All the beliefs of the Slavs were accompanied by chants and incantations, singing, dancing, and round dancing.
• All significant events human life accompanied by rituals.

• The beauty of folk songs is already revealed in ancient lullabies. They are filled with motherly love.
• Singing lullabies Now comes the turn of nurseries and nursery rhymes (from the word nurture, nurse, groom, follow someone.). These are short poetic sentences that accompany the child’s movements in the first months of life.
• For the first time, children were sung little fairy tales in verse, and children were taught to put up with lies and inconsistencies.

• A unique genre, typical only for the music of Ancient Rus', is the art of bell ringing. There are three types of ringing: 1.Blagovest ( uniform strikes of a large bell), 2. Chime (selection of bells from the smallest to the largest or vice versa) 3. The actual ringing itself (this was already the most a real game on the bells).