It is believed that the romance originally appeared in Spain, in XV-XVI centuries. Then the Spaniards called any poem written in a Romanesque “non-Latin” language a romance. The poem was not necessarily lyrical, it could talk about historical events and military exploits of heroes. In countries neighboring Spain, such poems were called ballads. From them musical works called “romances” were born. Set to music, they turned into small songs - usually with a four-line stanza without a refrain.

In the 18th century, romance reached France and Germany, and then to Russia. For us, “romance” meant a little musical composition, but exclusively of lyrical content, performed by voice and accompanying instrument. The greatest influence on the development of romance in Europe was exerted by the work of poets Johann Wolfgang Goethe and Heinrich Heine, composers Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Jules Massenet and Charles Gounod.

The genre of Russian romance developed in early XIX century on the wave that swept the domestic music world romanticism. The most famous romances of that period belonged to Alexander Varlamov. Then the romance took its rightful place in the works of the most famous Russian composers -,.

Many of the most popular romances of our time were written at the beginning of the 20th century. They are classified as urban, gypsy, “cruel romance”. At that time, romances were written by amateur composers such as Boris Fomin, Boris Prozorovsky, and Marie Poiret. And it was precisely this period that can be called the golden age of Russian romance: performances by Nadezhda Plevitskaya, Anastasia Vyaltseva, and Vera Panina filled the halls.

In the post-revolutionary years, romance was persecuted as a bourgeois relic that was corrupting the proletariat and the peasantry. But even during this difficult period for romance, Isabella Yuryeva, Alexander Vertinsky, and Tamara Tsereteli continued to perform it with success. Many of these musicians emigrated to Europe, taking with them Russian romance, which was able to conquer even the public who did not understand the Russian language. For example, Boris Fomin’s romance “The Long Road,” “exported” by Alexander Vertinsky, was so loved by Europeans that a new one arose to Fomin’s music. English text, and the British are still confident that the song was written on the shores of Foggy Albion.

Years later, Alla Bayanova, Alexander Vertinsky, Isabella Yuryeva returned to Russia and incredible success continued their career in our country. Romance has forever remained one of the most beloved musical genres in Russia, both among listeners and performers.

WITH instrumental accompaniment. The origin of the romance is due to Spain, where the term “romance” itself arose, which at that time denoted a secular song in Spanish (Roman) not based on a religious plot, hence the name romance. IN late XIX century, the romance began to be performed solo with the accompaniment of a vihuela or guitar.

It is impossible to tell everything about Russian romance, because this genre is so loved by our compatriots, and a huge number of works have been created in this genre. Romance came to Russia from France in the second half of the 18th century. This period saw the heyday of Russian poetry and new genre came in handy in vocal art, having absorbed the characteristic Russian poetic features. The very concept of Russian romance appeared much later, when folk song melodies penetrated the minds of educated Social Democrats. It is in Russian folk art and the origins of the Russian romance as a separate genre are found in vocal art. Song creativity mid-18th century– The 19th century that has come down to us is mostly represented by anonymous authors. In those days, this genre was transmitted orally, so both the words and the melody changed. Over time, people began to appear who tried to put together works of the new genre and record them. Perhaps they themselves brought something to these works. Later, many composers began to turn to the romance genre. The most famous Russian composers who wrote in the genre of Russian romance are Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Rimsky-Korsakov, Alyabyev, Varlamov, Glinka, Gumilyov, Dargomyzhsky, Cui, Sviridov and many others. A.S. Pushkin had a very strong influence on the development of Russian romance. Huge number romances written on his poems.

Subsequently, composers began to combine romances into vocal cycles, thereby creating larger works in form, which often used contrasting musical and poetic images, which would be impossible to fit into the size of one romance.

Further development of the romance genre in the 20th century begins with the expansion of new tasks: the development of new musical forms, new synthesis music and poetry. A new genre is emerging - “poem with music”. S.I. Taneev, S.V. Rachmaninov, N.K. Medtner, S.S. Prokofiev have such works. To achieve an approach to the intonations of natural speech, composers use both prose and works written in “blank verse”. Also, the instrumental part of the Russian romance begins to develop, this was especially clearly expressed in the piano parts, which, along with the melody and poem, performed an important musical-figurative function. Folklore themes also penetrate into the romance, which is clearly expressed in the work of composer I.F. Stravinsky. Next Soviet composers continue to develop classical direction vocally poetic genre, enhancing the song beginning in the Russian romance and bringing the romance closer to the song.

Romance is piece of music vocal character, which is written referring to the poetic form is not very great content, basically, its theme is love. This musical poetic chamber work is created for voice and accompanied instrumentally.

Romance in history

This term first appeared in Spain in the Middle Ages. At first, “romance” was called a secular song, but after some time it spread to the territories of other countries. In some of them, to this day, song and romance are understood under one specific word.

Romance comes from song, and originated in the fifteenth century, but was fully formed in the nineteenth. Its particular furor occurred at the end of the eighteenth century in countries such as Russia, France, and Germany. They left a significant mark on the development of romance creative works famous German poets - Heine and Goethe. Romance schools were even created, which were considered national.

After the nineteenth century and at the beginning of the twentieth, simultaneously with the classical romance, everyday romance began to develop, which was concentrated on amateur singers.

For Russian romance the most difficult time It was the end of 1930, when it was considered a relic of tsarism and was subject to persecution. The performers fell silent, and those who did not comply were subject to reprisals. The revival took place only in the seventies.

The idea of ​​romance

In its form, the romance is very reminiscent of a song. The difference is that in this work Deviations in quadrature and clock clarity are allowed. You can also find some deviations called insertions or extensions. The vocals here are clear and clearly outlined by the melody. The melodiousness is also a little different from other pieces of music.

In most cases, the chorus, but in a romance it is a refrain, is missing. Of particular importance here is the conveyance of the textual mood rather than the illustration of details. The emphasis is on the melody, not the accompaniment.

Romance belongs to chamber music, and it is accompanied by just one musical instrument. Although sometimes this is done with orchestral accompaniment.

In this type of work, both text and music have equal rights. If you don’t adhere to this and give preference to one thing, then romance loses its very essence.

Romance is divided into several types of genre:

• Elegy.
• Ballad.
• Barcarolle.
• Romance with dance rhythms.

How to recognize romance?

This work can be recognized by the following features:

• Lyrics for romance in most cases lyrical nature, dedicated to some kind of experience, mainly love.
• Romance always has a monotonous mood. The emotional spectrums are very diverse, which gives each listener the opportunity to choose what is closest to them.
• Romance melodies differ from song melodies in that they reflect more the nature of the poetic text. Expresses each image with rhythm and intonation.
• Considering that in most cases the romance expresses love experiences, it vaguely resembles a dialogue. At the heart of the work there are a couple of heroes, and a high-quality creation expresses all the intimacy and intimacy.

Considering romance as a vocal and poetic genre, you can notice. What it perfectly combines with a triangular structure:

• Music.
• Speech.
• Word.

Sometimes you can also find romances in opera.

Varieties of Russian romance

In Russia, almost at the same time as the classical chamber romance, the domestic romance began to develop. It was divided into three areas:

• A cruel romance.
• Urban romance.
• Gypsy romance.

The first of them was born in the city and suburbs, where mostly bourgeois people lived. They began to create their own subculture, which initially consisted of ditties, dancing, painting on bast wood, including romance. Since at this time all such actions were not welcomed, this is where the word “cruel” comes from.

The genre of this romance is almost impossible to determine. Its main features were a limited plot and it always ended with either a domestic murder, or suicide, or death associated with some kind of grief, and if it was about love, then only unrequited love.

But after some time, when everything had calmed down, he gave impetus to the creation of an urban romance. In contrast to the violent direction, from a literary point of view, it is more harmonious than its predecessor.

Starting from urban romance, the development of the following genres began:

• Thieves' song.
• Author's song.
• Russian chanson.

The thieves' song glorifies the severity of everyday life and morality in a criminal environment. This genre is focused on people who are imprisoned or very close to criminal acts. At first he found fans in the Soviet Union, but after some time he became popular in the CIS countries.

Author's songs appeared a little later. Their peculiarity is that there is no specific author, and if there is, it is “unknown”. Here, too, the basis was the life of the convicts who were in the camps, about the unsuitable living conditions in these places.

After some time, among the criminal songs, works began to appear that deviated slightly from the theme of crime, although they also contained the same melody, jargon, view of the world around us. This genre received the name - Russian chanson.

Nowadays you can hear it anywhere. Fans of Russian chanson, like performers, are not necessarily convicted or those who have already served their sentence.

Although the gypsy romance was created on the territory of Russia, it combined both Russian and gypsy texts.

Varieties of world romance

In addition to the above, there are also the following types of romance:

• Noble.
• Acting.
• Belogvardeisky.
• Ironic.
• Romance-answer and others.

But the classic romance is always unchanged and never loses its popularity.

Many composers have been trying to adhere to the basics of romance as a tradition for more than a decade. At the same time, they try to give it something unusual and special. For example, already in the sixties these works were created that were designed for more than one voice, and this was already closer to a vocal-symphonic work.

Romance is chamber vocal piece, which is characterized by poetic form and lyrical content love theme. In other words, this poetic works for singing with instrumental accompaniment.

The form of a romance is close to a song, only with a limited theme of a love-lyrical nature. The romance is usually performed accompanied by one instrument, most often. The main emphasis in works of this kind is on melody and semantic load.

The birth of romance

The term "romance" itself originated in Spain, where it was used to name secular songs in Spanish that needed to be separated from religious hymns sung in Latin. The Spanish word “romance” or the late Latin “romanice” is translated as “in Romance” or “in Spanish,” which is actually the same thing. The term “romance” has taken root in many languages ​​in parallel with the term “song,” although in German and English these two concepts are still not separated, denoting them with the same word (German Lied and English Song).

So, romance is a type of song that took shape in the period of the 15th-19th centuries.

Western European romance

From the middle of the 18th century, romance gained particular popularity in Germany and France and became a separate genre on the verge of music and poetry. The poetic basis for the romances of this era were poems by such great poets as Heine and Goethe.

Already in the 19th century, national schools of romance were formed in Germany, Austria, France and Russia. During this period, the famous romances of the Austrians Schumann, Brahms and Schubert, and the French Berlioz, Bizet and Gounod were created.

Characteristic for European schools There was also a combination of romances into entire vocal cycles. The first such cycle, “To a Distant Beloved,” was created by Beethoven. His example was followed by Schubert (the romance cycles “Winterreise” and “The Beautiful Miller’s Wife”), Schumann, Brahms, Wolf... From the mid-19th century and in the 20th century, national schools of romance were formed in the Czech Republic, Poland, Norway, Finland.

Gradually, in addition to the classical chamber form of romance, such a genre as everyday romance. It was designed for non-professional singers and was widely popular in society.

Russian romance

The Russian school of romance arose under the influence of romantic sentiments in art and was finally formed by the mid-19th century. Its founders are considered to be Alyabyeva, Gurilev, Varlamova, who often turned to gypsy themes in their work.

Alexander Alyabyev

Later, separate trends were formed in the genre of Russian romance - salon romance, cruel romance... Russian romance experienced its apogee of development at the beginning of the 20th century, during the era of the creativity of Vertinsky and Vyaltseva, Plevitskaya and Panina. laid down by these brilliant musicians traditions were successfully continued by Alla Bayanova and Petr Leshchenko, and already in the era of existence Soviet Union- Vadim Kozin, Tamara Tsereteli, Isabella Yurieva.

Unfortunately, in Soviet era The romance genre was not welcomed by the party leadership, since it was considered a non-proletarian genre, a relic of tsarism. and performers of romances were subjected to persecution and repression.

Only in the 70s. In the 20th century, romance experienced a revival when romances performed by Valentina Ponomareva and Nani Bregvadze, Nikolai Slichenko and Valentin Baglaenko gained popularity.

Spanish romance

Chamber vocal work for voice with instrumental accompaniment. The term "R." originated in Spain and originally meant a secular song in Spanish. ("Roman") language, and not in Latin, adopted by the church. chants. Collections of such songs, often united by a common plot, were called. "romancero". Having spread to other countries, the term "R." began to mean, on the one hand, poetic. genre: especially melodious lyric. a poem (as well as a poem intended for music), and on the other, the wok genre. music. In France the term "P." (romance) was used along with the term chanson in the 18th century and the beginning. 19th centuries, then it was replaced by the concept mеlodie, introduced by G. Berlioz as a genre designation for wok. prod. accompanied. In some countries, R. and song are denoted by one word: German. Lied, English song. In Russia the name "R." originally carried a wok. productions written in French. text (even if by a Russian composer). R. with text in Russian. language called "Russian songs".

In R., the melody is connected with the verse in more detail than in the song, reflecting not only its general character, the type of stanza, poetic. size, but also dep. poetic images, their development and change, rhythmic. and intonation drawing dept. phrases. Instr. escort in R. has an important expression. meaning and is often an equal participant in the ensemble. R. is divided into departments. genre varieties: ballads, elegies, barcarolles, dance romances. rhythms, etc.

Directly predecessors of R. in modern times. meaning of this term, along with song genres (see Song) appeared wok. dance implications forms: minuets, Sicilians, etc. (Sperontes, “The Muse Singing on the River Place” - “Singende Muse an der PleiYe”, 1736-45; G. N. Teplov, “Idleness Between Things,” 1759, etc. .).

R.'s development as a synthetic, musical and poetic. the genre begins in the 2nd half. 18th century In the works of composers of the Berlin school (M. Agricola, C. F. E. Bach, F. Benda, etc.), E. N. Megul, A. M. Berton and N. Dalleyrak in France, A. M. Dubyansky and O. A. Kozlovsky in Russia you can find examples of the subtle fusion of music and poetry. At the same time, the theoretical one begins. understanding the problems of combining music and words (in the works of K. G. Krause, A. E. M. Gretry).

In the 19th century, especially in the works of romantic composers. direction, R. becomes one of the leading genres, reflecting the trends characteristic of the era: appeal to the internal, peace of mind man and to the treasures of the people. lawsuit In the works of the largest authors of the 19th century. the close interaction of these lines is noticeable. First of all new type R. developed in Austria. music; F. Schubert, who was the founder of the German language, is rightfully considered its creator. and Austrian R. schools of this type (in addition to Schubert, R. Schumann, J. Brahms, H. Wolf, etc.). Soon other bright nationalities emerge. R. schools: French (G. Berlioz, C. Gounod, J. Bizet, J. Massenet), Russian (M. I. Glinka, A. S. Dargomyzhsky, M. A. Balakirev, Ts. A. Cui, M. . P. Mussorgsky, A. P. Borodin, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, P. I. Tchaikovsky, S. V. Rachmaninov). Along with chamber wok. classics in the 19th century. Everyday music also developed, designed for amateur singers and stylistically close to song. These two regions of Russia were not isolated and constantly interacted, especially in Russia. The romances of A. A. Alyabyev, A. E. Varlamov, A. L. Gurilev, P. P. Bulakhov, A. I. Dyubyuk have undoubted artistry. advantages and have not lost their significance. The work of the great masters of R. developed in interaction with poetry. directions. In the history of art, the names of F. Schubert and J. V. Goethe, R. Schumann and G. Heine, M. I. Glinka and A. S. Pushkin, P. I. Tchaikovsky and A. K. Tolstoy are closely connected, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov and A. N. Maikov. Pushkin's work had a profound impact on Russian culture. R. This was manifested not only in the number of works written on his poems - in many of these R. (especially by Glinka and Rimsky-Korsakov) both aesthetic and stylistic were reflected. poet's principles.

Rus. composers of the 19th century paid special attention the problem of declamation (A. S. Dargomyzhsky, M. P. Mussorgsky). R. in their work sometimes takes on the features of theater. scenes performed by a specific character (Dargomyzhsky - “The Worm”, “Titular Councilor”, Mussorgsky - “Seminarist”, “Svetik Savishna”, “Mischief”, etc.). In Tchaikovsky's work, R. often approaches an operatic aria with a broad, symphonic development (“Does the Day Reign”). This type of R. is also characteristic of Rachmaninov (“Spring Waters”).

The extension will express. R.'s possibilities are carried out in other ways. Composers often combine R. into a wok. cycle, creating a relatively large and thematically rich “suite” type of work, in which, in particular, such a sharp opposition of contrasting musical and poetic can be used. images, which is impossible within one R. Genre voc. cycle allows the composer to give a comprehensive description of his main. heroes, introduce music. means the development itself is poetic. images and plot. First wok. the cycle belongs to L. Beethoven ("To a Distant Beloved", 1816), quite mature examples of this genre were created by F. Schubert ("The Beautiful Miller's Wife", 1823, and "Winter Reise", 1827). In the future, wok. cycles were written by Schumann, Brahms, Mahler, Wolf and other composers, including Russians: Glinka, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov.

In the 2nd half. 19 - beginning 20th centuries in the region of R. representatives of young nationalities are nominated. schools: Czech (B. Smetana, A. Dvořák, L. Nowak), Polish (M. Karlovich, K. Szymanowski), Finnish (J. Sibelius), Norwegian (H. Kjerulf, E. Grieg), who contributed creatures. contribution to the development of the genre.

Development of R. in the 20th century. - already in its first decades - represents more complex picture. Along with the continuation of the tradition of the 19th century. composers strive to solve a number of new problems or find new solutions to old ones. For example, the problem of the synthesis of music and poetry is posed in a new way; composers try to find in every work. its individual solution, outside of typical genres and forms. This is how a new kind of chamber wok arises. prod. - "poem with music." This kind of op. there is S.I. Taneyev, S.V. Rachmaninov, N.K. Medtner, S.S. Prokofiev (“Five Poems by Akhmatova”), the French. composers (C. Debussy, “Cinq Poêmes de Baudelaire”, etc.). On a new basis, without relying on the traditions of operatic declamation, the problem of musical and speech intonation is solved in R. To get as close as possible to the intonations of natures. speeches, composers turn to texts written in free verse and even prose (Debussy - “Songs of Bilitis”, Prokofiev - “The Ugly Duckling”), use freely intoned “musical dialect” (Sprechstimme, Sprechgesang). The first and most radical example of Sprechgesang was A. Schoenberg’s cycle “Pierrot Lunaire” (1912); this technique was later used by Ch. arr. as episodic. On the other hand, in R. 20th century. tools are being intensively developed. start. Fp. the party often becomes so independent and imaginative that one can talk about special genre"romance-prelude" ("Lilac" by Rachmaninov, many romances by Debussy). It should also be noted that elements of folklore penetrated into R., ch. arr. adv. musical and speech genres (I. F. Stravinsky - “Jokes”), interest in the dialect features of the people. songs (M. Ravel, M. de Falla). A large number of stylistic finds in R. 20th century. could not, however, compensate for a certain loss of sociability and accessibility characteristic of the classics of this genre.

Sov. composers in the first examples of R. continue the tradition of pre-revolutionary. decades, then find their own. path. In Sov. R. is carried out and creative development classic chamber wok. genres (An. A. Alexandrov, N. Ya. Myaskovsky, Yu. A. Shaporin, Yu. V. Kochurov), and updating them by strengthening the song beginning (G. V. Sviridov) or the beginning of intonation-characteristic (S. S . Prokofiev, D. D. Shostakovich). In the 60-70s. The circle of performers is expanding very much. means R., cycles appear for several. performers-singers or for voice and ensemble of instruments, which brings the wok closer. cycles to cantatas and even voc.-symphonies. prod. Voc.-instrument cycles have become widespread in modern foreign music (P. Boulez, B. Britten).

Literature: Cui Ts. A., Russian romance, St. Petersburg, 1896; Pindeisen N., Russian art song. (Romance), M.-Leipzig, (1905); Glebov I. (Asafiev B.V.), Introduction, in his book: Russian poetry in Russian music (notographic index), P., 1922; by him, The most important stages in the development of Russian romance, in the book: Russian Romance, M.-L., 1930; his, Russian romance of the 19th century, in his book: Russian music from the beginning of the 19th century, M.-L., 1930, L., 1968; Levasheva O. E., Romance and song. A. D. Zhilin, D. N. Kashin, in the book: Essays on the history of Russian music. 1790-1825, L., 1958; Vasina-Grossman V. A., Russian classical romance of the 19th century, M., 1956; hers, Romantic song of the 19th century, M., 1966; hers, Masters of Soviet Romance, M., 1968; her, Chamber vocal music, in the book: Music of the 20th century. Essays, part 1, book. 1, M., 1976; Gusev V. E., Enter, article in the collection: Songs and romances of Russian poets, M.-L., 1965; Kurysheva T. A., Kamerny vocal cycle in modern Russian Soviet music, in: Questions of musical form, vol. 1, M., 1966; Ruchevskaya E., On the relationship between words and melody in Russian chamber vocal music of the early 20th century, in: Russian music at the turn of the 20th century, M.-L., 1966; hers, On the methods of implementation and the expressive meaning of speech intonation, in the collection: Poetry and Music, M., 1973; Russian poetry in Russian music (before 1917), vol. 1-2, M., 1966-69. See also lit. at Art. Song and with articles about the department. authors of romances.

V. A. Vasina-Grossman