Sviridov vocal works. Georgy Sviridov: biography, interesting facts, creativity

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

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

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

Sviridov Georgy Vasilievich

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

Until 1944 he lived in Novosibirsk, where the Leningrad Philharmonic was evacuated. Like other composers, he wrote war songs, of which the most famous was, perhaps, “Song of the Brave” based on poems by A. Surkov. In addition, he wrote music for performances of theaters evacuated to Siberia, including the musical comedy “The Sea Spreads Wide” (1943), staged at the Moscow Chamber Theater located in Barnaul.

In 1944, Sviridov returned to Leningrad, and in 1956 he settled in Moscow. He wrote symphonies, concerts, oratorios, cantatas, songs and romances. Since 1957, member of the board of the Union of Composers of the USSR, in 1962-1974 secretary, in 1968-1973 - first secretary of the board of the Union of Composers of the RSFSR. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR of the 7th, 8th and 9th convocations. On September 17, 1958, signed by Sviridov, Pravda published an article “Eradicate vulgarity in music,” which marked the beginning of the persecution of Mark Bernes.

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

Russia is a country of space, a country of song, a country of minor keys, a country of Christ.

Sviridov Georgy Vasilievich

In recent years, Sviridov has been sick a lot. On January 6, 1998, he died. A civil memorial service and funeral took place on January 9 in Moscow. After the funeral service in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Sviridov was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.

Creation

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

While he studied at the Leningrad Conservatory, from 1936 to 1941, Sviridov experimented with different genres and different types of composition. He wrote the Piano Concerto No. 1 (1936-1939), Symphony No. 1, and a chamber symphony for strings (1940).

Sviridov's style changed significantly in the early stages of his work. His first works were written in the style of classical, romantic music and were similar to the works of the German romantics. Later, many of Sviridov’s works were written under the influence of his teacher Dmitry Shostakovich, but also, for example, in the First Partita for piano, the composer’s attention to the musical language of Paul Hindemith is noticeable.

Sviridov Georgy Vasilievich

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

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

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

Awards and prizes

• People's Artist of the RSFSR (1953)
• People's Artist of the USSR (1970)
• Hero of Socialist Labor (1975)
• Lenin Prize (1960) - for “Pathetic Oratorio” to the words of V. V. Mayakovsky
• Stalin Prize, first degree (1946) - for trio for piano, violin and cello (1945)
• USSR State Prize (1968) - for “Kursk Songs” for choir and orchestra
• USSR State Prize (1980) - for the concert for the choir “Pushkin’s Wreath”
• State Prize of the Russian Federation (1994)
• Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree (12/10/1995)
• Four Orders of Lenin (12/16/1965; 07/2/1971; 12/18/1975; 12/13/1985)
• Medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945"
• Order of Liberty, 2nd class (Albania, 1954)
• Orders and medals of foreign countries
• Honorary Citizen of Kursk (1982)
• Honorary citizen of Moscow (1997).

Memory of Sviridov

Art in which God is present as an internally experienced idea will be immortal

Sviridov Georgy Vasilievich

• On September 23, 2005, the first monument to the composer was unveiled in Kursk, on which his words are carved: “Sing of Rus', where the Lord gave and ordered me to live, rejoice and suffer.”
• In the hometown of Georgy Sviridov, Fatezh, on December 16, 2005, a memorial house-museum of the composer was opened.
• An art school named after him was opened in St. Petersburg on Yesenin Street.
• In Balashikha near Moscow, art school No. 1 was named after the composer.
• The public movement “Orthodox Russia” established a commemorative medal “Our Heritage” named after Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov to reward achievements in the field of musical art, creative activity aimed at supporting and developing national culture.
• In Moscow, several children's music schools bear his name.
• The name “Georgy Sviridov” is borne by Aeroflot’s Airbus A320 (w/n VP-BDK).

Essays

The greatness of the artist is the greatness of the soul (greatness of the spirit) of the artist. The greatness of Mussorgsky and Borodin is the greatness of a Christian

Sviridov Georgy Vasilievich

• 7 small pieces for piano (1934-1935)
• 6 romances based on words by A. Pushkin (1935)
• 7 romances to words by M. Lermontov (1938)
• Piano Concerto No. 1 (1936-1939)
• Chamber Symphony for Strings (1940)
• 3 romances based on poems by A. Blok (1941)
• Piano Concerto No. 2 (1942)
• Musical comedy “The Sea Spreads Wide” (1943)
• Piano Sonata (1944)
• Romances for voice and piano based on poems by William Shakespeare (1944-60)
• Quintet for piano and strings (1945)
• Trio for piano, violin and cello (1945; Stalin Prize, 1946)
• Vocal cycle “Country of the Fathers” for tenor, bass and piano, poems by A. I. Isaakyan, consists of 11 romances (1950)
• Musical comedy "Ogonki" (1951)
• Oratorio “Decembrists” to the words of Alexander Pushkin and the Decembrist poets (1954-55, unfinished)
• Romances for voice and piano to poems by Robert Burns, translated by Samuil Marshak (1955)
• Vocal cycle for tenor, baritone and piano “My father is a peasant” based on poems by Sergei Yesenin (1956)
• Vocal-symphonic poem “In Memory of Sergei Yesenin” (1956)
• “Pathetic Oratorio” to the words of Vladimir Mayakovsky ([; Lenin Prize, 1960)
• Vocal cycle (poem) “Petersburg Songs” for four solo singers, piano, violin and cello, based on poems by Alexander Blok (1961-69)
• Music for chamber orchestra (orchestral version of the Quintet for piano and strings 1964)
• “Kursk Songs” for mixed choir and orchestra, folk words (1964; State Prize, 1968)
• Musical illustrations for Alexander Pushkin’s story “The Snowstorm” (1964)
• Small cantata for choir and orchestra “Wooden Rus'” to poems by Sergei Yesenin (1964)
• "Little Triptych" (1964)
• Small cantata for choir and orchestra “It’s Snowing” based on poems by Boris Pasternak (1965)
• Small cantata for choir and orchestra “Sad Songs” based on poems by Alexander Blok (1965)
• Romance “These Poor Villages” for voice, piano and oboe, lyrics by Fyodor Tyutchev (1965)
• Suite “Time, forward!” (1965) music for the film of the same name by M. Schweitzer - the theme of the screensaver of the "Time" program, a USSR news release at 21 o'clock.
• "Spring Cantata" for choir and orchestra (1972)
• Music for the Maly Theater play “Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich” (1973)
• Music for the monument to the fallen on the Kursk Bulge (1973)
• Choral concert “In Memory of A. A. Yurlov” for a mixed choir singing without words (1973)
• Cantata “Ode to Lenin” to words by Robert Rozhdestvensky for reader, choir and orchestra (1976)
• “The Rus' that set sail”, cycle for voice and piano to words by Sergei Yesenin (1977)
• Hymns of the Motherland for choir (1978)
• 25 songs for bass and piano (1939-1979)
• "Pushkin's Wreath" for choir and orchestra (1979)
• “Night Clouds”, cantata to lyrics by Alexander Blok for mixed choir a cappella (1979)
• 10 romances based on words by A. Blok (1972-1980)
• “Ladoga”, poem for choir with lyrics by A. Prokofiev (1980)
• “Songs”, concert for a cappella choir to lyrics by Alexander Blok (1980-1981)
• "Petersburg", vocal poem (1995)
• “Chants and Prayers” (for unaccompanied choir)

Filmography

Art is not only art. It is part of the religious (spiritual) consciousness of the people. When art ceases to be this consciousness, it becomes “aesthetic” entertainment. People who are not close to this spiritual consciousness of the people do not understand the essence of art, its sacramental meaning

Sviridov Georgy Vasilievich

• 1940 - Virgin Soil Upturned
• 1946 - Don Cesar de Bazan
• 1951 - Przhevalsky
• 1952 - Rimsky-Korsakov
• 1953 - The Great Warrior of Albania Skanderbeg
• 1956 - Polyushko-field
• 1960 - Red Square
• 1961 - Resurrection
• 1964 - Russian Forest
• 1964 - Blizzard
• 1966 - Time, forward!
• 1976 - Trust
• 1982 - Red Bells. Film 2. I saw the birth of a new world
• 1996 - “The Time of Georgy Sviridov” - documentary film, 52 min., director Nikita Tikhonov

Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov - quotes

The art of our century bears great responsibility for the fact that it persistently and talentedly preached lack of spirituality, hedonism, moral comfort, caste, intellectual selectivity, intellectual pleasure, and even worse: it enthusiastically glorified and poeticized all kinds of evil, serving it and receiving satisfaction from it. insatiable ambition, seeing in it a refreshment, a renewal of the world. All this undoubtedly caused great harm to the human soul...

The cause of good might seem completely hopeless, for souls that have undergone such strong processing and mortification are, perhaps, impossible to resurrect. But the wisdom of life lies within itself: new generations come into the world completely pure, which means the point is to educate them in the service of the highest good...

My music is a kind of small candle “made of bodily wax”, burning in the bottomless world of the underworld.”

The watershed, the demarcation of artistic movements, occurs these days not at all along the lines of “manner” or the so-called “means of expression.” You have to be a very naive person to think like that. The demarcation occurs along the most important, fundamental line of human existence - along the spiritual and moral line. Here is the beginning of everything - the meaning of life!

Russian culture is inseparable from a sense of conscience. Conscience is what Russia brought to the world consciousness. And now there is a danger of losing this high moral category...

The creative biography of one of the most original composers of the 20th century is closely connected with the musical traditions of the Kursk region. A boy was born into the family of a postal worker and a teacher in the town of Fatezhe in 1915.

The parents of little Yura, as the future musician was called in childhood, stood on opposite sides of the political barricades. Father Vasily Grigorievich early became interested in the ideas of Bolshevism and supported the Reds in everything, and his mother, born into a pious family, adhered to monarchist views.

Elizaveta Ivanovna Sviridova, née Chaplygina, sang in the choir from a young age, which greatly influenced the future musical preferences of her son.

Relatives on his mother's side - George's grandfather and great-grandfather - left a significant mark on the history of the region. They were involved in the guardianship of Fatezh schools and were on the council of the parish of the Epiphany Church in the city. As a child, the boy regularly attended the small church of Frol and Lavra with his maternal grandmother; he especially loved the Maundy Thursday service.

Subsequently, childhood impressions resulted not only in the composer’s love for vocal creativity, but also in the creation of later opuses on religious themes, which came from the pen of the author in the early 90s.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, Georgy Sviridov’s father tragically died in a clash between the Bolsheviks and a detachment of Denikin’s troops, leaving his wife a widow with two small children in her arms: four-year-old Yurochka and one-year-old Tamara. A single mother, in search of work, moves to Kirov to live with distant relatives.

Interesting facts from the composer’s life include the following incident. Once, as payment for her work, Elizaveta Sviridova was offered a choice of a German piano or a cow. And without hesitation, she chose a musical instrument. By this time, a sensitive, educated woman had already noticed her son’s passion for music and decided to help him master his skill.

Little Yura not only became interested in music, he was very fond of literature, voraciously read poetry and understood the works of foreign and Russian poets. In addition, having once become interested in the balalaika, he quickly masters this instrument to perform musical compositions at one of the celebrations.

In 1929, he entered the Kursk music school in the class of Vera Ufimtseva. At the entrance exam, it was necessary to play a piece of music, but since the boy did not have notes, he played a march of his own composition, which captivated the teachers.

The composer's second teacher was Miron Krutyansky. He advised Georgy Sviridov to continue his music studies at the Leningrad Music College. And in 1932, the young man entered a course with pianist Isaiah Braudo.

Georgy is a phenomenal student, quickly mastering piano technique, and in the evenings he works as a pianist in a movie theater, but his wise teacher still turns to the management of the educational institution with a request to transfer Georgy Sviridov to a composition course.

Yura enters the class of Mikhail Yudin, and in 1936 becomes a student at the Leningrad Conservatory, where he studies in the class of P. Ryazanov and D. Shostakovich. They become friends with Dmitry Dmitrievich. The older comrade strongly influenced Sviridov’s worldview and forever instilled in him a love of national origins.

A year after admission, Georgy was accepted into the Union of Composers. The young man's graduation works were his piano concerto, first symphony and symphony for chamber orchestra.

Music

Sviridov spent his forties in evacuation in Novosibirsk, along with the entire staff of the Leningrad Philharmonic, where he got a job immediately after completing his education. During these years, the composer, who had cut his teeth on instrumental music, began to create vocal works for the first time. He will return to this genre more than once.

His work was inspired by the poetry of Shakespeare, Avetik Isaakyan translated by Alexander Blok, Robert Burns translated by Samuil Marshak, and even the poems of Chinese poets Wang Wei, Bo Juyi and He Zhizhang.

From the mid-50s, he began to create works based on words, writing a multi-part poem “In Memory of Sergei Yesenin” and composing “Pathetic Oratorio”. Georgy Sviridov writes a cantata to the words of Boris Pasternak. His vocal works based on poems by N. Nekrasov, A. Prokofiev, M. Lermontov are gaining popularity.

The composer consciously chooses the path of songwriting, since, in his opinion, the voice is the only instrument from God. Instrumental music, which was usually composed by buffoons in Rus', was considered a lackey form of art.

In the 60s, Sviridov, thanks to the collected folklore heritage of the region, opened a new page in the musical academic tradition. He creates a cycle for choir and symphony orchestra “Kursk Songs” based on folk motifs.

Following this work, many Soviet composers, such as V. Gavrilin, R. Shchedrin, N. Sidelnikov, S. Slonimsky, turn to folk motifs in their work. described this work and the work of his student as a whole: “Sviridov has few notes, but a lot of music.”

The period of the 70s is considered the most fruitful in the composer’s work. He creates his most famous work, “Blizzard,” based on the work of A. S. Pushkin. The most interesting of the “musical illustrations” are the compositions “Waltz”, “Troika”, “Winter Road”.

No less popular was the work that every schoolchild in the country knew - “Time, Forward!” Sviridov wrote it for a film by Mikhail Schweitzer, and then arranged it into a suite. Despite the fact that Georgy Vasilyevich always took a long time to write out scores for his works, he created this composition in an hour and all thanks to the fact that he was in a hurry to go fishing, which was his favorite pastime after music.

At the same time, a poem was written based on the verses of Sergei Yesenin, “The Rus' that set sail” - the true pinnacle of the composer’s creativity.

Personal life

The composer's personal life was not easy. He was married three times. He had two sons, but due to tragic circumstances, George outlived both sons.

The composer never mentioned the passing of the elder Sergei, who was born in marriage with his first wife. Later, after the death of Georgy Vasilyevich, it became known that the boy committed suicide when his parents were at the premiere at the theater. The young man was 16 years old at that time.

The youngest son Yuri was seriously ill and had to leave his homeland for treatment. Having lived in Japan for a long time, he died a week before his father's death. Georgy Vasilyevich never found out about this event.

The composer never mentioned his first two marriages in interviews. It is known that Georgy Vasilyevich’s first wife was a pianist, a fellow student of the composer at the technical school. Her name was Valentina Tokareva.

Sviridov's second wife, artist Aglaya Kornienko, was 12 years younger than him. For her sake, Georgy Sviridov left his first family and little four-year-old Seryozha. Married to Aglayushka, as the musician affectionately called her, he had a second son, Yuri.

Fans mostly know his third wife - Elsa Gustavovna Sviridova (Klazer), who was 10 years younger than the composer.

They met at a musical evening at the Philharmonic, at which works by a young talented composer were performed. Elsa Gustavovna wanted to personally express her gratitude to Sviridov, and after the meeting they never parted, so great was the power of the feeling that flared up in the hearts of both.

last years of life

Elsa Gustavovna was a keen connoisseur of art and a connoisseur of her husband’s creativity. In many ways, she guided him with advice and her outside perspective. She survived her husband only by 4 months, having for some time managed to be the sole director of the G. Sviridov Foundation.

After the death of Elsa Sviridova, this place was left to her forever. The last years of his life, the seriously ill composer spent a lot of time at the dacha, writing music and his favorite fishing. In photographs from this period, Georgy Sviridov is depicted as a serious, thoughtful philosopher, absorbed in thoughts about his homeland. The composer died on Christmas Eve 1998.

Works by Georgy Sviridov

• 7 small pieces for piano (1934-1935)
• 6 romances based on words by A. S. Pushkin (1935)
• Concerto No. 1 for piano and orchestra (1937)
• 7 romances to the words of M. Yu. Lermontov (1938)
• Chamber Symphony for string orchestra (1940)
• Concerto No. 2 for piano and orchestra (1942)
• Piano Sonata (1944)
• Piano Quintet (1944)
• Piano Trio (1945)
• Vocal-symphonic poem “In Memory of S. A. Yesenin” (1956)
• “Pathetic Oratorio” to the words of V. V. Mayakovsky (1959)
• “Kursk Songs” for mixed choir and orchestra, folk words (1964)
• Music for the film "Blizzard" (1964)
• Small cantata for choir and orchestra “It’s Snowing” based on poems by B. L. Pasternak (1965)
• Suite “Time, forward!” (1965)
• Choral concert “In Memory of A. A. Yurlov” (1973)
• Musical illustrations for A. S. Pushkin’s story “Blizzard” (1978)
• “The Rus' that set sail”, cycle for voice and piano to words by S. A. Yesenin (1977)
• "Pushkin's Wreath" for choir (1979)
• “Ladoga”, poem for choir with lyrics by A. Prokofiev (1980)
• “Songs”, concert for choir to words by A. A. Blok (1980-1981)
• "Chants and Prayers" (1994)

Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov(December 3, Fatezh, Kursk province - January 6, Moscow) - Soviet Russian composer, pianist, public figure. People's Artist of the USSR (). Hero of Socialist Labor (). Laureate of the Lenin Prize (), Stalin Prize of the first degree (), two USSR State Prizes (,) and the State Prize of the Russian Federation ().

Biography

Mobilized in 1941, a few days after graduating from the conservatory, he was sent to the Leningrad Military School of Air Surveillance, Warning and Communications (VNOS) (now a branch of the A.F. Mozhaisky Military Space Academy, relocated in August 1941 to Birsk, Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic , but at the end of the year he was discharged due to health reasons.

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

Since 1957 - member of the board of the Union of Composers of the USSR, in 1962-1974 - secretary, in 1968-1973 - first secretary of the board of the Union of Composers of the RSFSR. One of the founders of the Petrovsky Academy of Sciences and Arts.

In recent years, the composer has been ill a lot. He died on January 6, 1998 in Moscow from a massive heart attack. A civil memorial service and funeral took place on January 9 in Moscow. After the funeral service in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, he was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

Family

While still a student, the composer married pianist Valentina Tokareva, and in 1940 their son Sergei was born. The marriage did not last long; already in 1944 he left the family for young Aglaya Kornienko. 4 years later he again became the father of a son, George Jr., immediately after whose birth he moved in with his third wife Elsa Gustavovna Klaser. Outlived both of his sons. Sergei committed suicide at the age of 16, after which the composer had his first heart attack. Son Georgy died on December 30, 1997 from a chronic illness. The composer never found out this tragic news - his wife was going to tell him about it when he got stronger after a recent heart attack. This never happened - a week after the death of his youngest son, on January 6, 1998, he passed away.

Video on the topic

Creation

The composer wrote his first compositions back in 1935 - a cycle of lyrical romances based on poems by A. S. Pushkin, which became famous.

His style changed significantly in the early stages of his work. The first works were written in the style of classical, romantic music and were similar to the works of the German romantics. Later, many works were written under the influence of his teacher D. Shostakovich, but also, for example, in the First Partita for piano, the composer’s attention to the musical language of P. Hindemith is noticeable.

Starting from the mid-1950s, he acquired his own bright, original style and tried to write works that were exclusively Russian in nature. Of the seasons, Sviridov loved winter most of all, believing that winter is “the time when Russia expresses its nature especially clearly.” The composer musically illustrated the fresh and beautiful northern winters in his works with special inspiration.

In 1964, he wrote music for the film “Blizzard” based on the prose of A. Pushkin, which was loved by listeners and was often performed in radio and television programs. In 1974, on the advice of his wife, Elsa Gustavovna, an expert and connoisseur of his work, he made a thorough revision of the score. The work received independent status and became known as “Musical illustrations for the story “The Snowstorm” by A. S. Pushkin.” It gained worldwide fame when performed by a symphony orchestra conducted by V. Fedoseev. Critics pointed out that in the first part of the illustrations Sviridov’s “Troika” is running in winter, which is felt in music in an “incomprehensible way.” In the same 1964, he was the first composer to write a cantata based on B. Pasternak’s poems “It’s Snowing,” in which, with just two notes, he painted a mesmerizing musical picture of quiet snowfall outside the window. Pictures of Russia gone into history, the lyrical image of its antiquity are recreated by the composer in the fragment “Winter is Singing” from the Poem in Memory of S. Yesenin. For “Hymn to the Motherland” I chose the poem by F. Sologub “Where the dormant forests are sad, exhausted by frost...”, dedicated to the Russian North.

The choral cycle “Kursk Songs” is directly connected with the native land. This work defined a new direction in Russian music, called the “new folk wave”, in line with which the “sixties” composers worked - R. Shchedrin, N. Sidelnikov, S. Slonimsky, V. Gavrilin and others.

The composer's music remained little known in the West for a long time, but in Russia his works enjoyed tremendous success among critics and listeners for their simple but subtle lyrical melodies, scale, masterful instrumentation and pronounced national character.

The composer continued and developed the experience of Russian classics, primarily M. Mussorgsky, enriching it with the achievements of the 20th century. He used the traditions of ancient cant, ritual chants, znamenny singing, and at the same time, modern urban mass song. Creativity combines novelty, originality of musical language, precision, exquisite simplicity, deep spirituality and expressiveness.

Awards and titles

• Hero of Socialist Labor () - for outstanding services in the development of Soviet musical art and in connection with the sixtieth anniversary of his birth
• Lenin Prize () - for “Pathetic Oratorio” to the words of V. V. Mayakovsky
• Stalin Prize of the first degree () - for outstanding works in the field of art and literature for 1945 in the field of music (Works of small forms) - for trio for piano, violin and cello
• USSR State Prize (1968) in the field of literature, art and architecture (in the field of music and concert and performing activities) - for "Kursk Songs" for choir and orchestra"
• USSR State Prize (1980) in the field of literature, art and architecture - for the concert for the choir “Pushkin’s Wreath”
• State Prize of the Russian Federation (1994) in the field of literature and art (in the field of musical art) - for "Songs and Prayers" for a large mixed choir
• Prize of the President of the Russian Federation () in the field of literature and art
• Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" II degree () - for the creation of highly artistic works of national culture and outstanding contribution to world musical art
• Four Orders of Lenin ( , , , )
• Medal “For Valiant Labor. In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin"
• Medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945"
• Order of Liberty 2nd class (Albania, 1954)
• Orders and medals of foreign countries
• Moscow Mayor's Prize in the field of literature and art
• Prize "Golden Disc" from the company "Melodiya"
• Honorary Citizen of Kursk ()
• Honorary citizen of Moscow () - in connection with the celebration of the 850th anniversary of the founding of the city of Moscow, for outstanding services to the city and citizens of Moscow
• Honorary Doctor of St. Petersburg State Unitary Enterprise (since 1996)

Essays

Vocal works (oratorios, cantatas, choirs)

• 6 romances to the words of A. S. Pushkin ()
• 7 romances to the words of M. Yu. Lermontov ()
• Musical comedy "The Real Groom" ()
• 3 romances based on poems by A. A. Blok ()
• "Songs of the Wanderer", vocal cycle for baritone and piano based on poems by Wang Wei, Bo Juyi and He Zhizhang (-)
• Musical comedy “The Sea Spreads Wide” ()

• Vocal cycle “Country of Fathers” for tenor, bass and piano based on poems by A. S. Isaakyan, consists of 11 romances ()
• Musical comedy "Ogonki" ()
• Oratorio “Decembrists” to the words of A. S. Pushkin and the Decembrist poets (-, not finished)
• Romances for voice and piano to poems by R. Burns in translations by S. Ya. Marshak ()
• Vocal-symphonic poem “In Memory of S. A. Yesenin” ()
• Vocal cycle for tenor, baritone and piano “My father is a peasant” based on verses by S. A. Yesenin ()
• 5 choirs for unaccompanied mixed choir (1958)
• "Sloboda Lyrics". Seven songs to the words of A. Prokofiev and M. Isakovsky ()
• “Pathetic Oratorio” to the words of V. V. Mayakovsky ()
• "We don't believe it!" for voice, choir and orchestra to words by V. V. Mayakovsky (1960)
• Vocal cycle (poem) “Petersburg Songs” for four solo singers, piano, violin and cello to poems by A. A. Blok ( - , Spanish)
• “Kursk Songs” for mixed choir and orchestra, folk words (
• Small cantata for choir and orchestra “Wooden Rus'” based on verses by S. A. Yesenin ()
• Small cantata for choir and orchestra “It’s snowing” based on verses by B. L. Pasternak ()
• Small cantata for choir and orchestra “Sad Songs” to poems by A. A. Blok ()
• Romance “These poor villages” for voice, piano and oboe, lyrics by F. I. Tyutchev ()
• “Spring Cantata” for choir and orchestra, lyrics by N. A. Nekrasov ()
• Choral concert “In Memory of A. A. Yurlov” for a mixed choir singing without words ()
• Cantata “Ode to Lenin” to the words of R. I. Rozhdestvensky for reader, choir and orchestra ()
• Dismissed Rus'. Poem to words by S. A. Yesenin, for baritone and piano ()
• Hymns of the Motherland for choir ()
• 25 chorales for bass and piano (-)
• "Pushkin's Wreath" for choir ()
• “Night Clouds”, cantata to words by A. A. Blok for mixed choir a cappella ()
• 10 romances to the words of A. A. Blok (-)
• “Ladoga”, poem for choir to words by A. Prokofiev ()
• “Songs of Timelessness”, concert for a cappella choir to lyrics by A. A. Blok (-)
• “Petersburg” to the words of A. A. Blok, vocal poem ()
• “Chants and Prayers” (for unaccompanied choir) ()
• Vocal cycle “Smolensk Horn” (words by various Soviet poets, different years)
• Music for dramatic performances: “Russian People” by K. M. Simonov (1942, Leningrad Drama Theater named after A. Pushkin, Novosibirsk), “Othello” by W. Shakespeare (1944, ibid.), etc.

Instrumental works

Filmography

Georgy Sviridov is the author of music for films. In addition, the composer was part of the film crew of “The Golden Calf” for some time: he created three orchestral fragments (“Avtoprobeg”, “Ostap Bender” and “Panikovsky”), after which the collaboration of the composer and M. Schweitzer was interrupted for some reason, and the director turned to G. Firtich, who is listed in the credits as the author of the music. However, according to the research of candidate of art history A. Belonenko, the film also contains music by G. Sviridov: the theme of the motor rally belongs to him.

Participation in films

• 1960 - Inspirational Art (documentary)
• 1973 - Composer Sviridov (documentary)
• 1996 - Time of Sviridov (documentary)

Archive footage

• 2009 - Blue sea...white ship...Valeria Gavrilin (documentary)

Literary works

• Sviridov G. V. Music as fate / Comp., author's foreword. and comment. A. S. Belonenko. - M.: Young Guard, 2002. - 798 p. ISBN 5-235-02440-0
• Sviridov G. V. Music as destiny - M.: Young Guard, 2017.

Memory

Music schools

In 2002, the Association of Children's Art Schools and Children's Music Schools named after the composer was created. At the end of 2018, the Association included 13 schools.

In quotations

They ask me: what am I? I am Russian person! And that's the end of it. What more can be said? I'm not Russian. Because a Papuan can also be a Russian. And he can live perfectly well in Russia. To his health, let him live. But a Russian person is a Russian person. Russian blood flows in me. I don't think I'm better than others, more wonderful. But here I am as I am - a Russian person. And I'm proud of it. I urge you from the height of my age (and don’t be angry with me for saying this): we must be proud that we are Russian people!

There is such a somewhat painful passion - to compare famous people with something huge - with the Himalayas, with the Pacific Ocean, with the Barabinsk steppe. And even if these walking Himalayas are in fact no taller than a woodpile, and the entire steppe is a half-hour ride on gophers, the delusion of exaltation remains. I want to compare Sviridov with something very simple and amazing. Let me have it - not an ocean into which rivers with big names flow. Let it be a forest stream, fed by unknown underground springs. And if some tired traveler, a random passer-by comes across it, the stream will bring unexpected joy to the thirsty person and fill him with moisture that he will not drink in any other place... I don’t know if this has global significance...

Notes

1. Kursk The pride of the Kursk land. G. V. SVIRIDOV
2. Sviridov G.V. / Sokhor A.N. // Okunev - Simovich. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia: Soviet Composer, 1978. - (Encyclopedias. Dictionaries. Reference books: Musical Encyclopedia: [in 6 volumes] / chief ed. Yu. V. Keldysh; 1973-1982, vol. 4).
3. Georgy Sviridov (undefined) . 24SMI. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
4. Kurganovskaya O. Quiet Marina of Georgy Sviridov (undefined) . "Origins". Information and journalistic weekly (December 9, 2009). Retrieved December 26, 2016.
5. School - PVKURE 1972-1976, 10th battery
6. Official website of the city of Novosibirsk. History 1941-1945
7. Vainkop Yu. Ya., Gusin I. L. S // Brief biographical dictionary of composers / Ed. I. V. Golubovsky. - 2nd ed., add. - L.: Music, 1971. - P. 140. - 208 p.
8. Eskom Newspaper - VERA 10
9. Sviridov in the House of Blackheads
10. Church of the Holy Trinity in Khokhly
11. http://soundtimes.ru/muzykalnaya-shkatulka/velikie-kompozitory/georgij-sviridov
12. Alexey Vulfov. Sviridov snowstorm (undefined) . Gudok (December 28, 2015). Retrieved March 19, 2016.
13. Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated December 18, 1975 No. 2686-IX “On assigning the composer G.V. Sviridov. title of Hero of Socialist Labor"
14. Resolution of the USSR Council of Ministers of June 26, 1946 No. 1413 “On the award of Stalin Prizes for outstanding works in the field of art and literature for 1945”
15. Resolution of the CPSU Central Committee, Council of Ministers of the USSR dated November 5, 1968 No. 859 “On the award of USSR State Prizes in the field of literature, art and architecture in 1968”
16. Resolution of the CPSU Central Committee, Council of Ministers of the USSR dated October 31, 1980 No. 975 “On the award of 1980 USSR State Prizes in the field of literature, art and architecture”
17. Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of May 29, 1995 No. 537 “On awarding State Prizes of the Russian Federation in the field of literature and art of 1994”
18. Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of December 15, 1997 No. 1281 “On awarding the 1997 Presidential Prizes of the Russian Federation in the field of literature and art”
19. Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of December 10, 1995 No. 1243 “On awarding the Order of Merit to the Fatherland, II degree, to G. V. Sviridova.
20. On September 5, the ceremony of presenting Moscow city awards in the field of literature and art took place.
21. Resolution of the Moscow City Duma of September 3, 1997 No. 57 "On conferring the title "Honorary Citizen of the City of Moscow"
22. List of main works by G. V. Sviridov | Music Encyclopedia(Russian) (undefined). Retrieved December 9, 2018.
23. Georgy Vasilievich Sviridov | Classic-music.ru (undefined) . www.classic-music.ru. Retrieved December 9, 2018.

From the very beginning of his career, Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov paid attention to vocal and choral music. Romances to the poems of Pushkin by Lermontov Blok, song cycles to the words of Beranger, Burns, Isaakyan Prokofiev were included in the golden fund of Soviet vocal literature. Sviridov is original as a vocal and choral composer. Sviridov's vocal and choral creativity is unique in its breadth of coverage of various poetic styles. The composer turned to the poetry of Shakespeare and Burns, Pushkin and Lermontov, Nekrasov and Isaakyan, Mayakovsky and Pasternak, Prokofiev, Orlov, Tvardovsky and others. But Sviridov’s favorites were always two truly Russian poets, in whom he found eternal themes that are in tune with today - A. Blok and S. Yesenin.

Sviridov had a rich melodic gift. The melody is chanting, Russian, soulful - the “holy of holies” of Sviridov’s creativity. Definitions of Sviridov’s style are characteristic: “Sviridov’s work is a song in the literal (interest in vocal genres, attention to the word) and figurative (tireless glorification of the Motherland) sense of the word,” and “songness” in the broad sense of the word, as a principle that determines the specifics of thematicism. ... becomes one of the main qualities that reveals the national in his work.”

Sviridov’s mastery of choral writing was especially evident in his “Five unaccompanied choirs to the words of Russian poets,” which were created in 1959 between two choral canvases: “Poem in Memory of S. Yesenin” and “Pathetic Oratorio.” This work reveals important stylistic features of the composer. They are in many ways indicative of the development of one of the directions of modern choral writing. The best study of the work of E. Sviridov is rightfully considered the monograph by A. Sokhor, the materials of which are used by us when analyzing choral works.

“Five Unaccompanied Choirs” (1959) was written to poems by various poets, united by the main theme of Sviridov’s work - the theme of the Motherland, a collective image of the Russian land, its nature and people, beautiful in their sincerity and spiritual purity. It is no coincidence that Sviridov’s music is perceived as the “quintessence” of everything Russian: nature, landscape, the human soul, songfulness, poetry, religion. Deep penetration into the soul of the people, comprehension of the nature of Russian melodic music - in peasant and city songs, in Znamenny chants - evokes analogies with the music of Rachmaninov. The composer knows how to combine in his work socially significant themes and lyrics, images of his native nature and heroic pages of the history of the revolution and civil war. But the main - patriotic - theme, the theme of love for the Motherland, receives a lyrical and philosophical embodiment in him. The chorus “On Lost Youth” (based on a prose excerpt from the second volume of “Dead Souls” by N.V. Gogol) - memories of past childhood and youth, serves as an introduction to the collection. The second and fifth choirs of the collection are written to poems by S. Yesenin, the composer’s favorite poet. The third and fourth, telling about the meeting of a son with his father, and about “the birth of a poetic song, are written on poems by poets of the Soviet period - A. Prokofiev and S. Orlov.

In the chorus “About Lost Youth” the narration is told from the perspective of the soloist (author). Emphasizing the importance of semantic details, the solo part is contrasted with the choir singing without words. The melody of the choir is determined by the intonation and rhythm of the text. The music contains elegiac sadness, characteristic of everyday romances (part 1), and the bitterness of loss (section 2). Hence the homophonic texture (solo and accompanying parts). The two-part stanzaic form is highlighted both by the tonal plan and by the variability of functions in cadences. The melodic phrases of the cadences of this choir go into the main material of the next second choir “In the Blue Evening”, being its starting point and connecting both choirs with thematic unity, as indicated by A. N. Sokhor. The intonation-thematic connection of these choirs appears in the similarity of themes and plots of their compositional basis. However, this similarity is used by the composer as a prerequisite for the contrast of their opposition.

In the second chorus, “In the Blue Evening,” the narrative is told on behalf of the author, but is presented by the choir. The picturesqueness of the musical picture is brought to the fore, which, according to the description of A. N. Sokhor: “everything is intoxicatingly beautiful and colored with dreaminess.” “What inner beauty, severity and restraint in the expression of feelings this truthful music is filled with! Only at times the major elegance of the general coloring is drowned out piercing notes of deep sorrow and disappointment. An indelible impression is left by the transition from the short “requiem” (male quartet with violas) to the “endless” major cadence, as if reviving the old dreams of youth in a tired heart. In this choir, Sviridov, it seems, was not inferior to Yesenin: poet sounds equaled the poet of words,” writes O. Kolovsky.

“A son met his father” is a heroic song about a dramatic episode of the civil war, full of emotional intensity. It is close to the theme from the “Poem in Memory of Yesenin” (“The Red Army’s bayonets and belts are shining, here father and son can meet”). A fragment of S. Yesenin’s ditty (from “Song of the Great March”) unfolds in the choir (to the text by A. Prokofiev) into a stage. The lyrical concept of the choir reproduces the spirit of an epic tale and legend. The action does not reveal dramatic events; it is implied in the subtext. The chorus is written in free form, consisting of five episodes. The energetic chorus of the male choir with melodic ups and downs in a dotted rhythm is reminiscent of the brave songs of the Don Cossacks. In varied variability, not only the intonation-rhythmic and textural basis of the music changes, it is transformed into the genre of the chorus. The variation of the chorus serves as a means of dramatic expressiveness. The first part is divided into two halves thanks to the choral instrumentation, in which the male and female choir groups alternate. The second episode, performed by a women's choir (“At the waste path”), sounds softly like a lyrical girl's song. Next, the choral groups unite, presenting a one-part strophic form. The dramatic contrast and climax are the 3rd and 4th episodes (“The wind walked with an unsteady gait” and “The peacock spread her tail ...”). The mixed choir sounds compact, powerful, the tessitura rises, the tempo accelerates, deviations into parallel minor and everything breaks off. After a long pause, the last section begins with a majestic, bright melody - a hymn to the future, affirming the victory of life over death. In this choir, everything is built on contrasting comparisons: first the male choir sings, then the female choir. In the first tutti the harmonic texture is three-part (there is also a unison episode). In the last episode there is a “colorful and timbral modulation from the bright tones of a genre picture to the half-tone tints of a peaceful feeling.” The choral texture enhances the harmonic richness with complexes (partially duplicating the melody of the choir singing without words).

“How the song was born” - soulful lyrics. Behind the apparent external melodic and rhythmic monotony (verse-variation form) there is a wealth of feelings, the beauty of the Russian soul, poetry. “Here, a feature of Sviridov’s style was especially masterfully demonstrated - subvocality in all its manifestations: everything starts with a modest, one-voice chorus, then one of the voices “gets stuck” in the form of a pedal, the other begins to echo. The main three-voice structure of the work arises, which later becomes more complex vertically and horizontally; from the second grows a massive chord, from the pedal - graceful contrapuntal lines. All this as a whole forms an unusually melodic, natural-sounding choral texture, just like in a folk song. This choir can be placed alongside such examples of subvocal Russian style as the choir Borodin's villagers, Mussorgsky's opera choirs, some choirs from Shostakovich's “Ten Poems for Chorus.” Here Sviridov not only proceeds from the general style of folk song, but also implements in his work individual intonation and structural patterns of folk song art, enriching them with the means of professional composition technology."

“Tabun” is a song about Russia. In the wide heroic chorus of male voices there is a panorama of native spaces. Love for Russia, admiration for its nature, an unusually poetic picture of a sunset, a herd of horses at night, the sounds of a shepherd's horn - fill the sound of the choir with a special reverence. Fine moments of sound recording give way to philosophical reflections. The choral texture is rich in choral presentation techniques (from unison to tutti, choral bass-octavist pedal, closed-mouth singing), colorful (modulations, textural variability) and emotional. The semantic conclusion is a proud hymn-like melody with the words: “Loving your day and night darkness. For you, O Motherland, I composed that song!” The score of this choir is rich in contrasts: frequent changes of rhythms, textures, vocal and choral colors: after two episodes with a transparent texture, for example, the heavy seven-part voice sounds very impressive against the background of the choral pedal - like a “horizon”, which in turn is replaced by ringing and melodious chords final section.

In the compositional aspect, the poetic unity of “Five Choirs” is similar to the structure of one of the composer’s “Yesenin” cycles, “My Father is a Peasant.” Thanks to the frame “from the author”, all choirs acquire a lyrical tone.

These a cappella choirs reflected all the main stylistic features of Sviridov; songfulness (in the choir melody and voice leading), modal diatonicity and subvocality with its textural and harmonic variability of functions; plagalism (the predominance of tertian relationships with major-minor vibrations typical of Russian music) , features of formation (the role of verse-variation and strophic forms), diversity of choral compositions, timbral richness. Choral orchestration - from melody to harmony, the use of divisi in all parts, especially in male voices, which Sviridov appreciates for their strength, density, fundamentality (three bass parts and one tenor). Sviridov uses all types of choral writing, paying special attention to contrasting comparisons of registers, textures and performing compositions (“Herd”, “A son met his father”). The colorfulness of Sviridov’s choral paintings is achieved by a variety of timbre-register combinations, enormous importance of texture and harmonic

Features of choral writing:

1. The dominant position is occupied by the sphere of vocal genres, the composer’s world is the human voice;

2. Attraction to folk music, its intonations, modes, its inner spirit and content;

3. The basis of choirs is a melodic layer based on accompaniment (instrument or other voices);

4. Characteristic diatonic melodies, brightness;

5. Tonal harmony, motionless for a long time, an elusive touch - the overlay of a chord;

6. Tonal restraint. Most choirs have one, unchangeable key (even in adjacent parts of cycles);

7. Rhythm – characterized by simplicity, but it can also be exquisitely whimsical (as in the chorus “By the Green Shore” from the cantata “Night Clouds”);

8. Types of choral texture:

1) Expressiveness of Sviridov’s accompaniments. In choral works there is always a stratification of the musical fabric into two layers - the main and auxiliary (accompaniment). So, sustained sounds are placed under the melody, in a “different” timbre (or another group of a mixed choir, solo, or different methods of sound production - closed mouth, vowel sound, etc.).

2) chord, choral type (“In the blue evening”, “You sing me that song”). Polyphonic texture cannot be found in the classical form, since the mixing and interweaving of lines, in the composer’s opinion, interferes with the expression of poetic thought. And Sviridov appreciated the utmost clarity of words.

9. The most important principle is the connection between words and music. He never subordinates the word to music, does not illustrate the text, he reads the main idea, the main mood of the verse, and his music strengthens the word - it is a form of expression of the verse and thought (“About Lost Youth”);

10. Uses the poetry of Pushkin, Yesenin, Lermontov, Blok, Mayakovsky, Prokofiev.

Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov is one of the most unique artists. The powerful revolutionary impulse, the harsh heroism of the revolutionary years were sharply imprinted in the consciousness of the future composer, and later reflected in his works. The originality of Sviridov's creative appearance is expressed first of all in the strongly national, deeply Russian make-up of his nature, in the Russian character of his talent, which grew from a truly folk, peasant rhizome.
The theme of the Motherland is of particular importance in the composer’s work. It sounds in lyrical-epic works, and in works dedicated to pictures of folk life and landscapes of the native land, and in heroic images of the revolution.
Sviridov’s work is closely connected with poetry, both classical and modern. These are Pushkin and Lermontov, the Decembrist poets, Burns and Shakespeare, Blok and Yesenin, Mayakovsky and Isaakyan, Soviet poets - Tvardovsky, Prokofiev, Isakovsky, as well as poetry of the folklore tradition - Russian, Bulgarian, Vietnamese. The composer understands poetry deeply and subtly. He knows how to notice the peculiarities of each poetic individuality, penetrate its originality, get used to it, and then faithfully and vividly embody the images and moods of the poetic text in music.
It is Sviridov who has the honor of “discovering” the poetry of Mayakovsky, as well as Yesenin, for music, although he was not the first among composers to turn to their poems. It’s true, he also read Burns’s poetry a lot. He “discovered” and embodied in music some facets of Pushkin’s poetry that had not been revealed before.
The scope of Sviridov’s genre interests is quite wide. But the artistic significance of his music is not the same in different genres. Sviridov’s talent most fully and vividly manifested itself in the field of vocal music (and this also reflected the peculiarity of his Russian talent!), first in chamber music - romance, song, monologue, and later, at the turn of the 40-50s and beyond - also and in vocal-symphonic genres - oratorio, cantata and other works of choral music.
One of the most characteristic features of Sviridov’s work is its democratic orientation, a conscious desire to speak through music with a wide range of listeners. This trait was noticeable already in the author’s early works, was characteristic of him throughout his entire creative career, and over time it manifests itself more and more clearly and strongly. The composer once formulated his artistic credo as follows: “I want my music to be simple and accessible, but to talk about complex and serious things.” And this is a deep conviction that determines Sviridov’s attitude to the fundamental problems of artistic creativity.
Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov was born on December 3, 1915 in the quiet provincial town of Fatezh, Kursk province. He was closely associated with him in the subsequent years of his adolescence and youth, invariably spending his vacation time in Fatezh. Surrounded by settlements and villages, this town differed little from them in character and way of life. From childhood, the future composer was nourished by the healthy and strong juices of folk peasant life - simple but strict customs, the free expanses of Central Russian nature, the amazing originality and beauty of folk songs, tunes, round dances and dances, the originality of human characters.
The atmosphere of these years - the period of the October Revolution and the Civil War - was harsh and heroic. In 1924, after the death of their communist father, killed by Denikin, the Sviridov family moved to Kursk. It was here that the boy’s interest and attraction to music arose. In Kursk, at the Trade Employees Club, an orchestra of Russian folk instruments is being organized from music lovers. Sviridov began to learn to play the balalaika on his own and soon became a member of the orchestra. I enthusiastically learned new works and even tried to compose something. This was the birth of a musician, the first steps on the path of his formation.
And then, in 1929, the Kursk music school. Despite the lack of preparation, 14-year-old Sviridov was accepted into school and assigned to V. Ufimtseva’s piano class. She and her husband, a famous inventor in the field of aviation and energy, a revolutionary with experience in underground work, a man who knew literature well and was closely acquainted with M. Gorky, played a big role in the overall development of Sviridov.
A year after graduating from secondary school (1932), Sviridov decides to continue his musical education and goes to Leningrad. Here he entered the Central Music College (now the Music College named after M. P. Mussorgsky) in the piano class of prof. I. Braudo.
He was not yet seventeen years old. But life in Leningrad turned out to be harsh and difficult. Meager earnings from playing the piano in cinemas and restaurants. Dormitory. Malnutrition. Frequent illnesses...
In Leningrad, Sviridov learns about the existence of a composition class at the technical school. And since composing music had been his cherished dream since childhood, at the end of the first year of study Sviridov, having written two pieces for piano, applied for admission to the theoretical and composition department and was enrolled in the class of Prof. M. Yudin.
Sviridov studied with enthusiasm, and also showed remarkable diligence. During three years of composing studies, he composed many works in various instrumental and vocal genres. They were performed at student concerts at the technical school. Others received wider fame: they were heard on the radio and in open concerts of the Small Hall of the Conservatory. Such was the fate of the Quartet for violin and piano, the Sonata for piano.
Among the works of those years, he took a very special place , created at the end of 1935. This was not just great luck for a final year student at a technical school. Pushkin's romances were the beginning of the author's creative independence. For the first time, the peculiarities of Sviridov’s composer’s individuality were clearly revealed in them, with great certainty.
Six romances based on Pushkin's poems became part of the repertoire even at the time of their birth, and their author, 20-year-old Sviridov, gained fame.
These romances quickly gained popularity and attracted the attention of singers. They began to be performed often, especially in 1937, when our country celebrated the 100th anniversary of the death of Pushkin.
The talent of the young composer was noticed and appreciated. In 1936, Sviridov was accepted as a member of the Union of Soviet Composers. Then he entered the Leningrad Conservatory in the composition class of P. Ryazanov, and after the latter left Leningrad - D. Shostakovich.
During these years, Sviridov became acquainted with modern music, both foreign and Russian, the knowledge of which he then had very limited. Now Sviridov’s musical horizons are expanding day by day, his compositional technique is being improved, and his skill is growing.
Among the instrumental works, Sviridov composed during these years the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, the Piano and Violin Sonatas, the First Symphony (though he destroyed it as a failure), the Symphony for String Orchestra, and piano pieces. Stylistically, these works were very different. The Piano Concerto, performed in 1937 by P. Serebryakov, was warmly received by the public, but critics assessed it differently. Some reviews were sharply critical, others, noting the author's lack of experience and technique, spoke with sympathy of his undoubted and brilliant talent. Created shortly after Pushkin's romances, the concert is stylistically close to them.
During his student years, Sviridov first turned to film and theater genres: he composed the operetta “The Real Groom” and the music for the film “Virgin Soil Upturned” (directed by Yu. Raizman). Work in the field of choral compositions was also new for him. He writes a cantata in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Komsomol, “Cossack Songs” and music for the composition “Ten Days at Kastornaya” for the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Leningrad Military District, composes a number of choral songs, and makes choral arrangements of folk melodies. Sviridov's choral music of those years is closely connected with the traditions of Russian peasant songwriting.
Turning to new genres is an important feature of the young author’s creative biography. But still, he creates the most interesting, bright and original in chamber vocal work. He is attracted by the poetry of M. Lermontov, A. Blok, P. Beranger, A. Prokofv. In the vocal works of the author of these years, one can also see a persistent search for new ways and other means of expression. There are interesting finds, bright, perfect romances. Thus, among the works based on Lermontov’s poems, “The Neighbor” is an undoubted success; the romance “They loved each other” is original and complete in its sternly focused mood. In general, this opus is inferior to the first, Pushkin’s; it is less even and not so distinctive. “Sviridov’s” is not expressed so clearly in him.
A new stage in Sviridov’s vocal creativity became . First of all, this is due to the author’s appeal to Soviet poetry. In those years, the poems of our poets were just beginning to enter Soviet music: romances by N. Myaskovsky were created to the poems of S. Shchipachev, M. Koval to the poems of L. Oshanin, I. Belorusets to the early poems of V. Mayakovsky.
In June 1941, Sviridov graduated from the conservatory. And a few days later the thunder of the Great Patriotic War thundered over the country. Since the beginning of 1942, after demobilization, Sviridov has lived and worked in Novosibirsk, where some Leningrad theaters and the Philharmonic were evacuated.
In difficult wartime circumstances, the young composer continued to compose intensively. He wrote a number of popular songs for the Leningrad Academic Drama Theater named after A. Pushkin, composed music for the play “Russian People” by K. Simonov, for “The Kremlin Chimes” by N. Pogodin, and for “Othello” by W. Shakespeare. He created the operetta “The Sea Spreads Wide” - the first musical comedy of heroic content. (This play was created in besieged Leningrad by three playwrights - V. Azarov, Vs. Vishnevsky and A. Kron - and told about the heroic struggle of the Baltic sailors in the Patriotic War.)
The composer also worked extensively in the instrumental genres of chamber music. She was then the main sphere of his lyrical statements. These are the Piano Sonata (1944), dedicated to the memory of the famous musician-scientist, critic I. Sollertinsky, the composer’s elder friend and mentor; Piano Quintet in B minor (1944-1945) and a number of other works. The general character of this music is harsh, sharply dramatic. It reveals the clash of high humane human impulses with hostile forces.
Of the works of this time, the Piano Trio in A minor (1945) especially stands out, for which in 1946 Sviridov was awarded the State Prize of the first degree.
During the war years, work continued on chamber vocal music. This is “Songs of the Wanderer”, “Suite” based on the words of Shakespeare. “Songs of the Wanderer” (1943) are written to the words of Chinese poets of ancient tradition and tell the story of the fate of an exiled poet, languishing with homesickness, bitter loneliness, seething with anger, but creating with inspiration. The work begins with the song “Sailing” and ends with “Return to the Homeland.”
“Suite” to the words of Shakespeare consists of vocal fragments created by the composer earlier for the performances “Othello”, “Hamlet” and “Twelfth Night” (translations by B. Pasternak and M. Lozinsky)
Even before the end of the war, in 1944, Sviridov returned to Leningrad. The composer's work in the first post-war years (1945-1949) is close to the works of the period of the Patriotic War. Interest in chamber instrumental music now continues in the creation of two string quartets (1945-1946 1947). Two notebooks of piano partitas appear (1946), containing twelve pieces with genre titles. The first piano work in the children's repertoire appears: “Four Easy Pieces for Piano” (1948). Later they were replenished with others and in 1957 the “Album of Plays for Children” was published, already containing seventeen numbers. In 1949, the composer worked on a symphony. Two parts of it were performed at the Plenum of the Union of Soviet Composers and were received very favorably. But this work remained unfinished.
As during the war, Sviridov collaborates with drama theaters (music for Dumanois and Dennery’s play “Don Cézanne de Bazan” and for “The Winners” by B. Chirskov). At the same time, new works appear in the field of chamber vocal genres - three songs to the words of Soviet poets (A. Prokofiev, M. Isakovsky) and the first works to the poems of the Armenian poet A. Issakyan “Discovery” of this poet for himself by Sviridov, a fascination with the richness of his poems was not fleeting. Based on the poetry of A. Isahakyan, one of the composer’s remarkable vocal works soon appears - .
marks the beginning of a new period in Sviridov’s work - a period of maturity. Sviridov's creativity in the 50s and 60s is exceptionally rich and vibrant. Each new work of the composer is an event not only in his creative biography, but also in Soviet musical life.
Sviridov's genre interests of the 50-60s changed significantly in some ways. Compositions of instrumental music are almost disappearing. In this area, only work is being done on improving the works of previous years, on new editions of the Piano Trio, Quintet, Partitas.
In the early 50s, another operetta was created - “Beyond the Narva Gate” based on a libretto by L. Trauberg and S. Polotsky (1951), which introduced a completely different theme for this genre of the revolutionary struggle of St. Petersburg workers. The operetta (the second title is “Sparks”) was first staged in Kyiv, then in Leningrad, Sverdlovsk and other cities, everywhere with great success. In the same years, music was composed for dramatic performances of Leningrad theaters: for the play by V. Hugo “Ruy Blas” at the Bolshoi Drama Theater named after M. Gorky (1952) and the play by D. Khrabrovitsky “Citizen of France” at the Leningrad Academic Drama Theater named after A. Pushkin . Subsequently, interest in this type of writing apparently fades away, and new works no longer appear. The composer’s connections with cinema turn out to be stronger and more thorough. He wrote music for the films “Przhevalsky” (directed by S. Yutkevich, 1951), “Rimsky-Korsakov” (directed by G. Roshal, 1952), “The Great Warrior of Albania Skanderbeg” (directed by S. Yutkevich, 1953), “ Field-Polyushko" (directed by V. Stroeva, 1956), "Resurrection" (directed by M. Schweitzer, 1960-1962).
Sviridov now devotes his main attention and creative energy to the genres of vocal music: chamber, choral, and vocal-symphonic music, which especially attracted him during these years. Creativity in these areas is rich in discoveries of “new lands” and the creation of wonderful original works. It is closely connected with poetry, mainly Russian (with the exception of R. Berne).
Chamber vocal and vocal-symphonic works of Sviridov of the 50-60s were created, with some exceptions, in cyclic forms, usually united by texts of one poet and permeated with one thought. At the same time, the author always strives for the integrity of the entire composition and the organicity of its musical development. This is the vocal poem to poems by A. Isahakyan, , vocal cycle “My father is a peasant” to the words of S. Yesenin, “Petersburg songs” to the words of A. Blok. And in the field of vocal and symphonic music - the oratorio “Decembrists” to the poems of A. Pushkin and the Decembrist poets, poem , to the words of V. Mayakovsky, based on folk texts, cantata “It’s snowing” based on poems by B. Pasternak.
One interesting feature of Sviridov’s creative process. In most cases, even before creating major works based on the poems of this or that poet, the composer, as it were, makes exploration into a new poetic area. preceded by romances based on poems by A. Isahakyan, - song “Brothers are people!” to the words of the poet; - an interesting vocal experience - “The story about bagels and about a woman who does not recognize the republic” to the words of V. Mayakovsky, the world of A. Blok’s poetry was “explored” during the years of studying at the conservatory.
The poetry of one of the most talented poets, a classic of Armenian literature A. Isahakyan, entered Sviridov’s life in 1949.
The main theme of A. Isahakyan’s work, along with the lyrics, is the historical theme, the theme of the difficult fate of Armenia. The poet's lyrical poems have long been akin to music. Sviridov also initially turned to them - the romances “Suffering of Love” and “Black Gaze”. The third work of 1949 - “Exile” - testifies to the composer’s interest in another theme of Isahakyan’s poetry, which has not yet been implemented by composers. This is a thought about the Motherland of a person separated from it, whose imagination pictures an evening in his native home, the image of a mother rocking the cradle of a child and whispering a prayer: “...May God help you, my poor exile, my son.” The style of the sad and stern monologue song is extremely simple and at the same time original. From it there is a direct path to based on poems by A. Isaakyan in translations by A. Blok and Soviet poets.
- one of the outstanding works of Soviet music.
Sviridov’s next composition in the genre of chamber vocal music is , composed in 1955. (The creation of this work was preceded by a short period when the author’s attention was first absorbed by theatrical music - operetta, music for dramatic performances and films, and then by the oratorio “The Decembrists.”)
Sviridov’s interest in the great Scot arose much earlier. His first Burns song, “In the Fields in the Snow and Rain,” was created during the war years (1944). Now, in the mid-50s, in connection with the publication of excellent translations by S. Marshak, this interest is intensifying. And not only Sviridov. In those same years, other composers - V. Volkov, Yu. Levitin, B. Klyuzner, A. Prigozhy, V. Shebalin - also turned to the poetry of R. Burns.
Sviridov’s songs were born immediately after his acquaintance with a volume of poems by R. Burns in translations by S. Marshak.
Following Burns, in the same 1955, S. Yesenin entered the world of the composer’s work. The poet's poems firmly riveted Sviridov to himself. For two years he works only on his texts. The Yesenin “layer” of Sviridov’s music is an exceptional phenomenon: this is where the true birth of musical Yesenin takes place.
Within two years there is for tenor, choir and symphony orchestra, two romances and a song cycle .
These works are a new reading of Yesenin’s poems. At one time, during the poet’s life, and even in the first years after his death, Yesenin’s work usually emphasized love lyrics, poetry of rural life and Central Russian landscapes, and the poet’s burning longing for the old village that was fading into the past. This is how Yesenin’s poetry remained in the memory of the generation of the 20s, and partly the 30s, in subsequent years, almost completely oblivion. The composer in his reading emphasizes another theme, which the poet himself spoke about more than once. This is the theme of high citizenship, the theme of the Motherland and the native Russian people, the poet’s deep and passionate love for them.
This idea is the main one in , completed in 1956, and in the song cycle created at the same time for two soloists - tenor and baritone - with piano.
The composer does not part with Yesenin in the future. Soon the drinking song “They Live Only Once on Earth” (), choirs a sarella - “In the Blue Evening”, “Hed” () and then another vocal opus - “Wooden Rus'” (1963) appears.
While working on music based on Yesenin's texts (), Sviridov left Leningrad and moved to Moscow. Here he is actively involved in social and musical activities. At the Second All-Union Congress of Composers in 1957, he was elected to the Board of the USSR Investigative Committee. Then he becomes deputy chairman of the Organizing Committee of the RSFSR IC, secretary of the Board of the USSR IC (1962), and in 1968 he is elected first secretary of the Board of the Union of Composers of the RSFSR. Sviridov is a member of the editorial board of the magazine “Soviet Music” and performs a number of other public duties.
In Sviridov’s creative life, the mid-50s were marked by close attention and active interest, along with chamber and vocal music, in large forms, in monumental genres of vocal-symphonic music. Work in the field of vocal lyrics also continues. In the second half of the 50s, the composer returned to some chamber vocal works created earlier. He makes a new edition of romances with words by M. Lermontov, revises and supplements songs with words by A. Prokofiev and M. Isakovsky for re-release, and prepares an edition of the vocal suite “From Shakespeare”. In 1958-1960, a number of new works were composed for voice and piano based on poems by Soviet poets: “The Forest Side” to the words of B. Kornilov, “Fishermen on Ladoga” by A. Prokofiev, “In Autumn” by M. Isakovsky, “Smolensk Horn”, “ Pochinok Station" by A. Tvardovsky. And in 1962, a new cycle “Petersburg Songs” appeared on the poems of A. Blok for three soloists - baritone, bass, mezzo-soprano and piano.
The first work of large form is the oratorio “Decembrists”. It was composed in 1954-1955, when the composer’s unique talent was so fully and clearly revealed in the field of chamber vocal music - after and simultaneously with .
The oratorio was created based on poems by the Decembrist poets A. Odoevsky, F. Glinka, V. Kuchelbecker, K. Ryleev, A. and M. Bestuzhev. And the final part is based on the poems of A. Pushkin “To Chaadaev”. This is a work about Russia, about the fate of its people, about its first revolutionaries who encroached on the monarchy, about their tragedy, about hopes for future renewal. “...Russia will awaken from its sleep, and our names will be written on the ruins of autocracy.” The oratorio “Decembrists”, or “Songs of the Freemen”, was not performed. The composer did not complete this work at that time, although the oratorio was almost finished in the clavier. The experience of her composition was of great importance for Sviridov’s further creativity in the vocal and symphonic genres.
In the same 1955, work on the . A year later, five works were created for mixed choir a sarrella. In all these works the theme of the Motherland, filial love for the Russian land sounds loudly.
In 1959, a creation that amazed with the extraordinary design, scale, and originality of musical and expressive means appeared. the composer makes a new and very valuable contribution to Soviet music. This work is very characteristic of its time with its new interest in folk art. (After Sviridov in Soviet music, other works of this kind appear in various genres: “Russian Notebook” by V. Gavrilin for voice and piano, “Songs of the Freemen”, Piano Sonata and opera “Virineya” by S. Slonimsky, in which folk music is used in different and new ways - song riches.)
In the 1960s, the composer worked primarily in the cantata genre. Similar to Yesenin’s “little poems”, the composer came up with the idea of ​​“small cantatas” - “Wooden Rus'” and “Bright Guest” to the words of S. Yesenin, “Sad Songs”, in the 1970s - “The Bark of Life” and “The Unspeakable Light” ( known in another edition under the title “Night Clouds”, all based on the words of A. Blok). Among the completed cantatas of the 1960s - 1970s. – and “Spring Cantata” to the words of N. Nekrasov.
In 1967, a small cantata based on the words of B. Pasternak “It’s snowing” was created for a women’s choir, a boys’ ensemble and a symphony ensemble in three parts.
In the 1960s the composer writes music for the films “Blizzard” based on the story by A. S. Pushkin and the novel by V. Kataev, which have received truly national recognition.
At the end of the 1950s, the composer first tried himself in the genre of unaccompanied choral music (Five choirs to the words of Russian poets, 1958). The composer worked especially intensively in this genre in the 1970s – 1990s. At this time, several dozen individual choral miniatures, choral cycles, poems and concerts for choir appeared.
The late period of the composer’s work includes poems for voice and piano “Disciplinary Rus'” to the words of S. Yesenin (1977) and “Petersburg” to the words of A. Blok (1995), plans for the cycle for bass and orchestra “From Pushkin” and the cantata “Golden "dream" to the words of N. Rubtsov, concert for choir and other op.
In the last years of his life, the composer worked on the composition “From Liturgical Poetry,” which was supposed to include, along with unaccompanied choirs, parts written for soloists, choir and orchestra. Part of this work - “Songs and Prayers” for mixed, male, female and children's choirs - was actually completed by the composer and published after his death. This work received high public praise and was awarded the State Prize of Russia in 1996. “Representing a collection of the composer’s choral cycles,” said Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II in his Primate Address, “it reflects a special and most significant facet of the inner world this great national master – his deep spiritual life, inextricably linked with the Russian Orthodox tradition.” Illness and death (on the night of January 5-6, 1998) overtook the composer while preparing to print the manuscript of this last work, which became a kind of “Requiem” by Sviridov. The civil memorial service and funeral of Georgy Sviridov took place on January 9 in Moscow. After the funeral service, a funeral took place in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The great composer is buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.
Throughout his long career, the composer was repeatedly awarded high public and state awards and prizes. Georgy Sviridov - People's Artist of the RSFSR (1963), People's Artist of the USSR (1970), Hero of Socialist Labor (1975), laureate of the Lenin Prize (1960), laureate of state prizes of the USSR (1946, 1968, 1980) and the Russian Federation (1996). Awarded the Order of Lenin (1967, 1971, 1975, 1985) and “For Services to the Fatherland” 2nd degree (1995). In 1962-1974. - Secretary of the Union of Composers of the USSR, from 1968 to 1973 - First Secretary of the Union of Composers of the RSFSR. G.V. Sviridov was repeatedly elected as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (from 1968 to 1973). Honorary citizen of Kursk (1982). Honorary citizen of the mountains. Moscow (1997).