=César Antonovitch Cui= (Vilna, Russia, 1835) has been the literary
champion of the new school. Son of a French soldier, Cui studied
engineering, and became professor of fortification. In his writings we
may see that the new Russians seem unwilling to admit the greatness of
Wagner, but they have none the less adopted nearly all his dramatic
theories. Like him, they revolted against the inanities of the old
Italian opera, which was merely a singing-concert. They admitted that
after Beethoven and Schumann, the symphony could say little of new
import, but reform was needed in opera; the plot should be worthy, and
the music not only good in itself, but appropriate to the sentiment.
Yet Russian opera has not followed Wagner, but has proceeded along
its own lines; and Cui even writes: “I would like to preserve my
compatriots from the dangerous influence of Wagner’s decadence. Whoever
loves his music, ceases to appreciate real music; whoever admires
his operas, holds Glinka as a writer of vaudevilles. The desire to
find something deep where nothing exists can have only dangerous
consequences.” These strictures are not unlike certain early German
criticisms of Wagner, now happily forgotten. Cui’s own operas include
“The Prisoner of the Caucasus,” “William Ratcliff,” “Angelo,” “Le
Filibustier,” and “The Saracen,” but none has won any real success. His
music is good, but even his own countrymen admit that it lacks novelty
or individuality. “Angelo” is the composer’s favorite. He, too, has
done much in the smaller forms.
=Moussorgsky=.—The strangest figure in the group of five was, by
all odds, =Modest Petrovitch Moussorgsky= (Karevo, Russia, 1839—St.
Petersburg, 1881). Like Cui, he received a military training, and
became an officer, but his restiveness soon caused his resignation, and
two later attempts at Government work were again failures. His fondness
for drink, and his many excesses, soon marked him as a Bohemian whose
dominating passions and savage independence could brook no restraint.
The same qualities are shown in his music. He was a poet by nature,
expressing in great thoughts the passion and misery of humanity, but
never taking the trouble to master the technic of his art. Thus his
two operas, “Boris Godunoff” and “Chovanstchina,” did not meet with
favor until smoothed and polished by his more learned friends. The same
is true of his “Night on Calvary” and “Intermezzo” for orchestra. His
“Defeat of Sennacherib” is one of many “Hebraic Choruses,” while the
“Tableaux d’une Exposition” are among the best of his piano pieces.
His songs include settings of Goethe and Heine, as well as the Russian
poets.
=Alexander Porphyrievitch Borodin= (St. Petersburg, Russia, 1834-1887)
could claim kinship with the old princes of Imeretia, the former
Caucasian kingdom whose rulers boasted of their descent from King
David. He studied medicine and surgery, and wrote several important
works on chemistry. He was active in the cause of higher education for
women, and founded a medical school for them. In music he owed his
development chiefly to Balakireff, though he composed at an early age,
almost by instinct. The success of his first symphony encouraged him
to write two others, as well as an orchestral scherzo. His two string
quartets are full of originality, and his choral and piano music shows
the same quality. He is best known in America by the “Steppenskizze,” a
tone-picture of the vast Russian plains traversed by Oriental caravans.
His greatest work, however, is the opera “Prince Igor,” on an old
Russian war-legend treated by Pushkin. Borodin is a master of sombre
effects, and his dissonances are at times almost too striking; but
there is real musical worth, also, in his compositions.
=Rimsky-Korsakoff=.—The best of the renowned group of five is decidedly
=Nicolai Andreievitch Rimsky-Korsakoff= (Tikhvin, Russia, 1844). He,
too, adopted a vocation other than music, graduating from a Government
school and afterwards attaining the rank of admiral. His chief
musical work has been in opera, and his dozen productions in this
form are nearly all widely popular in his native land. “The Czar’s
Betrothed” is the best known, but the “May Night,” “The Snow Maiden,”
and “Sadko” are not far behind it in favor. “Mozart and Salieri” is
a one-act version of a poem by Pushkin, based on the suspicion that
Mozart was really poisoned by his Italian rival. In the orchestral
field, “Antar,” “Scheherezade,” and “Sadko” are three symphonic poems
that show remarkable mastery of expression. Other orchestral works
are an overture on popular melodies, another on church themes, a
“Serb Fantasie,” a “Spanish Caprice,” and a “Fairy Legend.” He has
written a noble and dignified concerto, dedicated to Liszt, and the
usual number of lesser works. He shows the greatest skill in handling
instrumental color, an art for which the Russians are noted. His
music is descriptive, dramatic. His inspiration never flags, and his
treatment of the thematic material is always interesting and skilful.
His music may perhaps be criticised as lacking unity, but its breadth
and originality are undoubted.
=Glazounoff=.—Among men of a later generation, =Alexander
Constantinovitch Glazounoff= (St. Petersburg, Russia, 1865) is the most
prominent, and the only one who may dispute with Rimsky-Korsakoff,
his former teacher, the position of greatest of the living Russian
composers. Son of a rich bookseller, he was able to devote all his
energies to music, and produced at eighteen a symphony that won
the congratulations of Liszt. Since then he has composed works as
beautiful as they are numerous. His early creations show a tendency to
fantastic and imaginative subjects. The haunting beauty of the forest,
the inspiring charm of spring, the compelling magic of the sea, the
gorgeousness of the Orient, the majesty of the historic Kremlin, all
find an echo in his great orchestral rhapsodies. His seven symphonies
are marvels of harmonic richness and melodic beauty. His “Triumphal
March” for the Chicago Exposition, and a “Coronation Cantata” for the
Czar, were both written to order. His early overtures are based on
sacred themes, but the “Carnival” and the “Ouverture Solennelle” are
again in the style of vivid coloring to which he has accustomed his
hearers. His eighty or more published compositions include ballades,
marches, suites, mazurkas, and other numbers for orchestra, to say
nothing of chamber works, songs, cantatas, and two piano sonatas.
For a time, he renounced his early style, and wrote serious works in
classical German vein, but he returned to it with a number of ballets,
or pantomimes with real plot and full orchestral accompaniment.
=Anton Stepanovitch Arensky= (Nijni-Novgorod, Russia, 1861-1906) is
another of a younger generation, and like Glazounoff, did not limit
himself to the style of Russian Folk-music, but aims to be more
cosmopolitan. Educated at St. Petersburg, Arensky soon became known by
a symphony and a piano concerto, and was called to Moscow as professor
of counterpoint. In that city he increased his reputation by a grand
opera, “A Dream on the Volga.” “Raphael,” a one-act work, was followed
by the ballet, “A Night in Egypt,” but Arensky’s greatest opera is “Nal
and Damajanti,” on an East Indian subject. His other works include
a second symphony, a fantasie with piano, a violin concerto, and a
“Memorial March.” He displays real strength of feeling, and he shows
the influence of Schumann and Tchaikovsky, especially in his piano
music.
=Other Composers=.—=Taneieff=, one of those who held apart from the
national movement, has written a symphony, some string quartets, and
numerous choruses, but is best known by his “Oresteia,” an orchestral
trilogy based on the tragedies of Aeschylus. This is a work of dignity
and power, but at times lacking in inspiration. =Rachmaninoff=, a
pupil of Arensky, is one of the younger men who won fame as a pianist
and piano composer before attempting larger works. His more ambitious
compositions include two concertos, a symphony, a symphonic poem,
and the cantata “Spring,” also two operas “The Bohemians” and “The
Avaricious Knight.” Another piano composer is =Stcherbatcheff=, a
pupil of Liszt, who displays excessive boldness in his effects, though
his “Fairy Scenes” are charming in style, and his “Fantasies Etudes”
show the influence of Schumann. =Liadoff= is another composer of piano
works, such as the “Arabesques” and the “Birioulki.” =Scriabine= is
one of the more recent piano writers who has won his spurs in the
symphonic field also. =Pachulski=, too, has become known by his piano
compositions. =Wihtol= has done much valuable work in collecting the
Lett Folk-melodies. =Solovieff= has attempted opera, though not with
any remarkable success. =Ippolitoff-Ivanoff=, active in the musical
life of Moscow, has produced operas, suites, and the set of lyric
scenes, entitled “Asia.” =Michael Ivanoff= is another opera composer,
whose “Sabawa” has met with some favor. Among many others worthy of
mention, =Sokoloff= has written chamber-works, =Alpheraki= is noted for
his songs, =Antipoff= and =Blumenfeld= have produced excellent piano
music, while =Rebikoff=, known for the same reason, has won new laurels
with his so-called mimodrame, “Genius and Death.”
=Tchaikovsky=.—Although the new Russian school does not recognize Peter
Iljitsch Tchaikovsky as an exponent of national musical ideas and
although he represents a blending of Teutonic and Slavonic methods,
yet his music partakes of the latter, rather than of the former
temperament, and he is therefore included among the Russian composers
in this lesson. He was born May 7, 1840; at ten he went to St.
Petersburg. He was intended for the legal profession and was appointed
to a place in the Ministry of Justice when only nineteen years old.
Shortly after, he entered the harmony classes at the Conservatory,
resigned his Government position, and entered the musical profession.
In 1866 he became professor of harmony at the Moscow Conservatory;
in 1867, brought out his first symphony and his first opera. In 1877
he resigned his post at the Conservatory and gave himself up to
composition. In 1891 he visited the United States. He died, October 12,
1893, in St. Petersburg.
His compositions include eight operas, six symphonies, eight overtures
and fantasias for orchestra, seven works for special occasions, eight
orchestral suites, three string quartets, a trio and sextet, three
concertos and two other pieces for piano and orchestra, three works for
violin and orchestra, and two for ’cello and orchestra, a large number
of piano pieces and vocal works.
An English critic sums up Tchaikovsky’s orchestral works thus: _Good
points_, beauty of melody, brilliancy of workmanship, beauty of color;
_weak points_, undue pursuit of the morbid, extravagance of idea,
noisiness of orchestration.
=Conclusion=.—At the beginning of the 20th century, the chief
characteristic of music seems to be a development of national
schools. As already explained, in those countries that have worthy
Folk-music, composers find the material ready for them to fashion.
Such has been the case in Norway, Sweden, and Bohemia, as well as in
Russia. Countries that have not this advantage, such as England, the
Netherlands, or America, atone for it in part by study and education;
but this seldom produces great musical geniuses. Italy, where the
common people cared for nothing but the lighter style of tune, has
had to build anew, upon foreign foundations. France is making a brave
struggle after novelty, but seems to lack the needed inspiration;
while Germany, for the moment, seems content with mastering the modern
orchestra. The Russian school is today the most spontaneous, the least
artificial; and it cannot fail to grow in appreciation during the next
few years.