THE MUSIC OF CONTEMPORARY RUSSIA
The border nationalists: Alexander Glazounoff, Liadoff,
Liapounoff, etc.--The renaissance of Russian church music:
Kastalsky and Gretchaninoff--The new eclectics: Arensky,
Taneieff, Ippolitoff-Ivanoff, Glière, Rachmaninoff and
others--Scriabine and the radical foreign influence; Igor
Stravinsky.
I
The influence of the 'neo-Russian' group did not continue in any
direct line. There is to-day no one representing the tendency in all
its purity. But there are a number of composers, originally pupils or
satellites of the Balakireff circle, who have carried something of
the nationalistic tendency into their style. Chief of these, perhaps,
is Alexander Constantinovich Glazounoff, one of the most facile and
brilliant of contemporary Russian writers for the orchestra. His early
career was brilliant in the extreme. He was born in St. Petersburg on
August 10, 1865, of an old and well-known family of publishers. In his
childhood he received excellent musical education and showed precocious
talents. At the age of fifteen he attracted the notice and received
the advice of Balakireff, who urged further study, and two years later
his first symphony was performed at a concert of the Free School. In
the following year he entered the university, continuing the lessons
he had begun under Rimsky-Korsakoff. The first symphony attracted the
attention of Liszt, who conducted it in 1884 at Weimar, and to whom a
second symphony, finished in 1886, was dedicated. Smaller works written
at this time show vivid pictorial and national tendencies. In 1889
Glazounoff conducted a concert of Russian works, including his own,
at the Paris exposition, and was honored by the performance of a new
symphonic poem of his--_Stenka Razin_--in Berlin. The following years
brought more narrative or pictorial works--the orchestral fantasias
'The Forest' and 'The Sea,' the symphonic sketch 'A Slavonic Festival,'
an 'Oriental Rhapsody,' a symphonic tableau, 'The Kremlin,' and the
ballet 'Raymonda.'
The last, which was finished in 1897, may be taken as marking the end
of Glazounoff's period of youthful romanticism. His work thereafter
was less bound to story or picture, more self-contained and notable
for architectural development. There are seven symphonies already to
be recorded, together with a violin concerto of the utmost brilliancy,
though of classical design. Among the other works of the later period
should be mentioned the Symphonic Prologue 'In Memory of Gogol,' a
Finnish fantasia, performed at Helsingfors in 1910; the symphonic
suite, 'The Middle Ages'; and another ballet, 'The Seasons.' There is
also not a little chamber music distinguished in form and execution,
and a quantity of songs of facile and graceful quality. Glazounoff is
now director of the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
Obviously his early ideals were much influenced by Rimsky-Korsakoff
and by Balakireff, from whom he gained his first distinguished
encouragement. He responded to the romantic appeal of mediæval and
national fairy stories. He felt the grandeur of the sea and the poetry
of heroic legends. Thus in _Stenka Razin_ he tells of the Cossack
brigand whose death was foretold by his captive Persian princess and
who sacrificed her in expiation of his sins to the river Volga. But
it is evident that this romantic influence was not lasting. What he
chiefly learned from Rimsky-Korsakoff was not the picturing of nature
or of legendary beings, but the manipulation of the orchestra with the
utmost of brilliancy. In his later works this becomes only technical
virtuosity, dazzling but somewhat empty. His travels in foreign lands
impressed foreign ideals upon him. When we have given due credit to his
thoroughness of workmanship, his sensitive regard for form and balance,
the pregnant beauty of many of his themes, we still feel that he is
only a sublimated salon composer.
Anatol Constantinovich Liadoff is another of Rimsky-Korsakoff's pupils
who has shown little enthusiasm for a distinctly nationalistic music.
He was born in St. Petersburg on April 29, 1855, of a musical family,
both his father and his uncle being members of the artistic staff of
the opera. He entered the violin class of the conservatory and was
chosen for Rimsky-Korsakoff's class in composition. His graduation
cantata was so fine that he was invited to become a teacher, and has
remained with the institution ever since. In 1893 he was appointed with
Liapounoff to undertake the collection of Russian folk-songs initiated
by the Imperial Geographical Society. His genius has shown itself
chiefly in the smaller forms, in which he has produced pieces for the
piano distinguished for perfection of form. His songs, especially those
for children, have had a wide popularity. There are a certain number
of genre pieces for the piano (e. g., 'In the Steppes,' opus 23) and
numerous pieces in the well known smaller forms, such as preludes,
études, and dances. The symphonic scherzo, _Baba Yaga_, telling of the
pranks of an old witch of children's folk-lore, is one of his ablest
works. We should also mention the orchestral legend, entitled 'The
Enchanted Lake,' opus 62; the 'Amazon's Dance,' opus 65; and the 'Last
Scene from Schiller's "Bride of Messina,"' opus 28, for mixed chorus
and orchestra.
Sergei Mikhailovich Liapounoff was born on November 18, 1859, at
Yaroslav, and studied at the Imperial School of Music at Nijny-Novgorod
and at the Moscow Conservatory. Later he came under the influence
of Balakireff, who conducted the first performance of his 'Concert
Overture.' For some years he was assistant conductor at the Imperial
Chapel at St. Petersburg. He is best known by his piano pieces, chiefly
the fine Concerto in E flat minor, and the tremendously difficult
Études. His numerous lighter pieces for piano, among which are the
_Divertissements_, opus 35, have become exceedingly popular. His
songs show a strong national or oriental influence. His orchestral
compositions include a symphony, opus 12, the 'Solemn Overture on a
Russian Theme,' opus 7, and a symphonic poem, opus 37. Mention should
also be made of his rhapsody on Ukranian airs for piano and orchestra,
which is a further proof of his sensitive feeling for folk-song.
Vasili Sergeievich Kallinikoff, born in 1866 in the department of
Orloff, was at the time of his death in 1900 one of the most promising
of the then younger Russian composers. He studied for eight years in
the school of the Moscow Philharmonic Society, and upon his graduation
became assistant conductor of the Moscow Private Opera. The oncoming
of consumption, however, forced him to take up his residence in the
Caucasus. His most extraordinary work was the first symphony, in
the key of G minor, which was finished in 1895 and went begging for
performance until it was given several years later in Kieff. Since
then it has figured as one of the most popular of Russian orchestral
works. The second symphony, in A major, is less distinguished. His
other orchestral works, showing great talent and considerable national
feeling, include two 'symphonic scenes,' 'The Nymphs' and 'The Cedars,'
and the incidental music to Alexander Tolstoy's play, 'Czar Boris,'
written for its performance at the Moscow Art Theatre in 1899. There
is also a cantata, _Ivan Damaskin_, and a ballad, _Roussalka_, for
solo, chorus and orchestra. Kallinikoff also left some songs, chamber
music and piano pieces. A marked originality is revealed in his best
work, but it was still immature when his final illness put an end to
creative activity.
A. Spendiaroff is loosely associated with the neo-nationalists and
has acquired some little popularity with his orchestral works, 'The
Three Palms' and the 'Caucasian Sketches.' He shows a marked talent
of a pictorial order, and felicity in the invention of expressive
melody. But his technique is that of an age past, his method rings
always true to the conventional, and his musical content sounds all too
reminiscent. Ossip Ivanovich Wihtol, born in 1863 at Volnar, near the
Baltic Sea, has gained a distinctive position for himself as a worker
with Lettish themes. He was educated at the St. Petersburg Conservatory
and studied composition under Rimsky-Korsakoff. Until 1908 he was a
teacher of theory in this institution. His best works are those which
are connected with Lettish folk-music, notably the Symphonic Tableau,
opus 4; the Orchestral Suite, opus 29; and the Fantasia for violin,
opus 42. We should also mention the 'Dramatic Overture' and the
_Spriditis_ overture, the piano sonata, a string quartet, and a number
of songs and choruses--some _a cappella_ and some with orchestral
accompaniment.
II
We have spoken several times of the absence of a true 'national
school' of Russian composition in present times. But this statement
must be amended. There is one school which represents in great purity
the cult of the national and has achieved notable results in its
work. This is the school of musicians who have undertaken to build
up a pure ritual music for the Russian church. This group is purely
national in character. It is the most intense contemporary expression
of the 'Slavophile' ideal in recent times. The neo-Russian group of
Balakireff was, it is true, only loosely connected with the Slavophile
or nationalistic political movement of its time, but its relation to
the 'Western' tendency of Tschaikowsky and Rubinstein is analogous
with that of the novelist Dostoievsky to Turgenieff. The renaissance
of Russian church music probably has a certain political significance,
for church and state have been traditionally close to one another
in the land of the czar. The Eastern church, like that of Rome,
suffered from the musical sentimentalism of the nineteenth century
and received a vast accretion of 'sacred' music which was flowery,
thin, and utterly unsacred in spirit. And like the Roman church it
made strenuous efforts to effect a reform, choosing as its basis the
traditional ecclesiastical modes. These, in the Eastern church, are
as rich and impressive as the Gregorian modes of Rome. The first
definite step was the establishment, in 1889, of the Synodical School
of Church Singing in Moscow, under the direction of C. V. Smolenski.
It was only a preparatory step, for, under the advice of Tschaikowsky
and Taneieff, it concentrated first upon the education of a number of
singers thoroughly grounded in musical art and theory. In 1898 the
school was enlarged and reformed, becoming a regular academy with a
nine-year course and offering a thorough training in every branch
of musical art, from sight reading up to composition. New methods
of teaching, introduced in 1897, brought the choral work up to an
unprecedented pitch of excellence, and a visit of the school choir to
Vienna in 1899 left a profound impression upon the outside world. The
school instituted, in addition to its regular theoretical studies, a
course in the history of church music and its use in contrapuntal
forms, and thus began the training of its own line of church composers,
of whom the most able is to-day P. G. Chesnikoff. V. C. Orloff, who
notably raised the standard of singing in the Metropolitan choir in
St. Petersburg, is now director of the school, and with the help of
the choral director, A. D. Kastalsky, has brought it to astonishing
efficiency.
Kastalsky and Gretchaninoff have attained their eminence as composers
chiefly through their work in the renaissance of church music. The
former was born in 1856, received a regular preparatory school course,
and studied music in the Moscow Conservatory. In 1887 he became
teacher of piano at the Synodical school, and later of theory. He
has composed much for the ritual, basing his work on the old church
melodies and developing a style which is personal, yet in the highest
degree religious and impressive. His position in Russian ecclesiastical
music is now supreme. But in praising his work we should not forget to
mention that of his predecessors, who did much to preserve a decent
appropriateness for Russian church music in the dark days. Following
the great Bortniansky came G. F. Lyvovsky (1830-1894), who was educated
in the imperial choir and was later director of the Metropolitan choir
in St. Petersburg. He was a man of much talent, and, feeling the
approach of the new attitude toward sacred music, showed in his work
the transition from the old to the new. Other notable church composers,
both in the old and the new style, were A. A. Archangelsky (born 1846),
Taneieff, Arensky, and Rimsky-Korsakoff.
But Gretchaninoff, though he has by no means given himself solely to
the composition of sacred music, has brought the greatest genius to
bear on it. He is no mere routineer and theorist. Some of his works for
the ritual will stand as among the most perfect specimens of sacred
music the world over. Combined with the greatest simplicity of method
is an exhaustive technical knowledge and a poetical feeling for the
noble and profound. It is he who has put into tones the supreme poetry
of worship. The profound impressiveness of this new sacred music in
performance is in part due to the traditional Eastern practice of
singing the ritual unaccompanied. This _a cappella_ tradition has
disciplined a generation of choirs to an accuracy of intonation which
is impossible where singers can depend upon the support of an organ.
Further, there is the marvellous Russian bass voice, sometimes going
as low as B-flat or A, which furnishes a 'pedal' support to the choir
and makes an accompanying instrument quite superfluous. The newer
church composers have not been slow in taking advantage of the striking
musical opportunities offered by this peculiar Slavic voice. As a
result of all these influences, the musical renaissance of the Eastern
church has been far more successful than the parallel awakening in
the Roman, and has produced a music and a tradition of church singing
incomparable in the world to-day for nobility and purity.
Alexander Tikhonovich Gretchaninoff was born on October 13, 1864, in
Moscow, studied piano in the Moscow conservatory and went in 1890 to
St. Petersburg to enjoy the advantages of Rimsky-Korsakoff's teaching.
He early gained a prize with a string quartet, and became known in
foreign countries by his songs and chamber music. His style, outside
of his church music, is not especially national. He is inclined to
the lyrical, preferring Borodine to Moussorgsky, and throughout his
secular work shows German influence. His symphony in G minor, op. 6,
gained for him general recognition in Russia, and the symphony op.
27 justified the great hope felt for his talent. Gretchaninoff has
been active in dramatic music. He has written incidental music to
Ostrovsky's 'The Snow Maiden' and to two of the plays which go to form
Alexander Tolstoy's trilogy on the times of Boris Godounoff. His two
operas, _Dobrinya Nikitich_ and 'Sister Beatrice,' are distinguished by
great melodic impressiveness and in general by a lyrical style which
derives from Rimsky-Korsakoff and Borodine. The latter opera, founded
on Maeterlinck's play, met with disfavor at the hands of the Russian
clergy, because of its representation of the Virgin on the stage, and
was withdrawn after four performances.
A number of minor composers may also be grouped under the general head
of nationalists. Most prominent of these is Nikolai Alexandrovich
Sokoloff, who was born in St. Petersburg in 1859 and studied
composition in the St. Petersburg Conservatory under Rimsky-Korsakoff.
His chamber music comprises three quartets, a string quintet,
and a serenade. For orchestra he has written incidental music to
Shakespeare's 'A Winter's Tale' for performance at the Alexandrinsky
Theatre in St. Petersburg; a dramatic poem after Tolstoy's 'Don Juan';
a ballet, 'The Wild Swans'; and an elegy and serenade for strings.
There are numerous small pieces for piano and violin, and choruses both
for mixed voices and for men's voices alone. A. Amani (1875-1904) was
also a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakoff and in his piano and chamber music
took for his inspiration the poetry of the Orient and the melody of
folk-song. F. Blumenfeld (born 1863) has distinguished himself as
conductor at the Imperial Opera, St. Petersburg, and has written,
besides the 'Allegro Concerto' for piano and orchestra and the symphony
in C, many songs and smaller piano pieces which place him with the
newer 'nationalists.' A. A. Iljinsky (born 1859) has composed an opera
on Pushkin's 'Fountain of the Baktchisserai,' a symphonic scherzo,
and an overture to Tolstoy's _Tsar Feodor_, besides much chamber and
piano music. G. A. Kazachenko (born 1858) has written an opera, 'Prince
Serebreny,' which was performed in St. Petersburg in 1892, and is
now chorus-master at the Imperial Opera. A. Kopyloff (born 1854) has
written much orchestral music, including a symphony in C major, a
scherzo for orchestra, and a concert overture, also chamber music,
including an effective quartet in G major, op. 15. N. V. Stcherbacheff
(born 1853) is associated with the younger nationalists and has
composed much for piano and voice, in addition to a serenade and two
'Idylls' for orchestra. Finally, B. Zolotareff has distinguished
himself in chamber music and in song-writing, and has shown great
ability in his _Fête Villageoise_, op. 24, his 'Hebrew Rhapsody,' op.
7, and his Symphony, op. 8.
III
We now come to a group of composers who have been little influenced by
the Russian folk-song. They all trace their artistic paternity in one
way or another to Tschaikowsky. They are men who have used their native
talent in a scholarly and sincere way, and have attained to great
popularity in their native land and even outside of it, but they seem
likely not to retain this popularity long. (This judgment may, however,
be premature in the case of Glière.) It is not, of course, their denial
of nationalism which has placed them in the second class. But their
loyalty to the past does not seem to be coupled with a sufficiently
powerful creative faculty to make secure their hold upon the public.
Anton Stephanovich Arensky was one of the most popular composers in
Russia. This reputation was gained in part by his piano pieces, which
made rather too great an effort toward the superficially pleasing
and have now almost passed out of sight. His ambitious operas, too,
have failed to hold the stage, but his chamber music shows him at his
best. He was the son of a physician and was born at Nijny-Novgorod
on July 31, 1861. His early evinced musical talent was carefully
nurtured in his home, and when he was still young he was sent to St.
Petersburg to study under Zikke. Later he worked under Rimsky-Korsakoff
at the Conservatory, and gained that institution's gold medal for
composition. His first symphony and his piano concerto were both given
public performance soon after his graduation in 1882, and Arensky
was appointed professor of harmony and counterpoint at the Moscow
Conservatory. In 1888 he became conductor of the concerts of the
Russian Choral Society in Moscow, and in 1895 moved to St. Petersburg
to accept the position of director of the Imperial Chapel choir, to
which he had been appointed on the recommendation of Balakireff. He
died in 1906 and it was generally felt that the death had prevented the
composition of what would have been his best works. Early in his career
he gained the active sympathy and encouragement of Tschaikowsky, who
influenced him strongly in a personal way. His talent was essentially
conservative, and his scholarly cast of mind is shown in his published
'method,' which he illustrated with 1,000 musical examples, and in his
book on musical forms.
His best works date from the Moscow period, since bad health decreased
his creative vigor in his later years. Some of his smaller works may
be placed beside the best of Tschaikowsky. Most popular outside of
Russia have been the two string quartets, his trio in D minor, and his
piano quintet in D major, op. 51. Of his two symphonies, the first,
written in his boyhood, is quite the best. The piano fantasia on
Russian themes, the violin concerto, and the cantata, 'The Fountain of
Baktchissarai,' are among his best known works. His first opera, 'The
Dream on the River Volga,' was written to a libretto which Tschaikowsky
had abandoned and passed on to him 'with his blessing.' He aimed at
dramatic force and truthfulness, but his talent was essentially
lyrical, and he proved to be at his best in his clear and graceful
ariosos. His later operas, 'Raphael' and 'Nal and Damayanti' (each in
one act), show an advance in musical power, though the method still
continues conservative. Arensky's ballet, 'A Night in Egypt,' was
produced in 1899. His last work, composed on his deathbed, was the
incidental music composed for the performance of 'The Tempest' at the
Moscow Art Theatre. Some of these numbers are among the best things he
ever wrote.
Sergei Ivanovich Taneieff is a conservative both in mind and in heart,
and may be considered the only real pupil of Tschaikowsky. He was born
of a rich and noble family in Vladimir on November 13, 1856, and at the
age of ten entered the then newly opened Moscow Conservatory, where
he studied the piano under Nicholas Rubinstein. Under Tschaikowsky he
worked at theory and composition. In 1875 he graduated with highest
honors and with a gold medal for his playing, which was characterized
by purity and strength of touch, grace and ease of execution,
maturity of intellect, self-control, and a calm objective style of
interpretation. These qualities may well be considered typical of his
compositions. After a long Russian tour with Auer, the violinist,
Taneieff succeeded Tschaikowsky as professor of orchestration at the
Moscow Conservatory. In 1885 he became director of the institution, but
soon retired to devote himself wholly to composition. Though he is an
admirable pianist, he seldom appears in public.
His compositions, though not numerous, are all marked by sincerity
and thoroughness of workmanship. Some of them have been compared to
those of Brahms. His work is essentially that of a scholar, and makes
little appeal to the emotions. His mastery, of form is marked. The most
ambitious of his works is the 'trilogy' (in reality a three-act opera)
based on the Æschylus 'Oresteia.' This, though never popular in Russia
because of its severity of style, compels admiration for its nobleness
of concept and its scholarly execution. The overture and last entr'acte
are still frequently performed in Russia. In general the style is
Wagnerian, and the leit-motif is used freely, though not to excess.
A cantata for solo, chorus, and orchestra--the _Ivan Damaskin_--is
one of the finest works of its kind in Russian music. Taneieff has
also written three symphonies and an overture on Russian themes. But
his most distinctive work is perhaps to be found in his eight string
quartets (of which the third is the most popular), in his two string
quintets, and his quartet with piano. There are also a number of male
choruses and smaller piano works.
A much more likable, though no less conservative, figure is Michael
Mikhaelovich Ippolitoff-Ivanoff. He was born of a working class family
near St. Petersburg on November 15, 1859, and managed to get to the
St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he studied for six years under
Rimsky-Korsakoff. In 1882 he went to Tiflis, where he remained a number
of years as director of the local music school, as conductor of the
concerts of the Imperial Musical Society, and for a time as director
of the government theatre. In 1893 he came to Moscow to teach harmony,
instrumentation and free composition at the Conservatory, to the
directorship of which he succeeded in 1906. But perhaps his greatest
influence on Russian musical life was exerted by him in his position
as director of the Moscow Private Opera, which he assumed in 1899,
and which he helped to build up to its high artistic standard. His
reputation in foreign lands rests chiefly on his string quartet, opus
13, and his orchestral suite, 'Caucasian Sketches,' opus 10. (A second
Caucasian suite appeared in 1906 and has had much success.) The list
of his works also includes notably a Sinfonietta and a piano quartet;
three cantatas; _Iberia_, for orchestra; and the 'Armenian Rhapsody,'
op. 48. In many of these works, as in his songs, he is frequently
displaying his penchant for Oriental, Hebrew, and Caucasian music,
which he has studied with a poet's love and appreciation. In his two
operas, 'Ruth' and 'Assya,' these qualities are also apparent. The
notable qualities of his music are its freedom from artificiality, its
warmth of expression, and its consistent thoroughness of workmanship.
But it is perhaps as an organizer and director that he has performed
his chief service to Russian music.
One of the most promising of the younger conservative Russians is
Reinhold Glière, who is now director of the Conservatory at Kieff
and conductor of the Kieff Symphony concerts. He has in these
positions been a dominant factor in the provincial, as opposed to
the metropolitan, musical life of Russia, and has by his energy and
progressiveness raised Kieff to a position in some ways rivalling the
capital. He was born at Kieff on January 11, 1875, and was educated at
Moscow, where he studied with Taneieff and Ippolitoff-Ivanoff. Though
he was thus under conservative influences, he showed in his earliest
compositions a feeling for the national musical sources which forbade
critics to classify him as a cosmopolitan.
His first string quartet, in A (op. 2), showed national material
treated with something of western softness, and his many small pieces
for string or wind instruments often make use of folk-like melodies.
It is in his piano pieces that he shows himself weakest, and these
have contributed to an under-appreciation of him in his own as well
as in foreign lands. Some of his works (especially the later ones)
are thoroughly national in character. Thus his recently finished
opera 'Awakened' is built entirely on folk-material, and comes with
revolutionary directness straight from the heart of the people. His
symphonic poem, 'The Sirens,' showed French influence, but was
hardly a successful synthesis. His first symphony, in E flat, op.
8, revealed great promise, and his string quartets have drawn the
attention of music-lovers in foreign lands.
[Illustration]
Contemporary Russian Composers:
Alexander Glazounoff Reinhold Glière
Vladimir Rebikoff Sergei Rachmaninoff
It is in his symphonic work that Glière shows his greatest ability. His
orchestral writing burns with the heat that is traditional in Russian
music, and his handling of his themes, in development and contrapuntal
treatment, is sometimes masterly. By far his greatest work is his third
symphony, _Ilia Mourometz_, which is in reality a long and extremely
ambitious symphonic poem. It tells the tale of the great hero, Ilia,
of the Novgorod cycle of legends, who sat motionless in his chair for
thirty years until some holy pilgrims came and urged him to arise and
become a hero. Then he went forth, conquering giants and pagans, until
he was finally turned to stone in the Holy Mountains. In this work the
themes, most of which are national in character, and some of which seem
taken directly from the people, are in the highest degree pregnant
and expressive. They are used cyclically in all four movements, and
are developed at great length and with great complexity. The harmonic
idiom is chromatic, not exactly radical but yet personal and creative.
If we except certain _cliché_ passages which are unworthy of so fine a
work, we must adjudge the symphony from beginning to end a masterpiece.
Something of this mastery of the heroic mood is also to be seen in
Glière's numerous songs. Though most of them are conventional in their
harmonic scheme, they reveal great poetry and expressive power. With
but one exception Glière seems to be the greatest of the conservatives
of modern Russia.
This exception is Sergei Vassilievich Rachmaninoff, whose reputation,
now extended to all parts of the civilized world, is by no means beyond
his deserts. He was born on March 20, 1873, in the department of
Novgorod, of a landed family of prominence. At the age of nine he went
to St. Petersburg to study music, but three years later transferred
to Moscow, where he worked under Taneieff and Arensky. He graduated
from the Moscow Conservatory in 1892 with high honors, and his one-act
opera, _Aleko_, written for graduation, was promptly performed at the
Grand Theatre and made a deep impression. Two short periods of his
later life were spent in the conducting of opera in Moscow, but the
most of his time he has spent in composition. He is a pianist of rare
abilities, and has played his own music much on tours. For some years
he resided in Dresden.
Rachmaninoff's early fame is due to the sensational popularity of his
C-sharp minor prelude for piano, a fine work of heroic import, holding
immense promise for the future. While much of his later composition
has been somewhat conventional in style, Rachmaninoff at his best has
justified the promise. The magnificent E minor symphony ranks among the
best works of its kind in all modern music. Scarcely inferior to it
is the symphonic poem, 'The Island of the Dead,' suggested by Arnold
Böcklin's picture. Two later operas have proved very impressive. The
first, 'The Covetous Knight,' is founded on a tale of Pushkin, and
follows the complete original text with literal exactness, achieving
an impressive dramatic declamation which seems always on the verge of
melody, and entwines itself with the masterly psychological music of
the orchestra. _Francesca da Rimini_ is more lyrical, and shows much
passion and power in its love scenes.
Rachmaninoff's only chamber music is an 'elegiac trio' in memory of
Tschaikowsky and a couple of sonatas. A large choral work, 'Spring,'
has attained great popularity in Russia, and a recent one, founded
on Edgar Allan Poe's poem, 'The Bells,' is said to reveal abilities
of the highest order. For piano there are many pieces--notably the
various groups of preludes, some hardly inferior to the famous one in
C-sharp minor; a set of variations on a theme of Chopin; six pieces
for four hands, op. 11; two suites for two pianos, op. 5 and op. 17;
and two superb concertos for piano and orchestra, of which the second,
op. 18, is the more popular. His minor piano pieces are among the most
vigorous and finely executed in modern piano literature. His songs are
of wide variety, especially in regard to national feeling; in some,
as, for instance, 'The Harvest Fields,' he is almost on a plane with
Moussorgsky. We should mention also two works for orchestra, a 'Gypsy
Caprice' and a fantasia, 'The Cliff.'
Rachmaninoff's music is justly to be called conservative and even
academic in its later phase. But this must not be taken to imply
that it is cold or unpoetic. No modern Russian composer can better
strike the tone of high and heroic poetry. Rachmaninoff has taken the
technique of the West, especially of modern Germany, and the spirit
if not the letter of the tunes of his own lands and fused them into a
music of his own, which, at once complex and direct, stirs the heart
and inflames the blood. His orchestral palette is powerful and inclined
to be heavy. His contrapuntal style is complex and masterful. His
melody is free and impressive. He is by all odds the greatest of the
modern Russian eclectics.
A number of other composers, loosely connected with the 'Western'
tradition of Tschaikowsky, should here be mentioned. Some of these
are young men who may as yet have given no adequate evidence of
their real ability. But all of them are able musicians with some
solid achievement to their credit. A. N. Korestschenko (born 1870)
won the gold medal at the Moscow Conservatory for piano and theory
after studying under Taneieff and Arensky, and is now professor of
harmony at that institution. His most important work includes three
operas, a ballet 'The Magic Mirror,' and a number of orchestral works,
notably the 'Lyric Symphony,' a 'Festival Prologue,' the Georgian and
Armenian Songs with orchestra, and the usual proportion of songs and
piano pieces. Nicholas Nikolaevich Tcherepnine was born in 1873 and
studied for the law, but changed to the St. Petersburg Conservatory,
where he energetically studied composition under Rimsky-Korsakoff. His
style is eclectic and flexible. His name is best known through his
two ballets, _Narcisse_ and _Le Pavilon d'Armide_, but his overture
to Rostand's _Princesse Lointaine_, his 'Dramatic Fantasia,' op. 17,
and his orchestral sketch from 'Macbeth,' give further evidence of
marked powers. His songs and duets have had great popularity, and his
pianoforte concerto is frequently played. He has also been active as a
composer of choral music, accompanied and _a cappella_.
Maximilian Steinberg, born in 1883 and trained under Rimsky-Korsakoff
and Glazounoff, has worked chiefly in an academic way and has shown
marked technical mastery, especially in his quartet, op. 5, and
his second symphony in B minor. Nicholas Medtner, who is of German
parentage, shows the same respect for classical procedure, together
with an abundance of inspiration and enthusiasm. He was born in
Moscow on December 24, 1879, and carried off the gold medal at the
Conservatory in 1900. Since then he has been active chiefly as a
composer, and has to his credit a number of very fine piano sonatas,
as well as considerable chamber music. Attention has recently been
attracted to his songs, which combine great technical resource with
a fresh poetical feeling for the texts. There is nothing of the
nationalistic about his work. The same, however, cannot quite be
said for George Catoire (born Moscow, 1861), who, though educated in
Berlin, has shown a feeling for things Slavic in his symphonic poem,
_Mzyri_, and in his cantata, _Russalka_. Among his other large works
are a symphony in C minor, a piano concerto, and considerable chamber
music. J. Krysjanowsky is another modern eclectic, known chiefly by his
sonata for piano and violin, which, though able, shows little poetical
inspiration.
Let us complete this section of the history with a passing mention
of certain minor composers of local importance. A. von Borchmann has
shown a solid musical ability and a strong classical tendency in his
string quartet, op. 3. J. I. Bleichmann (1868-1909) was the composer
of many popular piano and violin pieces, of an orchestral work,
several sonatas, and a sacred choral work, 'Sebastian the Martyr.' A.
Goedicke has composed two symphonies, a dramatic overture, a piano
trio, a sonata for piano and violin and another for piano alone, and
numerous smaller pieces. W. Malichevsky is an able composer of great
promise and has written three symphonies, three quartets and a violin
sonata. M. Ostroglazoff is an 'eclectic' whose true powers are as
yet undetermined. W. Pogojeff is fairly well known because of his
able chamber music and piano pieces. S. Prokofieff (born 1891) is an
able and classically minded pupil of Glière and Liadoff, and Selinoff
(born 1875) has carried his early German training into the writing of
symphonic poems. We should also make mention of E. Esposito, an able
and charming composer of operetta.
IV
Of radical Russian composers two have in recent years become
internationally famous. Alexander Scriabine is notable for his highly
developed harmonic method, which makes sensible subjective states of
emotion hardly possible to music hitherto. And Igor Stravinsky has in
his ballets carried free counterpoint and a resultant revolutionary
harmony to an extreme almost undreamed of in the whole world of
music. How much there is of mere sensation in these two musicians is
at this time hard to determine. The question will be determined in
part not only by the extent to which they retain a hold over their
audiences, but also by the extent to which the new paths which they
are opening prove fruitful to later followers. If one may judge by
appearances at this writing, it would seem that Scriabine, who was
essentially a theorist and a mystic, had little to give the world
beyond a reworking of the chromatic style of Wagner's 'Tristan'--a
style seemingly inadequate to the intimate subjective message he would
have it bear. Stravinsky, on the other hand, though still crude, seems
to be at the threshold of a new and remarkable musical development. In
addition to these new men we find in Russia a number who may justly
be called radicals, being influenced by the radicals of other lands,
chiefly France. No creative ability of the first order has as yet been
discovered among these minor men.
Alexander Scriabine was born in Moscow on December 25, 1871. He was
destined by his family for a career in the army, but his leaning toward
music determined him to quit the cadet corps and become a student
in the Moscow Conservatory. Here he studied piano with Safonoff and
composition with Taneieff. He graduated in 1892, taking a gold medal
and setting out to conquer Europe as a concert performer. In 1898 he
returned to the Moscow Conservatory to teach, but in 1903 resigned,
determining to devote all his time to composition. Since then he has
lived in Paris, Budapest, Berlin, and Switzerland. In 1906-07 he made
a brief visit to the United States, appearing as a pianist. He died,
dreaming great dreams for the future, in 1915. His compositions have
been numerous and have shown a steady advance from the melodious and
conventional style of his early piano works to the intense harmonic
sensualism of his later orchestral pieces. The first piano works were
characterized by Cui as 'stolen from Chopin's trousseau.' This is
not unjust, although the works show a certain technical originality
in the invention of figures. The first symphony is written in solid
and conservative style, with a due element of Wagnerian influence,
and a choral finale in praise of art speaking for its composer's good
intentions. The second symphony shows a development of technical
skill and an enlarging of emotional range, but gives few hints of the
later style. The smaller music of this period--as, for instance, the
Mazurkas, op. 25, the Fantasia, and the Preludes, op. 35--also show
progress chiefly on the technical side. The 'Satanic Poem' for piano,
op. 34, points to Liszt as its source.
It is the third symphony in C, entitled 'The Divine Poem,' which
first gives distinct evidence of change. This work, composed in 1905,
undertakes to depict the inner struggles of the artist in his process
of creation, and reveals the subjective trend of its composer's
growing imagination. Its three movements are entitled respectively,
'Struggles,' 'Sensual Pleasures,' and 'Divine Activity.' Here the
emotional element is well to the fore. The first movement is stirring
and dramatic, the second languorous and rich, the third bold and
brilliant. The orchestra employed is large and the technique complex.
Other ambitious works of the earlier period are the concerto in F-sharp
minor, op. 20, a work of no outstanding importance, and the 'Reverie'
for orchestra, op. 24, which is distinctly weak. But by the time we
have reached the 'Poem of Ecstasy,' composed in 1908, we have the
composer in all his long-sought individuality. The harmonic system is
vague to the ear, and weighs terribly on the senses. There is evidence
of some esoteric striving. One feels that 'more is meant than meets
the ear.' It is in a single movement, but in three sections, and these
are entitled, respectively, 'His Soul in the Orgy of Love,' 'The
Realization of a Fantastic Dream,' and 'The Glory of His Own Art.'
The orchestration is rich in the extreme and the development of the
motives shows a mature musical power. The effect on the nerves and
senses is undeniably powerful. But withal it remains vague as a work of
art; it is obviously meant to convey an impression, but the definite
impression, like the 'program,' is withheld, and perhaps it is as well
so.
But it is the 'Prometheus,' subtitled 'Poem of Fire' (composed 1911,
op. 60), which shows Scriabine at his most ambitious. The work is
written in the general style of the 'Poem of Ecstasy,' but the style,
like the themes, is more highly developed. And there is super-added
the color-symbolism which has helped to give the work something of
its sensational fame. The music is meant to tell of the coming of
'fire'--that is, of the creative principle--to man, and the orchestra
describes (one might better say 'experiences') the various forces
bearing upon incomplete man (represented by the piano, which serves as
a member of the orchestral body), until the creative principle comes
and makes complete him who accepts it. But in addition to the _tones_
Scriabine has devised a parallel manipulation of _colors_, on a color
machine partly of his own invention, and has 'scored' the 'chords'
as he imagines them to suit the music. 'The light keyboard,' says a
commentator, 'traverses one octave with all the chromatic intervals,
and each key projects electrically a given color. These are used in
combination, and a "part" for this instrument stands at the head of the
score. The arrangement of colors is as follows: C, red; G, rosy-orange;
D, yellow; A, green; E and B, pearly blue and the shimmer of moonshine;
F sharp, bright blue; D-flat, violet; A-flat, purple; E-flat and
B-flat, steely with the glint of metal; F, dark red.' The first
performance of the work, with the color machine used as the composer
planned, was that of the Russian Symphony Orchestra of New York, in
March, 1915. It can hardly be said that the experiment was convincing
to many in the audience, but it seems altogether possible that some
sort of union of the arts of pure color and pure tone in an expressive
mission may be fruitful for the future.
In a posthumous work entitled 'Mystery,' Scriabine intended to use
every means possible, including perfume and the dance, to produce a
supreme emotional effect on the audience. We should also mention the
ten piano sonatas, of which the seventh and ninth are the best, which
show their composer's musical development with great completeness, but
suffer in the later examples from a harmonic monotony. This seemed to
be Scriabine's besetting sin. It seems doubtful whether his harmonic
method, as he developed it, is flexible enough for the continued strain
to which he put it. For in truth it is not a daring or extremely
original system, however impressive it may sound in the commentator's
notes. If we may sum the matter up in a slang phrase we might say that
Scriabine's harmony 'listens' better than it sounds.
The influence of the French 'impressionists' on Russian composers is
represented at its best in the work of such men as Vassilenko and
Rebikoff. The Russians have ever been citizens of the world and have
been quick to imitate and learn from their western neighbors. But
in the past century they have also been quick to assimilate and to
give back something new from their own individuality. This may be the
destined course of the French influence on Slavic musicians.
Sergius Vassilenko was born in Moscow in 1872, entered the Conservatory
in 1896, and was awarded the gold medal for a cantata written after
five years' work under Taneieff and Ippolitoff-Ivanoff. His early
work was much under the influence of the Russian nationalists, and
his epic poem for orchestra, op. 4, illustrates a taste for mediæval
poetry which he supported out of his profound knowledge of modal and
church music. But his larger works after this were chiefly French in
style. These include the two 'poems' for bass voice and orchestra, 'The
Whirlpool' and 'The Widow'; a symphonic poem, 'The Garden of Death,'
based on Oscar Wilde, and the orchestral suite _Au Soleil_, by which he
is chiefly known in foreign lands.
Feodor Akimenko, though less wholly French in his manner, may be ranked
among those who chiefly speak of Paris in their music. He was born at
Kharkoff on February 8, 1876, was educated in the Imperial Chapel in
St. Petersburg, and later was instructed in one or another branch of
music by Liadoff, Balakireff, and Rimsky-Korsakoff. The influence of
these masters is evident in his work, however much he may have absorbed
a French idiom. His is 'a fundamentally Slavonic personality,' says one
commentator,[16] 'which inclines toward dreaminess more than toward
sensuality or the picturesque. His music resembles the French only
in suppleness of rhythms and elaborateness of harmonies.' His early
works, which are more thoroughly Russian in method, include many songs
and piano pieces, three choruses for mixed voices, a 'lyric poem' for
orchestra, a string trio and a piano and violin sonata. After his
journey to Paris his style changed notably. From this later period
we may mention such works for the piano as the _Recits d'une âme
rêveuse_, _Uranie_, _Pages d'une poésie fantastique_, etc. His latest
compositions include a _Sonata Fantastique_ and an opera, 'The Queen of
the Alps.'
Another composer of much originality and of subjective tendencies
is Vladimir Rebikoff, who was born on May 16, 1866, at Krasnoyarsk,
in Siberia. Even in his piano pieces he has attempted to mirror
psychological states. But this attempt is carried much further in his
operas. 'The Christmas Tree,' in one act, attempts to contrast the
feelings of the rich and the poor, and it was successful enough in
its artistic purpose to gain much popularity with its Moscow public.
Rebikoff has written two other 'psychological' operas--'Thea,' op. 34,
and 'The Woman and the Dagger,' op. 41--not to mention his early 'The
Storm,' produced in 1894. In his 'melo-mimics,' or pantomimic scenes
with closely allied musical accompaniment, Rebikoff has created a small
art form all his own.
M. Gniessin is one of the most talented of the younger Russians
who have shown marked foreign influence--in this case German. His
important works include a 'Symphonic Fragment' after Shelley, op. 4; a
Sonata-ballad in C-sharp minor for piano and 'cello, op. 7; a symphonic
poem, _Vrubel_; and a number of admirable songs. W. G. Karatigin is
known as the editor of Moussorgsky's posthumous works and composer of
some carefully developed music. Among the remaining young composers of
this group we need only mention the names of Kousmin, Yanowsky, Olenin
and Tchesnikoff.
There remains Igor Stravinsky, perhaps the greatest of all the
younger Russian composers in the pregnancy of his musical style. He
is regarded as a true representative of nationalism in its 'second
stage,' for, though his work bears little external resemblance to
that of Moussorgsky, for instance, its style is indigenous to Russia
and its thematic material is closely connected with the Russian
folk-song. Stravinsky was born at Oranienbaum on June 5, 1882, the son
of Feodor Stravinsky, a celebrated singer of the Imperial Theatre in
St. Petersburg. Though his precocious talent for music was recognized
and was fostered in piano lessons under Rubinstein, he received a
classical education and was destined for the law. It was not until
he met Rimsky-Korsakoff at Heidelberg in 1902--that is, at the age
of twenty--that he turned definitely and finally to music. He began
work with Rimsky-Korsakoff and learned something about brilliancy in
orchestration. But his ideals were too radical always to suit his
master. The latter is said to have exclaimed on hearing his pupil play
'The Fire Bird': 'Stop playing that horrible stuff or I shall begin to
like it.'
Stravinsky's first important work was his symphony in E-flat major,
composed in 1906, and still in manuscript. Then came 'Faun and
Shepherdess,' a suite for voice and piano, and, in 1908, the _Scherzo
Fantastique_ for orchestra. His elegy on the death of Rimsky-Korsakoff,
his four piano studies, and a few of his songs, written about this
time, hold a hint of the changed style that was to come.
Here begins the list of Stravinsky's important compositions.
'Fireworks,' for orchestra, was written purely as a technical _tour de
force_. Music in the higher sense it is not, but it reveals immense
technical resource in scoring and in the invention of suggestive
devices. Pin wheels, sky rockets and exploding bombs among other things
are 'pictured' in this orchestral riot of tone. In 1909 came the ballet
'The Nightingale,' which has recently been rewritten, partly in the
composer's later style, and arranged as an opera. This led him to his
first successful ballet. But before entering considering the three
works which have chiefly brought him his fame let us refer to some of
the later songs, e. g., 'The Cloister' and 'The Song of the Dew,' which
are masterful pieces in the ultra-modern manner, and to the 'Astral
Cantata,' which has not yet been published at this writing.
Stravinsky's fame in foreign lands (which is doubtless almost equal
to that in his own, a strange thing in Russian music) rests almost
entirely on the three ballets which were mounted and danced by
Diaghileff's company of dancers, drawn largely from the Imperial Opera
House, in St. Petersburg, who for several seasons made wonderfully
successful tours in the European capitals. It must be understood that
this institution, the so-called 'Russian ballet,' was in no wise
official. It represented the 'extreme left wing' of Russian art in
regard to music, dancing, and scene painting. It was altogether too
radical to be received hospitably in the official opera house. But it
proved to be one of the most brilliant artistic achievements of recent
times, and on it floated the fame of Igor Stravinsky.
His first ballet, 'The Fire Bird,' was produced in Paris in 1910. It
tells a long and richly colored story of the rescue of a beautiful
maiden from the snares of a wicked magician. The music is by no
means 'radical,' but it shows immense talent in expressive melody,
colorful harmony, in precise expression of mood, in the suggestion of
pictures, and in a certain elaborate and free polyphony which is one
of Stravinsky's chief glories. It is a work irresistible alike to the
casual listener and to the technical musician. The next ballet was
'Petrouchka,' produced in 1911. This is a fanciful tale of Petrouchka,
the Russian Pierrot, and his unhappy love for another doll. The little
man finds a rival in a terrible blackamoor, and in the end is most
foully murdered, spilling 'his vital sawdust' upon the toy-shop floor.
The characters are richly varied, and the carnival music is telling
in the extreme. Stravinsky's musical characterization and picturing
here is masterly. But his greatest achievement is his preservation of
the tone of burlesque throughout--bouncing and joyous, yet kindly and
refined.
In this work we notice much of the harmonic daring which is so
startling in his third ballet, 'The Consecration of Spring.' Here is
an elaborate dance in two scenes, setting forth presumably the mystic
rites by which the pre-historic Slavic peoples lured spring, with its
fruitful blessings, into their midst. The character of the music and
of the libretto is determined by the peculiar theory of the dance
on which the ballet is founded. We cannot here go into this matter.
Suffice it to say that the dancing does not pretend to be 'primitive'
in an ethnological sense, though its angular movements continually
recall the crudities of pre-historic art. The music is quite terrifying
at first hearing. But a second hearing, or a hasty examination of the
score, will convince one that it is executed with profound musicianship
and a sure understanding of the effects to be obtained. Briefly, we may
describe the musical style as a free use of telling themes, largely
national in character, contrapuntally combined with such freedom
that harmony, in the classical sense, quite ceases to exist. Because
of the musical mastership displayed in the writing we can be sure
that this is not a 'freak' or a blind alley experiment. Whether the
tendency represents a complete denial of harmonic relations, with the
attention centred wholly on the polyphonic interweaving, or whether it
is preparing the way for a new harmony in which the second (major or
minor) will be regarded as a consonant interval, we cannot at this time
say. But Stravinsky's well-proved ability, and his evident knowledge of
what he is about, are at least presumptive evidence that our enjoyment
of this new style will increase with our understanding of it.
Certainly men like Scriabine and Stravinsky prove that Russian music
has not been a mere burst of genius, destined to become embalmed in
academicism or wafted on lyrical breezes into the salons. Probably no
nation in Europe to-day possesses a greater number of thoroughly able
composers than Russia. The Slav seems to be no whit behind his brothers
either in poetic inspiration or in technical progress. Perhaps it is a
new generation, that has just begun its work--a generation destined to
achievements as fine as those of the glorious 'Big Five.'
H. K. M.
FOOTNOTES:
[16] Ivan Narodny in 'Musical America,' August, 1914.