Lyadov Anatoly Konstantinovich, biography, life story, creativity, writers, life. Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov: about music A short message about the work of Lyadov

Russian composer and teacher Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov was born in St. Petersburg on April 29 (May 11), 1855 into a family of musicians - Lyadov’s father was a conductor of the Mariinsky Theater, his mother was a pianist. He studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, but was expelled by Rimsky-Korsakov from his harmony class for "incredible laziness."

Russian composer and teacher Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov was born in St. Petersburg on April 29 (May 11), 1855 into a family of musicians - Lyadov’s father was a conductor of the Mariinsky Theater, his mother was a pianist. He studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, but was expelled by Rimsky-Korsakov from his harmony class for "incredible laziness." Soon, however, he was reinstated at the conservatory and began to help M.A. Balakirev and Rimsky-Korsakov in preparing a new edition of the scores of Glinka’s operas “A Life for the Tsar” and “Ruslan and Lyudmila”. In 1877 he graduated with honors from the conservatory and was retained there as a professor of harmony and composition. Among Lyadov’s students are S. S. Prokofiev and N. Ya. Myaskovsky. In 1885 Lyadov began teaching theoretical disciplines at the Court Singing Chapel. Somewhat later, on behalf of the Imperial Geographical Society, he was engaged in the processing of folk songs collected during expeditions and published several collections, highly valued by researchers of Russian folklore.

Lyadov's compositional heritage is small in volume and consists mainly of works of small forms. The most famous are the picturesque symphonic poems - "Baba Yaga", "Magic Lake" and "Kikimora", as well as "Eight Russian Folk Songs" for orchestra, two collections of children's songs (op. 14 and 18) and a number of piano pieces (among them "Music box"). He composed two more orchestral scherzos (op. 10 and 16), the cantata “The Bride of Messina” after Schiller (op. 28), music for Maeterlinck’s play “Sister Beatrice” (op. 60) and ten church choirs (Ten Arrangements from Daily Life, collection of Orthodox chants). In 1909, S. P. Diaghilev ordered Lyadova for the Parisian “Russian Seasons” a ballet based on the Russian fairy tale about the Firebird, but the composer delayed completing the order for so long that the plot had to be transferred to I. F. Stravinsky. Lyadov died in a village near the town of Borovichi on August 28, 1914.

The composer continued his quest for his teacher, Rimsky-Korsakov. Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov. Together with his mentor, he taught at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. In 1905, as a sign of protest against the dismissal, he, who sympathized with the revolutionary students, submitted, together with Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov, a petition for expulsion from the professorship.

Lyadov did not write symphonies, operas, or large musical works in general. He was a principled miniaturist. But he finished each of his miniatures like a first-class jeweler.

You must have heard his “Music Box.” It can be seen performed by ballet dancers. Amazing play!

And his “Baba Yaga”, “Kikimora”, “Magic Lake”?

Kikimora

These are truly musical watercolors. They are written gracefully, subtly, with genuine poetry.

The orchestral colors of Lyadov’s miniatures are so rich that we seem to see not only the outlines of the picture that has arisen in our imagination, but also its color, its pattern, a surprisingly Russian ornament.

Lyadov smells of Russia not only in his adaptations of folk songs, but also where there is not a single quote from an original song composed by the people.

His orchestral miniature “Magic Lake” sounds like a Russian fairy tale. It is all woven from light, transparent sounds, and it seems that you need to listen to it without breathing, so as not to frighten away the charm of magic.

Lyadov searched for a long time for some description of the lake in Russian epics, trying to “rely” on it, but nowhere did he find what excited his imagination. And finally I discovered this lake very close, not far from the village in which I was born and where I loved to come in the summer.

Well, a simple Russian forest lake,” the composer admired, “and in its invisibility and silence it is especially beautiful.

The composer, enchanted, looked at this forest miracle:

You had to feel how many lives and how many changes in colors, light and shade, and air took place in the constantly changing silence and seeming stillness!

Lyadov transferred his impressions “to the unsteady speech of music, and it, the lake, became magical” (B. Asafiev).

A bewitching, thin, like a forest cobweb, melody appears barely audible, as if silence itself began to sound. The tremolo of the timpani is barely discernible, the bows of violins, violas and cellos lightly touch the strings, and the harps sound almost disembodied.

Suddenly a breeze passed, raising light ripples. Short phrases of woodwind instruments, celesta and harp are like colorful reflections flickering on the water, or sparkles of stars flashing in the thick blue of the night sky.

Cellos enter, then flutes. The orchestra is becoming more and more animated. The undulating passages of the violins convey the increasing agitation of the lake. In the sound of the oboes one can hear, as it were, sighs, mysterious and indefinite, as if mermaids are emerging from the depths of the waters. They swim to the shore, swing on the branches of weeping willows...

The orchestra conveys this fabulous charm in some kind of flickering sounds. The violins sing warmer and warmer, their voices become more appealing. Sweet languor reaches its limit. And again the sounds fade, the lake calms down. It goes to sleep. The mermaids are disappearing. Silence is barely audible again...

Oh, how I love him! - exclaimed the composer. - How picturesque it is, pure, with stars and mystery in the depths!.. Just dead nature - cold, evil, but fantastic, like in a fairy tale.

And Lyadov conveyed this fabulous charm of the enchanted forest lake in his orchestral miniature. The music of Lyadov’s “Magic Lake” is so airy, changeable and elusive that it is reminiscent of the works of the Impressionists.

...Lyadov modestly set aside for himself the field of miniatures - piano and orchestral - and worked on it with great love and care as an artisan and with the taste of a first-class artist-jeweler and master of style. The beautiful truly lived in him in a national-Russian spiritual form.
B. Asafiev

A. Lyadov belongs to the younger generation of a remarkable galaxy of Russian composers of the second half of the 19th century. He proved himself to be a talented composer, conductor, teacher, and musical and public figure. Lyadov’s work is based on images of Russian epic and folklore songs, fairy-tale fiction, he is characterized by contemplative lyrics and a subtle sense of nature; In his works there are elements of genre characterization and comedy. Lyadov's music is characterized by a bright, balanced mood, restraint in the expression of feelings, only sometimes interrupted by passionate, direct experience. Lyadov paid great attention to improving the artistic form: ease, simplicity and grace, harmonious proportionality - these were his highest criteria of artistry. His ideal was the work of M. Glinka and A. Pushkin. He spent a long time thinking about the works he created in every detail and then wrote down what he had composed completely, almost without any blots.

Lyadov's favorite musical form is a small instrumental or vocal piece. The composer jokingly said that he could not stand more than five minutes of music. All his works are miniatures, laconic and polished in form. Lyadov's work is small in volume, a cantata, 12 works for symphony orchestra, 18 children's songs on folk words for voice and piano, 4 romances, about 200 arrangements of folk songs, several choirs, 6 chamber instrumental works, over 50 pieces for piano.

Lyadov was born into a musical family. His father was a conductor of the Mariinsky Theater. The boy had the opportunity to listen to symphonic music at concerts and often visit the opera house for all rehearsals and performances. “He loved Glinka and knew it by heart. “Rogneda” and “Judith” Serov admired. On stage he took part in processions and crowds, and when he came home, he portrayed Ruslan or Farlaf in front of the mirror. He heard plenty of singers, choirs and orchestras,” recalled N. Rimsky-Korsakov. Musical talent manifested itself early, and in 1867, eleven-year-old Lyadov entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He studied practical composition with Rimsky-Korsakov. However, for absenteeism and indiscipline, he was expelled in 1876. In 1878, Lyadov entered the conservatory for the second time and in the same year brilliantly passed the final exam. As their graduation work, they presented the music for the final scene of F. Schiller's The Bride of Messina.

In the mid-70s. Lyadov meets members of the Balakirev circle. This is what Mussorgsky wrote about his first meeting with him: “...A new, undoubted, original and Russian young talent...” Communication with major musicians had a great influence on Lyadov’s creative formation. The range of his interests is expanding: philosophy and sociology, aesthetics and natural science, classical and modern literature. The urgent need of his nature was reflection. “Peck from the book what Do you need, and develop it at large, and then you will know what it means think", he later wrote to one of his friends.

Since the fall of 1878, Lyadov became a teacher at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he taught theoretical disciplines to performers, and from the mid-80s. He also teaches at the Singing Chapel. At the turn of the 70-80s. Lyadov began his conducting career in the St. Petersburg circle of music lovers, and later acted as a conductor in public symphony concerts founded by A. Rubinstein, as well as in Russian symphony concerts founded by M. Belyaev. His conducting qualities were highly appreciated by Rimsky-Korsakov, Rubinstein, and G. Laroche.

Lyadov's musical connections are expanding. He meets P. Tchaikovsky, A. Glazunov, Laroche, and becomes a participant in the “Belyaev Fridays”. At the same time, he gained fame as a composer. Since 1874, Lyadov’s first works were published: 4 romances op. 1 and “Spillkins” op. 2 (1876). Romances turned out to be Lyadov’s only experience in this genre; they were created under the influence of the “kuchkists”. “Spillkins” is Lyadov’s first piano work, which is a series of small pieces of different characters combined into a complete cycle. Already here Lyadov’s style of presentation is defined - intimacy, lightness, elegance. Until the early 1900s. Lyadov wrote and published 50 opuses. Most of them are small piano pieces: intermezzos, arabesques, preludes, impromptu, etudes, mazurkas, waltzes, etc. The “Musical Snuffbox” gained wide popularity, in which images of a doll and toy world are reproduced with particular subtlety and sophistication. Among the preludes, the Prelude in B minor Op stands out especially. 11, the melody of which is very close to the folk tune “And what is cruel in the world” from M. Balakirev’s collection “40 Russian folk songs”.

The largest works for piano include 2 variation cycles (on the theme of Glinka’s romance “Venetian Night” and on the Polish theme). One of the most famous plays was the ballad “About Antiquity.” This work is close to the epic pages of Glinka’s opera “Ruslan and Lyudmila” and A. Borodin’s “Bogatyrskaya” symphony. When in 1906 Lyadov made an orchestral version of the ballad “About Antiquity”, V. Stasov, having heard it, exclaimed: “Real button accordion You sculpted it here.”

At the end of the 80s. Lyadov turned to vocal music and created 3 collections of children's songs based on the texts of folk jokes, fairy tales, and refrains. Ts. Cui called these songs “tiny pearls in the most delicate, finished finish.”

Since the late 90s. Lyadov is passionate about processing folk songs collected by expeditions of the Geographical Society. Particularly noteworthy are 4 collections for voice and piano. Following the traditions of Balakirev and Rimsky-Korsakov, Lyadov widely uses the techniques of subvocal polyphony. And in this form of musical creativity, a typical Lyadovsky feature is manifested - intimacy (he uses a minimal number of voices, which form a light transparent fabric).

By the beginning of the 20th century. Lyadov becomes one of the leading and authoritative Russian musicians. At the conservatory, he was given special theoretical and composition classes, among his students were S. Prokofiev, N. Myaskovsky, B. Asafiev and others. Lyadov’s behavior in 1905, during the period of student unrest, can be called courageous and noble. Far from politics, he unconditionally joined the vanguard group of teachers who protested against the reactionary actions of the RMS. After his dismissal from the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory, Lyadov, together with Glazunov, announced his resignation from its professorship.

In the 1900s Lyadov turns mainly to symphonic music. He creates a number of works that continue the traditions of Russian classics of the 19th century. These are orchestral miniatures, the plots and images of which are suggested by folk sources (“Baba Yaga”, “Kikimora”) and contemplation of the beauty of nature (“Magic Lake”). Lyadov called them “fairy-tale pictures.” In them, the composer makes extensive use of the coloristic and pictorial capabilities of the orchestra, following the path of Glinka and the composers of the “Mighty Handful”. A special place is occupied by “Eight Russian Folk Songs for Orchestra”, in which Lyadov masterfully used genuine folk tunes - epic, lyrical, dance, ritual, round dance, expressing different aspects of the spiritual world of the Russian person.

During these years, Lyadov showed a keen interest in new literary and artistic movements, and this was reflected in his work. He writes music for M. Maeterlinck's play "Sister Beatrice", the symphonic picture "From the Apocalypse" and "Sorrowful Song for Orchestra". Among the composer’s latest plans are the ballet “Leila and Alalei” and the symphonic film “Kupala Night” based on the works of A. Remizov.

The last years of the composer's life were overshadowed by the bitterness of loss. Lyadov experienced the loss of friends and comrades very acutely and painfully: one after another, Stasov, Belyaev, and Rimsky-Korsakov passed away. In 1911, Lyadov suffered a serious illness from which he was no longer able to fully recover.

A clear indication of the recognition of Lyadov's merits was the celebration in 1913 of the 35th anniversary of his creative activity. Many of his compositions still enjoy wide popularity and love among listeners.

Biography
Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov is a Russian composer, conductor, teacher, musical and public figure. Born on May 11, 1855 in St. Petersburg in the family of the conductor of the Mariinsky Theater K.N. Lyadova and pianist V.A. Antipova. He began his musical studies under the guidance of his father; his mother died early. Anatoly Konstantinovich comes from a family of professional musicians (not only his father, but his uncle and grandfather were famous conductors of his time), he was brought up in the musical world from an early age. Lyadov's talent was manifested not only in his musical talent, but also in his excellent drawing and poetic abilities, as evidenced by many surviving witty poems and drawings.
In 1867-1878, Lyadov studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with professors J. Johansen (theory, harmony), F. Beggrov and A. Dubasov (piano), and from 1874 - in the composition class with N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov. Lyadov graduated from the conservatory, presenting as his graduation work the cantata “The Final Scene from The Bride of Messina, after Schiller.”
Communication with N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov determined the entire future fate of the young composer - already in the mid-70s. he became a member of the “Mighty Handful” as a junior representative (together with A.K. Glazunov) of the “New Russian Music School”, and in the early 80s. - Belyaevsky circle, where Lyadov immediately showed himself as a talented organizer, heading the publishing business. At the turn of the 80s. conducting activities began. Lyadov in concerts of the St. Petersburg Circle of Music Lovers and Russian Symphony Concerts. In 1878 he became a teacher at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Among his outstanding students are Prokofiev, Asafiev, Myaskovsky, Gnesin, Zolotarev, Shcherbachev. And since 1884 he taught in the instrumental classes of the Court Singing Chapel.
Contemporaries reproached Lyadov for his lack of creative productivity (especially his close friend Alexander Glazunov). One of the reasons for this is Lyadov’s financial insecurity, who is forced to do a lot of teaching work. Teaching took up a lot of the composer's time. Lyadov composed, in his own words, “in the cracks of time” and this very depressing for him. “I compose little and compose slowly,” he wrote to his sister in 1887. - Am I really just a teacher? I really wouldn’t want that!”
Until the early 1900s. The basis of Lyadov’s work was piano works, mainly pieces of small forms. More often these are non-program miniatures - preludes, mazurkas, bagatelles, waltzes, intermezzos, arabesques, impromptu, etudes. The play “The Musical Snuff Box” was very popular, as was the piano cycle “Spillkins”. In genre plays, some characteristic features of the music of Chopin and Schumann are implemented in an original way. But the author introduced his own individual element into these genres. In the piano works there are images of Russian folk songs; they are clearly national and in their poetic basis are related to the music of Glinka and Borodin.
Lyadov's lyrics are usually light and balanced in mood. She is reserved and slightly shy, ardent passions and pathos are alien to her. Distinctive features of the piano style are grace and transparency, refinement of thought, the predominance of fine technology - “jewelry” finishing of details. “The most subtle artist of sound,” he, according to Asafiev, “in place of the impressiveness of feeling puts forward the thriftiness of feeling, admiring the grains - the pearls of the heart.”
Among Lyadov’s few vocal works, “Children’s Songs” for voice and piano (1887-1890) stand out. They are based on truly folk texts of ancient genres - spells, jokes, sayings. These songs, continuously associated with the work of M. P. Mussorgsky (in particular, the “Children’s” cycle), in terms of genre, were continued in the vocal miniatures of I. F. Stravinsky on folk songs.
In the late 1890s and early 1900s. Lyadov created over 200 arrangements of folk songs for voice and piano and other performing groups (male and female, mixed choirs, vocal quartets, female voice with orchestra). Lyadov’s collections are stylistically close to the classical adaptations of M.A. Balakirev and N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov. They contain ancient peasant songs and preserve their musical and poetic features.
The result of his work on folklore songs was the suite “Eight Russian Folk Songs” for orchestra (1906). The small form has acquired a new quality: his symphonic miniatures, despite the conciseness of the composition, are not just miniatures, but complex artistic images in which rich musical content is concentrated. Lyadov's symphonic works developed the principles of chamber symphonism - one of the characteristic phenomena in symphonic music of the twentieth century.
In the last decade of his life, in addition to the suite “Eight Russian Folk Songs,” other miniatures for orchestra were created. These are program orchestral “pictures” of fairy-tale content: “Baba Yaga”, “Kikimora”, “Magic Lake”, as well as “Dance of the Amazon”, “Sorrowful Song”. The last work in the field of symphonic music, “Sorrowful Song” (1914), is associated with the images of Maeterlinck. It turned out to be the “swan song” of Lyadov himself, in which, according to Asafiev, the composer “opened a corner of his own soul, from his personal experiences he drew material for this sound story, truthfully touching, like a timid complaint.” This “confession of the soul” ended Lyadov’s career; the composer died on August 28, 1914.
During his creative career, Lyadov remained an admirer of the classically clear art of Pushkin and Glinka, the harmony of feeling and thought, the grace and completeness of musical thought. But at the same time, he vividly responded to the aesthetic aspirations of his time, became close and entered into creative contacts with representatives of the latest literary and artistic movements (poet S.M. Gorodetsky, writer A.M. Remizov, artists N.K. Roerich, I.Ya. Bilibin, A.Ya. Golovin, theater figure S. P. Dyagilev). But dissatisfaction with the world around him did not encourage the composer to engage in social issues in his work; art was personified in his mind with a closed world of ideal beauty and the highest truth.

Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov born in St. Petersburg in 1855. The composer created and worked in his hometown. His love for music is far from accidental. The Lyadov family was connected with music. Anatoly's father worked at the Mariinsky Theater where he was a conductor. Young Tolik was taught to play the piano by his aunt. The composer's life was not easy. Boy's mother died when he was six years old. The father began to lead a wild life. This, most likely, became the reason for the formation of some negative personal qualities, such as lack of will and lack of concentration.

From 1867 to 1878 Lyadov studied at the conservatory of his hometown. His teachers were famous throughout the world. The composer graduated with excellent marks. All the teachers praised him and had great hopes for the young man. One of Lyadov’s teachers helped the young man join the “Mighty Handful”- community of composers. However, this community soon disintegrated. There's something new "Belyaevsky Circle", which Anatoly joined. Together with other composers, Lyadov became involved in the work and management of the team. He selected, edited and published new works.

Personal life of Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov

The composer did not show off his personal life. He tried to hide her as much as possible from unnecessary and annoying eyes. Lyadov did not want to focus his attention wedding with Tolkacheva that he didn’t even share this joyful event with loved ones. Soon they had a child.

Lyadov’s wife almost never went out with him. However, this did not interfere with the relationship. He lived a happy and long life with her. They became parents and raised two wonderful children, who later became their greatest joy in life.

The composer's work

Contemporaries sometimes said that Lyadov wrote very little. Perhaps this can be justified by the fact that the composer's financial situation was very difficult. He had to earn money to feed himself and his family. The composer devoted a lot of time to pedagogy.

At the end of the seventies of the nineteenth century Lyadova invited to work as a professor at the conservatory. Work came first for the composer. There Anatoly stayed until the end of his days. However, he also found additional income. Lyadov taught in the singing choir at court.

The composer once admitted that he composed very little and only during breaks between teaching. Cycle "Spillkins" turned out to be the most original and popular of Lyadov’s early works. By the end of the eighties, the composer emerged as a master of miniatures. Between 1887 and 1890, Lyadov wrote three notebooks of “Children’s Songs.” Later Lyadov became interested in Russian folklore.

The last years of the life of Anatoly Lyadov

It was during these years that the masterpieces created by Lyadov appeared.

In the first decade of the twentieth century, Anatoly created such works as “Kikimora”, “Magic Lake”, “Baba Yaga”. In symphonic music, the last work was “Sorrowful Song”.

In August 1914 the composer died.