State folklore choirs and groups. H
Northern Russian folk choir - the soul of the White Sea
The Arkhangelsk Pomors are the descendants of the ancient Novgorodians who settled this region in ancient times. Their art is still preserved in its original form. This peculiar artistic world with its own laws and concepts of beauty. At the same time, in the songs and dances of the North, the humor, enthusiasm, and inner temperament characteristic of the Pomors are clearly manifested. Northern song art is special, it is distinguished by the severity of style, chaste purity and restraint, all this is combined with a courageous epic and strong-willed beginning.
The Northern Choir is rightly called the pearl of Russian culture. For 85 years of its existence, it has never changed its role. Each performance is a special artistic world and a bright dynamic performance: large plot performances, vocal and choreographic compositions, pictures of folk holidays. All the sound shades of northern nature are heard in the song polyphony of the choir: the pensive dialect of the taiga, the smooth chastity of the rivers, the echoing depth of the ocean and the transparent quivering of the white nights.
Antonina Yakovlevna KOLOTILOVA - founder and artistic director of the State Academic Northern Russian Folk Choir (1926 - 1960), People's Artist of the RSFSR, Honored Artist of the RSFSR, laureate of the State Prize of the USSR
“He who does not love his native song does not love his native people!”(A.Ya. Kolotilova)
Antonina Yakovlevna Kolotilova (Sherstkova) was born in 1890 in the village of Zhilino, not far from the ancient city of Veliky Ustyug.
In 1909, Kolotilova graduated with honors from the Veliky Ustyug Women's Gymnasium and went to teach at a rural school in the village of Pelyaginets, Nikolsky district, Vologda province. It was in this village that Antonina Kolotilova began to show her professional interest in folklore. She always observed the northern ceremonies with interest, listened to songs, learned to lament, magnify herself, mastered the manner of movement of girls and women in round dances, quadrilles, and bows.
Kolotilova, born and raised in the North of Russia, deeply loved her native land, especially the expanse of flood meadows at the time of flowering grasses.
In 1914, Antonina Yakovlevna got married and moved to Nikolsk. There she works as a teacher in a folk school and continues to collect and record local songs, tales, ditties. The inborn artistic talent helped the young girl to easily master the culture and manner of performance.
After 5 years, the Kolotilovs moved to Veliky Ustyug. It is in this ancient Russian northern city that the history of the Northern Choir begins. Here Antonina Yakovlevna organizes an amateur female ensemble, which performs in clubs, and a little later at a broadcast radio station that opened in the city. I must say that the first members of the team were mostly housewives. They easily came to her apartment, arranged collective rehearsals, studied the songs that interested them. The concerts of the young choristers were greeted with approval by the listeners, and the radio performances made the group very popular. At that time, there were about 15 people in the amateur choir of Kolotilova.
“Antonina Yakovlevna fully deserved the love of the people and the glory of herself, because she gave all her strength and thoughts, inexhaustible energy and passion of her soul to folk singing and the choir she created ... If this wonderful woman had not been in the world, there would not have been our Northern Russian folk chorus!"(Nina Konstantinovna Meshko)
Birth of the Northern Choir
In 1922, in Moscow, at the recording studio, Antonina Yakovlevna met Mitrofan Pyatnitsky. It was this meeting that became a landmark for Kolotilova. Acquaintance with the work of the Pyatnitsky choir served as an impetus for the creation of their own folk choir of northern songs. On March 8, 1926, a small amateur group performed for the first time at the House of Education Workers. This day became the birthday of the Northern Russian Folk Choir.
At first, the choir was ethnographic, but then the conditions of stage life required organizational and creative restructuring: a dance group and accordion players appeared. In 1952, an orchestral group was organized as part of the choir through the efforts of the composer V.A. Laptev.
In the team then there were only 12 singers. The outfits of mothers and grandmothers served as costumes - real peasant sundresses and blouses. The first harmonists were the Tryapitsyn brothers Boris and Dmitry, as well as the younger brother of Antonina Yakovlevna Valery Sherstkov. The parties at rehearsals were taught from the voice of the artistic director. Antonina Yakovlevna not only showed how to sing, but also how to move correctly, bow and behave on stage.
The newly created choir was always warmly welcomed at the enterprises of the city, in educational institutions, surrounding villages. The status of an amateur group did not prevent Kolotilova from working seriously, carefully treating the northern song and accurately reproducing the manner of her performance! She never changed these requirements in the future. In the early years, the choir performed mainly old folk songs, which the singers - former peasant women, indigenous inhabitants of the North - knew from childhood, possessed not only performing skills, but also folk improvisational style. No wonder the Northern Choir has long been considered the most ethnographically authentic, consistent in its creative line, preserving the traditions of the northern song, and the choir singers have always been distinguished by the ability to penetrate into the depths of the musical image and embody it in unique beauty.
In 1931, Kolotilova organized a choir in Arkhangelsk on a larger scale, both in terms of the number of participants and the volume of the repertoire. The concert programs include songs from Pinezhye, Northern Pomerania, dances and everyday scenes. The richest musical material Kolotilova collects herself during her trips to various regions of the Arkhangelsk region. At the same time, costumes for the choir members were purchased.
In 1935, while traveling around Pomorie, Antonina Yakovlevna met Marfa Semyonovna Kryukova, a famous storyteller. Kolotilova made sure that Kryukova participated in the first All-Union Radio Festival (1936). In the future, Marfa Kryukova traveled with the Northern Choir to Moscow, where, together with Antonina Yakovlevna, she worked on the first tales.
In addition to epics, the choir's programs always included funny, dancing, comic songs-buffoons, leading from the art of itinerant musicians-buffoons, and drawn-out lyric songs, which the singers performed in a touching and sincere manner.
During the war, the team gave a lot of concerts. They traveled in vans, lived from hand to mouth, lacked sleep, and now and then escaped from the bombings. They went to the Northern Fleet, to Murmansk, the Arctic, to the Karelian-Finnish front, to the Urals. In 1944 they left for six months to the Far East.
Antonina Kolotilova: “I love my native North and I sing songs to it!”
Until 1960, Antonina Yakovlevna remained the artistic director of the group. All the years of Kolotilova's work were filled with tireless, hard work and creative burning, a sincere desire to preserve and convey to contemporaries the depth of originality and beauty of the folk art of the Northern Territory, a constant search for new stage forms and performing means. Kolotilova's life was a true creative feat, and the traditions laid down by her are alive in the team.
Source: Prominent Vologda Residents: Biographical Sketches/
Ed. council "Vologda encyclopecia" - Vologda:
VSPU, publishing house "Rus", 2005. - 568 p. - ISBN 5-87822-271-X
In 1960, People's Artist of the RSFSR, laureate of the State Prize Antonina Yakovlevna Kolotilova handed over the leadership of the group to a graduate of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, an experienced teacher and choirmaster Nina Konstantinovna Meshko. The new period in the life of the team is marked by the growth of professionalism and stage culture.
Nina Konstantinovna Meshko - People's Artist of the USSR, laureate of the State Prize of the RSFSR named after Glinka, artistic director of the northern folk choir from 1960 to 2008, academician of the IAU, professor of the department of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Gnesins
“The people are based on their traditional, indigenous culture!”(Nina Meshko)
Nina Meshko was born in 1917 in the village of Malakhovo, Rzhevsky District, Tver Region, in a family of teachers, where they were very fond of songs. Mom, Alexandra Vasilievna, had a wonderful voice, and her father, Konstantin Ivanovich, not only led the school choir, but also loved to sing in the local church.
From the memoirs of N.K. Meshko: “I don’t remember how old I was, maybe even less than a year ... I was wrapped in a downy scarf, and someone was holding me in their arms. In the kitchen, people were sitting around a large wooden table, and everyone was singing. And at the same time I experienced some completely inexplicable bliss ... "Little Nina independently mastered playing the piano, studied elementary music theory, solfeggio. And she was so captured by the world of music that she decided: only music and nothing else! And therefore, without any doubt, Nina Meshko enters the music school named after the October Revolution, and after graduating from the Moscow Conservatory to the conductor and choral faculty. It was there that Nina Konstantinovna first heard the Northern Choir. He made a very strong impression on her.
And then Nina Meshko was offered to create a folk choir of the Moscow region. It was after this work that Nina Konstantinovna finally decided: only folk singing and nothing else.
From the memoirs of N.K. Meshko: “Some kind of obsession literally burst into me to revive the folk culture of singing. Because she was the best! This is such a skill! This is evidenced by the records, especially the northern ones.After the Moscow Choir, Nina Meshko worked with the Russian Folk Song Choir of the All-Union Radio, and then an invitation to lead the Northern Choir followed. The North conquered her and made her fall in love with herself.
From the memoirs of N.K. Meshko: “Performing a song like in the North can be done by people who are remarkably familiar with the culture of singing, having beautiful, flexible, free voices.”For almost 50 years, Nina Konstantinovna Meshko led the Academic Northern Russian Folk Choir, known not only in Russia, but also far beyond its borders. She took over this baton from her teacher Antonina Kolotilova. Under Nina Meshko, the choir became a laureate of various international competitions. Meshko was the founder of the Gnessin School of Folk Singing. "School Meshko" brought up a galaxy of teachers, choirmasters and folk song performers. Among them are Tatyana Petrova, Nadezhda Babkina, Lyudmila Ryumina, Natalya Boriskova, Mikhail Firsov and many others. Lyudmila Zykina considered her to be her teacher. Meshko developed her own choral technique, which is now used by her numerous students.
From the memoirs of N.K. Meshko: “Song art is a chronicle of the life of the entire Russian people. It is unique, extraordinarily rich, as the Russian language is unsurpassedly rich. And then it is alive, continuously developing, renewing, reborn from the ashes ... The people are based on their traditional, indigenous culture.
ConfessionN. MeshkoForgive me, forgive me Lord
For what I couldn't do
And in the hustle and bustle of the day
I didn't have time to pay off my debts.
I didn't get to give
Someone look, someone caress,
One did not ease the pain,
I didn't tell the story to others.
In front of relatives at a mournful hour
Didn't repent
And the beggar in the bag more than once
Didn't give alms.
Loving friends, often them
I involuntarily offend myself
And seeing the sorrows of others,
I run away from suffering.
I rush eagerly to the sky,
But the burden of worries attracts to the earth.
I want to give a piece of bread -
And I forget on the table.
I know everything I should
But did not fulfill the covenant ...
Will You forgive me Lord
For everything, for everything, for everything for this?
Irina Lyskova,
Press Secretary of the Northern Choir
The originality of the repertoire and attention to the song richness of the region
The leading group of the collective - the women's choir captivates the listener with its unique timbre, the beauty of original chants, the purity of the sound of women's voices a cappella. The choir maintains the continuity of the singing tradition. The northern choir, which is distinguished by a high singing culture and unique originality, stably preserves the traditions and the priority of high spirituality in performance.
The costumes of the Northern Choir deserve special attention. Created by professional costume designers, based on the best samples from the museum collections of Arkhangelsk, Moscow, St. Petersburg, they are a collective image of the Russian national costume of the northerners. During the concert, the artists change costumes several times - appearing before the audience in festive, everyday or stylized costumes created specifically for concert numbers.
The group consists of three groups - choral, dance and orchestra of Russian folk instruments. Back in 1952, an orchestral group was organized as part of the choir through the efforts of the composer V.A. Laptev. In the sound of Russian folk instruments of the orchestra there is an amazing sincerity and warmth. The originality of the repertoire and attention to the song richness of the region, modernity and a high level of performance bring the choir a well-deserved success!
The viewer's attention is constantly riveted to the stage: cheerful buffoons alternate with lyrical lingering songs, fervent quadrilles replace sedate round dances, a cappella singing alternates with musical works.
The Northern Choir pays special attention to the education of its listener, its viewer, so many of its programs are dedicated to children, teenagers and students. The choir actively continues its concert activity in Russia and abroad.
In 1957, the team became a laureate of the festival of youth and students in Moscow. This event opened the way for the choir abroad. A new stage in the activities of the collective has begun, in order to achieve recognition abroad, the choir must be special.
Since 1959, the choir has traveled to Poland, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, China, India, Afghanistan, Japan, Tunisia, and the USA. The team went to Finland several times with concerts, visited Sweden and Norway. Prepared the program "Arctic Rhapsody" together with the folklore dance ensemble "Rimpparemmi" in Finland (Rovaniemi). He worked in 2004 and 2007 in Damascus (Syria), where the Days of Russia were held in the Russian-Syrian center. In 2005, the team is invited by the museum association of the city of Varde (Norway) to celebrate the anniversary of the city. In the autumn of 2005 the team takes part in the festival of Russian culture and cinematography in Nice. “The most intimate corners of the French soul were touched by artists - northerners from Russia, having received a powerful emotional response, the audience did not let the artists go for a long time, applauding with tears in their eyes. This is the triumph of Russian national folk art!” - this is how the performances of the choir were assessed by the French media. In 2007, the Northern Choir was officially invited by the Ministry of Culture of Syria, the Representation of the Roszarubezhcenter in the Syrian Arab Republic and the Russian Cultural Center in Damascus to the folklore festival in the city of Bosra.
The Northern Choir is a regular participant in big events in Russia, so in the spring of 2004, the team took part in the Easter Festival in Moscow, in 2005, together with the Honored Artist of Russia, a student of N.K. Meshko T. Petrova and the National Academic Orchestra of Folk Instruments of Russia named after N.P. Osipova took part in the celebration of the 250th anniversary of Moscow State University.
The Northern Choir successfully combines the author's music of modern composers with traditional folk melos, achieving stage truth and northern flavor in the performance of the artists. The repertoire of the choir includes songs based on poems by: Sergei Yesenin, Olga Fokina, Larisa Vasilyeva, Alexander Prokofiev, Viktor Bokov, Arkhangelsk poets Dmitry Ushakov and Nikolai Zhuravlev, Oleg Dumansky.
Awards and titles of the northern choir
For its 85-year creative life, the team has been awarded high titles and awards.
1940
The team was given the status of a professional state team.
1944
1 prize at the All-Russian review of choirs (Moscow)
1957
Laureate and Big Gold Medal of the VI World Festival of Youth and Students (Moscow).
Laureate and Diploma of the 1st degree (secondary) in the second All-Union Festival of Musical Theatres, Ensembles, Choirs (Moscow).
1967
Diploma of the All-Union review of professional art groups.
1971
Laureate of the VI International Folklore Festival in Tunis.
1975
Laureate and Diploma of the 1st degree in the All-Russian Review of Professional Russian Folk Choirs.
1976
By order of the Minister of Culture, he was awarded the title - "Academic".
1977
Laureate and Gold Medal of the Magdeburg Festival of Soviet-German Friendship.
Laureate of the competition of artistic groups of Russia.
1999
Laureate of the IV festival "Folklore Spring" and the 1st All-Russian Festival of National Culture.
year 2001
Laureate of the International Folklore Festival in Saint-Ghislain (Belgium).
2002
Laureate of the International Folklore Festival in Rovaniemi (Finland).
Laureate of the All-Russian Moscow Festival of National Cultures.
2003
Laureate of the Russian Festival of National Cultures (St. Petersburg).
Winner of the congress and festival of national cultures of the peoples of Russia (Nizhny Novgorod).
2007
Laureate of the festival of folk art in the city of Bosra (Syrian Arab Republic).
2010
Laureate of the I All-Russian Festival of Folk Singing Art "Eternal Origins" (Moscow).
2011
On March 8, the concert program "Northern Choir for All Times" marked the 85th anniversary of the Northern Choir.
The Northern Choir was given the status of "Especially valuable object of cultural heritage of the Arkhangelsk region".
Laureate of the International Christmas Festival in Italy. As part of the competition, the team received two gold diplomas in the nominations "Stage Folklore" and "Spiritual Singing".
year 2012
Laureate of the festival of professional choirs "Slavic round dance" (Ryazan).
Organizer of the II All-Russian Festival in memory of the People's Artist of the USSR, artistic director of the group Nina Konstantinovna Meshko.
Leaders of the Northern Choir
Choir director: Natalya GeorgievnaAsadchik.
Artistic director: Honored Artist of Russia, Professor of the Gnessin Academy of Music Svetlana Konopyanovna Ignatieva.
Chief Conductor: Honored Artist of Russia Alexander Mikhailovich Kachaev.
Chief choreographer: Honored Artist of Russia Selivanov Alexander Petrovich.
The textbook covers the main issues of working with the Russian folk choir. This edition has been revised and supplemented. Intended for teachers and students of departments for the training of leaders of the folk choir of music universities.
FOREWORD
With the development of Soviet choral art, interest in national traditions, including folk choirs, is growing more and more. With their versatile concert and creative activities, folk choirs have won a firm place in Soviet performance, as they represent an independent type of choral art with the deepest traditions. Based on the generalization of the creative practice of these groups, it became possible to create a methodology for working with the Russian folk choir, and the need arose for professional training of specialists in this field of managing folk choirs.
In 1966 (for the first time in Russia!) at the Department of Choral Conducting of the State Musical and Pedagogical Institute named after Gnesny, a department was opened to train leaders of Russian folk choirs. In parallel, such a department began to function in the Saratov, and later in the Urals conservatories. After that, a sharp turn took place in the system of professional music education: a network of folk choral departments arose and continues to grow in cultural institutions, music and cultural educational schools. Folklore classrooms of Russian music, clubs of Russian folk songs are being created at educational institutions. All this should bridge the gap that has existed for a long time between professional education and the practice of folk music, and prepare choir conductors of a broader profile who meet the requirements of life.
The education of folk singers in choirs is carried out in a practical way, so the methods of educational and artistic work in them are diverse. Nevertheless, the basic methodological principles are the same and can be studied in a special course. At the same time, it should be taken into account that the folk performance of our days continues to develop: the features of the style of the modern Russian folk choir, its vocal and choral organization and methodological principles are still being studied and systematized. This will create a certain difficulty in studying the methodology of working with the choir.
The purpose of this course is to give future choir conductors knowledge in the field of leading a Russian folk song choir, to instill the necessary ability to navigate the stylistic features of this choir to apply them in their performing activities, as well as an interest in various forms of work in a folk choir. This course consists of lectures, seminars and prepares students for the practice of working with a folk choir.
The textbook covers the main issues of the lecture course: organization of the choir and selection of performers, repertoire and singing education, improvisation, work on the content and performance of songs and others.
Some of the sections are not strictly methodological, for example: style features of the Russian folk choir, vocal and choral structure, score. Nevertheless, consideration of them is necessary to understand the theoretical foundations of the folk choir, since we still do not have a scientific development of choral building and choral management in the field of folk singing performance. Only a few works devoted to these issues are known.
In the section "Score of the folk choir" only some regularities of folk choral scores are analyzed and the issues of arrangement are almost not touched upon, since the methods of processing and arrangement for the compositions of folk choirs require special study.
The experience of the folk choir departments of music universities led the author to the need to add a chapter on professional folk choirs to the second edition of the textbook. Some of them are known only from newspaper and magazine reviews of individual concerts. We have collected and systematized the material of the last years of the creative activity of all twelve choirs. The sheet music appendix contains the characteristic scores of these choirs. This edition includes another new chapter - "Instrumental accompaniment in the folk choir", which is also necessary for future team leaders.
The list of literature given at the end of the textbook is given with recommendations for individual chapters.
Foreword
1. From the history of the formation of the Russian folk choir genre.
2. Genre features and performing forms of the modern Russian folk choir
3. Repertoire.
4. Vocal-choral structure
5. Score of the Russian folk choir
6. Organization of the folk choir and selection of performers
7. Singing education
8. Work on songs with elements of movement
9. Issues of improvisation Collective creativity
10. Work on the content and performance of the songs
11. Organization of performance
12 Instrumental accompaniment in folk choir
13. Musical and educational work in the folk choir.
14. Features of the activities of the head of the folk choir.
15. Professional Russian folk choirs
Literature
Music application:
AY, YES YOU, NIGHTS Folk song of the Moscow region.
ON THE HILL, ON THE SHORE. Words and melody by A. OLENICHEVA. Arranged by V. ZAKHAROV
WHITE SNOW. Words and melody by A. OLENICHEVO. Arranged by A. KOLOSOV
MOSCOW LYRICAL. Words by V. BOKOV. Music by N. POLIKARPOV
Oh, YOU MOUNTAINS. Ural folk song. Chant of the Ural Choir
NOT WHITE DAWN. Penza folk song. Arranged by N. KUTUZOV
VOROBYEVSKIE MOUNTAINS. Russian folk song
MOMMA SCREAMS. Folk song of the Krasnoyarsk Territory
HAVE THE EAGLE WITH THE SWAN BATHED. Folk song of the Moscow region.
NOTHING I CAN DO WITH MYSELF. Words and music by N. POLIKARPOV
NOISE, NOISE, DUBRAVUSHKA. Music by A. ABRAMSKY. Words by N. GERASIMOV
FROM SIBERIAN SPACIOUS FIELDS. Melody and words of the Krutinsky choir. Chant of the Omsk choir
IN ORESHIN'S FIELD. The chant of the folk choir
YOU, SIBERIA, NATIVE SIDE. Chant and lyrics by A. OLENICHEVA
BAND. Folk song of the Voronezh region.
I'M SO YOUNG. Words by N. GERASIMOV. Music by A. ABRAMSKY
THERE IS A SEA IN THE FAR EAST. Folk song of the Irtysh Cossacks. Recorded and edited by E.Konkov
IT WAS WELL, BROTHERS, IN THE DEPARTMENT. Folk song of the Krasnodar Territory
FLOWERS, MY FLOWERS. Folk song of the Rostov region
Scores of the State Russian Folk Choirs
SIT VETERANS. Music by A. PAKHMUTOVA. Words by M. LVOV Arranged by V. Levashov. From the repertoire of the choir. Pyatnitsky
FOR THE DVINA, FOR THE NORTH. Words by V. BOKOV and POLIKARPOV. From the repertoire of the Northern Folk Choir
OH YOU, FROSTS Folk song of the Rostov region. From the repertoire of the Ensemble of the Don Cossacks
EH, YES WHAT YOU, FIELDS. Arranged by K. MASSALITINOV. From the repertoire of the Voronezh Folk Choir
ON THE MOUNTAIN, ON THE GORONKA. Folk song. Processing V. HOT. From the repertoire of the Ural folk choir
WHAT IS BURNING IS BURNING. Arranged by V. LEVASHOV From the repertoire of the Siberian Folk Choir
I DID NOT KNOW, I DID NOT KNOW. Arranged by N. KUTUZOV From the repertoire of the Radio Russian Song Choir
YOU, MY NIGHT. From the repertoire of the Ryazan Folk Choir Arranged by E. POPOVA
SIBERIAN SUFFERINGS. Arranged by E. KALUGINA. From the repertoire of the Omsk Folk Choir
OH, STAFF, THE RESED WIRED. Arranged by M. CHUMAKOVA. From the repertoire of the Volga Folk Choir
WIDE YOU, STEPPE. Russian folk song. Arranged by A. KOLOSOV From the repertoire of the Orenburg Folk Choir
OH, POLY HAS THREE TRACKS. Song of the Black Sea Cossacks. Arranged by Y. ZATSARNY From the repertoire of the Kuban Cossack Folk Choir
Folklore of the Ryazan land
Ryazan distances are wide and immense. The boundless Meshchera forests gently whisper about something with a light breeze. Among the flowering meadows, the unhurried blue-eyed Oka streams its clear waters. How many talents this land has endowed and surprised, and what songs live in the soul of the people here, in the heart of Russia!
All the original features of the song tradition of the Ryazan region are carefully preserved by the Ryazan Choir, whose repertoire is based on old songs. The soul of the people sounds in them - sometimes sad and thoughtful, sometimes tender and loving, yearning for happiness. The choir and soloists manage to convey the flavor of each tune with great authenticity and accuracy. And today, as before, the creative credo of the collective remains unchanged - the revival, preservation and development of the richest folklore traditions of the native land and Russian folk singing culture.
The choir was created in 1946 on the basis of the folklore ensemble of the village of Bolshaya Zhuravinka, Ryazhsky district, Ryazan region. Its founder and first artistic director, Irina Ivanovna Kosilkina, managed to create a professional choir of Russian folk songs from an amateur group. Since 1950, a native of the Starozhilovsky District, a graduate of the Moscow State Conservatory named after P.I. E.G. Popov subtly and carefully treated the origins of the songwriting of his native land. He recorded and processed hundreds of melodies included in the golden fund of the repertoire of the Ryazan Folk Choir. The sound of the choir is unique and original. It is characterized by warmth, sincerity and penetrating lyrics, so characteristic of the Russian soul. And his songs are just as unique - part of the musical treasury of Russia, songs that are composed in the "country of birch calico". The choral and dance traditions of the native land are carefully preserved. Ryazan folklore underlies dances and vocal-choreographic paintings.
Kosilkina Irina Ivanovna, a native of the village of Bolshaya Zhuravinka, a self-taught musician, a woman with great creative will and organizational skills, led the Zhuravinsky Choir, and then the Ryazan Folk Choir
The 30s are already distant, the Ryazan outback. And here, in the village of Bolshaya Zhuravinka, Ryazhsky District, local peasants gather for rehearsals. Not on the edge. Not outside the outskirts in a round dance. Not at gatherings, but in the choir. Time so predetermined - then the Russian song did not stop. For the sake of fairness, it should be said, perhaps, that at that time in the Ryazhsky district there were many other rural choirs: Fofanovsky, for example, Egoldaevsky... "sound, with colorful undertones and a unique repertoire - from" his village ".
In those years, a small number of nugget singers, natives of the village, “played” in the choir (in many Ryazan and Russian villages they still say not “sing”, but “play”). And the first public performance of the Zhuravinians took place in 1932 and aroused the most lively interest.
And since the 30s, this original group was headed by Irina Ivanovna Kosilkina, a well-known singer in the village and a writer of ditties. She determined his future fate. All the pre-war years, the choir was visible (and was noted repeatedly) at various regional reviews, often invited to Moscow for creative Olympiads (there were such before), where the Zhuravinians, representing the Ryazan land, showed their deep Russian folk performing art.
And then the Zhuravinians were called artlessly - "the choir of the collective farm named after Karl Marx."
In those years, the favorite songs of the village of Bolshaya Zhuravinka were the basis of the choir's repertoire: “Oh, yes, the red sun has set”, “The girls have sown flax”, “Rowan-rowan”. They also willingly sang original songs of those years, as they would say now, the period of collective farm construction: such was life ...
During the Great Patriotic War, the singers of the Zhuravin choir Gorbunov and Korolkov with the accordion player Letaev, as part of a concert team, traveled a lot along the front roads, for several months they performed in front of the soldiers of the Red Army in often difficult conditions, at the risk of their lives ...
...And now the 46th year, which can be called fateful (I'm not afraid of this word) in the life of the choir! On October 27, 1946, by decision of the Regional Council, the Zhuravinsky Russian Song Choir was "transferred" to the number of professional ones, becoming the State Ryazan Russian Folk Choir. And its first professional artistic director was Irina Ivanovna Kosilkina. For her now there was a difficult and responsible task: to lead the team along an unfamiliar path before - professional performance.
From the first days, she took as the main thing the most careful attitude to local singing traditions. However, this in a new role for her, of course, frankly speaking, was not enough. It was difficult for her to master musical literacy, but she, realizing the need for this in her work, was persistent and tireless. He goes to the Tula region, to the city of Venev, studies there at music education courses ...
Irina Ivanovna travels around the villages a lot at this time, collecting songs, authentic folk costumes of the Ryazan region - everything for the formation of her native choir. At the same time, she recorded folk Russian songs that we now know and perform, such as “Oh, yes, along the edge of the forester”, “Oh, take a walk, girls, time”, “Dream is sitting”, “Under the roof of a sparrow” and many, many others: round dance, wedding, comic, dance! And now 90 years, it turns out, from the day of her birth. And on my desktop in my office, Irina Ivanovna’s field notes are still “desk books” - notebooks with musical notes of Ryazan songs that she made during her trips.
I cannot fail to mention how Irina Ivanovna Kosilkina worked with the choir in a peculiar way, according to the principles of folk improvisation. In class, she asked singers to “look for their voices.” This is typical for the traditional folk performance of songs.
The traditions of collecting song folklore, started by Irina Ivanovna Kosilkina, were continued, not forgotten (and this is especially important). In the first years of his creative work in the choir, Yevgeny Grigoryevich Popov invariably turned to folklore material collected by Irina Ivanovna. She at that time, remaining a folklore consultant in the team, strongly supported his interest in the origins of folk performance. And those of her notebooks, which are now in the cultural baggage of our choir, were constantly turned over to them.
Recorded by Nikolai Reunov, Ryazanskiye Vedomosti, 05/22/2001
(From an interview with A.A. Kozyrev)
“Verses from the main song of Arina Kosilkina” is a documentary film about the life and career of Irina Ivanovna Kosilkina. The film was presented for the first time as part of the Seventh Garet Readings and is dedicated to the upcoming 100th anniversary of Irina Kosilkina.
Evgeny Grigoryevich Popov - choir conductor, composer, People's Artist of the RSFSR, student of K.B. Birds, artistic director of the Ryazan folk choir
His fate is to be envied. In the village of Gulynki, in the Ryazan region, where he was born in the family of a rural paramedic Grigory Aristarkhovich Popov, the song was in honor. They sang in the house, they sang in the winter at gatherings in a neighboring hut, they sang at the outskirts on spring and summer nights. Judging by family memories, the culprit was a neighbor - a carpenter, the first dancer in the village and a musician. As a sign of deep respect for the local paramedic, he made a three-string balalaika for his four-year-old son. The parents were surprised at the childishly serious attitude of little Zhenya to the new toy. But, noticing how, having matured, the boy is more and more drawn to musical instruments, can listen to the singing of village women for hours, the parents realized that their son is forever lost to medicine, technology, science and many other areas of human activity. It was a happy loss: the song won from it.
The joyful discovery of Russian song wealth accompanied E. Popov in his native village, and in the Ryazan Musical College, and in the Moscow State Conservatory. But not everything was easy and joyful. On the very day when, at the entrance exams to the conservatory, E. Popov passed solfeggio and harmony, a girl ran into the audience and exhaled: “War ...”
And Popov put on a soldier's overcoat. He served in the Far East, participated in the war with Japan. And, having been demobilized from the unit, the next day he appeared at the conservatory. He was reasonably remarked: "It's February outside, classes started in September, so come back next year." A happy accident helped. The deputy dean of the conducting and choir faculty entered the study department: “Popov? I remember you very well from the pre-war entrance exams. Look for your old exam sheet in the archive. But the course has been going on for five months. Can you catch up?"
Popov did it. Worked 14 hours a day. He practiced at the Bolshoi Theater, which became for him a real school of Russian singing culture.
Having received a diploma with honors, a talented conductor, a young composer E. Popov, refuses a flattering offer to engage in teaching activities at the Saratov Conservatory and happily agrees to head the Ryazan Russian Folk Choir, unknown to anyone in those years. The choir at that time was going through a difficult period: there were no premises for rehearsals, housing, there were not enough basic musical literacy. The team was based in the village of Zhuravinka, Ryazhsky district, and came to Ryazan as if on tour. Horus melted. By the arrival of E. Popov, 14 people remained in it. Thanks to the organizational skills of E. Popov, a week later the choir received a hostel in Ryazan, the stage of one of the factory clubs for classes. In a short time the team was completed. They began to study musical notation, the history of music.
Folklore expeditions organized by Popov follow one after another.
Evgeny Grigorievich collected about 300 songs from the Ryazan region. More than 100 songs are processed by the composer and performed by the Ryazan choir, causing the admiration of the audience. And today they sound “Are you a mountain ash”, “Oh, yes, the red sun has set”, “Rowan-rowan” ...
In 2001, the State Academic Ryazan Russian Folk Choir was honored with the name of its legendary artistic director, Evgeny Popov. Evgeny Popov entered the history of Russian musical culture forever.
“Happy is the person who one day turns off the highway onto a country road, sees an overgrown pond near his native outskirts, a house blackened by bad weather, where every knot in the white-washed floorboards is familiar, and suddenly feels, understands in his heart that it is impossible to serve Russia without serving his native places. »- said E.G. Popov.
The pearl of the repertoire of the Ryazan choir, the hallmark of not only the choir, but the entire Ryazan region was the song by Yevgeny Popov on the verses of Sergei Yesenin "Above the window of the month"
In the choir's repertoire, a special place is occupied by songs based on poems by Sergei Yesenin, the music for which was written by E. Popov. Here is what he said: “Sergei Yesenin is not only a great Russian poet for us, but also a dear, close fellow countryman. Our Ryazan nature is uniquely sung by him. In his poems, a lot of our Ryazan words, turns, expressions, and most importantly, the soul of the people lives in Yesenin's poetry, every line of his poems is permeated with love for his native land.
And the fire of the dawn, and the splashing of the waves, and the silvery moon, and the rustle of the reeds, and the immense blue of the sky, and the blue expanse of the lakes - all the beauty of the native land over the years has been cast into poems full of love for the Russian land.
From heartfelt poems about the “country of birch calico”, the breadth of its steppe expanses, blue lakes, the noise of green oak forests to disturbing thoughts about the fate of Russia in the “harsh terrible years”, every Yesenin image, every Yesenin line is warmed by a feeling of boundless love for the Motherland.
Yesenin knew Russian poetry, especially appreciated the verses that became folk songs, dreamed that his poetry would be "absorbed into the flesh of the people." Many composers have turned and are turning to Yesenin's poetry.
A significant part of the repertoire of the Ryazan Choir is composed of songs based on poems by Sergei Yesenin - this is not only a tribute to the great countryman, but also an inexhaustible source of inspiration for composers, performers and listeners.
The first song by E. Popov to the verses of S. Yesenin "Birch" appeared in 1956. The composer recalls: “This is one of the early works of the poet, created by him at the age of 15. It depicts Russian nature, I would say even Ryazan nature: a winter landscape in very light, soft colors ... And I tried to write music that was also light, lyrical, so that the birch was ours, Ryazan, not only in poetry, but also in music."
Songs based on poems by Sergei Yesenin are both a tribute to the great countryman and an inexhaustible source of inspiration by the Ryazan Choir.
“One of the most poetic miracles of S. Yesenin,” says the composer, “is the already mature poetry of a man who has seen a lot, traveled far from his homeland, but retained in his soul a living and quivering love for his native land. Creating a song for these verses, I tried to carefully preserve all their charm, rich poetic overtones.
The beauty of the “country of birch calico” sung by the great Russian poet, its wonderful people found a second musical, stage life in the art of the Ryazan Russian Folk Choir. These are traditional folk songs of the Ryazan region in excellent musical arrangements by the legendary leaders of the choir - E.G. Popova and A.A. Kozyrev. Magnificent song lyrics to the verses of Sergei Yesenin by the composers of the Ryazan land - Evgeny Popov, Alexander Ermakov, Georgy Galakhov, the brightest musical heritage of our fellow countryman, composer Alexander Averkin.
The choir performs all the songs written by our Russian poet from the Ryazan region, Sergei Yesenin. The choir from Ryazan sings the songs of their great countrymen! And next to Ryazan is the village of Konstantinovo, where Sergei Yesenin was born and raised.
“Moon is above the window. Under the window wind. The flown poplar is silvery and bright ... ”- a song comes from the receiver. And from the toes, hands, hair roots, from every cell of the body, a drop of blood rises to the heart, pricks it, fills it with tears and bitter delight, you want to run somewhere, hug someone alive, repent before the whole world or hide in a corner. and roar out all the bitterness that is in the heart, and that which will still be in it. Having poured out the feelings that flooded over him with a song, the author concluded his confession with the words: “Hats off, Russia! Yesenin sing!(Victor Astafiev)
The State Academic Ryazan Russian Folk Choir named after E. Popov is a pearl of Russian culture
Today, the group is a synthesis of three areas of folk performing arts: vocal and choral, dance and instrumental, where each performer is a professional artist and has special training and education.
The creative credo of the choir is the preservation, development and revival on the stage of the richest heritage of folklore traditions and modern author's music in the genre of folk performance.
A large creative activity in the status of the state folk choir is aimed at preserving the local original manner of singing, recording and processing Ryazan folklore and searching for new works that meet the criteria of genuine art.
Among the new numbers - "Ryazan holiday", the song of the Saraevsky region "Bochenka". Dynamics and enthusiasm were added by vocal and choreographic pictures on the themes of Ryazan crafts, prepared for the festival "Slavic round dance". Coopers, blacksmiths, carpenters, Mikhaylov's lace makers appeared in the productions... Perhaps the most striking thing was the number "Potters". Clay, potter's wheel, the process of birth under the hands of a work of art - it's amazing that all this can be shown through dance. The composition once conquered the hearts of the audience and has now returned to the stage. The constant search for new expressive means led to the creation of compositions based on elements of folk crafts: "Mikhailovskoe lace", "Skopin potters".
The singer of another region Vladimir Soloukhin wrote: “You can mistake the song of a nightingale for a trill of a bird, until you suddenly hear the true singer of the Russian forest. It's impossible to go wrong here. So trills are perfect and unique.
From arafans to the floor, kokoshniks and song art. Russian folk choirs with the title of "academic" - as recognition of the highest level of stage performance. More about the path of the "populists" to the big stage - Natalia Letnikova.
Kuban Cossack Choir
200 years of history. The songs of the Cossacks are either a horse march, or a foot sortie under “Marusya, one, two, three ...” with a valiant whistle. 1811 - the year of the creation of the first choir in Russia. A living historical monument that carried through the centuries the history of the Kuban and the singing traditions of the Cossack army. At the origins were the spiritual enlightener of the Kuban, Archpriest Kirill Rossinsky and the regent Grigory Grechinsky. From the middle of the 19th century, the team not only participated in divine services, but also gave secular concerts in the spirit of the reckless Cossack freemen and, according to Yesenin, "merry longing."
Mitrofan Pyatnitsky Choir
A team that has proudly called itself "peasant" for a century. And even if today professional artists perform on stage, and not ordinary vociferous Great Russian peasants from Ryazan, Voronezh and other provinces, the choir presents a folk song in amazing harmony and beauty. Each performance is admirable, like a hundred years ago. The first concert of the peasant choir took place in the hall of the Noble Assembly. The audience, including Rachmaninov, Chaliapin, Bunin, left shocked after the performance.
Northern Folk Choir
A simple rural teacher Antonina Kolotilova lived in Veliky Ustyug. For needlework, she gathered lovers of folk songs. On a February evening they sewed linen for an orphanage: “The smooth, soft light falling from the lightning lamp created a special comfort. And outside the window the February bad weather raged, the wind whistled in the chimney, rattled the boards on the roof, threw snow flakes out the window. From this discrepancy between the warmth of a cozy room and the howl of a snow blizzard, it was a little sad in the soul. And suddenly a song sounded, sad, lingering ... " This is how the northern tune sounds - 90 years. Already off the stage.
Ryazan Folk Choir named after Evgeny Popov
Yesenin's songs. In the homeland of the main singer of the Russian land, his poems are sung. Melodic, poignant, exhilarating. Where a white birch is not a tree, not a girl, frozen on the high bank of the Oka. And the poplar is certainly "silver and bright." The choir was created on the basis of the rural folklore ensemble of the village of Bolshaya Zhuravinka, which had been performing since 1932. The Ryazan choir was lucky. The head of the group, Yevgeny Popov, himself wrote music to the poems of a fellow countryman who had an amazing sense of beauty. They sing these songs as if they are talking about their lives. Warm and gentle.
Siberian folk choir
Chorus, ballet, orchestra, children's studio. The Siberian choir is multifaceted and in tune with the frosty wind. The concert program "Yamshchitsky skaz" is based on the musical, song and choreographic material of the Siberian region, like many stage sketches of the group. The creativity of Siberians was seen in 50 countries of the world - from Germany and Belgium to Mongolia and Korea. What they live about, they sing about. First in Siberia, and then throughout the country. As happened with Nikolai Kudrin's song "Bread is the head of everything", which was first performed by the Siberian Choir.
Voronezh Russian Folk Choir named after Konstantin Massalitinov
Songs in the front line in those difficult days, when, it would seem, there is no time for creativity at all. The Voronezh choir appeared in the working settlement of Anna at the height of the Great Patriotic War - in 1943. The first to hear the songs of the new band were in the military units. The first big concert - with tears in his eyes - was held in Voronezh, liberated from the Germans. The repertoire includes lyrical songs and ditties, which are known and loved in Russia. Including thanks to the most famous soloist of the Voronezh choir - Maria Mordasova.
Volga Folk Choir named after Pyotr Miloslavov
“A steppe wind walks along the stage of the Châtelet theater and brings us the aroma of original songs and dances”,- wrote the French newspaper L'Umanite in 1958. Samara-gorodok introduced the French to the song heritage of the Volga region. The performer is the Volga Folk Choir, created by the decision of the Government of the RSFSR in 1952 by Pyotr Miloslavov. Unhurried and sincere life along the banks of the great Volga and on stage. Ekaterina Shavrina began her career in the team. The Volga Choir performed the song "Snow-White Cherry" for the first time.
Omsk folk choir
Bear with balalaika. The emblem of the famous team is well known both in Russia and abroad. “Love and pride of the Siberian land”, as the critics dubbed the team during one of their foreign trips. “The Omsk Folk Choir cannot be called only a restorer and keeper of an old folk song. He himself is a living embodiment of the folk art of our days”,- wrote the British The Daily Telegraph. The repertoire is based on Siberian songs recorded by the band's founder Elena Kalugina half a century ago and vivid pictures from life. For example, the suite "Winter Siberian Fun".
Ural folk choir
Performances at the fronts and in hospitals. The Urals not only gave the country metal, but also raised morale with whirlwind dances and round dances, the richest folklore material of the Ural land. Under the Sverdlovsk Philharmonic, amateur groups from the surrounding villages of Izmodenovo, Pokrovskoye, Katarach, Laya were united. "Our genre is alive"- they say in the team today. And to save this life is considered the main task. Like the famous Ural "Semyora". Drobushki and Barabushki have been on stage for 70 years. Not a dance, but a dance. Authentic and remote.
Orenburg folk choir
A down scarf as part of a stage costume. Fluffy lace intertwined with folk songs and in a round dance - as part of the life of the Orenburg Cossacks. The team was created in 1958 to preserve the unique culture and rituals that exist "on the edge of vast Rus', along the banks of the Urals." Every performance is like a performance. They perform not only songs that the people have composed. Even dancing has a literary basis. "When the Cossacks Cry" - a choreographic composition based on the story of Mikhail Sholokhov from the life of the villagers. However, every song or dance has its own history.
From 19 to 22 April 2013 the choir participated in the All-Russian festival-competition of musical and artistic creativity "Open Pages" in Tula.
From May 7 to May 11, 2014, the Russian song choir "Springs of the Soul" became a diploma winner of the festival of vocal, choral, instrumental and theatrical creativity "Country of Magnolia" in Sochi.
October 2, 2016 - LAUREATE of the 1st degree of the All-Russian competition of gifts and talents "Life in a fairy tale".
Meetings of the team members are regularly held, where important dates in the life of the country, public and Orthodox holidays, birthdays of the team members are celebrated.
The creative activity of the group is based, of course, on the promotion of Russian folk songs, which, like a balm, falls on the hearts of our viewers, wherever the group performs.
This collective is unique in its originality in that its repertoire includes folk songs of Russia, Ukraine, songs of contemporary composers and even romances. There are many songs in the band's repertoire about their native land and the Motherland in general.
The Russian song choir was created in 1971 at the Belgorod Vitamin Plant under the direction of N.I. Chendeva. The composition of the choir mainly consisted of workers and engineering and technical workers of the plant. Over the years, he rejuvenated, and by 1992, a small number of the first composition of participants remained in the choir. But the choristers kept in touch with each other. In October 2002, the choir resumed its activities under the leadership of Honored Artist of Russia M.I. Belousenko.
The choir began its concert activity in May 2003 and in a short time gave a large number of concerts in front of the audience of Belgorod and the region. The team is in great demand, constantly replenished with new members. The repertoire of the choir is constantly replenished. In 2004 and 2007 the team became a laureate of the International Festival of Russian Folk Art in Ukraine "Talitsa" (Kharkov). The Russian Song Choir is a laureate and diploma winner of many International, All-Russian, regional and regional competitions and festivals, a participant in all significant events of the city and region. Has the title - "People's Collective".
On March 26-27, 2011, the II International festival-competition of choirs and vocalists "Silver Wind" was held in Belgorod (Dubovoye village). All vocal nominations were presented at this festival: folk, pop academic vocals, solo, ensemble and choral singing. "Folk Collective" Russian song choir "Springs of the Soul" in the nomination "folk choir" was awarded the diploma of the Laureate of the 1st degree and was awarded the Grand Prix as the best choir.
April 8-10, 2011 in Yalta (Ukraine) TV International Festival of Vocal Art took place. The choir of the Russian song "Springs of the Soul" was awarded the Cup and the diploma of the Laureate of the 1st degree in the category "folk vocal", once again confirming its high level and love for Russian folk songs.
April 28, 2012 in the concert hall of the Belgorod State Center for Folk Art, a festive concert of the Russian song choir "Springs of the Soul", dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the collective's creative activity, took place. The concert program was attended by: the ensemble of Russian dance "Epic" under the leadership of the Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation V.I. Belykh, vocal and choreographic ensemble "Belogorye" under the direction of the Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation N.I. Chendeva, the ballroom dance ensemble "Grace" (headed by Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation V.A. Babkin), the Cossack song ensemble "Sisters and Cossacks" conducted by V.M. Dolgosheeva. The choir "Springs of the Soul" performed Russian, Ukrainian and Cossack folk songs, songs of modern composers, songs of the Belgorod composer Alexander Grigoryevich Semka. The rapturous applause of the audience sounded unceasingly. At the end of the celebration, the team was presented with letters of thanks from the Department of Culture of the Belgorod Region, the Belgorod State Center for Folk Art for many years and active participation in amateur art and in connection with the 10th anniversary of the team.
