Folklore groups – the flavor of any event!

Are you preparing for a wedding, anniversary, concert, corporate event or other event that is significant to you? Today, not a single celebration can do without musical accompaniment and entertainment program. And the right music becomes the main key to the success of any holiday!

But here a dilemma arises - how to please all the guests and those present, different in age, status, gender, and musical preferences. And we found such a universal solution for ourselves - to organize a performance of Russian folk performers. It is probably difficult to find a person who would not be a connoisseur of traditions, would not respect folk art and would not be interested in history. In addition, folklore always carries an interesting semantic load and perfectly conveys experiences and joys. ordinary people, and the instrumental accompaniment will not leave anyone indifferent. That is why a performance by a Russian folk song ensemble will be the best solution for an event of any format.

Olga Vasilievna Kovaleva (1881 - 1962) was born in the village of Lyubovka (Okunevka) in the Atkarsky district of the Saratov province and spent her childhood there.
At sixteen, she leaves her home and goes to the city. In Samara, Olga Kovaleva lives with distant relatives, learns to read and write, and at the age of twenty enters paramedic courses. During these years, she still does not realize her true calling, although she constantly hums folk love songs. The peasant girl's beautiful voice and musicality attract the attention of others. Musicians notice her and help her enroll in a music school to study singing.

Already as a student (1904-1906), she participates in concerts organized by the Samara branch of the Russian Musical Society (RMS). After completing music courses at the Samara Russian Musical Society, Olga Kovaleva goes to St. Petersburg, where she takes lessons from Professor I. M. Pryanishnikov at three-year private opera courses (1907-1909). With the assistance of Pryanishnikov, she joins the traveling opera troupe of Rostov-on-Don, touring the cities of the Volga region (Samara, Tsaritsyn, Astrakhan).
After working there for one winter season (1909/10), Olga Vasilyevna Kovaleva left the theater, but performed in concerts with different partners as an “opera singer” (1910/11). Her program includes only arias and romances by Russian and foreign composers.

After a short stay in Lyubovka, Olga Vasilievna decides to include folk songs in her concert performances. The first song she sang was “Luchinushka” (Lubov’s version), which became a kind of musical emblem of all her subsequent concerts. Olga Vasilievna draws her folk song repertoire from the collections of M. A. Balakirev, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, A. V. Lyadov, where the songs are presented in a monophonic presentation with piano accompaniment.
Having settled in Novorossiysk (1911/12), O. V. Kovaleva performs with other artists in cities and villages southern Russia. And in 1912-13 she gave concerts with her constant partner - violinist Hermann Clemens * - in the Central Russian regions and in the cities of the Volga region as a peasant singer and performer of folk songs. According to the posters, she “performs in the folk peasant costume of the Ryazan province.”

At the beginning of 1914 they are in Moscow. This year is becoming significant for Olga Vasilievna Kovaleva. Many posters and reviews of that time show that the performing profile of O. V. Kovaleva seems to be stabilizing and “enlarging.” If previously the leading figure of the ensemble was violinist Herman Clemens, who “graduated from the Moscow People’s Conservatory,” who performed “with the participation of Mrs. Olga Kovaleva,” now Olga Kovaleva is the main performer of the program; violinist G. Clemens plays variations on the themes of one or two folk songs, and otherwise forms a duet with the singer, playing along with the “backing voices” to the songs.
Particularly significant for Olga Vasilievna was the “Evening of Song” - a concert at the Polytechnic Museum, organized by E.E. Lineva in February 1914. O. V. Kovaleva turns from a provincial, little-known traveling singer into a “famous” performer of folk songs. Her repertoire becomes noticeably more serious, thematically deepens, and at the same time “democratizes.” Great place Olga Vasilievna’s own notes—songs of her native Lyubovka, ethnographic notes of E. Lineva, Yu. Melgunov, N. Palchikov—begin to occupy it. Her portrait is printed next to the portrait of M.E. Pyatnitsky (Newspaper, 1914). The reviews note the authenticity of folk craftsmanship, truthfulness, simplicity, and restraint inherent in women's folk singing *.
During the difficult war years (1914-1916), Olga Vasilyevna performed at charity concerts, in hospitals (“sister with songs”), in the barracks, led a singing group in a shelter for blind disabled soldiers, sang songs for ordinary people, going around Moscow with Clemens yards. Tours continue to remote and remote corners of the country.

In 1917, a new, second period of Kovaleva’s artistic activity began, which brought her fame, prosperity, and great creative satisfaction. Olga Vasilievna becomes an active participant in concerts for the people. She sings in the workshops of factories and factories, in barracks, in squares and train stations. Its popularity is growing. Now her permanent partners are singer Anatoly Dolivo and the domra quartet conducted by G. P. Lyubimov. In 1921, Olga Vasilievna traveled with them to Sweden and Norway, where the artists gave concerts in favor of the starving people of the Volga region. (Subsequent trips abroad in the same composition were in 1925 - to Paris for the World Art Exhibition, and in 1927 - to Frankfurt am Main for the decade of Soviet art.)

Since 1924, Olga Vasilievna has appeared on the radio, mainly in programs for peasants. She meets in concerts with guslar K. M. Seversky, the choir of M. E. Pyatnitsky, with P. G. Yarkov and his choir, with Irma Yaunzem, and continues to communicate with members of the musical and ethnographic commission of Moscow University, relatives of E. E. Lineva , the Denisov family (female trio), the men's quartet “Folk Song” under the direction of V. A. Fedorov, singer A. I. Tretyakova and many experts folk song. It was in this environment that the traditions of modern folk song performance on the stage took shape and the repertoire of Soviet folk song performers was created.
The second period, the heyday of Olga Vasilievna’s creative and performing activities, ended with her being awarded the title of Honored (1934) and People’s (1946) Artist of the RSFSR.
While at her main job as a soloist of the All-Union Radio, Olga Vasilievna in her third - last period During his working life he is a consultant of the Russian song choir of the All-Union Radio. She advises young performers M. Kiryushova, A. Savelyeva, E. Shurupova, E. Semenkina, A. Frolova, L. Zykina, and passes on her performing experience to them. Olga Vasilievna died on January 2, 1962 at the eighty-first year of her life.

I see wonderful freedom,

I see fields and fields...

This is Russian expanse,

This is Russian land!

F.P.Savinov

1. Russian philosophers and writers about folk songs

Russian research national character will always be incomplete, truncated without reference to Russian folk song. The laconic formula: “Song is the soul of the people” directly and directly expresses the meaning of a folk song. The song reveals such depths, such secrets of the Russian character that are inexpressible, incomprehensible in other life situations. Russian people sang and sing almost always - on a hike, in short moments of rest, in sorrow and joy, on weekdays and holidays, in youth, adulthood and old age. The song so fully expresses the features of the national character that this was noted by many Russian thinkers. “Show me how you believe and pray; how kindness, heroism, a sense of honor and duty awaken in you; how you sing, dance and read poetry,” said I.A. Ilyin, “tell me all this, and I will tell you what nation you are the son of.”

Folk song is the most democratic form of participation in musical creativity, accessible to everyone. Where, if not in a song, can one comprehend the character of a people: its immeasurable breadth, kindness and generosity, native character, daring and youthful enthusiasm. In a song, as in a prayer, there is a purification of the soul, catharsis, as the ancient Greek sages said. Unfortunately, today, in the conditions of universal globalization, we are observing negative trends in the development of Russian culture, including the oblivion of Russian folk songs and their displacement by pop music. For modern mass media, the Russian song turned out to be “outside the format.” It turns out that the format of media and TV corresponds to graduates of the “star factory” incubator, numerous rock ensembles and inveterate funnymen.

As mine shows personal experience teaching activities, students of the last two decades actually do not know Russian folk songs. Let's imagine for a moment the following situation: in a youth student camp where students gathered different countries, a concert is held in which folk songs are performed. Each of the participants in this impromptu concert performs songs of their homeland with fervor and genuine pathos. And only a Russian student, whose folk songs have been erased from his memory, can only throw up his hands or mutter something in bad English, which many people do today.

All this is a great misfortune, which was the result of erasing the deep foundations of Russian national identity in modern stage. As the artistic director of the Academic Chapel says. M.I. Glinka, People's Artist of the USSR V. Chernushenko, a song is the repository of the people's soul, and without a soul there will be no people. In a choral singing ensemble, for which Russia has always been famous, souls and hearts are united in harmony, and if the people stop singing their songs, then they will cease to exist as a nation. In choral singing, conciliarity is expressed to the maximum extent, as the most important feature of the Russian national character. Today we are faced with a vital dilemma: will we be the heirs of the great Russian culture, including song creativity, or will we become Ivans who do not remember our kinship.

It is very difficult, almost impossible, to make a folk song an object of reflection. Singing, the very act of performing a song, is more likely associated with emotional experience than with rational comprehension. Therefore, in the study of this topic, we will have to turn to Russian fiction and Russian philosophy, where we find precious deposits testifying to Russian song, its significance for understanding the uniqueness and originality of the Russian national character. Another way of analysis is to turn to the work of outstanding experts on Russian folk music songs from Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin to modern performers.

Russian folk song - main type musical creativity Russian people - from ancient times; sung solo, ensemble, choir (“One cannot sing alone, it’s easier with an artel”). Closely connected with life and everyday life, passed down orally from generation to generation, it is polished in the process of execution in all layers of the people. Folk song is rich in various genres: work songs, ritual songs, calendar songs, wedding songs, choral songs, game songs, dance songs, historical songs and spiritual poems, romances, lyrical lingering songs, ditties, etc. The ancient peasant song is characterized by a polyphonic structure in the form of subvocal polyphony, modalism, rhythmic freedom, and singing without musical accompaniment. Urban songs have their own specifics, varied in content and style, created by various social groups(workers, soldiers, students, petty bourgeois). These songs are distinguished by their harmonic structure, alternation and combination of major and minor intonations.

Since the end of the 18th century, Russian folk songs have been recorded and published; she played a significant role in the development of the Russian school of composition. Choral folk song has long been a favorite type of everyday music-making. The song has always been an organic combination of words (text) and music. New life Russian folk song found in Soviet time, thanks to its wide distribution (amateur choirs, professional groups, radio broadcasts, gramophone records and tape recorders), the study of the song heritage and the emergence of new songs that began to be considered folk (“Katyusha”, etc.).

It is impossible to overestimate the importance of Russian folk song in the formation of national self-awareness and national character, what is today called the mentality characteristic of the Russian people. According to I.A. Ilyin, a child should hear a Russian song even in the cradle. Singing brings him the first spiritual sigh and the first spiritual groan: they must be Russian. Singing will teach him the first spiritualization of spiritual nature - in Russian; singing will give him his first “non-animal” happiness - in Russian. “Russian song,” he wrote, “is deep, like human suffering, sincere, like prayer, sweet, like love and consolation; in our dark days, as under the yoke of the Tatars, it will give a child’s soul an escape from the threatening embitterment and petrification.”

In life, Russians sing at every step, especially peasant girls, during and after work, walking workers, soldiers on the march, students at the first opportunity, and all strata of society during some hard and boring work. Ilyin gives the point of view of a person of a different nationality. In 1879, Russian German prof. Westphal from Yuriev (Dorpat) published a wonderful work on Russian folk song. Based on the research of Yu.N. Melgunov, he established that Russian folk song occupies a unique place in world music. It is sung in an extremely unique tonality, which is reminiscent of Greek, but not identical to it. These songs are distinguished by the originality of harmony, voice guidance and cadence, which sound beautiful, but do not correspond to European music theory, the doctrine of harmony and compositional practice. They are performed by a peasant choir without any musical training, without a tuning fork or conductor, without accompaniment, a capella; this is a four-voice, in which there is never a bad and boring unison, and hence - free variations and mobile echoes, which from time to time improvise, based directly on inner feeling, hearing and taste. The richness of these songs is inexhaustible, their age sometimes cannot be determined, their melody, rhythm and expressiveness are simply captivating, especially when performing ancient diverse wedding songs, sometimes plaintively sounding, sometimes thoughtfully blessing.

Russian people, according to I.A. Ilyin, have lived for centuries in an oscillating rhythm: burning or calm, concentration or relaxation, swiftness or drowsiness, jubilant or twilight, passionate or indifferent, “joyful to heaven - sad to death.” It is like a flame that has gone out for the time being, a weakened composure and a drowsy intensity that can be found in the sparkle of the eyes, in the smile, in the song and in the dance.

Anyone who wants to get to know the Russian soul better should get acquainted with Russian song. “When, for example, after an exercise, soldiers return to the barracks in formation, or especially when, after a successfully completed review, the command is given to the troops: “Singers, forward!” - then the choir marches ahead, singing folk songs, and the singer begins, and the choir joins in every second or third stanza of the song. You need to hear this enthusiasm, this passion filled with humor. This freely syncopated rhythm, this suddenly exploding sharp whistle, these pickups, these frets in full swing. You will never hear unison, you will never hear false voices, the song will never become a choral recitative. Everyone stands there, captivated by this, and can’t stop listening.”

Russian classical literature XIX century contains numerous evidence of the originality, spiritual structure and emotional depth of Russian folk song. The amazing, enchanting power of folk song was captured by N.V. Gogol in “ Dead souls": "Rus! Rus! I see you, from my wonderful, beautiful distance I see you: poorly scattered and uncomfortable in you... But what incomprehensible, secret force attracts me to you? Why is your melancholy song, rushing along your entire length and width, from sea to sea, heard and heard incessantly in your ears? What's in it, in this song? What calls and cries and grabs your heart? What sounds painfully kiss and strive into the soul, and curl around my heart? .

L.N. Tolstoy has a story “Songs in the Village”. But, perhaps, the story “Singers” in “Notes of a Hunter” by I.S. Turgenev makes the most powerful impression. This story is about a competition between two singers, which takes place in the Prytynny tavern. This competition is a kind of competition in which two heroes of Turgenev’s story take part: the rower and Yakov the Turk. The rower was the first to perform a cheerful dance song with dashing prowess, and everyone present decided that he had won. But it was Yakov the Turk’s turn to sing his song. I.S. Turgenev describes in detail how the singer “enters the character” and adjusts himself psychologically. “He took a deep breath and sang... “There was more than one path in the field,” he sang, and we all felt sweet and creepy. I admit, I have rarely heard such a voice: it was slightly broken and rang as if cracked; at first he even responded with something painful; but there was also genuine deep passion in him, and youth, and strength, and sweetness, and some kind of fascinatingly carefree, sad grief. The Russian, truthful, ardent soul sounded and breathed in him and so grabbed you by the heart, grabbed you right by its Russian strings! The song grew and spread. Yakov, apparently, was overcome by rapture: he was no longer timid, he surrendered himself entirely to his happiness; his voice no longer trembled - it trembled, but with that barely noticeable inner trembling of passion that pierces like an arrow into the soul of the listener, and constantly grew stronger, hardened and expanded.

Turgenev repeatedly uses phrases - “Russian soul”, “Russian heart strings”, “Russian people”, “Russian people”, thereby emphasizing that such song creativity is fully an expression of Russian national identity and Russian character. “He sang, and from every sound of his voice there was a breath of something familiar and vastly wide, as if the familiar steppe was opening up before you, going into an endless distance. I felt tears boiling in my heart and rising to my eyes; dull, restrained sobs suddenly struck me... I looked around - the kisser’s wife was crying, leaning her chest against the window... I don’t know how the general yearning would have been resolved if Yakov had not suddenly come to a high, unusually subtle sound - like his voice broke off. No one shouted, no one even moved; everyone seemed to be waiting to see if he would sing again; but he opened his eyes, as if surprised by our silence, looked around everyone with a questioning gaze and saw that the victory was his...”

The very lengthy fragment I cited from the story “Singers” clearly represents one of the many Russian nuggets nurtured in the very thick of people’s life. Precisely those who are characterized by the immeasurable breadth of the Russian soul, talent and ability for higher forms of experience. Turgenev, known among us as a Western writer, was able to use unusually expressive artistic means to show the uniqueness of the Russian national character in song creativity.

Russian folk song has always been and, I hope, will be the embodiment of the life of the people and their culture, their memory, their historical existence, their everyday everyday life: work and rest, joy and sorrow, love and separation. The Russian person in the song personifies the world of nature, projects his spiritual properties and experiences onto it: “What is clouded, the clear dawn...”, “A centuries-old linden tree stands above the river...”, “Kalinka...”. We comprehend this personification of nature with some special heart-aching sadness in “Thin Rowan”:

Why are you standing there, swaying?

Thin rowan,

Bowing my head

All the way to the tyn?

According to the famous Russian historian V.O. Klyuchevsky, the direct existence of the Russian people is a river and a forest, a steppe and a field, thereby affirming the fusion of man with nature, rootedness in it. And in the Russian song the immeasurable breadth of the Russian character is affirmed, corresponding to the immensity of the Russian vast expanses: “Oh, you, wide steppe ...”, “Down along Mother, along the Volga ...”, “I have traveled all over the universe ...” . The image of the Motherland is insightfully captured in the song “Native” based on the poem by F.P. Savinov:

I hear the lark's songs,

I hear the trill of a nightingale.

This is the Russian side,

This is my homeland!

Lidia Ruslanova, speaking at a rally of coachmen in the late 20s. last century, said that there are more than 80 songs about coachmen, and she herself performed about 30 of them. In each of these songs, the immeasurable Russian expanses and equally immeasurable passions and emotional impulses are fused together. Altai and Valdai, the Urals and Siberia are sung in Russian folk songs, Quiet Don and Volga, Baikal and the Russian North: “On the wild shore of the Irtysh...”, “The glorious sea is the sacred Baikal...”, “Zhiguli”, “A young Cossack is walking along the Don...”. Even when the action of the song unfolds within the confines of the capital Moscow, and there is an immeasurable breadth of the Russian soul: “Golden-domed Moscow” and “Along the St. Petersburg...” - a song performed by the great Russian singer Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin.

Russian folk songs reflect both generalized and specific images of dear, especially revered, sacred natural phenomena for Russian people - one of the diverse faces of Holy Rus'. The Russian person communicates with them, speaks as if they were alive, personifies, personifies them, endowing them with their own properties, inherent only to humans. Particularly well known are songs in which they sing about more revered natural phenomena - the Volga, Don, and sacred Baikal. All of Russia knew these songs. Some of them are joyful, others are sad, but in all the songs the rivers or lakes, as if alive, “their lives” and the fate of the Russian people - the heroes of the song - are merged together. With such songs, of course, the revered natural phenomena of the Russian land are permanently fixed in people’s memory.

Folk songs are of no small importance in school education and upbringing. Among the many components that form the basis of the national character, the famous teacher of the early 20th century. V.N. Soroka-Rosinsky calls a folk song. Such a song goes back to the archetypes of our ancestors, through it the participation of new generations of Russian people in national shrines and moral values. “It is necessary,” he wrote, “for a schoolchild to hear his native song from an early age and get used to being inspired by the sounds of it and to feel within himself the blood of his people and everything heroic and lofty that lurks in the people’s soul; it is necessary that the national song accompanies all the solemn moments of a schoolchild’s life, so that he feels the need to express his feelings in those moments when the soul is full, as any normally developing people do - in a folk song performed by a choir, by the whole world.”

2.Outstanding performers of Russian folk songs

Russian folk song is becoming even more famous and popular thanks to the great Russian performers, among whom the first places were and are occupied by Fyodor Chaliapin, Nadezhda Plevitskaya, Lydia Ruslanova, Boris Shtokolov, Lyudmila Zykina, Dmitry Hvorostovsky and many others.

A special place in this list is occupied by F.I. Chaliapin(1873-1938), who, being an opera singer, constantly gave concerts and performed Russian folk songs. In his autobiographical book “Mask and Soul. My forty years of life in the theater,” he repeatedly noted the importance of Russian folk song for his development as an opera singer. According to his conviction, mathematical fidelity in music and the best voice are dead until mathematics and sound are inspired by feeling. Chaliapin absorbed this lofty spirit from folk songs. A song is not a random combination of sounds, but the result of a creative act of the people. “I consider it significant,” he wrote, “for Russian life in high degree It is typical that simple Russian craftsmen encouraged me to sing. Russian people have been singing songs since birth. This is how it was in the days of my adolescence. The people who suffered in the dark depths of life sang painful and despairingly cheerful songs. And how well they sang! They sang in the field, sang in the haylofts, on rivers, by streams, in forests and behind a splinter. From nature, from everyday life, the Russian song is from love. After all, love is a song."

Chaliapin studied singing in a church choir, like many singers from the people of that time. Thanks to his natural abilities, and Chaliapin had a heroic physique, he was a true hare; he was characterized by immeasurable talent and some kind of special robber prowess. He embodied a certain standard of a Russian person on stage. Nevertheless, he always emphasized that the spiritual beginning, the state of the soul must be in every word, in every musical phrase, and they are impossible without imagination. The actor’s imagination must come into contact with the author’s imagination and grasp the essential note of the character’s plastic existence. Nothing can save a singer who has no imagination from creative sterility - neither a good voice, nor stage practice, nor a spectacular figure.

Chaliapin illustrates this thesis by sharing his experience of performing the folk song “I remember, I was still young.” “The singer must imagine what kind of village it was, what kind of Russia it was, what kind of life it was in these villages, and what kind of heart beats in this song.” You have to feel all this so that the singer will feel pain if he imagines how they worked in the village, how they got up before dawn, in what dry conditions the young heart awakened. These Chaliapin thoughts were repeatedly confirmed in practice; he tells how they performed “Luchina” together in nature with the miller Nikon Osipovich, what nuances, what subtleties he borrowed and was able to implement in his concert activities. Thanks to sound recording, we can still listen to the sound of Chaliapin’s voice as he sang “From behind the island to the core...”, “Dubinushka” and many other songs. The crowning number in every Chaliapin concert, undoubtedly, was the well-known song:

Eh, along Piterskaya,

Along Tverskaya-Yamskaya,

Along Tverskaya-Yamskaya, yes

With a bell...

I.A. Ilyin in his article “Chaliapin’s artistic vocation” analyzes the influences under the influence of which the artist’s talent awakened, grew and strengthened. This is, first of all, a Russian folk song that has been flowing throughout Russia from end to end for many hundreds of years. Her sincerity and emotionality, her expressiveness made Chaliapin, as a national phenomenon, possible. We know that Chaliapin listened to her enough and moved away from her. There is no doubt that the gypsy song also gave Chaliapin its own. Church Orthodox chant influenced Chaliapin. Only in the best prayer places of his roles can one trace some tradition of spiritual chants. It was these influences that laid the foundation for Chaliapin's creative path. “Chaliapin did not just sing, but breathed into your soul with his sound: in his massive, bell-like deep sound, the breath trembled, and in the breath the soul trembled; his voice had the power to take the listener and bring him immediately to suggestive submission; in order to make him sing with himself, breathe with himself and tremble with himself; breathing and breathing gave life to sound; the sound ceased to be a ringing, but became a groan: you heard in it the rising and falling, thickening and thinning line of feeling - and your soul floated in it and lived by it; the result was a sound extremely saturated with animation, commandingly enveloping the listener’s soul.”

However, I.A. Ilyin, to some extent and rightly, points out the negative traits of his character. All this led to the fact that Chaliapin did not create or leave behind a school, like the school of K. Stanislavsky, in which it would be worth embodying the method of his creativity and a living school of the new opera art. Chaliapin's song legacy has always been a kind of tuning fork and model for many generations of professional singers and lovers of Russian folk song.

An outstanding performer of Russian folk songs was Nadezhda Plevitskaya(Vinnikova) (1884-1941). A natural singer, Plevitskaya was born in the village of Vinnikovo near Kursk into a simple peasant family. Her love for singing led her to the church choir of the Trinity Monastery in Kursk, where she was a student for more than two years. Her first great success came on tour in Nizhny Novgorod in 1909 at a charity concert during the Nizhny Novgorod Fair, where she performed at the invitation of L.V. Sobinov. A year later, Plevitskaya was already singing triumphantly in Moscow and St. Petersburg. She was greeted very warmly by F. Chaliapin, who after the concert gave a fatherly farewell to the singer: “God help you, dear Nadyusha. Sing your songs that you brought from the earth, I don’t have those - I’m a Sloboda resident, not a villager.” All her life, Plevitskaya kept a photograph of Chaliapin with a dedicatory inscription: “To my dear Lark Nadezhda Vasilyevna Plevitskaya, F. Chaliapin, who loves her dearly.”

About how Plevitskaya sang, there is evidence from an admirer of her talent, journalist A. Kugel: “She sang... I don’t know, maybe she didn’t sing, but spoke. The eyes changed expression, but with some artificiality. But the movements of the mouth and nostrils were like an open book. Plevitskaya's dialect is the purest, most sonorous, most charming Russian dialect. She wrings her fingers, clasping her hands, and these fingers live, speak, suffer, joke, laugh.” Many experts noted her rare musicality, her naturally flexible and rich voice - a mezzo-soprano with a wide range.

Plevitskaya's repertoire was enormous. She performed well-known Russian folk songs: “Peddlers”, “Ukhar-merchant”, “Troika”, “Stenka Razin”, “On the Murom Path”, “Among the Flat Valley”, “Across the Wild Steppes of Transbaikalia” and many others. She sang at the evening of K.S. Stanislavsky in the presence of Russian masters of the Art Theater. In 1910, Plevitskaya received an invitation to Tsarskoe Selo, where she successfully performed in front of Emperor Nicholas II and his family. The Emperor liked Plevitskaya’s singing so much that she subsequently performed repeatedly before the Tsar, the Grand Dukes and the highest officials of the Russian Empire. During the First World War, Plevitskaya performed in concerts in front of Russian soldiers, and in the years Civil War- in front of the soldiers of the Red Army.

Subsequently, Plevitskaya’s fate was very tragic. The outstanding singer ended up in exile. In 1937, she was arrested by the French government in connection with the kidnapping of General E.K. Miller. Despite the lack of direct evidence, the court sentenced Plevitskaya to 20 years in hard labor prison, where she died in 1941. The name of Plevitskaya still lives in Russia in legends, songs and romances.

Great Russian singer Lidiya Andreevna Ruslanova(1900-1973) was born in the village of Chernavka, Saratov province (real name - Agafya Leikina). Throughout the 20th century, she was one of the most popular performers, and her performance of Russian folk songs is considered to be the standard. Ruslanova had a beautiful and strong voice with a wide range. She created her own style of performing folk songs, which she collected all her life. Among her most popular songs are “Steppe, and steppe all around”, “Golden Mountains”, “The Moon Is Painted with Crimson”, “The Moon Is Shining”, “Valenki”, “Century Linden Tree” and many others. She was one of the first to perform “Katyusha” by M. Isakovsky. For some time, thanks to the help of teacher M. Medvedev, Ruslanova studied at the Saratov Conservatory, but then decided that her life should be connected with folk song: “I realized that I could not be an academic singer. My whole strength was in spontaneity, in natural feeling, in unity with the world where the song was born.”

During the First World War, Ruslanova was at the front as a nurse. In the 20s, her style in performance, behavior on stage, and selection of concert costumes was finally formed. These were peasant sundresses, colored scarves and shawls. In the 30s, the singer toured throughout the Soviet Union. Her voice had great strength and endurance, and she often took part in 4-5 concerts in one evening. From the first days of the Great Patriotic War, Ruslanova went to the front as part of one of the best concert teams. Once, in 17 days, this brigade gave 51 concerts. The song "Valenki" became " business card"popularly beloved singer. They had to perform in the open air, in trenches, in dugouts, and in hospitals. With her songs, Ruslanova poured the elixir of life into the souls of the soldiers - the Russian national spirit. Using her funds earned while touring the country in the pre-war years, Lidia Ruslanova purchased two batteries of Katyusha guard mortars, which were sent to the First Belorussian Front.

Ruslanova sang on the front line, under fire, in the back of a truck, wearing a bright Russian national costume. She sang about Russia, about the Volga, about the Motherland, reminding someone of her mother, someone of her wife, someone of her sister. And after the concert the soldiers went into battle. Once on the front line, Ruslanova gave a three-hour concert, which was broadcast on the radio through amplifiers. For three hours there was not a single shot fired from either side of the front. During these three hours, the redeployment of our troops was carried out, and preparations for the counter-offensive were completed. And in defeated Berlin, several concerts of Lydia Ruslanova took place - at the Reichstag building and at the Brandenburg Gate. In total, she gave more than 1,120 concerts on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. For all these achievements, Ruslanova was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

Ruslanova's performing style goes back to the singing traditions of the peasants of the Volga region. She had a deep, chesty voice (lyric soprano, turning into dramatic, however “ people's plan") of a large range and could move from contralto to the upper notes of the soprano sound. Possessing perfect pitch and excellent musical memory, Ruslanova did not strive to perform the same repertoire all the time, collecting Russian folk songs. She knew so many songs - Volga region, Central Russian, northern, Siberian, Cossack - that she could surprise even experienced folklorists. She performed memorable, heroic, brave, robber, drawn-out, mournful, cheerful, game, circular, round dance, dance, joke, barge hauler, buffoon, ritual, wedding, ghoul, sub-bowl, woman's, gathering songs, as well as epics, laments, patches and thoughts. Each song became a small performance.

The ease with which Ruslanova performed folk songs was achieved through hard work. She said more than once: “Singing well is very difficult. You will be exhausted until you comprehend the soul of the song, until you unravel its riddle. I don't sing the song, I play it. It’s a whole play with multiple roles.” Ruslanova was rightly called the “Queen of Russian Song” and the “Singer of the Guard” during the Great Patriotic War. And today, in a number of Russian cities, folk song competitions named after Lydia Ruslanova are held (Saratov, Volgograd, Penza, Kozelsk, etc.). In her work, Ruslanova fully embodied the best features of the Russian national character - spiritual generosity, immensity, passion, talent, conciliarity and patriotism.

Such talented Russian nuggets as Fyodor Chaliapin, Nadezhda Plevitskaya, Lydia Ruslanova - flesh of flesh, blood of the blood of the Russian people - expressed in their work the best properties of the Russian national character. A song is the embodiment of the life of a people, its culture; is and has always been an expression of the sincerity, emotionality, and expressiveness of the people's soul. And as soon as you sing the song, hard work is not a burden, and grief is not grief, and trouble is not trouble. For a Russian person, singing is like a prayer: in song you will cry, and repent, and submit, and lighten your soul, and the weight will fall off your soul like a stone. Famous opera singers - Sergei Lemeshev, Ivan Kozlovsky, Boris Shtokolov, Alexander Vedernikov, Yuri Gulyaev, Elena Obraztsova, Dmitry Hvorostovsky - made a huge contribution to the popularization of Russian folk song. In the second half of the 20th century, Russian songs were constantly heard in the concerts of Lyudmila Zykina, Claudia Shulzhenko, Valentina Tolkunova, Vladimir Troshin and many other performers.

3. “Shine, burn, my star...”

Romance is another and very important component of the treasury of Russian song creativity. According to People's Artist of Russia Isabella Yurieva, romance is an amazing phenomenon in our song culture. Romance - pure Russian phenomenon. In the Russian romance, as well as in the ancient Russian song, the soul of our people was expressed with its subtle lyricism, with its inescapable melancholy and dreaminess; with her cheerful daring and desperate recklessness.

What is the difference between Russian romance and other genres, other vocal forms? What specific features are inherent in romance? First of all, it's a simple plot. The space of romance plots is limited by the sphere of human experiences: first meeting, love, betrayal, separation, loneliness, death of a beloved (beloved) - what is understandable to every person. To this we must add simplicity and accessibility of forms; if the method of expression becomes more complicated, the language of the romance ceases to be understandable. All feelings are expressed directly, in open text. The content of the romance is rich in word-symbols, each of which hides a real story:

It was all just lies and deception

Farewell to dreams and peace,

But the pain of unclosed wounds

Will stay with me.

Sensitivity, the ability to evoke human feelings is another mandatory feature of Russian romance. The more sentimental the romance, the higher its popularity. The most important thing in a romance is intonation, confidential, but not familiar in relation to the listener. This is another advantage of Russian romance. It is in intonation that the elusive charm of the romance lies, which gives it genuine depth, sincerity of the feelings experienced, an elegiac mood, and light sadness. A distinctive feature of Russian romance is its specific language, in which there are quite a lot of Slavicisms, giving the romance a high style:

I'll cover you with kisses

Mouth, and eyes, and forehead.

Replace these words with modern ones and all the aroma and charm of the romance will crumble and disappear.

The most valuable thing in Russian romance music is its rich and expressive melody. The wide chanting, flexibility and plasticity of the romance are inherited from Russian folk songs. It should be noted that some romances, far removed from their folk song origins, never lose touch with them. Russian romances were often performed by gypsy choirs, which led to increased melodramatic moments and exalted the melody pattern. And then Russian romance allegedly became gypsy. In this case, the Russian origin of the romance is forgotten (“Oh, at least talk to me, seven-string friend” by A. Grigoriev, “Black Eyes” by E. Grebenka.)

In the 19th century, the romance-elegy became the artistic epicenter of Russian musical and poetic culture. Romance has always been a synthetic art - a unity of word and sound. On the poetry side, the development of romance was deeply influenced by the work of the great Russian poets - A.S. Pushkin, F.I. Tyutchev, A.A. Fet, A.K. Tolstoy. At the same time, talented composers - M.I. Glinka, A.A. Alyabyev, A.N. Verstovsky, P.P. Bulakhov, A.L. Gurilev, A.E. Varlamov and many others gave the romance diverse and amazing musical forms. And today, classic romances are considered to be works based on Pushkin’s poems “I remember a wonderful moment...”, Tyutchev’s poems “I met you...”, A.K. Tolstoy’s poems “Among a noisy ball...”. To this should be added numerous texts of poems by M.Yu. Lermontov, E.A. Boratynsky, A.V. Koltsov, A.A. Blok, S.A. Yesenin, which became the basis of romances. The pinnacle of romance creativity are the works of P.I. Tchaikovsky (“Does the day reign...", “I won’t tell you anything...”), in which the expressiveness of the music corresponds to the mood of the text. But this type of romance resonates with a select, not a mass, audience. Classic romance becomes intellectual, while losing its lightness and simplicity.

At the beginning of the 20th century, romance became more of a performing art than a compositional and poetic art. We can judge this by comparing the various performing styles of that time, thanks to the surviving recordings. These performers are the stars of urban romance - A. Vyaltseva, V. Panina, N. Plevitskaya, A. Davydov, N. Dulkevich; somewhat later - A. Vertinsky, P. Leshchenko, I. Yuryeva, A. Bayanova and others. The popularization of the romance was facilitated by the appearance of the gramophone and records. The performance of romances was enthusiastically received not only by restaurant regulars, but also by visitors concert halls and outstanding artists. The performance of a romance always presupposes a coincidence, a consonance of the emotional impulse, the internal mood of the performer and the listener, the artist and the audience. The listener is most often a person who has felt and suffered a lot, who has heart wounds and unhealed scars. Only such a listener can fully comprehend the enchanting power of romance.

A documentary report by the famous Russian journalist of the early 20th century, Vlas Doroshevich, about Sasha Davydov’s performance in the operetta “Gypsy Songs and Romances in Persons...” has been preserved:

“I remember the performance in the Hermitage by Lentovsky.

It was fun, crowded, chic.

"Gypsy Songs" were playing.

Davydov sang “Cry” and “Night”.

And so he approached the ramp.

The face became stern and solemn.

A pair of bay horses harnessed to the dawn...

First performance of the new romance.

And from the second, from the third verse, the theater stopped breathing.

Where now, in what new goddess

Are they looking for their ideals?

Actress E. Hildebrandt swayed. She was taken off stage.

Raisova - Stesha - leaned towards the table and began to cry.

The beautiful chorus girls wiped away their tears.

There were sobs in the hall.

The sobs grew.

Someone was carried out unconscious.

Someone ran out of the box crying loudly.

I glanced to my left.

In the box sat the opera artist Tilda, from the French opera of Gunzburg, which was then touring in the Hermitage.

Large tears flowed down her cheeks.

She didn't understand the words.

But I understood the tears with which the artist sang.

Former theater attendee and guest in Moscow French writer Armand Sylvester, an easy-going, pleasant writer, a fat, cheerful bourgeois, threw up his hands during the intermission:

Amazing country! An incomprehensible country! They cry in the operetta.

You, only you, are faithful to her to this day,

A couple of bays... a couple of bays...

Davydov finished with his face covered in tears.

Under some general sobbing.

I have only seen such a performance once more in my life...”

Such a demanding judge as K.S. Stanislavsky, who was very far from the stage, wrote, assessing the work of A. Davydov: “He showed high art of speech in the amateurish field of gypsy singing and made us think about the secret of declamation and expressiveness that was known to him." It is not surprising that the enthusiastic audience often literally carried out their favorite performers of Russian romances in their arms after the concert.

We find similar judgments from the famous Russian writer A. Kuprin, who attended the concert of Nina Dulkevich (Baburina): “I will never forget this sudden, strong, passionate and sweet impression. It was as if the scent of some wild flower suddenly wafted into the room, which smelled of fashionable perfume. I heard how the captivated spectators gradually became silent, and for a long time not a single sound or rustle was heard in the huge hall, except for that sweet, yearning and fiery motif... You listen to her - and you listen not with just your ears, but with all your nerves, all your blood and with all my soul." N. Dulkevich often performed 30, 40 and even 50 romances and songs during one concert! And this is without a microphone or other sound-amplifying equipment. It is unlikely that a “foreign” ear and another soul can understand all the depth, passion and magical power of Russian romance. But all this is open to the Russian soul, which, according to cultural genetics, is capable of harmoniously merging in the artist’s performance and the listener’s perception.

Russian romance has come a long way - through high society salons, noisy hussar and student gatherings, soldiers' rest stops - it has reached our time, continuing to excite people's hearts today with its soft lyricism and sincere sentimentality. Russian romance - simple and touching - has absorbed the whole gamut human feelings: sublime love and fatal passions, inescapable sadness and cheerful daring, desperate recklessness and sentimental daydreaming. Russian romance is eternal, just as the loving and suffering soul of a person is eternal.

4. Songs of our Victory

Songs of the Great Patriotic War occupy a special place in the songwriting of the Russian people. Songs of the Great Patriotic War... And immediately “Dugout”, “Dark Night”, “Nightingales” come to mind. Why, despite the repeated changes in fashion in pop songs, does a warm, reverent attitude towards the songs of the Great Patriotic War remain? Probably because they are simple, like the life of a soldier, and sincere, like the memory of a loved one. They are surprisingly melodic and easy to remember. They are distinguished by optimism, inexhaustible faith in friendship and love, all the best for which they had to fight and win.

And today, more than half a century after the end of the Great Patriotic War, the heart of a Russian person skips a beat and the soul trembles when a soft chant is heard:

The fire is beating in the small stove,

There is resin on the logs, like a tear.

And the accordion sings to me in the dugout

About your smile and eyes.

The song of the Great Patriotic War is a layer of the spiritual life of our country, our people. They are akin to Russian folk songs. My personal attitude to military songs is the attitude of a person belonging to a generation whose fathers died at the front. Therefore, the words from the song - “it’s not easy for me to get to you, but there are four steps to death” - are perceived by me not as a poetic device, but as a line from my father’s last letter from the front. Therefore, I have always perceived and perceive the victory of our army, our country, as my personal victory.

The song of the Great Patriotic War reflected the events of the war and became its musical chronicle. The themes, images, and content of the song exclusively convey the emotional atmosphere of wartime. It presents all the shades of heroism and lyricism of the war years: high civic position and patriotism (“Holy War”); spirit of courage and struggle (“Treasured Stone”); soldier's friendship and front-line brotherhood (“Two Friends”); love for home and woman (“Wait for me”); a joke song that creates an atmosphere of youthful enthusiasm and fun (“Vasya-Cornflower”); a front-line ditty written on the topic of the day.

The English military journalist A. Werth, who was on the Eastern Front, said that the psychological state of the Red Army could be determined from the song. If “Dugout,” he wrote, reflected the extreme degree of psychological breakdown in 1941, then “Dark Night” became an expression of faith and hope. The love for song, the awareness that song alleviates physical and mental suffering, is extremely clearly expressed in the poetic lines:

After the battle the heart asks

Music doubly so.

A person, even in wartime conditions, cannot remain indefinitely in a state of constant anxiety and mental discomfort. With the greatest insight, this situation was reflected by A. Tvardovsky in the poem “Vasily Terkin”:

And the accordion is calling somewhere,

It's far away, it leads easily...

No, what are you guys like?

Amazing people(...)

The memory of a military song is the memory of its authors and performers. These are composers A. Alexandrov, V. Solovyov-Sedoy - author of the songs “Evening on the roadstead”, “Nightingales”, “On a sunny clearing”; N. Bogoslovsky - author of the song “Dark Night”; T. Khrennikov, M. Blanter, I. Dunaevsky. These are the poets A. Surkov, M. Isakovsky, A. Fatyanov, E. Dolmatovsky, V. Lebedev-Kumach, N. Bukin. This famous performers L. Utesov, G. Vinogradov, K. Shulzhenko, M. Bernes, L. Ruslanova, V. Bunchikov and V. Nechaev. These are, finally, artists from front-line concert brigades, unknown authors and performers.

More than a thousand songs were written by professional poets and composers alone in the first two months of the war. Not all of them received recognition and popularity, but one thing is certain: the song arsenal of war is extremely large. Front-line song creativity gave rise to numerous arrangements of well-known motifs: “The Sea Spreads Wide,” “Katyusha,” “Eh, Apple,” “Ogonyok” and many others.

There are amazing collections of songs preserved for us by devotees of the art of song: songs of the Battle of Stalingrad, songs of the Southern Front, songs of the Karelian Front, etc. Once published in military newspapers, they testify to the scale of folk song creativity. They reflect the motives of front-line life. Their heroes are the defenders of our Motherland. Therefore, even today, large and painstaking folklore-gathering work is needed.

Credit must be given to the most popular war songs written after the war. These are “Victory Day” (authors V. Kharitonov and D. Tukhmanov), “Cranes” (R. Gamzatov and Y. Frenkel), “He did not return from the battle”, “Mass Graves” (V. Vysotsky). These songs are perceived by us today as front-line songs. One thing is clear: there is a huge song heritage that tells about the tragic and at the same time heroic pages of our history. Much has been forgotten, lost, erased by time, supplanted by fashionable modern rhythms. Preserving this heritage is like creating a Red Book in which disappearing spiritual values ​​will be listed. We should preserve them and not lose them in vanity and bitterness. Perhaps the songs of the war years will help us overcome the shocks and adversities that befall us today.

On every Victory Day, may the road lead us to mass graves, where “there is not a single personal fate - all destinies are merged into one.” Eternal memory to the defenders of our Motherland! Let our path lead us to the temple, where a prayer service will be served for the fallen soldiers of the Great Patriotic War. May the few veterans of the Great Patriotic War who have survived to this day constantly feel our attention and care.

One thing is certain - the songs of the Great Patriotic War formed and today form the properties of the Russian national character - patriotism, heroism, national fortitude, brotherhood, inexhaustible patience and a sense of unity. Today, in post-Soviet Russia, there is a shortage of these qualities. How necessary they are for new generations of Russian people.

5. “I love you, Russia...”

A huge layer of Russian song creativity is represented by songs of the Soviet era, coinciding chronologically with the second half of the 20th century. They continue the traditions of classical Russian national song- by content, by intonation, by genre diversity. But most importantly, they have cultural genetics identical to Russian folk songs and express the basic features of the Russian national character. Among the diverse themes, plots and motives of these songs, I would like to dwell on two main themes.

The first topic is Russia, the Motherland, Russian nature, the existence of the Russian people. Songs on this topic are characterized by immeasurable breadth, melodiousness, boundless freedom and deep patriotic feeling. This is “Moscow Evenings” by M. Matusovsky; “The Volga is flowing” - L. Oshanina, “Russia is my Motherland!” - V. Kharitonova, “Russian Field” - I. Goff, “My Village” - V. Gundareva, “My Quiet Homeland” - N. Rubtsova, “Grass at the House” - A. Poperechny, “Nadezhda” - N. Dobronravova , “Russia” - I. Talkova.

The boundlessness of Russia and the equally boundless love for the Motherland are insightfully expressed in the song “Russia” by M. Nozhkin:

I love you, Russia,

Our dear Rus',

Unspent power

Unsolved sadness.

You are immense in scope,

There is no end to anything for you,

You have been incomprehensible for centuries

To foreign sages.

The second theme is Russian songs of the lyrical genre, which tell about love and separation, joy and sorrow, hopes and disappointments. They, like folk songs, are unusually melodic, sometimes sentimental, but in each of them a loving and suffering Russian soul trembles. The following popular songs can be attributed to this theme: “Orenburg downy scarf” with poetry. V. Bokova, “Where can I get such a song” - M. Agashina, “Look at the dawn in the river” - O. Fokina, “A snow-white cherry blossomed under the window” - A. Burygina, “I’m standing at a stop” - M. Ancharova, “Ural mountain ash” - M. Pilipenko, “White birch friend” - A. Ovsyannikova, “What a song without a button accordion” - O. Anofrieva. The list of these songs can be continued endlessly.

During this period in the history of our song culture, many poems by S. Yesenin, N. Zabolotsky, N. Rubtsov were set to music. A. Safronov, V. Soloukhin and many other Russian poets. The popularity of Russian songs of this era became possible thanks to famous songwriters - A. Pakhmutova, E. Rodygin, G. Ponomarenko, as well as performers - Lyudmila Zykina, Vladimir Troshin, Maria Mordasova, Alexandra Strelchenko, Oleg Anofriev, Valentina Tolkunova, Nadezhda Babkina and many others.

Unfortunately, today you can rarely hear a Russian folk song. The “format” of the mass media today is suitable for various imported and home-grown hits and hits that have nothing in common with our song culture.

However, Russian folk songs, Russian romances and songs of the Soviet period are quite widely in demand outside our homeland. On the stage of many foreign countries, “Black Eyes” (E. Grebenka), “Two Guitars” (S. Makarov), “A Pair of Bays” (A. Apukhtin), songs of the Soviet era - “Katyusha” and "Moscow Nights". But, perhaps, K. Podrevsky’s romance “The Long Road,” to the music of B. Fomin, is still the most successful. This romance has been translated into many languages. It was performed many times in French and Italian by the French film star Dalida. This romance was performed by the famous trio opera singers- P. Domingo, L. Pavarotti, J. Carreras, and they performed one verse in Russian. Russian songs and romances were performed for many years by Boris Rubashkin, a descendant of the first wave of Russian emigrants. The Yale University Choir (USA) has long been performing Russian folk songs - “Kalinka”, “Oh, you are our Russian expanse”. These songs were performed even in the years cold war on Red Square in Moscow in 1958.

Valery Ganichev, chairman of the Union of Writers of Russia, says with deep regret that today Russian folk song has disappeared, they don’t know it, they don’t sing it. “And Russian song is also our great Russian shrine. They fought against it in the same way as Emelyan Yaroslavsky fought against the church, they destroyed it, distorted it, and replaced it. The country was flooded with hasty, cheerful marches, and only the Great Patriotic War again brought the Russian song to life. The ingenious amulet song “Holy War” gave birth to new spiritually sublime, dramatic-heroic, lyrical-romantic songs... The Alexandrov Choir, Pyatnitsky Choir, “Berezka” were known throughout the world, the Arkhangelsk, Voronezh, and Ural choirs were the standard of song culture. The country sang its songs. Every evening at 19:15 throughout the Soviet Union, folk songs, songs of the Great Patriotic War, were learned on all radio stations. And suddenly everything collapsed... On Vasilievsky Spusk, visiting rock musicians sing, and all sorts of pop music sounds; there was only one broadcast of the folk song “Play, Harmony!” Only Victor Zakharchenko, completely wounded by many years of struggle, breaks through with his outstanding Kuban Folk Choir to the main concert venue of the country - the Palace of Congresses. The departure of folk songs from the life of the country deprived it of the spiritual oxygen of tradition and self-awareness, eternal sound and movement. The cells of our young man’s consciousness and soul were filled with the rhythms of Florida and Texas, the melodies of the London suburbs, and the discos of Amsterdam and Hamburg. He ceases to be Russian and Russian, he does not know our songs, he does not know how to sing them.”

V. Ganichev talks about one trip of a youth delegation to America. There we were asked to sing our songs. The guys from Armenia began to sing their tune, two Ukrainians and I sang “Poviy Vitru na Vkrainu”, but the Muscovites and St. Petersburg residents didn’t remember anything. The American owners suggested: “Kalinka” - the guys didn’t know, “Black Eyes” - too. Let’s at least have “Moscow Evenings,” I suggested angrily. Without the support of the entire delegation they would not have sung. Good compatriots. And are they compatriots? So, second class citizens of the world.

Tanya Petrova said that in Japan, in music schools, a mandatory rule is the knowledge of ten Russian songs, as the most perfect melodic and harmonic examples. Can we boast of such knowledge? Does our student know ten folk songs and can he perform them? Clearly not. A great black hole has formed in the musical image of Russia... Either we sing our songs, or our people will dissolve in an alien melody, and therefore in alien thoughts and spirit... .

The outstanding director of the Moscow Chamber Choir, Vladimir Minin, complains that in Rus' they don’t sing at all anymore. He sees a way out musical education children who could absorb the authentic traditions of national polyphony that are still preserved in some places. Famous bass National artist USSR Yevgeny Nesterenko said that we Russians are a singing nation by nature.

But ascetics-performers of Russian songs have not yet disappeared from Rus'. Alexander Vasin-Makarov, creator of the Nadezhda trio, says: “We have taken upon ourselves the task of combining all types of Russian songs - folk, Soviet and original. In Russia it is impossible not to sing, they sing over a newborn, they sing at the apogee of its development, at a wedding, they also sing at its burial; they sing when coming from a hard day's work, soldiers sing when returning from a hot exercise, and sometimes when going on an assault. He notes that over the past 20 years, 150 melodies have been composed based on N. Rubtsov’s poems! For poems by M. Lermontov - 450! The Nadezhda trio performs songs based on poems by Tyutchev, Apukhtin, Fet, Blok, Rubtsov, Peredreev, Tryapkin, as well as Vasin-Makarov’s own poems, set to music he composed.

The sincerity, emotionality and expressiveness of Russian folk song, with particular force, presented by I.A. Ilyin in his book “The Singing Heart. A book of quiet contemplations." According to Ilyin, the human heart sees the Divine in everything, rejoices and sings, the heart shines from that depth where the human-personal merges with the superhuman-divine to the point of indistinguishability: for God's rays pierce man, and man becomes God's lamp. The heart sings at the sight of a child’s trusting, affectionate and helpless smile. The heart sings when it sees human kindness. The heart sings at the sight of the mysteries, miracles and beauties of God's world. The heart sings during inspired prayer, which is a person’s concentrated turning to God. The heart sings when we contemplate a true shrine in art, when we hear the voices of angels in the melody of earthly music. “We need to see and recognize and be convinced that it is the divine moments of life that constitute the true substance of the world; and that a man with a singing heart is the island of God - His lighthouse. His mediator."

Russian folk song has always been and will be an expression of Russian national identity and Russian character. The traditions coming from Chaliapin, Plevitskaya, Ruslanova and other outstanding performers of Russian folk song are continued today by Tatyana Petrova, Svetlana Kopylova, Elena Sapogova, our fellow countryman Evgeny Buntov and many performers who carefully preserve the traditions of Russian folk song, which truly is the embodiment of the soul of the people, an integral element of our spiritual substance.

Vitaly Ilyich Kopalov , professor, doctor of philosophy. Sciences, URIB im. I. A. Ilyina, Ekaterinburg

1. Ilyin I.A. The path of spiritual renewal // Ilyin I.A. Collection op. : in 10 volumes - M., 1993. - T. 1. - P.202.

2. Ibid. P. 203.

3. See: Ilyin I.A. The essence and originality of Russian culture // Ilyin I.A. Collected works: in 10 volumes. M., 1996. T.6, book. II. P.389.

4. Ibid. P. 395.

5. Gogol N.V. Stories. Dead Souls. M., 1996. P.500.

6. Turgenev I.S. Notes of a hunter // Turgenev I.S. Complete collected works: in 30 volumes. M., 1979. T.3. P.222.

7. Ibid. P.222-223.

8. Soroka-Rosinsky V.N. National and heroic in education // Spiritual foundations of Russian national education: a reader. Ekaterinburg, 1994. P.67.

9. Shalyapin F.I. Mask and soul. My forty years of life in the theater. Perm, 1965. P.242-243.

10. Ilyin I.A. Chaliapin’s artistic vocation // Ilyin I.A. Collected works: in 10 volumes. M., 1998. T.7. P.430.

11. Shine, burn, my star. Ancient Russian romance. M., 1999. P.38-39.

12. Ganichev. V. From the Sanaksar Monastery... Fates, reflections, hopes // Our contemporary. 2010. No. 1. P.189-190.

13. See: Ibid. P. 190.

14. See: Tomorrow. 2008. No. 22.P.8.

15. Ilyin I.A. Lights of life. M., 2006. P.292.

Russian folk songs represent a very important layer of national folklore and are rooted in ancient times. Some of them are of pagan origin, and some arose under the influence of Christianity. Ancient songs were composed by East Slavic tribes that lived on the territory of Rus'. This can be judged from the results of archaeological excavations and a number of creative elements preserved in later folklore. By the time the ancient Russian state was founded, beautiful songs occupied an important place in the culture of the Russians, but with the advent of Christianity, folklore began to decline. Songs for dancing and instrumental music were not welcomed by the official authorities, and were often completely banned as pagan. Folk instrumental music began to experience its next period of prosperity almost two hundred years after the adoption of Christianity.

Main directions

To the main genres musical folklore Russia includes dance songs, round dance songs, wedding, ritual and lyrical songs. In the nineteenth century, ditties became popular. Russian folk music is also famous for its rich instrumental accompaniment. String and wind instruments became widespread, and folk songs accompanied by accordions became the hallmark of the country. But, despite this, Russian songs still rely heavily on vocals. This is obviously due to the introduction by the church of a number of restrictions on the use musical instruments. Cheerful songs were not welcome in those days, although strict ban They didn't have them either.

Modern performers of Russian folk songs are famous throughout the world. This fame is primarily due to its unique vocals. The folk song ensemble "" has been famous throughout the planet for many years. Its participants have repeatedly become winners of many music competitions in various categories. Also, such performers of Russian folk songs as Nikolai Ermilin, Larisa Kurdyumova and. On the website Zaitsev.net you can listen online or download for free any song you like music collection in mp3 format. Here you can find music for every taste - as quickly as possible, free of charge and without the need to register on the site.

Name : Collection of the best Russian folk songs
Performers : different
Year : 2015
Genre: miscellaneous
Duration : 05:21:05
Format/Codec : MP3
Audio bitrate : 256 kbps
Size: 618 MB

Description: Collection of 100 of the best folk songs. All those songs that the entire Russian people knows and sings! Sing along with us!

Download for free collection of the best Russian folk songs Can

List of songs:
001. Lidiya Ruslanova - Golden Mountains
002. Sergey Zakharov - Troika
003. Russian song - Marusya
004. Nadezhda Krygina - Mosquitoes
005. Lyudmila Zykina - Dropped the ring
006. Lyudmila Nikolaeva - Black-browed, black-eyed
007. Georg Ots - It’s not the wind that bends the branch
008. Tatyana Petrova - My gilded ring
009. Ivan Skobtsov - Here comes the postal troika
010. Nikolay Timchenko - Along Piterskaya
011. Joseph Kobzon - Are you waiting for Lizaveta
012. Nikolay Erdenko - I remember, I remember
013. Sergey Lemeshev - How Vanyusha walked and walked
014. Olga Voronets - Will I go, will I go out
015. Nikolai Gedda - Oh, darling
016. Evgeniy Nesterenko - Evening bells
017. Alexandra Strelchenko - Charming eyes
018. Evgenia Shevchenko - We rode on a boat
019. Russian folk choir named after. M.E. Pyatnitsky - How my own mother saw me off
020. Ivan Surzhikov - Wife
021. Nikolay Timchenko - I’ll go outside
022. Olga Voronets - Someone is missing, someone is sorry
023. Olga Kovaleva - There are two flowers on the window
024. Nadezhda Kadysheva and the Golden Ring Ensemble - Katyusha
025. Maxim Mikhailov - Oh you, my share is my share
026. Vladiyar - Oh, frost, frost
027. Lidiya Ruslanova - Kamarinskaya
028. Ivan Skobtsov - The night is dark, seize the minutes
029. Tamara Abdullaeva - How a soldier served
030. Sergey Zakharov - The moon is shining
031. Lyudmila Nikolaeva - The gypsies were driving
032. Tatyana Petrova - Like in the evening, in the evening
033. Olga Voronets - In front of the people in a round dance
034. Sergey Lemeshev - Snowstorm
035. White Day - Oh, how I like you!
036. Vika Tsyganova - Peddlers
037. Nadezhda Kadysheva and the Golden Ring Ensemble - Someone came down the hill
038. Galina Nevara - Nightingales
039. Maria Pakhomenko - There is no better color
040. Nikolay Erdenko - Otrada
041. Russian folk choir named after. M.E. Pyatnitsky - Handsome, young
042. Alla Bayanova - Holiday in the village
043. Nadezhda Krygina - Uhar-merchant
044. Ivan Skobtsov - Among the flat valleys
045. Maxim Mikhailov - Oh you, my share is my share
046. Sergey Lemeshev - I'm sitting on a pebble
047. Nadezhda Kadysheva and the Golden Ring Ensemble - If only I had mountains of gold
048. Olga Voronets - The bird cherry tree is swaying under the window
049. Ivan Skobtsov - Steppe and steppe all around
050. Lyudmila Nikolaeva - Matanya
051. Sergey Zakharov - Along and along the river
052. Russian folk choir named after. M.E. Pyatnitsky - Lullaby
053. Sergey Zakharov - Hey, coachman, drive to Yar
054. Lidia Ruslanova - Through the wild steppes of Transbaikalia
055. Zinaida Sazonova - Oh, it’s not evening
056. Tamara Sinyavskaya - Mother, it’s dusty in the field
057. State Voronezh Russian Folk Choir - Ducks Are Flying
058. Vladiyar - My joy lives on
059. Lidiya Ruslanova - I went up the hill
060. Tatyana Petrova - My Vanyushka
061. Karina and Ruzana Lisitsian - Meadow duck
062. Lyudmila Zykina - From under a pebble
063. Ekaterina Shavrina - The month turned crimson
064. Russian folk choir named after. M.E. Pyatnitsky - Like a roller coaster ride in the mountains
065. Lyudmila Zykina - Under the arc there is a bell
066. Lidia Ruslanova - Valenki
067. Vocal ensemble Voronezh girls - Thin Rowan
068. State Academic Choir, director. A. Sveshnikova - Oh, you wide steppe
069. Alexandra Strelchenko - Along the Murom path
070. Sergey Zakharov - I’ve been all over the universe
071. Anna German - From behind the island to the core
072. Russian folk choir named after. M.E. Pyatnitsky - Oh, my fogs
073. Ivan Skobtsov - Dubinushka
074. Vika Tsyganova - Red viburnum
075. Lyudmila Zykina - You sing in the nightingale garden
076. Sergey Zakharov - Spinner
077. Boris Shtokolov - Night
078. Olga Voronets - Kalinka
079. Victor Klimenko - Coachman, don’t drive the horses
080. Nadezhda Kadysheva and the Golden Ring Ensemble - Ural mountain ash
081. Maria Maksakova - Above the fields, and above the clean ones
082. Russian folk choir named after. M.E. Pyatnitsky - When we were at war
083. Russian folk choir named after. M.E. Pyatnitsky - And who knows
084. Lyudmila Nikolaeva - Oh, why this night
085. Maria Mordasova - Zavlekalochka
086. Nadezhda Kadysheva and the Golden Ring Ensemble - You are my fallen maple
087. Russian folk choir named after. M.E. Pyatnitsky - Along the street
088. Anna Litvinenko - Golden-domed Moscow
089. Vika Tsyganova - Oh, the viburnum is blooming
090. Tamara Sinyavskaya - Katyusha
091. Olga Voronets - One, two, I love you
092. Nadezhda Kadysheva and the Golden Ring Ensemble - Bloomed under the window
093. Evgeniy Nesterenko - Here the daring troika is rushing
094. Ekaterina Shavrina - Luchinushka
095. Lyudmila Nikolaeva - Walking along the Don
096. Irina Maslennikova - Grass Ant
097. Lyudmila Zykina - The Volga Flows
098. Olga Voronets - The stitch tracks are overgrown
099. Anna Litvinenko - There was a carriage at the church
100. Maria Mordasova - Ivanovna