Romance is the whole story of life in a song

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

What is romance? Its main characteristics and components, as well as the history of the origin and development of the old genre. The role of Mikhail Glinka in the development of Russian romance.

Beautiful lyrical performance accompanied by live music has always touched the hearts of listeners and connoisseurs of the classics. It's amazing how such a short musical creation can touch the most distant strings of our soul. Romance is an amazing combination of poetry and music that has found many admirers. There are three varieties in the melodic-poetic genre: barcarolle (rhythmic song), elegy (reflection song), ballad (story song).

Romance is an old genre

Its history goes back to the Middle Ages. The term “romance” itself originated in medieval Spain. During that period of history, a genre of secular songs appeared, usually these were poems by famous poets of the Romantic era, set to music and conveying deep feelings. By the way, today the words “romance” and “song” are identical in many languages.

Over time, this musical genre has gained such popularity that single pieces began to be combined into entire vocal cycles. It is symbolic that the first such cycle was created bythe genius of world music and the father of the classics - Beethoven. His idea was picked up and continued by no less famous musicians such as Brahms, Schumann and Schubert.

The main characteristics of the romance

Romance is a musical poem similar to a song. But still there are significant differences in the construction of the work. For example, there is absolutely no chorus in it, or, as it is also called, a refrain. Although practice shows that there are exceptions to the rules. Interestingly, the romance is usually performed solo, less often in a duet, and almost never in a chorus.

A special distinguishing feature of this genre is its semantic load. His lines always carry a certain story that is close to both the author and his listeners. It can be an autobiographical story about an unhappy love story, or the author's thoughts on a particular life topic. Romance is not exclusively a melancholic genre. There are many examples of satirical and hilarious verse stories set to music.

A little about Russian romance

After a while, with the advent of musical instruments in the homes of we althy people, the romance also seeped into Russian culture. Perhaps this was inspired by the spirit of romanticism that pervaded the entire early nineteenth century. He was very to the taste of the demanding public, and he was instantly picked up by such composers as Varlamov ("Don't wake her at dawn"), Gurilev ("The bell sounds monotonously"), Alyabyev ("The Nightingale"). Some of them considerednecessary to bring into the Russian romance the spirit of freedom and cheerfulness and at the same time allowed the performer to demonstrate his vocal abilities. The accompaniment here is just a background, but organically connected with the poetic basis.

Sadly, in the Soviet era, its cultural development was suspended, as severe censorship believed that the ideology promoted in romances had a detrimental effect on the working Soviet person. Old romances were not welcomed, their subject matter was considered "decadent". The trend was patriotic, folk and humorous songs with a simple melody.

Nevertheless, romances in some of their forms, for example, "urban", continued to exist, passed from mouth to mouth by ordinary people. It was thanks to them that over time the long-awaited revival of this genre took place, which took place approximately in the seventies.

Russian composer Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka

An invaluable contribution to the history of Russian romance was made by Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka. As you know, he wrote more than eighty works of different directions. Glinka's romances are unique masterpieces, the creation of which can only be done by such talented and gifted individuals as Mikhail Ivanovich. His favorite romances were based on the poems of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. He always appreciated good poetry and realized that a real romance cannot exist without it.

The most significant work is the opera "Ruslan and Lyudmila" based on the opera of the same namePushkin's poem, which did not receive universal recognition, but revealed the full potential of the composer. And Glinka's famous romances to the verses of the great Russian poet - "I remember a wonderful moment", "I'm here, Inezilla", "He alth Cup", "For he alth, Mary".

Today, there are millions of fans of the world-famous genre. Thanks to the love and support of the public, he does not stand still, but develops and moves forward every day. Of course, no matter how much time passes, the romance will remain one of the leading and most important areas of chamber music.

More and more people find in it something close to themselves, some kind of outlet in their experiences and problems. It is comforting to know that romance has not faded into the background over time, it continues to be a favorite genre of vocals.