Russian romances: list and performers

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

Romance is a well-defined term. In Spain (the birthplace of this genre), this was the name given to a special kind of composition, intended mainly for solo performance to the sound accompaniment of a viola or guitar. A romance is usually based on a small lyric poem of the love genre.

The origins of Russian romance

This genre was brought to Russia from France by the aristocrats of the second half of the 18th century and was immediately adopted by the fertile soil of Soviet poetry. However, Russian romances, the list of which is known today to every lover of classical songs, began to emerge a little later, when the Spanish shell began to be filled with truly Russian feelings and melodies.

Traditions of folk art were organically woven into the fabric of the new song, which was still represented exclusively by anonymous authors. The romances were re-sung, passing from mouth to mouth, the lines were altered and “polished”. By the beginning of the 19th century, the first collectors of songs began to appear, driven by the idea of preserving old Russian romances.(the list of them by that time was already quite large).

Often, these enthusiasts added to the collected texts, adding depth and poetic force to the lines. The collectors themselves were academically educated people, and therefore, going on folklore expeditions, they pursued not only aesthetic, but also scientific goals.

Evolution of the genre

Starting from the turn of the 18th-19th centuries, the artistic content of romance lyrics became more and more filled with deep personal feelings. The individual world of the hero received an opportunity for a bright, sincere expression. The combination of a high style with a simple and lively Russian vocabulary made the romance truly popular and accessible to both the nobleman and his peasant.

The vocal genre was finally reborn and by the middle of the 19th century it had become an integral part of a secular evening in the framework of the “languid” home music-making loved by all young ladies. The first Russian performers of romances also appeared. The list that made up their song repertoire included more and more author's works.

The most famous in the first half of the 19th century were such famous composers as A. Alyabyev, A. Varlamov and A. Gurilev, who played an invaluable role in the development of Russian romance and its popularization.

Urban and gypsy romances

Urban romance absorbed the largest number of Russian folklore motifs of the 19th-20th centuries. Being an author's song, in terms of the freedom of its existence, it resembled oral folk art and differedcharacteristic features for him:

• magic details;
• clearly defined images;
• stepped composition;
• powerful reflection of the protagonist;
• image of ever-elusive love.

The characteristic features of urban romance from a musical point of view are the harmonic construction of the composition with minor tones, as well as its inherent sequence.

Gypsy romance was born as a tribute to Russian composers and poets in the manner of performance beloved by many of the same name. Its basis was an ordinary lyrical song. However, the characteristic artistic turns and techniques that were in use among the gypsies fit into its texts and melody. To learn such a romance today is no wonder. Its main theme, as a rule, is a love experience in various gradations (from tenderness to carnal passion), and the most noticeable detail is “green eyes”.

Cruel and Cossack romances

There is no academic definition for these terms. However, their characteristic features are described in the literature quite fully. A feature of a cruel romance is a very organic combination of the principles of a ballad, a lyrical song and a romance. Its individual features include an abundance of main plots that differ only in the causes of the tragedy. The result of the whole story is usually death in the form of murder, suicide, or mental anguish.

The birthplace of the Cossack romance is Don, who gave lovers of folk poetry the legendary song of an unknown author "Not for mespring will come … ". History also does not know the exact authorship of most of the highly artistic works that can be described as "classical Russian romances." Their list includes such songs as: “Dear long”, “Only once”, “Oh, guitar friend”, “Come back”, “We only know each other” and others written in the first third of the 20th century.

Russian romances: a list and their authors

According to one of the main versions, the Russian romances, the list of which was given above, belong to the most popular songwriters at the beginning of the last century: Boris Fomin, Samuil Pokrass, Yuli Khait and others.

The most devoted connoisseur of the classical romance in the 20th century was Valery Agafonov, who was the first to declare the high value of the cultural baggage leaving the Soviet listener. Russian romances, the list of which was compiled by Agafonov, owed their revival on a new soil to the return to their homeland of their legendary performers - Alexander Vertinsky and Alla Bayanova.