Neoclassicism in music and its representatives

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

Neoclassicism in music is a special term that denotes a direction in academic music of the last century. Its representatives imitated the style of musical compositions of the 17th-18th centuries. Particularly popular were the works of composers of early classicism, as well as late baroque. Musicians of the 20th century tried to oppose this style, in their opinion, to the excessively emotional and overloaded with complex technical techniques music of late romanticism. This trend was most popular in the 1920s and 30s.

Characterization of neoclassicism

Neoclassicism in music in its style is very similar to the direction of neo-baroque. The line between them is very blurred. This was largely due to the fact that the composers themselves often mixed the stylistic and genre features of both historical periods.

In our time, the term "neoclassicism" in music is very common. This is how experts define, firstly, Baroque and Viennese Classical stylizations, as well as the so-called aesthetic reconstructions from other historical periods other than romanticism.

According to musicologist Levon Hakobyan, current researchers sometimes unjustifiablyexpand the concept of neoclassicism to include much of the music that was composed in the 20th century. Moreover, it often does not fit into the concept of either avant-garde or modernism.

Representatives of neoclassicism in music

The founders of such a trend as neoclassicism are considered to be composers who represented a moderate branch of late romanticism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Among them are Johannes Brahms, Camille Saint-Saens, Alexander Glazunov.

Some famous composers begin to imitate the classical style as early as the second half of the 19th century. Similar trends can be seen in Modest Mussorgsky's Classical Intermezzo and Maurice Ravel's Old Minuet.

The first representatives of neoclassicism in the music of the 20th century were Sergei Prokofiev with the "Classical Symphony", as well as Eric Satie, who wrote the "Bureaucratic Sonatina", which parodies Muzio Clementi's sonatina.

Interpretations of neoclassicism

At the same time, Filenko notes that the composers recreated the so-called spirit of antiquity using the Gregorian psalmody. This is her own term for Gregorian chant, a monophonic chant popular in the Roman Catholic Church.church.

An example of neoclassicism

At one time, neoclassicism in music was very popular. Representatives of this trend left a noticeable mark on the development of music. One of the brightest representatives of neoclassicism is Eric Satie and his symphonic drama Socrates. In this work, the eccentric French composer concluded a vocal cycle for soprano and orchestra, which includes fragments translated into French from Plato's philosophical work "Dialogues".

Experts note that the musical language used by Sati is clear and concise in terms of expression. The work involves a chamber orchestra, quite small, made up almost exclusively of stringed instruments. With it, the parts of the vocalists sound fresh, without violating the strict and harsh nature of the sound.

Sati's music is also distinguished by the fact that it does not strive to coincide in detail with the text. The composer conveys only the general atmosphere and environment. At the same time, the average temperature of emotions is constantly maintained throughout the drama.

In these manifestations, Sati is close to the artists of the Renaissance. For example, Sandro Botticelli, Fra Beato Angelico. And also to the 19th-century painter Puvis de Chavannes, whom he considered his favorite, especially in his early youth.

All these artists, just like Sati, only in painting, solved the problem of the unity of the image, eliminating restless contrasts, small strokes, symmetrical arrangement of figures.

Eric Satie Style

Sati is a bright representative of neoclassicism and classical avant-garde in music. He creates his own unique style, which is characterized by extremely restrained emotions throughout almost the entire length of his main piece of music - "Socrates".

He often uses a variety of expressive means, which regularly alternate and repeat. Here are textured drawings and smooth harmonic sequences. The composer divides motives and formations into very small cells - one or two measures each. In this case, the repetitions are symmetrical at a very small distance from each other. In the future, this constructive-emotional path was used by many other followers of Sati, representatives of neoclassicism in music. Composers rightly considered the Frenchman one of the founders of this direction.

The search for neoclassicism

At the same time, it should be noted that in its development the music of neoclassicism, the countries in which it was cultivated, were constantly changing. For example, if at first it was the lot of European states, then by the beginning of the 20th century, many representatives of this trend appeared on the territory of Russia.

The same applies to style change. Moreover, the founder of musical neoclassicism Sati himself was engaged in it. In 1917, he released his famous and scandalous ballet "Parade". Many have contributed to this production.celebrities of that time: Jean Cocteau wrote the libretto, Pablo Picasso worked on the set design, the main parts were performed by Leonid Myasin and Lidia Lopukhova.

The plot of this work was a description of the performance of the performers of the farce circus. They are trying their best to attract the public to see their performance, which is organized in a circus tent.

The symphonic drama "Socrates", released a year later, differs markedly from "Parade". Satie declares that he is ready to present a fundamentally new work to the world, ultimately officially declaring that in "Socrates" he decided to finally return to classical simplicity in everything, while maintaining a modern sensibility.

Socrates premiered in 1918. At that time it became a new word in modern classical music. Many art lovers enthusiastically accepted this new work by Sati.

Development of neoclassicism

Neoclassicism in music as an artistic direction began to be taken seriously in 1920. It was then that the Italian composer Ferruccio Busoni published the program article "New Classicism". He did this in the form of an open letter, in which he turned to the popular musicologist Becker. This article has become a program for this musical direction.

Neoclassicism received a powerful development in culture from the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. He was especially manifested in his vivid and memorable works - "The Adventures ofrake", "Pulcinella", "Orpheus", "Apollo Musagete". The French composer Albert Roussel also had a hand in popularizing neoclassicism. It was in relation to his music that the term was first officially used. It happened in 1923.

In general, many composers of the first half of the 20th century worked in similar styles. Neoclassicism in German neoclassical music was developed by Paul Hindemith. In France it was Darius Milhaud and Francis Poulenc, in Italy it was Ottorino Respighi and Alfredo Casella.

Application in non-academic music

In recent years, the direction of neoclassicism in music is almost never returned. Although in the 21st century, such a term has become increasingly common on the pages of musical newspapers and magazines. However, this is erroneous. Nowadays, musical neoclassicism is increasingly called a special synthesis of a harmonious combination of classical music with electronics, pop and rock directions.

At the same time, the most popular modern representatives of such music, as in the days when neoclassicism was just reviving, are from Italy and France.