Russian music in the period of Romanticism PDF

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Short essay (with citations) exploring Russian music in the Romantic period....

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Russian secular music had a gentle nature, marked by expressiveness, strong melodies, and beautiful harmonies. The stated purpose of Russian folk music was to showcase Russian national culture and traditions in classical music. (Russian Music - History and Great Russian Composers., 2001). The stated purpose of Russian folk music was to showcase Russian national culture and traditions in classical music. Russian folk music became the primary source for the younger generation of composers. Many of the works by Glinka and the Mighty Five (Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsokov, Mussgorsky, Borodin, and Cui) were based on Russian history, folk tales, and literature, and regarded as masterpieces of the romantic nationalism in music. (A Timeline of Russian Classical Music | StageNotes for Our Great Tchaikovsky., n.d). The Russian Music Society’s St. Petersburg Conservatory trained the great Russian composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840- 1893), best known for ballets like Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker. He remains Russia’s best known composer outside Russia. (A Timeline of Russian Classical Music | StageNotes for Our Great Tchaikovsky., n.d). The advent of communism in 1917 led to the downfall of the Tsarist autocracy and the rise of the Soviet Union. Coming on the heels of the Tsar’s Army’s failure in World War One, there was new, more intense nationalistic fervor and musical compositions followed suit. More strident and uplifting “revolutionary” music took a strong hold.

Russian Music - History and Great Russian Composers. (2001). Advantour.Com. https://www.advantour.com/russia/culture/music.htm A Timeline of Russian Classical Music | StageNotes for Our Great Tchaikovsky. (n.d.). Hartford Stage. https://www.hartfordstage.org/stagenotes/our-great-tchaikovsky/timeline/...