“The laziest classic of Russian music” - Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov. “Eight Russian folk songs Lyadov 8 Russian folk songs list

Symphonic miniatures by A.K. Lyadov appeared in the mature period of the composer’s work. There are few of them, and they are all software. And some of them have a specific literary program outlined by the author. Music researchers usually do not classify “Eight Russian Folk Songs” as Lyadov’s program music, but also with arrangements of folk songs, of which he has more than 200. What's the catch here? Let's figure it out.
The work is a cycle of miniatures for orchestra. It does not have its own name, but each play has its own “name” according to the genre of folk songs. Some of these songs have already been published previously in collections of arrangements of Lyadov’s folk songs for one voice and piano. But the composer again decided to turn to these genuine melodies, only in instrumental form. But why did he need this? After all, you can’t erase a word from a song... But he did it freely, without remorse... Did he really have nothing to orchestrate?
As always, with geniuses everything is simple, but not so primitive...
As history tells, Lyadov lived a “double” life. In winter he taught at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and spent the whole summer at his dacha in the village of Polynovka. What's surprising? Many works by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev and other composers were written at the dachas. But Lyadov did not just live in the country. He lived in a village. He spent a lot of time communicating with the family of the peasant Ivan Gromov, walking around the neighborhood and recording folk songs. Of course, he was completely imbued with the spirit of Russian folklore. He knew not only peasant life (he especially loved to mow and chop wood), but also understood the type of thinking of “ordinary people,” their morals and characters, their attitude to the land and to life. At the same time, he was a well-educated, “well-read” and deeply thinking person. And this combination of intelligence and rustic simplicity was reflected in his work. It was in “Eight Russian Folk Songs” that he combined two things that do not intersect in ordinary life - a village choral song and a symphony orchestra. Other Russian composers did this - Mussorgsky and Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Tchaikovsky, and even Scriabin. But Lyadov did it in his own unique way.
Yes, the author uses genuine folk melodies that previously had words. But this is not just another “arrangement”, and his idea is not to “attribute” orchestral accompaniment to the folk melody. It’s about using the rich means of the orchestra to express what is between the words, between the lines, which is not customary to talk about in words.
Yes, he, too, like his colleagues, combined folk melodies with European principles of harmonization, used instrumental techniques of folk instruments (zhalikas, balalaikas) in the orchestra; used folk genres and painted fairy-tale characters. But in Eight Songs he went further and deeper.
This cycle contains a capacious reflection of the soul of the people in symbolic manifestation. There is no literary program here, as in his other symphonic films. But if Lyadov himself did not copy out the plot from Russian fairy tales, this does not mean that it is not there at all. The program is embedded in the genres of songs themselves, which were chosen by the author not by chance, not just for “diversity” and not by chance arranged in this and not any other order.
How can it be? Genre is just a classification of songs according to certain characteristics.
In science - yes. But not in the folklore tradition. Not a single song in the village is sung “just like that.” She is always on point. And “by the time.” We are talking not only about “timed songs” that are associated with a calendar ritual, and which is performed at a certain time of the year (Carols - on New Year’s, zaklikki - in the spring, Kupala songs - in the summer, and so on). Dance, drinking, wedding, and comic songs also correspond to their action. In a word, behind each song there is a whole fairy tale. Therefore, the composer did not have to comment on the songs. Each genre speaks for itself. Lyadov apparently just liked the fact that a very deep thought could be expressed briefly and concisely.
Each song in the cycle is a character. Not so much a portrait of a character as an expression of a state of mind. This soul is multifaceted. And each play is its new facet.
Now more about each play and what it means in Lyadov’s unwritten program.

Dear verse- this is the character of the passers-by. In the old days, on green Christmastide (the week before Easter), wandering musicians came to the house and sang spiritual poems. Each song contains stories about “heavenly” life, the afterlife, the soul, and so on. In this cycle it is a symbol of prayer. And this “spirituality”, in fact, sets the tone for all the other plays.
***
TOoljada-MAlada- these are the winter Christmastide, the week before Christmas, when mummers came to the house, danced with the owners of the house, sang great (that is, laudatory) songs to them, and showed them a puppet theater (nativity scene) based on a biblical story. Perhaps these are the puppets lighting the star of Bethlehem and bringing gifts to the baby Jesus? Everything in the orchestration is “puppet-like”, “tiny” - quiet pizzicato steps, quiet trumpets - the voices of puppets, but the character is still solemn.
***
Protary– this is the most colorful expression of the people’s suffering. As the poet said, “we call this groan a song.” Undoubtedly, lingering ones were meant. Each such song tells about a difficult fate, a woman’s lot, or some kind of heartbreaking story with a sad ending... We won’t even look for the true words of this song, because the composer expressed even more through the means of the orchestra... I would like to draw attention to how the cello ensemble performs the main melody in imitation of the ensemble of choir voices. The cellos here are especially soulful...
***
Shweft- “I danced with a mosquito.” The depiction of mosquito squeaks is not the play’s main attraction. Sound visualization is an integral part of the author’s style, but by doing this he only distracts attention, wanting to cheer up the listener a little after such deep grief as in the previous play. Let’s remember what the expression “so that a mosquito doesn’t sharpen your nose” means... Or how did Lefty shoe a flea? All these symbols are subtlety, sharpness of mind, wit. A funny joke - what could be a better distraction from grief and sadness?
***
Bylina about birds– this is a special conversation.
An epic is some kind of true story, that is, a story about what happened. She usually talks about the exploits of Russian heroes. And the music is usually of a narrative nature, slow, calm, “epic.” And the attitude towards birds in ancient times was special. Birds were revered in Rus' as sacred. In the spring, they “called” the larks, and in the fall they escorted the cranes to the south. But the author did not use stoneflies, but wrote “epics,” which speaks of some kind of myth.
Fairy tales often mention crows, eagles, doves, and swallows, which can speak in a human voice. There is also a sign that if a bird hits the window, then wait for news. According to legends, a bird is a symbol of the human soul flying from the “other” world, that is, from the afterlife. It’s as if our distant ancestors are telling us something very important.
At the same time, the music of this epic is far from being of a narrative nature. The composer remained true to himself, choosing the sound-depicting path: all the time there are grace notes of woodwinds, which depict the flight of birds and fluttering from branch to branch; at the beginning of the piece, a bird seems to be knocking on a window (pizzicato), and, judging by the music, it brings bad news... It rushes about, moans, and at the very end, the low unisons of the strings seem to pronounce a harsh sentence from Fate. And, most likely, it is inevitable...
***
TOlullaby– a logical continuation of the “sentence”. Traditional lullabies for children are usually very soothing. But here, not everything is so straightforward. If anyone rocks the cradle, it is not the good mother, but Death himself. She was the one knocking on the door in the last play. And now he groans and sighs. It’s like someone is saying goodbye forever to a loved one. But this is not a funeral song, but a lullaby! Everything is correct. When a person dies a natural death, he gradually falls asleep and never wakes up. And now death sings this plaintive lullaby, as if enveloping you in its fog, dragging you along with you into a damp grave. “Sleep, sleep... eternal sleep...”
***
But here -PLyasovaya- the shepherd’s magic pipe, the flute, appeared. A connection with the afterlife in the village was attributed to all shepherds, because they knew the language of birds and animals, and livestock. And the pipes were made from “magic” grass that plays itself. This magical pipe is small, thin as a mosquito, can slip into the kingdom of death and bring a person back to “this” light. But he must not just walk, but dance. And then, having walked along a thin thread connecting “that” light and “this”, a person returns to life.
And what does he see first?
Light! That is the Sun!
And people - friends and family.
***
Xorchard- this is when everyone holds hands together and walks in a circle. The circle is a symbol of the sun. And the sun is warmth, abundance and wealth. The last play is a victory over death and a joyful hymn to Her Majesty of Life.

This is how short plays, literally, in “a few words,” contained the entire philosophy and poetry of the Russian people in the brilliant retelling of the miniaturist composer Anatoly Lyadov. Listen, and you will hear a part of yourself there as a truly Russian person.
Inna ASTAKHOVA

A.K.Lyadov

"Eight Russian Folk Songs" for orchestra

Symphonic miniatures by A.K. Lyadov appeared in the mature period of the composer’s work. There are few of them, and they are all software. Each of them has a name, that is, a “proper name”: “Dance of the Amazon”, “Sorrowful Song”. And some of them have a specific literary program outlined by the author. Music researchers usually do not classify “Eight Russian Folk Songs” as Lyadov’s program music, but also with arrangements of folk songs, of which he has more than 200. What's the catch here? Let's figure it out.

Composition represents a cycle of miniatures for orchestra. It does not have its own name, but each play has its own “name” according to the genre of folk songs. Some of these songs have already been published previously in collections of arrangements of Lyadov’s folk songs for one voice and piano. But the composer again decided to turn to these genuine melodies, only in instrumental form. But why did he need this? After all, you can’t erase a word from a song... But he did it freely, without remorse... Did he really have nothing to orchestrate?

As always, with geniuses everything is simple, but not so primitive...

As history tells, Lyadov lived a “double” life. In winter he taught at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and spent the whole summer at his dacha in the village of Polynovka. What's surprising? Many works by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev and other composers were written at the dachas. But Lyadov did not just live in the country. He lived in a village. He spent a lot of time communicating with the family of the peasant Ivan Gromov, walking around the neighborhood and recording folk songs. Of course, he was completely saturated with the spirit of Russian folklore. He knew not only peasant life (he especially loved to mow and chop wood), but also understood the type of thinking of “ordinary people,” their morals and characters, their attitude to the land and to life. At the same time, he was a well-educated, “well-read” and deeply thinking person. And this combination intelligence and rustic simplicity was reflected in his work. It was in “Eight Russian Folk Songs” that he combined two things that do not intersect in ordinary life - a village choral song and a symphony orchestra. Other Russian composers did this - Mussorgsky and Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Tchaikovsky, and even Scriabin. But Lyadov did it in his own unique way.

Yes, the author uses genuine folk melodies that previously had words. But this is not just another “arrangement”, and his idea is not to “attribute” orchestral accompaniment to the folk melody. It’s about using the rich means of the orchestra to express what is between the words, between the lines, which is not customary to talk about in words.

Yes, he, too, like his colleagues, combined folk melodies with European principles of harmonization, used instrumental techniques of folk instruments (zhalikas, balalaikas) in the orchestra; used folk genres and painted fairy-tale characters. But in Eight Songs he went further and deeper.

This cycle contains a capacious reflection of the soul of the people in symbolic manifestation. There is no literary program here, as in his other symphonic films. But if Lyadov himself did not copy out the plot from Russian fairy tales, this does not mean that it is not there at all. The program is embedded in the genres of songs themselves, which were chosen by the author not by chance, not just for “diversity” and not by chance arranged in this and not any other order.

How can it be? Genre is just a classification of songs according to certain characteristics.

In science - yes. But not in the folklore tradition. Not a single song in the village is sung “just like that.” She is always on point. And “by the time.” We are talking not only about “timed songs” that are associated with a calendar ritual, and which is performed at a certain time of the year (Carols - on New Year’s, zaklikki - in the spring, Kupala songs - in the summer, and so on). Dance, drinking, wedding, and comic songs also correspond to their action. In a word, behind each song there is a whole fairy tale. Therefore, the composer did not have to comment on the songs. Each genre speaks for itself. Lyadov, apparently, just liked the fact that a very deep thought could be expressed briefly and concisely.

Each song in the cycle is a character. Not so much a portrait of a character as an expression of a state of mind. This soul is multifaceted. And each play is its new facet.

Now more about each play and what it means in Lyadov’s unwritten program.

- this is the character of the passers-by. In the old days, on green Christmastide (the week before Easter), wandering musicians came to the house and sang spiritual poems. Each song contains stories about “heavenly” life, the afterlife, the soul, and so on. In this cycle it is a symbol of prayer. And this “spirituality”, in fact, sets the tone for all the other plays.

- these are the winter Christmastide, the week before Christmas, when mummers came to the house, danced with the owners of the house, sang great (that is, laudatory) songs to them, and showed them a puppet theater (nativity scene) based on a biblical story. Perhaps these are the puppets lighting the star of Bethlehem and bringing gifts to the baby Jesus? Everything in the orchestration is “puppet-like”, “tiny” - quiet pizzicato steps, quiet trumpets - the voices of puppets, but the character is still solemn.

– this is the most colorful expression of the people’s suffering. As the poet said, “we call this groan a song.” Undoubtedly, lingering ones were meant. Each such song tells about a difficult fate, a woman’s lot or some other heartbreaking a story with a sad ending... We won’t even look for the true words of this song, because the composer expressed even more through the means of an orchestra... I would like to draw attention to how the cello ensemble performs the main melody in imitation of the ensemble of choir voices. The cellos here are especially soulful...

- “I danced with a mosquito.” The depiction of mosquito squeaks is not the play’s main attraction. Sound-imagery- this is an integral part of the author’s style, but by doing this he only distracts attention, wanting to cheer up the listener a little after such deep grief as was in the previous play. Let’s remember what the expression “so that a mosquito doesn’t sharpen your nose” means... Or how did Lefty shoe a flea? All these symbols are subtlety, sharpness of mind, wit. A funny joke - what could be a better distraction from grief and sadness?

– this is a special conversation.

An epic is some kind of true story, that is, a story about what happened. She usually talks about the exploits of Russian heroes. And the music is usually of a narrative nature, slow, calm, “epic.” And the attitude towards birds in ancient times was special. Birds were revered in Rus' as sacred. In the spring, they “called” the larks, and in the fall they escorted the cranes to the south. But the author did not use stoneflies, but wrote “epics,” which speaks of some kind of myth.

Fairy tales often mention crows, eagles, doves, and swallows, which can speak in a human voice. There is also a sign that if a bird hits the window, then wait for news. According to legends, a bird is a symbol of the human soul flying from the “other” world, that is, from the afterlife. It’s as if our distant ancestors are telling us something very important.

At the same time, the music of this epic is far from being of a narrative nature. The composer remained true to himself, choosing sonorous path: all the time there are grace notes of woodwinds, which depicts the flight of birds and fluttering from branch to branch; at the beginning of the piece, a bird seems to be knocking on a window (pizzicato), and, judging by the music, it brings bad news... It rushes about, moans, and at the very end, the low unisons of the strings seem to pronounce a harsh sentence from Fate. And, most likely, it is inevitable...

– a logical continuation of the “sentence”. Traditional lullabies for children are usually very soothing. But here, not everything is so straightforward. If anyone rocks the cradle, it is not the good mother, but Death himself. She was the one knocking on the door in the last play. And now he groans and sighs. It’s like someone is saying goodbye forever to a loved one. But this is not a funeral song, but a lullaby! Everything is correct. When a person dies a natural death, he gradually falls asleep and never wakes up. And now death sings this plaintive lullaby, as if enveloping you in its fog, dragging you along with you into a damp grave. “Sleep, sleep... eternal sleep...”

But then—the shepherd’s magic pipe, a pipe, appeared. A connection with the afterlife in the village was attributed to all shepherds, because they knew the language of birds and animals, and livestock. And the pipes were made from “magic” grass that plays itself. This magical pipe is small, thin as a mosquito, can slip into the kingdom of death and bring a person back to “this” light. But he must not just walk, but dance. And then, having walked along a thin thread connecting “that” light and “this”, a person returns to life.

And what does he see first?

Light! That is the Sun!

And people - friends and family.

- this is when everyone holds hands together and walks in a circle. The circle is a symbol of the sun. And the sun is warmth, abundance and wealth. The last play is a victory over death and a joyful hymn to Her Majesty of Life.

This is how short plays, literally, in “a few words,” contained the entire philosophy and poetry of the Russian people in a brilliant retelling by the miniaturist composer Anatoly Lyadov. Listen, and you will hear a part of yourself there as a truly Russian person.

Inna ASTAKHOVA

1855-1914

ANATOLY KONSTANTINOVICH LYADOV

A talented composer, teacher, conductor, authoritative musical figure of the late 19th century. As a student of Rimsky-Korsakov, he trained a number of outstanding musicians, such as Prokofiev, Myaskovsky, Gnessin, Asafiev, Ossovsky, Steinberg.

Lyadov's life is connected with St. Petersburg. Coming from a family of professional musicians, he grew up in the musical and artistic world. His father is a famous conductor of Russian opera, so the young composer early became acquainted with the operatic masterpieces of Glinka, Dargomyzhsky, Meyerbeer, Verdi, and Wagner.

Lyadov's talent manifested itself in poetry and painting, but due to unfavorable circumstances, he did not receive a proper education in childhood. The constant disorder of everyday life creates negative qualities in him: lack of concentration, laziness, lack of will. In 1867 he entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Since 1874 he has been studying with Rimsky-Korsakov. Despite problems with his studies (he was expelled for poor academic performance and lack of attendance), he graduated brilliantly in 1878.

With the assistance of Rimsky-Korsakov, he is a member of the “Mighty Handful,” but the influence of the “kuchkists” did not become decisive for the composer’s work. He did not share their views on Tchaikovsky’s work, as he was attracted by the composer’s lyrics. In the mid-80s he joined the Belyaevsky circle. His musical idols are Glinka, Rimsky-Korsakov, Schubert, Chopin, Wagner.

Lyadov was far from political life. He went down in the history of music education as a brilliant teacher-theorist who developed his own teaching system; worked at the conservatory, in the singing choir.

The composer's talent manifested itself most clearly in the late period. The value of his work lies in its diverse connections with folk songs and poetry. Although not a folklorist, he was an expert in folk style. The nationality determined the content of his work, which was based on such genres as epics, fairy tales, and lyrics.

Unlike his great predecessors, his work did not have a breadth of ideas; he did not touch on socio-historical themes and did not solve global problems. But he knew how to give an apt description and masterfully mastered visual techniques. Lyadov’s music expresses natural human feelings: mostly tender lyrics. He does not create large monumental works, but gravitates towards miniature: vocal, symphonic, instrumental, and also uses programming.

In the technique of composition, polyphonic means, rhythmic diversity, elegant vocal performance, and original instrumentation play an important role.

Lyadov's merit lies in uniting the traditions of the Moscow and St. Petersburg schools, the ideas of the “Mighty Handful” and the “Belyaevsky Circle”. This was manifested in reliance on Russian national traditions and a high professional level.

Lyadov's symphonic works are few in number. All works are one-part. The composer himself called them symphonic paintings. The pinnacle of creative activity was four works: three program fairy-tale pictures (Kikimora, Baba Yaga, Magic Lake) and the suite “Eight Russian Folk Songs for Orchestra”. The content of the works is fairy tale and fantasy. At the same time, Lyadov in his works gravitates toward a specific plot type of programming.

The principle of folk-genre symphonism, characteristic of the composer, is clearly presented in the suite "Eight Russian folk songs for orchestra." This is the result of the composer’s work in the field of folklore arrangements. The work is built on the principle of a suite and has a pronounced dramatic basis, presented in a single dynamic development from strictly chanting to a general holiday and triumph of existence.

The suite has eight movements:

1. Spiritual verse.

2. Kolyada-malyada.

3. Lengthy.

4. Comic “I danced with a mosquito.”

5. An epic about birds.

6. Lullaby.

7. Dance.

8. Round dance.

The material was folklore arrangements from his song collections. Among the songs, Lyadov selects tunes with short motives and a small range. In developing the material, the composer uses variational techniques.

Images of Russian folk tales come to life in miniatures “Kikimora”, “Baba Yaga”, “Magic Lake”. The first two are fabulous portraits, the third is a bewitching symphonic landscape. The source of the first two works was Russian fairy tales from Sakharov’s collection. “The Magic Lake” does not have a literary plot; it is not a fairy tale, but a fabulous state in which a fairy tale can arise.

IN "Baba Yaga" The flight of a fairy-tale character is captured. The visual function is performed by energetic rhythm, modal originality, and original instrumentation.

"Magic Lake"- a fabulous landscape, the development of which is directed from the almost intangible state of silence of nature to spiritual admiration. Lyadov uses specific means of expression. The work lacks a clear thematic theme. The basis is a barely changing background, against which individual thematic elements appear. Colorful harmonic comparisons and colorful instrumentation play an important role. Thus, the composer creates a landscape in the spirit of the Impressionists.

"Kikimora"- fabulous scherzo. The work has two parts and the two parts are already included in the program. The first part has an introductory character and is an exposition of various characters: the Magician, Kota-Bayun, Kikimora, and the Crystal Cradle. The second movement is a dynamic scherzo, recreating the actions of the grown-up Kikimora.

The first part is based on four topics:

1. (a) – The Magician’s theme – low register of strings and woodwinds, dissonant harmonies, chromatic intonations;

2. (c) – Kota-Bayun’s theme – a typical Russian lullaby, small range with second-quart intonations, plagal harmonies;

3. (c) – Kikimora’s theme – a chromatic, descending motif in the volume of a tritone, unique rhythmically;

4. (d) – theme of the Crystal Cradle with celesta timbre, high register, transparent harmony.

Section layout: A B C A B C A D

The second part develops theme C. The process is subordinated to a single dynamic wave. The composer uses bright visual techniques: leaps at wide intervals, grace notes, unexpected accents, harmonic originality. The climax is a bright grotesque march.

Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov(11 May 1855 - 28 August 1914)
The personality is bright and original. He did not compose many works, but some! Russian epic in music is the main direction in his work. Contemporaries said that he surpassed N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov himself.

Contemporaries reproached Lyadov for his lack of creative productivity.

One of the reasons for this is the financial insecurity of Lyadov, who is forced to do a lot of teaching work. It must be said that as a teacher Lyadov achieved considerable success. Among his students are Prokofiev, Asafiev, Myaskovsky. Teaching took at least six hours a day. Lyadov composed, in his own words, “in the cracks of time,” and this very depressing for him. “I compose little and compose slowly,” he wrote to his sister in 1887. - Am I really just a teacher? I really wouldn't want that! And it seems that I’ll end up with this...”

About Lyadov’s attitude towards his students E. Braudo in the article “A.K. Lyadov" wrote: "... observation and psychological instinct allowed Lyadov to completely accurately determine the musical individuality of his students. And no one knew how to develop in them a sense of grace and nobility of taste to the same extent as he.”

And here’s how one of Lyadov’s students described the teacher: “... A huge and clear theoretical mind, with clearly understood principles and a teaching plan, accuracy, precision and elegance of explanatory formulas, wise conciseness of presentation.”

A.K. Lyadov, despite the outward bohemianism that accompanied him all his life, was a closed person and did not allow anyone into his personal life. In 1884, he hid from everyone around him the fact of his marriage to Nadezhda Ivanovna Tolkacheva, a literary scholar who graduated from the Higher Women's Courses, with whom he lived happily until the end of his life, raising two sons.

Lyadov modestly set aside for himself the field of miniatures - piano and orchestral - and worked on it with great love and care as a craftsman and with the taste of a first-class artist-jeweler and master of style. The beautiful truly lived in him in a national-Russian spiritual form.
B. Asafiev

Lyadov was an excellent pianist, although he did not consider himself a virtuoso and did not engage in public concert activities. All his contemporaries who heard him play noted his elegant, refined, chamber manner of performance.
Lyadov's turn to piano music was quite natural. Lyadov's piano pieces are a kind of musical and poetic sketches of individual life impressions, pictures of nature, reflected in the artist's inner world.

"Music Box"

D. Matsuev.

"Arabesque"

The pinnacle of the chamber form were Lyadov's preludes.
He can well be called the founder of the Russian piano prelude. This genre was especially close to the aesthetic worldview of Lyadov the miniaturist. It is not surprising that it was in it that the individual, specific features of his handwriting were most clearly manifested.

8 Russian folk songs for orchestra.

Symphonic miniatures by A.K. Lyadov appeared in the mature period of the composer’s work. There are few of them, and they are all software. And some of them have a specific literary program outlined by the author. Music researchers usually do not classify “Eight Russian Folk Songs” as Lyadov’s program music, but also with arrangements of folk songs, of which he has more than 200. What's the catch here? Let's figure it out.
The work is a cycle of miniatures for orchestra. It does not have its own name, but each play has its own “name” according to the genre of folk songs. Some of these songs have already been published previously in collections of arrangements of Lyadov’s folk songs for one voice and piano. But the composer again decided to turn to these genuine melodies, only in instrumental form. But why did he need this? After all, you can’t erase a word from a song... But he did it freely, without remorse... Did he really have nothing to orchestrate?
As always, with geniuses everything is simple, but not so primitive...
As history tells, Lyadov lived a “double” life. In winter he taught at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and spent the whole summer at his dacha in the village of Polynovka. What's surprising? Many works by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev and other composers were written at the dachas. But Lyadov did not just live in the country. He lived in a village. He spent a lot of time communicating with the family of the peasant Ivan Gromov, walking around the neighborhood and recording folk songs. Of course, he was completely imbued with the spirit of Russian folklore. He knew not only peasant life (he especially loved to mow and chop wood), but also understood the type of thinking of “ordinary people,” their morals and characters, their attitude to the land and to life. At the same time, he was a well-educated, “well-read” and deeply thinking person. And this combination of intelligence and rustic simplicity was reflected in his work. It was in “Eight Russian Folk Songs” that he combined two things that do not intersect in ordinary life - a village choral song and a symphony orchestra. Other Russian composers did this - Mussorgsky and Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Tchaikovsky, and even Scriabin. But Lyadov did it in his own unique way.
Yes, the author uses genuine folk melodies that previously had words. But this is not just another “arrangement”, and his idea is not to “attribute” orchestral accompaniment to the folk melody. It’s about using the rich means of the orchestra to express what is between the words, between the lines, which is not customary to talk about in words.
Yes, he, too, like his colleagues, combined folk melodies with European principles of harmonization, used instrumental techniques of folk instruments (zhalikas, balalaikas) in the orchestra; used folk genres and painted fairy-tale characters. But in Eight Songs he went further and deeper.
This cycle contains a capacious reflection of the soul of the people in symbolic manifestation. There is no literary program here, as in his other symphonic films. But if Lyadov himself did not copy out the plot from Russian fairy tales, this does not mean that it is not there at all. The program is embedded in the genres of songs themselves, which were chosen by the author not by chance, not just for “diversity” and not by chance arranged in this and not any other order.
How can it be? Genre is just a classification of songs according to certain characteristics.
In science - yes. But not in the folklore tradition. Not a single song in the village is sung “just like that.” She is always on point. And “by the time.” We are talking not only about “timed songs” that are associated with a calendar ritual, and which is performed at a certain time of the year (Carols - on New Year’s, zaklikki - in the spring, Kupala songs - in the summer, and so on). Dance, drinking, wedding, and comic songs also correspond to their action. In a word, behind each song there is a whole fairy tale. Therefore, the composer did not have to comment on the songs. Each genre speaks for itself. Lyadov apparently just liked the fact that a very deep thought could be expressed briefly and concisely.
Each song in the cycle is a character. Not so much a portrait of a character as an expression of a state of mind. This soul is multifaceted. And each play is its new facet.
Now more about each play and what it means in Lyadov’s unwritten program.

Spiritual verse- this is the character of the passers-by. In the old days, on green Christmastide (the week before Easter), wandering musicians came to the house and sang spiritual poems. Each song contains stories about “heavenly” life, the afterlife, the soul, and so on. In this cycle it is a symbol of prayer. And this “spirituality”, in fact, sets the tone for all the other plays.
***
Kolyada-Malyada- these are the winter Christmastide, the week before Christmas, when mummers came to the house, danced with the owners of the house, sang great (that is, laudatory) songs to them, and showed them a puppet theater (nativity scene) based on a biblical story. Perhaps these are the puppets lighting the star of Bethlehem and bringing gifts to the baby Jesus? Everything in the orchestration is “puppet-like”, “tiny” - quiet pizzicato steps, quiet trumpets - the voices of puppets, but the character is still solemn.
***
Drawing– this is the most colorful expression of the people’s suffering. As the poet said, “we call this groan a song.” Undoubtedly, lingering ones were meant. Each such song tells about a difficult fate, a woman’s lot, or some kind of heartbreaking story with a sad ending... We won’t even look for the true words of this song, because the composer expressed even more through the means of the orchestra... I would like to draw attention to how the cello ensemble performs the main melody in imitation of the ensemble of choir voices. The cellos here are especially soulful...
***
Comic- “I danced with a mosquito.” The depiction of mosquito squeaks is not the play’s main attraction. Sound visualization is an integral part of the author’s style, but by doing this he only distracts attention, wanting to cheer up the listener a little after such deep grief as in the previous play. Let’s remember what the expression “so that a mosquito doesn’t sharpen your nose” means... Or how did Lefty shoe a flea? All these symbols are subtlety, sharpness of mind, wit. A funny joke - what could be a better distraction from grief and sadness?
***
The epic about birds is a special conversation.
Bylina- this is some kind of reality, that is, a story about what happened. She usually talks about the exploits of Russian heroes. And the music is usually of a narrative nature, slow, calm, “epic.” And the attitude towards birds in ancient times was special. Birds were revered in Rus' as sacred. In the spring, they “called” the larks, and in the fall they escorted the cranes to the south. But the author did not use stoneflies, but wrote “epics,” which speaks of some kind of myth.
Fairy tales often mention crows, eagles, doves, and swallows, which can speak in a human voice. There is also a sign that if a bird hits the window, then wait for news. According to legends, a bird is a symbol of the human soul flying from the “other” world, that is, from the afterlife. It’s as if our distant ancestors are telling us something very important.
At the same time, the music of this epic is far from being of a narrative nature. The composer remained true to himself, choosing the sound-depicting path: all the time there are grace notes of woodwinds, which depict the flight of birds and fluttering from branch to branch; at the beginning of the piece, a bird seems to be knocking on a window (pizzicato), and, judging by the music, it brings bad news... It rushes about, moans, and at the very end, the low unisons of the strings seem to pronounce a harsh sentence from Fate. And, most likely, it is inevitable...
***
Lullaby– a logical continuation of the “sentence”. Traditional lullabies for children are usually very soothing. But here, not everything is so straightforward. If anyone rocks the cradle, it is not the good mother, but Death himself. She was the one knocking on the door in the last play. And now he groans and sighs. It’s like someone is saying goodbye forever to a loved one. But this is not a funeral song, but a lullaby! Everything is correct. When a person dies a natural death, he gradually falls asleep and never wakes up. And now death sings this plaintive lullaby, as if enveloping you in its fog, dragging you along with you into a damp grave. “Sleep, sleep... eternal sleep...”
***
But here - Plyasovaya- the shepherd’s magic pipe, the flute, appeared. A connection with the afterlife in the village was attributed to all shepherds, because they knew the language of birds and animals, and livestock. And the pipes were made from “magic” grass that plays itself. This magical pipe is small, thin as a mosquito, can slip into the kingdom of death and bring a person back to “this” light. But he must not just walk, but dance. And then, having walked along a thin thread connecting “that” light and “this”, a person returns to life.
And what does he see first?
Light! That is the Sun!
And people - friends and family.
***
Round dance- this is when everyone holds hands together and walks in a circle. The circle is a symbol of the sun. And the sun is warmth, abundance and wealth. The last play is a victory over death and a joyful hymn to Her Majesty of Life.

This is how short plays, literally, in “a few words,” contained the entire philosophy and poetry of the Russian people in the brilliant retelling of the miniaturist composer Anatoly Lyadov. Listen, and you will hear a part of yourself there as a truly Russian person.
Inna ASTAKHOVA

PREFACE

Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov, one of the most talented Russian composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, left a rich legacy in the field of processing Russian folk songs. In total, he made about 200 song arrangements, including 150 songs for one voice with piano accompaniment, over 40 for choirs of various compositions, 5 songs for female voices with orchestra.
Lyadov's interest in folk art was not limited to arrangements of folk melodies. Even earlier than taking on the harmonization of song materials of the Russian Geographical Society, the composer in his children's songs based on folk words (op. 14, 18, 22) showed himself to be an expert in folk intonation structure, freely, p. subtle understanding of style using typical voles of Russian peasant songs. His wonderful piano ballad “About Antiquity”, rich in folk-song epic intonations, also dates back to the same time.

Lyadov began arranging folk songs in the late 90s.
As one of the most authoritative St. Petersburg composers of the younger generation, in 1897 he was invited by M. A. Balakirev to arrange folk songs collected during the expeditions of the Song Commission. Russian Geographical Society.
The collections of the Song Commission pursued the goal of popularizing and introducing into musical practice the songs collected by the expeditions of the Geographical Society. These expeditions began in 1886 and continued until 1903 inclusive. Composers G. O. Dyutsh and S. M. Lyapunov, choir singer I. V. Nekrasov and folklorists-philologists F. M. Istomin and F. I. Pokrovsky took part in them.
The first two volumes of publications of the Song Commission - from those collected by G. O. Dyutsham, S. M. Lyapunov and F. M. Istomin - were published without musical accompaniment and were of a purely scientific nature. (The third one, which was being prepared for publication, did not appear there.)
In parallel with scientific publications, for greater popularization, songs began to be published in various types of arrangements: choral ones were intended “for the troops,” “for schools,” “for lovers of choral singing in general”; arrangements for one voice with piano accompaniment - for “singer-artists” and “amateurs”. This is how the tasks of choral and piano arrangements in the prefaces to the collections were determined. The first collection of piano arrangements was made by M. Balakirev and contained 30 songs from those collected in the Arkhangelsk and Olonets provinces by G. O. Dyutsh and F. M. Istomin (in the summer of 1886). Lyapunov took upon himself the processing of songs from among those collected by himself together with Istomin in 1893 during the second expedition of the Song Commission.
Lyadov drew material from expedition records of 1894-1902.

Choral arrangements by Nekrasov and Petrov and solo arrangements with piano accompaniment by Lyadov were published simultaneously, as songs collected on new expeditions accumulated. The rough work on the preliminary selection and editing of the musical text of the songs was carried out by I. V. Nekrasov, the editing of the verbal text was the responsibility of F. M. Istomin. Nekrasov selected about 750 songs for publication. From these songs, Lyadov chose according to his taste those suitable for “singer-artists” and “amateurs.” Many songs were printed twice: in a choral arrangement by Nekrasov and in an arrangement for voice and piano by Lyadov.
However, before Lyadov’s adaptations of the materials of the Song Commission of the Russian Geographical Society were published, the composer released an independent collection consisting of 30 songs for one voice and piano, published by M. P. Belyaev (1898, op. 43)
It is possible that it was participation in the work on the song materials of the Russian Geographical Society that prompted Lyadov to compile his own song recordings into an independent collection. This collection is the only one in which the composer acts as a collector of songs. All his further activities in the field of processing folk songs are connected with the materials of the Song Commission of the Russian Geographical Society.

Of the thirty songs in the collection, eleven (Nos. 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 13, 14, 21, 22, 30) Lyadov recorded, like his friend and teacher N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, from acquaintances, on whose musical memory he could rely on: from the famous music critic S. N. Kruglikov, choirmaster-collector of songs V. M. Orlov, connoisseur of folk songs, amateur singer N. S. Lavrov, music teacher and composer M. M. Erarsky and M. P. Bartasheva.

Fourteen songs (Nos. 2, 3, 6, 9, 10, 12, 16-20, 23, 25, 26) have only one designation of the recording location. All of them were recorded in the Novgorod province, most in the villages of Gorushka and Vaskino of the Borovichi district - where Lyadov lived in the summer from a young age. There is no doubt that these songs were recorded from folk singers by the composer himself. This is further confirmed by the fact that only these songs do not have an indication of who or from whom they were recorded; The five songs complementing the collection (Nos. 15, 24, 27-29) from the materials of the expeditions of the Song Commission have a corresponding link to the source.
Some songs recorded by Lyadov have only the beginning of words. It is natural to assume that these were the earliest recordings made by the composer for the purpose of creative use as melodic material. It is possible that these songs were restored by him from memory when the idea of ​​a song collection arose and was fleshed out. The other part of the song texts was recorded by Lyadov in great detail. In general, it should be noted that Lyadov in this collection, not being bound by any requirements, obviously did not attach importance to the completeness of the text, and when he liked the melody, he processed it and included it in the collection, even if there was a recording of just one stanza of the text, as, for example, in the song “Oh, the drake and the duck swam” (No. 23).
In the future, Lyadov did not continue his collecting work. His interest in folk songs was completely satisfied by studying the song materials of the Russian Geographical Society. As for the immediate impressions of folk performance, they accumulated mainly during his summer stay in. Novgorod village. There, of course, the stock was also replenished: the melodies of folk songs and instrumental tunes stored by his exceptional memory.

This one-volume set combines all four collections of Russian folk songs arranged by Lyadov for voice with piano accompaniment:
The first is an independent one, which was discussed above (published by M. P. Belyaev), and three, compiled from materials from expeditions of the Song Commission of the Russian Geographical Society.
The second collection (the first, published in the standard cover of the publication of the Song Commission - “Songs of the Russian People”) contains 35 songs collected in 1894-1895 by I. V. Nekrasov and F. M. Istomin. It was followed by a third collection of 50" songs, which included songs from materials collected by I.V. Nekrasov, F.M. Istomin and F.I. Pokrovsky on expeditions of 1894-1899 and 1901.
The latter is the fourth collection, consisting of 35 arrangements, including songs collected in 1894-1895, 1901-1902. This collection, unlike the three previous ones, was published with incomplete words (three stanzas for each song), subtexted under the notes. In this edition, the words of the songs are, if possible, supplemented from Nekrasov’s choral collections, where the texts were printed in full, and from other sources.
In addition, the words of individual songs in the first three collections have been added.
This collection of songs outlines not only the composer’s creative approach to the harmonization of folk songs, but also his personal taste, manifested in the selection of song material. From the fact that many songs from Lyadov’s collections have become firmly established in musical practice and exist to this day, one can conclude how unmistakable his approach to song was from the point of view of artistic value and the vitality of the tunes.
On the other hand, the strong consolidation in musical life of a huge number of songs from among those processed by Lyadov also occurred because these tunes were mostly collected by Nekrasov in the Oka River basin: these were the tunes most typical for the Central Russian regions, the most polished in the process of centuries-old historical life the most cultural part of the Russian state - Moscow Rus'.

The composer's personal taste - his penchant for musical miniature - was manifested in the selection of songs of certain genres: in the relative abundance of songs of small genres - carols, lullabies (the obligatory section at the beginning of each collection or at least one example of spiritual poetry should be explained as a tribute to the times).
Ladov’s arrangements of carols and lullabies significantly enriched and refreshed the song repertoire and the understanding of the genres of native songs among a wide range of professional musicians and music lovers.
Among other genres, Lyadov’s greatest attention was attracted to round dance songs, which make up a third of the total number of songs processed by the composer for voice and piano (49 and one song from the section of lingering ones, mistakenly included there - No. 111. Lyadov showed almost the same interest in wedding and valor songs (40 arrangements) Lingering songs among his arrangements are represented by only 25 samples.

What has been said about Lyadov’s special sympathy for carols is not contradicted by the comparative paucity of this genre in his collections; among the arrangements there are only 8 of them. We should not forget, firstly, that this genre is significantly inferior in prevalence to plangent, wedding and round dances and, secondly, that in those years very few recordings of carols were made. The same can be said about epics, which in the Central Russian regions, where expeditions of the Geographical Society mainly worked, were already a rarity in those years.
Lyadov's obvious preference for round dances and wedding songs, carols and lullabies stems from the peculiarities of his creative individuality, from his desire for a clear musical form, strict proportions, conciseness and economy of means of musical expressiveness. All these features are precisely the most characteristic of the song genres that attracted the attention of the composer.
By the time Lyadov began working in the field of folk song (late 90s), the nationally unique style of artistic harmonization of Russian folk song had already been created and widely developed in the classical works of the composers “The Mighty Handful” and Tchaikovsky. It fell to Lyadov's lot to continue and enrich the traditions of the older generation of his glorious contemporaries.

What new, original did Lyadov contribute to the arrangement of Russian folk melody?
It is difficult to speak about Lyadov’s adaptations more thoughtfully and poetically than B. Asafiev did in his sketches “On Russian Songwriting.”
“Each individually,” he says about the tunes in Lyadov’s arrangement, “is a flower, colorful, fragrant, nurtured, nurtured by Lyadov’s careful loving care. But on the whole, something new is felt, as if the display of folk lyrics reveals spiritual light and warmth, the joy of living, because there is a people in the world capable of creating such beautiful melodies, a true reflection of their psyche.” Further, Asafiev illustrates his idea with a subtle comparison of the artistic significance of Lyadov’s treatments with the significance in the field of Russian landscape painting of Savrasov’s painting “The Rooks Have Arrived.”
Let's try to add to his words some considerations and observations about the composer's creative method in his handling of folk melodies. In a short essay it is impossible to dwell in detail on the study of the entire variety of expressive means that Lyadov uses when processing folk tunes. We will limit ourselves to touching on at least some of them.
“Listen, this never lies,” B. Asafiev recalls Lyadov’s statement about the folk tune in the same article, “here’s a strict style for you, this clarity, this straightforwardness, but just not to be accompanied by anything alien!? “- These words show how carefully Lyadov treated the folk tune, how deeply he perceived it. Folk songwriting was for him, first of all, a realistic art that “never lies,” an art that reflects the folk character - “clarity” of thought, “straightforwardness.”

With such a deep penetration into the art of folk song, which Lyadov perceived as a “tale of life”, as folk musical wisdom accumulated over centuries, his reverent fear of “not saying something alien to the accompaniment” becomes understandable.
These words can serve as a key to understanding the composer’s creative method in the field of song arrangements. He did not like “excess” either in other people’s music or in his own. Laconism, the utmost generality of expression of the musical and poetic song image were close to his individuality as an artist of small forms and miniatures.
Folk tunes also become such complete miniatures at Lyadov’s fingertips.
Already in the adaptations of the first collection, Lyadov’s desire to “not say anything alien with the accompaniment” is fulfilled quite definitely. The melody always comes first for him; it is he who dictates his demands to the artist and subjugates his creative imagination.

But every artist lives and creates in a historical environment that determines the level of his knowledge, his creative method, and the nature of his interpretation of phenomena. Every artist also uses and generalizes the experience of his predecessors.
Lyadov, for all his jealously guarded independence of aesthetic views, could not help but rely on the experience of the first and then the second collections of Balakirev and both collections of Rimsky-Korsakov. At the same time, he could not help but know the song collections of Y. Melgunov and N. Palchikov that had appeared in print by that time, in which summaries of the voices of polyphonically performed folk songs were presented, as well as a collection of lyrical songs by N. Lopatin and V. Prokunin.
The fact that Lyadov closely studied these new song materials is evidenced by the very style of his arrangements, following Balakirev in developing the techniques of folk subvocal polyphony. Lyadov also had personal observations of folk polyphonic chant.
One of Lyadov’s first arrangements, the drawn-out song “From the side of my dear” (No. 5 of this edition), is designed in strict accordance with the folk-song choral style. The piano part in it essentially comes down to reproducing the choral takeover of the song's solo chorus. However, in the future Lyadov avoids this style of accompaniment and, wanting to get closer to the choral folk style, refrains from literal imitation, giving the texture a piano character with several steps.
B. Asafiev talks about how indignant Lyadov was when “in adaptations, composers covered the tune with “their meat.” And in this statement again we encounter the same requirement - putting the melody itself in first place. Accordingly, Lyadov in very rare cases precedes the melody with a piano introduction. For Balakirev, for example, a kind of “setting the tone” on the instrument is more typical - preceding the beginning of the song with at least several (and sometimes even one) chords or tones that determine the mode of the song. Lyadov strives to ensure that the melody itself sounds earlier or at least simultaneously with the piano.

Lyadov, already in his first arrangements, tries to achieve as much transparency as possible in the musical fabric of the accompaniment. One of the means for this is the composer’s refusal in many arrangements to duplicate the vocal melody accompanied by a harmonic structure. Thus, in a four-voice piano, three lower voices sound on the piano, but in a three-voice piano, only two. Lyadov's four-voice presentation freely intertwines with three- and two-voice ones. In a two-voice structure, the melody of the voice is often contrasted with the flexible flowing undertone of the piano. In such echoes the features of folk instrumental tunes often appear. Sometimes they are melodically independent, sometimes they begin with an octave imitation of a song melody. Quite often, such a piano echo sounds on a sustained tonic sound or tonic fifth. As examples of such arrangements, one can cite the songs “We, girls, would have burners” (No. 77) and “My Drake” (No. 131). Often, especially in the second half of the tune, Lyadov uses a trill on the fundamental or fifth tone of the tonic. It is possible that this technique is a kind of “piano transcription” of an echo in the form of a sustained sound - a folk choral technique, when one of the singers, the “nodvoice”, breaks out from the general mass of the choir with a long lasting sound (this technique is typical for the Southern choral style).

Lyadov, like his predecessors in the field of piano arrangements of folk songs - Balakirev and Rimsky-Korsakov, clearly reveals the desire to combine folk song stylistic techniques with generally accepted techniques of Russian classical music - various imitations, canonical voices. In his adaptations we will encounter many elegantly executed canonical imitations, imitative introductions of echoing voices. However, Lyadov resorts to these techniques very carefully and never overloads the escort with them.

If we consider Lyadov’s adaptations from the point of view of the creative refraction of one or another song genre, then we can say that spiritual poems are characterized most uniformly in terms of musical techniques. In these arrangements the composer is closest to Rimsky-Korsakov and Balakirev. Lyadov's adaptations of spiritual poems reek of severity and asceticism; the composer often uses doubling the melody of the voice in a low register and the use of incomplete chords. One of the visual techniques characteristic of adaptations of this genre is the imitation of bell chimes.
"In the adaptations of epic tunes, the general character of epicness is maintained throughout. The musical and expressive means used by the composer are very diverse: here there is a strict octave voice, repeating the chorus of the epic (“Dobrynya Nikitich”, No. 119) a fifth lower, and arpeggiated “harp” picking , in combination with fanfare-like exclamations, painting a festive picture of the “honorable feast” of the Kyiv prince Vladimir (“Ivan Gostinoy’s son”, No. 118), and the measured splashes of the sea swells of the “blue Khvalynsky sea”, for the image of which the composer uses the technique of harmonic figuration, layering on his chordally stated melody of the voice (“Ilya Muromets”, No. 117); here, finally, we meet with the real “music of the forest” - in the epic “About Birds” (No. 70), its short melody, corresponding to one verse, plays a role. a melodic ostinato, against the background of which (during its sevenfold repetition) one can hear the roll calls of bird voices and the heavy tread of a large forest animal, frightening a flock of birds; the chain of major thirds with its oscillating, unstable intonations creates the impression of the eerie mystery of the forest,
The poetry of ancient calendar agricultural songs had enormous attractive power for Lyadov, as for Rimsky-Korsakov.

Lyadov was especially interested in children's carols. The spontaneity and cheerfulness of their musical and poetic images found in him a sensitive interpreter. There is a direct connection between the folk “aveenki”, “taueenki” sparkling with fun and humor (as people call carols after their choruses) and Lyadov’s “Children’s songs” based on folk words. Next to the carols, I would like to mention lullabies - then we see a clear image of a composer who knows how to penetrate the clear images of a child’s world, feel their purity and beauty and convey to the listener all their unique charm. The accompaniment of the famous lullaby “Gulenki, Gulenki” (No. 15), swaying in a three-beat rhythm, breathes with cautious tenderness; it carefully carries the melody of classical perfection. There are few works that would so warmly and soulfully express both the depth of a mother’s affection and her tender affection for the peace of a child.
Another wonderful lullaby “Bayu, bayushki, bayu” (No. 149) is based on a different nature of the “swinging” accompaniment. The soft outlines of her melody are enveloped in equally feminine, affectionate undertones. Chromatic figurations with triplet sixteenth notes in the upper register on pianissimo seem to convey the rustling sounds of the night, evoking a slumber.
A note of light, soulful sadness sounds in the third lullaby (No. 150). The same measured swaying, the same combination of two-beat and three-beat (two-beat melody with a three-beat beat). The expansion of sound volume is accompanied by modal enlightenment, then pianissimo takes us into the upper register; a slight chromatic highlight gently returns to the fading tonic triad.

A huge number of round dances and wedding songs, very diverse both in content and musical style, naturally required the composer to design them equally varied. Round dances and wedding songs attracted Lyadov with their clarity of form, harmonious combination of words and music, and crystallized intonations. Very sensitive to the form of folk melody, the composer highlights it with all the various means of expressiveness: by changing the polyphonic texture of the chords, by contrasting legato and staccato, by changing the register, etc. Lyadov often uses... the technique of increasing the strength of sonority, thickening the musical fabric of the accompaniment towards the end, the musical and poetic stanza. This construction is very typical for Lyadov’s arrangements.
As an example of emphasizing the formal patterns of the chant, we give the majestic wedding song “Bereznichek Chatovoy” (No. 8) (with the same type of texture - register comparisons), the round dance “I’ll sit down, young one” (No. 16) (symmetrical arrangement of register changes), the round dance “In the damp boru tropina" (No. 48) (forte in the first part and piano in the second, sustained bass in the first part and lively movement of eighth bass octaves in the second), round dance "Along the Burdock Street" (No. 132) (trill, slightly supported by light chords piano in the first part of the melody and full mezzo-forte chords in the second).
There are, but much less often, examples of the reverse construction of arrangements - from loud to quiet, for example, the round dance song “L stop, my dear round dance” (No. 134). It is inspired by Balakirev’s arrangement of a close version of the same song (40 songs, No. 30), but without the “Listov” octaves of the latter. In other cases of coincidence of treatments of similar song variants, Lyadov is much more independent. So, for example, Lyadov’s arrangement of the famous round dance song “Riding Pan” (No. 130) is completely independent of Balakirev’s (40 songs, No. 15), while Lyapunov’s arrangement of the version of the same song almost coincides with it.
Quite often, Lyadov turns to such a processing technique as an organ point [on the main tone of a mode or tonic fifth], often used with flair by Balakirev and Rimsky-Korsakov. Like his predecessors, Lyadov uses the organ point mainly when processing tunes based on a perfect fifth. But with Lyadov, more often than with Balakirev and Rimsky-Korsakov, this bass or tonic fifth pedal is combined with polyphonic subvocal elements in the upper voices and the accompaniment sounds richer. It is interesting to compare Lyadov’s arrangement of the round dance song “Oh, fog, fog at the valley” (No. 50) with rich canonical arrangements and Rimsky-Korsakov’s more polyphonically modest arrangement, also built on an organ point, of a close version of the same song (100 songs, No. 61). Lyadov also uses a pedal in middle voices.
In many of Lyadov’s adaptations we find elements of figurativeness, most often coming from the poetic image of the song’s beginning. This is the already mentioned accompaniment to the epic about Ilya Muromets with his image of the oncoming sea waves. The arrangement of the round dance song “Like Along the Sea” (No. 19) is also based on the image of swaying waves. There are similar visual techniques in the adaptations of Balakirev and Rimsky-Korsakov.

Lyadov often reproduces the expressive means of folk instrumental music in a piano texture. We have already talked above about Lyadov’s peculiar transcription of folk choral music on the piano. The composer resorts to this technique, flexibly transforming the elements of choral chant into a specifically piano presentation. The instrumental performances of folk dances, the expressive lyrical melodies of pity players and horn players were undoubtedly well known to Lyadov. If we turn to his arrangements of songs associated with movement and dance, we will find a unique, also piano-based, refraction of folk instrumental techniques. An example is the round dance song “You Can, You Can Guess” (No. 54), the accompaniment of which clearly imitates playing the balalaika. However, keeping in mind the specifics of the piano texture, Lyadov uses such techniques relatively little, while Balakirev in his collection of 30 songs even specifically indicates which instrument is played by the piano accompaniment. Moreover, if Balakirev’s “horn” tune is to some extent close to truly folk, then the same cannot be said about his “harp.” The character of the “harp” accompaniment, which Balakirev conveys with ordinary arpeggiated passages, in no way reflects the folk style of playing the gusli. Some of Lyadov’s adaptations are presented in a similar “conventionally gusel” style. It could not have been otherwise, because it was no longer possible to observe folk playing the harp at that time. It must be shown that the figurative content of Lyadov’s adaptations always goes beyond the scope of external depiction.

It is customary to emphasize that Lyadov’s works are primarily chamber miniatures. But if, with a few exceptions, Lyadov’s song arrangements represent the musical accompaniment of one song stanza, then we must not forget that depending on the text, sometimes very long, this music must be repeated as many times as there are poetic stanzas (or couplets) contained in it . One can, however, talk about Lyadov’s somewhat “narrowed” approach to individual songs, about giving them a chamber character even when neither the melody nor the text gives rise to this. This happens with Lyadov in relation to round dance songs, which in his treatment do not always retain their popular character (let’s not forget that over 200-300 people often participated in round dances). This is, for example, the arrangement of the song “Like Under a White Birch Tree” (No. 51). Such examples could be multiplied. Performers should remember this and not put too much emphasis on “chamberness” or “miniature style” in those songs where the text allows for a different, more active reading.

Lyadov also processes lyrical songs in a variety of ways, with extensive use of echoes. He strives to reveal the main mood of the song, subtly following the development of the song image. The ballad “Masha Walked Through the Meadow” (No. 60) leaves a strong impression - a gloomy song about how a girl poisoned her sweetheart with an “evil root”. The means of expression, consistent with the nature of the folk echoes, are extremely stingy. The final unison (octave) on the fermata sounds especially tragic.
A completely different, but also exceptionally bright, image is created by Lyadov in his arrangement of the burlatsky song “Mother Volga” (No. 63). The persistent ostinato figure of the bass speaks of some kind of effort, the desire of a constrained force to break free. Contrary to his custom of starting and ending the piano part with the voice, Lyadov gives an independent conclusion at the end of the musical stanza with the introduction of a new expressive figuration on the bass and a repetition of the song’s melody.
Lyadov's accompaniment style often indicates what kind of performance (male or female) he envisioned for a particular song. Lyadov creates the accompaniment to the lyrical song “Like Beyond the River, Brothers” (No. 110) in the character of a male folk choir and conducts it mainly in the large and small octaves.

The song “Father Gave Me to the Other Side” (No. 144) is intended by the composer to be performed by women. Its expressive melody paints a touching image of a young woman yearning for her home. The transparent subvocal fabric of the accompaniment (two- and three-voices) is presented in the middle register, it is like a kind of piano transcription of a mixed choir.
It is impossible not only to characterize, but also to list all the wonderful examples of Lyadov’s accompaniments. Having set this goal, we would have to talk about almost all one hundred and fifty songs.
The poetic content of the songs in this collection broadly and diversely reflects various aspects of everyday life, family and social relationships, thoughts and feelings of the Russian people.
Ancient agricultural carol songs contain motifs related to the labor activity of the peasant. The theme of labor is also reflected in many round dance lyrical songs. Family relationships and the plight of women in a patriarchal family are most clearly depicted in wedding songs, as well as in round dance and lyrical songs. The images of the beloved heroes of the folk epic - the heroes Ilya Muromets and the Good Nikitich come to life in epics. A most interesting example of the satire-epic “About Birds”, where representatives of various social strata are ridiculed in the images of birds. Tender feelings of love, longing for a loved one, the severity of separation are captured in lyrical songs.
From the point of view of artistic significance, not all song lyrics are equal. When choosing this or that song for his treatment, Lyadov was guided primarily by its musical merits. The inferiority and incompleteness of the song's lyrics did not bother him.

Many of the songs, in their ideological and emotional content, have in our time the significance of a historical monument, figuratively reflecting pages of the past of the Russian people. Such songs include spiritual poems - songs of Kalika travelers and a song about Alexander II that is clearly not folk in origin (such songs were artificially implanted in the Russian army).

The practical application of Lyadov's rich song collection of arrangements can be very wide and varied. Of course, not all songs will be easily understood by a wide audience. When choosing songs to perform, singers should always have a specific audience in mind. If, for example, the songs “A young man is walking along the street”, “I danced with a mosquito”, “You, river, my little river” will be understandable to the widest circles of listeners with their brightness and clarity of ideological and emotional content, then songs such as the tragic the ballad “Masha Walked Along the Meadow” and similar ones can be performed only if there is an appropriate explanation in a thematic concert of a historical nature. It is for thematic concerts, dedicated to a specific song genre or theme (for example, “Wedding and valiant songs”, “Labor in folk songs”, “The position of women in the patriarchal family”, etc.), in this song collection you can find a lot extremely valuable examples. Singers, leaders of amateur performance groups, teachers, and lecturers will find a wealth of material for performing and illustrating classes and lectures.
This re-release, which includes four collections of Lyadov’s arrangements, aims to introduce Lyadov’s wonderful work into our musical life and make it accessible to the broad masses of Soviet musicians and amateurs.

The collections are arranged in chronological order. The title pages of each collection have been preserved without changes. Continuous numbering of songs has been done. The old numbering is given in parentheses to the right of the title of each song. The musical text has been preserved unchanged from the first edition (with the exception of outdated spelling). For ease of performance, the vocal part is written out with indications of the main subtext options for verses with different numbers of syllables (dotted lines, division and combination of rhythmic values). In some songs, the subtext of individual stanzas is given on the stave under the notes (for example, in the song “Like under a forest, under a small forest,” No. 18).
In some cases, the editor clarified the genre of the songs (for example, wedding-glorious, No. 6), sometimes a more complete title of the song is given than Lyadov’s (for example, “Gave me away” - from Lyadov, “Father gave me away to the wrong side” - in this edition, No. 144).
To facilitate the performers' task, the editor considered it necessary to organize the song texts, which in many cases were recorded inaccurately: stanza numbering was introduced; a breakdown into stanzas was made in cases where it was not in the original. In songs with text of the so-called chain form, the editor, restoring the strophic structure, was guided by the tradition of the best folk singers, repeating verse lines not mechanically, but where this does not violate the logic of the plot development. In songs with simple repetition, for the sake of uniformity, the verse lines are written out in full, with the exception of particularly long lyrics.

The spelling retains some features of folk pronunciation. Punctuation has been changed according to modern rules and stanza breakdown.
Square brackets in song lyrics indicate either extra syllables or words that can be omitted during performance, or additions that restore the song form of the verse.
According to the artistic and practical purpose of this publication, the notes at the end of the collection for individual songs are not exhaustive.
N. Vladykina-Bachinskaya

I. COLLECTION OF RUSSIAN FOLK SONGS, OPT. 43
1. The Ascension was of the Lord (Song of the Kalik Passersby)
2. Once upon a time there were (Song of the Kalik Passersby)
3. We, the poor brethren (Song of the Kalik Passersby)
4. From the side of my dear (lingering)
5. Left at the farewell to my dear one (Lingering)
6. Like a bush of grapes in a garden (Wedding celebration)
7. Snows are white, fluffy (lingering)
8. Bereznichek chastovoy (Glorifying single)
9. Oh, in front of the gate (Wedding)
10. Like in the canopy, along the canopy (Wedding after the crown)
11. There is grass in the garden (Wedding majesty)
12. You, river, my little river (Wedding)
1Z. Like from an evening party (Wedding)
14. Oh, never dawn, my little dawn (Magnificent to a married man)
15. Gulenki, Gulenki (Lullaby)
16. I’ll sit down, young lady (Round dance)
17. Because of the forest, and the dark forest (Round dance)
18. Like under a forest, under a small forest (Round dance)
19. Like on the sea (Round dance)
20. Along the bank and along the steep (Round dance)
21. Wide Street (Khorovodnaya)
22. It’s raining, raining outside (Round dance)
23. There was grass along it (Round dance)
24. Like under a pear tree (Round dance)
25. Sparrow dances galloping (Round dance set)
26. A young man is walking along the street (Round dance)
27. Like on a bridge, bridge (Round dance)
28. Withered, withered (Trinity Round Dance)
29. Oh, drake with a duck (Round dance)
30. Meadow duckling (Plyasovaya)

II. 35 SONGS OF THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE
I. Spiritual
31. Fedor Tiron (In the glorious city)
32. Think, you Christians
33. Book of Doves (In the Holy City)
II. Carols
34. Oh, it's April
35. Bye, Ausen
36. Tausen! Here we went
III. Hides the wedding
37. Come on, my girlfriends
IV. Wedding
38. A swan swam across the sea
39. A rock dove flew here
40. Withered, withered
41. Strawberry-berry
42. Beauty
43. And who is the big one among us (Glorification to the godfather]
44. Shall I go, young one (Glorious to the carriage)
V. Round dances
45. I walked along the shore
46. ​​As if at dawn, say, at dawn
47. In a clean pole there is white flax
48. There is a path in the damp forest
49. The son spoke to the womb
50. Oh, fog, fog in the valley
51. Like under a white birch tree
52. Take a walk, Nastya, in the garden
53. Now we have some drink
54. You can, you can guess
55. Along the street, along the wide one (Troitskaya)
56. Near the damp oak (Egoryevskaya)
57. Ay, all the gossips go home (Rusalskaya)
58. The girls sowed spring hops (Maslenskaya)
VI. Drawing
59. A dove was flying
60. Masha walked along the meadow
61. It was at dawn, at dawn
62. You are a fool, you are a fool, my friend
63. Mother Volga
64. Goodbye girls, women (Rekrutskaya)
65. Was I young, a fine weaver (Comic)

III. 50 SONGS OF THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE
I. Spiritual Poems
66. Lord, remember
67. Verse about the beautiful Joseph (To whom will I tell my sorrow)
68. Verse about Prince Joasaph (What a wonderful thing!)
69. Alexey, man of God (At Grand Duke Verfimyam)

II. Epics
70. About birds (Since then there was an open field)
71. About Ilya Muromets and the Tugarov animals (Like the blue sea)

III. Carols
72. God bless us
73. Am I walking?
74. Kolyada-maleda

IV. Wedding
75. And who is fashionable among us (Glorious to the groom and matchmaker)
76. Don’t make a complaint when you’re young.
77. We girls would like burners
78. Oh, there was no wind
79. Like from under a bush
80. Near the river
81. Like a key
82. Grass grew at the gate
83. Oh, there’s a viburnum on that mountain
84. Oh, men's children
85. Paradise, paradise! Among the yard
86. You are a matchmaker, a matchmaker
87. Grapes are growing in the garden
88. Are you my street
89. They made noise, they made noise
90. Oh, there was no wind

V. Round dances
91. At the gate, the wide gate
92. Chernozem shrew
93. You, young princess
94. Wasn’t water added?
95. I walked around the kindergarten
96. Like in a field, a field of white flax
97. The gentleman walked
98. Like a wonder beyond the sea
99. In the pockets
100. The girl called, called
101. They gave young people to the wrong side
VI. Lugovaya
102. Sits dozing
VII. Dancers
103. Will I go, will I go out
104. Oh, you, butterfly, my little baby
VIII. Yuletide, holiday
105. Don't stand, don't stand, well
106. Christmas time has arrived
107. I’m sitting at the DJ
IX. Drawing
108. Attack, attack
109. The field is clean
110. Like across the river, brothers, across the river
111. Along the street in Swedish
112. Not a birch tree in the field
113. Why are you guys depressed?
X. Comic
114. I danced with a mosquito
115. We all sang songs

IV. 35 SONGS OF THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE
I. Spiritual Verse
116. Last Judgment (God will rise again)
II. Epics
117. Ilya Muromets (As if by sea, sea)
118. Ivan Gostinoy’s son (Ay, like ours from Prince Volodimerov).
119. Dobrynya Nikitich (Like far away, far away)
III. Kolyada
120. Onion
121. Tausenki, tausen!
IV. Wedding
122. On the mountain, mountain
123. Our sister-in-law is good
124. Valley, valley
125. To the bride (White fish, don’t rush about)
126. A candle burns in a clear chamber
V. Spring
127. From under the forest, to the little forest
128. In the damp forest there is a fir tree
129. Oh, yes there is a meadow on the mountain
130. The gentleman was driving
VI. Round dances
131. My drake
132. Along the street there are burrs
133. The gentleman walks
134. L stop, my dear round dance
135. You, white-haired rowan (Sung at Christmas time)
136. The beautiful maidens came out (Besediaya)
VII. Plyasovaya
137. Mama sends me
VIII. Drawing
138. In the spring, girls, ah, walked (Love)
139. Vanyusha was walking, Vanya from the guests (Love)
140. Vanyusha walked through the valley (Love)
141. Like a small woman stands behind a river
142. We will think, friends
IX. Family
143. What are you yearning for, boy?
144. Father gave me to someone else’s side
145. Where does my dear wife Pashenka live?
146. What kind of evil is the root?
147. You, winter-winter
148. How my father gave me to a large family
X. Lullabies
149. Bye, bye, bye
150. And bye, bye, bye

List of full song collection titles
Notes for individual songs
General alphabetical index

Download sheet music

Thanks Anna for the collection!