Program music

Software as a phenomenon is directly related to the specificity of music: the most abstract of the arts, music has important advantages in the transfer of emotional states and moods, but cannot, with its own means, precisely define what exactly creates these moods - conceptual, subject specificity is not subject to it ^[1] . The function of the program in music, as O. Sokolov writes, is complementary and concretizing: “In the best works of this kind, the program and music aesthetically complement each other perfectly: the first points to an object, the second expresses the author’s attitude to it, which is best suited musical expression " ^[2] .

According to musicologists, program music already existed in ancient Greece : according to one of the reports that have reached us, in 586 BC. er at the Pythian Games in Delphi, an avletist named Sakao performed a play by Timosfen depicting the battle between Apollo and the dragon ^[3] .

In the New Age , program music was sporadically met in the work of composers of the 16th and 18th centuries . In the instrumental music of the Baroque era , programmaticism is found in the writings of Carlo Farina , the author of the now famous “Fancy Capriccio” (Dresden, 1627). G. von Bieber , who owns the famous Battle Sonata ( Italian: Sonata la Battaglia , 1673 ) and 16 Mystery Sonatas, consistently depicting the life path of the Virgin Mary, were especially addicted to programs. The program composition is also “Capriccio for the departure of his beloved brother” by JS Bach ^[4] .

Composers of the classical period less often turned to program compositions, although a number of classical symphonies are known, whose program is expressed in the title: for example, Symphonies No. 6 (“Morning”), No. 7 (“Noon”), No. 8 (Evening) and No. 45 (“ Farewell ”) by J. Haydn , “ Pastoral ” symphony by L. van Beethoven ^[3] . The beginning of the program symphony was actually laid down by Carl Dittersdorf , who was closer in style to the early Vienna school, with his 12 symphonies on Ovid 's Metamorphoses ^[5] .

The real flowering of program music experienced in the era of romanticism , both in chamber genres and in symphonic music, especially in the works of Hector Berlioz and Franz Liszt , who developed a special program genre of a symphonic poem ^[3] .

Interesting is also the programmaticity in Scriabin's music, where various remarks are often found in notes, for example, commenting on music (“appearance of horror”, “wing, twist” (Sixth Sonata)), or explaining its content (“with languid grace”, “with sorrowful grace ”(Two dances op.73)).

The minimal program is the title of the work, indicating any phenomenon of reality or a work of literature or visual art with which the given piece of music is associatively associated. However, more detailed programs are possible: for example, Antonio Vivaldi each of the four concertos for violin and orchestra " The Seasons " was preceded by a sonnet devoted to the same season.

Musicologists distinguish several types of programs: the generalized (extra-narrative) - such are, for example, L. Beethoven 's Pastoral Symphony , the Italian and Scottish Symphonies by F. Mendelssohn , R. Schumann 's Rhine or The Gardens in the Rain by C. Debussy ; generalized plot type - for example, “ Romeo and Juliet ” by P. Tchaikovsky ; narrative-painting, such as, for example, “ Sadko ” by N. Rimsky-Korsakov ; and, finally, a consistent plot with a greater plot specification, such are the Fantastic Symphony and Romeo and Juliet by G. Berlioz , the Manfred symphony of P. Tchaikovsky , and Don Quixote by R. Strauss ^{[2] [3]} .

• Sokolov O. V. The morphological system of music and its artistic genres .. - Nizhny Novgorod, 1994.
• Petrov V.O. On programmatic epigraphs in instrumental scores // Problems of artistic creativity: Collected articles. - Saratov: SGK them. L.V. Sobinova, 2013. - P. 121-1133.

• Program music (English)