Romance is the whole story of life in a song

What is a romance? Its main characteristics and components, as well as the history of origin and development of the old genre. The role of Mikhail Glinka in the development of the Russian romance.

A beautiful lyrical performance accompanied by live music always touched the hearts of listeners and connoisseurs of classics. It's amazing how such a short musical creation can affect the most distant strings of our soul. Romance is an amazing combination of poetry and music, which was found by many admirers. In the melodic-poetic genre distinguish three varieties: barcarole (rhythmic song), elegy (song-meditation), ballad (story song).

Romance is an old genre

His history dates back to the Middle Ages. The very term "romance" originated in medieval Spain. At that time a genre of secular songs appeared, usually it was the poems of famous poets of the Romantic era, laid on music and conveyed deep experiences. By the way, for today the words "romance" and "song" are identical in many languages.

Over time, this musical genre gained such popularity that single works began to be combined into whole vocal cycles. It is symbolic that the first such cycle was created by the genius of world music and the father of the classics is Beethoven. His idea was picked up and continued by no less famous musicians, such as Brahms, Schumann and Schubert.

The main characteristics of the romance

Romance is a musical poem, similar to a song. But still there are significant differences in the very construction of the work. For example, there is absolutely no refrain, or, as it is also called, a refrain. Although practice shows that there are exceptions to the rules. It is interesting that the romance is usually performed solo, more rarely - a duet, and almost never - in chorus.

A special distinguishing feature of this genre is its semantic load. His lines always carry a certain story, which is close to the author and his listeners. It can be an autobiographical story about an unhappy love story, or the author's thoughts on a particular topic of life. Romance is not just a melancholic genre. There are many examples of satirical and funny poetic narratives laid on music.

A little about Russian romance

After a while, with the appearance in the houses of wealthy people of musical instruments, the romance leaked into Russian culture. Perhaps it was inspired by the spirit of romanticism, which was imbued with all the beginning of the nineteenth century. He came very much to the taste of the demanding audience, and he was instantly picked up by such composers as Varlamov ("You Do not Wake Up At Dawn"), Gurilyov ("The Bell Tones"), Alyabyev ("The Nightingale"). Some of them considered it necessary to introduce into the Russian romance a spirit of freedom and cheerfulness and at the same time allowed the performer to show his vocal data. Accompaniment here - just a background, but organically connected with the poetic basis.

Sadly, in the Soviet era, his cultural development was suspended, as severe censorship believed that the ideology promoted in the romances had a detrimental effect on the working Soviet citizen. Ancient romances were not welcomed, their subjects were considered "decadent". In the trend were patriotic, folk and humorous songs with an unpretentious melody.

Nevertheless, the romances in some of their forms, for example, "urban", continued to exist, passed from mouth to mouth by ordinary people. It is thanks to them over time and there was a long-awaited revival of this genre, which happened in the seventies.

Russian composer Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka

An invaluable contribution to the history of the Russian romance was made by Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka. As you know, he wrote more than eighty works of a different direction. Glinka's romances are unique masterpieces, the creation of which is possible only for such talented and gifted personalities as Mikhail Ivanovich. His favorite romances were put on the poems of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. He always appreciated good poetry and realized that a true romance without it can not exist.

The most significant work is the opera "Ruslan and Lyudmila" based on the Pushkin poem of the same name, which did not receive universal recognition, but revealed the full potential of the composer. And Glinka's famous songs on the verses of the great Russian poet - "I remember a wonderful moment", "I'm here, Inezilia", "The Cup for Health", "For Health, Mary".

For today, there are millions of fans of the world-famous genre. Thanks to the love and support of the public, he does not stand still, but with every day develops and moves forward. Of course, no matter how much time passes, the romance will remain one of the leading and most important areas of chamber music.

More and more people are finding in him something close to him, some kind of outlet in his experiences and problems. It is comforting to know that the romance has not moved to the background with time, it continues to be a favorite genre of vocals.