Music of Russia
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"It is some time since Brahms has definitely come into his own and escaped from the dangerous championship of the anti-Wagnerian Brahmsian, as well as from the helpless fulminations of the people whose only approach to music is through the theatre and literature. But certain features of Brahms’s style still seem to lie beyond the range of current criticism. In recent judgements of the Tragic Overture, I cannot trace the slightest progress in intelligence since the days when it was a new work. My analysis of it, as issued by me at Reid Concerts, and as now published by the Oxford University Press (Essays in Musical Analysis , Vol. II, p.151), began with a discussion of the meaning of tragedy in music and literature. This was rash. I was as helpless as Huckleberry Finn arguing with Jim the nigger. Cats have a right to talk like cats ; but Frenchmen, being men, ought to talk like other people. And so Brahms ought to write Russian music. Let ’s begin again on a clean slate."--Essays in Musical Analysis by Donald Tovey |
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Russia is a large and culturally diverse country with dozens of ethnic groups; each with their own forms of folk music. During the Soviet era, music was highly scrutinized and kept within certain boundaries of content and innovation. After the fall of the USSR in the early 1990s, western-style rock and pop music became the most popular musical forms in Russia. With the rise of western music, some native artists became quite popular. Most believe that the music of Russia will change dramatically in the next 5 or so years. Even though dance isn't very important to most people, it can show religion which a lot of people want to see.
Opera
The first known opera made in Russia was A Life for the Tsar by Mikhail Glinka in 1836. This was followed by several operas like Ruslan and Lyudmila in 1842. Russian opera was originally a combination of Russian folk music and Italian opera. After the October revolution many opera composers left Russia. Russia's most popular operas include:
See also
