G. Sviridov cantata "Snow is coming": history, video, interesting facts, content

G. Sviridov cantata "Snow is coming"

"Little Triptych" - the so-called cantata "Snow is coming", written by an outstanding Russian composer Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov. He created this miniature masterpiece of vocal and instrumental music based on the works of Boris Pasternak, a remarkable poet whose work for some reason did not attract the attention of other composers. The cantata "Snow is coming" is a very significant work in the work of Sviridov. Georgy Vasilievich with minimal means, every note and every intonation, managed to achieve maximum meaningfulness and convey the complexity of the essence of the poetic works, which are the literary basis of this work.

History of creation

It is known that George Sviridov in his work preferred vocal and choral genres. Choosing a literary basis for his works, the composer very carefully approached the selection of material. Of course, his priority was such brilliant poets as A. S. Pushkin, M. Lermontov, N. Nekrasov, R. Burns. In addition, Sviridov did not overlook the works of V. Mayakovsky A. Tvardovsky and was very kind to A. Blok and S. Yesenin, the composer wrote over 50 works on the verses of the latter. Also a special place among the favorite poets of the composer was Boris Pasternak. Sviridov became fascinated by the poet's creative work during his years at the conservatory, and even then he tried to compose something on his poems, but the young maestro was extremely dissatisfied with what he had done.

It took more than a decade before George V. returned to the work of an outstanding poet, but this time acquired for years composing skills allowed him to create a real masterpiece. In 1965, after the completion of the “Wooden Russia” cantata, which was based on the poems of S. Yesenin, Sviridov decided to continue work in the same genre, only now, choosing a literary basis, he stopped at the works of Pasternak. Sviridov selected only three poems for the cantata: "It is snowing", "Soul" and "Night". They are united by one common philosophical topic - the attitude of a person to time: people do not value time at all, but it’s so transient. One moment is a moment and you cannot live it twice.

Sviridov worked on the cantata not for long, he finished the work in the same 1965. For the first time it sounded in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory at the end of December next 1966.

Interesting Facts

• George Sviridov, writing a cantata on Boris Pasternak’s poems, became the first of the composers who turned to the work of an outstanding poet.
• The composer was very fond of Pasternak's poetry and wrote his first romances on his poems, but he found them so unsuccessful that he did not even mark them on his list of works.
• Sviridov could not choose from the works of Pasternak that would be suitable for the middle part of the cantata "Snow is coming." The composer found the poem "Soul" in one of the foreign sources, since it was never published in the Soviet Union. The poet really in this work of his reflected the negative side of the regime established after the victory of the Bolsheviks.
• The cantata "Snow is coming" among the works of Russian composers is the smallest work in this genre.
• The poem "Snow is coming" Pasternak wrote in 1957. This time of life was very difficult in the life of the poet, because after the publication abroad of "Doctor Zhivago", which in the Soviet Union was called a slanderous novel, pressure from state authorities was intensified on him. Being in a broken state of mind, most of the poems about nature, which Boris Leonidovich wrote at this time, he dedicated to winter.

• When Sviridov’s music was first performed abroad in the 1960s, French, Spanish, and English listeners were not familiar with the works of this composer, and besides, they did not know Russian. However, the music of Georgy Vasilyevich so emotionally impacted the public that those present at the concerts burst into tears.
• Conductors have always complained that it was very difficult to work with George Vasilyevich. Being at rehearsals before the concert performance of his vocal works, he did not make any complaints either to the vocalist soloists, or to the choir, or to the orchestra, but he could verbally destroy the conductor.
• Once, at the rehearsal of one of his creations, Sviridov could never get the music that he had intended for him to perform. Having tormented the conductor, choir and orchestra, he sadly lamented that apparently the work was written incorrectly. There was no composer at the last rehearsal - he was unwell, and the conductor, at his own risk and risk, took the initiative in interpreting the composer’s work. Hearing his work at a concert, George Vasilyevich, after speaking with relief, told everyone that he had written it correctly.

Content

The first part of the cantata gives the name to the whole work. Already from the very beginning, the repeated phrase “snow is falling” four times sets the listener to a certain monotony, the one that we hear in the non-stop course of hours counting down time. The chorus also sounds monotonous and measured: all the first quatrain of the soprano and altos sing only on one note in F sharp. The accompaniment is also peculiar: discordant chords, in which one of the sounds makes a downward movement for "small second", are constantly repeated through the beat. The second stanza choir sings on the “la” note, and in the third it returns to the “fa” again. Then these two notes change among themselves.

The middle part of the Svirida cantata is the poem Soul, in which the poet reflects on his duty: he must pass all human sorrow, anguish and deprivation through his heart and heavy burden into his soul all his life. The melodic line of the choir in the second part is quite simple, but very expressive. It is very similar in character to the sad urban song, as it is a bit monotonous, and besides, it was written by the composer in a couplet form and a three-piece size. The choir's part is performed against the background of the meager accompaniment: the sustained sounds of orchestral accompaniment, creating a feeling of detachment.

The third section of the cantata - "Night" is the exact opposite of the previous two parts. In it the cheerful plain tune sounds, accompanied in accompaniment by easy, jerky chords. It is very mobile, written in light "C major" and performed with sonorous children's voices. It may seem strange that Sviridov entrusted the performance of serious poems to the children's choir, but this was intentionally done by the composer, as the call to the artist at the end of the poem: “Not knowing how tired to do his duty” comes from children’s lips more convincingly.

Vocal and instrumental creativity of George Sviridov is bright music, deeply affecting the feelings of the listeners. It is filled with moral purity and high spirituality. In the composer's work there is everything - pictures of nature, the history of the Motherland and the fate of people. He portrays a person, pathetically raising him, thereby awakens not only bright feelings, but also makes him believe in his own strength.