G Sviridov short biography. Characteristics of creativity and main features of Mr. Sviridov’s style

The creative biography of one of the most original composers of the 20th century is closely connected with the musical traditions of the Kursk region. A boy was born into the family of a postal worker and a teacher in the town of Fatezhe in 1915.

The parents of little Yura, as the future musician was called in childhood, stood on opposite sides of the political barricades. Father Vasily Grigorievich early became interested in the ideas of Bolshevism and supported the Reds in everything, and his mother, born into a pious family, adhered to monarchist views.

Elizaveta Ivanovna Sviridova, née Chaplygina, sang in the choir from a young age, which greatly influenced the future musical preferences of her son.

Relatives on his mother's side - George's grandfather and great-grandfather - left a significant mark on the history of the region. They were involved in the guardianship of Fatezh schools and were on the council of the parish of the Epiphany Church in the city. As a child, the boy regularly attended the small church of Frol and Lavra with his maternal grandmother; he especially loved the Maundy Thursday service.

Subsequently, childhood impressions resulted not only in the composer’s love for vocal creativity, but also in the creation of later opuses on religious themes, which came from the pen of the author in the early 90s.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, Georgy Sviridov’s father tragically died in a clash between the Bolsheviks and a detachment of Denikin’s troops, leaving his wife a widow with two small children in her arms: four-year-old Yurochka and one-year-old Tamara. A single mother, in search of work, moves to Kirov to live with distant relatives.

Interesting facts from the composer’s life include the following incident. Once, as payment for her work, Elizaveta Sviridova was offered a choice of a German piano or a cow. And without hesitation, she chose a musical instrument. By this time, a sensitive, educated woman had already noticed her son’s passion for music and decided to help him master his skill.

Little Yura not only became interested in music, he was very fond of literature, voraciously read poetry and understood the works of foreign and Russian poets. In addition, having once become interested in the balalaika, he quickly masters this instrument to perform musical compositions at one of the celebrations.

In 1929, he entered the Kursk music school in the class of Vera Ufimtseva. At the entrance exam, it was necessary to play a piece of music, but since the boy did not have notes, he played a march of his own composition, which captivated the teachers.

The composer's second teacher was Miron Krutyansky. He advised Georgy Sviridov to continue his music studies at the Leningrad Music College. And in 1932, the young man entered a course with pianist Isaiah Braudo.

Georgy is a phenomenal student, quickly mastering piano technique, and in the evenings he works as a pianist in a movie theater, but his wise teacher still turns to the management of the educational institution with a request to transfer Georgy Sviridov to a composition course.

Yura enters the class of Mikhail Yudin, and in 1936 becomes a student at the Leningrad Conservatory, where he studies in the class of P. Ryazanov and D. Shostakovich. They become friends with Dmitry Dmitrievich. The older comrade strongly influenced Sviridov’s worldview and forever instilled in him a love of national origins.

A year after admission, Georgy was accepted into the Union of Composers. The young man's graduation works were his piano concerto, first symphony and symphony for chamber orchestra.

Music

Sviridov spent his forties in evacuation in Novosibirsk, along with the entire staff of the Leningrad Philharmonic, where he got a job immediately after completing his education. During these years, the composer, who had cut his teeth on instrumental music, began to create vocal works for the first time. He will return to this genre more than once.

His work was inspired by the poetry of Shakespeare, Avetik Isaakyan translated by Alexander Blok, Robert Burns translated by Samuil Marshak, and even the poems of Chinese poets Wang Wei, Bo Juyi and He Zhizhang.

From the mid-50s, he began to create works based on words, writing a multi-part poem “In Memory of Sergei Yesenin” and composing “Pathetic Oratorio”. Georgy Sviridov writes a cantata to the words of Boris Pasternak. His vocal works based on poems by N. Nekrasov, A. Prokofiev, M. Lermontov are gaining popularity.

The composer consciously chooses the path of songwriting, since, in his opinion, the voice is the only instrument from God. Instrumental music, which was usually composed by buffoons in Rus', was considered a lackey form of art.

In the 60s, Sviridov, thanks to the collected folklore heritage of the region, opened a new page in the musical academic tradition. He creates a cycle for choir and symphony orchestra “Kursk Songs” based on folk motifs.

Following this work, many Soviet composers, such as V. Gavrilin, R. Shchedrin, N. Sidelnikov, S. Slonimsky, turn to folk motifs in their work. described this work and the work of his student as a whole: “Sviridov has few notes, but a lot of music.”

The period of the 70s is considered the most fruitful in the composer’s work. He creates his most famous work, “Blizzard,” based on the work of A. S. Pushkin. The most interesting of the “musical illustrations” are the compositions “Waltz”, “Troika”, “Winter Road”.

No less popular was the work that every schoolchild in the country knew - “Time, Forward!” Sviridov wrote it for a film by Mikhail Schweitzer, and then arranged it into a suite. Despite the fact that Georgy Vasilyevich always took a long time to write out scores for his works, he created this composition in an hour and all thanks to the fact that he was in a hurry to go fishing, which was his favorite pastime after music.

At the same time, a poem was written based on the verses of Sergei Yesenin, “The Rus' that set sail” - the true pinnacle of the composer’s creativity.

Personal life

The composer's personal life was not easy. He was married three times. He had two sons, but due to tragic circumstances, George outlived both sons.

The composer never mentioned the passing of the elder Sergei, who was born in marriage with his first wife. Later, after the death of Georgy Vasilyevich, it became known that the boy committed suicide when his parents were at the premiere at the theater. The young man was 16 years old at that time.

The youngest son Yuri was seriously ill and had to leave his homeland for treatment. Having lived in Japan for a long time, he died a week before his father's death. Georgy Vasilyevich never found out about this event.

The composer never mentioned his first two marriages in interviews. It is known that Georgy Vasilyevich’s first wife was a pianist, a fellow student of the composer at the technical school. Her name was Valentina Tokareva.

Sviridov's second wife, artist Aglaya Kornienko, was 12 years younger than him. For her sake, Georgy Sviridov left his first family and little four-year-old Seryozha. Married to Aglayushka, as the musician affectionately called her, he had a second son, Yuri.

Fans mostly know his third wife - Elsa Gustavovna Sviridova (Klazer), who was 10 years younger than the composer.

They met at a musical evening at the Philharmonic, at which works by a young talented composer were performed. Elsa Gustavovna wanted to personally express her gratitude to Sviridov, and after the meeting they never parted, so great was the power of the feeling that flared up in the hearts of both.

last years of life

Elsa Gustavovna was a keen connoisseur of art and a connoisseur of her husband’s creativity. In many ways, she guided him with advice and her outside perspective. She survived her husband only by 4 months, having for some time managed to be the sole director of the G. Sviridov Foundation.

After the death of Elsa Sviridova, this place was left to her forever. The last years of his life, the seriously ill composer spent a lot of time at the dacha, writing music and his favorite fishing. In photographs from this period, Georgy Sviridov is depicted as a serious, thoughtful philosopher, absorbed in thoughts about his homeland. The composer died on Christmas Eve 1998.

Works by Georgy Sviridov

• 7 small pieces for piano (1934-1935)
• 6 romances based on words by A. S. Pushkin (1935)
• Concerto No. 1 for piano and orchestra (1937)
• 7 romances to the words of M. Yu. Lermontov (1938)
• Chamber Symphony for string orchestra (1940)
• Concerto No. 2 for piano and orchestra (1942)
• Piano Sonata (1944)
• Piano Quintet (1944)
• Piano Trio (1945)
• Vocal-symphonic poem “In Memory of S. A. Yesenin” (1956)
• “Pathetic Oratorio” to the words of V. V. Mayakovsky (1959)
• “Kursk Songs” for mixed choir and orchestra, folk words (1964)
• Music for the film "Blizzard" (1964)
• Small cantata for choir and orchestra “It’s Snowing” based on poems by B. L. Pasternak (1965)
• Suite “Time, forward!” (1965)
• Choral concert “In Memory of A. A. Yurlov” (1973)
• Musical illustrations for A. S. Pushkin’s story “Blizzard” (1978)
• “The Rus' that set sail”, cycle for voice and piano to words by S. A. Yesenin (1977)
• "Pushkin's Wreath" for choir (1979)
• “Ladoga”, poem for choir with lyrics by A. Prokofiev (1980)
• “Songs”, concert for choir to words by A. A. Blok (1980-1981)
• "Chants and Prayers" (1994)

Narrated by Andrey Andreevich Zolotov, professor, famous art historian, art and music critic, Honored Artist of Russia: Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov is a giant of Russian culture. I was lucky enough to communicate with him for almost 40 years. I became acquainted with his work in 1959 at the premiere of “Poem in Memory of Sergei Yesenin”, and then there was the premiere of “Pathetic Oratorio”. In 1960 we met in person. Relationships were built incrementally. We had a very close, family relationship. The personality was incredibly interesting. A person who was in constant spiritual search.

His last major work, which I was the first to write a review of, is “Prayers and Chants.” The first performance took place in Leningrad, and a review was published in the Pravda newspaper. Ironic, right? But there was some kind of movement in this, a desire to affirm something. It's complicated. But the publication in Pravda provided ideological justification for Sviridov’s work. Society was moving towards changes at that time, many people were bringing these changes closer. And in the Pravda newspaper there were also people who felt involved in Russian art, who sought not to destroy, but rather to preserve and enhance the Russian tradition. “Prayers and Hymns” are works written for a church service, but for various reasons were not included there, just like Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff.

But it should still be noted that some of Sviridov’s chants are now performed during the Easter patriarchal service in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and in some other churches. Although Sviridov did not write to be performed in churches, but rather to bring an atmosphere of spirituality into concert halls. “Prayers and chants” reflected the state of the composer himself, his prayerful mood.

An unspeakable miracle

Sviridov is a very interesting person. On the one hand, his father died at the hands of the whites; he is the author of the “Pathetic Oratorio”, where Soviet power is glorified with Mayakovsky’s poems. That is, he was a completely Soviet person. But if you think about it, is everything so clear? Sviridov’s “Pathetic Oratorio” is the poet’s thoughts, of course. And look: one of the parts tells about the flight of Wrangel. But this is not Sviridov’s escape, this is a tragedy.

Pathetic oratorio. About the escape of the gene. Wrangel.

Sviridov created a scene of such Shakespearean intensity that you are amazed! This is a grandiose tragedy for an entire people. Or in “Poem in Memory of Sergei Yesenin” - the meeting of son and father, this clash, is also shown very dramatically. Sviridov seemed to bring Yesenin through music into the large cosmic orbit of Russian culture. Basically, the musical development of Sergei Yesenin's poetry went towards everyday singing - there is something original in this, but still this is not the element of high poetry. Sviridov elevated Yesenin to such a high pedestal - he placed him next to Pushkin and Blok. This is his feat.

Poem in memory of Sergei Yesenin

Or take his small cantata based on the poems of Boris Pasternak “It’s snowing...” - this was also a kind of spiritual act, because Georgy Vasilyevich took Pasternak’s unpublished and officially unpublished poem, which was distributed in samizdat, in which there were the following lines: “My soul, sad woman / O everyone in my circle, /You have become the tomb /of those tortured alive.”

Cantata to poems by B. Pasternak. Soul

Sviridov allowed himself to replace one word from Pasternak: Boris Leonidovich had it - “and in our time it is selfish,” and Sviridov’s became: “and in our time it is difficult.” But in any case, Sviridov’s appeal to Pasternak’s unpublished work was an act!

A. Zolotov with G. Sviridov

Sviridov was a believer, very restless - an artistic, passionate nature. Now in the creative community, many have seized on his statements for themselves, which were recently published by his nephew. But I want to say (I’ve already said it and I’m repeating it again!) that this book is extremely interesting, but some texts could have lain where his statements concern living people. And I repeat - these were still recordings for myself, not for the public. Of course, some people seized on specific statements that were not entirely distasteful and began to overthrow him from his pedestal. Of course, you can’t knock him down from the heights of musical genius. It is possible to slander a person, but this is petty. And very sad. Sviridov was a very bright person, although passionate.

Over the course of one or several days in a row, he could express himself differently on the same issue. I remember how he once spoke extremely highly of the songs of composer Andrei Pavlovich Petrov, saying that he managed to raise the song to the rank of a symphony. But at the same time, he did not really approve of Andrei Petrov’s activities as the head of the Union of Composers of St. Petersburg and wrote something about it (for himself, I repeat!). As a result, the book does not contain statements about songs, but only what kind of leader Petrov was. You need to be very careful when judging other people's grades. It is a delicate matter to interpret what the artist said. On the death of Dmitry Dmitrievich Shostakovich, he gave an amazing speech in the Great Hall of the Conservatory - the audience wept. Because Georgy Vasilyevich was Shostakovich’s friend, his student. He idolized Shostakovich, and even he valued Sviridov very, very highly. And in that book there are materials devoted to how he prepared for the funeral speech. Maxim Dmitrievich Shostakovich said that this was the best thing that could be said about his father. But at the same time, Sviridov defended his own creative path. He had a theory that the symphony ended with Shostakovich, vocal music should develop further - and in the book there are notes that reflect Sviridov’s clarification of his creative credo. And this gives Georgy Vasilyevich’s critics the opportunity to reproach Sviridov for ingratitude towards his teacher, towards Shostakovich. And no one remembers the careful preparation of the funeral speech. In a word, we are often unfair to each other - we need to appreciate the best that is in us. In the end, the people are the best thing we have. The people are different from the population. The population can be counted, but the people cannot be counted. There are big nations, small nations - and each nation has its own problems. Therefore, for me, Sviridov is a person who, at his stage, established Russian culture, Russian thought, Russian character, Russian spirituality in modern art.

Quite often in our conversations he recalled Blok’s words: “Russia for me is a lyrical magnitude.” In my film about Sviridov, he even says this. Russia as a lyrical quantity is not only a metaphor, but also a spiritual reality.

Film "Composer Sviridov" based on the script by A.A. Zolotova

...In turbulent times, especially harmonious artistic natures arise, embodying the highest aspiration of man, the aspiration for the inner harmony of the human personality as opposed to the chaos of the world... This harmony of the inner world is connected with an understanding and feeling of the tragedy of life, but at the same time it is overcoming this tragedy. The desire for inner harmony, the consciousness of man's high destiny - this is what now especially resonates with me in Pushkin.
G. Sviridov

The spiritual closeness between the composer and the poet is not accidental. Sviridov’s art is also distinguished by a rare inner harmony, a passionate striving for goodness and truth, and at the same time a sense of tragedy, stemming from a deep understanding of the greatness and drama of the era being lived through. A musician and composer of enormous, unique talent, he feels, first of all, a son of his land, born and raised under its sky. In Sviridov’s life itself, direct connections with folk origins and with the heights of Russian culture coexist.

A student of D. Shostakovich, educated at the Leningrad Conservatory (1936-41), a remarkable connoisseur of poetry and painting, himself possessing an outstanding poetic gift, he was born in the small town of Fatezh, Kursk province, in the family of a postal worker and a teacher. Both Sviridov’s father and mother were local natives, coming from the peasantry of villages close to Fatezh. Direct communication with the rural environment, like the boy’s singing in the church choir, was natural and organic. It was these two cornerstones of Russian musical culture - folk song and spiritual art - that lived in the child’s musical memory from childhood that became the master’s support in his mature period of creativity.

Early childhood memories are associated with images of southern Russian nature - water meadows, fields and copses. And then there was the tragedy of the civil war, 1919, when Denikin’s men burst into the city and killed the young communist Vasily Sviridov. It is no coincidence that the composer repeatedly returns to the poetry of the Russian village (the vocal cycle “My Father is a Peasant” - 1957; cantatas “Kursk Songs”, “Wooden Russia” - 1964, “Bastard Man” - 1985; choral works), and to terrible shocks revolutionary years (“1919” - 7th part of “Poem in Memory of Yesenin”, solo songs “A son met his father”, “Death of a commissar”).

The original date of Sviridov’s art can be indicated very precisely: from summer to December 1935, in less than 20 years, the future master of Soviet music wrote the now well-known cycle of romances based on Pushkin’s poems (“Approaching Izhora,” “Winter Road,” “The Forest Is Dropping... ", "To the Nanny", etc.) is a work that stands firmly among the Soviet musical classics, opening the list of Sviridov's masterpieces. True, there were still years of study, war, evacuation, creative growth, and mastery of the heights of mastery ahead. Full creative maturity and independence came on the verge of the 40s and 50s, when their own genre of vocal cyclic poem was found and their own great epic theme (the poet and the homeland) was realized. The first-born of this genre (“Country of Fathers” on the line by A. Isaakyan - 1950) was followed by Songs based on poems by Robert Burns (1955), oratorios “Poem in Memory of Yesenin” (1956) and “Pathetic” (on the line by V. Mayakovsky - 1959 ).

“...Many Russian writers liked to imagine Russia as the embodiment of silence and sleep,” wrote A. Blok on the eve of the revolution, “but this dream ends; silence is replaced by a distant hum...” And, calling to listen to the “menacing and deafening roar of the revolution,” the poet notes that “this hum, anyway, is always about the great.” It was with this “Blok” key that Sviridov approached the theme of the Great October Revolution, but he took the text from another poet: the composer chose the path of greatest resistance, turning to the poetry of Mayakovsky. By the way, this was the first melodic mastery of his poems in the history of music. This is evidenced, for example, by the inspired melody “Let’s go, poet, let’s look, let’s sing” in the finale of the “Pathetic Oratorio”, where the very figurative structure of famous poems is transformed, as well as the broad, joyful chant “I know there will be a city.” Truly inexhaustible melodic, even hymnic possibilities were revealed by Sviridov in Mayakovsky. And the “roar of revolution” is in the magnificent, menacing march of the 1st movement (“Turn around in the march!”), in the “cosmic” scope of the finale (“Shine and no nails!”)...

Only in the early years of his studies and creative development did Sviridov write a lot of instrumental music. By the end of the 30s - early 40s. include Symphony; piano concert; chamber ensembles (Quintet, Trio); 2 sonatas, 2 partitas, Children's album for piano. Some of these works, in new author's editions, gained fame and took their place on the concert stage.

But the main thing in Sviridov’s work is vocal music (songs, romances, vocal cycles, cantatas, oratorios, choral works). Here his amazing sense of verse, depth of comprehension of poetry and rich melodic talent were happily combined. He not only “sang” the lines of Mayakovsky (in addition to the oratorio - the musical lubok “The Story of Bagels and the Woman Who Doesn’t Recognize the Republic”), B. Pasternak (cantata “It’s Snowing”), the prose of N. Gogol (choir “On Lost Youth” ), but also musically and stylistically updated modern melodic music. In addition to the authors mentioned, he set to music many lines by V. Shakespeare, P. Beranger, N. Nekrasov, F. Tyutchev, B. Kornilov, A. Prokofiev, A. Tvardovsky, F. Sologub, V. Khlebnikov and others - from poets -Decembrists to K. Kuliev.

In Sviridov's music, the spiritual power and philosophical depth of poetry are expressed in melodies of piercing, crystal clarity, in the richness of orchestral colors, and in the original modal structure. Starting with the “Poem in Memory of Sergei Yesenin,” the composer uses intonation and modal elements of the ancient Orthodox Znamenny chant in his music. Reliance on the world of ancient spiritual art of the Russian people can be seen in such choral works as “The Soul is Sad about Heaven”, in the choral concerts “In Memory of A. A. Yurlov” and “Pushkin’s Wreath”, in the amazing choral canvases included in the music for the drama A. K. Tolstoy “Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich” (“Prayer”, “Holy Love”, “Poem of Repentance”). The music of these works is pure and sublime, it contains great ethical meaning. In the documentary film “Georgy Sviridov” there is an episode when the composer in Blok’s museum-apartment (Leningrad) stops in front of a painting that the poet himself almost never parted with. This is a reproduction of a painting by the Dutch artist K. Massis “Salome with the Head of John the Baptist” (early 16th century), where the images of the tyrant Herod and the prophet who died for the truth are clearly contrasted. “The prophet is a symbol of the poet, his destiny!” - says Sviridov. This parallel is not accidental. Blok had an amazing premonition of the fiery, whirlwind and tragic future of the coming 20th century. And based on the words of Blok’s formidable prophecy, Sviridov created one of his masterpieces, “Voice from the Choir” (1963). Blok repeatedly inspired the composer, who wrote about 40 songs based on his poems: these are solo miniatures, the chamber cycle “Petersburg Songs” (1963), and small cantatas “Sad Songs” (1962), “Five Songs about Russia” (1967), and choral cyclic poems “Night Clouds” (1979), “Songs of Timelessness” (1980).

Two other poets, who also possessed prophetic traits, occupy a central place in Sviridov’s work. These are Pushkin and Yesenin. Based on the poems of Pushkin, who subordinated himself and all future Russian literature to the voice of truth and conscience, who selflessly served the people with his art, Sviridov, in addition to individual songs and youthful romances, wrote 10 magnificent choruses of “Pushkin’s Wreath” (1979), where the harmony and joy of life breaks through the poet’s stern reflection alone with eternity (“They beat Zorya”). Yesenin is the closest and, in all respects, the main poet of Sviridov (about 50 solo and choral works). Oddly enough, the composer became acquainted with his poetry only in 1956. The line “I am the last poet of the village” shocked and immediately became music, the sprout from which grew the “Poem in Memory of Sergei Yesenin” - a landmark work for Sviridov, for Soviet music and in general, for our society to understand many aspects of Russian life in those years. Yesenin, like Sviridov’s other main “co-authors,” had a prophetic gift - back in the mid-20s. he prophesied the terrible fate of the Russian village. The “Iron Guest” coming “on the path of the blue field” is not the machine that Yesenin was supposedly afraid of (as they once thought), it is an apocalyptic, menacing image. The poet’s thought was felt and revealed in music by the composer. Among his Yesenin compositions are choirs that are magical in their poetic richness (“The soul is sad about heaven”, “In the blue evening”, “Herd”), cantatas, songs of various genres up to the chamber-vocal poem “The Castaway Rus'” (1977).

Sviridov, with his characteristic insight, earlier and more deeply than many other figures of Soviet culture, felt the need to preserve the Russian poetic and musical language, the priceless treasures of ancient art, created over centuries, because over all these national wealth in our age of total breakdown of foundations and traditions, in the age of experienced abuses, it is real danger of destruction loomed. And if our modern literature, especially through the mouths of V. Astafiev, V. Belov, V. Rasputin, N. Rubtsov, loudly calls for saving what can still be saved, then Sviridov spoke about this back in the mid-50s.

An important feature of Sviridov’s art is its “super-historicity”. It is about Russia as a whole, covering its past, present and future. The composer always knows how to emphasize what is most essential and undying. Sviridov’s choral art is based on such sources as spiritual Orthodox chants and Russian folklore, it includes in the orbit of its generalization the intonation language of revolutionary songs, marches, oratory speeches - i.e., the sound material of the Russian 20th century, and on this foundation a new phenomenon grows strength and beauty, spiritual power and penetration, which raises the choral art of our time to a new level. There was a heyday of Russian classical opera, and there was the rise of Soviet symphony. Today, the new Soviet choral art, harmonious and sublime, which has no analogues either in the past or in modern foreign music, is an essential expression of the spiritual wealth and vitality of our people. And this is Sviridov’s creative feat. What he discovered was developed with great success by other Soviet composers: V. Gavrilin, V. Tormis, V. Rubin, Yu. Butsko, K. Volkov. A. Nikolaev, A. Kholminov, etc.

Sviridov's music became a classic of Soviet art of the 20th century. thanks to its depth, harmony, close connection with the rich traditions of Russian musical culture.

SVIRIDOV GEORGY VASILIEVICH

(1915-1998)

The future composer was born in the small town of Fatezh in the Kursk province. His father was a postal worker and his mother was a teacher. When George was only four years old, the family was orphaned: his father died during the civil war. After this, the mother and her son moved to Kursk. There Yuri (that was Sviridov’s name in childhood) went to school, where his musical abilities manifested themselves. It was then that he mastered his first musical instrument, the ordinary balalaika. Sviridov took it from one of his comrades and soon learned to play by ear so much that he was accepted into an amateur orchestra of Russian folk instruments. The director of the orchestra, a former violinist Ioffe, organized concerts and musical evenings dedicated to classical composers. While playing in an orchestra, Sviridov honed his technique and never stopped dreaming of getting a musical education. In the summer of 1929, he decided to enter a music school. At the entrance exam, the boy had to play the piano, but since he did not have any repertoire at that time, he played a march of his own composition. The commission liked him and he was accepted into the school.

At the music school, Sviridov became a student of V. Ufimtseva, the wife of the famous Russian inventor G. Ufimtsev. Communication with this sensitive and talented teacher enriched Sviridov in many ways: he learned to play the piano professionally and fell in love with literature. During his studies, he was a frequent guest in the Ufimtsevs’ house, and it was Vera Vladimirov who became the person who advised Sviridov to devote his life to music.

After graduating from school, he continued his music lessons with another teacher, M. Krutyansky. On his advice, in 1932, Sviridov went to Leningrad and entered a music college to study piano, headed by Professor I. Braudo. At that time, Sviridov lived in a hostel and, in order to feed himself, played in the cinema and in restaurants in the evenings.

Under the guidance of Yudin, Sviridov wrote his first course work, variations for piano, in just two months. They are still famous among musicians and are used as teaching material. Sviridov stayed in Yudin's class for about three years. During this time, he wrote many different works, but the most famous was a cycle of six romances based on poems by Pushkin.

However, malnutrition and hard work undermined the young man’s health, he had to interrupt his studies and leave for some time to Kursk, to his homeland. Having gained strength and improved his health, in the summer of 1936 Sviridov entered the Leningrad Conservatory and became the winner of a personal scholarship named after A. Lunacharsky. His first teacher there was Professor P. Ryazanov, who was replaced six months later by D. Shostakovich.

Under the guidance of his new mentor, Sviridov completed work on a piano concerto, which premiered during the decade of Soviet music dedicated to the twentieth anniversary of the revolution, simultaneously with Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony.

Such a successful completion of the conservatory promised brilliant prospects for the young composer; he finally got the opportunity to professionally do his favorite thing. However, all these plans were disrupted by the war. In its very first days, Sviridov was enrolled as a cadet at a military school and sent to Ufa. However, already at the end of 1941 he was demobilized due to health reasons.

Until 1944, Sviridov lived in Novosibirsk, where the Leningrad Philharmonic was evacuated. Like other composers, he began to write war songs, of which the most famous was, perhaps, “Song of the Brave” based on poems by A. Surkov. In addition, he wrote music for performances of theaters evacuated to Siberia. It was then that Sviridov first had to work for musical theater, and he created the operetta “The Sea Spreads Wide,” which told about the life and struggle of Baltic sailors in besieged Leningrad.

In 1944, Sviridov returned to Leningrad, and in 1950 he settled in Moscow. Now he no longer had to prove his right to independent creativity. In addition, Sviridov is the creator of an interesting musical genre, which he called “musical illustration.” The composer seems to be telling a literary work through music. This is primarily a cycle dedicated to Pushkin’s story “The Snowstorm”. But the main genre that the composer never parted with is song and romance. Vocal music occupies the main place in creativity. He works with poems by a variety of poets, revealing their appearance in a new way.

Sviridov developed and continued the traditions of vocal and vocal-symphonic music, and created new genre varieties of it. At the same time, in the field of harmony and musical form, he showed something new, unique, and individual.

The public is widely familiar with Sviridov’s music for the films “Time, Forward!” (1965) and "Blizzard" (1974).

Sviridov’s stunning choral cycles brought him worldwide fame (“Decembrists” to the words of A. Pushkin and the Decembrist poets, “Poem in Memory of Sergei Yesenin”, “Pathetic Oratorio” after V. Mayakovsky, “Five Songs about Russia” to the words of A. Blok, etc.). However, Sviridov also worked in popular genres, for example, in operetta (“Lights”, “The Sea Spreads Wide”), in cinema (“Resurrection”, “The Golden Calf”, etc.), in drama theater (music for the plays of A. Raikin, “Don Cesarde Bazan”, etc.).

Sviridov was generously awarded with titles and awards under almost all authorities: he was awarded three times with State Prizes of the USSR, the Lenin Prize in 1960, in 1970 he was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR, in 1975 - Hero of Socialist Labor.

The last year of the composer’s life was simply monstrous for his family. On December 11, Georgy Vasilyevich’s younger brother died, on the same day the brilliant musician himself fell ill, and on December 31, his youngest son, a Japanese player, died in Japan. (Sviridov lost his first son even earlier). They buried Sviridov Jr., and soon the elder...

The civil memorial service and funeral of G. Sviridov took place on January 9, 1998 in Moscow. After the funeral service in the Church of Christ the Savior, the funeral of G. Sviridov took place. The great composer's final resting place was found at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

So, Sviridov’s works are widely known in Russia and abroad. He wrote both serious and light music with equal ease, which is why people fell in love with it.

Dear readers! Who among us doesn't like listening to music? I have no musical education, but I listen to popular classical music with great pleasure and it evokes the most positive emotions in me. Recently I visited again the literary and musical lounge, the theme of which was “Composer Georgy Sviridov and his work.”

Music can be different. Some people love jazz, some folk, and some are simply fascinated by classical music. For many, the classics are not clear. But if this music is from the heart and easy to understand, there are hardly any indifferent people. There is hardly an indifferent person who would not freeze in admiration at the sound of a waltz, written as a musical illustration for Pushkin’s story “The Snowstorm”.

On December 15, 2015, Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov, the greatest composer of our time, would have turned 100 years old. This is a great Russian composer, as friends and admirers of his talent called him during his lifetime. In addition to this national title, this is the People's Artist of the USSR, Hero of Socialist Labor, Lenin laureate and three times laureate of State Prizes.

The future composer was born on December 15, 1915 in the city of Fatezh, Kursk region. His father was a postal worker, and his mother was a teacher. When Georgiy was 4 years old, Denikin’s father was killed in the civil war. In 1924 the family moved to Kursk.

One day, the composer’s mother was rewarded for her good work and given the choice of a cow or a piano. Noticing the child's musical inclinations, the mother chose the piano and, as you can see, she was not mistaken. Although in those post-war times there was hunger and a cow would have been very useful.

Here Georgy became interested in reading books and did a little music education. But gradually musical studies became a burden to him and at some time he even abandoned his studies. Moreover, he preferred playing the balalaika to boring exercises on the piano. They didn’t have a balalaika, he took it from his comrades and after a while he learned to play it by ear so much that he was accepted into an amateur orchestra of Russian folk instruments.

Playing in an orchestra led by former violinist Ioffe, Georgy honed his skills and began to dream of musical education. And in 1929 he entered a music school. During the entrance exam we had to play something on the piano. But since he did not have any repertoire, the boy decided to play a march of his own composition.

Study in Leningrad

While studying at a music school, Sviridov learned to play the piano professionally. After finishing school, on the advice of teacher M. Krutyansky, he went to Leningrad to enroll in a music college to study piano. In order to somehow survive and feed himself, Sviridov worked part-time in cinemas and restaurants, playing the piano. But he did not study at this faculty for long.

Having noticed an innate gift for composition, six months after admission he was transferred to the composition department in the class of the famous musician M. Yudin. N. Bogoslovsky, V. Solovyov-Sedoy and other famous composers of the Soviet era studied with him. Studying at the music college at that time competed with the Leningrad Conservatory.

While studying under the guidance of Yudin, Sviridov wrote his first course work - variations for piano. Later, while studying at the technical school, he wrote many more of his works. Among them are romances based on poems by Pushkin, performed by Lemeshev and Pirogov.

Studying at the conservatory

Intense study and malnutrition undermined his health and the young man had to interrupt his studies and return to Kursk. But having recovered his health, he returned to Leningrad again and in 1936 entered the Leningrad Conservatory. His first teacher was P. Ryazanov, and six months later - D. Shostakovich. Shostakovich was not only a teacher, but became his closest friend for life.

Studying at the conservatory ended in the summer of 1941. His graduation work was his First Symphony and Concerto for String Instruments. There were many creative plans. But they were not destined to come true - the war began and the young composer was drafted into the army. But due to health reasons at the end of 1941 he was discharged.

Subsequently there was a lot of work and life in Novosibirsk, Leningrad and Moscow.

Creative life

Many people know the screensaver “Time, forward!” to the “Time” program, which was broadcast by central television during Soviet times. But during the years of perestroika, when it became fashionable to scold the entire past, Sviridov fell into disgrace. Even the famous screensaver was taken off the air.

However, after a few years, justice prevailed. This is how film director M. Schweider spoke about it:

“Because this music is forever. Because it contains the pulse of a life free from the political bustle. In it, time, which, despite all the blows of fate, historical catastrophes and irreparable losses, continues forever.”

Fascinated by the poems of Russian poets Yesenin and Pushkin, he wrote many musical illustrations. These were not just illustrations for poems he liked, it was his vision of reading poetry.

He wrote many different works from romances to cantatas and symphonies. It must be said that the works he wrote in recent years are very different from those that were written in his earliest creative age, as if they were written by different authors.
I am not a music critic, so I have no right to somehow describe the works he wrote. I just love the music of this great composer. Enjoy his music by listening to short videos.

Georgy Sviridov is the author of music for 13 films. Among them: “Virgin Soil Upturned”, “Przhevalsky”, “Rimsky-Korsakov”, “The Great Warrior of Albania Skanderbeg”, “Polyushko-Pole”, “Red Square”, “Resurrection”, “Russian Forest”, “Blizzard”, “ Time, forward", "Trust", "Red Bells, film 2. I saw the birth of a new world."

Sviridov died on January 6, 1998 after a serious and long illness. After the funeral service in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, he was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.

This is interesting

By the way, about the influence of music. Listening to music is accompanied by a feeling of euphoria, during which the hormone dopamine is released in the human body - the hormone of pleasure or satisfaction. Not only in humans, but also in animals, while listening to music, blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate can change. I have an article on this topic “”, read it.

Japanese studies have proven that breastfeeding mothers, while listening to classical music, increase the amount of milk by 20-100%, and when listening to jazz and pop music, on the contrary, it decreases by 20-50%. Draw your own conclusions.

There are people who are completely indifferent to music and are unable to recognize or perform it. This condition is called amusia.

With wishes of good health, Taisiya Filippova