What should a beginning musician read? What textbooks do you use at music school?

How to go to the opera and get only pleasure from it, and not disappointment? How can you avoid falling asleep during symphony concerts, and then only regret that it all ended quickly? How can we understand music that, at first glance, seems completely old-fashioned?

It turns out that anyone can learn all this. Children are taught this in music school (and very successfully, I must say), but any adult can master all the secrets himself. A textbook of musical literature will come to the rescue. And there is no need to be afraid of the word “textbook”. What a textbook is for a child, it is for an adult a “book of fairy tales with pictures,” which intrigues and fascinates with its “interestingness.”

About the subject “musical literature”

Perhaps one of the most interesting subjects that music school students take is musical literature. In its content, this course is somewhat reminiscent of the literature course that is studied in a regular secondary school: only instead of writers – composers, instead of poems and prose – the best musical works of classics and modern times.

The knowledge that is given in the lessons of musical literature develops erudition and unusually broadens the horizons of young musicians in the areas of music itself, domestic and foreign history, fiction, theater and painting. This same knowledge also has a direct impact on practical music lessons (playing an instrument).

Everyone should study musical literature

Based on its exceptional usefulness, the course of musical literature can be recommended for adults or beginning self-taught musicians. No other music course provides such completeness and fundamental knowledge about music, its history, styles, eras and composers, genres and forms, musical instruments and singing voices, methods of performance and composition, means of expression and the possibilities of music, etc.

What exactly do you cover in the music literature course?

Musical literature is a compulsory subject for study in all departments of the music school. This course is taught over four years, during which young musicians become familiar with dozens of different artistic and musical works.

First year – “Music, its forms and genres”

The first year, as a rule, is devoted to stories about the basic musical means of expression, genres and forms, musical instruments, various types of orchestras and ensembles, how to listen and understand music correctly.

Second year – “Foreign musical literature”

The second year is usually aimed at mastering a layer of foreign musical culture. The story about it begins from ancient times, from its inception, through the Middle Ages to major composer personalities. Six composers are highlighted in separate large themes and studied in several lessons. This is the German composer of the Baroque era J.S. Bach, three “Viennese classics” – J. Haydn, V.A. Mozart and L. van Beethoven, romantics F. Schubert and F. Chopin. There are quite a lot of romantic composers; there is not enough time to get acquainted with the work of each of them in school lessons, but a general idea of ​​the music of romanticism, of course, is given.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Judging by the works, the textbook of musical literature of foreign countries introduces us to an impressive list of various works. This is Mozart’s opera “The Marriage of Figaro” based on the plot of the French playwright Beaumarchais, and as many as 4 symphonies – Haydn’s 103rd (the so-called “With tremolo timpani”), Mozart’s 40th famous G minor symphony, Beethoven’s symphony No. 5 with its “theme” Destiny” and “Unfinished Symphony” by Schubert; among the major symphonic works, Beethoven’s “Egmont” overture is also included.

In addition, piano sonatas are studied – Beethoven’s 8th “Pathetique” sonata, Mozart’s 11th sonata with its famous “Turkish Rondo” in the finale and Haydn’s radiant D major sonata. Among other piano works, the book introduces etudes, nocturnes, polonaises and mazurkas by the great Polish composer Chopin. Vocal works are also studied – Schubert’s songs, his brilliant prayer song “Ave Maria”, the ballad “The Forest King” based on Goethe’s text, everyone’s favorite “Evening Serenade”, a number of other songs, as well as the vocal cycle “The Beautiful Miller’s Wife”.

Third year “Russian musical literature of the 19th century”

The third year of study is entirely devoted to Russian music from its ancient times until almost the end of the 19th century. What questions are not touched upon by the initial chapters, which talk about folk music, about the church singing art, about the origins of secular art, about the major composers of the classical era – Bortnyansky and Berezovsky, about the romance work of Varlamov, Gurilev, Alyabyev and Verstovsky.

The figures of six major composers are again put forward as central ones: M.I. Glinka, A.S. Dargomyzhsky, A.P. Borodina, M.P. Mussorgsky, N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, P.I. Tchaikovsky. Each of them appears not only as a brilliant artist, but also as a unique personality. For example, Glinka is called the founder of Russian classical music, Dargomyzhsky is called the teacher of musical truth. Borodin, being a chemist, composed music only “on weekends”, and Mussorgsky and Tchaikovsky, on the contrary, left their service for the sake of music; Rimsky-Korsakov in his youth set off on a circumnavigation of the world.

M.I. Glinka opera “Ruslan and Lyudmila”

The musical material that is mastered at this stage is extensive and serious. Over the course of a year, a whole series of great Russian operas is performed: “Ivan Susanin”, “Ruslan and Lyudmila” by Glinka, “Rusalka” by Dargomyzhsky, “Prince Igor” by Borodin, “Boris Godunov” by Mussorgsky, “The Snow Maiden”, “Sadko” and “The Tale of the Tsar” Saltana” by Rimsky-Korsakov, “Eugene Onegin” by Tchaikovsky. Getting acquainted with these operas, students involuntarily come into contact with the works of literature that form their basis. Moreover, if we talk specifically about music school, then these classical works of literature are learned before they are covered in a general education school – isn’t this a benefit?

In addition to operas, during the same period, many romances are studied (by Glinka, Dargomyzhsky, Tchaikovsky), among which again are those written to poems by great Russian poets. There are also symphonies being performed – Borodin’s “Heroic”, “Winter Dreams” and “Pathetique” by Tchaikovsky, as well as Rimsky-Korsakov’s brilliant symphonic suite – “Scheherazade” based on the tales of “A Thousand and One Nights”. Among the piano works one can name large cycles: “Pictures at an Exhibition” by Mussorgsky and “The Seasons” by Tchaikovsky.

Fourth year – “Domestic music of the 20th century”

The fourth book on musical literature corresponds to the fourth year of teaching the subject. This time, students’ interests are focused in the direction of Russian music of the 20th and 21st centuries. Unlike previous editions of textbooks on musical literature, this latest one is updated with enviable regularity – the material for study is completely redrawn, filled with information about the latest achievements of academic music.

S.S. Prokofiev ballet “Romeo and Juliet”

The fourth issue talks about the achievements of such composers as S.V. Rachmaninov, A.N. Scriabin, I.F. Stravinsky, S.S. Prokofiev, D.D. Shostakovich, G.V. Sviridov, as well as a whole galaxy of composers of the most recent or contemporary times – V.A. Gavrilina, R.K. Shchedrina, E.V. Tishchenko and others.

The range of works analyzed is expanding unusually. It is not necessary to list them all; it is enough to name only such masterpieces as the world’s favorite Second Piano Concerto by Rachmaninoff, the famous ballets by Stravinsky (“Petrushka”, “Firebird”) and Prokofiev (“Romeo and Juliet”, “Cinderella” “), “Leningrad” Symphony by Shostakovich, “Poem in Memory of Sergei Yesenin” by Sviridov and many other brilliant works.

What textbooks on musical literature are there?

Today there are not many options for textbooks on musical literature for school, but there is still “diversity”. Some of the very first textbooks that were used to study en masse were books from a series of textbooks on musical literature by the author I.A. Prokhorova. More modern popular authors – V.E. Bryantseva, O.I. Averyanova.

The author of textbooks on musical literature, which almost the entire country now studies, is Maria Shornikova. She owns textbooks for all four levels of school teaching of the subject. It’s nice that in the latest edition the textbooks are also equipped with a disc with a recording of the works covered in the best performance – this solves the problem of finding the necessary musical material for lessons, homework, or for independent study. Many other excellent books on music literature have appeared recently. I repeat that Adults can also read such textbooks with great benefit.

These textbooks quickly sell out in stores and are not so easy to get. The thing is that they are published in very small editions, and instantly turn into a bibliographic rarity. So as not to waste your time searching, I suggest order the entire series of these textbooks directly from this page at publisher prices: just click on the “Buy” button and place your order in the online store window that appears. Next, select a payment and delivery method. And instead of spending hours walking around bookstores looking for these books, you’ll get them in just a couple of minutes.

Let me remind you that today, somehow by chance, we started talking about literature that will be useful to any aspiring musician or someone simply interested in classical music. Yes, even if these are textbooks, but try to open them and then stop reading?

Textbooks on musical literature are some kind of incorrect textbooks, too interesting to be called just textbooks. Future crazy musicians use them to study in their crazy music schools, and at night, when young musicians are sleeping, their parents read these textbooks with gusto, because it’s interesting! Here!