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Christmas music. The theme of Christmas in classical music Vocal works on the theme of Christmas

Christmas is one of the most beloved and long-awaited holidays among Christians around the world. In our country, Christmas has not been celebrated for such a long time that people are used to considering the New Year's Eve more significant. But time puts everything in its place - the country of the Soviets did not last even one century, and the third millennium has already begun since the birth of Christ.

A fairy tale, music, expectation of a miracle - that's what Christmas is. And from that day, Christmas time began - mass folk festival, gatherings, sleigh rides, fortune-telling, funny dances and songs.

Christmas rituals and entertainments were always accompanied by music, and there was a place for both strict church hymns and fervent folk carols.

Plots associated with Christmas served as a source of inspiration for artists and composers who worked at the very different time. A huge layer of religious music by Bach and Handel cannot be imagined without referring to events so significant for the Christian world, the Russian composers Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov beat this theme in their fabulous operas and ballets, Christmas carols that appeared back in the 13th century are still very popular in Western countries.

Christmas classical music takes its origins in church hymns. AT Orthodox Church to this day, the holiday begins with a bell ringing and a troparion in honor of the Nativity of Christ, then the kontakion “Today the Virgin gives birth to the most essential” is sung. The troparion and kontakion reveal and sing the essence of the holiday.

Famous Russian 19th composer century D.S. Bortnyansky largely devoted his work to church singing. He advocated the preservation of the purity of spiritual music, protecting it from the excesses of musical "decoration". Many of his works, including Christmas concerts, are still heard in Russian churches.

The sacred music of Tchaikovsky occupies a separate niche in his work, although during the composer's lifetime it caused a lot of controversy. Tchaikovsky was accused of the predominance of the secular principle in spiritual creativity.

However, speaking of the theme of Christmas in classical music, first of all, the masterpieces of Pyotr Ilyich come to mind, quite far from church music. These are the opera "Cherevichki" based on the plot of Gogol's story "The Night Before Christmas" and the ballet "The Nutcracker". two perfect various works- story about evil spirits and a children's Christmas story, united by the genius of the music and the theme of Christmas.

Christmas classical music is not limited to "serious genres". Songs, especially loved by people, can also be attributed to the classics. The world's most popular Christmas carol "Jingle Bells" was born over 150 years ago. She can be considered musical symbol new year and christmas holidays.

Today, the music of Christmas, having lost much of its ritualism, has retained the emotional message of the festive celebration. An example can be given famous movie"Alone at home". American film composer John Williams included several Christmas songs and psalms in the soundtrack. Old music while playing in a new way, conveying an indescribable festive atmosphere (forgive the reader for the tautology).

Merry Christmas everyone!

Why was it necessary to write about the country of the Soviets? The holiday of Christmas is holy, it should bring joy! But apparently it is more important for the author to express his opinion about the USSR than to reveal the stated topic.

As for the text, very sparingly! Not only that musical material nothing at all was affected, so they also affected it only at the level of names.

Christmas is one of the most beloved and long-awaited holidays among Christians around the world. In our country, Christmas has not been celebrated for such a long time that people are used to considering the New Year's Eve more significant. But time puts everything in its place - the country of the Soviets did not last even one century, and the third millennium has already begun since the birth of Christ.

A fairy tale, music, expectation of a miracle - that's what Christmas is. And from that day, Christmas time began - mass festivities, gatherings, sleigh rides, fortune-telling, funny dances and songs.

Christmas rituals and entertainments were always accompanied by music, and there was a place for both strict church hymns and fervent folk carols.

Plots related to Christmas served as a source of inspiration for artists and composers who worked at various times. A huge layer of religious music by Bach and Handel cannot be imagined without referring to events so significant for the Christian world, the Russian composers Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov beat this theme in their fabulous operas and ballets, Christmas carols that appeared back in the 13th century are still very popular in Western countries.

Christmas classical music takes its origins in church hymns. In the Orthodox Church to this day, the holiday begins with a bell ringing and a troparion in honor of the Nativity of Christ, then the kontakion “The Virgin Gives Birth to the Most Substantial” is sung. The troparion and kontakion reveal and sing the essence of the holiday.

The famous Russian composer of the 19th century D.S. Bortnyansky largely devoted his work to church singing. He advocated the preservation of the purity of spiritual music, protecting it from the excesses of musical "decoration". Many of his works, including Christmas concerts, are still heard in Russian churches.

The sacred music of Tchaikovsky occupies a separate niche in his work, although during the composer's lifetime it caused a lot of controversy. Tchaikovsky was accused of the predominance of the secular principle in spiritual creativity.

However, when talking about the theme of Christmas in classical music, the first thing that comes to mind is Pyotr Ilyich's masterpieces, which are quite far from church music. These are the opera "Cherevichki" based on the plot of Gogol's story "The Night Before Christmas" and the ballet "The Nutcracker". Two completely different works - a story about evil spirits and a children's Christmas tale, are united by the genius of music and the theme of Christmas.

Christmas classical music is not limited to "serious genres". Songs, especially loved by people, can also be attributed to the classics. The world's most popular Christmas carol "Jingle Bells" was born over 150 years ago. It can be considered a musical symbol of the New Year and Christmas holidays.

Today, the music of Christmas, having lost much of its ritualism, has retained the emotional message of the festive celebration. An example is the famous movie "Home Alone". American film composer John Williams included several Christmas songs and psalms in the soundtrack. At the same time, the old music played in a new way, conveying an indescribable festive atmosphere (forgive the reader for the tautology).

Merry Christmas everyone!

Why was it necessary to write about the country of the Soviets? The holiday of Christmas is holy, it should bring joy! But apparently it is more important for the author to express his opinion about the USSR than to reveal the stated topic.

As for the text, very sparingly! Not only was the musical material touched on nothing, but it was also touched upon only at the level of titles.

Christmas is one of the most beloved and long-awaited holidays among Christians around the world. In our country, Christmas has not been celebrated for such a long time that people are used to considering the New Year's Eve more significant. But time puts everything in its place - the country of the Soviets did not last even one century, and the third millennium has already begun since the birth of Christ.

A fairy tale, music, expectation of a miracle - that's what Christmas is. And from that day, Christmas time began - mass festivities, gatherings, sleigh rides, fortune-telling, funny dances and songs.

Christmas rituals and entertainment have always been accompanied by music, and there was a place for both strict church hymns and fervent folk ones.

Plots related to Christmas served as a source of inspiration for artists and composers who worked at various times. A huge layer of religious music by Bach and Handel cannot be imagined without referring to events so significant for the Christian world, the Russian composers Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov beat this theme in their fabulous operas and ballets, Christmas carols that appeared back in the 13th century are still very popular in Western countries.

Christmas Music and Orthodox Church

Christmas classical music takes its origins in church hymns. In the Orthodox Church, to this day, the holiday begins with the chime of bells and then the kontakion “Today the Virgin gives birth to the most essential” is sung. The troparion and kontakion reveal and sing the essence of the holiday.

The famous Russian composer of the 19th century D.S. Bortnyansky largely devoted his work to church singing. He advocated the preservation of the purity of spiritual music, protecting it from the excesses of musical "decoration". Many of his works, including Christmas concerts, are still heard in Russian churches.

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

The sacred music of Tchaikovsky occupies a separate niche in his work, although during the composer's lifetime it caused a lot of controversy. Tchaikovsky was accused of the predominance of the secular principle in spiritual creativity.

However, when talking about the theme of Christmas in classical music, the first thing that comes to mind is Pyotr Ilyich's masterpieces, which are quite far from church music. These are the opera "Cherevichki" based on the plot of Gogol's story "The Night Before Christmas" and the ballet "The Nutcracker". Two completely different works - a story about evil spirits and a children's Christmas tale, are united by the genius of music and the theme of Christmas.

Modern classic

Christmas classical music is not limited to "serious genres". Songs, especially loved by people, can also be attributed to the classics. The most popular all over the world was born more than 150 years ago. It can be considered a musical symbol of the New Year and Christmas holidays.

Today, the music of Christmas, having lost much of its ritualism, has retained the emotional message of the festive celebration. An example is the famous movie "Home Alone". American film composer John Williams included several Christmas songs and psalms in the soundtrack. At the same time, the old music played in a new way, conveying an indescribable festive atmosphere (forgive the reader for the tautology).

Merry Christmas everyone!

Plast musical compositions devoted to Christmas and New Year is huge - from folk carols and spiritual works to author's music. As for the actual Christmas music, its origins are spiritual hymns and Christmas folk songs- carols, ovseni, schedrovki.

Of particular note are the excellent examples of Russian sacred and author's music, dedicated to Christmas, in particular, "Collected Spiritual and Musical Works and Arrangements" by Archpriest P.I. Turchaninov and "Glory to God in the highest: stichera after the Gospel at the Nativity of Christ" by D.S. Bortnyansky. It is impossible to bypass the works of P.I. Tchaikovsky on the theme of Christmas. They occupy a separate niche in his work, although during the composer's lifetime they caused a lot of controversy. However, if we talk about the theme of Christmas in classical music, first of all, Pyotr Ilyich's masterpieces come to mind, which are quite far from church music: the opera "Cherevichki" based on the plot of Gogol's story "The Night Before Christmas" and the ballet "The Nutcracker". Two completely different works are united by the genius of music and the theme of Christmas and are classic examples of Russian author's music.

European Christmas music is masses, oratorios, cantatas, symphonies, concertos, sonatas. For example, the story of the creation of Hector Berlioz's oratorio "The Childhood of Christ" (L "enfance du Christ) is interesting. As the composer himself said, bored during a dinner party, he wrote a four-part piece. Then he added words to it, turning his work into a choir, and came up with the name of the author is Pierre Ducret.When the composition grew into a three-part oratorio and its individual numbers were performed in concerts, Berlioz still continued to hide his authorship for some time.In the 16th century, Pretorius and di Lasso wrote Christmas music, in the 17th century the tradition was continued by Heinrich Schutz , Adam Vaclav Michnu, Wolfgang Karl Briegel Among the first French musicians Marc Antoine Charpentier addressed the theme of Christmas, among Italians we note Alessandro Scarlatti, Antonio Vivaldi, Arcangelo Corelli, Giuseppe Torelli, Francesco Manfredini, Pietro Locatelli (in the collections "Torelli, Manfredini, Locatelli / Christmas concertos / Slovak Chamber Orchestra, Bohdan Warchal", " Weihnachtskonzert der Virtuosi Saxoniae. Manfredini, Bach, Vejanovsky, Vivaldi, Torelli, Heinichen, Schmeltzer, Corelli"). As for German and Austrian music, the Christmas theme is found in the work of five Johannes: Schelle, Matteson, J.S. Bach and his son Johann Christoph Friedrich, Johann Heinrich Rolle, as well as Georg Goebel, Georg Telemann and others. One can recall the beautiful Dutch edition of Bach's Christmas Oratorio (Bach. Weihnachts-oratorium. Chor und symphonie-orchester des bayeriscchen rundfunks. Eugen Jochum ); The "Christmas Mass" by the Czech composer Jan Jakub Ryba (Czech Christmas mass), a collection of Czech baroque music for Christmas, is also beautifully decorated.

Christmas classical music is not limited to "serious genres". Songs, especially loved by people, can also be attributed to the classics. The world's most popular Christmas song "Jingle Bells" was born over 150 years ago. It can be considered a musical symbol of the New Year and Christmas holidays. Today, the music of Christmas, having lost much of its ritualism, has retained the emotional message of the festive celebration - as an example, we can recall the famous film "Home Alone": the American film composer John Williams included several Christmas songs and psalms in the soundtrack canvas. At the same time, old music played in a new way, conveying a unique festive atmosphere.

From contemporary composers I would like to especially note a member of the Union of Composers, Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev) and his "Christmas Oratorio", the premiere performance of which took place on December 17, 2007 in the National Cathedral Basilica of Washington - the most majestic temple in America.

A. Mankov,
regent male choir Trinity Cathedral in Klin
Photo: razebra.ru


Christmas story in Russian and foreign literature
Author: Natalia Matsenova, Irina Filipova
The first stories with a Christmas theme appeared in Russia in the middle of the 19th century after the famous Christmas stories by Charles Dickens were translated into Russian. It is Dickens who is considered the founder of the genre, although he was not the first author of Christmas stories.


The light of the star of Bethlehem
Author: Archpriest Boris Balashov
And in the distant Eastern countries learned sages, called the Magi in the Gospel, observing the starry sky, discovered a suddenly appeared new bright star. By the place of her appearance in the sky, they realized that an extraordinary event had taken place in Judea: an extraordinary Tsar was born. The Magi gathered on a long journey, taking with them expensive gifts: gold, which was presented to the kings as earthly rulers, incense - fragrant resin, which was brought to God in temples, laying on burning coals, while everything was filled with an unusual fragrance. The third gift is myrrh, a special resin that slowed down the decomposition process. The dead were smeared with it in order to keep their bodies from decay longer in a hot climate. It was all providential.



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