This composer did not compose large works, there are no operas or symphonies in his creative heritage, but, nevertheless, he occupied a prominent place in Russian music and made a significant contribution to its development. His name is Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov - an unsurpassed master of musical miniatures. He wrote a few works, but what kind! His creations are real masterpieces in which he meticulously honed every note. Lyadov was a bright and original person; in his art he wanted to reflect what he lacked in everyday life - a fairy tale.
Read a short biography of Anatoly Lyadov and many interesting facts about the composer on our page.
Brief biography of Lyadov
On May 11, 1855, a joyful event occurred in the family of the well-known conductor of the Imperial Opera and Ballet Theater Konstantin Nikolaevich Lyadov in the musical circles of St. Petersburg: a boy was born, to whom happy parents gave the beautiful name Anatoly. The baby’s mother, Ekaterina Andreevna, was a talented pianist, but, unfortunately, she passed away early, leaving her daughter Valentina and son Tolya, who was six years old at the time, to her husband. The father loved his children very much, but in order to provide for the family, he had to work a lot, so the brother and sister, who grew up without maternal attention, care and love, were actually left to their own devices. A chaotic bohemian atmosphere reigned in the house, which negatively affected the formation of the personality of the future composer. Passivity, internal lack of composure and lack of will - such psychological traits acquired from childhood subsequently adversely affected his creative work.
Theater childhood
Lyadov’s biography says that from an early age the boy began to show amazing, versatile talents, not only musical talent, but also excellent artistic and poetic abilities. Anatoly received his first piano lessons from his aunt V.A. Antipova, although it should be noted that these classes were not constant, but the first school where the boy’s musical development took place very intensively was the Mariinsky Theater (the father often took the children to work with him). Interesting communication with talented people, presence at rehearsals of musical performances, the opportunity to listen opera And symphonic music– all this had a beneficial effect on the future musician. He memorized the parts of many opera characters and then emotionally portrayed them at home in front of the mirror. In addition, Anatoly had one more activity in the theater, which he enjoyed doing - the role of an extra: the boy participated in various crowd scenes.
Studying at the conservatory
Extraordinary musical abilities predetermined the future of the younger Lyadov, and in 1867 his relatives sent him to study at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Anatoly had to part with his parents’ home, since due to family circumstances (father’s illness) he was placed in the boarding house A.S. Shustov, from where on holidays and vacations the boy’s maternal relatives took him on vacation. Lyadov’s conservative teachers were A.A. Panov (class violins), A.I. Rubts (music theory), J. Johansen (theory, harmony), F. Begrov and A. Dubasov (piano class). Studying did not give the young man much pleasure; he was not particularly diligent and often missed classes. However, Lyadov showed interest in theoretical disciplines and studied counterpoint in depth. Anatoly had a great desire to get into the composition class at Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov and he succeeded. In the fall of 1874, the young man became a student of the outstanding maestro, who immediately highly appreciated his talent. However, the authority of the famous teacher could not influence the careless student: in the spring of 1875 he did not appear for the exam, and six months later he was expelled from the student body.
Lyadov spent two years outside the conservatory, but this time was not in vain for him, since the young man communicated very closely with composers “ Mighty bunch" Community members: Stasov, Mussorgsky And Borodin he was introduced by Rimsky-Korsakov back at the time when the outstanding professor admired the talents of his student and was not offended by him for his careless attitude to his studies. In addition, in the Balakirev circle, Anatoly met Alexander Glazunov, with whom a strong friendship began that lasted throughout his life. The Kuchkists treated the young talent very warmly, because, despite his youthful age, he managed to establish himself as a professional musician. For example, in the winter of 1876 Mily Balakirev asked Lyadov to help prepare operatic scores for re-publication M.I. Glinka. This work was done so thoroughly that Rimsky-Korsakov changed his attitude towards the naughty student, and even soon they became good friends.
In 1878, Lyadov appealed to the directorate of the conservatory with a request for his reinstatement. The petition was granted, and in the spring he graduated with honors from the educational institution, presenting to the examination committee a cantata written with great professionalism for the final scene of F. Schiller’s drama “The Bride of Messina.” The Conservatory's Artistic Council awarded Lyadov a small silver medal, but with a caveat: the graduate will receive it when he completes his academic studies. In addition, the management of the institution invited Anatoly Konstantinovich to take the position of teacher in theoretical subjects and instrumentation in his native “alma mater”. He agreed and subsequently engaged in teaching throughout his life, raising many outstanding musicians.
Creative inspiration
The next year, 1879, also brought Lyadov many new impressions. In the St. Petersburg circle of music lovers, he made his debut as a conductor, and here he met a great music lover, Mitrofan Petrovich Belyaev, who played the viola in this amateur group. This acquaintance smoothly turned into friendship. Since 1884, the philanthropist began organizing musical evenings of chamber music every week in his house, which laid the foundation for a community of outstanding musicians, which later became known as the Belyaev Circle. And from the next year, when Belyaev founded a music publishing company in Germany, Lyadov was entrusted with selecting and editing new works by Russian composers. According to Lyadov’s biography, 1884 was also marked by a very important event, but in the personal life of Anatoly Konstantinovich: he married Nadezhda Ivanovna Tolkacheva, with whom he lived happily until the end of his days. In the same year, the composer, at the invitation of Balakirev, who was appointed manager of the Court Singing Chapel, began working as a teacher of theoretical disciplines in the regency and instrumental classes of the main choir of Russia, and in 1886 he received the position of professor at the conservatory.
During this period, in the musical circles of St. Petersburg, Lyadov became known not only as a composer, but also as a conductor, in this role he successfully performed in the “Russian Symphony Concerts” founded by Mitrofan Belyaev. The year 1887 for Anatoly Konstantinovich was marked by his acquaintance with Tchaikovsky and Rubinstein. He subsequently conducted the “Public Symphony Concerts” organized by Anton Grigorievich. In 1889, Lyadov, at the invitation of Belyaev, visited Paris at the World Art Exhibition. There, the philanthropist organized concerts at which works by Russian composers, including Anatoly Konstantinovich, were performed.
By the mid-nineties, Lyadov's authority as a composer, conductor and teacher reached its peak. In 1894 he met Alexander Scriabin and gets closer to Sergei Taneyev, who came to St. Petersburg to stage the opera “Oresteia”.
The difficult years of the twentieth century
The first years of the twentieth century brought Lyadov great grief, since his great friend Mitrofan Belyaev passed away in 1904. According to the will of the philanthropist, Anatoly Konstantinovich became a member of the board of trustees, organized to reward domestic musicians and composers. Then came the bloody year 1905. Lyadov, along with other teachers, in support of the dismissed Rimsky-Korsakov, left the walls of the conservatory and returned there only after Glazunov took the post of director. The last decade in the composer's life was constantly overshadowed by the loss of people close to him: Stasov died in 1906, and Rimsky-Korsakov passed away in 1908. The sorrowful experiences of the loss of friends greatly affected the health of Anatoly Konstantinovich, and in 1911 he himself was struck down by a serious illness from which he could no longer recover. Doctors prescribed him to take care of himself. Lyadov almost never went out, only occasionally visiting the conservatory. Nevertheless, the composer's merits were clearly noted in 1913. The 35th anniversary of his creative activity was memorably celebrated at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Then there were strong shocks again. In the fall of 1913, Lyadov’s beloved elder sister, Valentina Konstantinovna Pomazanskaya, died, and the following summer the composer sent his eldest son to military service. Experiences broke Anatoly Konstantinovich. The composer died on August 28, 1914 in the village of Polynovka, his wife’s estate, located near the city of Borovichi.
Interesting facts about Lyadov
Creativity of Anatoly Lyadov
The creative legacy left by Anatoly Lyadov is relatively small. The composer was so busy teaching that there was almost no time left for composing music and he managed to write two, at best three works a year. Anatoly Konstantinovich gave preference to small musical forms, therefore all of his compositions, and to this day more than sixty numbered and about twenty unnumbered opuses have survived, are small works, laconic miniatures, many of which are recognized as unsurpassed masterpieces of musical art. Lyadov worked on his plays very carefully, meticulously honing every detail, thanks to which the composer’s works, imbued with the spirit of Russian folk epic, captivate with their expressiveness, melodic melodiousness, gentle lyricism and clarity of musical thinking, and some creations simply enchant with their cheerfulness and humor.
Apart from four romances written at the age of nine and music for the fairy tale “Aladdin’s Magic Lamp”, composed in 1871, the year 1874 is considered to be the beginning of Lyadov’s composing career. His first works, which saw the light and were published as op. 1 were four romances. He created these vocal miniatures under the influence of members of the “Mighty Handful”, and, despite good reviews, he never returned to this genre, as he lost all interest in it.
According to the memoirs of his contemporaries, Lyadov was an excellent pianist, which is obviously why among the first works he composed were pieces for piano. In 1976, Anatoly Konstantinovich created an original cycle called “ Spillikins", in which his extraordinary talent as a composer was clearly evident. Further, the maestro continued to write in the genre of musical miniatures and small plays came out from his pen, on which he honed his composing skills, masterfully working out each phrase. As a result, the composer gave us more than 50 magnificent piano works, including arabesques, intermezzos, mazurkas, bagatelles, waltzes, mazurkas and preludes. They very clearly showed the features characteristic of his work, that is, the filigree elaboration of every detail of the work, the brevity and clarity of presentation of the musical material.
However, Lyadov’s most famous works are his works for symphony orchestra. They are also written in the genre of musical miniatures and brilliantly confirm the creative evolution of the composer. Of the composer's twelve symphonic works, pictorial poems are very popular "Magic Lake", "Baba Yaga", "Kikimora", “Sorrowful Song” and the suite “Eight Russian Songs”.
In addition to these wonderful creations, Anatoly Konstantinovich left to his descendants six chamber instrumental works, about two hundred arrangements of folk songs, eighteen children's songs, a cantata and several choirs.
Theatrical and musical Lyadov dynasty
Anatoly Konstantinovich belonged to the famous theatrical and musical dynasty in Russia, the founder of which was the composer’s grandfather, Nikolai Lyadov. He held the position of conductor at the Philharmonic Society of St. Petersburg. Nikolai Grigorievich had nine children, seven of whom connected their lives with music, and five of them served in court theaters.
The eldest son Nikolai played the cello in the orchestra of the Imperial Italian Opera.
Alexander worked as a conductor of the Russian ballet and the court ball orchestra.
Elena was a chorus girl at the Imperial Italian Opera.
Vladimir - sang in the choir of the Mariinsky Theater and sometimes performed secondary bass roles in opera performances.
Konstantin, the composer’s father, served as conductor of the Russian opera troupe and first conductor of the Mariinsky Theater.
Subsequently, the Imperial Theater was replenished by the next generation of the Lyadov family. The troupe included two cousins of Anatoly Konstantinovich Vera and Maria.
The composer's sister, Valentina, became a dramatic actress who performed on the stage of the Alexandria Theater, but both of her husbands, M. Sariotti and I. Pomazansky, were professional musicians.
Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov is an outstanding musician, whose composer’s work, recognized as a classic, is considered one of the “golden fund” of Russian musical culture. From his works, composers of the present time learn the art of orchestration and laconicism of musical presentation. His works are heard at concert venues around the world, not only in the original, but also in various modern musical arrangements.
Video: watch a film about Lyadov
The fairy-tale world of Anatoly Lyadov
At first, the musical fate of A.K. Lyadov was very happy: he was born on April 29, 1855 in a family of hereditary musicians. His father and grandfather were conductors, his father was also a composer. Dad's authority as an opera conductor (he was conductor of the Russian Opera in St. Petersburg and conductor of symphony concerts) was very great. Even M.I. Glinka consulted him on some issues. Choosing the profession of musician for Anatoly and his family was a decided matter. Even in early childhood, his father noticed his son’s great talent.
At the age of 15, Anatoly Lyadov entered the conservatory. He was enrolled in a scholarship named after Konstantin Lyadov (his father), established by the artists of the Russian Opera.
Anatoly began taking classes in piano, theory and composition. Among his teachers is N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov.
For the formation of his talent, communication with M. A. Balakirev, A. P. Borodin, M. P. Mussorgsky, who highly appreciated his talent, played a big role. M. P. Mussorgsky wrote: “A new, undoubted and Russian talent has appeared.” And the young “talent” was only eighteen years old at that time. The young composer’s first opuses were four romances, as well as the cycles of piano pieces “Spillkins” and “Arabesques”, which immediately became famous among musicians. But studying at the conservatory was not smooth.
The talent of A.K. Lyadov was great. His teacher N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov considered him an “indescribably talented” but careless student. It was said about A.K. Lyadov that when he lived in his sister’s house, he himself asked not to feed him lunch until he completed his conservatory assignments. He attended classes poorly. And so in the winter of 1876, “for not attending classes,” he was expelled from the conservatory along with his friend, the talented pianist G. O. Dutsch. When young people came to N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov’s home with a request for reinstatement and a promise to study, the professor remained adamant: “I was unshakable and flatly refused. Where, one wonders, did such dispassionate formalism attack me? Of course, Lyadov and Dyutsha should have been accepted as prodigal sons... But I didn’t do that. I can only console myself with the fact that everything is for the better in this world - both Dyutsh and Lyadov later became my friends.”
Expulsion from the conservatory was a heavy blow for A.K. Lyadov. But two years later it was restored. The cantata submitted for the exam was approved by the Arts Council. And he was awarded a small gold medal and a diploma of a free artist. Immediately after this, the twenty-three-year-old composer was enrolled as a teacher at the conservatory.
Among A. K. Lyadov’s students were N. Ya. Myaskovsky, S. S. Prokofiev, S. M. Maikapar and others. Famous pedagogical aphorisms were passed down by students “inherited” from elders to younger ones. “Hearing thinks, develop auditory thinking,” “You must be an aristocrat of feelings and tastes,” - this is what he told his students. You too remember these words and try to follow them. Of course, not all of his students were as talented as those listed.
And work at the conservatory took a lot of strength and energy. But he could not leave her and devote himself entirely to creativity. In the poetic “Message to a Friend” A.K. Lyadov, with his characteristic humor, but also with some sadness, wrote:
The red summer has already flown by!
So days after days pass...
I don't have long to live here -
Again for the hated work.
To teach girls and boys,
There must be plenty of patience
And I've been tired for a long time
It’s all the same for a whole year.
How pathetic is the one who explains
Sound for the deaf, color for the blind.
By God, there is no use in this!
He's just wasting his time.
I'm going to such a thing -
My sad fate.
In St. Petersburg, A.K. Lyadov met M.P. Belyaev and joined a large new artistic association - the Belyaev Circle. The significance of the composers of the Belyaevsky Commonwealth lay not only in their new creative achievements, but also in the enormous educational work that strengthened high musical professionalism in Russia.
As N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov said, “Balakirev’s circle corresponded to the period of “storm and stress” in the development of Russian music, M.P. Belyaev’s circle corresponded to the period of a calm march forward.”
During these years, A.K. Lyadov created a huge number of piano miniatures, program plays “Bagatelle”, “Musical Snuffbox”, “About Antiquity”, etc., “Children’s Songs”, arrangements of folk songs.
One of the best miniatures by A.K. Lyadov “Musical Snuffbox”. With what wit the composer imitates the sound of a wind-up toy instrument. The author gave the miniature a single designation: “automaticamente”, that is, “automatically”. Rhythmic monotony, repetition of a simple waltz, “glassy” sonority, subtly noted grace notes and trills typical of a “music box” convey the special mechanical character of the music.
“And how is it so cute in the Tabakerka when suddenly something grunts or sneezes upstairs! Oh, how sweet, oh, how comical and graceful!” - wrote V.V. Stasov to Lyadov after the performance of “Snuffbox” in the author’s edition for a small instrumental composition.
The play “About Antiquity” is very typical for A.K. Lyadov. Already at the first sounds, the image of the ancient Russian singer Bayan appears. The gusel chime contains a slightly modified authentic folk melody “Blow, blow, bad weather.” Later, A.K. Lyadov rearranged this piece for a symphony orchestra and prefaced it with an epigraph from “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”: “Let us tell, brothers, a legend from the times of the ancient Vladimir.”
The revolutionary events of 1905 shook him up too. In protest against the dismissal of N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, A.K. Lyadov and A.K. Glazunov left the conservatory. A.K. Lyadov responded to the forced departure of S.I. Taneyev from the Moscow Conservatory with an “open letter” in the newspaper: “Dear Sergei Ivanovich! With deep regret, I learned from the newspapers that you are forced to leave the Moscow Conservatory. But I didn’t feel sorry for you, I feel sorry for the conservatory, which in your person has lost an irreplaceable professor, a wonderful musician and a bright, pure person, always ready to relentlessly stand for the truth. You are the golden page of the Moscow Conservatory, and no one’s hand can tear it out. Yours deeply respected An. Lyadov."
V.V. Stasov, having learned about this, wrote in admiration: “Dear Lyadushka, only yesterday I learned of your letter to S.I. Taneyev in Rus.” God knows how you delighted me. These are people, these are artists.” Only after the election of A.K. Glazunov as director and the return of N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov did A.K. Lyadov return to the conservatory.
1900s were a period of enormous creative flowering for the composer. During this period, he created the symphonic cycle “Eight Russian Folk Songs for Orchestra” and wonderful program miniatures “Baba Yaga”, “Magic Lake”, “Kikimora”. They expressed the composer's search for an ideal in unearthly art. A fairy tale is that “gap” into another life that beckoned the artist, leading him away from the ordinary into a dream.
“Fairytale Pictures,” as the composer called these works, are one-movement symphonic pieces. The bright picturesqueness and “pictorial quality” of the concept determined the colorfulness of all means of expression.
“Kikimora” has a program: “Kikimora lives and grows with a magician in the stone mountains. From morning to evening, Kikimora is entertained by Kot-bayun - he tells tales from overseas. From evening until broad daylight, Kikimora is rocked in a crystal cradle.
Exactly seven years later, Kikimora grows up. Thin, dark-haired, that Kikimora, but her head is tiny, about the size of a thimble, and her body cannot be recognized as a straw. Kikimora knocks and thunders from morning to evening; Kikimora whistles and hisses from evening until midnight; from midnight to broad daylight he spins hemp tow, twists hemp yarn, and warps silk warp. Evil on the mind keeps Kikimora honest for all people.”
Very figuratively, the music of the miniature depicts both the gloomy land where Kikimora, Kota-bayun and his lullaby initially live, and the ghostly sound of the “crystal cradle”.
But how evil the music portrays Kikimora herself! It expresses not only her ugliness, but also the inner essence of Kikimora, who is ready to destroy all living things. The piece ends with the plaintive squeak of the piccolo flute, as if someone had jokingly destroyed or crushed the source of this great noise. This play is a must listen.
The plot is similar to "Kikimore" and "Baba Yaga". From Afanasyev’s fairy tale “Vasilisa the Beautiful,” the composer chose the most dynamic episode: the appearance of Yaga, her flight through the dense forest on a stupa and disappearance. The music accurately depicts the details of this program: Yaga's whistle, and then rapid movement, as if Baba Yaga is approaching us and then rushing away. Listen to this miniature too. Swiftness, flight, and humor allow us to call it a Russian symphonic scherzo.
By the way, this figurative sphere - scherzo, humorous - was close to A.K. Lyadov. Albums of his drawings and three notebooks of poetry provide enormous material for characterizing his humor. He was a good poet and could immediately, in a conversation, compose a small pun, an epigram, a congratulation. His letters to friends almost always contained poems. For example, while living at the dacha, in one letter he complained about the heat in the quatrain:
Oh, why am I not a skeleton!
The wind would play in my ribs,
I wouldn't know the heat at all
And shame that he is not dressed.
If “Baba Yaga” and “Kikimora” are close in color, then “Magic Lake” has a completely different character. This was one of the few works by A.K. Lyadov, which he himself loved very much: “Oh, how I love him! How picturesque it is, clean, with stars and mystery in the depths!”
In this play, the composer wanted to emphasize that this was not so much a sketch from nature of a specific lake (although it existed, and A.K. Lyadov often went to it in his Polynovka), but rather a mysterious lake in which the artist’s imagination could see the most unusual things. “The Magic Lake” is not a fairy tale itself, but a state in which a fairy tale can arise.
Of course, in terms of the breadth of coverage of reality, the work of A.K. Lyadov is inferior to his great contemporaries. But the composer still occupied a prominent place in the history of Russian music. He contributed to every area of music he touched upon.
The features of a new original style appeared in his piano pieces, and especially in symphonic miniatures, which opened a new independent line in Russian symphonism.
Questions:
List of works by A.K. Lyadov:
For orchestra: “Baba Yaga”, “Kikimora”, “Magic Lake”, “Dance of the Amazon”, “Sorrowful Song”, etc.
For piano: “Spillkins”, “Arabesques”, “About Antiquity”, “Idyll”, pieces, preludes, waltzes.
For choir a cappella: “10 Russian folk songs”, “15 Russian folk songs”, 10 arrangements from Obikhod, etc.
For voice and piano: 18 children's songs based on folk words, collections of folk songs, romances and much more.
Presentation
Included:
1. Presentation, ppsx;
2. Sounds of music:
Works by Anatoly Lyadov:
Baba Yaga. Picture for a Russian folk tale, mp3;
Magic lake. Fairytale picture, mp3;
Kikimora. Folk tale, mp3;
Musical snuffbox, mp3;
About antiquity. Ballad for orchestra, mp3;
3. Accompanying article, docx.
Russian composer and teacher Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov was born in St. Petersburg on April 29 (May 11), 1855 into a family of musicians - Lyadov’s father was a conductor of the Mariinsky Theater, his mother was a pianist. He studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, but was expelled by Rimsky-Korsakov from his harmony class for "incredible laziness." Soon, however, he was reinstated at the conservatory and began to help M.A. Balakirev and Rimsky-Korsakov in preparing a new edition of the scores of Glinka’s operas “A Life for the Tsar” and “Ruslan and Lyudmila”. In 1877 he graduated with honors from the conservatory and was retained there as a professor of harmony and composition. Among Lyadov’s students are S. S. Prokofiev and N. Ya. Myaskovsky. In 1885 Lyadov began teaching theoretical disciplines at the Court Singing Chapel. Somewhat later, on behalf of the Imperial Geographical Society, he was engaged in the processing of folk songs collected during expeditions and published several collections, highly valued by researchers of Russian folklore.
Lyadov's compositional heritage is small in volume and consists mainly of works of small forms. The most famous are the picturesque symphonic poems - "Baba Yaga", "Magic Lake" and "Kikimora", as well as "Eight Russian Folk Songs" for orchestra, two collections of children's songs (op. 14 and 18) and a number of piano pieces (among them "Music Box"). He composed two more orchestral scherzos (op. 10 and 16), the cantata “The Bride of Messina” after Schiller (op. 28), music for Maeterlinck’s play “Sister Beatrice” (op. 60) and ten church choirs (Ten Arrangements from Daily Life, collection of Orthodox chants). In 1909, S. P. Diaghilev commissioned Lyadova for the Parisian “Russian Seasons” to create a ballet based on the Russian fairy tale about the Firebird, but the composer delayed completing the order for so long that the plot had to be transferred to I. F. Stravinsky. Lyadov died in a village near the town of Borovichi on August 28, 1914.
Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov is a Russian composer, conductor, teacher, musical and public figure. Born on May 11, 1855 in St. Petersburg in the family of the conductor of the Mariinsky Theater K.N. Lyadova and pianist V.A. Antipova. He began his musical studies under the guidance of his father; his mother died early. Anatoly Konstantinovich comes from a family of professional musicians (not only his father, but his uncle and grandfather were famous conductors of his time), he was brought up in the musical world from an early age. Lyadov's talent was manifested not only in his musical talent, but also in his excellent drawing and poetic abilities, as evidenced by many surviving witty poems and drawings.
In 1867-1878 Lyadov studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with professors J. Johansen (theory, harmony), F. Beggrov and A. Dubasov (piano), and since 1874 - in the composition class with N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov. Lyadov graduated from the conservatory, presenting as his graduation work the cantata “The Final Scene from The Bride of Messina, after Schiller.”
Communication with N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov determined the entire future fate of the young composer - already in the mid-70s. he became a member of the “Mighty Handful” as a junior representative (together with A.K. Glazunov) of the “New Russian Music School”, and in the early 80s. - Belyaevsky circle, where Lyadov immediately showed himself as a talented organizer, heading the publishing business. At the turn of the 80s. conducting activities began. Lyadov in concerts of the St. Petersburg Circle of Music Lovers and Russian Symphony Concerts. In 1878 he became a teacher at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Among his outstanding students are Prokofiev, Asafiev, Myaskovsky, Gnesin, Zolotarev, Shcherbachev. And since 1884 he taught in the instrumental classes of the Court Singing Chapel.
Contemporaries reproached Lyadov for his lack of creative productivity(especially his close friend Alexander Glazunov). One of the reasons for this is Lyadov’s financial insecurity, who is forced to do a lot of teaching work. Teaching took up a lot of the composer's time. Lyadov composed, in his own words, “in the cracks of time” and this very depressing for him. “I compose little and compose slowly,” he wrote to his sister in 1887. - Am I really just a teacher? I really wouldn’t want that!”
Until the early 1900s. The basis of Lyadov’s work was piano works, mainly pieces of small forms. More often these are non-program miniatures - preludes, mazurkas, bagatelles, waltzes, intermezzos, arabesques, impromptu, etudes. The play “The Musical Snuffbox” was very popular, as was the piano cycle “Spillkins”. In genre plays, some characteristic features of the music of Chopin and Schumann are implemented in an original way. But the author introduced his own individual element into these genres. In the piano works there are images of Russian folk songs; they are clearly national and in their poetic basis are related to the music of Glinka and Borodin.
Lyadov's lyrics are usually light and balanced in mood. She is reserved and slightly shy, ardent passions and pathos are alien to her. Distinctive features of the piano style are grace and transparency, refinement of thought, the predominance of fine technology - “jewelry” finishing of details. “The most subtle artist of sound,” he, according to Asafiev, “in place of the impressiveness of feeling puts forward the thriftiness of feeling, admiring the grains - the pearls of the heart.”
Among Lyadov’s few vocal works, “Children’s Songs” stand out. for voice and piano (1887-1890). They are based on truly folk texts of ancient genres - spells, jokes, sayings. These songs, successively associated with the work of M. P. Mussorgsky (in particular, the “Children’s” cycle), in terms of genre, were continued in the vocal miniatures of I. F. Stravinsky on folk songs.
In the late 1890s and early 1900s. Lyadov created over 200 arrangements of folk songs for voice and piano and other performing groups (male and female, mixed choirs, vocal quartets, female voice with orchestra). Lyadov’s collections are stylistically close to the classical adaptations of M.A. Balakirev and N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov. They contain ancient peasant songs and preserve their musical and poetic features.
The result of his work on folklore songs was the suite “Eight Russian Folk Songs” for orchestra (1906). The small form has acquired a new quality: his symphonic miniatures, despite the conciseness of the composition, are not just miniatures, but complex artistic images in which rich musical content is concentrated. Lyadov's symphonic works developed the principles of chamber symphonism - one of the characteristic phenomena in symphonic music of the twentieth century.
In the last decade of his life, in addition to the suite “Eight Russian Folk Songs,” other miniatures for orchestra were created. These are program orchestral “pictures” of fairy-tale content: “Baba Yaga”, “Kikimora”, “Magic Lake”, as well as “Dance of the Amazon”, “Sorrowful Song”. The last work in the field of symphonic music, “Sorrowful Song” (1914), is associated with the images of Maeterlinck. It turned out to be the “swan song” of Lyadov himself, in which, according to Asafiev, the composer “opened a corner of his own soul, from his personal experiences he drew material for this sound story, truthfully touching, like a timid complaint.” This “confession of the soul” ended Lyadov’s career; the composer died on August 28, 1914.
During his creative career, Lyadov remained an admirer of the classically clear art of Pushkin and Glinka, the harmony of feeling and thought, grace and completeness of musical thought. But at the same time, he vividly responded to the aesthetic aspirations of his time, became close and entered into creative contacts with representatives of the latest literary and artistic movements (poet S.M. Gorodetsky, writer A.M. Remizov, artists N.K. Roerich, I.Ya. Bilibin, A.Ya. Golovin, theater figure S. P. Dyagilev). But dissatisfaction with the world around him did not encourage the composer to engage in social issues in his work; art was personified in his mind with a closed world of ideal beauty and the highest truth.
A.K. Lyadov is one of the outstanding composers of Russia at the turn of two centuries, XIX and XX. He was a student, and later a like-minded person, of N. Rimsky-Korsakov, and he himself taught S. Prokofiev, N. Myaskovsky.
A.K. Lyadov. Biography: first years of life
The future composer was born in May 1855 in St. Petersburg. And his entire subsequent life will be connected with this city. Anatoly’s interest in music cannot be called an accident. His father was a conductor of Russian opera and worked at the Mariinsky Theater. Since childhood, the boy knew the entire repertoire, and in his youth he himself was an extra at performances. Anatoly was taught to play the piano by his maternal aunt, V.A. Antipova. However, these were irregular lessons. Lyadov's life as a child was very unsettled: when he was 6 years old, his mother died, his father led a rather chaotic life. This became the reason for the formation of not very good qualities in him: lack of will, lack of concentration. They had an extremely negative impact on the creative process in the future.
Biography of Lyadov A.K.: student years
From 1867 to 1878, Anatoly studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. His teachers were such celebrities as Y. Johansen, N. Rimsky-Korsakov, A. Dubasov, F. Beggrov. Lyadov graduated from the Conservatory brilliantly. With the assistance of N. Rimsky-Korsakov, even during his student days, Anatoly maintained friendly ties with the “Mighty Handful” - a community of composers. Here he became familiar with the ideals of creativity and realized himself as a Russian composer. Soon this association disintegrated, and Lyadov moved to a new one - the Belyaev Circle. Together with Glazunov and Rimsky-Korsakov, he immediately began to manage the process: selecting, editing and publishing new works.
A.K. Lyadov. Biography: composer's conservatism
As an artist, Anatoly Konstantinovich formed quite early. And in the future, all his activities were not marked by any sharp transitions. Outwardly, Lyadov’s life looked calm, stable and even monotonous. It was as if he was afraid of some changes for the worse and therefore fenced himself off from the world. Perhaps he lacked strong impressions for creative activity. The smooth course of his life was disrupted by only two trips: in 1889 to Paris for the World Art Exhibition, where his works were performed, and in 1910 to Germany.
A.K. Lyadov. Biography: personal life
The composer did not allow anyone here. Even from his closest friends, he hid his own marriage to N.I. Tolkacheva in 1884. He did not introduce his wife to anyone, although he subsequently lived with her all his life and raised two sons.
A.K. Lyadov. Biography: creative productivity
Contemporaries reproached him for writing little. This was partly due to material insecurity and the need to earn money: he devoted a lot of time to teaching. In 1878, Lyadov was invited to the position of professor at the conservatory, and he worked in this educational institution until the end of his life. Additionally, since 1884, the composer taught in the singing choir at the court. His students were Myaskovsky and Prokofiev. Lyadov himself admitted that he composed in short intervals between teaching. Since 1879, he also worked as a conductor. In the early period, the most original was the cycle “Spillkins” he created. By the end of the 80s, Lyadov showed himself as a master of miniatures. His preludes can be considered the pinnacle of the chamber form. This genre was closest to his worldview. From 1887 to 1890 he wrote three notebooks of "Children's Songs". They were based on ancient texts of jokes, spells, and sayings. In the 1880s, the composer also began to study Russian folklore. In total, he processed 150 folk songs.
A.K. Lyadov - composer. Biography: recent years
During this period of his life, the composer's symphonic masterpieces appeared. They brilliantly confirmed his creative evolution. From 1904 to 1910, Lyadov created “Kikimora”, “Magic Lake” and “Babu Yaga”. They can be considered both as independent works and as an artistic triptych. In the sphere, the composer’s last work, his “swan song,” was “Sorrowful Song” (“Keshe”). It is associated with the images of Maeterlinck. This confession of the soul completed Lyadov’s work. And soon, in August 1914, his earthly journey ended.
