Трите стълба на музиката

by Dmitry Borisovich Kabalevsky, Васил Янков (Translator), Богомил Николов (Illustrator)

Авторът на настоящата книга Дмитрий Кабалевски, роден в края на 1904 г. и починал през 1987 г., професор в Московската консерватория, е именит руски композитор, автор на редица музикални произведения, между които и оперите „Кола Брьонон“ (по романа на Ромен Ролан) и „Семейството на Тарас“ (по повестта „Непокорните“ на Борис Горбатов). Композиторът запознава читателите със същността на музикалното изкуство, като почва от трите основни „стълба“ на музиката - песента, танцовата и маршовата музика - и завършва с операта, която свързва музиката с театъра, литературата и изобразителните изкуства.
Книгата е изградена върху беседите, които Д. Кабалевски изнася по радиото. Като компетентен познавач на материята той я популяризира, без да я вулгаризира. Чрез запознаването с музикалните жанрове той води читателя до още по-голямото им разбиране, кара го още по-силно да ги обикне. Книгата е предназначена за младите любители на музиката, но поради високите си познавателни и художествени качества тя се чете с увлечение от хора от всички възрасти. Големият брой илюстрации я правят още по-разбираема и по-интересна.

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Dmitri Borisovich Kabalevsky (Russian: Дми́трий Бори́сович Кабале́вский) was a Russian composer. Kabalevsky was born in Saint Petersburg. His father was a mathematician and encouraged him to study mathematics; however, in early life he maintained a fascination with the arts, and became an accomplished young pianist, including a three-year stint as a pianist in silent theatres. He also dabbled in poetry and painting. In 1925, against his father's wishes, he accepted a place at the Moscow Conservatory, studying composition under Nikolai Myaskovsky and piano with Alexander Goldenweiser. In the same year he joined PROKULL (Production Collective of Student Composers), a student group affiliated with Moscow Conservatory aimed at bridging the gap between the modernism of the ACM and the utilitarian "agitprop" music of the RAPM. He became a professor at the Moscow Conservatory in 1932.
During World War II, he wrote many patriotic songs, having joined the Communist Party in 1940, and was the editor of Sovetskaya Muzyka for its special six-volume publishing run during the war. He also composed and performed many pieces for silent movies and some theatre music.
In 1948, when Andrei Zhdanov declared his resolution on the directions that Soviet music should take, Kabalevsky was originally on the list of named composers who were the most guilty of formalism; however, due to his connections with official circles, his name was removed. Another theory states that Kabalevsky's name was only on the list because of his position in the leadership of the Union of Soviet Composers.
In general, Kabalevsky was not as adventurous as his contemporaries in terms of harmony and preferred a more conventional diatonicism, interlaced with chromaticism and major-minor interplay. Unlike fellow composer Sergei Prokofiev, he embraced the ideas of socialist realism, and his post-war works have been characterized as "popular, bland, and successful," though this judgement is attributed to many other composers of the time, and some of Kabalevsky's best-known "youth works" date from this era (the Violin Concerto, the First Cello Concerto).
Perhaps Kabalevsky's most important contribution to the world of music-making is his consistent efforts to connect children to music. Not only did he write music specifically directed at bridging the gap between children's technical skills and adult aesthetics, but during his lifetime he set up a pilot program of music education in twenty-five Soviet schools. Kabalevsky himself taught a class of seven-year-olds for a time, teaching them how to listen attentively and put their impressions into words. His writings on this subject were published in the United States in 1988 as Music and education: a composer writes about musical education.
In 1961, Kabalevsky made some stereo recordings, conducting his Overture Pathetique, Spring, and Songs or Morning, which were released in the U.S. in 1975 on the Westminster Gold label. He was awarded a number of state honors for his musical works (including three Stalin Prizes). Kabalevsky had become quite a force in musical education. He was elected the head of the Commission of Musical Esthetic Education of Children in 1962 as well as being elected president of the Scientific Council of Educational Esthetics in the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR in 1969. Kabalevsky also received the honorary degree of president of the International Society of Musical Education. Kabalevsky wrote for all musical genres and was consistently faithful to the ideals of socialist realism. In Russia, Kabalevsky is most noted for his vocal songs, cantatas, and operas while overseas he is known for his orchestral music. Kabalevsky frequently travelled overseas; he was a member of the Soviet Committee for the Defense of Peace as well as a representative for the Promotion of Friendship between the Soviet Union and foreign countries.
His notable students included Leo Smit.
He died in Moscow on 18 February