"I love Russian music" thread

[Mark Thomas]

This thread has unaccountably disappeared and I'm at a loss to explain why. Only moderators can delete threads and none of us have done that. Apologies to all who contributed to it. The site is regularly backed up of course, but unfortunately individual threads can't be restored in isolation, so all posts in every thread made after the last backup would be lost in the restore process.

[adriano]

Very strange, perhaps sabotage?? A pity that also all my detailed explanations about Respighi's early musical influences were just done for nothing :-(

[Alan Howe]

Who would do it, though? And why?

[dhibbard]

Yes... that is strange ??

[dhibbard]

actually .. that was my bonus question...  Respighi was taught by Rimsky-Korsakov  (the only non Russian AFAIK)

[Mark Thomas]

Care to explain again, Adriano?

[adriano]

... and my two detailed replies were just to demonstrate that Respighi was NOT taught by Rimsky-Korsakov, but that he was offered to ask some advice, after he has showed him some of his early works he brought over to Russia. I listed all those early works in my last reply (gone lost), mentioning their mostly French influences (Franck, Saint-Saens etc). Only two works by Respighi were inspired from Russian composers, but more by Glazunov and Ljapunov than by Rimsky: his Fantasia Slava for piano and orchestra (containing but a secondary trumpet motif one could associated to Rimsky, the rest has even influences from Smetana) - and his ballet-pastiche La Pentola magica (quoting quite a few Russian composers, except Rimsky!). As far as his instrumentation technique is concerned, all those who say that he was influenced by Rimsky should consider the fact that Respighi, before visiting Russia, had also studied Debussy and Richard Strauss, which were both better orchestrators than Rimsky - and, as far as musical form is concerned, less academic. During his two Russian stays, Respighi even gave lessons himself in harmony and counterpoint - this after he had learned the Russian language in a very short time. Apparently, he was a language genius, so that he spoke about 8 different languages.

[adriano]

Mark, this may interest you: in 1897, Martucci (Respighi's teacher) conducted Raff's Symphony "Im Walde" in Bologna; a work which caused a immense impression. Respighi's "forest rustling" in the first movement of his Suite in E (see my Naxos CD) may have been slightly insipred by Raff. Funny enough, when he revised the score later, he gave to each movement a "program" title, and the first one was entitled "nella foresta".
The last movement of this Suite is, however, very much à la Dvorak (except when the rustling comes up again as a reminder)...
And  a propos Raff, G. Templeton Strong's Suite "Die Nacht" is a definitely Raff-inspired work!

[Mark Thomas]

Sorry you had to give the R-K explanation again, Adriano, but I'm sure we're all grateful that you did. I'm certainly fascinated by the unexpected Raff influence on Respighi, but not all surprised by his influence on Templeton Strong. I must listen again to Die Nacht and Respighi's Suite again.

[Alan Howe]

Respighi was taught by Rimsky-Korsakov

NO, he wasn't. (See above).

Do Rudolf Tobias and Artur Kapp (both from Estonia) count as Russian?

[sdtom]

Can we say then he was influenced by many?

[Mark Thomas]

If you read Hadrianus' post above the answer is very clear - and he knows what he's talking about.

[adriano]

 

[dhibbard]

Thank you Alan!....  I learned something today.    And no Kapp and Tobias were not ethnic Russians, but born and spoke Estonian.  Just like many people in the region, they learned Russian since they were part of the Russian Empire pre-1917, and unfortunately, were again invaded by the Soviet army in 1941.

[semloh]

Alan asked: Who would do it, though? And why?

Maybe a focus on Romantic composers - i.e. pre-Soviet, pro-Czarist composers producing bourgeois music, now feted by Western capitalist running dogs - was too much for Putin's men.