Implementation of the "Estate Story" Signs in the Girls’ Chorus from the Opera "Eugene Onegin" by P.I. Tchaikovsky

Main Article Content

Olga A. Urvantseva

Abstract

The article considers the peculiarities of the “Girls’ Chorus” musical language from the opera “Eugene Onegin” by P.I. Tchaikovsky. The analysis of the choir reveals the artistic contradiction between the text by A.S. Pushkin, conventionalized in the spirit of Russian round dance song, and its musical embodiment in the opera by P.I. Tchaikovsky. The reason and significance of this contradiction are clarified in the article, including through using a historical-style approach, a view on music based upon the artistic traditions (including the nature of music-making) of the 19th century Russian noble estate culture.
Typical signs of estate culture are captured in the “estate story”, which became an integral part of Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin”. Tchaikovsky, who knew well the specifics of the estate nobility musical life of the 19th century first half, recreated in “Girls’ Chorus” from the Third Scene of the opera the style of estate folk song art of the Alexander era, which is characterized by a synthesis of Western European and Russian, urban and rural, salon and folk types of music-making.
In the light of the estate culture, the choir “Beautiful Maidens” corresponds to the norms of folk songs of the early 19th century, combining European musical language with some peculiarities of folk stylistics. This circumstance is consistent with the text stylization of the round dance song, performed by Pushkin in accordance with the ideas about folk art that developed in the estate story of the 19th century first half.


Keywords: “estate story”, Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin”, Tchaikovsky’s opera, choir “Beautiful Maidens”, estate culture.

Article Details

How to Cite
Urvantseva О. А. (2023). Implementation of the "Estate Story" Signs in the Girls’ Chorus from the Opera "Eugene Onegin" by P.I. Tchaikovsky . Music Scholarship / Problemy Muzykal’noj Nauki, 52(3), 123–133. Retrieved from https://musicscholar.ru/index.php/PMN/article/view/1470
Section
Sacred Music
Author Biography

Olga A. Urvantseva, Magnitogorsk State M.I. Glinka Conservatory, Magnitogorsk, Russia

Dr.Sci (Arts), Associate Professor