SPAIN!!! Homeland of the great navigators, ancient chivalric romances, roguish literature. The land of Cervantes, Velasquez, Goya ... A land of unquenchable temperament, openness and Honor. Where else can you find such cheerfulness ?! For the Spaniard, the evening is not a preparation for bedtime, but the beginning of wild fun! Songs, dances, flamenco ... Many believe that Spain’s music is the best in the world. Here and only here could a guitar be born!
We will tell you about the great Spanish guitar player Andres Segovia Torres (1893-1987), a legend man. He was lucky to be born in Spain, in the small Andalusian town of Linares, to absorb the rich history, culture and traditions of this country. For almost a hundred years he lived with Spain in his heart and with all of humanity in his soul, serving the same mistress - the Guitar. He revived the guitar and magnified it, gave it an academic sound.
Andres Segovia from childhood, immediately after making friends with the guitar, learned from the old Spanish guitarists the sad story of the extinction of the life of this wonderful instrument, the decline of the six-stringed role in the symphonic life of the planet. The guitar's voice sounded weaker on musical Olympus, yielding to the sounds of piano, violin, cello ... They stopped inviting the guitar to the concert halls of Spain ...
The idea of the revival of the beloved instrument completely mastered the young Andres and became for him a guiding star for life.
The feat of Andres Segivia was that he was destined to solve this super-complex task, perhaps at one of the most dramatic stages in the life of Spain.
Andres was destined to be born five years before Spain’s cruel defeat in the war with the United States. His homeland has lost its overseas colonies, has lost the status of maritime power. Andres Segovia, along with his country, survived the fall and revival of royal power. The first war of humanity against fascism, which broke out in Spain three years before the beginning of World War II, passed through his soul with bloodied boots. Then, in 1936, fascism on Spanish soil (Spanish, German and Italian) clashed with Spanish Republicans, who were supported by arms and international brigades of Russia, France, Poland, and the United States. Ernest Hemingway, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Mikhail Koltsov, Ilya Ehrenburg, George Orwell (he was wounded by a sniper in the throat) and many others were on the Republican side. Andres Segovia experienced the terrible death of Guernica, the victory of the fascists, the huge human sacrifices. The Spanish Civil War claimed 600 thousand lives. More than a million opponents of the regime, anti-fascists were in prisons and camps. Tens of thousands of Spanish children from families of the losers Republicans, saving their lives, left their homeland. We went to Russia, France, Belgium, England, Holland ... Among the Spanish children who came to Moscow were your girlfriend, who, having matured, became the mother of the legendary Russian hockey player Valery Kharlamov.
Music in these terrible years, moaning, gasping. She survived in Spain not so much in notes as in the souls of unarmed cultural advocates such as Segovia.
Music for little Andres began after the decision of his parents (father - Bonifacio Segovia Montoro, mother - Rosa Torres Cruz) to give his son to the family of Uncle Don Edward and Aunt Maria, who did not have their children. Uncle loved music. There were musicians in his house. At the initiative of Don Edward, Andres at the age of five began to learn to play the violin he had bought, began to master the piano and cello. However, the first guest teacher turned out to be a bad teacher. He was unkind, insensitive, and perhaps even a cruel teacher. Soon even uncle understood it. Classes have been discontinued.
At this time a wandering guitarist turned up in their house. He began to perform a passionate, incendiary, expressive melody of flamenco! As Andres himself recalled in his autobiography, "at the first strong rasgeato (trembling sound, quick alternation of chords) I jumped off the chair and fell. And when he started playing beautiful folk tunes, I was captivated by the sounds of the guitar." When the last chords subsided, Andres heard perhaps the most desirable, most significant words in his life: “Do you want to learn how to play?” The boy only had the strength to nod his head in agreement.
Study did not last long: only two months. Intelligent, talented, eager to learn a boy passionately absorbed the science of playing the guitar. Andres recalled: "My whole being was covered with indescribable happiness when I started playing the guitar ... I forgot everything in the world, except the guitar." He was six years old ...
Already in his mature years, the question "When did he start playing the guitar?" Segovia replied: "Before I was born."
So, barely begun, the lessons of the game on your favorite instrument, ended. Strangely enough, on the way between Andres and his new friend - the guitar was got by the uncle himself. Reflecting the sentiments that existed in those years, judgments about "frivolity", "unfashionable" guitars, and her inability to enter into prestigious concert halls, Don Edward wanted to prevent his nephew's new passion.
Andres was helped by a friend. He helped buy a simple guitar. To master his favorite instrument, Segovia secretly ran to the neighbors. From there, the uncle could not hear the sounds of the guitar.
Self-learning to play the guitar went in parallel with the understanding and solution of another super-task: raising the prestige of the six-string. Without completely abandoning folk music, he gradually began to master the classical works of great composers, written for other dominant musical instruments at the time.
It was necessary to prove that six strings are able to fully reflect the beauty and depth of almost all the masterpieces of world music classics. He began to work on expanding the expressive and technical possibilities of the guitar. I wanted to prove that in capable hands she is capable of being a solo concert instrument. Years of hard work of an innovative musician passed.
From the age of 14, Andres began performing at concerts in Granada, Cordoba, Seville and other Spanish cities. Finally, at the age of sixteen, he spoke in the capital, Madrid. The audience cautiously met the young musician with his new, unusual technique of performance, an unusual repertoire. He, in particular, began to perform in his own processing the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Those who sat in the hall were alarmed and at the same time struck the depth of the young guitarist’s performance skills. He amplified the guitar's voice, extracting sounds not only in the traditional way (with tips, pads of the fingers of his right hand), but also using his nails as a mediator.
Subsequently, Andres brought to perfection his methods of apoyando, tirando, arpeggio, and others. In his own way, he used the barre, polubarre, and chichato techniques.
Recalling his first concert, Segovia admitted that he "was terribly worried, he felt his trembling shake."
At one of the first concerts, his character traits such as self-criticism and modesty showed up. The question asked him before going on stage, "is he talented?", Answered: "Not at all. Now you yourself will hear."
From the concert to the concert his skill grew (his talent for self-improvement affected) and at the same time stereotypes and prejudices of the public in assessing the capabilities of the guitar began to change.
Andres Segovia’s efforts to exalt the guitar were reinforced by a new trend in the country's political and cultural life. At the very end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, the movement to revive the cultural traditions of Spain began to gain momentum. Starting under the slogan "Por nuestra musica" ("for our music"), this phenomenon later became known as "Renacimiento" (Renacimiento - Renaissance). This movement arose as a reaction of Spanish society to the crushing defeat that Spain suffered in 1898 in the war with the United States.
Most music experts believe that Andres Segovia Torres was able to finally conquer Spain with his music when he turned 22 years old. It was by that time, thanks to his efforts (with the active role of the Spanish composer and guitarist and performer F. Tarregi) that the guitar was revived. Andres taught her to solo (he was the first guitarist in the world who performed with a symphony orchestra), to perform the most complex classical (Handel, Mozart, Beethoven) and modern music. He managed to attract such famous composers as Morreno Torroba, Pablo Casals, Joaquin Rodrigo, Manuel de Falla and many other celebrities to enrich the repertoire of the guitar. Over time, Andres brought his repertoire to 500 pieces.
Segovia impressed Spain with his virtuoso performing skills. Critics could not find any flaws in his game. I admired the depth and organic interpretation.
A new phenomenon was born, called “Segoy's Silence”, when the public, stunned by the brilliant game, taking the breath away from what was heard, interpreting the effect produced on it, did not immediately explode with applause. There is a phenomenon of prolonged silence. To discover and realize this natural pause that seems to all viewers can only be viewed by watching a video or audio recording of the concert.
Still very young, Andres Segovia began touring around the world. South America, USA, Europe, Australia, Asia ... In total, he gave concerts in 70 countries around the world. He not only brought people joy and pleasure. At the same time, Segovia popularized classical Spanish guitar, influenced the musical educational policy of different countries. Thanks to him, guitar classes have been introduced at many conservatories and music schools around the world.
I would like to ask you, young musician, the following question: do you think that Andres Segovia could have a direct impact on the birth and life of Russian music schools, and in particular, the music school named after Alexander Mikhailovich Ivanov-Kramskoy?
Some would say that this can not be. Where is Moscow, and where is Spain! Yes, and lived Segovia in the past and even before the last century! And My school is completely new, young.
We will try to clarify this issue. To begin with, the great Spanish guitarist, indeed, in our country also popularized the new possibilities of classical guitar. To this end, he came to us four times: in 1926, 1927, 1930 and 1936. He performed with concerts in Moscow, Leningrad, Kharkov, Kiev, Odessa.
He organized several meetings with young, as well as with mature, already accomplished musicians. At these meetings, he not only conducted master classes, but also listened to the play of our guitarists, analyzed it, consulted musicians. Conducted methodological classes, open lessons.
In order to develop and improve the national system of music education, Andres Segovia met with representatives of the music community (elite and officials), influencing the formation of the country's musical strategy.
As we indicated above, the last visit of a Spanish missionary musician took place in 1936. In subsequent years, with the advent of fascists to power in Spain, relations between the two countries deteriorated sharply. The trips stopped, cultural connections were frozen. And in our country, for the aforementioned political, as well as for “ideological” reasons, bias towards the guitar as an "alien element of Western culture" began to grow. The period of sincere interest in this musical instrument in our country was replaced in the mid 30s of the twentieth century with a cold war against the guitar. For many years, learning to play the guitar was almost collapsed.
Alexander Mikhailovich Ivanov-Kramsky, the name of which our music school proudly bears, was able to melt this “cold war”, to return full-fledged guitar class teaching.
Ivanova-Kramskoy was inspired by a difficult and dangerous struggle for the fate of the guitar, none other than the Spanish genius Andres Segovia! The fact is that in 1926, the 14-year-old Alexander Ivanov-Kramsky (at that time he was learning to play the violin) was very lucky. He happened to see and hear Spanish luminaries. It happened at the Master's concert in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. The impression from the music was so strong that young Alexander decided on radical measures: he began to master a completely new musical instrument for him.
A.M. Ivanov-Kramskom much has been achieved thanks to his hard work, talent and deep faith in the classical guitar. He became famous as an outstanding classical guitarist, composer, conductor, teacher. He was awarded the title "Honored Artist of the RSFSR".
So sometimes the fate of great people intertwines!
So, it turns out that studying in this music school was made possible thanks to the joint heroic struggle of two devotees, who infinitely loved the guitar.
You have great opportunities, prospects, horizons parted. You can participate in the annual All-Russian competition of young performers on a classical guitar named after A.M. Ivanov-Kramskoy. Such professional guitarists will be able to prepare you for the competition. as N.A. Ivanova-Kramskaya (daughter of the great guitarist), D.V. Borodaev, A.Filchenkov, head of the guitar department, and others. And if you study like Segovia and Ivanovo-Kramskoy, then sooner or later you will be welcomed at international competitions, including in Spain.
Words of gratitude for the opportunity to make music, we address our teachers, as well as teachers of our teachers.
Andres Segovia Torres owns the following words: "Music is like an ocean, and musical instruments, like islands, are scattered in the ocean. My island is a guitar." Thanks to the musical feat of the great Spaniard, his island became a great archipelago, whose fate is now in Your hands ...
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