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The Guitar of the Czars the Guitar of the Czars

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The Guitar of the Czars the Guitar of the Czars The Guitar of the Czars The Guitar of the Czars a new English summary redaction by Marco Bazzotti This is a revision of an article of mine published in the Italian bimonthly "Seicorde" [ Note 1 ], a guitar magazine that ended its life in 1995. To my knowledge it was the first article about this subject published in the Italian language (after the most significant article by Matanya Ophee in a concurrent magazine, which was published some 7 years before mine [ Note 2 ]). I was induced to republish it in English not only to make it available to a wider audience, but also because for editorial purposes part of the original text and all the end notes were cut in the first publication, so I could not give due credit to my references. But it was my first published article, so I was glad for it to appear anyhow. Some years later I noticed also that some of the information contained therein was not completely exact. I decided to leave the text in a form close to its first version, cutting only the interviews with the Russian guitarist M. Goldort and Italian Professor P. Bonaguri, these now having become dated. I preferred to replace almost all the accompanying images with new ones that I have discovered in the following years. Since the collapse of the Berlin wall in It was quite difficult for me to get 1989, the countries of eastern European have information about some Russian guitarists, exploded in a painful big-bang that has due both to the ever-present difficulties in changed the geography of Europe and Asia communication (it is still difficult just to drastically. The new Russia was born, now send a fax to Moscow during the day time) being part of the Community of Independent and to the problems of language States (CIS) that replaces the former USSR. comprehension. The guitar fraternity in Russia has been In the past, references to the Soviet guitar living for more than 70 years in total world in Western music literature were isolation, prevented from being in touch with always very scarce, and only in recent years the West. The presence of many types of the has a subtle breath from that guitar world instrument that we call "guitar" has been a started blowing beyond the Urals. I wish to constant one in Russian music life in all thank especially the guitarists Mikhail periods, having very old origins. But only Goldort from Novosibirsk (central Siberia) recently has this guitar world started opening and Piero Bonaguri, teacher at the to western Europe, and we still know far too Conservatory of Rovigo (Italy) as well as the little about Russian composers for guitar and composer Umberto Bombardelli, who Russian guitarists. helped me in collecting more information. file:///C|/Seicorde/Articles/guitczar.htm (1 di 10) [23/09/1999 23.29.53] The Guitar of the Czars At the beginning there was the domra The guitar was not the only known The guitar appeared in Russia during the plucked instrument in Russia; two other 18th century, in a society far behind the instruments at least are worthy of mention: European one in development. However, at the domra and the balalaika. The domra is the first half of the 19th century it was nowadays known in two variants with three already known as a national instrument: the or four metallic strings and in different sizes. Russian guitar. Its own peculiarities were the It has a triangular shape, is tuned by fourths, tuning by thirds on the notes of the G scale, and is played by means of a plectrum. It is and having seven strings. It is known by the the most ancient plucked instrument, having tender-sounding name of "semistrunaia" (a been imported by the Mongols during the composite noun made from "sem' " = seven 13th century. Its tremolo is similar to the one and "struny" = strings). Its popularity grew of the Neapolitan mandolin and its range is among the people of all ranks, both middle large, due to its having 16 frets up to the and upper class, as described by many junction of the neck. It is now employed both Russian poets and writers. as a solo instrument and in an orchestra, There are also many variants of this main together with the balalaika . type, in number of strings and dimensions. The balalaika has a peculiar triangular By studying the surviving photos of Russian shape and three strings, among which two are guitarists of the last century, re-published in tuned in unison and the other a fourth up. It the volume Guitar in Russia and USSR appeared first during the 17th century. It was (see photo), we see that the guitar with 7 able to oust the domra in popularity, thanks strings on the neck and 4 strings outside of to the preference of the Czars. It is played the neck was very popular. The famous both by fingers and with the plectrum; from photograph of Valerian Rusanov, one of the the last years of the Nineteenth Century it has first Russian guitar historians, with his existed in different sizes which cover all the 11-string guitar is significant in this respect frequency spectrum of the orchestra. [ Note [ Note 4 ]. This instrument shared favor with 3 ] the six string guitar (the so-called "shestistrunaia", from "shest," which means "six" ) tuned as in the West, and many other types. file:///C|/Seicorde/Articles/guitczar.htm (2 di 10) [23/09/1999 23.29.53] The Guitar of the Czars 11-string guitar made by Robert I. Arkhuzen (1844-1920), a prominent guitar maker who was The volume “Gitara v Rossii i SSSR” active in Moscow edited by Yablokov, Ed. "Russkaia Entziklopediya», Tyumen-Ekaterinburg, 1992 The main differences between the 6-string and 7-string guitars are naturally not only related to the number of the strings, but to the intervals between them. We recognize in the two Russian systems analogies with the instrument employed by Straube and Geminiani, tuned in thirds, or the one used by Boccherini, tuned in fourths. In Russia the distinction between these two tunings has caused intense rivalry between two opposing groups of supporters: the "zapadniki", a word that means western-oriented, and the "slavophils". This division has lasted practically up to our day. It is a fact that the repertory for the 7-string instrument, though diminished in comparison to the one for the 6-string guitar, is still thriving [ Note 5 ]. However, many guitarists of the past played both instruments: Andrei Sychra (1773-1850) himself, beside his devotion to the Russian guitar [ Note 6 ]; and certainly many others after him, such as Vasiliy Lebedev (1867-1907), Piotr Isakov (1886-1958), and many others, of whom we know nothing other than their names [ Note 7 ]. The Russian repertory file:///C|/Seicorde/Articles/guitczar.htm (3 di 10) [23/09/1999 23.29.53] The Guitar of the Czars It is well known that the prominent The popular tradition always had a big composer Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857) influence in Russian music, which influence has knew at Villadolid the skillful flamenco continued up to our day; one thinks of the great guitarist Felix Castilla, who gave him the importance of popular tales in the imagination of inspiration for the First Spanish Overture Russian composers like Musorgsky or [ Note 8 ]. His interest in the guitar would Stravinsky. have been known to Russian guitarists of The contacts between Russian guitarists and his epoch: it is not by chance that the Europe were important. For example, Nikolai patriarch of the seven-string guitar, the Makarov (1810?-1890?), a 7-string guitarist and Lithuanian Andrei Sychra, transcribed in author of a book of memoirs, lived in Warsaw. full for two guitars two of Glinka's greatest He was a companion on gallant evenings of operas: A life for the Czar and Ruslan i Fryderyk Chopin and other virtuosos of those Ludmila. years. [ Note 9 ] The transcription of folklorist themes is the main feature of the repertory of the Russian guitar. The methods After the revolution of 1917 and the After that, in 1948, came the method book by events that followed, the closing off to Alexander Ivanov-Kramskoi (1912-1973), a the majority of important western 6-string guitarist, mainly designed for those musical experiences instituted by the teaching themselves. This text is still used USSR initiated a critical period in the frequently in conservatories, together with other history of the 6-string guitar, which was European methods. already showing a tradition of open As to the study of history and literature of the sharing with the West. That year, a Russian guitar in this transition period, the works talented painter by the name of by Vladimir Mashkievic (1888-1971) had the most Vladimir Bobritzki (1898-1986) left his significant impact. He was an erudite musical critic, Ukrainian birthland forever, as did many a guitarist, a meticolous collector and engineer, who other artists from all over Russia. The gave concerts on the 7- and 10-string guitar. He western world then afforded him dedicated himself to music criticism while working Segovia's friendship and a new name: in Kharkov as an engineer. He founded a monthly Bobri [ Note 10 ]. guitar magazine Gitara i gitaristy with a The fact that, regardless of the circulation primarily in the region of the Don. His official position, a large amount of publications appeared also in Italian guitar journals letters was exchanged by Russian of those years [ Note 11 ]. virtuosos and western guitarists, is quite Another remarkable figure is Boris Perott valuable.
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