History Of Music In Russia
Russia, a country known worldwide for its rich heritage and cultural diversity, is home to numerous ethnic groups, each having its own distinctive form of local music. The history of music in Russia is marked by various important contributions from several groups of ethnic minorities, like the Ukrainians, Jewish, and the Gypsies at different points of time. |
A vital milestone in the Russian history of music is the development of ‘Rus’, a distinctive musical culture of the medieval period that dates back to the 11th century. The most admired forms of music during this period included singing of epic ballads called ‘Bylinas’. Musical instruments that were most commonly used by musicians of this time included flutes, buben, treshchotka, gusli, and gudok. The Church’s sacred music, originated from Byzantine Empire, was clearly distinguished from secular music, used solely for entertainment purposes, during the period of Muscovy. While the former mainly featured choral singing and bell ringing, the latter featured the use of string instruments like fipple flutes. Secular music reached heights of popularity during Great Russian Schism, the reactionary period of the seventeenth century.
The 19th century saw the emergence of many outstanding romantic and classical composers and the development of a wide variety of music styles, ranging from the holy music of Orthodox Church to the traditional folk songs. The prominent contributions of the twentieth century include the brilliant works of highly acclaimed Soviet composers and distinctive popular music styles. Thus, while the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries marked an era of the internationally celebrated classical music of Russia, the twentieth century was predominantly the phase of the popular Soviet music. The twenty-first century, on other hand, saw the evolution of modern forms of Russian music, like the Russian rock and the Russian pop.
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