Elegy is a swan song of lyrical art

In the dictionary of literary terms there is such a thing as "elegy". There is a similar term in music. What unites them, what are the differences - a very interesting question. In addition, the definition of "elegiac" often correlates with painting, sculpture, found in cinematography.

Lexical evolution of the word

Like most concepts associated with the field of art, from the ancient Greek language came to us and elegy. This word originally meant burial funeral songs, accompanied by the loud sobs of mourners and the auspicious sounds of aulos (a wind instrument, a prototype of an oboe). Then, when such rituals became obsolete, the music-text works of a sad tonality began to be called. Their content was a complaint of undivided love, loss of a friend, longing for loneliness. So gradually formed a special lyric genre - elegy. This allowed to classify its varieties and subspecies, identify characteristic features.

Term meaning

As we see, strict separation of music from the text is not yet observed in the initial use of the term. It will arise a little later, when aesthetics - the science of beauty - will reveal the genus-species signs of different spheres of art. It was then assumed that the elegy is a lyrical genre of a literary work. In ancient poetry so called poems, consisting of several stanzas. Each included in itself 2 lines, not combined rhyme (white verse). The first was written with a hexameter, the second with a pentameter. Such a way of registration for a long time was fixed in ancient poetic practice. Moreover, the distich became known only as elegiac. It was he who developed the tradition of expressing philosophical reflections, expressing everyday complaints. Thus, in the era of antiquity it was believed that the elegy - a lyrical product, rooted in the epic and reflecting certain moods of the author.

Varieties of the genre

The content of poems relating to this genre is quite diverse. In ancient Greece, especially popular were the philosophical, military, political, accusatory. On the ancient Roman soil, the love elegy was best adopted. This genre exists and is actively developing now. On its basis, many lines of modern poetry have emerged. And Ovid's poems are still classic poems. They clearly show all the characteristic features: an element of intimacy, friendliness and trust to the reader, sadness and disappointment, a premonition of lonely, homeless death and complaint of life, to unfair strikes of fate. Especially characteristic in this regard are his philosophical and love elegy.

"From Romulus to Our Days"

A new upsurge of the genre is experienced already in the poetry of the late Renaissance and in subsequent centuries. And its flowering is connected with such trends in art as sentimentalism and romanticism. Increased emotionality, emotional aggravation, some pessimism, melancholic thoughtfulness make up the meaning of the word "elegy". In Russian literature, Baratynsky, Zhukovsky, Batiushkov stand at its origins. The poem "Rural Cemetery" - thinking about the impermanence of earthly human existence, about the darkness of oblivion, written by VA Zhukovsky (free translation of T. Gray's poetic lines) marked a hobby of sentimentalism in the domestic elegant literature. And then another elegy was introduced to the general public, which also became a classic example - "Sea".

Later Pushkin, Lermontov, Nekrasov, Tyutchev and Fet enriched the world poetry with their deep, penetrating lyrical poems. Suffice it to recall the famous "Mad years of extinguished fun" and "October 19", "I am sad to look at our generation" and "What a sadness! End of the alley ... "- and it becomes clear how wide the possibilities of the genre, what philosophical depth and dramatic intensity it acquired over time. But there is still Blok, poets-symbolists ... And although the dynamic 20th century somewhat pressed elegiac refinement and unhurried dimension, they gradually return to literature.

Elegy as a musical genre

At the same time, this genre is being implemented more and more persistently in music. It becomes independent already in the 17th century. And Beethoven's work was marked by the creation of true masterpieces. Who will leave indifferent astonishing, touching "To Elise", for example! And Liszt, Grig, Glinka, Borodin, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff made their invaluable contribution to the popularization of the elegy. On its basis, a new genre was born - urban romance, and later - a lyric song.

Now it is difficult to imagine that many pop songs, including quite dynamic ones, are the "descendants" of tender, touching elegies. A great and productive work in this genre was the idol of pop music, the Italian composer T. Cutugno. Moldovan Soviet classic E. Dog, Russian - I. Krutoy, Latvian - R. Pauls - each in their own way gave the world amazing, talented melodies, listening to which our souls become more beautiful, like their amazing music.