The charming voices of the birds could not pass by the attention of the music writers. There are many folk songs, academic music, which reflect the voices of birds.
Bird singing is unusually musical: each bird species sings its own distinctive melody, which contains bright intonations, rich ornamentation, sounds in a certain rhythm, tempo, has a unique timbre, various dynamic shades and emotional coloring.
The humble voice of the cuckoo and the fleeting roulades of the nightingale
The 18th century French composers who wrote in the rococo style - L Daken, F. Couperin, GF. Rameau had a wonderful imitation of bird voices. In Daken's “Cuckoo” harpsichord miniature, the craking of a forest dweller is clearly heard in the refined, moving, rich in decorations sound mass of musical fabric. One of the parts of Rameau's harpsichord suite is called "The Chicken", and this author also has the play "Bird Calling".
In the romantic plays of the 19th century Norwegian composer. E. Grieg "Morning", "Spring" imitation of bird singing reinforces the idyllic nature of the music.
The French composer and pianist C. Saint-Saens composed in 1886 a very nice suite for two pianos and orchestra, called "The Carnival of Animals". The piece was conceived only as a musical joke-surprise for the concert of the famous cellist Sh. Lebuk. To the surprise of Saint-Saens, the work gained immense popularity. And today "The Carnival of Animals" is perhaps the most famous composition of a brilliant musician.
One of the brightest plays, filled with the good humor of zoological fantasy, is the "Poultry House". Here the flute is solo, depicting the sweet chirping of little birds. Accompanied by a graceful part of flute, strings and two pianos.
In the works of Russian composers from the abundance of the imitations of bird voices that can be found, one can identify the most frequently sounded ones: the resounding lark singing and the virtuoso trills of the nightingale. Music lovers probably know romances - A.A. Alyabieva "Nightingale", N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, "Being captivated by a rose, a nightingale", "The Lark" by M.I. Glinka. But if the French harpsichordists and Saint-Saens prevailed in the mentioned musical compositions, a decorative element, Russian classics conveyed, above all, the emotions of a person who appeals to a vociferous bird, inviting her to empathize with his grief or share joy with him.
In large musical canvases - operas, symphonies, oratorios, the voices of birds are an integral part of the images of nature. For example, in the second part of L. Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony (“The Stage at the Creek” - “Bird Trio”) one can hear the singing of quail (oboe), nightingale (flute), cuckoo (clarinet). In Symphony No. 3 (2 hours. "Pleasures") A.N. Scriabin to the rustling of foliage, the sound of sea waves, joined by the voices of birds that sound at the flute.
Composers ornithologists
The outstanding master of the musical landscape N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, while walking in the woods, wrote down the voices of birds with notes and then precisely withstood the intonation line of bird singing in the orchestral part of the opera Snow Maiden. The composer himself points out in an article written by him about this opera, in which section of the work one can hear the singing of a falcon, magpie, bullfinch, cuckoo and other birds. And the intricate sounds of the horn of Lely, the hero of the opera, were also born from bird singing.
French composer of the 20th century O. Messiaen was so in love with bird singing that he considered him unearthly, and called birds "servants of the non-material spheres." Inspired by ornithology seriously, Messiaen worked for many years to create a catalog of bird melodies, which allowed him to make wide use of imitations of the voices of birds in his works. Messiaen's Awakening of the Birds for Piano and Orchestra are the sounds of a summer forest filled with the singing of a forest lark and blackbird, warbler and little verticera, meeting the dawn.
Refraction of traditions
Representatives of modern music from different countries widely use imitation of bird singing in music and often include direct audio recordings of bird voices in their compositions.
The magnificent instrumental composition "The Singing of Birds" by E. V. Denisov, a Russian composer of the middle of the last century, can be classified as sonoristic. In this work, the sounds of the forest recorded on a tape are heard, bird chirping and trills are heard. Instrument batches are recorded not with ordinary notes, but with the help of various signs and figures. The performers freely improvise according to the canvas. As a result, an extraordinary sphere of interaction between the voices of nature and the sound of musical instruments is created.
Modern Finnish composer Einojukhani Rautavaara created in 1972 a beautiful piece Cantus Arcticus (also called Concert for birds with orchestra), in which the audio recording of the voices of various birds harmoniously blends with the sound of the orchestral part.
The birds' voices gentle and sad, sonorous and jubilant, full-sound and iridescent will always excite the creative imagination of composers, and encourage them to create new musical masterpieces.
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