Perliminary Analysis Of Rachmaninoff’s Etudes Tableaux

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943), one of important figures of Russian musicalculture in the early20thcentury. Etudes Tableaux represents his complicated andelaborate thought which not only has the sentiment of serene grace and profoundgentleness but also has the momentum of passionate majesty. He has successfully madefull use of and given full play to the characteristics of piano compositions. His musiccompositions represent bourgeois democratic ideas in the Russian society at that time.His compositions retain a close tie with traditional Russian literature and art. He is thesuccessor to Russian classical and traditional music. His music features broad melodiesand easiness of performance with direct roots in folk songs and ancient religiousmelodies. His work Etudes Tableaux is an excellent work of the period of Romanticismamong Etudes de Concert, which is a set of special programmatic suite composed forpiano solo, including9pieces of Op.33and9pieces of Op.39which enjoy extremelyperforming and artistic value. Etudes Tableaux, just as its name implies, means thecombination of music and imagery and the using of music to express concretely apicture full of imagination and to express an artistic conception with poetic ecstasies.Etudes Tableaux implies that.It consists of18pieces of works in all from9pieces ofOp.33and9pieces of Op.39. Op.33was composed in1911, originally containing9pieces, but when it was published in September in the same year, Rachmaninoffremoved the3rd,4th,5thpieces from it, changing the original form into a present onewith6pieces. Op.39was composed from the year1916to1917. Rachmaninoff’sEtudes Tableaux falls into advanced etudes. Although it does not highlight glaring skillas Liszt’s Etude D’ Execution does, the performance of it is not less difficult than EtudeD’ Execution.The5thpiece of Etudes Tableaux Op.33, compared with other works byRachmaninoff, lays more emphasis on the expression of artistic conception and it iscalled a song without lyrics. In terms of techniques of performance, it is relatively plainand simple, paying more attention on the integration of music and painting to create animage.The9thpiece of Etudes Tableaux Op.39is one of his representative works in themature period of his composition activities. This etude is rich in incomparable passionand its colorful main key. Even the simple training techniques imply abundantcharacteristics of tone painting. It is composed to portray a picture of army and manifest soldier’s affections.This thesis, proceeding from the perspective of the characteristics of tone paintingof these two works, studies the background and subject matter of their composition,based on which it is analyzed that how people grasp delicate aspects of music, and howwe can better express by means of performance images and emotions that are describedand shown in music. This thesis has also made further investigation into relevantperforming techniques, single tone phrases and styles of pedal playing.