“Where the heart does not enter; there can be no music” Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
What is hidden in the heart of Russian music? Pain and suffering, love and passion, a simple and vulnerable human soul, that never loses its pride and confidence. Browse our sheet music and scores, and explore for yourself the deepest reaches of the romantic Russian composers’ souls today.
As was very prevalent around Europe at the time, a strong national movement emerged in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century. The defeat of the Napoleonic armies in 1812 united the Russian nation, and created a great opportunity for the development of music and culture. The Russian National School was born from the synthesis of Russian folk music, exotic imports, and European musical influences, and was renowned for its profound emotions and its new and progressive harmonic, melodic and rhythmic structures. Michail Iwanowitsch Glinka is deemed by many to be the founder of the Russian National School, and he was closely followed by Alexander Sergejewitsch Dargomyschski.
“The Mighty Handful” or “The Group of Five” (also known as “The Novators” or “The New Russian School”) was an association of five prominent composers, whose aim was to create a specifically Russian style of music, and not to imitate older European models. The group was founded in 1856, and its comprised of Mili Balakirew, César Antonowitsch Cui, Alexander Borodin, Modest Petrovitsch Mussorgsky and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The Might Handful taught many other great Russian composers, who also took up their style and supported their values, including the romantic composer Alexander Glazunov and the modernists Sergei Prokofiev, Igor Stravinsky and Dmitri Shostakovich.
The most important Russian composer of the 19th century is without a doubt Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky’s music reflects his profound, melancholy inner world, while embracing Russian folk music, in all its authentic beauty. The Symphonies by Tchaikovsky count amongst some of the best orchestral works of the 19th century, as do his trio of Ballets Sleeping Beauty , Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, with which the composer raised the whole form to a new level.
“Music is no illusion, but rather a revelation. Its triumphant power lies in the fact that it reveals to us beauties we find in no other sphere; and the apprehension of them is not transitory, but a perpetual reconcilement to life.” Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
The last of the late Romantic Russian composers are Sergei Rachmaninoff and Alexander Scriabin. While Rachmaninoff generally remains true to the Russian musical legacy of the 19th century, there are many modern elements in Scriabin’s music, particularly in his use of harmony and instrumentation.
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 214559
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 683416
for: Violin, cello, piano (piano trio)
Item no.: 129058
aus der Ballettmusik „Der Nussknacker“, op. 71
for: Violin, cello, piano (piano trio)
Score, parts (pdf download)
Item no.: 1689
for: Piano
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 401460
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 369296
for: Bassoon, piano
Item no.: 205842
for: Violin, orchestra
Piano reduction, solo part
Item no.: 162275
Score
Item no.: 430029
with marked and unmarked string parts
Breitkopf Urtext
for: Violin, orchestra
Piano score, solo part (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 141769
Music lesson book
Item no.: 585250
for: Piano, orchestra
Score
Item no.: 172809
Hans von Bülow gewidmet, Ausgabe für 2 Klaviere
for: 2 pianos
Piano score
Item no.: 378356
Transcription
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 750203
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 208880
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 164106
Urtext Edition, clothbound
for: Piano
Music score (Hardcover, Urtext edition)
Item no.: 1640747
for: Piano, orchestra
Book
Item no.: 348387
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 367054
for: Double bass, piano
Book
Item no.: 164474
"Pathétique"
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 432906
The Masterworks Library
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 401578
Edition Schott Einzelausgabe
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 356199
Winterträume
Eulenburg Studienpartituren
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 391771
(Urtext)
for: Piano
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 617082
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 138598
Ouvertüre
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 432907
Breitkopf Urtext
for: Violin, orchestra
Score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 582816
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 373489
Versions 1913 and 1931
for: Piano
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 679499
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 214908
Klassik
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 324934
from The Nutcracker
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 722262
for: Piano 4 hands
Book
Item no.: 962355
Lyrical Scenes in 3 acts op. 24
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 173991
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 803719
for: Voices (body percussion), drums
Music score, CD
Item no.: 632786
Easy arrangement for Piano
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1548948
from Swan Lake
for: Cello, piano
Music score
Item no.: 722316
Second Edition
Band 3
for: Piano, orchestra
Score (with critical report)
Item no.: 772270
Gm
for: Piano
Piano Solo
Item no.: 1024243
Bb
for: Piano
Piano Solo
Item no.: 1554477
for: Cello, piano
Item no.: 170310
for: Violin, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 391909
from Fifth Symphony
for: Horn, piano
Piano reduction, solo part
Item no.: 897226
Overture from the incidental music
small orchestra
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 358996
from the Opera Tsar Saltan
for: Double bass, piano
Book
Item no.: 492919
for: 2 flutes (duet)
Ensemble score
Item no.: 817339