History of Music in Russia

Russia music is denoted with music produced in Russia or by Russians. Russia is a big and ethnic different country, with numerous ethnic groups, each with their own indigenous established music. Russian music also comprises important contributions from the ethnic minorities, who inhabited the Russian territory, the Soviet Union and the current day Russia.

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The Russian music went on through a long record; it begins with the ritual traditional chant and the sacred music of the Russian Orthodox Church. In the 19^th century saw the increase of highly commended Russian classical music, and also in the 20^th century major contributions by different composers like Igor Stravinsky as well as Soviet composers, while the current patterns of the Russian renowned music established, include the Russian rock and Russian pop.

The written records exist that define the musical culture of Rus. The very renowned type of instruments in medieval Russia was however to have been known as the cord instruments, such as the gulsi or gudok. Archeologists have uncovered instances of these instruments in the Novgorod area traced as early as the 11^th century. (Novgorod republic had deep customs in music; it’s very renowned traditional hero and the chief character of several classics was sadko, a gulsi player). Flutes (svirel) are other instruments in common use and percussive instruments such as the treshchotka and the buden. The very renowned type of music though was the singing. Bylinas (classics ballads) about the traditional heroes such as Sadko, llaya Muromets, and others were frequently sung, sometimes to instrumental accompaniment. The texts of some of these classics have been documented.

During the year of Musovy, two main genres made Russian music: the sacred music of the Orthodox Church and the secular music which is used for entertainment. The sacred music gathers its customs from the Byzantine territory, with the key elements being used in Russian Orthodox bell ringing, as well as vocals singing. Neumes were established for musical representation, and as a result several instances of medieval sacred music have lasted for this day, among them is the two stichera composed by Tsar Ivan IV during in the 16^th century.

Secular music comprised the use of the musical instruments such as fiddle flutes and cord instruments, and was frequently played on holidays formerly by skomorokhs entertainers and minstrels who entertained the dignity. In the time of the backward-looking year of the Great Russian Schism in the 17^th century, skomorokhs along with their type of secular music were restricted from playing their trade many times, but in spite these limitation, some of their customs lived to the present day.