DOI: 10.36871/hon.202002016
Authors
R. V. Chistyakov
Russian State Specialized Academy of Arts, Moscow, Russian Federation
Abstract
Azon Nurtynovich Fattah (1922–2013), an outstanding composer, pianist, Honored Artist of the
Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, is known among professional musicians primarily
for the charm of his songwriting. Yet his music is little known to modern audience. The peak of
composer's popularity came in the 1960–70s, when his songs were performed, for example, by
Joseph Kobzon and Lev Leshchenko, Maya Kristalinskaya, Gelena Velikanova and Elena Kamburova.
Fattah's works include a significant number of chamber-instrumental compositions and
plays for orchestras by Yu. V. Silantyev, B. P. Karamyshev, V. V. Meshcherin, several musical
comedies, the most famous of which was “Winged” (on the libretto of the wonderful children's
poet V. I. Viktorov). The composer also created three operas, among which — the children's opera
“Brother Bunny”. The interest of the widest audience in Fattah music at that time was initiated
by the composer's film works, namely, music for tapes for children and youth: “The Tale of
the Boy-Kibalchish”, “Scuba Diving at the Bottom”, “Young from the Schooner Columbus”. The
audience especially remembered the songs that became real hits: “There Was a Stormy Time”,
“How Can We Live Without the Sea”, “Song of Cycling Tourists”. Thus, the children's theme
occupies one of the central positions in the composer's heritage.
It is important that “Brother Bunny” opera stands out among the composer’s opera works
by genre type and performing composition and continues the line of Soviet music compositions
for the youngest ones, begun by Sergei Prokofiev. “Brother Bunny” is not only an opera
for children (figuratively and subjectively accessible to the younger audience of listeners), it is
intended for execution by children themselves, which determines the features of its structure,
the composition of the participants and some characteristic features of the musical language.
This article is an attempt to analyze this opus from the perspective of style guidelines and
musical language in the context of Russian music traditions.
Keywords
Azon Fattah, song art, song of the Soviet period, children’s opera, children’s theme, Sergei Prokofiev, “Peter and the Wolf”, “Brother Bunny”, composer’s style
