Fedor Yu. Bogdanov

The article is dedicated to the musical and poetic creativity of the talented Russian songwriter of the late XIX — early XX century M.I. Ozhegov. It is emphasized that, being a native of the peasants of the village of Mikhino in the Nolinsk district of the Vyatka province, Ozhegov knew the life of a poor peasant well and spoke about it with great sympathy in his beautiful poems and songs. M.I. Ozhegov did not have the opportunity to receive a systematic general and musical education and received all knowledge mainly through self-education.

The self-taught poet wrote more than a hundred "songs in the spirit of the people of his region", some of which, having high artistic merits, became popular songs and romances and were included in the repertoire of such outstanding Russian singers of the past as F.I. Chaliapin, S.Y. Lemeshev, N.A. Obukhova, A.V. Nezhdanova. They are still heard today in the concert programs of modern "romantics of romance".

The article discusses the most important milestones in the biography of Ozhegov, who went through a difficult life path from a peasant from the Vyatka hinterland to a famous Moscow poet-songwriter, author of several poetry books, compiler of popular collections of songs published in thousands of copies, an active participant in the Surikov literary and musical circle. The article highlights the history of the creation and song existence of the best works of Ozhegov's musical and poetic heritage, which received a second life as songs and romances, became almost folk. It is noted that the merits of M.I. Ozhegov in the field of poetic creativity was evaluated by the "Literaturnaya Gazeta" 1930, calling him "an original and probably the only song writer in Russian literature".

The article is aimed to reveal the cultural context of a key scene in one of the paintings of Vladimir Mayakovsky's play "The Bug" ("Klop"), written in 1928. As a result of analyze the text of this scene, which is a satirical stylization of one of the stanzas of M.I. Ozhegov's popular romance at that time, and the corresponding musical fragment from the music created by Dmitry Shostakovich for the play, it was revealed that not only the poet used the words of M.I. Ozhegov, but also the composer borrowed the melody of the romance of this peasant songwriter.

The article focuses on studying the origin and existence of urban romance song melodies used by Igor Stravinsky in the musical score of his ballet “Petrushka” (1910–1911). It examines the most important events surrounding Stravinsky during the creation of the ballet score, which is considered one of the composer’s unsurpassed masterpieces. Various opinions about the ballet are presented, including a controversial statement by Stravinsky’s contemporary, Sergei Prokofiev. The article outlines how Stravinsky employed new artistic means to create a vivid and noisy sound palette of the Maslenitsa festivities in St. Petersburg of the 1830s, with street melodies taken from urban folklore serving as the centerpiece. Among such melodies was the song “Chudnїy mesyats” [“A Wondrous Moon”] written by the poet and songwriter M. I. Ozhegov (1860–1934) — which is specially highlighted. The author draws attention to the gap in musicological studies: though being part of the ballet “Petrushka” score, Ozhegov’s urban romance has lacked a musical analysis, as well as detailed information concerning its creation and authorship. The article fills this gap, clarifying and correcting the currently available information in the studies related to Stravinsky’s composition.