“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.
In Full Score
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 164106
for: 4 recorders (SATB quartet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 549336
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 159913
Piano Solo
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 316968
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 457008
for: 2 Violas and Piano
Book
Item no.: 163206
for: Cello, piano
Item no.: 156032
for: 2 violins, piano
Item no.: 299118
op. 3, 23, 32
G. Schirmer’s Library of Musical Classics
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 208880
for: 2 pianos
Piano reduction (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 1552161
Edition Peters Green Series
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 378364
Reduction for 2 pianos
for: Piano, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 197741
Rubank Solo-Ensemble Sheet
for: Flute
Music score
Item no.: 1107089
'Procession of the Princes' [from Mlada]
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1208830
Klassik
for: Baritone Voice and Guitar
Buch
Item no.: 837303
Lehrhilfsmittel
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 971682
Lehrhilfsmittel
for: Clarinet
Music score
Item no.: 971642
G Schirmer Collection of Oper
Lyric book
Item no.: 318323
Great Classics
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 890016
Curnow Music Concert Band
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 956264
for: Tubaquartett
Book
Item no.: 1143015
The Orchestra Musician's CD-ROM Library - Flute
for: Flute
CD-ROM
Item no.: 1204332
Studienpartitur (2 Bände)
for: Symphonic orchestra
2 Study scores
Item no.: 1344923
for: 5 clarinets (quintet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1667301
Polonaise, Op. 49
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1668815
Orchester
Studienpartitur
for: Orchestra
Taschenpartitur
Item no.: 1356754
complete version
for: Brass ensemble (17 parts), percussion
Score
Item no.: 1665174
for: Concert band
Score, Set of parts
Item no.: 1639499
for: Violin, piano
Book
Item no.: 1204719
for: Oboe, concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1641202
Southern Music
for: Alto saxophone (E-flat)
Music score
Item no.: 924246
Aus der Apokalypse
Repertoire Explorer
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 1345161
from "Album für die Jugend"
for: Flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon (wind quintet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1631908
Hymnen und Choräle
for: Voice, piano
Book
Item no.: 1204546
for: Mixed choir (SATB); piano ad lib.
Choir score
Item no.: 1038824
Harjanne's Collection
for: Trumpet, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 1022471
for: 5 brass winds
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1531117
Sound Spectacular
70 Repertoire Favorities for Young Players
for: Clarinet; piano ad lib.
Music score
Item no.: 691221
Book
Item no.: 1203634
Klassik
for: 2 Oboes, English Horn and Bassoon
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1531032
Reprint
Repertoire Explorer
Study Score 1006
for: 2 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos (sextet)
Study score
Item no.: 1344755
für 2 Violinen, 2 Viola und 2 Violoncelli
Partitur und Stimmen
for: KAMMERMUSIK STREICHINSTRUMENTE SEXTETTE
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1344334
sinfonisches Blasorchester
Direktion
for: Concert band
Direktion
Item no.: 890600
Klassik
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1591221
Klassik
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1591244
Klassik
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 988085
op.91
Festive Music
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 676451
Goodmusic Concert Classics
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 951755