Home → Releases → 3 (59) →

FROM ANACREONTIC TO GYPSY SONG: THE STORY OF THE ROMANCE «A YOUNG, CHARMING AGE…» FROM THE STORY «THE END OF CHERTOPKHANOV» BY I. S. TURGENEV

Literary Science , UDC: 821.161.1Тургенев.091 DOI: 10.24412/2076-913X-2025-359-7-19

Authors

  • Belyaeva Irina A. D. Sc. (Philology)
  • Ushakova Ekaterina I.

Annotation

In I. S. Turgenev’s story «The End of Chertopkhanov» an important plot element is the denouement of the love line: gypsy Masha, leaving Chertopkhanov, sings a song «A young, charming Age...» as a sign of farewell. The choice of song seems to be deeply justified: the song has a long history, there is a complex of associated associations that actualize the motif of freedom in Turgenev’s story. An analysis of the history of the song, which Turgenev uses as a gypsy song, makes it possible to clarify its role in the structure of the story. The text of the song «A young, charming Age...» (also known as «Song», «Aria») belongs to N. M. Konshin. Konshin pointed out one line of the piece, to the melody of which the «Song» was to be performed. The source of the song is the anacreontic poem «Le delire bachique» by the French chansonnier M.-A.-M. Désaugiers. Désaugiers’ work was known in Russia, and the article provides evidence of the acquaintance of the literary circle in which Konshin moved with the work of this French author. The «Song» celebrates love as transitory, but the only value of this world. Konshin’s poem presumably inherited from the original source a meaning that was clear to contemporaries: the appeal to enjoy love is a protest against the oppression of the surrounding reality (Désaugiers’ songs were written during the reign of Napoleon I), which confirms the reception of Désaugiers’ poems in the critical works of S. O. de Sainte-Beuve and A. S. Pushkin. The transformation of the Anacreontic song into a popular song, included in the Gypsy repertoire, is associated with the name of A. L. Gurilev. Around the 1830s, he wrote music to Konshin’s poems. The author of the words was gradually forgotten, and the song found a new life, becoming the hallmark of gypsy choirs. As a gypsy song, it was brought in by Turgenev to the text of the story «The End of Chertopkhanov», while retaining its freedom-loving meaning, complemented by the motif of longing.
Tags:
«A Sportsman’s sketches» , anacreontics , gypsy song , literature of the 19th century , M.-A.-M. Désaugiers , sources of the text , И.С. Тургенев , Н. М. Коншин

How to link insert

Belyaeva, I. A. & Ushakova, E. I. (2025). FROM ANACREONTIC TO GYPSY SONG: THE STORY OF THE ROMANCE «A YOUNG, CHARMING AGE…» FROM THE STORY «THE END OF CHERTOPKHANOV» BY I. S. TURGENEV Bulletin of the Moscow City Pedagogical University. Series "Pedagogy and Psychology", 3 (59), 7. https://doi.org/10.24412/2076-913X-2025-359-7-19
References
1. 1. Petrov, S. M. (1961). I. S. Turgenev: A creative path. Goslitizdat. (In Russ.).
2. 2. Sakharov, V. I. (2002). The folk: from poetry to truth. More about I. S. Turgenev’s «A Sportsman’s sketches». Library. Russian writer I. S. Turgenev. http://www.turgenev.org.ru/e-book/esho_o_zapiskah_ohotnika.htm (In Russ.).
3. 3. Prozorov, Yu. M. (2017). In search of Russian Identity. The National Character in I. S. Turgenev’s «A Sportsman’s sketches». Spassky Bulletin, (25), 5–28. (In Russ.).
4. 4. Volkova, A. A. (2016). Realistic embodiment of the Gypsy theme in Russian literature of the 19th century. Art Education and Science, (4), 19–27. (In Russ.).
5. 5. Kruglova, E. E. (2023). Malek-Adel’s horse as a problem-semantic focus of I. S. Turgenev’s short stories from «A Sportsman’s sketches». Animal life in mirror images: Literature – culture – language (p. 287–294). А collective monograph. A. I. Smirnova (Ed.). Knigodel, MСU. (In Russ.).
6. 6. Kirpichnikov, A. I. (1903). Essays on the history of new Russian literature. Knizhnoe delo. (In Russ.).
7. 7. Stepina, S. A. (2022). N. M. Konshin is an employee of the «Scientific Republic». Russian Literature, (2), 135–142. (In Russ.). https://www.doi.org/10.31860/0131-6095-2022-2-135-142
8. 8. Vatsuro, V. E. (1972). N. M. Konshin. The Poets of the 1820s and 1830s, 1, 348–350. L. Ya. Ginzburg (Ed.). Sovetsky pisatel. (In Russ.).
9. 9. Chronicle of the life and work of E. A. Boratynsky. 1800–1844. A. M. Peskov (Comp.). (1998). Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie. (In Russ.).
10. 10. Konshin, N. M. (1825). Song. Nevsky Almanac... edited by E. Aladin. ... for 1826, XXII, 187–188. (In Russ.).
11. 11. Konshin, N. M. (1972). Aria. The Poets of the 1820s and 1830s, 1, 362–363. L. Ya. Ginzburg (Ed.). Sovetsky pisatel. (In Russ.).
12. 12. Désaugiers, M.-A.-M. (1861). Chansons choisies de Désaugiers. Renault et C , libraires-éditeurs.
13. 13. Vatsuro, V. E. (2000). Pushkin’s time. Academichesky Proekt. (In Russ.).
14. 14. Turgenev, A. I. (1964). The chronicle of the Russian. Diaries (1825–1826). Edition prepared by M. I. Hillelson. Nauka. (In Russ.).
15. 15. Capelle, P. (1811). La clé du Caveau. Capelle et Renand.
16. 16. Nécrologie. M. Désaugiers (12 août 1827). Journal des débats politiques et littéraires, 3–4.
17. 17. Sainte-Beuve, C. A. de. (1er Juillet 1845). Poètes et romanciers modernes de la France. LI. Désaugiers. Revue des Deux Mondes, 11(1), 5–28.
18. 18. Pinkovsky, V. I. (2018). Poetry of the «New Cellar» (1806–1817): content, pathos, place in the cultural context of the epoch. Philological sciences. Questions of Theory and Practice, 9-2(87), 286–289. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.30853/filnauki.2018-9-2.16
19. 19. Pushkin, A. S. (1978). Complete works: in 10 vol. B. V. Tomashevsky (Ed.). Nauka. Vol. 7. (In Russ.).
20. 20. Goroshkov, M. N. (1971). The gymnasium years. N. A. Nekrasov in the memoirs of contemporaries (p. 33–38). V. V. Grigorenko, S. A. Makashin, S. I. Mashinsky, V .N. Orlov (Eds.). Hudozhestvennaya literatura. (In Russ.).
21. 21. Levasheva, O. E. (1988). A. L. Gurilev. The History of Russian Music: in 10 vols. Yu. V. Keldysh, O. E. Levasheva, A. I. Kandinsky (Eds.). Muzyka. Vol. 5, 169–184. (In Russ.).
22. 22. Gurilev, A. L. (1849). A young, charming age: Gypsy song for two voices with piano accompaniment. From M. Bernard. (In Russ.).
23. 23. Grigoriev, A. A. (1847). Gypsy concert. Moskovsky gorodskoj listok, 43, 174. (In Russ.).
24. 24. Shcherbakova, T. A. (1984). Gypsy musical performance and creativity in Russia. Muzyka. (In Russ.).
25. 25. Turgenev, I. S. (1979). Complete works and letters: in 30 vol. M. P. Alekseev (Ed.). Nauka. Vol. 3. (In Russ.).
26. 26. Andreeva, V. G. (2021). Epic synthesis in the late work of I. S. Turgenev. Scientific Dialogue, (11), 202–215. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2021-11-202-215
Download file .pdf 424.37 kb