In the dictionary of literary terms there is such a thing as "elegy". There is a similar term in music. What unites them, what are the differences - a very interesting question. In addition, the definition of "elegiac" is often correlated with painting, sculpture, found in cinematography.
Lexical word evolution
Like most concepts related to the field of art, elegia came to us from the ancient Greek language. This word originally denoted funeral funeral songs, accompanied by loud sobs of mourners and the despondent sounds of aulos
(wind instrument, prototype of an oboe). Then, when such rituals became obsolete, so began to be called
musical-textual works of sad tonality. Their content consisted of complaints of unrequited love, loss of a friend, longing for loneliness. So a special lyrical genre gradually formed - elegy. This made it possible to classify its varieties and subspecies, to determine the characteristic features.
The meaning of the term
As you can see, the strict separation of music from the text is not yet observed in the initial use of the term. It will arise a little later, when aesthetics - the science of beauty - will reveal the genus-specific features of different areas of art. It was then that it became customary to believe that elegy is a lyrical genre of literary work. In ancient poetry, poems consisting of several stanzas were called so. Each included 2 lines, not united by a rhyme (white verse). The first was written with a hexameter, the second with a pentameter. A similar way of design has long been entrenched in ancient poetic practice. Moreover, distich steel was called none other than elegiac. It was he who developed the tradition of expressing philosophical thoughts, expressing everyday complaints. Thus, in the era of antiquity it was believed that elegy is a lyrical work that goes back to the epic and reflects certain moods of the author.
Varieties of the genre
The content of poems related to this genre is quite diverse. In ancient Greece, the most popular were philosophical, military, political, accusatory. On ancient Roman soil, the love elegy was best established. This genre exists and is actively developing now. On its basis, many directions of modern poetry arose. A classic examples are still Ovid's poems. All the characteristic features are clearly visible in them: an element of intimacy, friendliness and confidence in the reader, sadness and disappointment, forebodings of a lonely, homeless death and complaints about life, about unjust blows of fate. His philosophical and love elegies are especially characteristic in this regard.
"From Romulus to the present day"
The genre is experiencing a new rise in poetry of the late Renaissance and in subsequent centuries. And his heyday is associated with such areas in art as sentimentalism and romanticism. Increased emotionality, mental aggravation, some pessimism, melancholy thoughtfulness make up the meaning of the word “elegy”. In Russian literature, Baratynsky, Zhukovsky, Batyushkov stand at its origins. The poem "Rural cemetery" - a reflection on the mortality of earthly human life, on the darkness of oblivion, written by V. A. Zhukovsky (a free translation of the poetic lines by T. Gray) marked a fascination with sentimentalism in the domestic elegant literature. And then another elegy was presented to the general public, which also became a classic example - “Sea”.
Later, Pushkin, Lermontov, Nekrasov, Tyutchev and Fet enriched world poetry with their deep, soulful lyric poems. It’s enough to recall the famous “Crazy years faded fun” and “October 19”, “Sadly I look at our generation” and “What a sadness! The end of the alley ... ”- and it becomes clear how wide the possibilities of the genre are, what philosophical depth and dramatic intensity he acquired over time. But there is still Blok, symbolist poets ... And although the dynamic 20th century has somewhat suppressed elegiac sophistication and unhurried dimensionality, they gradually return to literature.
Elegy as a musical genre
At the same time, this genre is increasingly being implemented in music. It becomes independent in the 17th century. And Beethoven’s work was marked by the creation of true masterpieces. Who will be impressed by the stunning, touching “To Eliza”, for example! Yes, and List, Grieg, Glinka, Borodin, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff made their invaluable contribution to the popularization of elegy. On its basis, a new genre was born - urban romance, and later - a lyric song.
Now it’s hard to imagine that many pop songs, including quite dynamic ones, are “descendants” of gentle, touching elegies. The idol of pop music, the Italian composer T. Cutugno, worked a lot and productively in this genre. Moldavian Soviet classic E. Doga, Russian - I. Krutoy, Latvian - R. Pauls - each in their own way gave the world amazing, talented melodies, listening to which, our souls become more beautiful, like their amazing music.