The history of the creation of domra. Domra - musical instrument - history, photo, video

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Domra - old Russian musical instrument whose peak of popularity came in the 16th century. This instrument, small in size, with a bright sound and rich artistic and technical capabilities, was especially liked by the buffoons, thanks to which the domra got into the thick of people's life.

In the old days in Rus', the workshop production of domra was well established. They were sold at all bazaars and fairs. In Moscow, for example, there was a whole "house row" where they bought tools for the royal court. The capital also had a "Fun Chamber", where the musical entertainment of the Moscow sovereigns was served by a special staff of people - buffoons, singers, dancers, performers on various instruments. Talented musicians, composers from among buffoons and craftsmen who made instruments were recruited here. It was here that new types of domra appeared - domrishka, domra, bass domra.

It is worth noting that Ivan the Terrible was very fond of the game of "domracheev" and "guselniks". According to a number of sources, he enthusiastically listened to the performances of these people and even danced to their music. However, the 17th century brought an unpleasant surprise to the domraches and buffoons: the proteges of the Vatican, the Romanovs, came to power in the Russian state, for whom Russian traditions were largely alien. And if Mikhail Fedorovich, the first of the Romanovs, was busy analyzing the consequences of the Time of Troubles and he simply did not get his hands on musical matters, then Alexei Mikhailovich, both the situation and his hands, did their dirty deed in the history of domra.

Under pressure from church hierarchs, the tsar began to stop playing folk instruments: first they began to fine the players, then “beat the batogs”. But all this only narrowed the scale of folk festivals, and did not eradicate them. Only when Patriarch Nikon appeared in the tsar's entourage did they take the domracheev seriously. In 1647-49. Alexei Mikhailovich issued a series of special acts aimed at eradicating "paganism" and raising the authority of the Russian Orthodox Church, alien to the Russian people. In 1648, he issued a decree “On the Correction of Morals and the Destruction of Superstitions”, which prescribed: if domras and other “demonic” instruments appear anywhere, they should be seized and burned, and their owners should be arrested, beaten, exiled. The governor who disobeyed was expected by "great disgrace". An example of such a harsh fight against buffoonery is the well-known precedent when, at the behest of Patriarch Nikon, five carts loaded to the top with musical instruments were taken across the Moscow River and publicly burned there.

The diligent execution of the royal decree, poisoned to all ends of the Russian Land, led to the fact that the voice of domra fell silent for two centuries. The domra was revived by Vasily Vasilyevich Andreev, modeled on a stringed musical instrument with an oval body, found in 1896 in the Vyatka province. V.V. Andreev wrote: “I took one of the structures used by the people for the domra - the so-called “discord”, that is, only three strings in a mutual ratio per quart.” Later, thanks to the closest associate of V. Andreev, pianist and composer Nikolai Petrovich Fomin, a family of domras was created, which became part of the Russian orchestra - piccolo, small, alto, bass, contrabass.

To expand the range of domra, attempts were made to improve it constructively. In 1908, at the suggestion of the conductor G. Lyubimov, master S. Burov created a four-string domra with a fifth system. "Domra Prima" received a violin range, but, unfortunately, was inferior to the "three-string" in terms of timbre and color. Subsequently, its ensemble varieties and an orchestra of four-string domras also appeared.

Structurally, domra, like many other stringed instruments, consists of two main parts: a hemispherical body and a neck. The main parts of the body are the body and the deck. The body is formed by gluing seven (rarely nine) strips of wood - rivets. The deck closes the body from above and is edged around the edges with a shell. On the body there are buttons for fastening the strings and a saddle that protects the soundboard from the pressure of the stretched strings. In the center of the soundboard, closer to the neck, there are seven round resonator holes (one large and six small around). As a rule, they are called a “resonator hole” (for ease of speech), a “voice box” or a “socket”. Above the soundboard, near the fingerboard, there is a hinged shell that protects the soundboard from damage during playing. For ease of play and protection of the soundboard at the point of contact of the forearm right hand an armrest can be attached to the body.

A stand is located between the resonator hole and the bottom saddle. It supports the strings and transmits their vibrations to the body. The neck is inserted into the body and fixed in it. An overlay is glued on top of the neck, and a nut is attached at the junction of the headstock with the neck of the neck. Thin transverse cuts are applied to the overlay, into which metal sills are inserted. The gaps between the metal nut are called frets. Their ordinal count starts from the top. There are 19-26 frets on the small domra, about 19 on the other three-string ones. On the domra, we will take 24-30 frets, on the other four-string ones - about 19. There are peg rollers on the headstock for fixing the strings. Their tension is regulated by the rotation of the pegs.

The height of the strings above the fingerboard depends on the location of the bridge and the nut. Strings that are too high off the fretboard make it difficult to play the instrument, they are difficult to press on the frets. On the stand and on the nut, recesses (slots) are made for the strings. The stand is mounted on the deck at a precisely defined location. Domra strings are traditionally more elastic for fingers than, say, balalaika strings. Steel strings are used for playing, as well as synthetic ones. The sound is produced with a mediator.

When did domra appear? Where did the word "domra" come from?

Why is domra considered a Russian folk instrument?

The history of the creation of the domra instrument (accessible to children).

Description of the musical instrument "domra".

Domra is an old Russian 3- or 4-stringed plucked musical instrument, consisting of a body, neck and head, the sound from which is extracted using a mediator.

The history of the emergence of domra is full of mysteries - references to this Russian folk instrument have been preserved in chronicles, in ancient palace records and in popular prints of the 16th-17th centuries, from which it is obvious that domra was already a fairly common instrument in Rus' at that time.

Documentary evidence is found in the Vitebsk governor A. Gvagnin, who wrote in 1582 about Muscovites and Russians who “handle pandurs without any art”, calling the domra “pandura” - a lute-like instrument common in those days in Europe. This document is one of the confirmations that domra is a relative of ancient European stringed-plucked instruments.

- lutes, varieties of which have been used since ancient times in the cultures of Egypt, the Hittite kingdom, Greece, Rome, Bulgaria, China, Cilicia, and then in Persia, Armenia, Byzantium and the Arab Caliphate;

On domras, harps, violins, “domrachei”, “goosemen”, “skrypotchiki”, “hornmen” and other musicians entertained the people at all kinds of festivities and folk festivals, accompanied by epics, legends, songs. Domra also supported the melodic line in folk songs.

But popular love and popularity played a bad service to domra ... In the middle of the 17th century, a dramatic moment comes in the history of domra. Buffoons in their speeches did not hesitate to raise social problems, which were ridiculed in a rather free satirical form. Naturally, both the authorities and the church could not like all this:
"The games are trampled down, and the churches are empty."

The performances of buffoons were declared "demonic games". In 1648, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich issued a famous decree on the mass extermination of innocent instruments - tools of "demonic games":
“And where will domras, and surns, and beeps, and psaltery, and hari, and all sorts of buzzing vessels ... ordered them to seize and, having broken those demonic games, ordered them to burn.”

Hardly any other musical instrument in the history of mankind has been subjected to such a monstrous extermination. Domry burned, broke, destroyed. She was forgotten for more than two centuries ...

"Resurrected" domra only in late XIX century thanks to the talented musician Vasily Vasilyevich Andreev, the creator of the first Great Russian orchestra, composer and conductor, whose name enjoys the great and well-deserved love of millions of music lovers.

In 1896, a small stringed instrument with a rounded body shape was accidentally found in the Vyatka province, which soon fell into the hands of Andreev. Comparing the tool with the images in old popular prints and engravings, and with the description in old documents, Andreev suggested that it contains a long-sought domra. The rehabilitated domra was included in the balalaika ensemble, and then in the famous Great Russian Orchestra of Folk Instruments by V. Andreev, as the main orchestral instrument: the domra group was entrusted with a melodic function. According to the instructions of V.V. Andreev, a family of domras of different sizes was created - piccolo, small, viola, bass and double bass.

Until the middle of the twentieth century, domra was used mainly as an orchestral instrument. In 1945, N. Budashkin wrote the Concerto for domra with an orchestra of Russian folk instruments in g-moll.

N. Budashkin Concerto for domra. Use A. Tsygankov

For the first time at a high professional level, the composer managed to emphasize the rich technical and expressive possibilities of the instrument, brilliant virtuosity and at the same time lyricism, sincerity of timbre in the unique sound of domra tremolo. From this moment, the domra begins its " solo career”and is very successfully moving forward not only as a folk, but also as a solo academic, and then a jazz instrument.

Domra is an old Russian plucked stringed musical instrument. His fate is amazing and unique in its kind.

Where it came from, how and when domra appeared in Rus', still remains a mystery to researchers. In historical sources, little information about domra has been preserved, even fewer images of ancient Russian domra have come down to us. And whether domras are depicted on documents that have come down to us, or some other plucked instruments common in those days, is also unknown. The first mention of domra was found in the sources of the 16th century. They talk about domra as an instrument that was already quite common in Rus' at that time.

At the moment, there are two most probable versions of the origin of domra. The first and most common is the version about the eastern roots of Russian domra. Indeed, instruments similar in design and method of sound extraction existed and still exist in the musical cultures of the countries of the East. If you have seen or heard the Kazakh dombra, Turkish baglama or Tajik rubab, then you might have noticed that they all have a round or oval shape, a flat soundboard, the sound is extracted by means of plectrum strikes of different frequency and intensity. It is generally accepted that all these instruments had one ancestor - the eastern tanbur. It was the tanbur that had an oval shape and a flat soundboard; they played it with a special chip, carved from improvised materials - a plectrum. Presumably, the instrument, which later transformed into a domra, was brought either during the time of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, or in the course of trade relations with the countries of the East. And the very name "domra" undoubtedly has a Turkic root.

Another version proceeds from the assumption that domra leads its pedigree from the European lute. In principle, in the Middle Ages, any stringed plucked instrument that had a body, neck and strings was called a lute. The lute, in turn, also originated from an oriental instrument - the Arabic al-ud. Perhaps the appearance and design of the domra was influenced by the instruments of the Western, European, Slavs, for example, the Polish-Ukrainian kobza and its improved version - the bandura. Just the bandura borrowed a lot directly from the lute. Given that the Slavs in the Middle Ages were constantly in complex historical and cultural relationships, of course, domra can also be considered akin to all European stringed-plucked instruments of that time.

Thus, based on the knowledge and research accumulated to date, we can conclude that the domra was a typical Russian instrument that combined, like much in the culture and history of our state, both European and Asian features.

Nevertheless, whatever the true origin of the domra, it is well established that an instrument with this name existed in Rus' and was an integral part of Russian culture in the 16th-17th centuries. It was played by buffoon musicians, as evidenced by the well-known proverb to researchers “I am glad the buffoons are about their domras”. Moreover, at the royal court there was a whole “Amusement Chamber”, a kind of musical and entertainment group, the basis of which were buffoons with their domras, harps, horns and other ancient Russian musical instruments.

It is also known that domra and domra performers - buffoons and "domrachi", enjoyed considerable popularity among the people. All kinds of celebrations, festivities and folk festivals at all times and among all peoples were accompanied by songs and playing musical instruments. In Rus' in the Middle Ages, entertaining the people was the lot of "domracheev", "goosemen", "skrypotchikov" and other musicians. On domra, like a harp, they accompanied the folk epos, epics, legends, and in folk songs the domra supported the melodic line. It is authentically known that handicraft production of domras and domra strings was established, records of the deliveries of which to the court and to Siberia are preserved in historical documents ...

Presumably, the technology for making domra was as follows: a body was hollowed out from a single piece of wood, a stick-vulture was attached to it, strings or animal veins were pulled. They played with a sliver, a feather, a fish bone. A relatively simple technology, apparently, allowed the instrument to be widely used in Rus'.

But here in the history of domra comes the most dramatic moment. The ministers of the church considered the performances of buffoons "demonic games." In 1648, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich issued a decree on the mass extermination of innocent instruments - the tools of "demonic games", which reads: "And where will domras, and surnas, and horns, and gusli, and hari, and all sorts of hooting vessels<…>ordered to seize and, having broken those demonic games, ordered to burn. According to the German Traveler XVII century of Adam Olearius, the Russians were forbidden instrumental music in general, and once several carts loaded with instruments taken from the population were taken across the Moscow River and burned there. The domra players were ordered to "beat the batogs". Mostly buffoons were persecuted, but the punishment threatened not only them, but any person playing the domra.

Perhaps such a truly tragic twist of fate has not happened to any musical instrument in the world. So, whether as a result of barbaric extermination and prohibition, or for other reasons, but after the 17th century, researchers do not find any significant mention of the old domra. The history of the ancient Russian instrument ends here, and one could put an end to it, but ... Domra was destined to literally be reborn from the ashes!

This happened thanks to the activities of an outstanding researcher and musician, an unusually talented and extraordinary person - Vasily Vasilyevich Andreev. In 1896, in the Vyatka province, he discovered an unknown instrument with a hemispherical body. Assuming from it appearance that this is domra, he went to the famous master Semyon Ivanovich Nalimov. Together they developed the design of a new instrument, based on the shape and design of the found one. Historians are still arguing about whether the instrument found by Andreev was really an old domra. Nevertheless, the instrument reconstructed in 1896 was called "domra". round body, middle length fretboard, three strings, quart system - this is how the reconstructed domra looked like.

By that time, Andreev already had a balalaika orchestra. But in order to realize his brilliant idea, the Great Russian Orchestra needed a leading melodic group of instruments, and the restored domra, with its new capabilities, was ideal for this role. In connection with the history of the creation of the Great Russian Orchestra, it is worth mentioning one more outstanding person, without whom, perhaps, the idea would not have found its embodiment. This is the pianist and professional composer Nikolai Petrovich Fomin, Andreev's closest associate. Thanks to professional approach Fomin Andreev's circle, at first amateur, studied musical notation, stood on a professional basis and then conquered listeners both in Russia and abroad with their performances. And if Andreev was primarily a generator of ideas, then Fomin became the person thanks to whom, in fact, domras and balalaikas embarked on the path of development as full-fledged academic instruments.

But back to domra. In the period 1896-1890. V. Andreev and S. Nalimov designed ensemble varieties of domra. And the first few decades after its new birth, domra developed in line with orchestral and ensemble performance.

However, almost immediately, some limitations on the capabilities of the Andreev domra were revealed, in connection with which attempts were made to improve it constructively. The main task was to expand the range of the tool. In 1908, at the suggestion of the conductor G. Lyubimov, master S. Burov created a four-string domra with a fifth system. The “four-string” received a violin range, but, unfortunately, was inferior to the “three-string” in terms of timbre and color. Subsequently, its ensemble varieties and an orchestra of four-string domras also appeared.

Interest in domra grew every year, musical and technical horizons expanded, virtuoso musicians appeared. Finally, in 1945, the first instrumental concerto for domra with an orchestra of Russian folk instruments was created. The famous concerto in g-moll by Nikolai Budashkin was written at the request of the accompanist of the orchestra. Osipov Alexey Simonenkov. This event opened new era in the history of domra. With the advent of the first instrumental concert, domra becomes a solo, virtuoso instrument.

In 1948, the first department of folk instruments in Russia was opened in Moscow at the State Musical and Pedagogical Institute named after I.I. Gnesins. The first domra teacher was the outstanding composer Yu. Shishakov, and then the young soloists of the orchestra named after. Osipova V. Miromanov and A. Alexandrov - the creator of the first school of playing the three-stringed domra. Thanks to the higher professional education the originally folk instrument domra in a short time passed the path on the academic stage, on which the instruments of the symphony orchestra took centuries (after all, the violin was once a folk instrument!).

Domra performance is moving forward at a gigantic pace. In 1974, the I All-Russian competition of performers on folk instruments was held, the winners of the competition were outstanding virtuoso domrists - Alexander Tsygankov and Tamara Volskaya (see the Interview section), creative activity which for decades to come determined the direction of development of domra art both in the field of performance itself and in the domra repertoire.

Today, domra is a young promising instrument with a huge, primarily musical and expressive potential, which has truly Russian roots and, nevertheless, has risen to the heights of the academic genre. What will be his further fate? The word is yours, dear domrists!

Vera Mahan, 2008-2016.
Reprint of the article is possible only with the name of the author
and a link to the source - the Domrist website.

"Domra and domra art at the turn of the century" - author Vera Mahan (excerpts from the diploma essay of 2000, ed. 2006).

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Domra instrument: description, history

This stringed plucked instrument is characterized by an oval body and a medium length neck. The domra instrument is part of an orchestra of folk instruments. There are several types:

• piccolo,
• small,
• bass,
• alto,
• contrabass.

By the number of strings, two types of domra are distinguished:

• three-string - quart system e1, a1, d2;
• four-string - fifth system g, d1, a1, e2, similar to a mandolin or violin.

According to various sources, the appearance of this folk musical instrument is attributed to the 10th and 16th centuries. In the Middle Ages in Rus', domra was the main instrument of buffoon actors and folk musicians. In the 17th century, the domra instrument was banned by church and secular authorities, which led to its gradual disappearance.

At the end of the 19th century, V.V. Andreev, the leader of the first orchestra of Russian folk instruments, who was interested in various Russian folk instruments, found an image of a domra. Andreev later restored the instrument from this image. In addition, he created a whole family of domras, similar to the balalaika family. This instrument has a bright, colorful and original sound.

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Domra is an ancient Russian musical instrument. Etymological searches in related Slavic languages ​​show that the term "domra" is not of Slavic origin, because. there are no such roots.

Domra is an ancient Russian musical instrument. Etymological searches in related Slavic languages ​​show that the term "domra" is not of Slavic origin, because. there are no such roots. Probably the word "domra" is of Turkic origin (tanbur, dombur, dunbara, dumbra, dombra, domb, domra).

Scientists suggest that the ancient ancestor of our Russian domra was an Egyptian instrument, which received the name "pandura" from Greek historians, and was in use already several millennia before our time. This instrument, called "tanbur", probably came to us through Persia, which traded with the Transcaucasus.

At different peoples there are still instruments close to domra: Georgians have chunguri and panduri, southern Slavs have tanbura, Ukrainians have bandura, Turkmens have duatar, Mongols have dombur, Kyrgyz and Tatars have dumra, Ostyaks have dombra, Kalmyks have - domr. In Europe, such instruments penetrated in the early Middle Ages and received the name lute. It was the lute that later became the ancestor of such multi-stringed instruments as the viola, mandolin, and guitar.

The first information about the existence of a musical instrument of the tanbur-like type among the ancient Rus belongs to the pen of Arab travelers of the 9th-10th centuries. Without having, however, a direct indication that we are talking about domra, we can put forward a hypothesis about the presence of such an instrument among the Eastern Slavs.

The first Russian historical written evidence of domra can be considered an entry in an old Novgorod book of the late 15th - early 16th centuries about Kalinka - "domra". In the census documents of this period, the professions "domrachi" and "house-keeper" are found repeatedly.

The direct name of the instrument is found only in the monuments of the 17th century. In 1627, the Russian painter Simon Ushakov compiled a description of the ancient wall painting of the Faceted Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin (the construction of which dates back to 1487-1491). In the description, Ushakov twice mentions the name of the instrument: "a man plays domra" and "people sit near the table on a bench and play the harp and violins and flute and bagpipes and domra."

There are repeated references to domra in the administrative documentation of the 17th century: in decrees, letters, memoirs, messages. In them, domra appears as an attribute of the buffoon craft, usually in combination with other instruments: psaltery, bagpipes, surns, tambourines, etc.

By the same time, the sayings "a number of skomrakh about their domra" belong. "to love is a game, to buy is domra", "Yerema has a harp, Foma has domra". They give reason to assume that the stress in the name of the instrument fell on the last "a".

So, in various literary sources of Russian origin, the word "domra" appears. In addition, we have options for the names "domrishka", "domra big bass". Probably others were also used: alto, tenor domras.

Based on the materials, one can come to the conclusion about the popularity of domra not only among the people, but also in the palace life of the 17th century. In the reign of Mikhail Fedorovich, at the palace amusement chamber, next to the guselniks and bahars, there were domrachis. Such names as Bogdan Putyata, Andreyushka Fedorov, Vaska Stepanov and others are repeatedly mentioned.

The main performers on domra were buffoons and they were not only musicians, but also actors, dancers, acrobats and jokers. (The word "buffoon" itself comes from the Arabic "maskhora" - laughter, mockery.) Ancient Rus' Veliky Novgorod became the center of the buffoon settlement. Representatives of this profession enjoyed great honor in the "free" city.

Buffoons were the main instigators of songs and dances. With their fun and "buzz" they not only entertained the people, but also forced them to imitate themselves. Therefore, during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, nicknamed "the quietest", at the initiative of the patriarch, persecution of singers and buffoons began.

The ascetic Byzantines believed that the Russians, who were very fond of singing and music, began to abuse this art, singing all sorts of "scandalous songs." Music and its tools were recognized as "damned inventions of the devil", the musician was considered a direct servant of Satan and was called "shpyn".

Beginning in 1648, a series of royal decrees that banned instrumental music. In Moscow, it was ordered to collect all the tools, and when they were collected, they loaded 5 wagons with them and took them across the Moscow River and burned them there. Since then, the singers of spiritual verses have become of paramount importance at the court.

Despite the fairly frequent mention of domra, the image of this instrument has not come down to us. Because for a long time did not know what kind of instruments to attribute it to. Only at the end of the last century in the Vyatka province was found a small stringed instrument with a rounded body shape. The instrument soon fell into the hands of Vasily Vasilyevich Andreev, who at that time was engaged in the search and restoration of samples of ancient Russian instruments that were preserved among the people.

Andreev, by comparing the found tool with images on old popular prints and engravings, as well as from the description, suggested in it a long-sought domra. It was on this Vyatka model that the half-forgotten Russian domra was recreated in 1896, which received a fourth system and a full chromatic scale. In 1896-1900. based on this domra V.V. Andreev in collaboration with F.S. Paserbsky and S.I. Nalimov created a whole family of domras from piccolo to double bass.

In 1908, G.P. Lyubimov, together with master S.F. Burov, based on the reconstructed domra Andreev, created a four-string domra with a fifth system. In 1914, a quartet was organized from such domras, and in 1919 - an orchestra. The appearance of this instrument is caused by the increased need to increase the sound range of domra. The commonality of the structure with the mandolin and violin makes available to her a huge repertoire written for these instruments.

The sound of a four-string domra is relatively weaker, which is caused by the design features of multi-string instruments, therefore, at present, three-string domra are used in balalaika-domra orchestras, although four-string ones are not uncommon. Four-stringed domras are most popular in Ukraine.

Due to their performance capabilities, domras in the orchestra constitute the main melodic group. In addition, domra finds its application as a solo instrument. Concert pieces and works are written for her. Unfortunately, domra is not very popular as a folk instrument in Russia and Ukraine; it is almost never found in villages.