On Gavriil Popov’s Symphony No. 1 (To the First Publication of the Score)

В статье рассматриваются вопросы, связанные с историей создания, исполнения, запрета и дискуссий вокруг Первой симфонии выдающегося отечественного композитора, выпускника Ленинградской консерватории Гавриила Николаевича Попова (1904–1972). Судьба сочинения оказалась трагической: исполненная лишь однажды, симфония была запрещена. Так произошла одна из первых «публичных казней» музыкального произведения — еще до печально известных публикаций об опере «Леди Макбет» и балете «Светлый ручей» Д. Шостаковича, положивших начало борьбе с «антинародным формалистическим направлением» в музыке. Долгие годы замалчивания привели к тому, что яркое достижение отечественной симфонической школы «выпало» из истории советского искусства. Усилиями музыковедов И. Барсовой, И. Ромащук, Е. Власовой, И. Воробьёва, дирижеров Г. Проваторова и А. Титова Первая симфония Попова была возрождена к жизни. Сейчас готовится к печати первое издание этого незаслуженно забытого произведения. The article discusses issues related to the history of creation, performance, prohibition and discussions which surrounded the First Symphony of the remarkable Russian composer Gavriil Popov. The fate of the composition turned out to be tragic: once performed, the symphony was banned. It was one of the first public “executions” of a musical work — even before the infamous articles of the newspaper Pravda about the opera Lady Macbeth and the ballet Light Stream by Dmitry Shostakovich, which marked the beginning of the struggle against the “anti-national, formalistic trend” in music. Long years of oblivion led to the fact that the Symphony “fell out” of the history of Soviet music. Through the efforts of such musicologists as Inna Barsova, Inna Romashchuk, Yekaterina Vlasova, Igor Vorobyov, conductors Gennady Provatorov and Alexander Titov, Popov’s First Symphony was revitalized. And now the question arises regarding the first publication of this undeservedly forgotten outstanding work of the Soviet music.

Arno Babajanian: “Radicalisms” of the 1960s

Пришедшие в отечественную музыку в 1960-е годы западные новации были встречены бурной критикой со стороны хранителей «чистоты» советского искусства. Композиторы и их сочинения, созданные с применением новых техник, рассматривались как идеологически опасные. Однако творческие эксперименты некоторых авторов получили официальное одобрение. Среди них был А. Бабаджанян, который в равной степени уловил модные тенденции времени как в сфере академической музыки (додекафония в «Шести картинах»), так и в сфере массовой эстрадной песни (твисты «Королева красоты» и «Лучший город земли»). В статье анализируются его новации в обеих областях. Western innovations that came to Soviet music in 1960s were met with harsh criticism from the guardians of the “purity” of Soviet art. Composers and their works, which were created using avant-garde techniques, were considered as dangerous for soviet ideoLogy. However, creative experiments of some authors have received approval Among them was A. Babajanian, who picked up the modern tendencies both in the academic music (dodecaphony in “Six Pictures”) and mass pop song (twists “KoroLeva krasoty” and “Luchshiy gorod zemLi”). His innovations in these two areas are anaLyzed in the articLe.

Shostakovich’s Topics

The study of musical signification constitutes an important key for the comprehension of Shostakovich’s music. This becomes particularly evident when one observes that social and political background plays an important role in his compositional process through the configuration of specific musical topics on structural positions of his music. These specific topics have arisen after cultural and social events during the establishment of the Soviet Union and became typical elements of the Soviet Music. This paper aims to show the function of these elements as compositional roots in the creative concept of Shostakovich’s music. The rising of the concept of musical topic after Leonard Ratner (1980) has opened new paths for a consistent comprehension of the musical discourse, identifying social and cultural signs that may articulate ideas which go beyond the music itself: ideology, criticism and politics became elements of musical expression, composing a new soundscape of music in Revolutionary Russia.

“Forces for peace because of the magic in them”: Processes of Anglo-Soviet musical exchange c.1959-1974

Musical histories of the Cold War frequently emphasise the impact of American musical tours to socialist countries and the ‘weaponisation’ of modernist music, supposedly representative of the cultural freedom exclusive to the capitalist West, against the strict confines of Socialist Realism. This narrative, however, denies the vast output of classical music from the USSR and the brilliance of Soviet classical musicians, who consistently dominated international music competitions.   This paper explores the British reception of visiting Soviet classical musicians to the UK from a multi-layered perspective. Starting with an analysis of the ways Anglo-Soviet musical exchanges were carried out through official government agreements, it goes beyond the traditional political focus to highlight the hitherto neglected role of British impresarios Victor and Lilian Hochhauser in coordinating Anglo-Soviet musical exchanges, and their fundamental importance to the success of such performances in Britain. It also examines interactions between Soviet and British musicians, and the relevance of these relationships to cultural diplomacy more broadly. The final section explores how Soviet music was presented to British audiences in programme notes and received in the broadsheet press. 

The role of E. Mravinsky in the triumph of Shostakovich’s Symphony No 5

The author reconsiders the interpretation of the concept of Shostakovich’s Symphony No 5 based on the fact that the composition was created during Stalin’s Great Terror of the 1930s and after a harsh criticism of his compositions by the Communist Party and the USSR government in the early 1930s. During the creation of the Symphony No 5, the Soviet music experts defined its concept as a celebration of a “happy” life of Soviet people, However, in the author’s opinion, the symphony has another idea. The researcher notes that the triumph of the Symphony No 5 in the global culture had happened only owing to the director’s interpretation by Yevgeny Mravinsky during the premiere at Leningrad Philharmonic Hall on November 21, 1937, after which the Symphony was performed all over the world and became the gold standard of the Soviet music. Probably, Shostakovich intended to create an optimistic finale for the Symphony. But there are many examples when the composer’s goal doesn’t correspond with the final result. The author provides the conclusion that almost all music experts, who analyze this symphony, use abstract phrases: contrast themes, lyrical image, enemy, etc. But the only proven fact is that a “mechanistic” march is a heavy and ponderous advance of the power of a tyrant eliminating everything he wants based on the principle “who is not with us is against us”. This idea pierces into the Forth and later the Seventh Symphonies by Shostakovich. Today, the Symphony is still a music masterpiece and a part of the global music heritage, but the new socio-cultural interpretations of modern directors each time reveal the new faces of this composition.  

N. YA. MYASKOVSKY: THE ATTRACTION OF TALENT

The article is dedicated to Nikolay Yakovlevich Myaskovsky, whose 140th birthday will be celebrated in 2021. Myaskovsky's role in Russian and world culture is unique. A composer, teacher, music and public figure, who had an indisputable literary gift, critical thinking, inclined to scientific understanding of historical facts and artistic potential of art, he was a defender of the Artist's high destiny, a creator who, at a time when the country was collapsing, cutting off the deep ties of culture and tradition, remained faithful to these traditions and believed in the continuity of culture. And this was at a time when deviations from the course set for Soviet music were severely punished. N. Ya. Myaskovsky did not escape this fate either. During that difficult period, he was supported by his work and immersion in the world of Old Russian church music in connection with the writing of the Twenty-sixth Symphony. The personality of Myaskovsky, who had an indisputable authority, attracted; he was constantly surrounded by students, in direct creative dialogue with performers, conductors, close-minded figures of musical art, as reflected, among other things, in many "musical dedications" to the master that are stored in his archive.

Boris Asafiev and soviet musical thought: Reputation and influence

The theories of Boris Asafiev, including musical process, symphonism, and intonatsiya, proved to be hugely influential in the Soviet Union and beyond. While Asafiev?s ideas were widely adopted by theorists and audiences alike, they were also appropriated by a generation of music critics. As composers struggled to come to terms with what might constitute socialist-realist music, critics built a discourse of projecting meaning onto works via Asafiev?s theories. At the same time, multiple theorists developed and expanded his ideas. The picture that emerges is of a multitude of applications and responses to a multivalent body of work that became a vital part of musical discourse in the latter half of the Soviet Union. In this article, I survey the main theories from Boris Asafiev?s writings on music, and their significance after his death. I begin by defining key terms such as symphonism, musical process, and especially intonatsiya. I then discuss the 1948 Zhdanovshchina and Asafiev?s involvement, and the less well-known 1949 discussions on Musicology. For the remainder of the article, I provide examples of key studies from Soviet music theorists using Asafiev?s terms to illustrate how their usage expanded and, in some cases, moved away from Asafiev?s myriad intentions.