Gender perspectives of instrumental jazz performers in southeastern Europe

I investigate constructed social platforms for female jazz instrumentalist, with a particular emphasis on the Balkan cultural space of Southeastern Europe (former Yugoslav countries). In this region, female jazz instrumentalists are confronted with multiple systems of rejection, facing double standards of the Balkan social-ideological patterns, typical for the patriarchal tradition, reproduced and incorporated within a micro context of the already gendered music genre. I analyze the image of female jazz instrumentalist in the public cultural space where jazz is created and consumed. This study presents autoethnographic testimonies as a subjective point of view.

A sick genius? The critical reception of Alexei Stanchinsky

This article examines the critical reception of the Russian composer Alexei Stanchinsky (1888-1914). It focuses on the critical reviews published in Russian newspapers and musical periodicals during Stanchinsky?s lifetime. Its findings are a result of original archival research conducted in Moscow in 2019. This study shows that Stanchinsky?s work received a more mixed reception during his lifetime than previously claimed. As such, it provides a more nuanced insight into Stanchinsky?s reception, as well as the views and prejudices of early 20th century Russian music critics.

Contribution of the Yugoslav Sokol organizations to the interwar sphere of music

In this article part of musical activities of two federal Sokol organizations (JSS and SSKJ) in interwar Yugoslavia will be thoroughly examined. Despite the fact that these organizations were primarily focused on development of gymnastics and certain individual sports, cultural advancement of its members as well as of Yugoslav population also occupied an important place, particularly in the 1930s. As a result of broadening of Sokol?s work, musical amateurism started to gain prominence in Sokol legions, societies and parishes (zupe). This was reflected in the proliferation of Sokol vocal and instrumental ensembles, as well as their performances in various Sokol units, both in urban and rural areas. The flourishing of musical activities among Sokols from different parts of the country led to the change of circumstances in the cultural sphere of these regions, particularly in the undeveloped ones. Among other things, this included giving an impetus to the preservation and popularization of tamburitza orchestras and epic singing to the accompaniment of the gusle, promotion of national and Slavic music repertoire and enrichment and diversification of musical life.

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.

Ways of living abroad: The foreign composer in Britain after World War II

The situation for emigre composers in Britain during World War II and afterwards was extremely complicated. British attitudes towards foreigners were highly ambivalent, and this was reflected institutionally, as the policies of the BBC at the time clearly show. This article reflects on the lives and legacy of five foreign composers, all very different from each other, who were, remarkably, discussed by Francis Routh in a book on British music he published in 1972. I attempt to situate these composers over the course of a longer period of time and ask whether such attitudes have in fact truly changed.

Russian Dresden of the 1920s and 1930s: Profiles of musical, church and social life

This article addresses the theme of Russian music in the German city of Dresden as it initially related to the virtuosi who had arrived from Russia. After the Revolution of 1917, the roles of Russian emigres, such as Issay Dobrowen, Sergei Rachmaninov, Sergei Jaroff with his Don Cossack Choir, Maria Chebotaryova-Vyrubova and others, grew in significance. On the strength of Russian emigre newspapers, archival documents, reference and research literature, individual events involving Russian music in this city during the inter-war years have been re-created and placed in a broad socio-cultural context.

The Russian Paris of Sergei Rachmaninoff

This article addresses Rachmaninoff?s activities in Paris, both a musical capital of the world and unrivalled cultural centre of the Russian emigration until 1940. It looks at the small number of concerts performed by the pianist there and places them in the context of the French press. It attempts to understand his ambiguous personal relationship to the city, the activity of his publishing company ?TAIR?, and finally assesses the extent of the composer?s charitable endeavours for the Russian community. The article concludes Rachmaninoff was of monumental significance for the ?Russian? Paris.

A contribution to researching Russian-Serbian connections in sacral and court painting and architecture through the opera of Russian emigrants in Serbia between the world wars: Examples of adopting Russian models

Russian-Serbian cultural connections in a broader sense, represented through direct parallels in Russian and Serbian sacral painting, architectural decoration, sacral interior design and phenomen? in court art canons of the last Romanov?s and Karadjordjevic?s dynasties are insufficiently researched. By using the concrete monuments, mostly in Russian style, Russian symbolism and Art Nouveau, but also the court canon at the turn of the century in Russia through the works of Russian emigrants after the October revolution in Serbia during the 1920s and 1930s, the use of Russian pictorial features and cultural models adapted to Serbian demands is going to be demonstrated.

Creativity and ownership: Protection of rights in musical works in the European Union from digitisation to artificial intelligence

Even more than intelligence, creativity is considered as a quintessentially human capacity. The same conclusion is fully applicable to the artistic creation in music sector. However, rapid technological development is constantly challenging not only the creative process as such, but also the legal instruments intended to protect the results of intellectual and artistic work. The first part of this article examines the provisions of the new EU Directive 2019/790 dedicated to online content-sharing service providers and fair remuneration of authors/performers, while its second part maps the main challenges the development of artificial intelligence imposes to the protection of rights in musical works.

Vladimir R. Djordjevic’s contribution to the transcription of vocal practices

Serbian musicians who were collecting different forms of traditional music at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century were unable to make audio recordings of the collected material. This conditioned the need to transcribe folk melodies ?by ear? during the very process of interviewing their interlocutors or later ? from memory. Methodology of transformation of sound into an adequate graphic transcription was especially promoted by Vladimir Djordjevic who, in comparison to his predecessors, introduced numerous novelties. This article discusses his approach to the transcription of vocal practices as applied in two large collections: Serbian Folk Melodies (Southern Serbia) and Serbian Folk Melodies (Pre-war Serbia). The fundaments of his work are observed through the analysis of the manner in which Djordjevic transcribed meta-data, as well as from poetic and music texts.