Music of Russia
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Transcript Music of Russia
Music of Russia
Section IV:
Russian music of the 20th century
A Time of Change
• Private sponsorship
▫ Late 19th-century industrialization expanded the
influence of the merchant class
Before the 1880s, merchants barely influenced the
art world
Russian urban growth, however, gave rise to
wealthy entrepreneurs
Many of these individuals earned more money
than the titled gentry
They became increasingly educated and
sophisticated
• Savva Mamontov used his railway capital to
fund music and painting
▫ His estate in the village Abramtsevo
became the leading center for Russian
artists
The railway mogul offered several Russian
painters residence there
Ilya Repin, Valentin Serov, and
Mikhail Vrubel all received this
privilege
▫ Mamontov also established a private opera troupe in 1885
The government only allowed privately run opera houses
starting in 1882
Painters under Mamontov’s patronage created the sets
Thus, the Mamontov productions gained prestige for
outstanding visual effects
▫ High-quality musical talent proved harder to sustain
Nonetheless, Mamontov successfully hired gifted
individuals
Feodor Chaliapin1 starred in several productions
Moreover, in his younger years, Rachmaninoff served as a
conductor
▫ Rimsky-Korsakov gained the most from Mamontov’s
institution
The Imperial Theatres treated Rimsky-Korsakov’s works
with indifference
Consequently, he premiered most of his late operas at the
Mamontov theatre
• Other entrepreneurs also erected private opera
houses
▫ Paper tycoon Gavrila Solodovnikov built an
extravagant opera house
He also funded the construction of the Grand
Hall at the Moscow Conservatory
▫ Sergei Zimin used his fortune from the textile
industry to create another troupe
• Rather than build an opera house, Mitrofan
Belyayev assisted composers more directly
▫ This entrepreneur owned wood-processing plants
He also played viola in his spare time
• Belyayev loved chamber music, particularly string
quartets
▫ The entrepreneur hosted quartet competitions with
considerable prizes
▫ He also published many new Russian string quartets
▫ Thus, this previously untouched genre flourished in Russia
• Besides competitions, Belyayev promoted the works of the
“Belyayev circle”
▫ This group assembled at Friday156 gatherings in St.
Petersburg
These meetings became important features of musical
life in St. Petersburg
▫ Alexander Glazunov and Alexander Scriabin were
Belyayev’s favorites
Glazunov wrote several string quartets for his patron
▫ Scriabin’s career benefited immensely from Belyayev’s
support
• The Belyayev circle also included Nikolai
Rimsky-Korsakov and Anatoly Liadov
▫ Famous musicians like Pyotr Tchaikovsky
also appeared at parties
• Belyayev’s publication company, Belyayev,
encouraged Russian works
▫ This firm was based in the German city of
Leipzig
• The “Silver Age” lasted from 1880 to 1920
▫ During this period, the arts flourished throughout
Russia
▫ Wealthy individuals competed to buy newly
fashionable French Impressionist paintings
They also invested in elaborate interior design
▫ However, the foremost advances took place in
literature, especially poetry
Symbolism and later Futurism gained popularity
Sergei Polyakov established the publishing house
Scorpio to sponsor Symbolism
His literary journals also printed Symbolist poetry
Symbolism
• The literary trend of Symbolism began in
Western Europe
• Symbolism arose as a reaction to the previous
literary aesthetic, Realism
▫ Realism attempted to reveal deeper meaning in
everyday details
▫ By contrast, Symbolism believed our world reflected
another world beyond
This other world lent meaning to our own
Symbolist works attempted to reveal this world to their
audiences
Instead of concrete images, Symbolists favored ambiguity and
ellipsis
Passages captured fleeting emotions and a sense of mystery
• Symbolists believed life and art were one and the same
▫ They strove to live by their artistic ideas
▫ As a result, these artists adopted relatively unconventional
lifestyles
They practiced exotic religious beliefs
Symbolists consulted mediums to conduct séances to reach the
spirit world
Their emotional lives involved affairs and occasional suicides
• Contemporaries dismissed this movement as debauchery
▫ In Russia, some critics labeled the Symbolist poets
“dekadenty” (decadence)
• Despite these criticisms, Symbolist works reveal high
artistic caliber
Alexander Scriabin
• Scriabin and Rachmaninoff
• Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) began his
musical career much like Sergei Rachmaninoff
▫ In fact, the two studied together at the Moscow
Conservatory
▫ Both excelled in piano and composition
▫ The pair drew their primary inspiration from Frederic
Chopin’s works
▫ Finally, both received a gold medal at graduation
• In the end, however, the composers followed
radically different paths
▫ Scriabin could not become a virtuoso pianist like
Rachmaninoff
As a student, he employed some poor practice techniques
Consequently, his right hand suffered permanent
damage
▫ Thus, Scriabin focused his energies on composition
Rachmaninoff, by contrast, balanced composition with a
taxing concert schedule
▫ Rachmaninoff developed a unique and complex
compositional style
Scriabin’s compositions, however, were unquestionably
groundbreaking
His harmonies were unimaginable in his formative years
Scriabin’s early experiments
• Frederic Chopin heavily influenced Scriabin’s
early works
▫ Scriabin depicted similar moods and used
sophisticated textures
▫ Furthermore, he explored the same five genres
Later, though, Scriabin concentrated on the sonata
form for serious works
He also wrote short piano “poems” to experiment
with harmonies
• Unlike the Mighty Handful, Scriabin did not
work to replace the dominant
▫ Instead, he created unending series of dominanttype chords without resolution
▫ Scriabin based this tense-sounding device on a
similar technique used by Wagner
Such a chord progression appeared in Wagner’s
1859 opera Tristan and Isoldo
Scriabin considered Tristan and Isolde one of his
primary inspirations for Symbolism
• In his own works, Scriabin intensified Wagner’s
model
▫ He flattened the fifth in each dominant seventh
chord
This alteration created two tritones instead of one
Remember, tonal music uses the tritone as its primary
source of tension
▫ Each dominant chord now served two functions
Each was identical to the dominant chord a tritone
away
For instance, the altered G7 chord exactly paralleled
the altered Db7 chord167
▫ Scriabin also added ninths, elevenths, and
thirteenths to his chords
All of these intervals could be flattened or
sharpened to maximize tension
• Jazz music operates based on similar harmonic
principles
▫ Like Scriabin’s work, jazz often uses nondominant chords
▫ Jazz also commonly employs perfect-fourth
harmonies
▫ Of course, Scriabin used these techniques in music
rather different from jazz
• From about 1907 onward, Scriabin completely
abandoned tonal progressions
▫ Unlike Wagner, Scriabin no longer felt the need to
resolve dissonance
▫ As a result, chords that would typically sound
tense no longer did
Listeners found the chords self-sufficient and stable
The harmonies did not seem to require resolution
Scriabin’s “mystic chord” from Prometheus
exemplifies this phenomenon
• Scriabin’s mastery of musical texture reinforced
the impact of his harmonies
▫ In slow pieces, he spread pitches of the chord to
emphasize the tritone
The tritone usually appeared in the top two voices or
in the bass
He allowed fluctuations in tempo
Thus, the chords changed slowly, pitch by pitch
• Fast tempos had an entirely different texture
▫ Scriabin constructed dotted rhythms and major
leaps in pitch
▫ The melodies spanned high and low registers alike
• Scriabin’s piano scores often demanded great
left-hand agility
▫ After all, the injury left his right hand considerably
weaker than his left
Theosophy
• Scriabin subscribed to the tenets of Symbolism
▫ By the 20th century, Symbolism appeared in
virtually all art forms
Mikhail Vrubel produced Symbolist paintings
Konstantin Balmont wrote several Symbolist
poems
• Scriabin intended his works for Symbolist
audiences, not music theorists
▫ These audiences interpreted his music the way
they would other Symbolist works
• As a Symbolist, Scriabin embraced exotic
religions and philosophies
▫ He began to follow Madam Blavatsky, who
founded the Theosophical Society
Theosophy believed in using mystical means to
discover the universe
It drew symbols and terms from many different
religions, especially Buddhism
▫ Scriabin’s works feature French performance
indications reflecting his influences
• Scriabin further developed his unique
harmonies in his symphonic works
▫ The titles evoked Symbolist and occult imagery
For instance, Scriabin published The Divine Poem
in 1904
He followed this work with Prometheus: The Poem
of Fire made its debut in 1910
▫ Each successive piece seemed more ambitious and
universal than the last
Scriabin attempted to incorporate Theosophical
philosophies in his music
Mysterium
• Scriabin envisioned Mysterium as his magnum opus
▫ This event would resemble an extravagant mystical
ritual
▫ Scriabin would compose words and music
Furthermore, the spectacle would showcase dances,
aromas, and colored lights
The composer even bought land in India for the grand
performance
Scriabin believed Mysterium would end the world
• It would launch humanity to a higher plane of
existence
▫ This extreme idea reflected Symbolist emphasis on the
unity of life and art
• In the end, Scriabin never even began work on
Mysterium
▫ Instead, the composer started a “Preparatory
Act” to Mysterium
He composed some rough drafts for the music
In addition, he wrote a poetic libretto in Symbolist
style
▫ Scriabin died of an acute infection in 1915
The incomplete Preparatory Act was not fit for
performance
Many Russian musicians, however, considered
Scriabin a prophet
Symbolist predictions fulfilled
• Scriabin and the Symbolists often alluded to some
sort of apocalypse
▫ They dreamed of the purifying destruction of the
existing world
• The 20th-century Russian revolutions basically
fulfilled these predictions
▫ In 1905, the Tsar’s troops attacked a group of
peasants
These protesters intended to deliver a petition to the Tsar
Meanwhile, workers’ councils took control of cities
Naval officers staged a mutiny
However, this first revolution met with failure
Symbolists believed only art could change the world
▫ In 1917, the Bolsheviks overthrew the Tsarist
regime
Symbolists proclaimed the political change as the
beginning of a new world order
Scriabin’s works proved popular in early revolutionary
Russia
Leading Symbolists Alexander Blok and Andrei
Bely praised the revolution
Nikolai Roslavets, the leading Russian
Scriabinist, joined the Communists
• In the end, however, Symbolism disappeared in
the mid-1920s
▫ Sociopolitical change from the revolution led to
artistic changes and new movements
Track 10: Prometheus [the end]
• Background
▫ Alexander Scriabin wrote this 25-minute symphonic piece
in 1910
▫ Scriabin used dramatic instrumentation
He features a lengthy piano solo
It resembles a piano concerto
Scriabin himself premiered the part
A choir enters near the end
Most notably, Scriabin includes a part for the “luce”
Scriabin naturally associated chords and keys with certain
colors
▫ This uncommon trait made him a synaesthete
The luce keyboard controlled colored lights that paralleled
harmonic fluctuations
▫ The effect tied in to Scriabin’s vision of universal harmony
In Scriabin’s time, the technical means to produce a luce did not
exist
▫ At the premiere, audiences barely noticed the lighting changes
Featured excerpt
• The selection includes the last five minutes of
Prometheus
• It begins with the haunting cries of the wordless
chorus
▫ Scriabin marks this passage “ecstatic” in the score
• Scriabin orchestrates a remarkably thick texture
▫ Most scores require extra-tall formatting to fit all the
notes and parts
• As usual, Scriabin repeats short melodic fragments in
sequences
▫ These sequences either rise or fall
▫ For instance, near the beginning of the excerpt, a
woodwind phrase ends on a trill
This seductive motive repeats in sequence
• The solo trumpet presents an ascending fanfare with a
fastpaced rhythm
▫ Similar heroic themes typically represent human will in
Scriabin’s works
▫ Here, Scriabin uses the theme to represent Prometheus
In myth, Prometheus brought humans the divine gift of fire
▫ Bells, horns, and other instruments quickly join in,
representing flames
• Sudden silence interrupts the climax of the fire theme
▫ A solo violin plays another seductive theme
• The piano dominates the ensuing scherzo-like episode
▫ This passage may symbolize more flame imagery
▫ However, it may also imply a higher state of divine
existence
This spirituality was, after all, the major focus of Symbolism
• The short conclusion features a majestic brass
fanfare with three trumpets
• An F#-major triad ends the piece
▫ The six sharps in the key sounded supernatural to
Symbolists
▫ Furthermore, the sudden harmonic clarification
seems shocking after all the dissonance
Thus, Scriabin implies that the music transcends to a
higher plane of existence
Symbolist listeners imagine the music continuing
beyond into the spiritual world
Diaghilev and Stravinsky
• More about Diaghilev
• Diaghilev’s Saisons Russes and Ballets Russes
revolutionized Western views of Russian art
▫ These endeavors were the most influential 20thcentury cultural initiatives
▫ The original Saisons Russes (Russian Seasons)
involved concerts of Russian music
▫ Diaghilev then created the Ballets Russes (Russian
Ballets)
• In his early years, Diaghilev attempted to compose
his own musical pieces
▫ He failed to garner any real success
▫ As a result, he turned to promoting other artists in all
genres
• Diaghilev’s breakthrough came in the form of his
journal Mir iskusstva
▫ The title translates to mean “World of Art”
▫ This publication centered around the visual arts
▫ Diaghilev hoped to replace worn-out Realism with
new cosmopolitan trends
• The Russian revolution in 1905 did not fully end
until 1907
▫ As a result, Diaghilev moved to Paris
▫ In 1905 and 1906, he established successful
Russian art exhibits
▫ Afterwards, he organized the Saisons Russes in
1907
• Diaghilev also staged an extravagant production
of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov in 1908
▫ This performance earned him his greatest fame
yet
▫ Opera is generally one of the most expensive art
forms to produce
Diaghilev personally imported singers and personnel
from Russia
This decision added to his financial costs
Thus, Diaghilev realized a series of operas was
impractical due to expenses
• Instead, Diaghilev planned the Ballets Russes
▫ He gathered the best dancers of Russia into a small
group
Limiting the troupe size made touring possible and kept
costs low
▫ 20th-century Parisian society dismissed ballet as an
outdated art form
However, Diaghilev revived this artistic form
He hired Michel Fokine (Mikhail Fokin) to create nonclassical choreography
The Ballets Russes also featured the first male star, Vaslav
Nijinski
Russian painters designed the lavish sets and costumes
Parisian audiences relished Diaghilev’s new style of ballet
• In his first season, Diaghilev reimagined existing
ballets
▫ He staged the Polotsvian Act from Alexander
Borodin’s Prince Igor
▫ Sometimes, he created ballets set to existing
musical pieces
Ex: He added choreography to Rimsky-Korsakov’s
Scheherazade
▫ In 1910, he issued his first special commission to
Igor Stravinsky
Stravinsky’s The Firebird
• Diaghilev discovered Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) in
1909
▫ The 1905 Revolution halted Stravinsky’s education at
the St. Petersburg Conservatory
However, Rimsky-Korsakov privately tutored the young
composer
Outside a small musical circle in St. Petersburg,
Stravinsky’s work remained obscure
▫ In 1909, Stravinsky premiered a brief orchestral
selection titled Fireworks
He completed this piece shortly before RimskyKorsakov’s death in 1908
Diaghilev happened to be in the audience that night
Stravinsky’s work impressed him
Diaghilev commissioned Stravinsky to write the score for the
ballet The Firebird
• The Firebird (1910) catapulted Stravinsky to international fame
▫ The score completely surpassed Diaghilev’s wildest expectations
The compositional style reveals Rimsky-Korsakov’s influence
It also hints at Stravinsky’s eventual role as a leader of modernist music
• The Firebird derives its plot from several Russian fairy tales
▫ One might consider it a balletic equivalent to one of RimskyKorsakov’s operas
▫ The evil sorcerer Kashchei rules over a dark kingdom
Rimsky-Korsakov also included this character in his opera Kashchei
the Immortal
Stravinsky uses his mentor’s octatonic scale to depict Kashchei
▫ A brave Tsarevich seeks to rescue his bride-to-be from Kashchei’s
lair
A folk song-based style characterizes the Tsarevich
Stravinsky draws from Rimsky-Korsakov’s collection of 100 folk songs
▫ The magical firebird assists the Tsarevich on his quest
A red-clad female dancer represents this brilliant creature
Stravinsky uses Oriental style to indicate the firebird
This music sets the firebird apart from the other characters
Moreover, Parisian audiences appreciated this style
• In The Firebird, Stravinsky blends
nationalism, exoticism, and modernism
▫ The finale features a Russian folk song with
changing-background variations
This scene celebrates the destruction of Kashchei’s
kingdom
In other works, the Glinka variations would indicate
typical Russian nationalism
Here, though, Stravinsky manufactures this effect for
export
Parisians interpreted the style as exoticism
▫ Stravinsky revealed an awareness of modern
sounds created by Debussy and Ravel
Petrushka
• The Firebird’s great success led Diaghilev to
commission a second ballet, Petrushka (1911)
▫ Like The Firebird, Petrushka centered on a
Russian theme
• However, Stravinsky chose a more realistic
location
▫ He set the ballet at a fair in St. Petersburg
▫ Set designer Alexander Benois based the scenery
on his own memories of such a fair
Benois also worked as a scenario writer
▫ The fairground included entertainers, a dancing
bear, and a puppet show
The plot focuses on the three puppets: Petrushka, the
Ballerina, and the Moor
• In the opera, the puppets begin to dance on they
then come to life
▫ Ballets in general typically feature such
alternation between reality and fantasy
Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker also involves two separate
worlds
▫ The story centers on Petrushka’s unhappy love
• Stravinsky used song and dance tunes popular at
actual Russian fairs
▫ Thus, the score further emphasized the realistic setting
▫ For instance, he incorporated a barrel-organ tune he
heard under his window
In the ballet, the orchestra represented the barrel organ
Stravinsky created the effect of “missing notes” in his
score
This musical device implied the organ had a missing valve
▫ Supposedly “traditional” Russian songs often had
known authors
The barrel organ tune already existed as a song written by
Emile Spencer
He published it as “Elle avait le jambe en bois”
This translates to “She had a Wooden Leg”
Spencer sued Stravinsky for copyright infringement
• Stravinsky also took measures to distance his music
from that of the Mighty Handful
▫ Like the Handful, he directly quoted real Russian folk
tunes
However, he quoted a different type of folk music than the
Handful would
The Handful sought a sense of “purity” in their choices
Conversely, Stravinsky chose vulgar songs often sung by
drunken revelers
▫ The fairground setting justified his choice
▫ Tchaikovsky set the precedent by quoting “vulgar” popular songs
Unlike Russians, Parisian audiences failed to notice the
difference
Also, unlike the Handful, Stravinsky did not frame folk
songs
He did not emphasize or venerate these melodies
Instead, he presented them as random snatches, as they would
sound at a fair
▫ Stravinsky ignored the long-established conventions
of Glinka variations
The composer presented the variations before the theme
He also impulsively repeated or deleted sections of the
melody
The theme varied rhythmically, unlike the stable themes
composed by the Handful
• Stravinsky filled his work with comical effects and
musical “jokes”
▫ He freely varied his themes and melodies
Stravinsky altered accent patterns
He added and deleted beats from measures
▫ Sometimes, he used the “wrong” harmonies to
accompany the melody
▫ One scene juxtaposes a solo tuba and a very high
clarinet part
This whimsical effect corresponds to the dancing bear
• Petrushka also introduced the intentional distortion of
melodies
▫ This device, called grotesque, often created a comedic or
satirical effect
It soon became a prominent modernist device
▫ Stravinsky used familiar popular songs in his works
One such tune was Vdol’ po Piterskoy (“Along the
Piterskaya Road”)
However, he subjected these melodies to shifts of accent and
other distortions
▫ Some of the first Russian audiences found this presentation
offensive
They believed Stravinsky irreverently ridiculed Russian
nationalism
They also regarded the vulgarity of the original tunes with
outrage
▫ However, Stravinsky’s repetition and omission of melodic
fragments shaped modernism
Stravinsky’s permanent relocation
• Rite of Spring (1913) became the most celebrated
of Diaghilev’s ballets
▫ This modernist work stood sharply at odds with
Rimsky-Korsakov’s pieces
• By 1913, Stravinsky had settled in Europe
▫ The October Revolution of 1917 convinced him never
to return to Russia
He refused an invitation to return in the 1920s
In the 1960s, he finally agreed to a musical tour and
arrived to a warm reception
▫ As a result of his emigration, Stravinsky’s works
became increasingly Western
His later compositions reflected more French and
American culture than Russian culture
• Most Western historians consider Stravinsky a
cosmopolitan composer
▫ World War I and the Russian Civil War isolated Russia
from the West
After brief renewal of contact in the 1920s, Stalin
reinstituted isolationist policy
Thus, The Rite of Spring and other works failed to join
the Russian repertory
Many did not appear in Russia until after Stalin’s death
▫ Until the mid-1920s, Stravinsky still relied on his
Russian heritage
However, his later works sound far more European
▫ After the Revolution, other Russian composers joined
Stravinsky in his self-imposed exile
They, too, adopted the cultures of their new homes
Track 11: Petrushka, Beginning of Scene 1
• Background
• Petrushka contains four scenes
▫ The title of Scene I is “The Shrove-Tide Fair”
• Featured Excerpt
▫ The opening section represents a crowd of people
In the background, the clarinets and horns play a repeating
phrase
This figure alternates between two intervals
It creates constant background noise
▫ The flutes present a fairground cry
Spread through the score, these cries imitate the shouts of
peddlers and entertainers
At the time, scholars notated these sounds as elements of
folk music
• At first, the lack of a bass line suggests a feeling of
floating in air
▫ The basses then enter with three measures of a melody
The phrase is a fragment of the folk song “Dalalyn”
It indicates the entrance of intoxicated partygoers
▫ Later, a fuller version of “Dalalyn” appears, still
carried by the basses
The oboes and piccolo flute join in with a shrill
counterpoint line
The counterpoint consists of a faster variation of the
“Dalalyn” melody
The basses play in 3/4 while the counterpoint lies in
7/8184
This effect implies that the counterpoint melody stems from
a different source
▫ Various other motifs add to the dense musical texture
as the crowd becomes more excited
• Stravinsky then spotlights a few characters
▫ First, the drunks take center stage as the music
becomes more dance-like
Stravinsky allows their complete melody to shine through
clearly
He also subjects the theme to brief Glinka variations
▫ A tritone sounds as a speech-like melody interrupts
the dance
This theme features many repeated notes
It symbolizes the Balagannyi ded (carnival barker)
He advertises the upcoming fairground events from his
booth
▫ Stravinsky also foreshadows the next scene with a
dancer and barrel-organ player
Michel Fokine choreographed the pair to disappear into
the crowd after their music ended
• The fairground act incorporates two popular
songs
• o It features the Russian song Pod vecher
osenyu nenastnoy
▫ Furthermore, it includes Emile Spencer’s Elle
avait la jambe en bois
The clarinets and flutes represent the barrel organ
• The selection ends with more cries from the
Balagannyi ded
Wars, Revolution, and a New Social Order
• Revolutionary change
• World War I (1914-1918) worsened unrest in
Russia
▫ This global conflict took place on an unanticipated
scale
Nations suffered huge population losses and
tremendous damage
Longstanding regimes born of feudalism crumbled
▫ Britain and France drew Russia into the war
France owned sizeable assets in Russian industry
• For the most part, these nations used Russian troops
as a buffer and distraction
▫ They served to keep German and Austro-Hungarian
troops away from other regions
▫ France and Britain failed to supply many of the
Russians with guns
These men—mostly peasants—were basically sent
unarmed to their deaths
• By 1917, the unstable economy and food shortages
created mass unrest in Russia
▫ In February 1917, the shortages incited mass protests
▫ Tsarist troops ordered to suppress the protests refused
to act
• The February Revolution of 1917 ended Tsarist
rule in Russia
▫ As protests snowballed into revolution, the Tsarist
regime lost control
Tsar Nicholas II’s own ministers forced him to
abdicate the throne
They hoped to regain control and stop the revolution
• However, almost the entire Russian population
supported the February Revolution
▫ Many of the ruling elite joined the working-class
masses
These officials considered the Tsar a hindrance to their
own political plans
• Talks between the establishment and radicalsyielded
a new administration
▫ The unelected Provisional Government defied the
people’s will
The regime refused popular demand to withdraw from
World War I
It denied proposals to divide estates to allow peasants to
become small farmers
▫ As a result, the regime lost much popular support
Russian soldiers mutinied
Peasants took over land
Elected workers’ councils overran the cities
• The government changed hands again during the
October Revolution of 1917
▫ In rural areas, the main peasant party, the Socialist
Revolutionaries, began to split
This party participated in the Provisional Government
Some members hoped to cling to power
Others demanded further changes in government
▫ As the Provisional Government lost favor, Bolsheviks
gained power in the cities
This party did not affiliate itself with the Provisional
Government
Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) led the Bolshevik Party
They attempted a right-wing military coup, but failed
Regardless, they quickly formed a majority in elected city and
workplace councils
• The Bolsheviks forcibly took charge of the nation in
October 1917
▫ Bolsheviks arrested the Provisional Government
Some members of the Socialist Revolutionaries joined
Lenin
Other radicals condemned the second revolution
The business-oriented Cadet Party was excluded from the
Revolution
The Bolsheviks forced the Cadets to disband
• The Bolshevik takeover of Petrograd yielded few
casualties
▫ St. Petersburg, then the Russian capital, had been
renamed Petrograd in 1914
▫ Fierce fighting erupted in other cities, however
▫ In the end, the Revolutionary government secured
control
• Mass support enabled the success of the October
Revolution
▫ The Bolsheviks nationalized former landlords’ estates
Thus, they formally recognized peasant takeover of farmland
This motion guaranteed the support of the impoverished
peasantry
▫ The new government also withdrew Russia from World War I
Russia signed a peace agreement with Germany in March 1918
Industrial workers and lower-ranked soldiers abhorred the war
Withdrawal from the conflict cemented their loyalty to the new
regime
• The Bolsheviks named the new state “Soviet” Russia
▫ In Russian, “soviet” meant “council”
▫ The name represented the elected workers’, soldiers’, and
peoples’ councils
• The Russian Civil War (1918-1921) erupted shortly after the Bolshevik
takeover
▫ No purely Russian army could hope to garner enough support to depose the
Bolsheviks
▫ However, Western powers still at war with Germany sent financial aid
Some even provided military backup to Russians who fought the Bolsheviks
▫ In spring 1918, the anti-revolutionary White Army186 launched offensives
The “Civil War” actually involved armies from over a dozen nations
In 1921, the Bolsheviks defeated the White and foreign armies
▫ Great hardship marked the war period
Russia experienced food and fuel shortages
The conflict weakened the national infrastructure
Many wealthy citizens attempted to emigrate abroad
Both sides requisitioned food from the peasantry
▫ At times, even three sides fought in the war
Peasants clashed with the Whites to keep their recently acquired land
However, they also fought Bolshevik seizure of food
The Bolsheviks took food to feed troops and maintain city populations
▫ Under the pressures of war, the initial Bolshevik democratic element
crumbled
The soviets (councils) became increasingly top-down188
Revolutionary impact on art and the economy
• After the Russian Civil War, the Bolsheviks focused on
fixing the damaged economy
▫ Peasant objections to government food seizure increased
▫ The masses protested the continuation of requisitioning
after the war’s end
▫ The Bolsheviks implemented the New Economic Policy
(NEP)
▫ They reestablished protection of private property
Also, small enterprises could hire labor against communist
principles
▫ These measures appeased the peasants and radically altered
urban culture
The NEP reopened cabarets, cafés, and restaurants
Citizens who could afford these luxuries benefitted immensely
▫ The NEP governed Soviet Russia during the 1920s
However, near the end of the decade, Stalin began to reverse
the policy
• The Bolshevik takeover triggered a massive brain drain
▫ Most Russian intelligentsia approved of the February
Revolution
▫ However, many found the October Revolution too extreme
Russian artists dreamed of an apocalyptic end to old Russia
However, the actual manifestation of the dream scared and
disgusted them
▫ Common workers and soldiers no longer treated the
intelligentsia with special respect
The intelligentsia always occupied a subordinate position
However, they had previously enjoyed the company of upperclass citizens
Thus, they had been able to forget their inferior status
Now, though, commoners carelessly issued orders to the former
artistic elite
• After the October Revolution, many intellectuals
emigrated
▫ This exodus resulted in the worst brain/culture drain
ever experienced by Russia
Sergei Rachmaninoff and Sergei Prokofiev both left in
1918
Igor Stravinsky, already settled in Europe, would not
consider returning home
▫ Anatoly Lunacharsky attempted to persuade
intellectuals to remain in Russia
This playwright and art critic served as Lenin’s first
Minister of Education
Lunacharsky hoped artists would stay and cooperate with
the Bolsheviks
• Futurist artists numbered among the first to cooperate
with the new regime
▫ Futurist poets and abstract painters opposed earlier artistic
trends
▫ Despite varying political ideas, this group united to create a
new Russian art aesthetic
They wanted a new revolutionary art style to reflect the new
revolutionary society
▫ The government gladly supported these artistic reformers
Futurists designed national propaganda posters
They also received official commissions to decorate cities for
revolutionary events
▫ Early Soviet art served as a shining example of modernism
“Suprematist” Kazimir Malevich painted abstract works
Vladimir Tatlin designed incredible architectural projects
• In the early 1920s, Arseny Avraamov (1886-1944) wrote
“Symphony of Sirens”
▫ This piece typified modernism at a time when few (if any) musical
examples existed
“Symphony of Sirens” required a whole city to perform it
Naturally, no score or recording exists
▫ Avraamov conducted a wide variety of sounds from a high factory
rooftop
The composition required the synchronization of all clocks in the
city
Participants too far away to see Avraamov operated on a timetable
▫ The symphony also required a specially designed instrument, the
“magistral”
This steam-powered instrument played a solo melody amid the
chaos
▫ The magistral presented “The Internationale” theme
“The Internationale” acted as a national anthem in the early
Soviet Union
• Graphic p. 92
• Avraamov successfully organized a performance
of the Symphony in 1922192
▫ A friend of the composer led the Communist Party
in the city of Baku
He helped organize the necessary military
commanders and factory directors
▫ Avraamov carried out the performance according
to plan, including the magistral
The spectacle sounded differently depending on the
listener’s location
No recording exists and no modern equivalent can
be reenacted
• The Symphony of Sirens embodied several
Soviet ideals
▫ It required collective participation by the masses
▫ The machines required emphasized urban
industrialization
Industry, in turn, implied future national prosperity
• “The Internationale” stressed the continuation of
Communism
Creative awareness and artistic factions
• The Bolsheviks envisioned a community in which all capable
adults worked
▫ This goal sometimes required brute force against business owners
and landlords
Some business owners cooperated with the state
They gained employment as managers of their former businesses
A prominent music publisher ranked among these fortunate few
▫ Lunacharsky launched an ambitious educational program to
refine the masses
Schools taught literacy and mathematics
However, they also taught music and other arts to unleash
creativity
Schools and workplaces sponsored choirs
These organizations taught revolutionary songs to spread Communist
ideology
Such choirs actually stemmed from the period between the 1917
revolutions
• Soviet artists believed music and other arts must
serve “the people”
▫ Different factions, however, disagreed on how to deal
with pre-Soviet art
Some thought Russians could still learn from the older
pieces
Others, like the Futurists, advocated complete rejection
of the past
Before, scholars had considered Pushkin Russia’s most
distinguished poet
However, the Futurists cried “Let us throw Pushkin off the
ship of modernity!”
• The Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians
(RAPM) only accepted select pre-Soviet works
▫ This proletarian organization believed a few “bourgeois” works
could educate
For instance, RAPM considered Beethoven a heroic revolutionary
composer
They championed Mussorgsky because he sympathized with the
common man
RAPM also favored some Schubert songs about mill workers
• However, RAPM urged a ban on most other Russian classics
▫ RAPM also campaigned against urban popular songs
They feared the sentimentality and decadence would lead to
immoral conduct
At the same time, they disapproved of some rural folk songs
These tunes illustrated the backward culture of the illiterate
peasantry
• Graphic p. 93
• From 1929 to 1932, RAPM greatly restricted the
music available to the working public
▫ They dismissed some modernists for allegedly
elitist views
However, they also criticized tangos and foxtrots
that supposedly spread decadence
▫ RAPM composers themselves wrote most of the
“acceptable” listening selections
Their repertoire consisted mostly of simple choral
songs
They also wrote marches with propagandistic lyrics
With a few exceptions, commoners did not
particularly enjoy these compositions
• Lunacharsky and Lenin disagreed with RAPM’s
narrow musical definitions
▫ Lunacharsky advocated the preservation of pre-Soviet
culture
He worked to support opera houses, conservatories, and
orchestras
Though he rejected some more radical ideas, he still
encouraged Futurists
▫ Lenin, by contrast, considered the Futurists irritating
▫ He believed that all science was essentially one
“Revolutionary science” and “workers’ science” did not
exist
▫ Similarly, all art counted as a single unit
No generation or style of art should be pruned
Such omission would be like sawing off the branch their
society sat on
▫ Lenin wished to deprive the Futurists of state funding
• Graphic p.94
Soviet composers in the 1920s
• Composers in this period could still continue to
write music in their preferred styles
▫ They performed and published new music
▫ Conservatories continued to hire prominent Russian
professors
▫ Some composers formed the Association for
Contemporary Music (ASM)
This organization established many foreign contacts
Its members aimed to produce music that reflected
international trends
As a result, several foreign composers visited Soviet
Russia in the 1920s
Henry Cowell was an American avant-gardist
• The 1920s witnessed the rise of several
prominent Russian composers
▫ Nikolai Myaskovsky mixed expressionism and
post-Tchaikovsky ideas in his symphonies
▫ Scriabin inspired Nikolai Roslavet’s own atonal
style of composition
▫ Modernist Alexander Mosolov used atonality in
his expressionist and industrial music
• In the mid-1920s, Dmitri Shostakovich emerged
as the foremost Soviet composer
▫ Shostakovich’s First Symphony mixed classicism
with the grotesque
This work secured him international recognition
▫ In 1927, Shostakovich premiered his orchestral piece
Dedication to October
Scholars later referred to this work as his Second
Symphony
It first appeared at the 10th anniversary of the October
Revolution
Before, lesser-known composers handled such commissions
However, the 10th anniversary seemed important enough
for first-rate composers
• The three-part atonal piece sounded starkly
modernist
▫ Each section represented a chapter of the
revolutionary story
• ADD Graphic p.95
• Dedication to October made Shostakovich the
leading Soviet composer at age 21
▫ He finished the decade with The Nose (1929), an
absurdist opera
• Shostakovich’s skillful originality inspired other
composers
▫ Prokofiev wrote Cantata for the Twentieth
Anniversary of October (1937)
However, the public no longer considered such
works acceptable
He dropped the work from the planned concert
program
Track 12: The Iron Foundry
• Background
• Mosolov originally wrote this short orchestral piece as
part of the ballet Steel (1927)
▫ In the ballet, the piece was called “Zavod”
• The Iron Foundry programmatically represents the
noises of a giant factory
▫ The innovative subject matter fascinated audiences in
Soviet Russia and abroad
• Stravinsky pioneered the device of layering multiple
repeating figures
▫ Rite of Spring (1913) used this technique to create a
mechanical sound
Granted, Stravinsky depicted ancient pagan rituals instead of
modern technology
▫ Mosolov employs this same layering effect in The Iron
Foundry
• Controversy erupted over The Iron Foundry’s
premiere
▫ The piece clearly glorifies Soviet Russia’s future
industrial prosperity
▫ However, RAPM criticized the piece for its inhuman
repetitive motives
They claimed Soviet factories required human workers
Mosolov allegedly placed machines above humans in his
capitalist vision
▫ RAPM’s criticisms most likely reflected professional
jealousy
After all, four horns play a heroic (human) theme
Featured excerpt
• The piece opens with quiet repeated figures symbolizing
factory machinery
▫ The timpani produces a tritone interval
▫ Meanwhile, the clarinets and violas play a chromatic motive in
the middle register
• Additional patterns appear one by one
▫ In the end, 11 distinct layers overlap
▫ Unlike Stravinsky, Mosolov sets all layers within a strict 4/4
meter
• Standard orchestral instruments create the effect of
screeching and grinding noises
▫ Mosolov does indicate one atypical instrument
Every so often, a musician shakes a sheet of steel
▫ Four horns present the heroic melody
Mosolov’s score instructs the performers to stand so they can be
heard
• A different group of quicker patterns briefly
interrupts the clamor
▫ However, the music soon returns to a jubilant
reprise
• Mosolov employs many chromatic harmonies
throughout the piece
▫ The Iron Foundry clearly centers on a tonic pitch
of C
▫ Thus, for all its modernism, the piece does not
exhibit atonality
Joseph Stalin and Socialist Realism
• Changes under Stalin
• Soviet authorities hoped for a successful European
Communist revolution
▫ After the October Revolution in Russia, social unrest spread
through Europe
In some cases, mass discontent led to similar Communist
revolutions
The Soviets hoped a Communist state in Europe could help
Russia industrialize
They particularly looked to Germany’s massive Communist party
Unfortunately, European governments suppressed all revolutions
In 1923, the German Communist Party suffered a major defeat
▫ The Soviet Union’s political isolation caused a major
ideological struggle in the Party
Party members debated both domestic and foreign policy issues
By the end of the 1920s, Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) emerged as
the new leader
• Stalin implemented an accelerated program of
industrialization in the name of nationalism
▫ He imagined the Soviet Union should prepare for foreign
invasion in the near future
Of course, Hitler later proved him correct
▫ The Soviet leader ordered construction of dams, power
plants, and steel mills
The government needed to buy expensive foreign equipment
▫ Soviet Russia still mostly existed as an agricultural society
Exporting oil and raw materials brought in some revenue
However, the government relied on grain exports to cover most
costs
▫ Grain prices took a nosedive during the Great Depression
The Soviets had to sell much more grain to acquire the necessary
funds
Peasants would not give up the majority of their crops without
compensation
• To acquire grain for export, Stalin forcibly
collectivized peasant farms
▫ He grouped small peasant farms into large
communal farms
Ironically, the smaller farms dated back to the 1917
Revolutions
The large-scale farm schematic allowed for more
efficient mass production
It also facilitated the export of grain
The government no longer needed to compensate
individual peasants
• Naturally, peasants strongly resisted the loss of
their private property
▫ Many decided to destroy their property rather
than relinquish it
▫ Stalin continued forward with ruthless force
• Add Graphic p. 97
Coercing art to serve the state
• Stalin reinvented artists as “cultural workers”
who would create art for “the people”
▫ Their works needed to convince the masses that
positive change would soon arrive
Basically, he needed propaganda to sugarcoat his
pitiless economic changes
▫ Artists reveled in the right to critically examine
the world and the authorities
Stalin, however, expected them to relinquish this
independence
• Unlike the peasants, artists received substantial
compensation for loss of freedom
▫ Stalin considered artists the “engineers of human
souls” and treated them well
▫ The Soviet leader placed artists on the state payroll
The new “cultural workers” did not need to worry about
making ends meet
They no longer relied on market preferences
The state supplied them a guaranteed income
In fact, they earned a much higher income than ordinary
workers
▫ Artists thus joined the new Soviet elite
This circle also included scientists, engineers, and senior
state administrators
• Stalin effectively collectivized artistic endeavors
▫ In this case, though, he used incentives rather than
outright force
▫ A 1932 Party resolution disbanded all independent
artistic organizations
Many of these associations enthusiastically aligned with
Communist ideals
Regardless, Stalin considered them an obstacle to his
overall vision
▫ The government then established new unions
For instance, these groups included a composers’ union, a
writers’ union, and a painters’ union
Stalin thus united all artists, regardless of Party
membership
After all, he required the fame and expertise of non-Party
artists
• The Soviet government instituted a commission
system for its “cultural workers”
▫ Few artists could resist the generous deal
The regime dictated a topical theme and presented a
sizeable advance payment
The artist received an advance in addition to their set
salaries
After completion, the artist received the rest of the
promised payment
Compensation did not depend on exhibition,
publication, or performance
The state paid the artist even if the general public never
saw or heard the work
• Those artists who did refuse the state’s offer
typically forfeited their careers
▫ Typically, they lost touch with their newly
privileged former colleagues
▫ They also relinquished the possibility of
performance or publication
• Most artists chose to compose for the state
▫ Some prominent artists still tested the limits of
their assignments
Thus, enduring works did occasionally appear
▫ However, many were hastily written works which
quickly disappeared
Socialist Realism
• The First Congress of Soviet Writers convened
in 1934
▫ This event marked the first official attempt to
establish the new artistic aesthetic
▫ Delegates named the resulting doctrine “Socialist
Realism”
The Soviet writers created this standard to apply to
literature
However, they intended it to encompass all art forms
▫ Three principles made up the Socialist Realist doctrine
▫ Thus, Stalin began reintroducing Tsarist symbols
The three-part doctrine echoed the motto for Official
Nationalism
• Socialist Realism evolved from a late 19th-century
Russian literary trend
▫ Characteristic of Tolstoy’s works, the trend was known
as “critical realism”
Soviet authorities expected artists to avoid non- or antirealistic approaches
Such attitudes distinguished Symbolist and modernist works
However, officials did not want artists criticizing the
Soviet Union
Thus, they replaced “critical” with “Socialist”
▫ Socialist Realists presented the Soviet Union
realistically
Nonetheless, they also depicted an optimistic future
These artists portrayed current problems as only
temporary obstacles
A common storyline involved an ultimately victorious
heroic struggle
• Graphic p. 99
• At first, Soviet composers struggled to
understand the implications of the new aesthetic
▫ Unlike writers, composers spent years figuring
out how to create “realist” works
They could look to Beethoven’s major works as
examples
Musicians could also consider Mussorgsky’s operatic
realism in Boris Godunov
▫ However, “realist” instrumental music without
lyrics stumped composers
• Composers eventually realized that Socialist Realism
meant anti-modernism
▫ Realist music needed to suggest believable
psychological states
Beethoven and Tchaikovsky achieved such psychorealism
in their works
▫ Atonal music sounded disparate from typical human
emotions
Listeners associated atonality with psychopathic
emotions
Arnold Schoenburg used atonality to depict a
hallucinating killer in Erwartung
Scriabin created a similar effect in his “Satanic” works
• The other major branch of modernism was
Neoclassicism
▫ This style was more tonal
▫ Anti-Soviet composer Stravinsky led the use of
Neoclassical style
He insisted that music could not depict emotion
His own works reveled in this lack of emotional realism
▫ Thus, Socialist Realist composers rejected modernism
Modernist music could not realistically imitate human
emotions
▫ Besides, the modernists composed only a small elite
segment of the population
The style lacked the mass appeal required by the Soviets
▫ Socialist Realism proved far more artistically
conservative
• Socialist Realist composers turned to 19th-century
models for inspiration
▫ In the 1930s, Stalin revived nationalist rhetoric
Soviet composers looked to the 19th-cenury nationalists
for examples
They studied the Mighty Handful and Tchaikovsky
▫ In particular, they adopted the Handful-like use of
Russian folk music
Composers in each Soviet Republic incorporated their
own national folk tunes
Ukrainian composers used Ukrainian folk songs, for example
The familiar melodies enhanced the new music’s mass
appeal
Folk music also aligned well with Soviet politics
It stemmed from the working classes
Folk tunes sounded both national and accessible to the
masses
• Texts, titles, and dedications also served political
purposes
▫ Phrases from Soviet mass songs and marches
appeared in symphonies and oratorios
These words made the compositions relevant to
contemporary audiences
The marches and songs represented the army and
industrial workers
▫ Socialist Realists needed to balance popular appeal
and the techniques of high art
They could not sacrifice technical beauty to appeal to the
masses
Moreover, they could not create agitprop
In the 1920s, some Party composers indulged in such
obvious propaganda
Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (1936)
• In January 1936, Joseph Stalin attended a
performance of Quiet Flows the Don
▫ The opera’s scenario involved a revolutionary tale
It featured the civil war and ended with a patriotic
marching song
The story stemmed from Mikhail Sholokhov’s novel of
the same name
This book was a much-praised Soviet bestseller
In fact, it eventually won the Nobel Prize
▫ Unknown composer Ivan Dzerzhinsky wrote the
opera as a conservatory student
Stalin called Dzerzhinsky to his box after the performance
to congratulate him
The next day, the Soviet newspapers lauded the composer
• That same month, Stalin also attended
Shostakovich’s opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
▫ Already considered a leading Soviet composer,
Shostakovich hoped for similar praise
Musically, his opera far surpassed Dzerzhinsky’s
Critics had already written admiring reviews
▫ However, an outraged Stalin left in the middle of the
performance
▫ Pravda, the national Party newspaper, published an
extremely negative critique
The title read “Sumbur vmesto muzyki”
This phrase means “This is chaos, not music!”
It often appears in translations as “Muddle instead of Music”
Other reviewers could not defend Shostakovich after the
Pravda review
The article appeared as an anonymous editorial
Thus, it represented official (and indisputable) Party opinion
▫ The defiantly modern music alienated Stalin
A couple of years earlier, such music might yet have
been acceptable
Now, however, it lay outside the boundaries of proper
Socialist Realism
Lady Macbeth proved more conservative than
Shostakovich’s earlier opera The Nose
However, it still differed considerably from the realist
ideal
▫ The subject matter probably angered Stalin most
The opera takes place in late Tsarist Russia
The plot did not center on a fairy tale or a nationalist
epic
Rather, the gruesome tale features love affairs and
murders
• Add Graphic p.101
• Shostakovich’s presentation of the love affair
differs from operatic convention
▫ The love scenes feature quick clownish dance music
instead of rich erotic themes
▫ The composer also added naturalistic orchestral
noises
▫ A New York critic dismissed the opera as
“pornophony”
Naturally, Stalin did not want to be seen in attendance
The Soviet Union had reversed earlier liberal views on
sexuality by this point
• Before Stalin’s viewing, Lady Macbeth had
enjoyed almost two years of success
▫ Critics in Moscow and Leningrad applauded the
opera
They considered it a condemnation of Tsarist
oppression
Audiences recognized Katerina as a courageous
revolutionary
Granted, they judged her individual actions futile
and wrong
They still sympathized with her attempts to fight the
circumstances
These reviewers believed the anti-Tsarist message
justified the music and action
• However, Pravda’s criticisms resulted in the
withdrawal of the opera
▫ Shostakovich’s rise to national stardom halted
▫ He faced a drop in income
▫ However, he managed to regain his former
prestige by the end of the 1930s
• Lady Macbeth thus served as a warning to other
artists
▫ Shostakovich received criticisms for the rest of
1936
Socialist Realism was not just a “friendly suggestion”
Failure to appease the government resulted in
serious consequences for artists
Prokofiev’s homecoming
• Unlike Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) gained
fame before the Revolution
▫ He graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory
At his final exam, he shocked everyone by performing his own Piano
Concerto
▫ Prokofiev earned a reputation as an audacious and revolutionary
modernist
He championed a brash and percussive pianist style
The composer layered different keys to create extremely dissonant
sounds
He employed this device in a set of piano pieces called Sarcasms (19121914)
Like Stravinsky, Prokofiev also experimented with the grotesque
This device involved the intentional distortion of familiar musical phrases
Prokofiev’s works influenced young Shostakovich
The “Classical” Symphony (1917) demonstrated another facet of
Prokofiev’s talent
This popular composition resembled a Haydnesque symphony
Prokofiev then added some slight modernist twists
The dissonances sound playful, not mocking or disrespectful
He balances the modernist trends with classical forms and orchestration
• After the Revolution, Prokofiev emigrated abroad in
1918
▫ Prokofiev did not hold strong political opinions
He felt curious about the Revolution and the radical
changes
However, he feared disruption to his orderly existence
The composer also worried that the turmoil would impede
his career ambitions
▫ In May 1918, Prokofiev journeyed to the United States
To avoid battle zones to the west, he traveled east
through Japan and the Philippines
The composer emigrated with Soviet permission
He even kept his Soviet passport
Other émigrés did not receive such generous treatment
Prokofiev initially settled in New York
He obtained European and American commissions
Diaghilev allowed him to write for the Ballets Russes
Prokofiev performed his own modernist piano concertos in
recitals
The composer also tried his hand at conducting
• Graphic p. 103
▫ Prokofiev became an influential modernist
composer
However, he never fulfilled his goal of surpassing
Stravinsky
Stravinsky and Schoenberg both experimented with
more extreme modernism
Prokofiev’s style was more moderate
The composer combined modernist aspects with more
conventional ones
• Despite a successful career in the West,
Prokofiev opted to return to Russia
▫ Soviet authorities began asking Prokofiev to
return in 1925
▫ They hoped his arrival would bolster the Soviet
Union’s international standing
In return, they promised better working conditions
He would benefit from a guaranteed income
Like other members of the artistic elite, he could enjoy
special perks
Prokofiev could focus on composition rather than
earning a living
• Prokofiev realized he needed praise from his own people
• He understood that the Soviets would impose
restrictions on his work
▫ However, he thought he could become a musical leader
▫ The composer proved he could employ a wide variety of
styles
▫ Reviewers criticized Shostakovich’s compositions for lack of
a melody
Prokofiev, by contrast, could produce beautiful and unusual
melodies
▫ He gladly catered to the common masses
One of his first Soviet projects, Peter and the Wolf, received
great acclaim
▫ Prokofiev also wrote more serious works that challenged his
audiences
He carefully avoided intimidating authorities, however
Such works included the Fifth Symphony and the Seventh
Piano Sonata
• The Soviets led Prokofiev to believe he could sustain
an international career
▫ However, his United States tour in 1938 proved to be
his last trip abroad
▫ In 1939, Prokofiev’s friend Vsevolod Meyerhold
disappeared in the Gulag
This well-known theatre director vanished near the end
of the Purges
After this event, the government refused to allow
Prokofiev to leave the country
If they allowed him to leave, he would not return
The Soviets could now freely censor Prokofiev’s compositions
• Confined to the Soviet Union, Prokofiev experienced
both great success and major setbacks
• Confined to the Soviet Union, Prokofiev experienced
both great success and major setbacks
▫ In the late 1930s, he faced initial government distrust
His status as a recent emigrant caused problems for his
career
The government did not trust Prokofiev’s loyalty to the state
Authorities cancelled several of Prokofiev’s theatrical
performances
His ballet Romeo and Juliet struggled to reach the stage
The composer earned some official praises for
nationalistic works, though
He wrote the film score for Alexander Nevsky (1938) by
Sergei Eisenstein
Prokofiev also wrote Zdravitsa (1939), a cantata praising
Stalin
• During World War II, Soviet society fully accepted
Prokofiev
▫ The state awarded him a succession of prestigious prizes
He received more accolades than any of his contemporaries
Prokofiev probably would not have enjoyed such success in the
West
▫ Audiences viewed his Fifth Symphony as a Soviet
masterpiece
It depicted both the struggles of war and the glory of triumph
▫ Prokofiev struck the perfect balance between modernism
and Socialist Realism
He used dissonances, rhythmic ostinatos, and grotesque
Critics explained these elements as musical depictions of
enemy forces
The composer also produced an epic symphony sound a la
Borodin
This tribute to Borodin’s Second Symphony appeased Socialist
Realists
• The Cold War ended the relatively liberal cultural era
▫ In the late 1940s, Stalin sought to isolate the Soviet Union from
Western influence
He particularly hoped to distance Russia from the hostile United
States
Soviet authorities renewed strict standards for Socialist Realism
▫ In 1948, a Party resolution labeled leading Soviet composers
“formalists”
These composers supposedly valued form above socialist content
In other words, they were modernists rather than Socialist Realists
▫ The Party’s naughty list included Prokofiev and Shostakovich,
among others
Ironically, some of the condemned works had received praise
during the war
▫ Prokofiev attempted to conform to the new standards in his late
years
However, true compliance would entail erasing his signature
techniques
The composer’s Seventh Symphony typifies music of this strict
era
Track 13: Romeo and Juliet, Second Suite, before parting
• Sergei Prokofiev composed this ballet
▫ It remains one of his best-known works
• This selection features several lyrical love themes
▫ Soviet authorities constantly pressured Prokofiev to
explore his lyrical talents
They also prompted him to write tonal harmonies
The Soviets discouraged the composer’s use of the
grotesque
▫ Still, the Soviets did not fully subdue Prokofiev’s work
to generic Social Realism
He still includes chromatic melodies and harmonies
Though subdued, these distinctive elements can still be
heard
Featured Excerpt
• The selection features three distinct themes
heard earlier in the ballet
▫ Theme 1 spans a wide range and contains daring
harmonies
The saxophone first presents this theme
This popular instrument appeared in orchestras
beginning in the 1930s
The violins then restate the theme
A shyly tender phrase follows the initial passionate
ascent
▫ Theme 2 joyously proclaims the characters’ love
It first appears when Romeo and Juliet confess their
love
The theme lies in C Major, accompanied by tonal
harmonies
The horns play a lyrical melody with too great a
range for the human voice
▫ After two statements of Theme 2, the hymn
quietly ends
▫ The music then adopts the hesitant, affectionate
character of Theme 1
▫ Theme 3 contrasts greatly with the other two
It includes a “ticking” ostinato figure that represents
time passing
The music modulates from major to minor
As the mood darkens, the basses introduce an
ominous new melody
This tune connotes death
It appears at the final parting of the two lovers
Shostakovich’s Symphonies
• Fourth Symphony
• Shostakovich was creating his Fourth Symphony when the Pravda
review came out
▫ The composer continued work as though the criticisms meant nothing
He probably believed authorities banned Lady Macbeth for nonmusical reasons
Regardless, Shostakovich urgently needed to remedy his public image
▫ The Fourth Symphony reflected Mahler’s influence
Its length, instrumentation, and ample thematic material all echoed
Mahler’s work
▫ When Pravda published its review, Shostakovich had completed 2/3
of the symphony
He only needed to write the third and final movement
This finale actually pushes the symphony farther from Socialist
Realism
It begins with a glorious loud section, as expected
However, instead of a heroic ending, a funereal theme interrupts
The piece then concludes softly in a minor key
• Shostakovich eventually realized that Soviet
authorities would not accept the symphony
▫ At rehearsals, musicians clearly thought his work
chaotic
After all, the piece required extremely difficult
performance techniques
▫ The composer realized a performance would only
further tarnish his reputation
Thus, he withdrew the work himself before the
Soviets could
The Fourth Symphony did not premiere until 1961,
years after Stalin’s death
Fifth Symphony
• Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony adhered more
closely to Socialist Realism
▫ Though he still imitated Mahler, Shostakovich
focused on more acceptable models
He drew inspiration from Beethoven and
Tchaikovsky
The Socialist Realists considered these composers
admirable examples
Shostakovich made sure to include Socialist Realist
elements
Add Graphic p.106
• Controversy about the finale’s meaning exemplifies the
complexity of many Soviet pieces
▫ Some listeners find the ending insincere
They believe Shostakovich simply geared it toward Socialist
Realist expectations
▫ Other people view it as a courageous self-assertion despite
Soviet intimidation
▫ Still others think the finale reflects ironic triumph and
artful deception
▫ Individual performances largely shape these various
interpretations
Composers must decide how to present Shostakovich’s
composition
Leonard Bernstein depicted the ending as a genuinely joyful
victory
Soviet conductor Yevgeni Mravinsky considered it tragic and
painful
• Despite some concessions to Socialist Realism,
the piece still contains questionable elements
▫ The symphony opens with a slow and dismal
passage
No clear melody emerges at the outset
Shostakovich develops the melodic fragments very
slowly
▫ Later in the first movement, a grotesque march
theme violently appears
The dramatic climax sounds disturbingly intense
▫ The Scherzo movement contained Mahlerian irony
▫ Meanwhile, many listeners interpreted the slow
third movement programmatically
▫ They considered it a lament for victims of the
Purges
▫ Authorities executed Shostakovich’s patron
Marshal Tukhachevsky in 1937
The composer was writing this symphony at the time
▫ Shostakovich favored Bach-like material over
Russian classical inspiration
▫ This choice seemed akin to Stravinsky’s
Neoclassical style
Soviet authorities frowned on Neoclassicism
They considered it a Western modernist trend
• Thankfully, Soviet authorities overlooked these
potentially offensive aspects
▫ The Fifth Symphony received favorable reviews and
Shostakovich regained his status
▫ Stalin often subjected internationally acclaimed artists
to a similar process
He issued official chastisement for challenging works
Afterward, he granted forgiveness once the artist
remedied his mistakes
Film director Sergei Eisenstein also received this
treatment
▫ However, particularly “dangerous” artists were sent to
labor camps or simply executed
• Shostakovich focused on creating instrumental
music without text
▫ Opera proved far riskier to produce, given the
clear-cut lyrics
Shostakovich never composed another
He did, however, complete a post-Stalin revision of
Lady Macbeth
Shostakovich learned from Prokofiev’s opera War
and Peace
Soviet authorities approved of the work
However, their constant interference delayed the
compositional process
As a result, Prokofiev died before the opera’s premiere
▫ Unlike clear-cut operas, audiences could interpret
instrumental works in a variety of ways
As a result, Shostakovich wrote 15 symphonies and
15 quartets
The composer only hinted at programmatic meaning
Sympathetic critics tied different melodies to
different aspects of Soviet life
Of course, hostile critics could still dispute these claims
However, these debates rarely led to serious political
consequences
Seventh Symphony
• Shostakovich wrote his Seventh Symphony
during World War II
▫ The Nazis invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941
▫ In September 1941, the Nazis reached
Shostakovich’s home city of Leningrad
They launched a three-year siege on the city
1.5 million Russians died due to starvation, cold, and
bombing
More citizens perished attempting to escape
▫ Shostakovich publically announced his intention
to dedicate a symphony to the city
• By night, Shostakovich
worked as a fireman
▫ He helped protect
neighborhood buildings
from German firebombs
▫ Time magazine published a
photograph of
Shostakovich in his
fireman’s helmet
He became a hero
throughout the Soviet
Union and in the West
His proposed symphony
became a symbol of
resistance even before its
premiere
• Upon its completion, the Seventh Symphony
received immense international attention
▫ The Allies evacuated Shostakovich
▫ The symphony premiered in Kuybyshev
(present-day Samara) in March 1942
This city served as Russia’s temporary wartime
capital
Moscow lay in danger of falling to the Nazis
▫ As promised, Shostakovich dedicated the Seventh
Symphony to Leningrad
The Soviets and their Western allies used the symphony
as a propaganda tool
The microfilmed score traveled to Tehran, Britain, and
the United States
In the United States, conductors fought for the right to
direct the premiere
Arturo Toscanini eventually led the United States premiere
in July 1942
The British premiere occurred a month earlier
Supposedly, the symphony helped solidify an alliance
The Soviet Union joined the United States and Britain
against Nazi Germany
▫ The music itself proves as challenging and complex as
the Fifth Symphony
In fact, the triumphant finale echoes similar musical
elements
Eighth Symphony
• Shostakovich gained national composer status after
the Seventh Symphony
▫ Audiences now expected his works to continue to
represent Russian life
• The composer’s Eighth Symphony (1943) met these
expectations
▫ However, the piece sounded too dark and difficult for
Socialist Realism
▫ The Soviet authorities accepted the work regardless
They interpreted the piece to represent Soviet suffering at
the Nazis’ hands
About 26 million Soviet citizens died during World War II
Ninth Symphony
• In early 1945, the Soviet Union anticipated victory
over Nazi Germany
▫ The public expected Shostakovich’s Ninth Symphony
to celebrate this triumph
They imagined a grand chorus like that found in
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony
The composer began such a piece, but abandoned the
idea
▫ The actual Ninth Symphony more closely imitated
Prokofiev’s “Classical” Symphony
Shostakovich used a much smaller scale than expected
He employed more extreme grotesque distortions to
classical idioms than Prokofiev
Unfortunately, the work alienated the critics and
confused the public
Return to Socialist Realism
• In January 1948, Shostakovich needed to redeem his
reputation yet again
▫ He drew on his 1936 experience and responded
quickly
The composer wrote soundtracks for films praising Stalin
He also wrote the oratorio Song of the Forests
This piece referred to Stalin’s post-war plan for reforestation
▫ These scores reflected heavy 19th-century influence
The Mighty Handful’s work clearly played a role
Glinka’s “Glory to the Tsar” chorus shaped the pro-Stalin
choruses
Soviet composers looked to this piece as a model for
extolling the government
• Shostakovich and Prokofiev both eventually
complied with Socialist Realism
▫ The composers adopted the conservatism
expected by the Soviet regime
They reined in their modernist tendencies
Their “official” works earned official “forgiveness”
▫ However, Shostakovich withheld some serious
works until after Stalin’s death
His Fourth and Fifth Quartets premiered in late
1953
In 1955, his famous Violin Concerto made its
public debut
Track 14: Symphony No. 7, First Movement, Excerpt
of the “Invasion Episode”
• Background
• Shostakovich dedicated this symphony to the
city of Leningrad
▫ It became an international symbol of resistance to
the Nazis
• Critics consider the first movement a
representation of the Nazi invasion of Leningrad
▫ Like many first movements, it follows sonata form
▫ The movement begins with an exposition of the
heroic and lyrical themes
These two ideas symbolize peaceful life in Leningrad
before the war
The exposition concludes quietly
Shostakovich gives no indication of what will come next
• The movement’s “invasion episode” enters
▫ A quiet snare drum pattern appears out of
nowhere
The deceptively lighthearted melody soon joins in
These elements intensify to create the sinister
“invasion episode”
▫ This idea replaces the conventional development
section in the sonata form
Featured Excerpt
• The invasion episode centers on a banal and
seemingly innocent theme
▫ Though march-like, the melody sounds trivial, light,
and popular
Shostakovich based this idea on a piece from one of
Hitler’s favorite operettas
▫ An insistent snare-drum pattern accompanies the
melody
It begins quietly but grows louder as the episode
continues
The snare drum maintains the same rhythm throughout
the episode
▫ Shostakovich subjects the theme to changingbackground variations
He keeps the melody intact, following Glinka’s example
• Maurice Ravel’s Bolero (1928) inspired several
features of the invasion episode
▫ Bolero also involved Glinka variations and a
recurring drum figure
▫ Moreover, both pieces use changing
instrumentation to support an extended crescendo
Shostakovich’s crescendo creates the impression of
approaching danger
The Nazi forces push forward slowly but inevitably
The insistent repetition of the innocent theme makes it
sinister and terrifying
▫ The crescendo stretches over 11 variations
The excerpt begins at the third variation, a canon
The bassoon echoes every phrase in the oboe
• Following Ravel’s example, Shostakovich
suddenly changes keys at the episode’s climax
• This technique implies the enemy forces finally
face an obstacle
▫ In this case, the Nazis experienced a crucial defeat
at Moscow in 1942
The Thaw and the Avant-Garde
• The Thaw
• Stalin’s death in 1953 did not immediately incite
radical change
▫ However, the Soviet Union released many political
prisoners
▫ People hoped liberalization would follow
• In 1956, the new leader Nikita Khrushchev
publically denounced Stalin
▫ He openly addressed Stalin’s crimes at the
Twentieth Party Congress
No precedent existed for such discussion
Thus, Khrushchev’s words sparked great sensation
• Historians refer to the
ensuing period of
• relative liberalization as
“The Thaw”
▫ The Thaw lasted from
1956 to 1964
▫ The Soviet government
still imposed some limits
on freedom, however
They did not want the
public challenging the
regime
• The Thaw ended Soviet Russia’s self-imposed
isolation from the West
▫ During Stalin’s rule, Soviet citizens faced
imprisonment for meeting foreigners
▫ The Thaw, however, witnessed an increase in
international contact
The Moscow Youth Festival of 1957 attracted foreign
visitors
Russian youths absorbed Western trends
High arts and popular culture both benefitted from the
exchange
Modern jazz, rock-and roll, and blue jeans became part of
Soviet culture
The authorities tolerated but did not encourage these
trends
▫ In fact, cultural tolerance proved greater than any
decade since the 1920s
Granted, even this liberal era had its limitations
Shostakovich’s Thirteenth Symphony
• Shostakovich’s Thirteenth Symphony (1962)
exemplifies works from The Thaw
• For the first time since the 1920s, Shostakovich
included text in a work
▫ Free of the threat of Stalin, the composer could
finally present a precise message
▫ The Thirteenth Symphony contained five poems
by Yevgeni Yevtushenko (b. 1933)
Yevtushenko pushed the boundaries of free speech
during the Thaw
In addition to the orchestra, Shostakovich included
a bass soloist and a male chorus
• One of the poems, “Babi Yar,” particularly moved
Shostakovich
▫ The title referred to a ravine near Kiev, Ukraine
The Nazis massacred tens of thousands of Jews at this
site
Yevtushenko wanted to remind the public of this horrific
incident
He published it in a newspaper to warn against antiSemitism
▫ This subject matter proved intensely controversial
It emphasized Jewish victims, not Soviet victims as a
whole
Officials based their objections on this preference
They glossed over the regime’s anti-Semitism
Yevtshenko’s poem threatened to draw attention to
casual anti-Semitism
The authorities released Jewish prisoners from labor
camps
However, they did not stop society’s harassment of Jews
▫ Shostakovich, however, chose to support Yevtshenko’s
efforts
Each of the five poems Shostakovich selected
addressed an aspect of life under Stalin
For Shostakovich, the symphony also reflected selfpurification
He could relinquish the compromises he made during
Stalin’s oppressive rule
• The Thirteenth Symphony finally premiered
on December 18, 1962
▫ This production first overcame several challenges,
though
Threats of cancellation loomed
Authorities pressured the first bass soloist to drop
out
They then sent his replacement to perform at the
Bolshoi at the last minute
Luckily, the theatre kept a third singer just in case
The original composer resigned and the chorus
threatened to leave
The producers found a distinguished replacement
composer
Yevtushenko personally appealed the singers to stay
Shostakovich’s music added power to Yevtusheno
Authorities feared the extra emphasis would incite
great controversy
It was one thing to allow the quiet reading of
Yevtushenko’s poems
However, choral declaration in front of a mass
audience scared officials
As a result, they canceled the broadcast of the
premiere
The cameras were already set up words
▫ Audiences received the symphony enthusiastically
The Thirteenth Symphony premiered to a full house
The Babi Yar movement received applause
The finale inspired reverent silence followed by more
tumultuous applause
Other performances took place in the Soviet Union and
East Berlin in 1963
Some used a revised version of the text
Yevtushenko created this version fearing the government
would ban the work
Musicians created a Soviet recording of the piece in 1967
Other than this, the symphony disappeared from the Soviet
repertory for years
Abroad, the symphony enjoyed many more performances in
the West
Parting the Iron Curtain
• Soviet authorities lifted the metaphorical “Iron
Curtain” in the late 1950s
▫ The Iron Curtain referred to the Soviet Union’s isolation
from the rest of the world
▫ New, once-forbidden Western music flooded into the Soviet
Union
Young composers studied Stravinsky’s Western compositions
Most only recognized his earliest works from before emigration
They also focused on the Second Viennese School
This group composed of Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, and
Anton Webern
The post-war avant-garde also influenced Soviet trends
This group included Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre
Boulez, and Luigi Nono
Along with John Cage, these composers visited the Soviet
Union
There, they interacted with the Soviet avant-garde
• The Soviet avant-garde thrived in the 1960s and
1970s
▫ These composers deviated from the mainstream
“The mainstream” included Shostakovich and a few
remaining Socialist Realists
The avant-garde worried that Russian music still trailed
behind the West
▫ Andrey Volkonsky forged the path for avantgardists
He published his serialist piece Musica stricta in 1956
▫ The Soviet avant-gardists experimented with atonality,
serialism, and electronic music
The government still restricted travel abroad
However, the Soviet avant-gardists studied Western music
Western avant-gardists visited the Soviet Union to meet
their counterparts
Soviet music also reached international audiences
• Three particular Soviet avant-gardists emerged
at the forefront
▫ Edison Denisov mostly used a serialist
approach
His works featured inventive timbres and textures
This composer created a refined and personal sound
His cantata Sun of the Incas received
international acclaim
The work premiered in Moscow
It was then performed in Darmstadt, Germany
This city was a major European avant-gardist center
A Paris performance forged lasting ties between the
composer and French music
• Sofia Gubaidulina used almost theatrical
instrumentation
▫ She allowed "indeterminate" (partially
improvised) sections
▫ Her pieces typically involved symbolism
▫ The Seven Last Words musically depicts Jesus'
crucifixion
The piece features solo cello and solo bayan (a type
of accordion)
These instruments dramatically imitate human-like
sounds
• Alfred Schnittke championed "musical
polystylism"
▫ This technique involved juxtaposing different
musical styles
For instance, he might follow a tonal section with an
atonal one
He might also use styles in different registers
▫ Schnittke also included allusions to familiar Soviet
pieces in his works
Shostakovich’s Fourteenth Symphony
• Shostakovich experienced the new compositional
trends of the Soviet avant-gardists
▫ After all, he lived until 1975
▫ The aging composer did not radically alter his existing
style
He did apply certain avant-garde elements to his own
works, though
▫ The Fourteenth Symphony featured substantial
atonality
Shostakovich used this technique freely in the 1920s
▫ Also, like the newer works, the symphony operates on
a smaller scale
The Fifth and Thirteenth Symphonies used much grander
instrumentation
The Fourteenth, by contrast, evokes a chamber ensemblelike sound
▫ The 11 movements feature several innovative devices
Shostakovich includes a twelve-tone theme and an atonal canon
One movement requires the use of tom-tom drums
Another ends on an eight-note dissonance
This device symbolizes emptines
o However, Shostakovich only adopted these techniques for expressive purposes
o The avant-garde, by contrast, used them in their overall styles
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Thirteenth Symphony
•5 poems
•Different themes: anti-Semitism, fear,
moral struggle, starvation, humor as
resistance
•Single poet: Yevgeni Yevtushenko
Fourteenth Symphony
•11 poems
•Single theme: death
•Different poets, including: Rainer Maria
Rilke, Guillaume Apollinaire, Garcia Lorca,
and Wilhelm Kuchelbecker (Russian
Romantic)
p.113 music power guide