Music in Soviet Russia
Important pre-Soviet
Composers
 “National Realistic School”
 Glinka, Dargomyzhsky, Serov
 Tchaikovsky
 Balakirev, Borodin, Musorgsky, Cui,
Rimsky-Korsakov
Classical Music in Russia
 Classical music flourished under
“proletariat rule”
Soviet Music
 Soviet musicologists believed realistic
composers should write music that is
“grounded in the nation”.
 Appeal to a broad group of people using
popular melody (often use folk music
melodies), and European art music.
Notable Composers
 Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev,
Dmitrii Shostakovich
Stravinsky
Rite of Spring
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjX
3oAwv_Fs&feature=related
Prokofiev
Romeo and Juliet
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB
3sd2BAxys
Shostakovich
Festive Overture
 Wrote Festive Overture in three days
after Stalin’s death.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g
DZTah8J2A
Early Soviet Russia
 Lacked both the brilliance of before
the revolution and the censorship that
would come later
 Interested in a “Sovietization” of music
and musical life
 Cultural Transformation
 Musicians were actually major players in
“Sovietization”
“Sovietization” of Music
 The People’s Conservatory
 Opened after the 1905 Revolution
 Courses in Choral Singing and Elementary Music

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Theory
Wanted a distinctly Soviet musical culture
Music was difficult to censor because of it’s abstraction
compared to physical art forms.
Nationalized conservatories, publishing houses and
theatres.
Confiscated valuable instruments from private
collections and aristocrats.
“Sovietization” of Music
 There was only one radio station in all
of Russia.
 Comintern Radio
Participation of Workers
 Groups in factories or farm collectives
began putting on little plays, with
music written either by a member of
the group or a pro.
Works Cited
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" Google Image Result for http://www.classical-composers.org/img/prokofiev.jpg." Google.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.classicalcomposers.org/img/prokofiev.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.classicalcomposers.org/comp/prokofie&h=333&w=234&sz=12&tbnid=imcj5BsMq4oYBM:&tbnh=266&tbnw=187
&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dimages%2Bof%2BProkofiev&zoom=1 (accessed December 19, 2010).
" Google Image Result for http://www.classical.net/music/images/composer/s/stravinsky.jpg."
Google.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.classical.net/music/images/composer/s/stravin
sky.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/stravinsky.php&h=280&w=230&sz=32&tb
nid=eBiGLLLjtOv5PM:&tbnh=224&tbnw=184&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dimage%2Bof%2B (accessed
December 19, 2010).
" Google Image Result for http://www.manhattanstringquartet.com/images/Shostakovich_web.jpg."
Google.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.manhattanstringquartet.com/images/Shostakovi
ch_web.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.manhattanstringquartet.com/Shostakovich.htm&h=430&w=386&s
z=12&tbnid=Nlf7DSCNUxa_wM:&tbnh=126&tbnw=113&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dimages%2Bof (accessed
December 19, 2010).
"Classical Music in Soviet Russia." NewsMax.com: America's News Page - News Archives.
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/11/24/85758.shtml (accessed December 18,
2010).
Cowell, Henry . "Music in Soviet Russia." JSTOR: Russian Review, Vol. 1. No. 2, (April.,1942), pp. 7479. http://www.jstor.org/stable/125204 (accessed December 7, 2010).
Works Cited (cont.)
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Dorin, Ryan. "Dmitri Shostakovich: Festive Overture - Piece Detail | LA Phil." Los Angeles Philharmonic
at Walt Disney Concert Hall | LA Phil. http://www.laphil.com/philpedia/piece-detail.cfm?id=263
(accessed January 2, 2011).
"Essentials of Music - Composers." Essentials of Music.
http://www.essentialsofmusic.com/composer/stravinsky.html (accessed December 7, 2010).
Guide, All Music. "Dmitry Shostakovich | AllMusic." AllMusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/dmitryshostakovich-q7974/biography (accessed December 8, 2010).
"Igor Stravinsky - Biography." HumanitiesWeb - Welcome.
http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=c&p=a&a=i&ID=756 (accessed December 8, 2010).
"Music under Soviet rule: Centre and pseudo-centre." Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
http://www.siue.edu/~aho/musov/cpc.html (accessed January 2, 2011).
Nelson, Amy. "Music for the Revolution: Musicians ... - Google Books." Google Books.
http://books.google.com/books?id=Q9MsfCnep64C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Music,+Soviet,+Russia&hl
=en&ei=fmX-TLzAOIq8Aaxqdj8Bw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
(accessed December 7, 2010).
Schwarz, Boris. Music and musical life in Soviet Russia, 1917-1970 . New York: W. W. Norton, 1972.
"Sergei Prokofiev - an overview of the classical composer." mfiles.
www.mfiles.co.uk/composers/Sergei-Prokofiev.htm (accessed December 8, 2010).
Smrz, Jiri. "Symphonic Marxism: Sovietizing Pre-Revolutionary Russian Music Under Stalin." Discourses
in Music. http://www.discourses.ca/v4n3a1.html (accessed January 2, 2011).
Works Cited (cont.)
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"YouTube- Shostakovich Festive Overture Op 96 Live @ Nobel Prize Concert 2009 ." YouTube .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gDZTah8J2A (accessed January 2, 2011).
"YouTube-The Rite of Spring Part 1 ." YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjX3oAwv_Fs&feature=related (accessed January 2, 2011).