Music of Russia

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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
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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
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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
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