At the Watershed: Russian Music in the First Decades of the 20th Century

The study examines the socio-cultural context of Russian music in the decades immediately preceding and following the October Revolution of 1917, focusing on several aspects: personalities representing pre- and post-revolutionary Russian (in exile) and Soviet (at home) musical activity and culture; second-tier national composers; “industrial music” of the early Soviet period; and Soviet cultural management in music behind the Iron Curtain. Portraits of composers little known to Western listeners and academic audiences are presented. The spectrum of musical styles and aesthetics is considered. Issues of ethnic diversity and religious affiliation of Russian composers are relevantly explored. Songs of the First Revolution (1905), the Civil War, and Soviet mass songs are briefly touched upon. The scope and choice of themes of the study provide a holistic approach to topics that are usually addressed separately: before or after the 1917 Revolution; classical music or folk/popular songs.

Ardov, M. (2003). Shostakovich v vospominaniyakh syna Maksima, docheri Galiny i protoiyereya Mikhaila Ardova (Shostakovich in the memories of the son Maxim, daughter Galina, and archpriest Mikhail Ardov). Moscow: Zakharov. (in Russian)

Chukovsky, K. (1965). Commentary to “The Railway”. In K. Chukovsky (Ed.), Nekrasov N. A. collected works (Vol. 2, p. 416) (in Russian). Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya Literatura.

Jancevičius, A. (2022). Max Steinberg nam vsem nravitsya srazu (We all liked Max Steinberg right away). Obzor (Culture and History in Baltic Countries). Posted December 25, 2022 (in Russian). Retrieved from https://obzor.lt/news/n87121.html

Kirsch, T. B. (1997). Jung’s Russian translator. Book review of The Russian Mephisto: A Study of the Life and Work of Emilii Medtner by Magnus Ljunggren, Stockholm: Almqvist and Wiksell International, 1994. The San Francisco Jung Institute Library Journal, 16(1), 27-33.

Lechs, F. (2024). Russian music of the Soviet era: For archive or forever. Cultural and Religious Studies, 12(1), 1-7.

Lenin, V. (1967). Speech delivered at the Moscow Provincial Conference of the RCP(b), November 21, 1920. In V. Lenin (Ed.), Collected works (5th ed., Vol. 42, pp. 17-39) (in Russian). Moscow: Politizdat.

Lodge, K. (2010). Russian decadence in the 1910s: Valery Briusov and the collapse of empire. The Russian Review, 69(2), 276-293.

Lomtev, D. (2023). Nikolay Metner i yego nemetskiye izdateli Tsimmermany: istoriya v dokumentakh (Nikolai Medtner and his German publishers Zimmermann: A history in documents). Vremennik Zubovskogo Instituta, 43(4), 51-63.(in Russian)

Lysenkov, A. (2021). Nikolai Myaskovsky: ‘Odinokiy russko-sovetskiy simfonist’ (Nikolai Myaskovsky: ‘Lonely Russian-Soviet symphonist’). Orpheus, Classical Music Radio. Posted April 20, 2021 (in Russian). Retrieved fromhttps://orpheusradio.ru/news/news/8580/nikolay-myaskovskiy-odinokiy-russko-sovetskiy-simfonist

Martyn, B. (2016). Nicolas Medtner: His life and music. Abingdon: Routledge.

Ritzarev, M. (2012). Conceptualizing the vernacular in music. In E. Avitsur, M. Ritzarev, and E. Seroussi (Eds.), Garment and core: Jews and their musical experiences (pp. 31-40). Ramat Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press.

Roh, Y. (2015). A comparative study of the Twenty-Four Preludes of Alexander Scriabin and Sergei Rachmaninoff (Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Music, Indiana University).

Rosenblatt, A. (2020). Red insight: Socio-tonal battles of Dmitri Shostakovich. Min-Ad: Israel Studies in Musicology Online, 17, 77-92.

Sabaneyev, L. (2004). O Gretchaninove (About Gretchaninov). In L. Sabaneev (Ed.), Vospominaniya o Rossii (Memories of Russia) (pp. 86-90) (in Russian). Moscow: Klassika-XXI.

Sapanzha, O., & Balandina, N. (2017). Balet ‘Krasnyj Mak’ v prostranstve sovetskoj povsednevnoj kul’tury (Ballet “Red Poppy” in the space of Soviet everyday culture). Vestnik Akademii Russkogo baleta im. A.Y. Vaganovoy, 48(1), 33-39. (in Russian)

Taruskin, R. (2019). Found in translation. Min-Ad: Israel Studies in Musicology Online, 16, 1-31.

Union of Soviet Composers. (1948). First all-union congress of Soviet composers, verbatim report. Moscow: Union of Soviet Composers. (in Russian)