SESSION ONE - SOVIET RUSSIA IN 1917

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Amberlynn Jenkins
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1 1 SESSION ONE - SOVIET RUSSIA IN 1917 THREE CAVEATS THREE WARNINGS It may seem unusual to begin a class course with a series of warnings, but here goes: 1. First, a warning about political prejudices, both yours and mine. Music and Politics in Soviet Russia is a subject at once familiar and strange. It combines political events and musical compositions well known to many of us, but in a way that often contradicts how we understand the relationship between politics and music. Over and over again, in developing this course I found myself leaping to wrong conclusions and tripping over prejudices I didn t even know I had. For example: Didn t composers of the Soviet era feel oppressed by the restrictions placed on them? Sometimes they did, but other times they felt liberated. Didn t the quality of their music suffer because of government censor-ship? Sometimes it did, but the Soviet era also produced a lot of outstanding music. 2. Second, a warning about truth. Should we take at face value the statements of the Soviet Government? The Ministry of Cultural Affairs? The Union of Soviet Composers? Individual Soviet composers and other musicians. If not, how are we to interpret them? As Soviet propaganda? As reflective of personal opinions rather than political beliefs? As statements designed to curry favor or remain in favor with Soviet authorities? All of the above? None of the above? 3. Third, a warning about my own competence. As some of you know, my education and training is in music, not in political science or history. So I will depend on you to point out my misunderstandings or misinterpretations. Just raise your hand to correct me when I seem to be over my head, or out of my depth. Finally, let s begin the task of defining our terms. In this course I will use the term Imperial Russia to refer to music and events prior to 1917, and the Soviet Union to identify music and events after PRELUDE (6 min) What was Russian music like at the dawn of the Soviet era? Let s begin today s session by listening to the Violin Concerto by Alexander Glazunov, one of the greatest compositions of the final years of the Russian Empire. Dating from the fateful year of 1905, the date of the first Russian revolution, it is dignified, romantic music written for the refined taste of middle-class concertgoers.

2 2 Modern audiences have called this concerto sweet and tender...heartfelt pure and soulful poetic and passionate a divine gift to mankind. This performance is by the great young American violinist, Hilary Hahn, with the West German Radio Symphony. MUSIC IN IMPERIAL RUSSIA The Glazunov violin concerto demonstrates the state of music in 1917, which was similar to that of nations such as Germany, Austria, France, England, and the United States. 1. Russian music was an urban art, centered in the concert halls, opera houses, ballet theaters, and music conservatories of St. Petersburg, Moscow, and other large cities. 2. It was created by and for an elite class, that is, for people who had the education, financial means, social background, and leisure time to enjoy it. 3. Concerts were dignified events attended by people of similar social status: their costumes were fashionable, their behavior polite, their knowledge of music sophisticated. 4. And while Russian music sometimes used patriotic themes, in general Russian com-posers were apolitical, that is, they were not attempting to use music for political purposes. SOCIAL AND POLITICAL UNREST Just beneath this serene façade revolution was in the making, restlessly fermenting, and about to explode. Before 1905, the Russian Empire was a monarchy ruled by a Tsar. Russian governments were traditionally oppressive, inept, and inadequate, especially after Nicholas II became Tsar in As a result, the allegiance of the Russian people had been quietly eroding for years. Disaffection had long been widespread among intellectuals, some of whom had become revolutionaries; in addition urban workers, peasants, and ethnic minorities all had their own serious, long-term grievances. THE REVOLUTION OF 1905 Then in January 1905, a peaceful workers march in St. Petersburg was brutally fired on by government troops, electrifying the nation and setting off fullscale revolution. In the following months liberals demanded immediate reform, workers became radicalized and organized, the army and navy grew mutinous, peasants and ethnic minorities occupied the homes of government officials and wealthy land-owners, and for the first time revolutionary political parties at-

3 3 tracted mass followings. Soon a general strike completely shut down the Russian Empire; only then did Czar Nicholas declare that Russia would become a constitutional monarchy with a more democratic government. In the following years matters grew ever more dangerous. Instead of trying to reach accommodation with its opposition, the government took a tough line, undercutting liberals and the legislature, cracking down on radicals, persecuting peasants, and encouraging right-wing mobs to attack dissidents; the revolutionary left responded with terrorism and open revolt. The number of death sentences, assassinations and executions skyrocketed. By 1909 the state had restored order, but at the cost of permanently alienating its subjects. Token reforms failed to pacify them. Then, in July 1914 Russia was sucked into World War I and the Czarist system began to crumble. In the following two years Russian forces, commanded personally by Tsar Nicholas II, suffered many defeats at the hands of the German army. NICHOLAS II: RUSSIA S LAST EMPEROR (9 min) Here s a short documentary film about Tsar Nicholas II s life and early newsreel footage from his wedding in 1894 and the outbreak of the Revolution of THE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION, 1917 Thus badly weakened and demoralized, Imperial Russia was overtaken by a second revolution in It is often referred to as the Bolshevik Revolution, named for the revolutionary socialist party that gradually defeated other political factions and eventually became the Communist Party. After Tsar Nicholas II abdicated the throne, the Bolshevik Party established a provisional government, redistributed land to peasants, and nationalized banks and heavy industries. By October the Council of People s Commissars (ministers) gained enough political power to govern Russia. THE BOLSHEVIK FLAG, 1917 The Bolshevik s flag symbolizes the Party s ideology: the red background represents the blood of common people, shed for centuries under the cruel oppression of the ruling classes. The intertwined hammer and sickle represents the bringing together of the industrial workers of Russia (the hammer) and the agricultural workers (the sickle). Later these images were moved to the upper left and a small red star, outlined in gold, was added, to represent the Communist Party. EFFECTS OF THE WAR The new state had been ravaged and demoralized by its involvement in World War I. Under the inept leadership of Nicholas II, Russia suffered catastrophic military losses. In a nation of 186 million people, 2,500,000 Russians were killed, nearly 5 million were wounded, and nearly 4 million were captured and held as prisoners of war.

4 4 Recognizing these realities, Bolsheviks promptly sued for peace but the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary) refused to recognize Lenin s government and continued the war. By the time a peace treaty had been signed, the new government owed 8 billion rubles in war debts. Inflation soared, gold reserves were nearly gone, and revenues plummeted. Russia was on the verge of economic collapse. RUSSIAN MUSIC IN 1917 With this brief political background let us look at the state of music in this bankrupt, divided, exhausted, and war-ravaged nation. THE 19 TH CENTURY TRADITION The story of Russian classical music began almost 100 years earlier, with the music of Mikhail Glinka, an outstanding composer of the same generation as Chopin, Schumann, and Mendelssohn. Among Russia s outstanding 19 th century composers were such famous names as Alexander Borodin, Modest Moussorgsky, Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakoff. This long musical tradition did not end with the Bolshevik Revolution but continued through the early 1920 s. THE EXILES I said at the beginning that Russian music at the dawn of the Soviet era was similar to that of other nations. In one important way, however, it was dramatically different. By 1917 the years of constant political and social turmoil had led to the exile of the three leading Russian composers. All were members of affluent professional families who had for generations served the Tsar s government. Let s see what kinds of music these three very different composers were writing in STRAVINSKY PIC The first to leave Russia was the avant-garde composer Igor Stravinsky, already world-famous, or infamous, before World War I for his revolutionary ballets The Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite of Spring. Stravinsky moved to Switzerland in 1914, lived in Paris during the entire interwar period, and in 1939 immigrated permanently to the United States. DUCHAMP, NUDE DESCENDING A STAIRCASE During World War I a new artistic movement called Dadaism developed in western Europe. Dada artists rejected the logic and reason of capitalist society in favor of expressing nonsense and anti-bourgeois sentiments. Marcel Duchamp s infamous 1912 painting, Nude Descending a Staircase became one of Dada s defining works of art.

5 5 RENARD, 1917 (8 min) From his exile in Switzerland Igor Stravinsky was quick to embrace the satirical spirit of Dadaism and in the revolutionary year of 1917 published a land-mark work called The Fable of the Vixen, the Cock, the Cat and the Ram; a Burlesque for the Stage, with Singing and Music, aka Renard, the name of the Vixen, or female fox. Judging from its title alone, Renard seems to be far removed from the sedate mu-sic of Glazunov. Renard combines acrobatic dancing, exaggerated singing, and strange animal sounds and costumes. The entire action takes place in a hen house and chicken yard. It tells the story of Renard the fox, who tries to catch the Cock, but the Cat and the Ram repeatedly rescue him. After the Cock's second rescue, the Cat and the Ram strangle the Fox, and the three friends celebrate their victory by nonsensical dancing and singing. Taken literally Renard is about animals, but symbolically it can be seen as a political work, about how the cruel and powerful Germany (Renard) intent on capturing an innocent and peace-loving Russia (the Cock), is finally killed when the Cock s friends (the allied nations) team up to defeat him. RACHMANINOFF PIC The second exile was 44-year-old Sergei Rachmaninoff, the leading Russian composer of the middle generation. With his wife and children he fled Russia in the final days of 1917 and settled permanently in Los Angeles, where he adored the warm California weather. ETUDES TABLEAUX, NOS. 2 AND 6, 1917 (5 min) Rachmaninoff s Etudes Tableaux ( Descriptive Studies ) was written a few months before he fled Russia. It is a series of 9 piano pieces, each of which focuses on one or more of the technical challenges of piano playing. They are written in the romantic style of the late 19 th century, much closer to the music of Glazunov than to that of Stravinsky. The etude we are going to hear etude is sometimes called The Sea and the Seagull for its dreamy, repetitious character. The performance is by the young Russian virtuoso, Evgeny Kissin, performing at age 15 as a finalist in the Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow. PROKOFIEV PIC Also in 1917, the brilliant young Sergei Prokofiev, with official permission from the new Communist government, began what would become a 19-year exile,

6 6 living in the United States, England and France, during which he became a world-famous composer, pianist and conductor. VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 1, 1917 (10 min) The first movement of this piece shows young Prokofiev at his best: sometimes lyrical and almost dreamy, at other times sparkling and exhilarating. The piece received a mixed reception at its Paris premiere; it was not modern enough for avant-garde audiences but just right for several of the leading violinists of the day, who quickly learned and performed it throughout the world. This performance is by the great Israeli-American violinist, Itzhak Perlman. MORE DEFINITIONS And now it s time to define some other key terms that you will hear in every session of this course. The term Soviet, as used by the Communist Party, referred to a local council, originally elected by manual workers, with certain administrative powers. After the Bolshevik Revolution it came to mean any council in the hierarchy of the government, culminating in the Supreme Soviet, the highest ruling body of the Soviet Union. As an adjective, Soviet means pertaining to any political entity ruled by such a council. USSR MAP The Bolshevik government was careful to preserve the ethnic and cultural identity of the various states within its vast territory. Each of these became a Soviet Socialist Republic; for example, there was the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, etc. Each was governed by a Supreme Soviet of its own, but functioned within a strong central government ruled by the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. From 1922 on, the nation as a whole was called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. THE RISING GENERATION To round out the picture of Russian music in 1917 let us briefly mention three student composers, just coming of age. Unlike those already mentioned these three were thoroughly and completely Communist in their outlook and orientation: DMITRI KABALEVSKY, a politically savvy, multi-talented, energetic ethnic Russian, Joseph Stalin s most trusted and most rewarded composer, best known today for his excellent, pioneering work in music education for children. ARAM KHACHATURIAN, a clever, ambitious ethnic Armenian who used Armenian folk music as the basis for energetic music that seldom clashed with the requirements of Communist censors.

7 7 DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH, an unpredictable, sarcastic, but profound ethnic Russian who found it difficult to conform to the party s expectations and was often in trouble with Communist censors. Together with Sergei Prokofiev, these three would define Soviet Russian music for the next fifty years. We will devote an entire class session to each of them in the coming weeks.

Shostakovich & Other Russians. Session Three Bob Fabian LIFEcourses.ca/Shostakovich

Shostakovich & Other Russians. Session Three Bob Fabian LIFEcourses.ca/Shostakovich Shostakovich & Other Russians Session Three Bob Fabian LIFEcourses.ca/Shostakovich Plan for session Housekeeping October 1917 Eisenstein film (intro) Left behind Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Stravinsky 1917