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Nikolay Myaskovsky and the ‘regimentation’ of Soviet composition : a reassessment

Zuk, Patrick

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Abstract

Western studies of musical life in the USSR have typically placed great emphasis on the constraints to which composers were subject and often appear to have accepted as axiomatic the notion that the styles of Soviet composition of the Stalinist era were fundamentally conditioned by external pressures. One of the most influential formulations of this view is to be found in Boris Schwarz’s Music and Musical Life in Soviet Russia, which has remained a standard work of reference for over four decades. Schwarz considered the promulgation of the Communist Party’s resolution of 23 April 1932 “On the Reconstruction of Literary and Artistic Organisations” to represent a fateful turning point in the fortunes of Soviet music, marking the inauguration of a stultifying new era of “regimentation” and the demise of freedoms that had remained after the persecution of leading modernists by the Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians. According to Schwarz “advanced composers turned conventional, and conventional composers turned commonplace.” In Schwarz’s view, the newly founded Composers’ Union, just as Goebbels’s Reichsmusikkammer, presided over an artistic wasteland. In this essay I question such generalizations. I focus on Nikolay Myaskovsky (1881–1950), regarded by Schwarz as a prime example of a modernist who retreated into safe conventionality in the early 1930s after the composition of his notorious Twelfth Symphony, ostensibly written to glorify Stalin’s grandiose project of agricultural collectivization. A re-examination of the circumstances surrounding the symphony’s genesis suggests that the constructions Schwarz placed on this phase of Myaskovsky’s career are questionable. Although the composer’s harmonic language became noticeably less dissonant after 1932 than in certain works of the 1920s, I argue that this cannot be attributed solely to external pressures, as Myaskovsky’s later style evinces strong continuities with tendencies manifest in his earlier work. The essay closes by reflecting on the wider implications of these findings for our understanding of Soviet composition of the Stalinist era.

Citation

Zuk, P. (2014). Nikolay Myaskovsky and the ‘regimentation’ of Soviet composition : a reassessment. The Journal of Musicology, 31(3), 354-393. https://doi.org/10.1525/jm.2014.31.3.354

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Jun 1, 2014
Deposit Date Aug 25, 2013
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Journal of Musicology
Print ISSN 0277-9269
Electronic ISSN 1533-8347
Publisher University of California Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 31
Issue 3
Pages 354-393
DOI https://doi.org/10.1525/jm.2014.31.3.354
Keywords Nikolay Myaskovsky, Socialist Realism, Soviet compositional styles, Soviet symphonism, Western reception history of Soviet music.

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Copyright Statement
Published as Patrick Zuk (2014) 'Nikolay Myaskovsky and the “Regimentation” of Soviet Composition: A Reassessment.', Journal of Musicology, Vol. 31, No. 3, Special Issue 2 in Honor of Richard Taruskin (Summer 2014), pp. 354-393 © 2014 by The Regents of the University of California. Copying and permissions notice: Authorization to copy this content beyond fair use (as specified in Sections 107 and 108 of the U. S. Copyright Law) for internal or personal use, or the internal or personal use of specific clients, is granted by the Regents of the University of California/on behalf of the Sponsoring Society for libraries and other users, provided that they are registered with and pay the specified fee via Rightslink® on [JSTOR (http://www.jstor.org/r/ucal)] or directly with the Copyright Clearance Center, http://www.copyright.com





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