Several books on the Bolshevik Revolution have been on my nightstand the past few months. The Revolution was supposed to usher in a new era of proletarian revolution and would eventually lead to the promised socialist utopia. These are (and have always been) dangerous thoughts, made especially dangerous emanating from the mouths of brilliant, manipulative, strong, influential, compelling, eloquent leaders of men. The effect of the Revolution on the Russian people, especially the upper-class and dissidents has been told numerous times and rightly so. The part where I get interested is what effects the Revolution had on composers and musicians, especially established composers.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union there have been published several excellent works focusing on the plight of Soviet-era composers and the pressures they face, most of which focus on well-known artists such as Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and to a lesser extent Khachaturian, Stravinsky, and Myaskovsky. With the exception of perhaps Myaskovsky (who had composed several important works before the Revolution) and Stravinsky (who of course left before the Revolution for France) these composers were too young to really experience pre-Revolutionary Russia for themselves; most of their important works would be written after the Bolshevik Revolution. As mentioned in an earlier post [link here] Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and Mayaskovsky belong to the (my words) fourth generation of Russian composers. So what about the composers who were somewhat older but who survived the Revolution? What happened to them and how did the upheaval of the Bolshevik rise to power affect them? Let’s explore those composers.
For clarity’s sake, I am thinking of these musicians as belonging to one of three categories:
- Composers who were older and established when the Revolution happened.
- Composers who were of age and had already composed works when the Revolution happened.
- Composers who matured after the Revolution.
Therefore we will only be focusing on composers in the first two categories. Here follows a list of Russian/Soviet composers in alphabetical order along with brief biographical notes and discussion of their relationship to the Communist regime.
Alexander Arkangelsky (1846 - 1924). Choral composer, popularized Orthodox music for other composers. One of the first composers to substitiue women’s voices for those of boys. Founded a choir (Arkangelsky Choir) with which he presented historical concerts where audiences heard compositions from the 16th century through the present for the first time. Choirmaster at the famous Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow. Emigrated to Prague after the Revolution, where his output dwindled to almost nothing.
Nikolai Artsybushev (1858 - 1937) Studied with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and was a member of Belyayev’s circle. Wrote a collective piece with other Russian composers for Belyayev’s publishing firm. Chaired Belyayev’s publishing house after the man died. Left in 1920 for Paris.
Pavel Chesnokov (1877 - 1944) Very famous choral composer and conductor. The son of a precentor (music director) of the local church, he was sent to the Moscow Synodal School of Church Music in 1884. Studied there while the School was under the directorship of Stepan Smolensky, who remained a mentor for young Chesnokov. After his graduation he taught chant at the same institution, and took composition lessons with Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov. Later Chesnokov entered the Moscow Conservatory, studying with Sergei Vasilenko.
Chesnokov was hired to teach choral conducting at the Moscow Conservatory in 1920, and served as choirmaster at Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow a position he held until Stalin had the church destroyed in 1931*. [put in a brief aside about the church here] Chesnokov was forced to stop writing sacred choral music after the Revolution, so he turned to secular music instead. Chesnokov’s influential book on choral conducting proved too difficult to get published in the USSR (he was told you can’t publish apolitical books) and so his book had to wait for ten years to be published in the Soviet Union.
Reinhold Gliere (1875 - 1956) Ukrainian composer. One of the Russian composers who worked well with the authorities after the Revolution. Appointed director of the Kiev Conservatory, and held a position at the Peoples Commissariat for Education where he studied Azerbaijani folk music, later incorporated into operas of his. This was seen as a positive evolution in music, as it aligned well with Soviet realism. He never left the Soviet Union.
Alexander Gretchaninov (1864 - 1956) Russian composer, mostly remembered today for his Russian Orthodox music and other choral works. Enrolled in the Moscow Conservatory against his father’s wishes to study with Arensky and Taneyev. He would later enroll in the St Petersburg Conservatory and study with Rimsky-Korsakov as well.
As an Orthodox composer, it would seem that he would be most vulnerable to the changes of the Revolution, but Gretchaninov seemed to want to fit in to the new regime. He composed a Hymn for a Free Russia in 1917. However, he left the Soviet Union in 1925 for Paris, and for the US in 1939. He is buried in New Jersey. He barely survived the Soviet starvation, saved only by friends smuggling food to him and his wife. His autobiography “My Life” (Published by Coleman-Ross in English in 1952) mentions numerous stories of his struggles for survival during and after the civil war and is a fantastic memoir of the time.
Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov (1859 - 1935) Russian born condcutor, composer, educator. Highly valued as an educator and conductor in his time, but also with several importnat pieces. Director of the Moscow Conservatory from 1905 to 1924, and principal conductor of several theaters including the Bolshoi Opera. Managed to escape the ravages of the Revolution and was Presidnet of the Society of Writers and Composers in 1922. In his later years wrote many works based upon Russian and ethnic folk music, a technique encouraged by the USSR. Writing in such a style was a common move for composers who were unsure about their livelihood under the new regime.
Interestingly enough, looking through Ippolitov-Ivanov’s works you see works written for the Tsar (see op. 12, Coronation Welcoming Cantata from 1895), many religious choral works, and even wrote after the Revolution a “Hymn to Labor” (op. 59, from 1927). All this would suggest that Ippolitov-Ivanov attempted to ingratiate himself to whomever was in power, and wrote what was popular and would get played. One his last works was “The Last Barricade” (1932, op. 74) a socialist-propaganda opera set in the post-French Revolution Commune.
Nikolai Myaskovsky (1881 - 1950) As per my last post, Myaskovsky is of a similar generation as Glazunov; their dates are similar. He was a student of Lyadov and Rimsky-Korsakov at the St Petersburg Conservatory alongside his lifelong friend Sergei Prokofiev. Myaskovsky served in the army during WWI (his father was a military engineer and Myaskovsky was himself born in a military garrison), fighting and working in Austria and Galicia.
His father, aunt, and brother-in-law were all killed by the Red Army or Bolsheviks around the Revolution. In response Myaskovsky didn’t compose for three years. However, he would eventually write works that if not overly propagandic, at least had revolutionary themes, some of which praised the Revolution outright. And although he was dedicated to traditional forms (27 symphonies, 13 string quartets) he continued to skirt the authorities for much of his professional career. His Sixth Symphony (although overtly religious in some sections) became a favorite in the Soviet Union. The Twelfth Symphony was inspired by the ideas of collective farming, and his Sixteenth Symphony was inspired by the crash of the Maxim Gorky airplane. And in what appears to be a similar move of appeasement, his Twenty-Sixth Symphony is based upon Russian folk songs. He was denounced by Zhadanov in 1948, but refused to plead his case publicly, or ingratiate himself with the authorities.
Nikolai Roslavets (1880 - 1944) Russian composer of Ukrainian origin. Member of the avant-garde Futurist wing of early Soviet composers. Fought for progressive, non-ideological, non-proletarian, modernist music in the new Bolshevik union. He mistakenly thought that the early openness to new artistic ideas and realism would last longer than Lenin’s death. He was wrong. He was accused, in the late 20s of formalism, and being a Trotskyite. He had to repent publicly, for his ‘mistakes’. He had intense trouble finding work, had to live in Uzbekistan to find a musical job, and was the victim of active disinformation and smears.
Nikolai Cherepnin (1873 - 1945) Russian composer in a family of great composers. When the Revolution came he was in St Petersburg, and the blockade of the city brought his family to starvation. He accepted a post later in Tiflis (Georgia) where he soaked up local culture. One day at rehearsal for the local opera, a musician told him not to address his fellow orchestra members as ‘gentlemen’ but ‘comrades.’ It was the straw that broke the composers’ back. Cherepnin left Russia for France in 1921 never to return.
Sergei Vasilenko (1872 - 1856) Moscow-born composer who originally studied law at Moscow University. He eventually changed directions and studied music at the Moscow Conservatory under the direction of Sergei Taneyev and Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov. Before the Conservatory he studied privately with Gretchaninov. Later he would teach at the same institution. Vasilenko’s name was used in the case against Nikolai Golovanov which ended in the conductor’s dismissal from the Bolshoi Opera in Moscow. Vasilenko came out of the firestorm relatively unscathed, although at the high cost of support from his former student, Golovanov. Vasilenko came from aristocracy, a fact he hid well from the Soviet authorities. His family owned a nice house in Moscow and several country estates, a fact that he conveniently left off of his personal files at his various conducting jobs. I wonder how many other composers did the same?
Vasilenko organized a series of concerts in Moscow called the Historic Public Concerts, which were aimed at introducing to the lower classes classical music presented in chronological order. Vasilenko was summomed to the police department at some time during these concerts and was assigned an undercover officer; apparently the authorities were worried about the populace rioting or fomenting unrest as a result of their increased education. His efforts won him supporters amongst the audience and with the later Soviet authorities. He was briefly a member of the Proletkult movement, which brought him to the notice of the authorities before they disbanded the organization in 1932.
Vasilenko, in a private conversation once confided in a friend, “I write a lot. I take on everything, absolutely everything. You would ask why? I am wearing my last pair of shoes.”
Alexander Y. Alexandrov (1883 - 1946) Founder of the Alexandrov Ensemble, famous in the Soviet Union. Composer of the National Anthem of the Soviet Union (and now the Russian Federation) and the Song of the Soviet Army. Worked as a Professor at the Moscow State Conservatory and recipient of the Stalin Prize. A good example of an artist who worked well (even thrived) in the new Soviet Union.
Mikhail Gnessin (1883 - 1957) Rostov-born Jewish-Russian composer. The son of a rabbi, he was one of the most important Jewish composers in the early Soviet Union. Studied at the St Petersburg Conservatory where his teachers were Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov, and Anatoly Lyadov. He was briefly expelled from the Conservatory for participating in Socialist activities, and was readmitted a year later. He would continue to keep his skin-in-the-game during the pre-Revolution days; he was apparently another artist who flourished in the Revolutionary milieu and the newly-formed Soviet Union. Much of his pre-Revolution music was based on Jewish folk music, had Jewish themes, and Jewish subjects. He eventually taught composition at the Moscow Conservatory and the Gnessin Musical Institute (founded by his sisters).
By the 1930s the Soviets began to crack down on non-conformity in the arts, which included anti-semitic attacks on Jewish musicians and composers. The Soviets eventually pressured his sisters to fire him from the Institute which bore his own name. Saturn devours his own.
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