Music under Stalin - Essay Example

?Music under Stalin Introduction The Soviet Union under Stalin had a profound link between music and politics of the regime that was present at the time which used music to propound its ideologies and policies (Frolova-Walker and Walker 2012, p.2). Starting from the Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians (RAPM) which dominated the Russian musical scene in the late 1920s till the early 1930s, to the Shostakovich era, the Russian musical scene has been either in support or opposition to the government. The RAPM for example had a manifesto that was meant to reflect the psychology and the desires of the proletariats (Edmunds 2000, p.78). The RAPM until its disbandment also specialized in composing music that was conservative in nature and at times wrote instrumental music and performed mass songs. The RAPM which dominated the 1920s and 1930s also advocated for anti-Western aesthetics that could be seen in works such as Lady Macbeth and led to the realization of the commencement of the Soviet musical history. Members of this group such as Marian Koval became one of the greatest critics of the works of Shostakovich (Edmund 2000, p. 88). There were other groups that were not as influential as RAPM such as Muzyka-massam which translates to music to the masses founded in 1929 to produce music to the citizens. Much, later, there has been political meaning given to the music written by Russian composers such as Shostakovich in which the works were overtly propagandist in nature such as the Eleventh Symphony that were a protest against the Soviet Union under Stalin. Shostakovich also composed music that could be said to be formalist when the RAPM was influential such as the opera “The Nose” and the ballets “Bolt and The Golden Age” that showed disdain for the music performed by RAPM. Despite the good works by artists such as Shostakovich and Prokofiev amongst other composers, they underwent a lot of repression in the year 1948 when the regime through its secretary general issued a decree denouncing them for their formalism and thus their music was suppressed with no publications or performances. Music under Stalin The Soviet regime’s under Stalin and those who adopted Stalinism had a stranglehold on the music that was supposed to be produced and composed that made creativity a difficult affair. However, some artists such as Shostakovich, Prokofiev and others managed to create musical masterpieces with distinct messages mainly to counter propaganda and inspire revolutionary purposes amongst the masses (Fairclough 2012, p. 68). There is still very limited understanding of the Soviet reality as concerns the music that was played and performed under Stalin. This incomprehension often leads to the misunderstanding and misrepresentation of the motivations and activities of those who composed and performed music including their meaning in the Soviet Union under Stalin. For example Shostakovich rarely explained his musical pieces with a program emphasizing no reference or illusions to his attitude towards the Soviet regime. Instead, he preferred confiding in a circle of friends whom he could trust as discussing his music elsewhere would have killed his musical career. The revered Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin states that during the 1950s, nobody wanted to go to the gulag as at that time there was no independent judiciary in Russia as the Communist party was the only jury with Stalin as the assumed judge. There is clear evidence that music was mostly composed for the omnipotent regime which sought to control the citizens both physically and spiritually as shown by the music of Prokofiev and Shostakovich. These two geniuses of Russian music were later accused amongst other Soviet musicians of not composing music that was accessible to the masses with their music christened ''antinarodnaya” which implied that their music was against the people. In “The War Symphonies: Shostakovich against Stalin” by Larry Weinstein, the author states that the film is clearly made to counter the propaganda of the Stalin regime and to report the ills that the regime was subjecting the Russian citizens to (Fanning 2000, p.429). The testimony denounces the Soviet regime led by Stalin till his death and also includes the defeat of Russia during the Second World War by the Western powers (Gergiev 1999, p.89). Prokofiev who left the Soviet Union in 1918 only to return in 1936 were able to withstand the terror meted on them by the regime in Soviet Union with the hope that things could get better. The song ''Zdravitsa'' (''A Toast''), composed in the year 1939 for Stalin's 60th birthday shows the shifting loyalty of Prokoliev to Stalin and his regime (Seroff 1968, p.225). Despite the efforts by Prokoliev to appease the regime, he was denounced by Stalin and his cronies in 1948 and he died five years later. Shostakovich on the other hand had been attacked in the year 1936 for his opera by the name ''Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District,’’ appearing on a Pravda article with inspiration from Stalin and his dictatorship. However, this piece did not appease the ruling regime at the time and he soon underwent what other music composers had undergone previously. Conclusion There was a great change after the death of Stalin in 1953 whereby there was improved conditions in the musical arena to such artists and composers such as Shostakovich and his colleagues in the thaw that followed under Khrushchev. Though the influence of Stalin and his ideologies still loomed large over the Soviet Union, his successor Brezhnev still frustrated the attempts by the artists to have any meaningful musical activity. Artists such as Schnittke and Gubaidulina made their names in music in the West and were the only voices of the Soviets. Through the works of such composers, it became impossible to limit or control their music which has continued to undermine and demystify the propaganda and the brutality of the Soviet Union regimes at the expense of their citizens. According to Robinson (1972, p.1), China has previously grappled with identification in terms of music but most of its music tends to have been influenced by the Cultural Revolution brought about by the Soviet Union. Prior to the year 1966, the development of music and its performance in the Peoples Republic of China has undergone lots of transformation mainly geared towards mobilization of musical forces to serve the socialist ideologies. According to the article “Chinese Music During the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, earlier in 1950, The Central Conservatory of Music was established in Beijing while amateur ensemble groups going by the name “Cultural Troupes” were established to push forward propaganda purposes. It is important to note that during the Nationalist period and the establishment of the Communist Party, the potential power of music for propaganda purposes was recognized in the spread of socialist ideology by the Chinese opposition parties in their quest to take over power. The Communist Party through the Luxum Arts Academy founded the folk opera and other new mass songs in its revolutionary processes. In the 1950s and 1960s, musical commemorations were utilized by the Communist Party to validate he revolutionary domestic policies and establishment of the desired models for Chinese music composers. It can therefore be said that the Soviet Union also developed and exercised important ideological influence on the Chinese cultural policy through music as evidenced by the Chinese reliance on the Soviet’s artistic principles. China showed this gesture by even attending the anniversaries of Chaliapin’s, Rimsky-Korsakov’s among others births or deaths. However, with increased political and economic changes by the Chinese government, it has managed to relax the ideological and cultural controls over the music played in china. This can be shown through the ascension of cultural music from China with artists such as Tan Dun and Chen Yi, pianists Lang Lang and Li Yundi, having taken over the world music scene. Ross (2007) states that currently, there are artists who have gone through revolutionary processes without or that the censorship is minimal and have produced quite acceptable music. References Edmunds, N. 2000. Literature and Arts - Music and Politics: The Case of the Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians. The Slavonic and East European Review. 78, 66. “Chinese Music During the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution – Leading On to the Revolution” April 22, 2011. 2 Cents Music [Online]. Available at: http://2centsmusic.blogspot.com/2011/04/chinese-music-during-great-proletarian_26.html Fairclough P. 2012. "Don't sing it on a feast day": The reception and performance of western sacred music in soviet Russia, 1917-1953. Journal of the American Musicological Society. 65, 67-111. Fanning, D. 2000. [Review of] The War Symphonies: Shostakovich against Stalin. Slavic Review. 59, 429-430. Frolova-Walker, M., & Walker, J. 2012. Music and Soviet power, 1917-1932. Woodbridge: Suffolk, Boydell Press. Gergiev, D. 1999, [Review of] The War Symphonies: Shostakovich Against Stalin. Cineaste, Vol. 24, No. 2/3 pp. 88-89. Robinson, J. 1972. The cultural revolution in China. [Harmondsworth], Penguin Books. Ross, A. 2007. The rest is noise: listening to the twentieth century. New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Seroff, V. 1968. Sergei Prokofiev, a Soviet tragedy: the case of Sergei Prokofiev, his life & work, his critics, and his executioners. New York, Funk & Wagnalls. Read More