Union of Soviet Composers
Encyclopedia
The USSR Union of Composers or Union of Composers of the USSR , (also Union of Composers or Composers’ Union), was a professional organisation of composers in the Soviet Union
. It still exists as the Union of Composers of Russian Federation.
in all fields of arts including music. The ideological doctrine of ‘Socialist Realism’ was promulgated in 1934. It was explained as a ‘truthful and historically concrete depiction of reality in its revolutionary development’. In musical terms, this demanded the composing of patriotic, elevating scores, preferably with a topical or folkloric content, that were supportive of the Communist ideology and the regime, as well as simple and accessible to the 'masses'. All experimentation or deviation from these ideals was branded as ‘formalism’, and condemned together with the ‘decadent music of the rotten West’.
Resolution ‘On the Reconstruction of Literary and Artistic Organisations’, issued on April 23, 1932. This was followed by the liquidation of two previously existing composers’ organisations: the Western and modernist oriented ACM
(Association for Contemporary Music), and RAPM, (Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians), which proclaimed that mass song should be the basis of Soviet music. In 1939 the government instituted an Organizational Committee (Orgcomitet) of the Union of Composers.
The Union was a powerful organization having control over performing organizations, concert halls, music publishers, Radio
and TV, Ministries of Culture, Rights Agency VAAP, theatres, orchestras, ensembles, conservatories and other music institutions, and music shops. The Union controlled the music profession and negotiated the relationship between composers and the Communist Party
leadership. The relationship between creative intelligencia, party bureaucracy and Communist Party elite, though complex and mutable, was naturally inhibiting of artistic expression during this time.
In 1936 Dmitri Shostakovitch was victimized for his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. He was criticised in a series of critical articles in Pravda
, the newspaper of the Communist Party, starting with ‘Muddle Instead of Music’, which was rumoured to have been written by Stalin himself. This critical stance was supported by the leadership of the Composers' Union.
In 1948, Andrei Zhdanov
issued a decree
, nominally aimed at Vano Muradeli's opera The Great Friendship, but in actuality against a wide range of composers who were guilty of 'formalism'. The pressure on the composers Dmitri Shostakovich
, Sergei Prokofiev
, Nikolai Myaskovsky
, Vissarion Shebalin
and others reached its peak in the "Party Resolution" of 1948, and the infamous auto-da-fé of the First Congress of the Composers' Union. The First Congress took place on April 19–25, 1948. At the congress, the Organizational Committee of the Composers' Union was replaced by party functionaries, and Tikhon Khrennikov
was chosen by Zhdanov and Stalin for the post of general secretary. He held this position until the collapse of the Soviet Union
in 1991.
The Second Congress took place on March 28 - April 5, 1957; the third on March 26 - April 3, 1962. These events were usually accompanied by a series of official concerts and music festivals. These were followed by the 'election' of the congressional chairman, from a ballot list of a single candidate. The speeches of Khrennikov
and other secretaries included reports on the situation of creative life in the Union, including criticisms that amounted to official condemnations. Thus, at the Sixth Congress in 1979, the music of the so-called 'Khrennikov's Seven
' was criticized as "pointlessness... and noisy mud instead of real musical innovation", a description that harked back to the invective of the First Congress of 1948.
After the collapse of the USSR the "Union of Soviet Composers" was renamed the "Union of Composers of Russia", under its new leader Vladislav Kazenin (b. 1937). A new ACM (Association for Contemporary Music)
was established within the Composers' Union in Moscow
in 1990, its first chairman being the composer
Edison Denisov
(1929–1996).
The Union had a complex hierarchic system of Secretaries, Commissions, and Administration Boards, Sections and Sub-sections, with Tikhon Khrennikov
on top. In 1987, the Composers Union included 2506 members (with 1134 members for the Russian Federation, 586 for Moscow
, and 158 for Leningrad
).
The structure of the Composers Union has at various times included:
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. It still exists as the Union of Composers of Russian Federation.
Ideological basis
The Stalin era of USSR history was characterised by bureaucratic control and the reign of Socialist RealismSocialist realism
Socialist realism is a style of realistic art which was developed in the Soviet Union and became a dominant style in other communist countries. Socialist realism is a teleologically-oriented style having its purpose the furtherance of the goals of socialism and communism...
in all fields of arts including music. The ideological doctrine of ‘Socialist Realism’ was promulgated in 1934. It was explained as a ‘truthful and historically concrete depiction of reality in its revolutionary development’. In musical terms, this demanded the composing of patriotic, elevating scores, preferably with a topical or folkloric content, that were supportive of the Communist ideology and the regime, as well as simple and accessible to the 'masses'. All experimentation or deviation from these ideals was branded as ‘formalism’, and condemned together with the ‘decadent music of the rotten West’.
Organisational history
The Union of Composers of the USSR 1932-1957 (as well as other creative unions of artists, architects, writers, and so on) was organised according to the Communist PartyCommunist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
Resolution ‘On the Reconstruction of Literary and Artistic Organisations’, issued on April 23, 1932. This was followed by the liquidation of two previously existing composers’ organisations: the Western and modernist oriented ACM
ACM - Association for Contemporary Music
Association for Contemporary Music was an alternative organization of Russian composers interested in avant-garde music. It was founded by Nikolai Roslavets in 1923. ACM ran concert series and published magazines promoting the modernist music of Mahler, Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Krenek, and...
(Association for Contemporary Music), and RAPM, (Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians), which proclaimed that mass song should be the basis of Soviet music. In 1939 the government instituted an Organizational Committee (Orgcomitet) of the Union of Composers.
The Union was a powerful organization having control over performing organizations, concert halls, music publishers, Radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
and TV, Ministries of Culture, Rights Agency VAAP, theatres, orchestras, ensembles, conservatories and other music institutions, and music shops. The Union controlled the music profession and negotiated the relationship between composers and the Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
leadership. The relationship between creative intelligencia, party bureaucracy and Communist Party elite, though complex and mutable, was naturally inhibiting of artistic expression during this time.
In 1936 Dmitri Shostakovitch was victimized for his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. He was criticised in a series of critical articles in Pravda
Pravda
Pravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991....
, the newspaper of the Communist Party, starting with ‘Muddle Instead of Music’, which was rumoured to have been written by Stalin himself. This critical stance was supported by the leadership of the Composers' Union.
In 1948, Andrei Zhdanov
Andrei Zhdanov
Andrei Alexandrovich Zhdanov was a Soviet politician.-Life:Zhdanov enlisted with the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1915 and was promoted through the party ranks, becoming the All-Union Communist Party manager in Leningrad after the assassination of Sergei Kirov in 1934...
issued a decree
Zhdanov Doctrine
The Zhdanov Doctrine was a Soviet cultural doctrine developed by the Central Committee secretary Andrei Zhdanov in 1946. It proposed that the world was divided into two camps: the imperialistic, headed by the United States; and democratic, headed by the Soviet Union...
, nominally aimed at Vano Muradeli's opera The Great Friendship, but in actuality against a wide range of composers who were guilty of 'formalism'. The pressure on the composers Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
, Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
, Nikolai Myaskovsky
Nikolai Myaskovsky
Nikolai Yakovlevich Myaskovsky was a Russian and Soviet composer. He is sometimes referred to as the "father of the Soviet symphony".-Early years and first important works:...
, Vissarion Shebalin
Vissarion Shebalin
Vissarion Yakovlevich Shebalin was a Soviet composer.-Biography:Shebalin was born in Omsk, where his parents were school teachers. He studied in the musical college in Omsk. He was 20 years old when, following the advice of his professor, he went to Moscow to show his first compositions to...
and others reached its peak in the "Party Resolution" of 1948, and the infamous auto-da-fé of the First Congress of the Composers' Union. The First Congress took place on April 19–25, 1948. At the congress, the Organizational Committee of the Composers' Union was replaced by party functionaries, and Tikhon Khrennikov
Tikhon Khrennikov
Tikhon Nikolayevich Khrennikov was a Russian and Soviet composer, pianist, leader of the Union of Soviet Composers, who was also known for his political activities...
was chosen by Zhdanov and Stalin for the post of general secretary. He held this position until the collapse of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in 1991.
The Second Congress took place on March 28 - April 5, 1957; the third on March 26 - April 3, 1962. These events were usually accompanied by a series of official concerts and music festivals. These were followed by the 'election' of the congressional chairman, from a ballot list of a single candidate. The speeches of Khrennikov
Tikhon Khrennikov
Tikhon Nikolayevich Khrennikov was a Russian and Soviet composer, pianist, leader of the Union of Soviet Composers, who was also known for his political activities...
and other secretaries included reports on the situation of creative life in the Union, including criticisms that amounted to official condemnations. Thus, at the Sixth Congress in 1979, the music of the so-called 'Khrennikov's Seven
Khrennikov's Seven
Khrennikov’s Seven was a group of seven Russian Soviet composers denounced at the Sixth Congress of the Composers' Union by its leader Tikhon Khrennikov for the unapproved participation in some festivals of Soviet music in the West. Khrennikov called their music "pointlessness... and noisy mud...
' was criticized as "pointlessness... and noisy mud instead of real musical innovation", a description that harked back to the invective of the First Congress of 1948.
After the collapse of the USSR the "Union of Soviet Composers" was renamed the "Union of Composers of Russia", under its new leader Vladislav Kazenin (b. 1937). A new ACM (Association for Contemporary Music)
ACM - Association for Contemporary Music
Association for Contemporary Music was an alternative organization of Russian composers interested in avant-garde music. It was founded by Nikolai Roslavets in 1923. ACM ran concert series and published magazines promoting the modernist music of Mahler, Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Krenek, and...
was established within the Composers' Union in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
in 1990, its first chairman being the composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
Edison Denisov
Edison Denisov
Edison Vasilievich Denisov was a Russian composer of so called "Underground" — "Anti-Collectivist", "alternative" or "nonconformist" division in the Soviet music.-Biography:...
(1929–1996).
Organisational structure
The "Union of Composers of the USSR" was renamed the "Union of Soviet Composers" in 1957. It was also re-structured into the following regional sub-divisions:- The Union of composers of RSFSR (Russian Federation);
- The Union of composers of ArmeniaArmeniaArmenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
n SSR, AzerbaijanAzerbaijanAzerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
SSR, Byelorussian SSR, etc. (all Soviet republics); - The Union of composers of BashkirBashkirsThe Bashkirs are a Turkic people indigenous to Bashkortostan extending on both parts of the Ural mountains, on the place where Europe meets Asia. Groups of Bashkirs also live in the republic of Tatarstan, Perm Krai, Chelyabinsk, Orenburg, Tyumen, Sverdlovsk, Kurgan, Samara and Saratov Oblasts of...
ASSR, BuryatBuryatsThe Buryats or Buriyads , numbering approximately 436,000, are the largest ethnic minority group in Siberia and are mainly concentrated in their homeland, the Buryat Republic, a federal subject of Russia...
ASSR, DagestanDagestanThe Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...
ASSR, etc. (all Soviet autonomies); - The Union of composers of MoscowMoscowMoscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, LeningradSaint PetersburgSaint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, ChelyabinskChelyabinskChelyabinsk is a city and the administrative center of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, located in the northwestern side of the oblast, south of Yekaterinburg, just to the east of the Ural Mountains, on the Miass River. Population: -History:...
, etc. (all major cities).
The Union had a complex hierarchic system of Secretaries, Commissions, and Administration Boards, Sections and Sub-sections, with Tikhon Khrennikov
Tikhon Khrennikov
Tikhon Nikolayevich Khrennikov was a Russian and Soviet composer, pianist, leader of the Union of Soviet Composers, who was also known for his political activities...
on top. In 1987, the Composers Union included 2506 members (with 1134 members for the Russian Federation, 586 for Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, and 158 for Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
).
The structure of the Composers Union has at various times included:
- Centre of music information and propaganda of Soviet music;
- All-Union House of Composers (Vsesoyuzny Dom Kompozitorov);
- Music Foundation (Muzfond);
- Production department of Muzfond (Proizvodstvenny kombinat Muzfonda);
- Creative Houses (camps and cottages for the composers in Ruza, Ivanovo, Repino, etc.);
- Publishers "Sovetsky Kompozitor" (renamed "KompozitorKompozitorKompozitor is a music publishers in Moscow, Russian Federation . It was called Sovetsky Kompozitor before the collapse of the USSR in 1991.* *Union of Composers.also:...
" after 1991) - Editorial offices for journals “Sovetskaya Musyka” and “Muzykal’naya Zhizn’”;
- Libraries.
See also
- Creative unions in the USSRCreative unions in the USSRCreative unions in the Soviet Union were voluntary societies that united people according to their creative professions, similar to Soviet trade unions....
- Zhdanov DoctrineZhdanov DoctrineThe Zhdanov Doctrine was a Soviet cultural doctrine developed by the Central Committee secretary Andrei Zhdanov in 1946. It proposed that the world was divided into two camps: the imperialistic, headed by the United States; and democratic, headed by the Soviet Union...
- Khrennikov's SevenKhrennikov's SevenKhrennikov’s Seven was a group of seven Russian Soviet composers denounced at the Sixth Congress of the Composers' Union by its leader Tikhon Khrennikov for the unapproved participation in some festivals of Soviet music in the West. Khrennikov called their music "pointlessness... and noisy mud...
- List of Russian composers