Soviet Music and Society under Lenin and Stalin: The Baton and Sickle / Edition 1

by Neil Edmunds

Overview

This book investigates the place of music in Soviet society during the eras of Lenin and Stalin. It examines the different strategies adopted by composers and musicians in their attempts to carve out careers in a rapidly evolving society, discusses the role of music in Soviet society and people's lives, and shows how political ideology proved an inspiration as well as an inhibition. It explores how music and politics interacted in the lives of two of the twentieth century's greatest composers - Shostakovich and Prokofiev - and also in the lives of less well-known composers. In addition it considers the specialist composers of early Soviet musical propaganda, amateur music making, and musical life in the non-Russian republics. The book will appeal to specialists in Soviet music history, those with an interest in twentieth century music in general, and also to students of the history, culture and politics of the Soviet Union.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415302197
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	05/27/2004
Series:	BASEES/Routledge Series on Russian and East European Studies
Pages:	260
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Neil Edmunds is Senior Lecturer in Modern European History at the University of West of England, Bristol. He is author of The Soviet Proletarian Music Movement (Peter Lang, 2000), and his articles on early Soviet musical life have appeared in numerous journals, including Slavonic and East European Review, Tempo, and Muziek en Wetenschap.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements A Note about Transliteration List of Contributors Introduction Neil Edmunds 1. Music in the Socialist State Anna Ferenc 2. The Ways of Russian Popular Music to 1953 Richard Stites 3. Declared Dead, but only Provisionally: Shostakovich, Soviet Music-hall and Uslovno Ubityi Gerard McBurney 4. From the Factory to the Flat: Thirty Years of the Song of the Counterplan John Riley 5. Prokofiev's Le Pas d'Acier: How the Steel was Tempered Lesley-Anne Sayers and Simon Morrison 6. 'Lenin is always with us': Soviet Musical Propaganda and its Composers during the 1920s Neil Edmunds 7. Amateurs and Enthusiasts: Folk Music and the Soviet State on Stage in the 1930s Robin LaPasha 8. National Identity, Culture Policy and the Soviet Folk Ensemble in Armenia Andy Nercessian 9. Going Beyond the Border: National Cultural Policy and the Development of Musical Life in Soviet Karelia, 1920-1940 Pekka Suutari 10. A Nation on Stage: Music and the 1936 Festival of Kazak Arts Michael Rouland 11. Uzeyir Hajibeyov and his role in the Development of Musical Life in Azerbaidzhan Matt O'Brien

Editorial Reviews

'Any book that contains such a wealth of fresh research makes itself instantly indispensable to scholars working in its field, and Edmund's unprecendented drawing together of scholars from a wide range of diciplines has produced an extremely stimulating study.' - SEER

'The unique strength of this anthology is its attention to musical life beyond the Russian heartland ... Rouland moves beyond facile stereotypes.' - Slavic Review

'Any book that contains such a wealth of fresh research makes itself instantly indispensable to scholars working in its field, and Edmund's unprecendented drawing together of scholars from a wide range of diciplines has produced an extremely stimulating study.' - SEER

'The unique strength of this anthology is its attention to musical life beyond the Russian heartland ... Rouland moves beyond facile stereotypes.' - Slavic Review

From the Publisher