#soviet music history

[sixty-silver-wishes]

welcome to shostakovich research! here's some stuff to know

1- Trust no one. Not even Shostakovich. Sometimes what Shostakovich says about Shostakovich isn't the exact truth about Shostakovich.

2- You may be reading a harrowing document detailing the restrictions faced by artists in the mid-30s USSR, and then the next letter you read will include jokes about goat shit. This is normal.

3- The more you learn, the more you will discover you don't know. Now is the perfect time to celebrate being an insufferable know-it-all, because that feeling will evaporate as soon as you learn how to spell "Zhdanovshchina."

4- You will soon develop a desire to wear round spectacles and speak in Russian idioms and literary references. Resist it.

5- You will read about a whole cast of Soviet musicians and intellectuals, as well as scholars, political figures, and academics. None of them agree with each other on anything. Have fun.

[shosty-we-understand]

Above is a portrait of Dmitri Shostakovich painted by a friend of his and famous artist, Nikolai Sokolov.

Sokolov was among the many people Shostakovich knew aboard the infamous “Railcar No. 7”, which evacuated some of the Soviet Union’s greatest composers, musicians, artists, and dancers out of Moscow in October of 1941. For six days, an uncomfortable amount of people were packed into the railway car, which moved painfully slowly eastward across the Russian countryside away from the advancing Wehrmacht. During the night, the men would stand and let the women and children sleep. During the day, they would switch, and let the men sleep. This was life aboard their carriage.

At one point, after they’d left the station in Moscow, Shostakovich realized that two of his family’s bags were missing, including all of his clothing and his children’s clothing. Not only that, but a certain third bundle was also missing: the unfinished manuscript for his seventh symphony. While those around him, including his friend Sokolov, managed to spare some clothing for him and his children, they couldn’t quite as easily replace the manuscript. Forlorn, Shostakovich had no choice but to wait on the carriage until they reached their intended destination of Kuibyshev (now known as Samara).

It’s almost a miracle that the Shostakovich family didn’t depart the train sooner like many of those on board had, because on the fourth day, while taking a trip to the toilet, Shostakovich and his wife Nina discovered a familiar looking blanket in a puddle on the floor. Upon unwrapping it, they discovered the manuscript for Shostakovich’s seventh symphony, almost completely untouched despite the conditions in which it was found (they didn’t keep the blanket). Their suitcases, on the other hand, were never found, and were believed to have been left behind on the platform in Moscow during the chaos of evacuation.

That bundle of music would become the most famous piece of music to be composed during the Second World War, and would launch Dmitri Shostakovich into global fame. How incredibly lucky for Shostakovich that the bundle wasn’t thrown out before he had a chance to recover it, or else the world may have never heard his Symphony No. 7.

[sovietpostcards]

“I love you, life” - Soviet poster designed by Timofei Lyaschuk (1961)

For reference, “I Love You, Life” is a very popular song from 1956.

[g0ldengaze]

Happy shostakovich swag winter 🙏🙏

[vintagecamping]

A group sings together while camping in the Soviet Union.

USSR

1970

[reactor-four-official]

A mural on the Pripyat Music School entitled “Music”.

The mural is made from a traditional Italian mosaic style called Smalti. Small, hand cut glass pieces make up the colors of the mural.

Photo Credits: Andre Josse

[whispering-kavka]

i love my friends so much they always show me incredible new things

[schlock-luster-video]

On April 28, 1950, Cossacks of the Kuban debuted in East Germany.

[opera-ghosts]

OTD in Music History: Russian-Soviet composer Nikolai Myaskovsky (1881 - 1950) is born near Modlin Fortress (present-day Poland) in what was then the Russian Empire. Sometimes referred to as the "Father of the Soviet Symphony,” Myaskosvky was highly acclaimed in his own day. While he was awarded the Soviet Union’s highest honor – the “Stalin Prize” – five times, however, Myaskovsky always remained a rather distant and enigmatic figure. Fundamentally a conservative artist, Myaskovsky nevertheless enjoyed flirting with “modernism” from time to time; possessed of a markedly individualistic spirit, he flourished even within the decidedly collectivist atmosphere of the Stalin-Era Soviet Union. After enrolling at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1906 (at the age of 25), Myaskovsky studied with Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 - 1908) and Anatol Lyadov (1855 – 1914) and befriended the young Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953), who was ten years his junior. In his third year at the Conservatory, Myaskovsky composed his Symphony No. 1 – which won him a scholarship that paid for the remainder of his schooling. After graduating in 1911, he initially supported himself by teaching private lessons before eventually securing a position at the Moscow Conservatory. Myaskovsky rose to international prominence as a composer in the mid-1920s, and throughout the 1930s-40s he continued to churn out a long series of symphonies, piano sonatas, and string quartets. He also notably taught both Aram Khachaturian (1903 - 1978) and Dmitri Kabalevsky (1904 - 1987). PICTURED: A small photo showing the middle-aged Myaskovsky, which he signed and dated in Moscow in 1936.

[universalambients]

Ukraine, 1877

[sixty-silver-wishes]

Shostakovich-Sollertinsky letter translations (Russian to English)

So, I finally finished formatting my translations of the Shostakovich-Sollertinsky letters from a few years ago! These are letters from Shostakovich to his close friend, the polymath and scholar Ivan Ivanovich Sollertinsky, from the late 1920s to 1943. They offer valuable insight on Shostakovich's opinions on subjects such as music, his personal life, and current events of the day.

The letters have been published in Russian and have also been translated and published in German; an official English translation does not exist as of posting this. I'm not a fluent Russian speaker and much of this was done with the help of a dictionary and the internet, but I believe I compiled a decent enough translation. I kinda had to rush the formatting towards the end, but it should be readable enough. Anyway, if anyone is interested, here it is!

For any Russian speakers who want to review my translations or would like to read the original letters, here is the PDF of the book.

[shosty-we-understand]

A favourite of mine, this photo shows a rather foreboding Dmitri Shostakovich vacationing on the coast of the Crimean Peninsula, circa. 1937.

[sovietpostcards]

“Good Bye”, music by Bor Lifshits. Sheet music cover (Kyiv, 1928).

[apocalypticdemon]

you ever just want to cry because you have a shit ton of papers due and absolutely no findings to write about.

it's going great

[polarhorror]

My YouTube video!!

[norillag-industrial]

Our logo, compared with duplicates of actual prisoner/labourer tattoos for the Norilsk Corrective Labour Camp – or simply, Norillag. This Gulag was established in 1935 in the Soviet Union to handle the construction and subsequent operation of nickel mines and refineries for the Norilsk region. It was closed in 1957.