UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC Music in Soviet Russia 1917-1991 MUSI20073/30079 Unit Director and Tutor: Pauline Fairclough

Pauline.Fairclough@bristol.ac.uk
Teaching Block 2, 2012-13 Wednesdays, 11.00 12.50 Alberts Bar Optional. 20 credits.

From the 1917 Revolution until the fall of Communism in 1991, Soviet Russia produced some of the greatest music of the twentieth century. The changing fortunes of its cultural life prompted bizarre swings from modernism to conservatism and, in its later years, massive upheavals in musical language and form. While Shostakovich is still the central (though controversial) figure of the Stalin years, younger composers such as Schnittke, Part, Ustvolskaya and Silvestrov came to maturity in the 70s and 80s with their own unique ways of dealing with 20th-century changes in musical language. This unit will cover core repertoire from the whole Soviet period of a variety of genres including symphony, opera, chamber music and film music. Its aim is to develop understanding of the complex relationship between art and politics and to acquaint students with a wide range of music from a major non-Western 20th-century culture. It will focus on topics including: music as propaganda, socialist realism, Jewish music, polystylism and spirituality. SCHEDULE 6 February A Brave New World: Introduction How Soviet musical life developed after 1917: a brief history and outline of the period, focusing on the 1920s 13 February The 1920s: Music for the Revolution? + Student presentation 1 (Shostakovich, The Nose) Patrick Zuk (University of Durham) is coming to speak to us about the career of Nikolai Myaskovsky, one of the most significant and successful Soviet symphonists. 20 February From Multiformity to Conformity? After 1932. + Student presentation 2 (Shostakovichs fall in 1936 and rehabilitation in 1937) New values for new times: socialist realism and Shostakovich. 27 February Citizen Prokofiev + Student presentation 3 (Prokofievs Romeo and Juliet) Prokofievs return in 1936 and afterwards 6 March The Great Patriotic War + Student presentation 4 (Shostakovich, Leningrad Symphony) Songs, symphonies and films

13 March Aspects of the Zhdanovshchina + Student presentation 5 (Shostakovich, The Song of the Forests) The 1948 crackdown and its aftermath. Shostakovichs post war works and Prokofievs late operas. 20 March Shostakovich and the Thaw + Student presentation 6 (Shostakovich string quartets nos. 6-7) Shostakovichs complex response to de-Stalinization in the 1950s EASTER VACATION 24 April The Shock of the Old: the 1960s + Student presentation 7 The rise of the post-Shostakovich generation: post war avant-garde and mainstream. 1 May The New Spirituality + Student presentation 8 (Arvo Part, Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten) Religion and its subsitutes: Arvo Part, Valentin Silvestrov, Giya Kancheli, Galina Ustvolskaya, Sofya Gubaidulina and others. 8 May Polystylism and the end of time of composers + Student presentation 9 (Schnittke Concerto Grosso No. 4/Symphony No. 5) Introducing Alfred Schnittke and Vladimir Martynov: the USSRs unique brand of postmodernism! Note: All students wishing to discuss essays with me should sign up for a time in my office hour (Tuesdays 3-4, other times by arrangement).
A NOTE ON CLASS PREPARATION

Presentations are not formally marked, but they form a vital role in ensuring that you engage closely with the course at an early stage, and this can only be to your advantage. Often students follow up work on presentations in essays or exam questions, so dont feel its wasted effort just because its not formally assessed. Preparing a presentation is an active part of the learning process, and the more you learn, the better your essays and exam papers will be! Learning Outcomes Successful completion of this unit will enable you to

be able to recognise and discuss key works of Soviet repertoire be able to understand and explain the relationship between culture and politics in Soviet Russia with sound critical awareness grounded in both Soviet history and major musical works discuss and analyse a chosen work in class discussion and/or assessed essay have a good up-to-date working knowledge of the main English-language secondary sources have a sound grasp of reception issues in the US and UK be able to comment on a range of musical and aesthetic issues such as socialist realism, propaganda and polystylism be able to research and present an essay in a standard musicological format

And additionally (specific to Level H) to: incorporate a consistently strong grasp of detail with respect to content Argue effectively and at length (including an ability to cope with complexities and to describe and deploy these effectively) Display to a high level skills in selecting, applying, interpreting and organising information, including evidence of a high level of bibliographical control Describe, evaluate and/or challenge current scholarly thinking Discriminate between different kinds of information, processes, interpretations Take a critical stance towards scholarly processes involved in arriving at historical knowledge and/or relevant secondary literature Engage with relevant theoretical, philosophical or social constructs for understanding relevant works or traditions Demonstrate an understanding of concepts and an ability to conceptualise Situate material within relevant contexts (invoking interdisciplinary contexts where appropriate) Teaching and Learning details The unit will comprise 10 x 2-hour classes which will involve a mixture of lectures and seminars based on an examination of scores and recordings and reflective approaches to published texts. In addition to subject content, this unit will attempt to focus especially on skills involved in handling information, analysing it effectively and presenting it coherently.

Attendance Students are required to attend all lectures and other classes related to their units. When they are unable to do so because of illness or other good cause, it is their responsibility to inform the lecturer and to make up any work missed. Student attendance at these classes is monitored for pastoral and administrative purposes not disciplinary or credit purposes. Award of credit points Credit points are awarded on the basis of the following criteria: completion of all required work, whether for formative or summative purposes, on time and to the specified length achievement of a satisfactory standard (normally a mark of 40 or above) in the summative assessment for the unit attendance at any classes, seminars or tutorials, and/or participation in any activities, which are identified in the unit documentation as a pre-requisite for the award of credit completion of any other tasks or activities that are identified in the unit documentation as pre-requisites for the award of credit

Workload for this unit The university's published guidelines on credit weightings assume that a 20-credit unit should involve students in approximately 200 hours of student effort. We advise that in addition to the 20 timetabled contact hours you spend on average 6 hours of preparation time for each class (including completion of weekly exercises/reading, as appropriate); at least 70 hours research time for each assessed essay; and at least 70 hours revision for the examination. Assessment Assessment of this unit takes the form of ONE coursework essay of c.3000 words (50%) and a 2-hour examination (50%). The coursework essay must be chosen from the list below. You will be required to answer TWO questions in the examination (both will carry equal weighting). Coursework Essay Questions Upload to Blackboard with the electronic cover sheet by 12 noon, Thursday 21 March 1. Take two works from the 1920s and discuss them in the context of contemporary art movements (eg. in art, literature and drama). 2. Is it true, as Boris Schwarz states, that for Soviet music the 1932 Resolution replaced multiformity with conformity?

3. Choose ONE major work (to be agreed with me) for detailed discussion. (This may include a film.) 4. How did Soviet composers contribute to the huge rise in Russian patriotism during and after the Second World War? 5. Do you think there was any such thing as socialist realism in music? 6. Valery Gergiev has claimed that Stalinism actually produced the best music of Shostakovich and Prokofiev. Discuss this view with specific reference to works of either or both composers. Examination requirements The final assessment for this unit (worth 50% of the unit mark) will take the form of a 2-hour unseen examination. The questions will relate closely to the content of this unit (including relevant contextual factors) and will allow the input of a broad spread of factual knowledge and an opportunity for critical evaluation of this material. For generic advice on preparation for examinations, please see the 'Study Skills' section at the end of the Department Handbook ( 6.2). The factors being tested in the examination for this unit include: application of information that you have internalised (perhaps in relation to a specific task stated in the question) ability to select and organise material appropriately and accurately skills of argumentation and interpretation relation of fact to context ability to present material coherently, persuasively and concisely good time-management a high quality of English, neatly presented SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY (books only!) The most important items are on 24-hour loan and are to be found in the Short Loan Collection. Anyone experiencing difficulty in obtaining any score or book should immediately notify me. All students are expected to carry out database and catalogue searches for articles and other books not listed here. Dont forget to look on googlebooks! Bartlett, Rosamund, Shostakovich in Context, Oxford: 2000. Brown, Malcolm Hamrick (ed.) A Shostakovich Casebook, Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2004. Edmunds, Neil, ed., The Baton and Sickle: Soviet Music and Society Under Lenin and Stalin, London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004. Edmunds, Neil, The Soviet Proletarian Music Movement, Bern: Peter Lang, 2000.

Fairclough, Pauline and Fanning, David, eds., The Cambridge Companion to Shostakovich, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2008. Fanning, David, Shostakovich Studies, Cambridge: 1995. Fay, Laurel, ed., Shostakovich and his World, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004. Fay, Laurel, Shostakovich : A Life, OUP, 2000. Frolova-Walker, Marina and Walker, Jonathan, Soviet Music and Power. Boydell and Brewer: 2012. Also available as ASSL e-book Frolova-Walker, Marina, Russian music and nationalism from Glinka to Stalin. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007. Haas, David, Leningrad's Modernists: Studies in Composition and Musical Thought 1917-1932, New York: Peter Lang, 1998. Hakobian, Levon, Music of the Soviet Age 1917-1987, Stockholm: Melos, 1998 (SARC) Ivashkin, Alexander, ed., A Schnittke reader, Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2002. Maes, Francis, A history of Russian music :from Kamarinskaya to Babi Yar Los Angeles and London: University of California Press, 2002. Mikkonen, Simo, State composers and the red courtiers: music, ideology, and politics in the Soviet 1930s Jyvskyl : University of Jyvskyl, 2007. Also see: https://jyx.jyu.fi/dspace/bitstream/handle/123456789/13463/978951 3930158.pdf Morrison, Simon: Prokofiev and his World, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008. Morrison, Simon, The Peoples Artist: Prokofievs Soviet Years, New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. See googlebooks http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_People_s_Artist_Prokofie v_s_Soviet_Y.html?id=v0l9zLpsOmoC&redir_esc=y Nelson, Amy, Music for the Revolution, Pennysylvania: 2004. Robinson, Harlow, Sergei Prokofiev: A Biography, Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2002. Schmelz, Peter, Listening, memory, and the thaw: unofficial music and society in the Soviet Union, 1956-1974. PhD diss., University of California at Berkeley, 2006. Available electronically from ASSL. Schmelz, Peter, Such freedom, if only musical: unofficial Soviet music during the thaw, NY: 2009. Available on googlebooks http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Such_Freedom_If_Only_Music al.html?id=8MUk3FdOF7cC and downloadable as e-book from same site Schwarz, Boris, Music and Musical Life in Soviet Russia 1917-1981, Enlarged Edition, Indiana University Press, 1983.

Starr, S. Frederick, Red and Hot: The Fate of Jazz in the Soviet Union, Oxford: 1985. Taruskin, Richard, Defining Russia Musically, Princeton: 1997. Taruskin, Richard, On Russian Music, Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 2008. Tomoff, Kiril, Creative union: the professional organization of Soviet composers, 1939-1953, Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2006. Tsenova, Valeria, "Ex oriente ..." : ten composers from the former USSR, Berlin: Ernst Kuhn, 2002. Werth, Alexander, Musical Uproar in Moscow, London: Turnstile Press, 1949. Wilson, Elizabeth, Shostakovich: A Life Remembered, Faber, 1994 and 2006 (Second edition; first edition in SARC).