Download or read book Singing Soviet Stagnation Vocal Cycles from the USSR 1964 1985 written by Richard Louis Gillies and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-12-10 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Singing Soviet Stagnation: Vocal Cycles from the USSR, 1964–1985 explores the ways in which the aftershock of an apparent crisis in Soviet identity after the death of Stalin in 1953 can be detected in selected musical- literary works of what has become known as the ‘Stagnation’ era (1964–1985). Richard Louis Gillies traces the cultural impact of this shift through the intersection between music, poetry, and identity, presenting close readings of three substantial musical-literary works by three of the period’s most prominent composers of songs and vocal cycles: • Seven Poems of Aleksandr Blok, Op. 127 (1966– 1967) by Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) • Russia Cast Adrift (1977) by Georgy Sviridov (1915–1998) • Stupeni (1981–1982; 1997) by Valentin Silvestrov (b. 1937). The study elaborates an interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of musicalliterary artworks that does not rely on existing models of musical analysis or on established modes of literary criticism, thereby avoiding privileging one discipline over the other. It will be of particular signifi cance for scholars, students, and performers with an interest in Russian and Soviet music, the intersection between music and poetry, and the history of Russian and East European culture, politics, and identity during the twentieth century.

Download or read book French and Soviet Musical Diplomacies in Post War Austria 1945 1955 written by Alexander Golovlev and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-12-30 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: French and Soviet Musical Diplomacies in Post-War Austria, 1945-1955 investigates how promoting 'national' music and musicians was used as an important asset by France and the USSR in post-Nazi Austria, covering music’s role in international relations at various levels, within changing power frameworks. Bridging international relations, musical sociology, media studies, and Cold War history, four incisive chapters examine the crossroads of Soviet, French, and Austrian cultural politics and discourse-building, presented in two parts - institutions of musical diplomacy: Soviet and French cultural diplomats in comparison; sounds of music coming to Austria: Soviet and French musicians on tour. Using a communication- and media-oriented approach, this study casts new light, firstly, on the interpretative power of 'receiving' publics and, secondly, on the role of cultural transmitters at different levels. This is a valuable study for those specialising in Russian and East European music and music and politics. It will also appeal to cultural historians and all those interested in the intersections between music, international relations, and Cold War history.

Download or read book Polish Estrada Music written by Ewa Mazierska and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-09-01 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Polish estrada music dominated Polish popular music throughout the state socialist period but gained little attention from popular music scholars because it was regarded as being of low quality and politically conformist. Ewa Mazierska carefully examines these assumptions, considering those institutions which catered for the needs of estrada artists and their fans, the presence of estrada in different media and the careers and styles of the leading stars, such as Mieczysław Fogg, Irena Santor, Violetta Villas, Anna German, Jerzy Połomski, Maryla Rodowicz, Zdzisława Sośnicka, Zbigniew Wodecki and Krzysztof Krawczyk. Mazierska also discusses the memory and legacy of estrada music in the post-communist period. The book draws on Poland’s cultural and political history and the history of Polish popular music and media, including television and radio. Mazierska engages with concepts such as genre, stardom and authenticity in order to capture the essence of Polish estrada music and to provide a comparison with popular music produced in other countries.

Download or read book Singing Soviet Stagnation written by Richard Louis Gillies and published by . This book was released on 2021-11-04 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Singing Soviet Stagnation: Vocal Cycles from the USSR, 1964-1985 explores the ways in which the aftershock of an apparent crisis in Soviet identity after the death of Stalin in 1953 can be detected in selected musical-literary works of what has become known as the 'Stagnation' era (1964-1985). Richard Louis Gillies traces the cultural impact of this shift through the intersection between music, poetry, and identity, presenting close readings of three substantial literary-musical works by three of the period's most prominent composers of songs and vocal cycles: Seven Poems of Aleksandr Blok, Op. 127 (1966-1967) by Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) Russia Cast Adrift (1977) by Georgy Sviridov (1915-1998) Stupeni (1981-1982; 1997) by Valentin Silvestrov (b. 1937). The study elaborates an interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of musical-literary artworks that does not rely on existing models of musical analysis or on established modes of literary criticism, thereby avoiding privileging one discipline over the other. It will be of particular significance for scholars, students, and performers with an interest in Russian and Soviet music, the intersection between music and poetry, and the history of Russian and East European culture, politics, and identity during the twentieth century.

Download or read book Encyclopedia of Contemporary Russian Culture written by Smorodinskaya and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-10-28 with total page 780 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This addition to the highly successful Contemporary Cultures series covers the period from period 1953, with the death of Stalin, to the present day. Both ‘Russian’ and ‘Culture’ are defined broadly. ‘Russian’ refers to the Soviet Union until 1991 and the Russian Federation after 1991. Given the diversity of the Federation in its ethnic composition and regional characteristics, questions of national, regional, and ethnic identity are given special attention. There is also coverage of Russian-speaking immigrant communities. ‘Culture’ embraces all aspects of culture and lifestyle, high and popular, artistic and material: art, fashion, literature, music, cooking, transport, politics and economics, film, crime – all, and much else, are covered, in order to give a full picture of the Russian way of life and experience throughout the extraordinary changes undergone since the middle of the twentieth century. The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Russian Culture is an unbeatable resource on recent and contemporary Russian culture and history for students, teachers and researchers across the disciplines. Apart from academic libraries, the book will also be a valuable acquisition for public libraries. Entries include cross-references and the larger ones carry short bibliographies. There is a full index.

Download or read book The Routledge Handbook to the Music of Alfred Schnittke written by Gavin Dixon and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-01-31 with total page 475 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Routledge Handbook to the Music of Alfred Schnittke is a comprehensive study of the work of one of the most important Russian composers of the late 20th century. Each piece is discussed in detail, with particular attention to the composer’s groundbreaking polystylism, as well as his unique approach to musical symbolism and his deep engagement with Christian themes. This is the first publication to look at Schnittke’s output in its entirety, and for most works it represents either the first ever published analysis or the first in a language other than Russian. The volume presents new research from the Ivashkin-Schnittke Archive at Goldsmiths, University of London and the collection of Schnittke’s compositional sketches at the Julliard Library in New York. It also draws on the substantial research on Schnittke’s music published in the Russian language. Including a work list and bibliography of primary and secondary sources, this is an essential reference for all those interested in Russian music, 20th-century music and performance studies.

Download or read book Women in Nineteenth Century Czech Musical Culture written by Anja Bunzel and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-02-23 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume focuses on the circumstances of women’s music-making in the vibrant and diverse environment of the Czech lands during the nineteenth century. It sheds light on little-known women musicians, while also considering more well-known works and composers from new woman-centric perspectives. It shows how the unique environment of Habsburg Central Europe, especially Bohemia and Lower Austria, intersects with gender to reveal hitherto unexplored networks that challenge the methodological nationalism of music studies as well as the discipline’s continued emphasis on singular canonical figures. The main areas of enquiry address aspects of performance and identity both within the Czech lands and abroad; women’s impact on social life with a view to different private, semiprivate, and public contexts and networks; and compositional aesthetics in musical works by and about women, analysed through the lens of piano works, song, choir music, and opera, always with the reception of these works in mind.

Download or read book Singing a Different Tune written by Helena Goscilo and published by Academic Studies PRess. This book was released on 2023-04-11 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A beneficiary of the pioneering incorporation of sound and synchronicity into cinema, the Hollywood musical became the most popular film genre in America’s thirties and forties. Its eastward migration resulted in a barrage of Polish screen musicals that relied on the country’s famous cabaret stars, while in the Soviet Union it inspired the audience-pleasing kolkhoz musicals of Ivan Pyr’ev and their urban counterpart, directed by Grigorii Aleksandrov. Like Stalin, Slavic moviegoers delectated tuneful melodies, mobile bodies in choreographed dance numbers, colorful costumes, and the notion that “all’s well that ends well.” Yet Slavic versions of the musical elaborated scenarios that differed from the Hollywood model. This volume examines the vagaries of this genre in both countries, from its early instantiations to its contemporary variations almost a century after its dramatic birth.

Download or read book World Political Theatre and Performance written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-06-22 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: World Political Theatre and Performance brings together scholars and practitioners from multiple locations to analyse counter-hegemonic theatre and performance. International case studies are framed by a common reflection on the meaning of radical practice in the face of global neoliberalism.

Download or read book Stalin s Singing Spy written by Pamela A. Jordan and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2016-01-21 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stalin’s Singing Spy follows the remarkable life of NadezhdaPlevitskaya, a Russian peasant girl who achieved fame as one of Tsar Nicholas II’s favorite singers and infamy as one of Stalin’s agents. Pamela A. Jordan traces Plevitskaya’s life from her childhood in an isolated village to national stardom. She always declared that she was foremost an artist who sang for all people, regardless of their ideological leanings or socioeconomic background. She claimed throughout her career to be fundamentally apolitical, yet decades later in Europe, Plevitskaya was unmasked as one of Joseph Stalin’s secret agents along with her husband, White Russian General Nikolai Skoblin. Their experiences in exile shed light on Stalin’s covert operations and the hardships Russian émigrés faced in interwar Europe, an era of great political and economic turmoil. In addition, this book uncovers the roles that the couple played in one of the Soviets’ major intelligence coups—the 1937 kidnapping of White Russian General Evgeny Miller in Paris. Jordan recreates Plevitskaya’s sensationalized 1938 criminal trial in the Palace of Justice, where she was accused of conspiring to kidnap Miller and portrayed as a Red femme fatale. The first Western biography of Plevitskaya and the first to reconstruct her dramatic trial, this book provides a fascinating window into Soviet-era espionage in interwar Europe.

Download or read book Paranoia written by Victor Martinovich and published by Northwestern University Press. This book was released on 2013-03-31 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Banned in Belarus two days after it was published, Paranoia is a thriller, a love story, and a harrowing journey into one of the world's last closed societies. The book never mentions Belarus or its capital, Minsk, but the setting is unmistakable.

Download or read book Music for the Revolution written by Amy Nelson and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2010-02-24 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mention twentieth-century Russian music, and the names of three &"giants&"&—Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev, and Dmitrii Shostakovich&—immediately come to mind. Yet during the turbulent decade following the Bolshevik Revolution, Stravinsky and Prokofiev lived abroad and Shostakovich was just finishing his conservatory training. While the fame of these great musicians is widely recognized, little is known about the creative challenges and political struggles that engrossed musicians in Soviet Russia during the crucial years after 1917. Music for the Revolution examines musicians&’ responses to Soviet power and reveals the conditions under which a distinctively Soviet musical culture emerged in the early thirties. Given the dramatic repression of intellectual freedom and creativity in Stalinist Russia, the twenties often seem to be merely a prelude to Totalitarianism in artistic life. Yet this was the decade in which the creative intelligentsia defined its relationship with the Soviet regime and the aesthetic foundations for socialist realism were laid down. In their efforts to deal with the political challenges of the Revolution, musicians grappled with an array of issues affecting musical education, professional identity, and the administration of musical life, as well as the embrace of certain creative platforms and the rejection of others. Nelson shows how debates about these issues unfolded in the context of broader concerns about artistic modernism and elitism, as well as the more expansive goals and censorial authority of Soviet authorities. Music for the Revolution shows how the musical community helped shape the musical culture of Stalinism and extends the interpretive frameworks of Soviet culture presented in recent scholarship to an area of artistic creativity often overlooked by historians. It should be broadly important to those interested in Soviet history, the cultural roots of Stalinism, Russian and Soviet music, and the place of music and the arts in revolutionary change.

Download or read book Music After the Fall written by Tim Rutherford-Johnson and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2017-02 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Music after the Fall is the first book to survey contemporary Western art music within the transformed political, cultural, and technological environment of the post–Cold War era. In this book, Tim Rutherford-Johnson considers musical composition against this changed backdrop, placing it in the context of globalization, digitization, and new media. Drawing connections with the other arts, in particular visual art and architecture, he expands the definition of Western art music to include forms of composition, experimental music, sound art, and crossover work from across the spectrum, inside and beyond the concert hall. Each chapter is a critical consideration of a wide range of composers, performers, works, and institutions, and develops a broad and rich picture of the new music ecosystem, from North American string quartets to Lebanese improvisers, from electroacoustic music studios in South America to ruined pianos in the Australian outback. Rutherford-Johnson puts forth a new approach to the study of contemporary music that relies less on taxonomies of style and technique than on the comparison of different responses to common themes of permission, fluidity, excess, and loss.

Download or read book Eighteenth Century Russian Music written by Marina Ritzarev and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-05 with total page 453 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Little is known outside of Russia about the nation's musical heritage prior to the nineteenth century. Western scholarship has tended to view the history of Russian music as not beginning until the end of the eighteenth century. Marina Ritzarev's work shows this interpretation to be misguided. Starting from an examination of the rich legacy of Russian music up to 1700, she explores the development of music over the course of the eighteenth century, a period of especially intense Westernization and secularization. The book focuses on what is characteristic and crucial to Russian music during this period, rather than seeking to provide a comprehensive survey. The musical culture of the time is discussed against the rich background of social, political and cultural life, tying together many of the phenomena that used to be viewed separately. The book highlights the importance of previously marginalized sectors - serf culture, choral sacred culture, the contribution of foreign musicians, the significant influence of Freemasonry, the role of Ukrainian and West-European cultures and so on - as well as casting new light on the well-researched topic of Russian opera. Much new archival material is introduced, and revised biographies of the two leading eighteenth-century Russian composers, Maxim Berezovsky and Dmitry Bortniansky, are provided, as well as those of the serf composer Stepan Degtyarev and the Italian Giuseppe Sarti. The book places eighteenth-century Russian music on the European map, and will be of particular importance for the study of European musical cultures remote from such centres as Italy, Germany-Austria and France. Eighteenth-century Russian music is organically linked with its past and future and its contributory role in forming the Russian national identity and developing the Russian idiom is clarified.

Download or read book Soviet Films of the 1970s and Early 1980s written by Marina Rojavin and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-05-30 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores a new character archetype that permeated Soviet film during what became known as the era of Stagnation, a stark period of loneliness, disappointment, and individual despair. This new type of character was neither negative nor positive, but nevertheless systematically undermined Soviet norms of behaviour, hairstyle, dress, lifestyle, and perspective, in stark contrast to Socialist Realism’s traditional, positive hero who fought for Soviet values and who vanquished the enemies of socialism. The book discusses a wide range of films from the period, showing how the new antiheroic archetype of Stagnation resonated through a multitude of characters, mostly male, and vividly reflected the realities of Soviet life. The book thereby provides great insight into the lives, outlook, and psychology of citizens in the late Soviet period.

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Music Censorship written by Patricia Ann Hall and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 729 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Addresses censorship as a worldwide issue from its earliest recorded form to the modern day ; Includes unique case studies of music censorship unfamiliar to Western audiences ; Documents censorship through a necessarily intersectional lens." --Oxford University Press.

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Music Censorship written by Patricia Hall and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-09-27 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout history and across the globe, governments have taken a strong hand in censoring music. Whether in the interests of "safeguarding" the moral and religious values of their citizens or of promoting their own political goals, the character and severity of actions taken to suppress and control music that has been categorized as unacceptable, immoral, or as the Nazi's termed the music of Jewish and modernist composers, "degenerate," ranges from economic sanctions to forced immigration, imprisonment, and death. Yet in almost all cases composers found methods to counter this suppression and to let their voices be heard, even through the very music they were often forced to compose for the oppressing parties. In this first major collection of its kind, thirty contributors tackle centuries of music censorship across the globe from the medieval era to the modern day. Case studies address a number of instances both well- and lesser-known, including the tumultuous history of Wagner and Israel, rap music in the United States, silencing of women composers, and music in post-revolutionary Iran. Sections are organized by nature of censorship - religious, racial, and sexual - and type of government enforcement - democratic, totalitarian, and transitional. Focusing on individual composers and artists as well as eras within single countries, this Handbook champions the efficacy of music as an agent of collective power and resilience.