Boris Asaf'ev and the Soviet Musicology - E-thesis

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2. THE IDEOLOGICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL TENDENCIES IN RUSSIAN ARTISTIC SOCIETY AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 20 th CENTURY 2.1 Russian Modernists Russian modernism is a general title for a variety of artistic groups. The modernistic era in Russian cultural history began in 1890 as an antithesis for realism. However, the realist tradition did not dry out but it continued and developed side by side with Russian modernism having its renaissance within the socialist realism. The early representatives of Russian modernism were Symbolists who considered art as independent, free and individual containing an absolute value. Whereas the Realist tradition offered a worldview of natural sciences that was holistic, the Symbolist worldview was spiritual and pluralistic. 20 Generally speaking the Symbolist movement had their ideals in the Romantic period: the view of art almost as a religion, revealing life’s secrets “through the meditation of the poet-priests” and the attempt to unite poetry and music: to revive the ‘Word’ were the legacy of the Romantics. 21 Russian Symbolism can be divided into two generations although somewhat artificially. The first generation that is often nowadays called “Decadents” 22 took their influences mainly from the French Symbolism. As Ada Steinberg has stated, the French Symbolism, although strongly influenced by Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1850), Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814) and Friedrih Nietzsche (1844–1900), differed from the German Romantics and Russian Symbolists in that they had lost their faith in God 23 . Russian Symbolists were deeply religious and spiritual. The first generation included poets such as Konstantin Bal’mont (1867–1942), Valerij Brjusov (1873–1924), Zinaida Hippius (1869–1945) and Dmitrij Merežkovskij (1866–1941). 20 Pesonen & Suni 2001, p. 9. 21 Steinberg 1982, pp. 18−19. 22 Here, the most radical symbolists are considered as decadents, because they wanted to make a total rejection from the old realist and utilitarian ideals. However, ’Decadence’ is disputed concept and it has many connotations. It shouldn’t be confused totally with the first generation of Symbolists. Rather it is a branch of Symbolism. 23 Ibid. 9
The younger generation, Aleksander Blok (1880–1921), Vjačeslav Ivanov (1866–1949) and Andrej Belyj (1880–1934) were mostly inclined to German Romantics and idealist philosophy. Their generation is often called “mystic Symbolists” because they had strong interest to religion and Vladimir Solov’jev’s (1853–1900) mystical doctrines. However, the second generation did not break its ties either with French Symbolist poetry, painting or music. For example Belyj was very interested in Stéphane Mallarmé’s (1842–1898) ideas on the musicalization of poetry 24 . Characterizing the two generation Simon Morrison has written that according to the first generation of Symbolists, symbols stimulated the imagination, “invoking ancient times, recalling forgotten experiences, and, as a consequence, temporarily renouncing reality for dream, cognition for intuition.” For the second generation, “symbols had the capacity to transform reality, to make the familiar unfamiliar (a notion later adopted by the Russian Formalists), and to have a narcotic impact on the psyche.” 25 The idea of transforming the reality made the second generation of Symbolists closer to Realists’ utilitarian purposes. They saw art as a means to influence on reality. Thus “decadence” is somehow a legitimate appellation for the first generation because they didn’t care of the social or political functions of art but wanted to turn their back to the the old ideals. At the beginning of the 1910s Symbolism was yet divided yet two different branches Acmeism and Futurism, who wanted to clean the Symbolist texts from foreign philosophies, mysticism, aesthetism and individuality. They considered themselves as the topmost avant-gardists wanting to clean the poetry from the unclear thematic elements so that the words would again speak for themselves. 26 Cubo-Futurists developed transrational language where “word as such” was considered a phonetic entity possessing its own ontology. This language was rich in sound and devoid of conventional meaning. It was organized by phonetic analogy and rhythm rather than by grammar and syntax. Typical of the era, it emphasized the reader’s role in the process of grasping the message intuitively in a mental process. 27 24 Steinberg 1982, pp. 34–35. 25 Morrison 2002, p. 4. 26 Pesonen & Suni 2001, p. 9. 27 Lawton 1988, p. 13. 10
Page 1 and 2: ORIS aSAF’EV AND THE sOVIET mUSIC
Page 3 and 4: 5.2 The Second Literary Period: Int
Page 5 and 6: the aesthetical and musico-theoreti
Page 7 and 8: Haas has noted: he used “shaky an
Page 9 and 10: “leftist” 11 mark on his works
Page 11: The Chapter Four and Chapter Five f
Page 15 and 16: them to some degree in 1918-1919, h
Page 17 and 18: produced’, or as ‘the socialist
Page 19 and 20: conservative writers. 43 This aspec
Page 21 and 22: authorities and formulators of soci
Page 23 and 24: control the society according to th
Page 25 and 26: and “neo-nationalist” Igor Stra
Page 27 and 28: “mass songs” with ideological t
Page 29 and 30: possible. As a composer you could n
Page 31 and 32: thoughts is to be given, living tra
Page 33 and 34: confusingly obscure and dependent o
Page 35 and 36: Table 3. HISTORICAL FORMATION Histo
Page 37 and 38: 3. BORIS VLADIMIROVIČ ASAF’EV’
Page 39 and 40: Iskusstvo (The World of Art) 108 an
Page 41 and 42: ”Soblazny i preodolenija” (Temp
Page 43 and 44: can one compare these works with th
Page 45 and 46: Soviet Composers. The new directora
Page 47 and 48: Asaf’ev emphasized musicology as
Page 49 and 50: content of musical art. 162 McQuere
Page 51 and 52: A cause of many negative traits was
Page 53 and 54: 4. THE FIRST LITERARY PERIOD OF BOR
Page 55 and 56: aesthetically and not according to
Page 57 and 58: ecause of his personal gifts. 191 L
Page 59 and 60: when exploring the “Symbolists’
Page 61 and 62: Asaf’ev’s writing contains same
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As Orlova has noted Lipps has a cle
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manifested, for instance, in Byzant
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constructed in the circumstances of
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distorted the phenomena of continui
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motion 248 . Losskij wrote that acc
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In his critic Losskij writes that o
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According to Asaf’ev, to perceive
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continuity. 267 In order to underst
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consciousness inherent in the ordin
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orthodox that one may even question
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Russian operas. He concentrates on
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from the sphere of elements; elemen
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somekind of “liturgical” interp
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They contain views that were typica
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forties towards the Soviet cultural
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also to Realist tradition 332 . He
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5. MUSICAL FORM AS A PROCESS AND TH
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verbal intonation because of the ab
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The discussion of a content of musi
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Works) (1952-1957). However, it was
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100 phenomena into the area of arti
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102 distinction is largely semantic
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104 verbal speech had no need for i
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106 be Asaf’ev’s topmost idea.
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108 of 1940s. Was that his way of h
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6. CONCLUSIONS 110 My Chapter of co
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112 Chapter Five concludes that alt
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List of some of the Notable Works o
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116 ASM (Associcija Sovremennoj Muz
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Berg, Alban (1885-1935) Austrian co
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Javorskij, Boleslav (1877-1942) gra
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Ostwald, Wilhelm (1853-1932) German
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Trotskij, Lev Davydovič (born Bron
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Asaf’ev, Boris V. Russkaja živop
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Tull, James R. B. V. Asaf’ev’s
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Harrison, Charles & Wood, Paul. Art
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Reader, Melvin, ed. A Modern Book o
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