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

ORKiMD. They did not want to cut all the musical ties to the past. The leader of the group was Aleksandr
Davidenko (1899–1934). 411
117
RAPM or VAPM (Rossijskaja/ Vsesojuzkaja Associacija Proletarskih Muzykantov) [Russian/All-
Union Association of Proletarian Musicians] was created in 1923 by Lev Šul'gin with Aleksej Sergejev,
David Černomordikov and Dmitrij Vasil'ev-Bulgaj and specialized in musical propaganda and agitation
to broad masses. The members were composers, performer, music teachers and instructors working in the
amateur music field and majority of them were associated with trades’ unions, the military, or Communist
Party or Komsomol. 412 RAPM shared the same motto as Lenin when he declared that art belongs and
must be understood by people (the victorious proletariat) and that’s why RAPM was against any form of
musical creation apart from the immediate sounding illustration to ideological dogmas. They preferred
“mass songs” with ideological texts, usually written by poets allied in the homologous organization of
proletarian writers. In 1932 the RAPM was liquidated, when the Soviet Union of Composers was
established.
RAPP (Rossijskaja Associacija Proletarskih Pisatelej [Russian Association of Proletarian Writers])
RITM (Razryad istorii i teorii muzyki) [Section of History and Theory of Music] was a section in the
Leningrad Institute of Arts Hirtory. Later changed into OTIM
TEO (Teatral’nyj otdel) [Drama Section] of Narkompros.
List of Names (following the Russian alphabetical order)
Al’švang, Arnold Aleksandrovič (1898–1960) Soviet musicologist and a doctor of arts, who
studied at the Kiev Conservatory. Among his teachers were Nejghauz, Xodorovskij, Glier and Javorskij.
Asaf’ev, Boris Vladimirovič (1884–1849) Soviet composer and a musicologist.
Avraamov, Apsenij Mihajlovič (1886–1944) musicologist, folklorist and a composer . He used
fourth tone-system (popular in 1910), he functioned in Narkompros, Proletkult and did experiments in
music. He had been Tanejev’s student when he studied in Moscow Conservatory.
Bahtin, Mihail Mihajlovič (1895–1975) Soviet literature scholar, linguist and a philosopher.
Balakirev, Milij Aleksejevič (1837–1910) Russian composer.
Bal’mont, Konstantin (1867–1941) Russian Symbolist poet.
Beethoven, Ludwig van (1770–1827) German composer.
Beljajev, Viktor Mihailovič (1888–1968) musicologist and a professor in Moscow Conservatory. In
1914–23 and in 1942–44 he taught musical theory in Petrograd Conservatory (Leningrad) and in 1923–
1924, 1938–1940 and in 1943–59 musical theory and history in Moscow Conservatory. He was an active
member of GAHN, (Gosudarstvennaja akademija hudožestvennyh nauk) and in 1923–30 an active
member of ASM.
Belyj, Andrej [Boris Bugajev] (1880–1934) famous Russian Symbolist poet and writer.
411 See more information in Edmunds 2004, p. 107.
412 See more information of RAPM in Edmunds 2004, pp. 105–122.