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

into the subject and grasped the language and mannerisms of the composer from inside,
I am able to form judgements about his work from a variety of points of view.” Asaf’ev
though admitted that it was sometimes hard to avoid being polemical or to become
emotionally excited when analyzing Stravinskij’s works. 315 It is evident: Asaf’ev’s book
is full of subjective admiration which is derived from his personal tastes and emotional
praise and due to the style features of the time period descending from the tradition of
the 19 th Century art criticism.
Asaf’ev tried to justify the modern composers he admired, particularly Stravinskij. For
him Stravinskij was intuitive genius, such as Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827),
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) and William Shakespeare (1564–1616).
According to him there are two types of techniques to create art: imitative and evolving.
The latter (that represented by the above-mentioned artists) always struggles to master
new methods and expressions, which sound most often foreign to the ears of the
contemporaries. 316
Asaf’ev also sharply criticized those who objected new music: “What they do not or
cannot understand, what they do not or cannot hear they repudiate as extravagant and
bad for the society.” 317 What he means by “them” refers most probably to the critical
voices of RAPM musicians. 318 His defends himself against accusations of formalism at
the end of the preface were also addressed to them, trying to make the reader convinced
that his talk about form is not to be understood of being on the coast of the content. 319 It
is funny how daring Asaf’ev’s criticism was towards the mud-slingers of the new music
still in 1930. Such comments could not have been expressed few years later under the
strengthening monolithic ‘Socialist Realist’ cultural policy under Stalin and Ždanov.
The criticism expressed by Asaf’ev fits amusingly well to have directed in the mid
315 Ibid., pp. 4–5.
316 Ibid., p. 9.
317 Ibid., p. 10.
318 See Asaf’ev’s letters to Lunačarskij in the summer of 1929. He was scared for his career because
RAPM’s journal Proletarskij Muzykant (No. 2, p. 28, 31) kept attacking him and his works. In his letters
he asked Lunačarskij to have a faith in the ideological integrity of his thoughts or to ask him to resign
from his post. Asaf’ev mentioned also that he was holding back his book about Stravinsky because he
was scared that he would be accused of “Westerness” and of being interested in “emigrant” music.
(Materialy 1981, pp. 144–145, 164.)
319 See ibid., pp. 11–12.
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