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Muddle Instead Of Music
Muddle Instead of Music: On the Opera ''Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District'' (Russian: Сумбур вместо музыки – Об опере «Леди Макбет Мценского уезда») is an editorial that appeared in the Soviet newspaper ''Pravda'' on January 28, 1936. The unsigned article condemned Dmitri Shostakovich's popular opera '' Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District'' as, among other labels, " formalist", "bourgeois", "coarse" and "vulgar". Immediately after publication rumors began to circulate that Stalin had written the opinion. While this is unlikely, it is almost certain that Stalin was aware of and agreed with the article. "Muddle Instead of Music" was a turning point in Shostakovich's career. The article has since become a well-known example of Soviet censorship of the arts. Background Premiere of the opera and initial praise Leningrad composer Dmitri Shostakovich completed his opera ''Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District'' in 1932. Set in pre-rev ...
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Editorial
An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK) is an article written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper, magazine, or any other written document, often unsigned. Australian and major United States newspapers, such as ''The New York Times'' and ''The Boston Globe'', often classify editorials under the heading " opinion". Illustrated editorials may appear in the form of editorial cartoons. Typically, a newspaper's editorial board evaluates which issues are important for their readership to know the newspaper's opinion on. Editorials are typically published on a dedicated page, called the editorial page, which often features letters to the editor from members of the public; the page opposite this page is called the op-ed page and frequently contains opinion pieces (hence the name think pieces) by writers not directly affiliated with the publication. However, a newspaper may choose to publish an editorial on the front page. In the English-languag ...
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Communist Party Of The Soviet Union
"Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper = ''Pravda'' , position = Far-left , international = , religion = State Atheism , predecessor = Bolshevik faction of the RSDLP , successor = UCP–CPSU , youth_wing = Little Octobrists Komsomol , wing1 = Young Pioneers , wing1_title = Pioneer wing , affiliation1_title = , affiliation1 = Bloc of Communists and Non-Partisans (1936–1991) , membership = 19,487,822 (early 1989 ) , ideology = , colours = Red , country = the Soviet Union The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),; abbreviated in Russian as or also known by various other names during its history, was the founding and ruling party of the Soviet Union. Th ...
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Ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of dance with its own vocabulary. Ballet has been influential globally and has defined the foundational techniques which are used in many other dance genres and cultures. Various schools around the world have incorporated their own cultures. As a result, ballet has evolved in distinct ways. A ''ballet'' as a unified work comprises the choreography and music for a ballet production. Ballets are choreographed and performed by trained ballet dancers. Traditional classical ballets are usually performed with classical music accompaniment and use elaborate costumes and staging, whereas modern ballets are often performed in simple costumes and without elaborate sets or scenery. Etymology Ballet is a French word which had its origin in Italian ...
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Archangelsk
Arkhangelsk (, ; rus, Арха́нгельск, p=ɐrˈxanɡʲɪlʲsk), also known in English as Archangel and Archangelsk, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina near its mouth into the White Sea. The city spreads for over along the banks of the river and numerous islands of its delta. Arkhangelsk was the chief seaport of medieval and early modern Russia until 1703, when it was replaced by the newly-founded Saint Petersburg. A railway runs from Arkhangelsk to Moscow via Vologda and Yaroslavl, and air travel is served by the Talagi Airport and the smaller Vaskovo Airport. As of the 2021 Census, the city's population was 301,199. Coat of arms The arms of the city display the Archangel Michael in the act of defeating the Devil. Legend states that this victory took place near where the city stands, hence its name, and that Michael still stands watch over the city to prevent the Devil's return. History ...
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Symphony No
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning common today: a work usually consisting of multiple distinct sections or movements, often four, with the first movement in sonata form. Symphonies are almost always scored for an orchestra consisting of a string section (violin, viola, cello, and double bass), brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments which altogether number about 30 to 100 musicians. Symphonies are notated in a musical score, which contains all the instrument parts. Orchestral musicians play from parts which contain just the notated music for their own instrument. Some symphonies also contain vocal parts (e.g., Beethoven's Ninth Symphony). Etymology and origins The word ''symphony'' is derived from the Greek word (), meaning "agreement or concord of sound", "concert of ...
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Vsevolod Meyerhold
Vsevolod Emilyevich Meyerhold (russian: Всеволод Эмильевич Мейерхольд, translit=Vsévolod Èmíl'evič Mejerchól'd; born german: Karl Kasimir Theodor Meyerhold; 2 February 1940) was a Russian and Soviet theatre director, actor and theatrical producer. His provocative experiments dealing with physical being and symbolism in an unconventional theatre setting made him one of the seminal forces in modern international theatre. During the Great Purge, Meyerhold was arrested in June 1939. He was tortured, his wife was murdered, and he was executed on 2 February 1940. Life and work Early life Vsevolod Meyerhold was born Karl Kasimir Theodor Meyerhold in Penza on to Russian-German wine manufacturer Friedrich Emil Meyerhold and his Baltic German wife, Alvina Danilovna (). He was the youngest of eight children.Pitches (2003, pg. 4) After completing school in 1895, Meyerhold studied law at Moscow University but never completed his degree. He was ...
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Isaac Babel
Isaac Emmanuilovich Babel (russian: Исаак Эммануилович Бабель, p=ˈbabʲɪlʲ; – 27 January 1940) was a Russian writer, journalist, playwright, and literary translator. He is best known as the author of ''Red Cavalry'' and ''Odessa Stories'', and has been acclaimed as "the greatest prose writer of Russian Jewry." Babel was arrested by the NKVD on 15 May 1939 on fabricated charges of terrorism and espionage, and executed on 27 January 1940. Early years Isaac Babel was born in the Moldavanka section of Odessa, Russia, to Jewish parents, Manus and Feyga Babel. Soon after his birth, the Babel family moved to the port city of Nikolaev. They later returned to live in a more fashionable part of Odesa in 1906. Babel used Moldavanka as the setting for ''Odessa Stories'' and the play ''Sunset''. Although Babel's short stories present his family as "destitute and muddle-headed", they were relatively well-off. According to his autobiographical statements, Babel ...
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Music Of The Soviet Union
The music of the Soviet Union varied in many genres and epochs. The majority of it was considered to be part of the Russian culture, but other national cultures from the Republics of the Soviet Union made significant contributions as well. The Soviet state supported musical institutions, but also carried out content censorship. According to Lenin, "Every artist, everyone who considers himself an artist, has the right to create freely according to his ideal, independently of everything. However, we are Communists and we must not stand with folded hands and let chaos develop as it pleases. We must systemically guide this process and form its result." Classical music of the USSR Classical music of the Soviet Union developed from the music of the Russian Empire. It gradually evolved from the experiments of the revolutionary era, such as orchestras with no conductors, towards classicism favored under Joseph Stalin's office. The music patriarchs of the era were Prokofiev, Shostakovi ...
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Ivan Sollertinsky
Ivan Ivanovich Sollertinsky (3 December 1902, Vitebsk – 11 February 1944, Novosibirsk) (Cyrillic: ''Ива́н Ива́нович Соллерти́нский'') was a Soviet polymath. He specialized in fields including linguistics, theatre, literature, history, and philology, but was most known for his work in the musical field as a critic and musicologist. He was a professor at the Leningrad Conservatory, as well as an artistic director of the Leningrad Philharmonic, and a prominent orator. In these capacities, he was an active promoter of Mahler's music in the Soviet Union. Sollertinsky was also interested in ballet and often wrote essays on the subject during the 1930s, along with teaching ballet history at the Leningrad Choreographic Institute. According to contemporaries – most famously Irakly Andronikov – he had a phenomenal memory, and supposedly spoke 26 languages and 100 dialects. However, Nikolai Malko claimed that Sollertinsky was able to speak 32 languages, some of ...
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Socialist Realism
Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is characterized by the depiction of communist values, such as the emancipation of the proletariat. Despite its name, the figures in the style are very often highly idealized, especially in sculpture, where it often leans heavily on the conventions of classical sculpture. Although related, it should not be confused with social realism, a type of art that realistically depicts subjects of social concern, or other forms of "realism" in the visual arts. Socialist realism was made with an extremely literal and obvious meaning, usually showing an idealized USSR. Socialist realism was usually devoid of complex artistic meaning or interpretation. Socialist realism was the predominant form of approved art in the Soviet Union from its development in t ...
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Ivan Dzerzhinsky
Ivan Ivanovich Dzerzhinsky (9 April 1909 – 18 January 1978) was a Soviet and Russian composer. The work for which he best known, his opera ''Quiet Flows the Don'' (''Tikhiy Don''), was more successful for its political potential than for any musical distinction.McAllister, ''New Grove'', 5:797. Personal life and career Born in Tambov, Dzerzhinsky had an extended formal background in music. He studied piano with Boleslav Yavorsky at the First Music Tekhnikum in Moscow between 1925 and 1929. Afterwards he spent 1930–31 at the Gnesin School as a composition student of Mikhail Gnessin. Two years at the Leningrad Central Music Tekhnikum followed. There he studied composition first with Gavriil Popov, then with Pyotr Ryazanov. He then proceeded to the Leningrad Conservatory for two years of study with Boris Asafyev. From 1936 Dzerzhinsky held important administrative positions in the Union of Soviet Composers as well as in party politics. In 1948 he was appointed to the central ...
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Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich Molotov. ; (;. 9 March Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O._S._25_February.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O. S. 25 February">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O. S. 25 February1890 – 8 November 1986) was a Russian politician and diplomat, an Old Bolshevik, and a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s onward. He served as Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars from 1930 to 1941 and as Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Soviet Union), Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1939 to 1949 and from 1953 to 1956. During the 1930s, he ranked second in the Soviet leadership, after Joseph Stalin, whom he supported loyally for over 30 years, and whose reputation he continued to defend after Stalin's death, having himself been deeply implicated in the worst atrocities of the Stalin years – the forced collectivisation of agriculture in ...
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