Khrennikov's Seven (russian: Хренниковская семёрка or Семёрка Хренникова) was a group of seven
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...
n
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
composers denounced in 1979 at the Sixth Congress of the
Composers' Union
The Union of Russian Composers (formerly the Union of Soviet Composers, Order of Lenin Union of Composers of USSR () (1932- ), and Union of Soviet Composers of the USSR) is a state-created organization for musicians and musicologists created in 193 ...
by its leader
Tikhon Khrennikov
Tikhon Nikolayevich Khrennikov (russian: Тихон Николаевич Хренников; – 14 August 2007) was a Russian and Soviet composer, pianist, and General Secretary of the Union of Soviet Composers (1948–1991), who was also kno ...
for the unapproved participation in some festivals of Soviet music in the West. Khrennikov called their music "pointlessness... and noisy mud instead of real musical innovation". The seven were listed in the following order:
Elena Firsova
Elena Olegovna Firsova (russian: link=no, Еле́на Оле́говна Фи́рсова; also ''Yelena'' or ''Jelena Firssowa''; born 21 March 1950) is a Russian composer.
Life
Firsova was born in Leningrad into the family of physicists Ol ...
,
Dmitri Smirnov,
Alexander Knaifel
Alexander Aronovich Knaifel (russian: Алекса́ндр Аро́нович Кна́йфель; also ''Knayfel'', ''Knayfel'', or ''Kneifel''; born 28 November 1943 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan) is a Russian composer known for his operas '' The Gh ...
,
Viktor Suslin
Viktor Yevseyevich Suslin (russian: Ви́ктор Евсе́евич Су́слин; June 13, 1942, Miass, Ural, Russia – July 10, 2012, Hamburg, Germany) was a Russian composer. An associate of Sofia Gubaidulina's, together with her and ...
,
Vyacheslav Artyomov
Vyacheslav Petrovich Artyomov (russian: Вячесла́в Петро́вич Артё́мов, link=no; born on June 29, 1940, in Moscow) is a Russian and Soviet composer.
Biography
Artyomov was preparing to become a physicist, studying mus ...
,
Sofia Gubaidulina
Sofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina (russian: Софи́я Асгáтовна Губaйду́лина, link=no , tt-Cyrl, София Әсгать кызы Гобәйдуллина; born 24 October 1931) is a Soviet-Russian composer and an established ...
, and
Edison Denisov
Edison Vasilievich Denisov (russian: Эдисо́н Васи́льевич Дени́сов, 6 April 1929 – 24 November 1996) was a Russian composer in the so-called " Underground", "alternative" or "nonconformist" division of Soviet music.
...
. These composers subsequently suffered restrictions on performance and publication of their music.
The tone of the denunciation harked back to the First Congress of 1948, at which
Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...
,
Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throughout his life as a major compo ...
,
Khachaturian Khachaturian, Khachaturyan, Khachadurian or Khachatourian ( hy, Խաչատուրյան) is an Armenian surname meaning "cross bearer". People with the name include the following:
* Leon Khachatourian (born 1936), Iranian Armenian boxer
* Aram Khach ...
,
Myaskovsky
Nikolai Yakovlevich Myaskovsky or Miaskovsky or Miaskowsky (russian: Никола́й Я́ковлевич Мяско́вский; pl, Mikołaj Miąskowski, syn Jakóbowy; 20 April 18818 August 1950), was a Russian and Soviet composer. He is so ...
,
Klebanov, and others were victimized.
By 1991 four of the seven had left the Soviet Union (except Knaifel, Denisov and Artyomov), Denisov left the country in 1994 and died in Paris two years later.
Quotations
"In 1979, the
Communist Party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of '' The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...
tried to bring these rebels
group of younger composers known as "unofficial" composersto heel. The egregious hack Tikhon Khrennikov, head of the Soviet Composers' Union, attacked seven of them by name in terms that were an unintended compliment: he called their music 'not representative of the work of Soviet composers'." (
Gerard McBurney
Gerard McBurney (born 20 June 1954) is a British composer, arranger, broadcaster, teacher and writer.
Life
Born in Cambridge, England, he is the son of Charles McBurney, an American archaeologist, and Anne Francis Edmondstone (née Charles) ...
)
"The 'bad days' returned in November 1979, when at the Sixth Congress of the Composer's Union, the music of the so-called 'Khrennikov Seven' was criticised as 'pointlessness ... and noisy mud instead of real musical innovation' ... This victimisation came in connection with their participation in the Cologne festival. An administrative punishment was made, preventing them from being performed on the radio and television, and prohibiting the publication of their scores. The leaders of the Composer's Union also proclaimed the policy of 'divide and rule', and Schnittke, who previously had been harshly criticised, was suddenly given official recognition." (
Dmitri Smirnov: ''Song from Underground 1'')
[http://wikilivres.ru/Song_from_Underground_(1st_version_%E2%80%94_Smirnov ]
See also
*
Zhdanov doctrine
The Zhdanov Doctrine (also called Zhdanovism or Zhdanovshchina; russian: доктрина Жданова, ждановизм, ждановщина) was a Soviet cultural doctrine developed by Central Committee secretary Andrei Zhdanov in 1946. I ...
*
Union of Soviet Composers
The Union of Russian Composers (formerly the Union of Soviet Composers, Order of Lenin Union of Composers of USSR () (1932- ), and Union of Soviet Composers of the USSR) is a state-created organization for musicians and musicologists created in 193 ...
*
ACM - Association for Contemporary Music
Notes
* The authors of the Khrennikov's address-denunciation were L. G. Grigoriev (Ginsburg) and Y. M. Platek, who became known later for their common work on Khrennikov under the title "He was chosen by Time". Khrennikov's address can be compared to
Lysenko
Lysenko ( uk, Лисенко; russian: Лысенко; be, Лысенка Lysienka) or Lisenko is a Ukrainian surname. It most often refers to:
* Mykola Lysenko (1842–1912), Ukrainian composer, after whom the Lysenko music school and Lysenko S ...
's address on genetics in 1936. "Time" which has chosen ''Him'' in 1948 stopped for 40 years.
References
External links
Answers*
Song from Underground (1)
*
Song from Underground (2)
Veche Tveri (in Russian)*
Tikhon Khrennikov: Musik belongs to People ("Музыка принадлежит народу") (fragment in Russian), 23 Nov. 1979
*
Tikhon Khrennikov: The high destiny of the Soviet music ("Высокое предназначение советской музыки") (fragment in Russian), 28 Nov. 1979
*
Smirnov: The Seven of Khrennikov ("Семёрка Хренникова") (in Russian), 5 May 1980
*
Kholopov, Tsenova: Khrennikov's Seven (in Russian), 1993
Pospelov (in Russian) 5 July 2001
{{Khrennikov's Seven
1979 in the Soviet Union
Composition schools
Music organizations based in Russia
Soviet music