The Practice of Musical Biography in the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and the Former Eastern Bloc

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

How did empire and state socialism shape discourse around musicians in Russia/the USSR and the former Eastern bloc? To what extent can revisiting official narratives in a variety of contexts allow previously silenced and marginalized perspectives to emerge? This panel explores these questions through three chronologically and geographically diverse case studies. Valentina Sandu-Dediu explores how the nationalist identity Romanian critics imparted to the composer George Enescu under ideological pressure deeply shaped subsequent understanding of his music. Patrick Zuk examines the gulf between official Soviet accounts of the prominent critic Boris Asafiev and the portrait that emerges from archival materials to raise key issues facing scholars of Stalin-era arts. Finally, by examining the biography of the prominent operatic bass Osip Petrov, Emily Frey shows how empire shaped accounts of Petrov’s career, from biography to the national origins of his distinctive performance style.

Sub Unit

• Arts II: Music, Theater, Performance Studies

Chair

• Kevin Bartig, Michigan State U

Papers

• Acting Ukrainian: The Case of Osip Petrov - Emily Frey, Brandeis U

• The Myth of the Romanian National Composer: George Enescu - Valentina Sandu-Dediu, National U of Music Bucharest (Romania)

• Boris Asafiev and His Soviet Biographers - Patrick Zuk, Durham U (UK)

Discussant

• Kevin Bartig, Michigan State U