Politics and Classical Music: Prokofiev's Plight

This video is in response to a very angry comment on our Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet video. It is all about politics and classical music. This was a comment by the elusively-named "A". Just one word: "A". And he says: "That was your worst video so far." "Political regime, red plague to mention a few..." "Obviously you aren't in favour of Communism," "but no need to tell us about it  when we are talking about music." "You've really gotta know your history." "You've gotta understand the  inner poli

tics to be able to see what was happening in these difficult times." "Throwing cliches is easy." So I'm going to address some of A's concerns here. The first thing I should talk about is our  credentials in the Classics Explained team. One of us is Russian and at least two of us have studied in quite  some depth Russian history and politics, so I think we might have some  of that "inner" knowledge there. What we are NOT doing in  our Romeo and Juliet video is making any personal  statements abou

t our politics, or our personal views about Communism. But...what we would like to acknowledge is that  you can't get away from discussing politics - specifically when talking  about Soviet classical music. Our video highlighted the fact  that the Soviet state was both very supportive to certain cultural  institutions and certain composers, but also carried out content censorship. To quote Lenin: "Every artist  has the right to create freely." "However, we are Communists and  must not stand with

folded hands and let chaos develop when it pleases." "We must systematically govern  this process and form its result." Now when Stalin came to power,  all ties with the West were cut. Soviet Russia engaged in  isolationism like never before. The Ministry of Culture essentially had an agenda where it oversaw the  direction of the Union of Soviet Composers. We have the Communist Party directing or controlling the direction of  classical music in the 1930s. So "good" music is music that conforms,

in  the eyes of the regime, to Socialist Realism: a term coined by Maxim Gorky in the early  '30s to convey the struggles and triumphs of the Soviet workers. What you didn't do was indulge... ...in formalism! Formalism is music that borrows  the discords and experimentations of progressive Western classical  avant-garde music of the time. In our video we talk about the fact  that Prokofiev in the early 1930s was quite willing to embrace this simply,  lyrical language of Soviet Realism: music th

at was devoted to  the listener's understanding. This is very well illustrated by  Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf: just look at how simple this is. Very easy to understand -  harmonious, Soviet music. But when Stalin heard Shostakovich in 1934 - Shostakovich's new opera, Lady  Macbeth of the Mtsensk District - he went crazy. This essentially ruined Shostakovich. He was denounced in the state press. Stalin talked about "pre-Socialist,  petty bourgeois formalism." Though Shostakovich survived  by

the skin of his teeth, many composers weren't so lucky and we now know that quite a few were purged - they were sent to the gulag or  imprisoned or were executed. Every year, up until our very own times today, we are still discovering  "degenerate", denounced composers who simply couldn't get their music out there -  from the '30s all the way into the 60s and 70s. So WE would argue that it is not  possible to talk about Soviet music like Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet without touching on the polit

ics of the era. But we hope that it is this very engagement  with the life and the times of the Soviet nation which gives this music such a particular uniquely and historically  interesting sound and perspective.