With the command positions securely in their hands now, the leaders
of the Association of Proletarian Art were telling composers exactly what
kind of music they were supposed to write. Everything complicated and alien
to a workingman's ear should be "consigned to the dustbin of history"
as they put it. Ill-educated bureaucrats had already made life a nightmare
for many a serious musician and done away with the unfortunate Russian
modernists whose effort had been so closely followed in the West… It looked
like the whole country was about to be overwhelmed by an avalanche of primitive
potboilers. Fortunately enough, some of the great artists finally managed
to steal the ear of a couple of Kremlin big shots and, on April 23, 1932,
the Central Committee of the Bolshevik party put out a decree "On
Restructuring the Writers' and Artists' Unions" which effectively
did away with the Association of Proletarian Art and disowned its methods.
The more naive musicians thought the wretched ideas espoused by the APA
had been shelved once and for all. Unfortunately, these ideas repeatedly
cropped up again throughout the 70 years of Soviet history…
With the official stranglehold slightly eased following the publication
of the 1932 decree, the concert organizers everywhere started promoting
local composers. In a matter of just a few months, the Moscow Philharmonic
organized more than 30 all-premiere concerts. Because the public was not
yet ready to comprehend so much new music, the concert organizers were
alternating new compositions with popular classics.
Also coming back was the old music which just recently had been
discarded by the APA as bourgeois. In the fall of 1932, the Hermitage Theater
in Leningrad was playing host to a series of the so-called Historical Exhibition-Concerts
where the musicians played old instruments leased from the museum's vast
collection.
Since the concerts were a pay-your-way venture, the organizers
not only jacked up the ticket prices, but also overhauled the hall adding
200 more seats to the originally available 300. However, the reconstruction
had its toll on the hall's acoustics and experts have since been trying
unsuccessfully to bring the unique 18th century structure back to its original
splendor.
In 1932 bass singer Maxim Mikhailov joined the Bolshoi Opera
company. His road onto the stage was long and winding. A peasant boy, Maxim
had always dreamed of being a singer and he spent some time honing his
skills at a local church. His powerful bass didn't go unnoticed, though,
and, before long, he was already an archdeacon at Leningrad's Church of
St.Basil of Ceasarea where parishioners often flocked in just to listen
to his unique voice. Learning about the much-endowed new archdeacon, the
People's Commissar for Education Anatoly Lunacharsky had Maxim Mikhailov
whisked into his office right from a Divine service and suggested he join
the State Radio's opera studio. Four years later, the singer, who could
hardly read music, found himself a member of one of the country's finest
opera company.
Already 39 and realizing how musically uneducated he was, Mikhailov
immediately enrolled in the Leningrad Conservatory working and studying
all at the same time. At the Bolshoi, Mikhailov was now singing many lead
parts and, very shortly after, he was already in the number one spot there
and a favorite of Josef Stalin himself who saw everything Mikhailov ever
did on the stage of the country's premier theater.
Maxim Mikhailov spent a whole 30 years singing at the Bolshoi
and never once was he spoiled by fame and money. Nor did he ever seek protection
from the powerful and famous and was always ready to lend a helping hand
to those in need. He never got enmeshed in any sort of behind-the-scenes
intrigue and appreciated straightforward, trusty and hard-working people,
maybe because he was exactly such a man himself…
In 1932 they set up an experimental group at the Moscow Conservatory
for young prodigies who were studying with the very best teachers the Conservatory
could offer. Awed by the young disciples' amazing receptiveness, their
much-acclaimed tutors rehearsed with them pieces which normally were handled
by last year students .
THE RUSSIAN MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 20TH
CENTURY is prepared for you by Olga Fyodorova.
