December 5, 2012
Innovation as the Hallmark of
20th Century Russian Music
Joel Spiegelman
American composer, conductor, concert pianist, arranger,
author and teacher
Innovation as the Hallmark of
20th Century Russian Music
Joel Spiegelman
American composer, conductor, concert pianist, arranger,
author and teacher
Minutes of the Tenth Meeting of the 71st Year
The President of the Old Guard of Princeton, Ruth Miller, called the tenth meeting of the 69th year to order at 10:15 AM on December 5, 2012.
The invocation was led by Donald Edwards.
Minutes: John Frederick read the minutes of the November 28th meeting.
Introduction of Guests: The Old Guard welcomed the following guests: Priscilla Roosevelt introduced by Alison Lahnston and Mrs. Parsons introduced by her husband, Larry Parsons.
Memorial observance. Mrs. Miller announced with regret the death of Old Guard emeritus member John A. Pell. A moment of silence was observed.
Announcements: President Miller announced the speaker at the next meeting will be Barbara Oberg, editor of the papers of Thomas Jefferson at Princeton University talking about, “Parties, Politics and Power: The Presidency of Thomas Jefferson.”
Introduction of the speaker: Lee Neuwirth introduced what he described as three speakers. The first speaker, Joel Spiegelman, is a superb keyboard musician, having given his debut piano performance with the New York Philharmonic at the age of thirteen. The second Joel Spiegelman is an acclaimed composer whose first work was debuted in Paris when he was twenty-five and whose works have been performed world-wide; and the third Joel Spiegelman is a conductor who since 1958 has conducted concerts from Moscow to Greenland and collected and played avant-garde Russian music for five decades. The three Spiegelman’s talk was titled “Innovation as the Hallmark of 20th Century Russian Music.”
Mr. Spiegelman began by describing his first trip to Russia on a cultural exchange in 1965 to study 18th century keyboard music. He went to Moscow on the hunch that something new was going on and as a sort of “musical spy” immediately discovered a group of avant-garde composers who had come up with a new style, influenced by the west. By day two he was completely involved. This “new” music reflected the Russian Revolution, the Freudian era and a movement away from tonality. The golden period of Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov gave way to Scriabin, who was interested in the symbolists and developed his own harmonies, and Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971). Stravinsky had been taught by Rimsky-Korsakov and began as a neo-classicist, but created a sensation with new shapes and forms and elaborate, ground breaking harmony, sound and rhythm. Mr. Spiegelman met Stravinsky in 1966 when, living in Paris, Stravinsky expressed great interest in the new music that Mr. Spiegelman had been able to smuggle out of Russia.
Mr. Spiegelman introduced us to a number of Russians who remained in Russia. First was Alexander Mossalov (1903-1973) who, in such works as “the Factory” promoted the idea of the proletarian worker as the ideal hero. Second was Lev Termen (1896-1993), who composed spooky movie music in Hollywood but, returned to Russia to run the sound lab in the Moscow Conservatory. Eventually he helped bring recognition to electronic music. A third composer of the 20th Century was the giant talent Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) who made the neo-classicist style into his own and, with Shostakovich, maintained the line of great Russian music from Tchaikovsky to today.
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) as time went on became the greatest symphonist of the 20th century. In 1932 when socialist realism was enforced in Russia and he had to write music that was popular and acceptable to a large proletarian public, he suffered persecution, then lost his job and even had to sell his piano to live. His great 7th Symphony, the Leningrad, expresses in form and shapes the hard and treacherous life the Russians were leading. It is dark, violent and reflects people forced to live in terrible conditions under the rule of a paranoid dictator.
Perhaps the most controversial musician was Tikhon Khrennikoff (1913-2007) who was appointed Director of the Union of Composers by Stalin. Mr. Spiegelman’s first impression was that he was bad and repressive but he eventually realized that Khrennikoff was actually the greatest musical diplomat who, while he forbade the publication and playing of a lot of music, ensured that no one was killed or put in a concentration camp.
Prince Andrei Volkonsky (1933-2008) was another close friend of Mr. Spiegelman. The same age, both were harpsichordists and both studied in Paris under Nadia Boulanger. An inventive composer, Volkonsky was the first Russian to write 12 tone music using the chromatic scale and was also the first to bring music from the Middle Ages and Renaissance to Russia. Mr. Spiegelman helped by using a State Department grant to purchase first rate editions of old music and sent them to Russia anonymously.
A final composer deserving mention was Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) a close friend whose eclectic style and masterful film scores reflect the internal drama the Russian people went through in the war and the chaos that came afterwards.
Mr. Spiegelman concluded that he doesn’t see anybody in Russia now of significant talent. The golden age of Russian composers and, in fact of composers everywhere, has ended. He noted that the Russian conservatory churns out many players but salaries are so low it’s impossible to live there so they leave the country if they have a chance. Russia of the 1960’s has been replaced by the motivation of greed and the ideology of corruption.
In response to another question –does stress, suffering and repression ignite the flame of the creative process - Mr. Spiegelman agreed. There is not a direct correlation but when he himself composed it was in his hard times; perhaps we need repression to become great, he said. He cited Tchaikovsky’s short hard life, Beethoven’s suffering and Mozart’s early death. Tumult and inner stress are related; even Bela Bartok, an incredible talent, died in poverty and ill heath.
Although I am only one writer, not three, I respectfully submit these minutes.
Alison W. Lahnston
The invocation was led by Donald Edwards.
Minutes: John Frederick read the minutes of the November 28th meeting.
Introduction of Guests: The Old Guard welcomed the following guests: Priscilla Roosevelt introduced by Alison Lahnston and Mrs. Parsons introduced by her husband, Larry Parsons.
Memorial observance. Mrs. Miller announced with regret the death of Old Guard emeritus member John A. Pell. A moment of silence was observed.
Announcements: President Miller announced the speaker at the next meeting will be Barbara Oberg, editor of the papers of Thomas Jefferson at Princeton University talking about, “Parties, Politics and Power: The Presidency of Thomas Jefferson.”
Introduction of the speaker: Lee Neuwirth introduced what he described as three speakers. The first speaker, Joel Spiegelman, is a superb keyboard musician, having given his debut piano performance with the New York Philharmonic at the age of thirteen. The second Joel Spiegelman is an acclaimed composer whose first work was debuted in Paris when he was twenty-five and whose works have been performed world-wide; and the third Joel Spiegelman is a conductor who since 1958 has conducted concerts from Moscow to Greenland and collected and played avant-garde Russian music for five decades. The three Spiegelman’s talk was titled “Innovation as the Hallmark of 20th Century Russian Music.”
Mr. Spiegelman began by describing his first trip to Russia on a cultural exchange in 1965 to study 18th century keyboard music. He went to Moscow on the hunch that something new was going on and as a sort of “musical spy” immediately discovered a group of avant-garde composers who had come up with a new style, influenced by the west. By day two he was completely involved. This “new” music reflected the Russian Revolution, the Freudian era and a movement away from tonality. The golden period of Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov gave way to Scriabin, who was interested in the symbolists and developed his own harmonies, and Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971). Stravinsky had been taught by Rimsky-Korsakov and began as a neo-classicist, but created a sensation with new shapes and forms and elaborate, ground breaking harmony, sound and rhythm. Mr. Spiegelman met Stravinsky in 1966 when, living in Paris, Stravinsky expressed great interest in the new music that Mr. Spiegelman had been able to smuggle out of Russia.
Mr. Spiegelman introduced us to a number of Russians who remained in Russia. First was Alexander Mossalov (1903-1973) who, in such works as “the Factory” promoted the idea of the proletarian worker as the ideal hero. Second was Lev Termen (1896-1993), who composed spooky movie music in Hollywood but, returned to Russia to run the sound lab in the Moscow Conservatory. Eventually he helped bring recognition to electronic music. A third composer of the 20th Century was the giant talent Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) who made the neo-classicist style into his own and, with Shostakovich, maintained the line of great Russian music from Tchaikovsky to today.
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) as time went on became the greatest symphonist of the 20th century. In 1932 when socialist realism was enforced in Russia and he had to write music that was popular and acceptable to a large proletarian public, he suffered persecution, then lost his job and even had to sell his piano to live. His great 7th Symphony, the Leningrad, expresses in form and shapes the hard and treacherous life the Russians were leading. It is dark, violent and reflects people forced to live in terrible conditions under the rule of a paranoid dictator.
Perhaps the most controversial musician was Tikhon Khrennikoff (1913-2007) who was appointed Director of the Union of Composers by Stalin. Mr. Spiegelman’s first impression was that he was bad and repressive but he eventually realized that Khrennikoff was actually the greatest musical diplomat who, while he forbade the publication and playing of a lot of music, ensured that no one was killed or put in a concentration camp.
Prince Andrei Volkonsky (1933-2008) was another close friend of Mr. Spiegelman. The same age, both were harpsichordists and both studied in Paris under Nadia Boulanger. An inventive composer, Volkonsky was the first Russian to write 12 tone music using the chromatic scale and was also the first to bring music from the Middle Ages and Renaissance to Russia. Mr. Spiegelman helped by using a State Department grant to purchase first rate editions of old music and sent them to Russia anonymously.
A final composer deserving mention was Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) a close friend whose eclectic style and masterful film scores reflect the internal drama the Russian people went through in the war and the chaos that came afterwards.
Mr. Spiegelman concluded that he doesn’t see anybody in Russia now of significant talent. The golden age of Russian composers and, in fact of composers everywhere, has ended. He noted that the Russian conservatory churns out many players but salaries are so low it’s impossible to live there so they leave the country if they have a chance. Russia of the 1960’s has been replaced by the motivation of greed and the ideology of corruption.
In response to another question –does stress, suffering and repression ignite the flame of the creative process - Mr. Spiegelman agreed. There is not a direct correlation but when he himself composed it was in his hard times; perhaps we need repression to become great, he said. He cited Tchaikovsky’s short hard life, Beethoven’s suffering and Mozart’s early death. Tumult and inner stress are related; even Bela Bartok, an incredible talent, died in poverty and ill heath.
Although I am only one writer, not three, I respectfully submit these minutes.
Alison W. Lahnston