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Revolutionary Approach to Tradition in the Twenty-Four Preludes for Piano by Dmitri Kabalevsky and Dmitri Shostakovich

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Revolutionary Approach to Tradition in the Twenty-Four Preludes for Piano by Dmitri Kabalevsky and Dmitri Shostakovich REVOLUTIONARY APPROACH TO TRADITION IN THE TWENTY-FOUR PRELUDES FOR PIANO BY DMITRI KABALEVSKY AND DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH by ALEKSEY ARTEMYEV Submitted to the faculty of the Jacobs School of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree, Doctor of Music Indiana University May 2020 Accepted by the faculty of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Music Doctoral Committee ______________________________ André Watts, Research Director ______________________________ André Watts, Chair ______________________________ Evelyne Brancart ______________________________ Jean-Louis Haguenauer January 4, 2020 ii Copyright © 2020 Aleksey Artemyev iii I wholeheartedly extend my gratitude to my teachers and mentors, whose boundless patience and support helped me through this demanding journey. During my years at Indiana University, I was exceptionally fortunate to be influenced by amazing people and artists. I would like to thank Evelyne Brancart and Jean-Louis Haguenauer, who guided and helped me along my educational and personal journey with their extensive musical knowledge, unique personalities, and incredible musicianship. Thank you for attending my performances, and for always having incredibly inspiring and motivational feedback. Finally, I would like to thank Professor André Watts, who supported me at every step, and whose incredible, one-of-a-kind artistry has truly shaped me as a musician over the years. Furthermore, your immensely compassionate and nurturing mentorship has greatly inspired and influenced me as an individual. Your mentorship has instilled a lifelong example to live by – as a person and a pedagogue. Thank you! iv Preface The goal of this essay is to dive deep into the work of two Soviet composers, Dmitri Kabalevsky and Dmitri Shostakovich, in order to explore how they conveyed and developed ideas via only a few lines of music, namely through the prelude genre. There is little research done specifically on the 24 Preludes op. 34 for piano by Dmitri Shostakovich1, and even less so on the set of the 24 Preludes op. 38 by his contemporary, Dmitri Kabalevsky. This essay will discover how these composers treat the traditional prelude form in ways that are innovative to their own compositional style and to the contemporary musical trends of the time. Focusing on the analysis of the stylistic, formal, harmonic and rhythmic elements, this essay will bring a better understanding of the piano styles of Shostakovich and Kabalevsky. It will compare the composers’ use of contemporary and traditional elements to their own compositional idiosyncrasies reflected through the 24 Preludes, i.e. how their musical languages differed from each other, and how it affected the prelude genre up to date. Though both were established pianists, Shostakovich and Kabalevsky are not primarily known for their piano works; especially when compared to composers such as Sergei Rachmaninov, Alexander Scriabin or Frédéric Chopin, who wrote similar sets of prelude cycles and whose oeuvre primarily focuses on composing for piano. Shostakovich is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential symphonists of the twentieth century, while Kabalevsky is primarily associated with the music for the young. In Russia, he is also best known for his pedagogical work with multiple generations of the Soviet youth. Nonetheless, his compositional output extends beyond the strictly educational forms of children's music, consisting of several operas, four symphonies, numerous solo and ensemble vocal works, violin and cello concertos, 1 Contrary to the more widely known 24 Preludes and Fugues op. 87 advanced piano works such as three piano sonatas, the set of 24 Preludes, and several piano concertos. Through the selected pieces from each set of the 24 Preludes, this study will focus predominantly on two perspectives –revolutionary and traditional approaches to composition of a prelude; i.e. how Shostakovich and Kabalevsky, utilizing this already popular genre, brought a fresh aesthetic and unique musical momentum to it. Through close analysis, the essay will show how these two opposing concepts of musical expression – traditional vs. revolutionary – coexist in both cycles. It will identify the elements that draw from the past traditions of both, the Russian and Western cultures, the elements that reflects the present time – contemporary trends of the musical world of the first half of the 20th century, primarily in the Soviet Union, and finally, what possibly looks to the future. Researching Shostakovich and Kabalevsky naturally draws one towards a lot of Russian scholarship from the Soviet era. However, the totalitarian state of the time heavily influenced these texts. The palpable political pressure clearly shaped the ways the ideas were expressed in contemporary scholarship: books, articles, and even such communication as personal correspondence. This factor makes it very hard to discern the level of sincerity, and thus credibility, of the opinion and thought printed during those years. Were they honest reflections of the reality, or were they expressed in ways to avoid displeasing the State? By the mid-1930s the orders of the Soviet State to write in the style understandable to the masses –known as Socialist Realism - had infiltrated all layers of the artistic world. Nonetheless, it seems that both, Shostakovich and Kabalevsky, still found the means to express bold and innovative ideas through their music (sadly, not always without repercussions). It would seem likely then, that the musical work itself could be a better source of information, as music speaks most loudly (or rather sings most genuinely) of the deepest feelings, thoughts, and beliefs of a vi composer. Such work could be a direct path into their inner world, bypassing all the politically pressured written analysis and interpretations. A musical work is very subtle, and thus very complicated to analyze as a reference source, but if one learns how to attune themselves to this elusive ‘song’, they would undoubtedly achieve aesthetic intimacy with the music – which is the ultimate goal for any performer or a listener. vii Table of Contents Preface..................................................................................................................................v Table of Contents ............................................................................................................. viii List of Examples ................................................................................................................. ix Chapter I: Background ......................................................................................................... 1 Prelude as a genre. Evolution ........................................................................................... 1 Soviet Union. Musical scene ........................................................................................... 3 Biographical Background ................................................................................................ 5 Kabalevsky ....................................................................................................................... 5 Shostakovich ................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter II: Twenty-Four Preludes .....................................................................................10 Kabalevsky. 24 Preludes Op. 38 .....................................................................................10 Kabalevsky. Conclusion ................................................................................................. 29 Shostakovich. 24 Preludes Op. 34 ................................................................................. 30 Shostakovich. Conclusion ............................................................................................. 56 Chapter III: Conclusion .................................................................................................... 58 Bibliography ...................................................................................................................... 60 viii List of Examples Example 1. Folk song ‘Ay, poduy-ko…’, from “Songs of the Vologda Region” .................. 12 Example 2. Kabalevsky, Prelude no. 1 in C Major, mm. 1-8 .............................................. 13 Example 3. Folk song ‘Ty ryabinushka’ from “Songs of the Vologda Region” .................. 13 Example 4. Kabalevsky, Prelude no. 3 in G Major, mm. 1-8 ............................................. 14 Example 5. Kabalevsky, Prelude no. 3 in G Major, mm 33-36 .......................................... 15 Example 6. Kabalevsky, Prelude no. 3 in G Major, mm. 50-54 ......................................... 15 Example 7. Kabalevsky, Prelude no. 8 in F-sharp minor, mm. 1 - 8 ............................... 16 Example 8. Folk Song “Chto zhe ty, solovi’yushko” from “Songs of the Vologda Region” ............................................................................................................................................ 16 Example 9. Kabalevsky, Prelude no. 8 in F-sharp minor, mm 20-21 ............................... 17 Example 10. Folk song ‘Na ulice dozhdichek’ from “Songs of the Vologda Region” ....... 18 Example 11. Kabalevsky, Prelude no. 9 in E Major, mm. 1-11 .......................................... 18 Example 12. Kabalevsky, Prelude no. 9
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