Yale Journal of Music & Religion

Volume 6 Number 2 Sound and Secularity Article 4

2020

A Requiem for the USSR: From Atheism to Secularity

Oksana Nesterenko State University of New York at Stony Brook

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Recommended Citation Nesterenko, Oksana (2020) "A Requiem for the USSR: From Atheism to Secularity," Yale Journal of Music & Religion: Vol. 6: No. 2, Article 4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17132/2377-231X.1173

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Cover Page Footnote I am grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their generous feedback and to August Sheehy for commenting on the first draft of this article. My thanks to the Jordan Center for granting me access to NYU library and digital database of periodicals, which allowed me to complete research for this project. I also thank Gordon McQuere for drawing my attention to Schnittke’s Requiem and for sharing his memories and documents from his personal archive.

This article is available in Yale Journal of Music & Religion: https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/yjmr/vol6/iss2/4 A Requiem for the USSR From Atheism to Secularity Oksana Nesterenko

Why are we seeking religion today, as if it were a lifeline? Because religion is the establishment of the spiritual and ethical principles, the basis of morality; and morality is the shortest path to the spirit. And there is only one more alternative path of humans to their inner selves – a profound culture, where music is the driving force behind the ascent from human as an animal to human as a spiritual and moral being.1 —Dzhemma Firsova

On November 25, 1988, Requiem (1985– bodies of political prisoners who had been 88) for and by Vyacheslav shot—“once outstanding revolutionaries, Artyomov (b. 1940), set to the text of the the . . . blossom of the [Soviet] army, the Catholic Requiem Mass, was premiered in blossom of the [Soviet] intelligentsia and the Philharmonic’s Tchaikovsky just workers”—were damped in a ravine Concert Hall. The event was held during the in the center of Moscow and covered with “week of consciousness,” announced in the mud; their fate was concealed from both widely read Moscow magazine Ogonek as a their families and the public. He went on part of a broader project of memorialization to say that true art “dares to cure the pain of the victims of Stalinist repression across of the people by means of pain,” suggesting the USSR that also included performances of that Artyomov’s Requiem, dedicated to the canonic Requiems by Verdi and Mozart.2 the victims of Stalinism, was going to do The premiere was advertised in several just that.7 official publications; as a result, one of the When Yevtushenko introduced the largest halls in the Soviet capital was filled Requiem’s canonic text, he declared that an over capacity, with many people standing or appeal to Christian values could help “heal sitting between rows. Even so, not everyone the wounds of the Soviet people.” This could get in.3 As one reporter stated, the hall explicit reference to Christianity, and more was “packed with the victims of repressions specifically to the Catholic liturgy, would and relatives of those who passed away, who have been unthinkable in a public space in came to Moscow from all over the country.”4 the just a few years earlier, According to two accounts, the number of but by 1988 it had become acceptable. As listeners was almost 2,000.5 (The seating will be discussed later, despite state atheism, capacity of Tchaikovsky Hall is 1,505.)6 Western classical sacred music, including Before the music began, acclaimed requiems on canonic texts, had entered the poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko (1932–2017) concert halls of major cities in the USSR introduced Artyomov’s work. He described by the mid-1980s. Yet before this 1988 a stunning (and rather typical) example premiere these works, most commonly of Stalinist crimes: in the mid-1930s the by foreign , were presented as

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 2 (2020) 53 classical masterpieces and the text usually institutions. Since he did not comply with went unmentioned. the demands of socialist realism, very few Yevtushenko further explained that of his compositions were purchased by the Artyomov’s Requiem “is not dedicated to Ministry of Culture throughout his career.12 Orthodox, Catholic, Jewish or Muslim (The ministry included the Purchasing believers in particular, but to all people, Commission, which acquired works and even including atheists, who were made gave permissions for their publication equal by the cruelty of torture and suffering.” and performance in official venues.) The This reference to religion in the framework Requiem’s pertinence for a specific moment of Christian humanism was rather typical of the state’s repentance allowed Artyomov’s in late Soviet discourse, in which the poet music to finally be heard on an official actively participated. He ended the speech concert stage without obstacles, and its by urging Soviet citizens to remember success won coveted recognition for the their difficult past, for “only then [would] among a number of culture critics all religions unite into a single religion,” and wide audiences. the ultimate goal of which was humanity In this article, I explore the reception (chelovechnost’). of Artyomov’s Requiem and, more broadly, Performed by over 200 musicians, the reception of the requiem genre in the Artyomov’s modernist Requiem, featuring late Soviet Union. What can it tell us about long dissonant passages and chromatic the return of religion to public life in the clusters along with mournful melodies, formerly atheist state? Was it the sound, the lasted over an hour. According to multiple sacred genre, or the dedication that attracted accounts, it was greeted with a standing the listeners? ovation, and the audience shouted “Thank While the USSR was officially atheist, you!”8 The premiere received numerous religion was never completely relinquished; reviews in the press, with most commentators moreover, from the 1960s onward it agreeing that it had been a “great success.”9 ignited the interest of many members of the Several reviewers mentioned that the work intelligentsia, and in the 1980s it gradually did not arise from a commission; rather, started penetrating public life. Artyomov and it was driven by Artyomov’s religious many other composers actively participated beliefs, which were officially unacceptable in the late Soviet spiritual . One at the time he started composing.10 Indeed, example of this phenomenon that allows Artyomov was a Christian believer and a us to draw meaningful parallels with proponent of the idea that music was a Artyomov’s Requiem is ’s conduit between God and the world.11 He (1934–1994) Requiem (1974–75), which had already composed a number of spiritual was first performed on May 15, 1982, also works throughout 1970s and 1980s, most in Tchaikovsky Concert Hall. Although this notably his ballet Sola Fide (Faith Alone, concert was neither announced nor reviewed 1984–87). in the press, it was much anticipated by Nevertheless, the choice of Artyomov’s Schnittke’s admirers, who knew it from an piece for a highly politicized cultural unofficially distributed audio tape recording, event was unusual because of his strained and filled the hall close to capacity.13 Both relationships with official musical requiems are based on canonic texts, both

54 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 2 (2020) exhibit polystylistic characteristics, and I will begin by recounting the history of both composers were invested in religion Soviet atheism, which, as a result of the state’s and spirituality and worked in opposition failure to eradicate religion, evolved into a to the Soviet establishment. form of secular modernity. I will then outline The different receptions of the Schnittke the musical culture in which Schnittke and and Artyomov Requiems illustrate the Artyomov lived, before returning to their state’s changing attitude toward religion Requiems in order to reflect on the official as it moved from an atheist policy, where and audience receptions. religion is denounced, to a secular one, where religion is acceptable but not Religion and Spiritual Renaissance officially imposed by the state. Charles in the USSR Taylor defines a secular society as one in The Soviet position on religion, grounded which belief in God is understood to be one in Marxist-Leninist ideology, officially option among others, which corresponds remained unchanged throughout the to the views that Yevtushenko expressed existence of the USSR. According to in his speech.14 The 1988 premiere Karl Marx, religion produced an illusion highlights the role of religion not only as of happiness that was required for the faith or spiritual practice, but as a cultural alleviation of human suffering, while the goal reference that addresses social issues. of communism was to create a harmonious The enthusiastic responses to and just world of real happiness where Artyomov’s Requiem were to a large extent religion would become unnecessary.17 In triggered by the work’s dedication and the reality, the state’s commitment to the social and historical circumstances of its liberation of Soviet society from religion premiere, while the religious references through the official establishment of amplified the emotions of some listeners. atheism underwent a transformation The concert was organized at the height of every time the leadership changed, and Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika reforms. it eventually disappeared over the final His glasnost policy was aimed at increased decades of the USSR’s existence.18 transparency in the discussion of Soviet The implementation of atheism in the history, including cultural and ethnic Soviet Union started with antireligious purges, gulags, religious repressions, and repressions in the 1920s and 1930s. post–World War II injuries and traumas. Religious institutions were destroyed, Glasnost led to a vigorous public debate religious property was nationalized, and about morality and religion.15 Gorbachev clergy and believers were imprisoned suggested that his policy was prompted and murdered; as a result, the religious by a “troubled conscience” and called life of Soviet citizens became confined for a national moral renewal;16 in 1988 to an extremely narrow private sphere. he allowed religion to enter public life. When World War II broke out, however, The memorialization of Stalin’s victims Stalin began to seek a compromise with announced in the dedication of Artyomov’s religious leaders because he believed that Requiem, and the overt religious references the Russian Orthodox Church could help in the piece, created special circumstances foster patriotism. Some churches were for the perception of the music. reopened, although all religious institutions

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 2 (2020) 55 had to obtain official registration and their priests who initiated his Christian beliefs, activities were restricted. as well as his interest in Eastern religions, Yet the compromise between ideological partially triggered by Western rock music, purity (the pursuit of atheism) and effective in his memoir Avtoatkheologia.22 Schnittke, governance (the mobilization of the Nikolay Karetnikov (1930–1994), and masses to fight the enemy and work on the (b. 1931) were influenced reconstruction of the country after the war) by texts or by conversations with the was short-lived. Stalin’s successor, Nikita underground priests Alexander Men (1935– Khrushchev, remobilized the campaign 1990) and Nikolay Vedernikov (1928– against religion by imposing “scientific 2020), who played a key role in shaping the atheism.”19 However, cultural policies Moscow intelligentsia’s engagement with during the so-called Khrushchev Thaw of Christianity.23 Gubaidulina, Karetnikov, 1954–64 were in general more liberal than and other composers were also inspired by under Stalin, and Khrushchev’s openness to the renowned, devoutly religious pianist the West facilitated foreign cultural imports Maria Yudina (1928–1970). that continued after the end of his rule in Although many studies attribute the 1964.20 For many Soviet citizens, this was major role in the late Soviet spiritual an important way to gain access to foreign renaissance to academic and artistic and prerevolutionary literature, including circles, the general population was often religious and philosophical texts. religious as well. In discussing Soviet A number of studies have addressed citizens’ encounters with religion, some the spiritual revival during the final three of these texts create the impression that decades of the Soviet Union, each focusing this experience was widespread, but they on different issues, such as the interaction of do not provide exact statistics. Given the the Moscow intelligentsia with charismatic unofficial nature of religious activities, priests, attraction to religion among each individual had different chances writers and cultural activists, interest in to participate in them. In the following religious and philosophical topics among paragraphs, I briefly map some of the main intellectually curious people of diverse trends within the spiritual renaissance as it professions in Leningrad, and the rise of is discussed in existing scholarship. religiosity among young people, prompted From the late 1950s to the early 1960s, by their encounters with Western rock and the Soviet intelligentsia, especially writers, popular music.21 The majority of authors became interested in diverse religious attribute interest to religion and spirituality traditions and researched their national among these diverse groups to the romantic spiritual roots. They sought out religious allure of a forbidden practice and the desire literature in the form of self-published to engage with culture outside of Soviet (samizdat) translations of religious texts and public life. attended teachings by charismatic priests.24 The major reasons for interest in According to Russian historian Nikolay religion and the initial encounters with Mitrokhin, a significant portion of religious it, discussed by these authors, are evident literature came from abroad, including in composers’ memoirs and interviews. both foreign texts addressing various world Vladimir Martynov (b. 1946) wrote about religions and works by Russian religious

56 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 2 (2020) philosophers who emigrated before were deemed acceptable, while others, such the 1917 Revolution.25 Pianist Alexei as Vladimir Tendryakov’s Apostol’skaya Lyubimov recollected that he received his komandirovka (Apostolic Mission, 1969), first spiritual texts, the teachings of Indian were criticized.29 Andrey Tarkovsky’s Andrey spiritual leader Sri Aurobindo (1872– Rublev (1966), a biopic about the famous 1950), from Karlheinz Stockhausen after icon painter, was renamed from The Passion their meeting in 1968.26 Martynov received According to Andrey and screened for a very his first Bible in the 1960s as a result of a limited audience.30 Still, many paintings foreign business trip by his father.27 with Christian imagery were not exhibited. Mitrokhin suggests that the majority Religion was a forbidden subject at one of of the intelligentsia went through three the first official exhibitions of nonconformist main stages in their spiritual journeys. In art in Izmaylovo Park near Moscow in 1974, the late 1950s and into the 1960s, they which was organized two weeks after the explored religious teachings in all their infamous Bulldozer Exhibition.31 available diversity, while in the 1970s Composers’ beliefs also manifested the majority began to focus on one belief, in works with religious themes, many of most often Orthodox Christianity, but also which were performed in the 1970s and sometimes Catholicism, Judaism, or esoteric 1980s, either because they were renamed, teachings.28 In the 1980s some people or because important performers managed began to share their beliefs more openly, in to negotiate with concert venues, or part because the official ideological grip was because of fleeting or negligent oversight loosening. This general tendency—from by the censors.32 For example, Alemdar exploration of a diverse range of religious Karamanov’s (1934–2007) symphonic and spiritual thought to the eventual choice cycle Byst’ (It Is Done, 1980), inspired of one belief—is evident in the biographies by apocalyptic images from the Book of of both Schnittke and Artyomov, as well as Revelation, was retitled The Poem of Victory those of other composers and musicians. for performance in Moscow in 1982 and The intelligentsia’s spiritual explora- publication by Sovetskiy Kompozitor tions became the basis for literary, artistic, in 1985.33 The titles of Gubaidulina’s film, and musical works addressing religious Offertorium (1980) and Seven Words (1982) topics, all of which were subject to censorship. were replaced in concert programs by Violin Yet the complexity of censorship procedures and Sonata, respectively.34 (Seven during the late Soviet period, when many Words appeared as Partita in the published decisions were made according to individual score.) Arvo Pärt’s Missa Syllabica was interpretations of official rules, sometimes renamed Test, while ’s allowed for limited screening or publication Dona nobis pacem, Dies irae, and Benedictus of works on religious topics. In literature, qui venit (1970–75) were performed and religious themes in the short stories have published without their titles.35 been much studied. Some novels, such During the Brezhnev era (1964– as Vera Panova’s Skazanie o Feodosii (The 1985), state-funded sociological studies Legend of Feodosia, 1967) and Vladimir revealed the sustained interest of Soviet Soloukhin’s Pis’ma iz Russkogo muzeya citizens in religion and subsequently led (Letters from the Russian Museum, 1967), the government to redefine religion as

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 2 (2020) 57 a spiritual rather than an ideological paper without an acceptable explanation problem: the socialist way of life needed could be considered religious propaganda to be filled with meaning.36 These (a criminal offence). findings substantially changed the tone In sum, from the late 1960s the USSR of antireligious statements in the official officially still maintained its atheist press, as Soviet ideologues embarked on position, but in reality some Soviet citizens inventing “humanist atheism,” which could practice religion privately. To some would shift the critical spirit of scientific extent, then, late socialism was similar to atheism to positive terms. As a form other forms of secular modernity, in which of humanism, atheism had to address religious institutions were separated happiness, suffering, and the meaning from the state and public displays of of life and death without an “appeal to religion were unwelcome. One crucial otherworldly powers.”37 distinction was that the denial of God or The 1977 constitution of the USSR supernatural powers, vigorously imposed proclaimed “freedom of conscience” and by the Soviet state, was not associated the separation of church and state. It with individual freedom or liberal further stated that “everyone [was] equal values. Soviet citizens linked atheism to irrespective of attitude to religion.”38 Yet communism—an ideology that did not it still asserted that the “Communist promote individual freedom and that by Party should give guidance on all creative the end of the 1960s had already proved endeavors . . . on a planned, scientific itself inefficient and outdated.42 By the basis.”39 Thus, even as Soviet citizens were 1970s, even scientific developments and ostensibly allowed to pursue religious space conquest were no longer as novel beliefs in private, many of them, especially as before, and indifference to ideological university students, were obliged to questions was growing, especially among attend mandatory lectures on scientific young people.43 Religion, on the contrary, atheism and sometimes to speak publicly seemed liberating for many. on topics that contradicted their beliefs.40 A crucial turning point in Soviet Moreover, the compulsory registration of atheism occurred in April 1988, when religious institutions was not relinquished. the general secretary of the Soviet As Martynov recollects, since all major Communist Party, Mikhail Gorbachev, churches were officially sanctioned, some officially met with the Synod of Bishops priests could report on their attendees to of the Russian Orthodox Church. At this their employers.41 Overall, it remained meeting, Gorbachev called on the church impossible to maintain any public or to play a role in the moral regeneration academic position and simultaneously of Soviet society, “where universal norms reveal or openly espouse religious beliefs. and customs can help our common cause,” Artists or composers who retreated from marking the return of religion to public state ideology to privately study religious life.44 This acceptance of religion at the texts or to worship could not refer to highest official level had a direct impact religious topics in their works unless they on the performance of sacred music, could find a way to represent them as including the premiere of Artyomov’s secular. Any reference to religious topics on Requiem.

58 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 2 (2020) Sacred Music in an Atheist Soundscape developed personal styles that were often By the 1960s, many Soviet citizens were influenced by exploration of religious and tired not only of communist ideology, spiritual beliefs.47 As discussed above, the but also of the music that represented phenomenon of religious revival was it. Since the 1930s, the only officially common among members of the creative acceptable style in music (and other arts) intelligentsia, including composers. It in the USSR had been socialist realism– was largely triggered by the search for upbeat, broadly accessible in terms of an alternative to—and escape from— harmonic and melodic language, free from communist ideology. As Lyubimov stated, abstraction or ambiguity, with the primary “At the end of the 1970s and 1980s the flavor goal of idealizing everyday Soviet life. The of life forced everyone to go to church.”48 Communist Party’s Central Committee and The majority of unofficial composers in the Ministry of Culture were the state’s the USSR who turned to Christian themes primary censorship institutions; they used musical forms from the tradition of enforced the dominance of socialist realism Western classical sacred music, such as the in music and handed down orders to the Catholic mass and requiem. Table 1 on the Union of Soviet Composers and various following page lists the most significant concert organizations.45 Composers could works in this category.49 not earn a living by writing music if it was The major reason why primarily Russian not approved by these institutions. Orthodox composers referred to Catholic During the decade of the Khrushchev tradition to incorporate their beliefs was Thaw, as restrictions on international inspiration from Western classical sacred cultural exchange became more relaxed, music. Sacred works by Bach, Palestrina, some composers gained access to scores Lasso, and Schütz had been presented and recordings of new music from the as secular masterpieces and remained an West. They privately studied the techniques acceptable, although limited, repertoire of the European postwar avant garde, despite state atheism, even in the wake of including serialism, indeterminacy, collage, the antireligious propaganda of the 1930s.50 and electronic sound production, and As the Khrushchev Thaw brought some incorporated them in their compositions. relaxation of control over artistic expression, This music was not allowed to be performed Western groups began making regular visits in official venues, but many listeners who to the Soviet Union and brought with them made their way to unofficial performances a wealth of European sacred music from the in small venues found it fresh and highly last half-millennium.51 appealing.46 Both Schnittke and Artyomov In the 1970s and 1980s, Western belonged to the group of unofficial classical sacred music continued to be composers who did not want to confine performed in Soviet concert halls, sometimes their musical style to socialist realism. “rebranded” as secular, sometimes with The early 1970s were a pivotal moment extensive antireligious commentary, and in the music of unofficial composers in sometimes without any texts or program the USSR. Having satisfied their curiosity notes. Rossini’s Petite messe solonnelle (Little about the novel techniques of the Western Solemn Mass, 1863) and Verdi’s Messa European avant garde, many of them da Requiem (1874) were performed in

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 2 (2020) 59 Composer and work Date of Year and details of first composition performance Alexander Lokshin (1920–1987), Symphony No. 1, 1957 1987, Moscow, without Latin Requiem text Alemdar Karamanov, Requiem 1971 After 1991 Alemdar Karamanov, Mass 1972 After 1991 Galina Ustvolskaya, Three Compositions: Donna 1971–75 1977, Leningrad nobis pacem, Dies irae, and Benedictus qui venit Alfred Schnittke, Requiem 1975 1982, Moscow Arvo Pärt, Missa syllabica 1977 1977, Riga Sofia Gubaidulina, Introitus 1978 1978, Moscow, without the title Alfred Schnittke, Symphony No. 2, St. Florian 1979 1980, London , Requiem 1980 1981, Hamburg Sofia Gubaidulina, Offertorium 1982 1982, Moscow, without the title Aleksander Knaifel, Agnus Dei 1985 1987, Leningrad , Requiem 1985–88 1988, Moscow Table 1. Catholic Mass and Requiem Works in the USSR.

Moscow in the 1980s on a regular basis and were normally not discussed in conservatory presented by official music critics as “operatic” courses. Volkonsky found the scores of masterpieces.52 In a program note to a 1969 Schütz and Palestrina in libraries in Moscow performance of the St. Matthew Passion in and Leningrad, although in other cities they Tallinn, Bach’s masterpiece was presented were not so easily available.57 In the 1970s as a work with an “antichurch character” Artyomov, Martynov, and Gubaidulina that “breaks an obsolete structure of church formed an early music study group and ritual.”53 Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, when regularly met at Martynov’s apartment performed in Tallinn in December 1970, was to sight-read “a few masses of Palestrina, described in a program note as “pertinent Orlando di Lasso or other Dutch composers, in terms of ideological purpose” because it and, of course, . . . [’s] Choralis addressed “the idea of the brotherhood of Constantinus.” 58 In 1975, Artyomov, then an humanity and life, so typical of Beethoven.”54 editor at the Muzyka publishing house, and From 1966 to 1973, Andrey Volkonsky’s Martynov coedited five volumes of medieval early music ensemble Madrigal performed and Renaissance music, including sacred European sacred music frequently in small works by Machaut, Dunstable, Du Fay, Isaac, venues in Moscow.55 As pianist Boris and . Berman recalled, “the authorities got used to all kinds of Requiems, Sanctuses and all Alfred Schnittke’s Requiem (1974–75) that,” but sacred music by Soviet composers Starting in the 1970s, Schnittke explored would suggest their own religiosity and thus various spiritual and philosophical systems. was not deemed acceptable.56 He studied and practiced yoga, read texts Scores and recordings of sacred music on Kabbala and I-Ching, and attended were also available, although such works meetings of the anthroposophical society in

60 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 2 (2020) .59 Yet he found all of these systems died in 1972. He first conceived of one of the too esoteric and eventually decided to movements as a small instrumental requiem, convert to a traditional religion that would but, having made sketches for all the major provide the order and structure he craved themes, decided they were more vocal than in his spiritual life. In 1983, he became a instrumental in character. He therefore Roman Catholic.60 set them aside to use in another work, Schnittke had explored Western avant- which became his Requiem. The years of garde techniques while studying at the composition coincided with the composer’s , from 1953 to 1961, voracious study of diverse spiritualities, as and subsequently composed a number of well as with his work on other sacred pieces, works using the serial method.61 Starting such as the Hymns. with his polystylistic Symphony No. 1 Schnittke considered his Requiem to be (1969–74), he combined a wide variety of both a spiritual and a secular work; the form styles, old and new, serious and entertaining, he chose—that of the Catholic Requiem from jazz to serialism to , including Mass—was inspired by Mozart’s Requiem quotations from his own film scores. (1791). Schnittke’s Requiem consists of From the mid-1970s through the 1980s, fourteen movements and deviates slightly Schnittke used sacred concepts as a structural from the canonical Latin text. He altered principle of composition in many of his the traditional form in order to increase works. These symbolic references were often the dramatic effect, replacing the final inaudible or not disclosed to listeners, as in movement, “Lux aeterna,” with a reprise his Second Violin Concerto (1966), which of the opening “Requiem” and adding an was based on Christ’s Passion. expressive “Credo,” which is not a part of In his four Hymns for cello solo and the traditional requiem mass. small instrumental ensembles (1974–79), I. Requiem Schnittke used Russian Orthodox chant melodies: in the first one, the original Old II. Kyrie Russian chant Svyaty Bozhe (Holy God); in III. Dies irae the third, his own stylized chant, composed IV. Tuba mirum earlier for the film Day Stars.62 The Hymns V. Rex tremendae were premiered at a meeting of the Moscow VI. Recordare branch of the Composers’ Union in May VII. Lacrymosa 1979, with the audience mainly consisting of composers and musicologists.63 Schnittke’s VIII. Domine Jesu Symphony No. 2, St. Florian (1979) for IX. Hostias orchestra and choir, premiered in London in X. Sanctus 1980, is in six movements structured after XI. Benedictus the Ordinary of the Catholic Mass, with the XII. Agnus Dei text in Latin. XIII. Credo The idea of writing a requiem came XIV. Requiem to Schnittke when he was composing his Quintet (1972–76) dedicated to the The Requiem is written largely in a memory of his mother, Maria Vogel, who tonal idiom, but Schnittke noted that the

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 2 (2020) 61 repetition of elements in some passages One thing that distinguishes Schnittke’s neutralizes their sense of harmonic Requiem from the spiritual works of these direction.64 He used contemporary in- composers is that he does not completely strumentation (trumpet, trombone, organ, give up his polystylism. The dramatic piano, celesta, bass guitar, electric guitar, movements in the piece prepare listeners percussion) and a wide range of styles to experience the lucidity of the calm characteristic of his polystylistic works. movements with even greater intensity. The first movement, “Requiem,” begins The most vivid example is “Credo,” which with the sound of bells and a quiet soprano stands as the climactic movement of the voice singing a simple melody resembling piece. Starting in a low register with bass Gregorian chant that ascends stepwise. As voice, trombone and chromatic clusters more voices and instruments gradually on the piano underscored with bass guitar, enter, the music becomes increasingly it breaks into a sudden outburst of rock poignant without losing its sense of beats and further develops into what restraint and calmness, even with the entry could be a climactic point of a rock .67 of the guitars. After reaching a climax, the After “Credo,” the repeat of the “Requiem” movement calms down as seamlessly as it movement comes as a revelation, with even developed. The impression it leaves is that greater transparency and serenity. of a ghost from the distant past visiting When Schnittke composed his Requiem, the contemporary world—or maybe a he could not present it as an independent contemporary ghost visiting the distant piece. Even though the score of Mozart’s past? A listener is not sure. Requiem was available in the Moscow The work includes two more movements Conservatory library, Schnittke’s work in the in a similar style, with a transparent texture same genre would have been treated as an and simple, sorrowful melodies sung in active involvement with religious tradition a restrained manner: “Lacrymosa” and or as a suggestion of his own religiosity. “Sanctus.” All the other movements are more When Schnittke was commissioned to dramatic. Altogether, this creates a structure compose incidental music for Friedrich in which calm movements (I, VII, X, and XIV, Schiller’s play Don Carlos (1787), to be the last an exact repeat of I) alternate with staged at the Mossovet Theater, he proposed dramatic movements; in fact, the latter seem a requiem with the text in Latin. This idea to exist merely to highlight the calmness was accepted by the director, Yuri Zavadsky. of the serene movements. Schnittke’s long, The commission from the state theater not diatonic, and memorable original melodies only prompted Schnittke to complete the create an “experience of unearthly beauty” piece, but also allowed him to make a high- and are characteristic of spiritual music quality recording with the prominent choral composed in the 1970s both in the USSR conductor Tõnu Kaljuste, in Tallinn in and abroad.65 Musicologist Valentina February 1976. According to records of the Kholopova characterized Schnittke’s Mossovet repertoire, the play was staged in music of this period as illustrating a “new December 1976.68 It was so successful that simplicity”—a term that has also been used it was televised in 1980.69 to describe the music of Arvo Pärt, Henryk The complete recording of the Requiem Mikołaj Górecki, and others.66 as an independent piece, made in Tallinn,

62 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 2 (2020) acquired a life of its own. The audio tape on nonconformist composers, and the was shared unofficially, mainly among official critic Igor Korev. Savenko described the underground intelligentsia, a circle the piece in the following way: of Schnittke’s friends and acquaintances. The earthly, human character of Kholopova and musicologist Yevgeniya [Schnittke’s] Requiem is underscored Chigareva describe the reception in by lively dramatic character and bright unofficial circles and the listeners’ longing theatrical contrasts. This is a musical- for spiritual music. Chigareva recalls that philosophical meditation on the meaning people cried while listening to the piece: of life, faith in life and tragic parting from it, a meditation grounded in a I remember the shock which I and form, made venerable by the ages. Such [musicologist] Victor Bobrovsky an approach to this genre, which lost its experienced when we heard Schnittke’s liturgical meaning a long time ago, is Requiem in his apartment. Having made deeply traditional.73 a copy of his tape, we shared it with many different people—friends, acquaintances, Savenko was aware of the work’s genesis listeners (mostly nonmusicians—artists and presented it as secular, in line with and philologists). The impression was the composer’s ideas.74 Notably, while she immense.70 did not mention the religious origin of the Kholopova also recalled the great excitement genre, the editors still decided that it was the recording caused among musicians, necessary to deny any connections to the musicologists, and curious listeners in sacred. Korev wrote: Moscow, who “kept asking [Schnittke] I am quite convinced that the Requiem to let them listen to his work” and, after and Second Symphony, St. Florian Mass,75 hearing it, telephoned each other saying completed in the 1970s, are by no means sacred works; their motives are humanistic that “Schnittke composed an incredible rather than religious. . . . One could add: 71 Requiem, like Mozart!” She describes the reinstatement of truth and human highly emotional responses from listeners, feelings in these works is combined with caused by what she calls the “sacredness” the reinstatement of eternal life, peace (sviatost’) of the music: on earth, emotional enlightenment in human souls. Therefore, these works are I brought a group of teachers to currently relevant (by the way, they are [Schnittke’s] home and they were so quite successful with audiences).76 impressed with this music that they couldn’t catch their breath after the In this statement Korev clearly demon- meeting, discussing how they cried while strates the official position on religion in listening to the music. . . . The sacredness the early 1980s—the implementation of and sorrow of this music took people by what Smolkin called “humanist atheism,” 72 surprise. with the emphasis on truth, humanity, In 1981, the Requiem was mentioned in and peace. An appeal to eternal values was the official journal Sovetskaia muzyka in the ideologically acceptable, but religion could context of a profile of Schnittke that included only be discussed as a superstitious relic a discussion of his major works. The profile of the past and references to it had to be consisted of statements by musicologist vindicated by some connection to reality.77 Svetlana Savenko, whose research focused The spiritual qualities of religion, such as

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 2 (2020) 63 devotion and transcendence that created eighteenth- and nineteenth-century works “an illusion of happiness” and therefore by canonic composers, with their movement contradicted the state ideology, were titles also in Latin, Schnittke’s Requiem deemed unacceptable: looked like a twentieth-century piece in the Let us ask, however: why should same category–Western classical (secular) one dress eternal humanistic ideas masterpieces. There were no program notes in medieval clothes? How does this or presentation to explain the history or so-called holy neoclassicism benefit meaning of these works. our master? Illusion of all humanity? By the 1980s, restrictions on musical Illusion of transcending time? But all repertoire, in terms of both style and of this is only an illusion. Yet the reality content, in the USSR were gradually lies in something else—it is an active and 81 politically relevant ideological battle!78 disappearing. Yet the music of unofficial composers like Schnittke, as well as works Korev’s rhetoric here speaks to careful with religious themes, could be performed readers of official Soviet journals more in official halls only at the initiative of than the actual meaning of his words. His acclaimed performers. The performance use of the word “illusion,” coupled with of the Requiem was made possible because “political[ly]” and “ideological,” reveals his of Polyansky’s status and his desire to obligation to pepper his text with Marxist champion Schnittke’s works.82 Similarly, language. The presentation of the profile the performance of Gubaidulina’s gives the impression that an official critic Offertorium, on April 15, 1982, in the had to shout louder than a sympathetic large hall of the Moscow Conservatory, one: Korev had to drown Savenko’s words took place at the initiative of the acclaimed in noise. Her article is printed in standard- conductor , with size font, Korev’s in a larger one. She writes the title removed from the program.83 about several works, devoting about half Neither of these performances was widely a page to the Requiem; he focuses on the advertised or reviewed in major music Requiem and the Second Symphony and publications, which demonstrates that goes on for two pages. Her statements are cultural institutions and publishers were unambiguous, his are contradictory. In still avoiding documentary evidence of order to publish such an innocuous profile, public concerts of music with religious the editor had to put on a show, which, as themes by Soviet composers. Nevertheless, Savenko later explained, no savvy readers Tchaikovsky Hall was full for the took seriously.79 performance of Schnittke’s Requiem On May 15, 1982, Schnittke’s Requiem because of his popularity in the music was performed in Tchaikovsky Hall by community and among the intelligentsia.84 the Moscow Philharmonic and the State Both eyewitnesses I was able to find Chamber Choir, conducted by Valeriy had strong positive impressions and Polyansky.80 After Vivaldi’s Gloria and characterized the concert as successful, sacred motets by Bruckner, the concert mainly because of the quality of the music.85 program listed “Requiem, incidental In 1975 Schnittke’s Requiem could music for Schiller’s play Don Carlos,” with not be performed at all or discussed in the movement titles in Latin. After the the press. In the early 1980s, however,

64 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 2 (2020) the composer’s popularity among music- to formal restrictions on the performance ologists, performers, and audiences and publication of his music.87 enabled him to break through the Artyomov’s major works from the mid- censorship machine despite his religiosity 1970s continued to focus on timbre and and the sacred genre of the work. To some orchestration and began to engage spiritual extent, this supports Smolkin’s claims that themes. His pivotal composition Symphony in the 1980s Soviet ideologues were forced of Elegies (1977), for two solo violins, string to compromise the ideological purity of orchestra, and percussion, is an immersive atheism because they could no longer fight meditation and includes an epigraph by Zen against the public’s interest in religion. Buddhist master D. T. Suzuki: “these are the moments of our inner life awakening and Vyacheslav Artyomov’s Requiem coming into contact with eternity.”88 (1985–88) Artyomov was also inspired by the Having started his career at the Moscow Symbolism of the Russian Silver Age and Conservatory during the Khrushchev . In the 1980s he started Thaw, Artyomov was exposed to the music writing symphonic works in the spirit of of the Western European postwar avant late Romanticism. Among them, The Way to garde. Unlike Schnittke, however, he was Olympus (1978–84) is based on the idea of not interested in serialism. Artyomov’s ascending from a primary static state toward early compositions were inspired by the final moment of lucidity embodied in Polish avant-garde composers Krzysztof a “chord of unity,” which is reminiscent of Penderecki and Witold Lutosławski, who Scriabin’s Poem of Ecstasy (1908). Other developed “sonorism”—a compositional notable works of this period relate to idiom that involved an emphasis on the Christian themes, including Tristia (1983) timbre and quality of sound through the for trumpet, piano, vibraphone, organ, and nontraditional use of conventional and strings; Laments (1985) for choir; and electroacoustic instruments and through Gurian Hymn (1986) for percussion and stark sonic contrasts. Artyomov collected strings. Although biographers describe rare folk instruments from Turkmenia, Artyomov as a Russian Orthodox believer Georgia, and Armenia and, together with since the 1980s, his faith was rooted in Gubaidulina and Victor Suslin (1942– early twentieth-century Russian religious 2012), created an informal group called philosophers, mainly Nicholas Berdyaev Astreya that explored timbral qualities (1874–1948), and his statements about his during improvisation sessions. beliefs were ecumenical.89 As mentioned earlier, since Artyomov The idea of writing a requiem came did not work in the socialist realist idiom, to Artyomov when he was composing the his music was rarely purchased by the ballet Sola Fide (1984–87), loosely based Ministry of Culture; yet his works were on the novelistic trilogy Khozhdenie po performed abroad and in unofficial mukam (The Road to Calvary, 1918–41) venues.86 In 1979 he was blacklisted by by Aleksey Tolstoy. Tolstoy’s characters Composers’ Union Chairman Tikhon are mainly aristocrats whose lives were Khrennikov for his unapproved partici- significantly altered by the Russian pation in festivals in the West, which led Revolution of 1917. Although the novel was

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 2 (2020) 65 realistic and was even awarded the Stalin Prize, Artyomov focused on the spiritual I. Introitus. Requiem aeternam struggles of the main characters and their II. Kyrie et Sequentia “path to Golgotha.” The ballet included a Kyrie eleison requiem, in which Artyomov wanted to Dies irae, part 1 show the suffering of the Russian people. Dies irae, part 2 In 1996, he told the German musicologist Tuba mirum Michael John that when he had considered Recordare, Jesu pie this subject in 1984, it would have been impossible to perform a requiem, so he Confutatis maledictis chose to integrate parts of a requiem into Lacrymosa dies illa the ballet.90 (The ballet was performed III. Offertorium because Tolstoy’s name allowed it to pass Domine Jesu Christe 91 censorial obstacles.) Hostias et preces When he started composing the IV. Sanctus Requiem in 1985, Artyomov initially dedicated the score to “the martyrs of long- Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth suffering ” and did not anticipate Benedictus that a work in this genre and with this V. Agnus Dei dedication could be performed in an official VI. Libera me 92 concert hall. (He was probably aware of Libera me the performance of Schnittke’s Requiem, Requiem aeternam but thought of it as an exception.) When VII. In paradisum the piece was completed, the Soviet Culture Foundation provided necessary support for The first movement, “Requiem aeternam,” the organization of its premiere because it begins with four loud, dissonant chords, appeared to be a pertinent way to honor the highlighted by brass and organ. The choir memory of the victims of Stalinism.93 The enters and slowly moves in a dissonant dedication was therefore adjusted to “the progression that never resolves, resembling victims of Stalinism” specifically for the the micropolyphony of Ligeti’s Requiem. premiere.94 However, twelve years later A mournful soprano in a high register Artyomov told John that a canonic requiem occasionally emerges, as if a lost soul. These could not represent social circumstances long dissonant stretches of choral sound, or history and that he finished composing which collapse at the end with a strike of the his Requiem because “there was a social tam-tam, create an impression of dark, thick occasion to compose it, hence the dedication, air in the underworld. but it was only an occasion.”95 The majority of the Requiem’s Artyomov’s Requiem is scored for movements can be interpreted as different six soloists, two , organ, and large ways of representing suffering, most orchestra. He departed from the canonic text prominently, the first of the two “Dies of the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass by irae” movements. Dotted rhythm and adding the final movement, “In paradisum,” major sevenths in the large brass section; an antiphon specified for a burial service. polyrhythm in the percussion section;

66 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 2 (2020) screaming, recurring glissandi in the harmony, it generates the impression of violins; unexpected dynamic changes; a bright vision of heavenly bliss. The soft organ clusters–all of these elements sounds of bells in counterpoint with short create a feeling of complete disorientation. motives on the flutes resembling singing The first “Dies irae” can easily be birds are symbolic of paradise. Tarakanov associated with both physical torture and described “In paradisum” as sounding like psychological trauma. “a cosmic symphony of the singing heavens, Relief comes in the second “Dies irae,” turning into a symbol of eternal harmony which begins with a mournful chorale sung and supreme accord.”97 The movement is by male and female soloists, highlighted the longest in the piece and lasts for about by the soft sounds of gongs that create an twelve minutes. eerie feeling. Diatonic upward melodies, As Maria Cizmic has shown in her played softly on the violins, enter only discussion of the reception of Górecki’s briefly, as if showing that hope is fragile Third Symphony (1976), live concerts and illusory. As Artyomov explained, the devoted to causes and remembrances, second “Dies irae” “reflects the inner state program notes, and recording liner notes of people, their fears, their anticipation of can shape a listener’s emotional perception the Last Judgment.” 96 He added it in order by juxtaposing particular works with social, to create a dramatic effect—otherwise, there historical, and even fictional events.98 would be two heavy, difficult movements Artyomov’s Requiem was presented during following one another (since the “Tuba the “week of consciousness,” when both mirum” traditionally has to be expressive). liberation of religion and rehabilitation The two “Dies irae” movements encapsulate of history were central to social discourse. the development of the entire composition, As Kholopova wrote shortly after the and Artyomov’s Requiem can be seen as a premiere, “the tragic events of [Soviet] work built on contrasts, just as Schnittke’s history and chilling facts of Stalinist crimes is. Yet the emotional extremes are much could not leave anyone indifferent,” and stronger than in Schnittke’s Requiem, therefore concerts dedicated to victims of reflecting Artyomov’s Romantic orientation Stalinist repressions, organized across the and echoing the extreme emotions in the USSR, “left the deepest responses among spiritual music of Galina Ustvolskaya. the audiences.”99 The intensity of emotions, large The dedication, Yevtushenko’s speech, a orchestra, and sheer length of Artyomov’s number of previews in the press, and Yulia Requiem clearly differentiate it from Yevdokimova’s program notes all triggered those of Schnittke, Ligeti, and Mozart. listeners’ desire to establish a link between The calmer movements project pain and specific moments in the music and the ideas uncertainty, just as the dramatic ones do, of suffering and trauma, and, in some cases, with a stronger passion than the majority of their own lives. One reporter suggested well-known works in this genre. Therefore, that the first impression of the listeners the final movement, “In paradisum,” creates was “connected to their living sensation of a sharp contrast to the rest of the piece. tortures and torments that [were] reflected in With its consonant diatonic melodies on the music,” and that allusions to those years the violins, transparent texture, and tonal of suffering were “very vivid and perhaps

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 2 (2020) 67 quite obvious to those who lived through they introduce a new, particular artistic 100 them.” Yevdokimova also asserted that the meaning—now it’s a half-real echo, now audience, “among whom were many victims an alarm bell; now it’s a knell, now a of the repression, could not hide their tears reminiscence.105 101 of delight and compassion.” According Tarakanov went further to relate this brief to Kholopova, one listener who had spent stylization to the “Russian idea,” as expressed many years in Stalinist camps said: in the writings of the philosophers Nicholas This work is a real monument to the Berdyaev, Vladimir Solovyov, and Nikolay tragedy of the people and human destiny, Fyodorov, who were influential among ruined by Stalinism. Every nerve in me the Russian intelligentsia. He stated that trembles from this music. I see my entire Artyomov’s work is “a fruit of eschatological life in it. Artyomov raised us, victims, living and dead, to a great moral height. consciousness . . . which leads to the 106 He mourned all of us and at the same spiritual renewal of humanity.” As Cizmic time elevated us.102 has shown, references to Polish music and literary texts in Górecki’s Third Symphony The perception of this particular listener also resonated with listeners’ personal supports Yevtushenko’s suggestion that connections to the work and “a prevalent Artyomov’s Requiem had healing power. interpretation of ’s national suffering As Cizmic discussed, the actual healing in messianic terms.”107 capacity of the work is hard to measure, Many reviewers commented on but the idea that music’s therapeutic nature the emotional qualities of Artyomov’s arises from its metaphoric and affective Requiem. Kholopova stated that the qualities is valid.103 Music therapists indeed work was “balanced between falling into suggest that some of music’s powerful affect the total darkness of tragedy and flights arises when people listen for emotional into the mountain heights of suffering.” and psychological experiences that have She suggested that “these emotional analogies in their own lives.104 extremes were akin to what people feel The specific references to Russian during ordeals,” and that therefore the tradition, albeit brief, helped listeners music reflected Artyomov’s dedication.108 perceive the Requiem’s relationship to Firsova further stated that the music’s their personal suffering. These included emotional power appealed to the “highest a stylization of Russian Orthodox liturgy potential—the spirit.”109 For her, the in the “Domine Jesu Christe” and the use Requiem “accumulated energetically and of bells throughout the entire work. The emotionally . . . the entire challenging path program note by Yevdokimova reinforced of enlightenment,” and she experienced this connection: “almost physical suffering from everything One of those symbols, the Russian prayer that was revealed from the black recesses of for the repose of the dead in “Domine the past” while listening.110 Jesu,” is that “specific” marker of the time and place of events. Ringing bells are Firsova observed that the emotional imbued with symbolism; in almost every power and sacred symbolism of the movement they appeal to the historical Requiem led her to catharsis and prompted memory of the listener, and every time her to think about “life and death, good and

68 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 2 (2020) evil, free will and responsibility.”111 Olga audience members seemed to be attracted Martynenko also developed the theme of by the dedication and the atmosphere humanity and morality in her review of the of the event and otherwise would not premiere: have attended a concert of contemporary Without faith, everything is permitted, music, but they definitely enjoyed the as Dostoyevsky claimed. Looking at experience.114 In his introductory remarks, Artyomov’s art from this standpoint, Yevtushenko announced that the audience we can see two poles: the tragic world was about to hear the voices of martyrs with its passions on one hand, and the “coming out of the ground” in the choir.115 indelible hope for moral revival on the It is not surprising, then, that so many other, the hope that inspired his Requiem commentators focused on the literal and echoes in the heart of every listener.112 depiction of suffering. Martynenko, Firsova, Tarakanov, and other There is no doubt that the concert reviewers echoed Mikhail Gorbachev’s received so much attention in the press, at statements that Christian values could least in part, because it was presented as help the USSR achieve moral regeneration, a politically relevant event. The political pointing to the idea that faith can fill life elites—in this case the management of with meaning—the kind of meaning that the Soviet Culture Foundation, including communist ideology had failed to produce. Gorbachev’s wife, Raisa Gorbacheva, and The ability to return to ancient sacred prominent intellectual Dmitry Likhachyov— tradition in the music of national, rather decided that Artyomov’s Requiem was than exclusively foreign, composers was exactly the kind of work that could represent applauded across the USSR. Artyomov their goals, and took the event under their recognized that he was not the only one to patronage.116 As can be observed from engage this genre and saw his work as a part the reception of requiem works on the of an important trend: previously taboo themes of Soviet repression Look at this season’s concerts: Masses, and trauma, the mere relevance of the Requiems, Passions. . . . The full houses topic was not enough to generate so many attest to a strong public desire for moral reviews in the press. Two counterexamples purification and repentance through may serve to illustrate my point. Boris suffering. We have excluded tragedy Tishchenko’s Requiem (1966), set to the from our life for too long and indulged eponymous poem by Anna Akhmatova, ourselves with fairy tales. We were afraid to search our souls, reluctant to consider described the grim details of the Stalinist compassion and mercy, unwilling to terror and included references to sacred cry. The fact that we are now turning music. This composition directly related to to tragedy in the arts suggests that a the discussion of Soviet repression and was certain change is taking place in public premiered in June 1989 in the Great Hall consciousness. We have begun to reflect of the Leningrad State Philharmonic.117 on our life and our past without fear.” 113 ’s Agnus Dei (1985), Nevertheless, the presentation of premiered in November 1987 in the Artyomov’s Requiem played an important Small Hall of the Leningrad Philharmonic, role in shaping the effect the music had included excerpts from the Catholic Mass on listeners. As Savenko suggested, some and from the diary of a girl who died of

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 2 (2020) 69 starvation during the siege of Leningrad.118 tradition, such as Schnittke’s Requiem. Both works directly addressed glasnost Yet, when the political situation changed, concerns, but did not receive as much press they embraced Artyomov’s Requiem and coverage as Artyomov’s Requiem, although immediately used it to serve a new political attendance at both concerts was high. (Of agenda: the rehabilitation of history and course, the location of these performances the return of religion. Both Schnittke’s in Leningrad rather than Moscow also Requiem, which showed Soviet society’s played an important role; the aesthetic longing for intimate sacred experiences, and qualities of these works were not inferior to Artyomov’s, which marked the embrace of Artyomov’s.) religion in public places, are symbolic of the Until the very end of the Brezhnev era, path toward the end of an atheist state—a state functionaries resisted Soviet citizens’ requiem for the USSR. exposure to works inspired by the sacred

NOTES

1 Dzhemma Firsova, “Vozvyshennoe i zemnoe,” Maddaloni, “Requiem for the Victims of Stalin’s Ogonek 33 (August 1990): 16. Terror,” 25. 2 Valentina Kholopova, “Pamiati zhertv 9 Kholopova, “Pamiati zhertv stalinizma,” 8; stalinizma: o Rekvieme V. Artyomova,” Muzykal’naia Firsova, “Vozvyshennoe i zemnoe,” 14. See the list of zhizn’ 7 (1989): 8; Olga Martynenko, “Composer reviews in Michael John, Auf dem Wege zu einer neuen Vyacheslav Artyomov: The Hard Way to Mount Geistigkeit?: Requiem-Vertonungen in der Sowjetunion Olympus,” Moscow News Weekly 5 (Feb. 5, 1989): 16. (1963–1988) (Berlin: Kuhn, 1996), 177–80. 3 N. Sakharova, “Iz kontsertnykh zalov 10 Kholopova, “Pamiati zhertv stalinizma,” 8; Moskovskoy filarmonii,”Teatral’no-koncertnaia Yevdokimova, “Vyacheslav Artyomov – Requiem.” Moskva 36 (Nov. 23, 1988); Svetlana Savenko, 11 Mikhail Tarakanov, Vyacheslav Artemov: “Rekviem s ‘khoroshim kontsom’?,” Sovetskaia muzyka Ocherk tvorchestva (Moscow: Fond Dukhovnogo 5 (1989): 25. Tvorchestva, 1994), 8. 4 Vincenzo Maddaloni, “Requiem for the 12 Firsova, “Vozvyshennoe i zemnoe,” 15; Victims of Stalin’s Terror,” Famiglia Cristiana 51 Kholopova, “Pamiati zhertv stalinizma,” 8; Mikhail (December 1988): 64, repr. in Artyomov, Requiem: Tarakanov, “Vyacheslav Artyomov: In Search Points of Departure (Moscow: Fond Dukhovnogo of Artistic Truth,” Underground Music from the Tvorchestva, 1997), 26. Former USSR, ed. Valeria Tsenova, trans. Romela 5 Ibid.; Yulia Yevdokimova, “Vyacheslav Kohanovskaya (Amsterdam: Harwood Academic, Artyomov—Requiem,” Govorit i pokazyvaet Moskva 4 1997), 144–45. (Jan. 19, 1989). 13 I did not find any announcements or 6 Tchaikovsky Concert Hall official reviews of this concert in major music publications website: https://meloman.ru/hall/koncertnyj-zal- from 1981 to 1983, even though in the 1980s chajkovskogo/ (accessed Dec. 11, 2020). Sovetskaia muzyka regularly published reviews of 7 Yevgeny Yevtushenko, introduction to concerts held in major concert halls in Moscow. Artyomov’s Requiem, Nov. 25, 1988 (video recording Both eyewitnesses to the concert whom I was able by the Moscow Philharmonic available on https:// to find mentioned that the hall was almost full www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLZMcupx-yE); (Gordon McQuere, email to author, Oct. 29, 2019; Catherine Merridale, Night of Stone: Death and Memory Tatiana Baranova Monighetti, email to author, Feb. in Russia (London: Granta, 2000). 25, 2021). 8 Firsova, “Vozvyshennoe i zemnoe,” 14; 14 Charles Taylor, A Secular Age (Cambridge, Yevdokimova, “Vyacheslav Artyomov – Requiem”; MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Yevdokimova, “Razmyshlenia o muzyke Vyacheslava 2018), 3. Artyomova,” Sovetskaia muzyka 5 (1989): 20;

70 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 2 (2020) 15 For details, see Philip Boobbyer, Conscience, 26 Alexei Lyubimov, “Vremya radostnïkh Dissent and Reform in Soviet Russia (London: Routledge, otkrïtiy,” in Eti strannïye semidesiatye, ili poteriya 2005), 186–202. nevinnosti, ed. Georgiy Kizevalter (Moscow: Novoe 16 Mikhail Gorbachev, Perestroika (New York: Literaturnoe Obozrenie, 2010), 212. Harper and Row, 1987), 25. 27 Martynov, Avtoarcheologiia, 9. 17 Karl Marx, “Contribution to the Critique of 28 Mitrokhin, “Sovetskaya intelligentsiia v Hegel’s Philosophy of Right: Introduction [1844],” in poiskakh chuda.” The Marx-Engels Reader, 2nd ed., ed. Robert C. Tucker 29 Smolkin, A Sacred Space, 200–203; Zubok, (New York: Norton, 1978), 54–59. Zhivago’s Children, 251. 18 The stages of transformation in the Soviet 30 Tatyana Vinokurova, “Khozdenie po mukam state’s handling of religion and atheism are most Andreya Rublyova [Ordeal by Andrei Rublev],” comprehensively addressed in Victoria Smolkin’s Iskusstvo kino 10 (1989): 63–76. study A Sacred Space Is Never Empty: A History of Soviet 31 In 1974, an open-air exhibition organized Atheism (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, by nonconformist artists in Moscow was attacked by 2018). bulldozers: artworks were destroyed and artists were 19 See the detailed discussion of this policy in beaten by KGB agents. ibid., chaps. 2 and 3. 32 For details see Oksana Nesterenko, “A 20 Eleonory Gilburd, To See and Die: Forbidden Fruit? Religion, Spirituality and Music in The Soviet Lives of Western Culture (Cambridge, MA: the USSR Before Its Fall (1964–1991)” (Ph.D. diss., Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2018), Stony Brook University, 2021). 7–17. 33 Ibid., 48–57. 21 Masha Gessen, Dead Again: The Russian 34 Ibid., 57–64, 97–107. Intelligentsia After Communism (London: Verso, 1997), 35 Ibid., 215–29, 131–45. chap. 3; Vladislav Zubok, Zhivago’s Children: The Last 36 Smolkin, A Sacred Space, 6. Russian Intelligentsia (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press 37 Ibid., 150–51. of Harvard University Press, 2009), 241–58; Alexei 38 “Appendix B. Soviet Laws on Religion, Yurchak, Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More: 1918–1988,” in Kent Richmond, The Puzzle of The Last Soviet Generation (Princeton, NJ: Princeton the Soviet Church: An Inside Look at Christianity University Press: 2006), 150–51; Sergei Zhuk, and Glasnost (Washington, DC: Multnomah Press, Rock and Roll in the Rocket City: The West, Identity, 1989), 385. and Ideology in Soviet Dniepropetrovsk, 1960–1985 39 Ibid., 386. (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 40 Yurchak, Everything Was Forever, 93. 2010), chap. 11. 41 Nikolay Bol’chuk and Vladimir Martynov, 22 Nikolay Karetnikov, “Otets Aleksandr,” in “Dlya khristian lyuboe vremya dolzhno vosprinimat’sya Gotovnost’ k bïtiyu (Moscow: Kompozitor, 1994), kak poslednee [For Christians, Any Time Should Be 141–46; Vladimir Martynov, Avtoarkheologiia 1978– Perceived as the End of Time],” Pravoslavie.ru, April 1998 (Moscow: Klassika-XXI, 2013), 6–11. 18, 2018, https://pravoslavie.ru/112285.html 23 Ivan Moody and Sofia Gubaidulina, (accessed Sept. 20, 2018). See also the documentary “‘The Space of The Soul’: An Interview with Sofia filmHeat: In Search of God in the USSR, dir. Alexander Gubaidulina,” Tempo 66 (259): 32; Alexander Arkhangelsky (2005). Ivashkin, Alfred Schnittke (London: Phaidon, 42 More on this in Sonja Luehrmann, Secularism 1996), 154. Soviet Style: Teaching Atheism and Religion in a Volga 24 Gessen, Dead Again, 52–69; Zubok, Zhivago’s Republic (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, Children, 237–54. 2011), 1–4. 25 Nikolai Mitrokhin, “Sovetskaya intel- 43 Smolkin, A Sacred Space, 196. ligentsiia v poiskakh chuda: religioznost’ i paranauka 44 Ibid. v SSSR v 1953—1985 godakh [The Soviet 45 Peter Schmelz, “Selling Schnittke: Late Intelligentsia in Search of a Miracle: Religiosity and Soviet Censorship and the Cold War Marketplace,” Parascience in the USSR from 1953 to1985],” Novoye in The Oxford Handbook of Music Censorship, ed. literaturnoye obozreniye 163 (March 2020), https:// Patricia Hall (New York: Oxford University Press, www.nlobooks.ru/magazines/novoe_literaturnoe_ 2016), 418. obozrenie/163_nlo_3_2020/article/22225/ 46 More on this in Peter Schmelz, Such Freedom, (accessed Dec. 10, 2020). If Only Musical: Unofficial Soviet Music During the Thaw (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 2 (2020) 71 47 Ibid., 222–74, 326; Aleksandra Drozzina, 68 S. Korovkin, Teatr Imeni Mossoveta (Moscow: “Schnittke, Gubaidulina, and Part: Religion and Iskusstvo, 1985), 290. Spirituality During the Late Thaw and Early 69 The televised version of the play, with Perestroika” (Ph.D. diss., Louisiana State University Schnittke’s music, is available online: https://www. and Agricultural and Mechanical College, 2020); youtube.com/watch?v=wyC3WSEr108. Note that Nesterenko, “A Forbidden Fruit.” Medic’ states that another piece was used for the 1976 48 Valentina Kholopova, Alexei Liubimov: performance (Medic’, “I Believe . . . in What?,” 103). Portrait of an Artist (Moscow: Kompozitor, 2009), 29. However, the televised version produced less than 49 Other ways to represent religious themes four years after the premiere of the play does include were as symbolic representations of Christian concepts, Schnittke’s music. quotations, or allusions to liturgical chant. 70 Yevgeniya Chigareva, Al’fredu Shnitke 50 Pauline Fairclough, “‘We Should Not Sing posvyashchayetsya, vol. 1 (Moscow: Kompozitor, of Heaven and Angels’: Performing Western Sacred 1999), 194. Music in Soviet Russia, 1917–1964,” in Hall, The 71 Kholopova, Kompozitor Alfred Shnitke, 124. Oxford Handbook of Music Censorship. 72 Ibid. 51 Ibid. 73 Svetlana Savenko, “Portret khudozhnika v 52 V. Timokhin, “Requiem Verdi na stsene zrelosti,” Sovetskaia muzyka 9 (1981): 39. Bol’shogo Teatra [Verdi’s Requiem on the Stage of 74 Even though the profile was difficult to get the Bolshoi Theater],” Muzykal’naya Zhïzn’ 1982/11: in print, no significant part of it was censored because 17; V. Paskhalov “Gimn Cheloveku [A Hymn to the the editors wanted to create the impression of an open Human],” Muzykal’naya Zhïzn’1982/14: 12. discussion (Svetlana Savenko, email to author, Jan. 4, 53 Eesti Teatri- ja Muusikamuuseum (Estonian 2020). Theater and Music Museum), f. 10, s. 20, 16. 75 In Schnittke’s Symphony No. 2 (1979), 54 Ibid., s. 20. the choral texts in all six movements correspond to 55 More details in Schmelz, Such Freedom, sections of the Catholic Mass Ordinary. 208–13. 76 Igor Korev, “Posleslovie [Afterword],” 56 Ibid., 210. Sovetskaia muzyka 9 (1981): 45. 57 Elena Dubinets, Knyaz Andrey Volkonsky: 77 Ibid. Partitura zhizni [Prince Andrey Volkonsky: The Score 78 Ibid., 46. of Life] (Moscow: Ripol Klassik, 2010), 62. 79 Svetlana Savenko, email to author, Jan. 4, 58 Martynov, Avtoarheologiya, 32. 2020. 59 Alexander Ivashkin, Alfred Schnittke 80 The first formal performance of the (London: Phaidon, 1996), 156; Ivashkin, Besedï Requiem as an independent piece—which Schnittke s Al’fredom Schnittke (Moscow: Culture Publishers, was not allowed to attend—was given in Budapest in 1994), 116–20. the autumn of 1977 by the Kodály Chorus (Ivashkin, 60 Valentina Kholopova, Kompozitor Alfred Alfred Schnittke, 126–27). Schnittke (Moscow: Arkaim, 2003), 155. 81 Schmelz, Such Freedom, 324. 61 For details about Schnittke’s exploration of 82 Valeriy Polyanskiy, untitled reminiscences serialism, see Schmelz, Such Freedom, 233–51. about Schnittke, in Al’fredu Shnitke posvyashchayetsya 62 Ibid., 123. 3 (Moscow: Kompozitor, 2003), 256–57. 63 Ivashkin, Besedï, 283. 83 See details in Nesterenko, “A Forbidden 64 Schnittke, program book for Kassel Music Fruit,” 97–107. Days, 1983, quoted in liner notes to CD BIS-497 84 Gordon McQuere, email to author, Oct. 29, (1990). 2019. 65 Valentina Kholopova and Yevgeniya 85 Ibid. Chigareva, Al’fred Shnitke: Ocherk Zhïzni i tvorchestva 86 Olga Martynenko, “Composer Vyacheslav (Moscow: Sovetskiy Kompozitor, 1990), 111. Artyomov: The Hard Way to Mt. Olympus,” Moscow 66 Ibid. News 5 (February 1989), 16; Firsova, “Vozvyshennoe 67 For details about Schnittke’s interest in rock i zemnoe,” 15. opera at this stage of his career, see Ivana Medic’, “I 87 Schmelz, Such Freedom, 325. Believe . . . in What? Arvo Pärt’s and Alfred Schnittke’s 88 Tarakanov, “Vyacheslav Artyomov,” 144. Polystylistic Credos,” Slavonica 16/2 (November 89 Ibid., 152–53. 2010): 104.

72 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 2 (2020) 90 John, Auf dem Wege zu einer neuen Geistigkeit, 106 Mikhail Tarakanov, “Vyacheslav Artyomov’s 143. Requiem,” Music in the USSR (July–December 1990), 91 Tarakanov, “Vyacheslav Artyomov,” 153. 16. 92 Maddaloni, “Requiem for the Victims of 107 Cizmic, Performing Pain, 138. Stalin’s Terror,” 26. In the score as well as on the LP 108 Kholopova, “Pamiati zhertv stalinizma,” 8. issued by Melodiya in 1990, the dedication is “To 109 Dzhemma Firsova, “Vspomni! Razdum’ya the Martyrs of Long-Suffering Russia” (Firsova, posle prem’yery Rekviyema Vyacheslava Artyomova “Vozvyshennoe i zemnoe,” 14; Melodiya, A10 00547 (1988 – 1989),” Sovetskaia kul’tura (March 29, 006 [1990]). 1989): 6. 93 Maddaloni, “Requiem for the Victims of 110 Ibid. Stalin’s Terror,” 26. 111 Ibid. 94 Firsova, “Vozvyshennoe i zemnoe,” 14. 112 Martynenko, “Composer Vyacheslav 95 John, Auf dem Wege zu einer neuen Geistigkeit, Artyomov,” 16. 143. 113 Ibid. His statement suggests that the 96 Ibid., 142. audience perceived the performance of sacred music 97 Tarakanov, “Vyacheslav Artyomov,” 154. in official venues across the USSR as a liberation from 98 Maria Cizmic, Performing Pain: Music the totalitarian regime and return of moral values, such and Trauma in Eastern Europe (New York: Oxford as truth and compassion. Sacred genres, including the University Press, 2012), 156. requiem, could attract listeners because they carried 99 Kholopova, “Pamiati zhertv stalinizma,” 8. broader meanings. 100 Maddaloni, “Requiem for the Victims of 114 Savenko, “Rekviem s khoroshim kontsom,” Stalin’s Terror,” 27. 26. 101 Yevdokimova, “Vyacheslav Artyomov – 115 Yevtushenko, introduction to Artyomov’s Requiem”; Yevdokimova, “Razmyshlenia o muzyke Requiem. Vyacheslava Artyomova,” 20. 116 Anonymous (“Our Correspondent”), “Novy 102 Kholopova, “Pamiati zhertv stalinizma,” 8. Rekviem,” Kul’tura (Nov. 29, 1988): 8. 103 Cizmic, Performing Pain, 139. 117 For more details, see Nesterenko, “A 104 Rachel Darnley-Smith and Helen M. Patey, Forbidden Fruit,” 117–30. Music Therapy (London: Sage, 2003), 5–68. 118 For more details, see ibid., 145–53. 105 Yevdokimova, program note.

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