Between Tradition and Modernity

Between Tradition and Modernity Sergei Vasilenko and His Unknown Works for Viola and Piano By Elena Artamonova A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD in Performance Practice Department of Music, Goldsmiths College University of London Volume 1 Date: 12 January, 2014 Signed Declaration I, Elena Artamonova, hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it is entirely my own. Where I have consulted the work of others, this is always clearly stated. Signed: Elena Artamonova Date: 12 January, 2014 2 Acknowledgements This thesis would have not been possible without the help and support of many people. First and foremost, I am indebted to my research supervisor, Professor Alexander Ivashkin, whose thorough guidance and continuous professional and moral support provided inimitable opportunities for my study. Without his exceptional proficiency and advice this project would have never materialised in this form. I am very grateful for practical guidance of Professors Tabea Zimmermann (Hanns Eisler Hochschule fűr Musik, Berlin) and Nobuko Imai (Geneva Conservatoire), who openly shared their unique expertise in solo viola performance. I am obliged to the pianist Nicholas Walker (Royal Academy of Music, London), who has collaborated with me on the CD recording ‘Sergei Vasilenko: Complete Music for Viola and Piano. First Complete Recording’ and our numerous concert performances, and also helped to interpret and decipher the handwritten manuscripts of the musical scores that I was fortunate to find during the course of this research. I am thankful to the music publisher of the Toccata Classics, Martin Anderson, for his commission and collaboration in the production of the CD recording ‘Sergei Vasilenko’ mentioned above. I owe a special thanks to the staff of the archives and libraries in Moscow, Klin, London, New York and Washington, DC: RGALI, the Glinka Museum of 3 Musical Culture, Tchaikovskii House-Museum, the Composer’s Union of the Russian Federation, the Russian State National Library, the British Library, the Library of the London School of Economics and Political Science, Goldsmiths Library and Special Collections, the New York Public Library and the Library of Congress that greatly contributed to the formation of this thesis by providing access to invaluable published and unpublished archival material for this research. I would like to express thanks to the Music Department and Research Committee at Goldsmiths College that generously supported me on my research trips to Russia, the experience of which has been vital to this project. Over the course of this research I have had the opportunity to meet, interview and exchange views with the leading contemporary composers, musicologists and performers, to whom I am grateful. Among them are my former Professor of the Viola at the Moscow Conservatoire Iurii Bashmet, composers Grigorii Frid (1915- 2012) and Aleksandr Raskatov, Professors of the Moscow Conservatoire Galima Aminova and Inna Barsova, the editor of the Journal of the American Viola Society, David M. Bynog (Dallas, TX), musicologists Dr Marina Rakhmanova (Russian State Institute of Art Studies), Dr Pauline Fairclough (Bristol University), Evgeniia Stoklitskaia (Gnesin Music Academy), Dr George Kennaway (University of Leeds), Dr Patrick Zuk (University of Durham) and Elizabeth Wilson (Italy), Professors Liudmila Kovnatskaia (St Petersburg Conservatoire), Larry Sitsky (Australian National University) and Robin Stowell (Cardiff University), and many others. Another important source of support for me have been my friends and especially Naomi Young, who has guided me thorough the specifics of English linguistics. 4 Above all thanks to my family, my sister, Irina Walters, for her advice on musical analysis, and to my parents (my mother posthumously), whose encouragement and devotion has driven me through all the challenges of this remarkable journey. This thesis is as much your accomplishment as it is mine. 5 Relation between the written component and the recital programme The research objective of this written component and the final recital is to assess the contribution of Sergei Vasilenko to the development of the viola solo repertoire in the twentieth century. The recital programme brings together the viola compositions of Vasilenko and also of Grechaninov and Roslavets, who were not only connected in their compositional and teaching activities but were influential for each other. The choice of the viola and compositional elements in their previously unknown and little-known works illustrate the line of succession passed from the older to the younger generation of Russian composers, who skilfully elaborated and transformed their language. The two works of Vasilenko are included in the recital as they represent him as a master of composition and instrumentation with a diversity of stylistic and instrumental approaches, harmonic and rhythmic language, an exquisite palette of sound colour and a considered approach to the form, articulations and dynamics. The unknown and unpublished sonata for viola (or clarinet) and piano op. 161 of Grechaninov is a fine illustration of the musical rhetoric that made an impact on Vasilenko, including his appreciation of Russian songs that contributed to the emphasis on the melodic outline in his works. Vasilenko’s interest in the modern trends of the time and experimentation with a one-movement sonata structure are evident in the sonata for viola and piano, 1926, of his student Roslavets, who followed in the steps of his Professor but broadly used his own compositional idioms. These characteristics closely link these composers and their viola compositions that represent the general rise of the viola as a solo instrument in Russia in the first half of the twentieth century. These works demonstrate the viola 6 with a depth of musical intimacy and expression combined with a virtuosic technical potential, thus putting it on a par with the violin. 7 Programme of the Final Recital Aleksandr Grechaninov (1864-1956), Sonata for viola (or clarinet) and piano, op. 161, 1940 1. Allegro. 2. Canzona. 3. Vivace Nikolai Roslavets (1881-1944), Sonata for viola and piano, 1926 Allegretto moderato – Allegro vivace – Tempo I – Molto vivace Interval Sergei Vasilenko (1872-1956), Sonata for viola and piano, op. 46, 1923 Allegro moderato - Andante amorevole - Fughetta. Molto energico – Tempo del commincio (Allegro moderato) Sergei Vasilenko, Four Pieces on the Themes of Lute Music of the Sixteenth- Seventeenth Centuries, op. 35, 1918, for viola (or cello) and piano No. 1 Pavane, No. 2 Madonna Tenerina, No. 3 Serenade for a Lady of my Heart, No. 4 Knights Artists Elena Artamonova, viola Nicholas Walker, piano 8 Transliteration Note The Library of Congress transliteration system for Russian with the soft sign (’) is used in this thesis. In order to maintain consistency, even well-known names are spelt in the same form as other Russian names. The only exception is made for the name of Tchaikovskii, which would be hard to recognise in its correct form as Chaikovskii. The foreign names of persons, who lived in Russia and the Soviet Union, are spelt as transliterations from Russian; for example, the renowned music publisher Petr Iurgenson, instead of the standard Jurgenson, and the musicologist Teodor Miuller, instead of Theodor Muller. However, the titles of English and American publications retain their spelling for easy of reference, for example Skriabin is spelt in some sources as Scriabin or Skrybin. Both a transliterated form in italics and its English translation in square brackets are given for all Russian titles of works, organisations, archival documents and published sources only once, when they appear in the text for the first time. Subsequently, the recurring reference details of Russian originals remain in footnotes in the transliterated form only and the recurring titles in the main body of the text are spelt using English translation or abbreviation. An analogical approach will be followed with the titles of archival funds in the footnotes. Both a transliterated form in italics and its English translation in square brackets are given for all foreign titles of works, archival documents and musical scores in the Bibliography. All quotations and extracts from Russian archival sources and Russian publications used in the text were translated by the author of this thesis, Elena Artamonova. 9 Abbreviations The opis’ [inventory] and edinitsa khraneniia [document indexes] of funds will be given using the abbreviation of ‘op.’ and ‘ed. khr.’ respectively following the standard system of archival catalogues in Russia. 10 Abstract Sergei Vasilenko has been perceived as a conformist and inconsequential Soviet composer in post-Soviet Russia. The recent discoveries of unpublished documents reveal Vasilenko to be a talented musician whose search for a niche within the culture of Soviet music forced him to keep his true musical writings secret from the public in a drawer of his desk. The author of this thesis was fortunate to find a number of his unknown and unpublished compositions for viola and piano. In view of the paucity of music for stringed instruments in Russia in the first decades of the last century, Vasilenko’s seven compositions for viola, which are all different in style, mode and technique, assume especial importance. The analysis of these works shows that Vasilenko equally combined the elements of many diverse and often contradictory musical conceptions of the time, including the Silver Age, Neoclassicism, Romanticism and the Avant-garde. His innovative style – expanding the technical and sonorous potential of the instrument, and the rhythmic and harmonic resources of Russian music – launched new standards in viola performance and expanded its repertoire. This thesis investigates the language, performing issues and the reasons for the neglect of his viola works as well as their stylistic roots that spanned from Vasilenko’s interest in the Baroque to Russian liturgical music. The aim of this study is to re-evaluate the role of Vasilenko in the enhancement of the viola as a solo instrument in the twentieth century and bring his works to a concert platform.

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