1203107875 Dissertation Beresford
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Rhapsody in Red: Jazz and a Soviet Public Sphere Under Stalin By Benjamin J. Beresford A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Approved April 2017 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee: Mark Von Hagen, Chair Laurie Manchester Peter Schmelz Aaron Moore ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY August 2017 ABSTRACT This dissertation describes the public sphere that coalesced in the Soviet jazz scene during Josef Stalin’s reign. Scholars debate the extent to which Soviet citizens, especially under Stalin, were coerced into cooperating with the regime through terror; willingly cooperated with the regime out of self-interest; or re-aligned their speech, behavior, and thoughts to conform to Bolshevik ideology and discourse. In all cases, citizens were generally unable to openly express their own opinions on what Soviet society should look like. In this dissertation, I attempt to bridge this gap by analyzing the diverse reactions to jazz music in Josef Stalin’s Soviet Union. I argue that audience engagement with jazz and discussions about the genre in the Soviet press and elsewhere were attempts to grapple with bigger questions of public concern about leisure, morality, ethnicity, cosmopolitanism and patriotism in a socialist society. This jazz public sphere was suppressed in the late 1940s and early 1950s because of Cold War paranoia and fears of foreign influences in Soviet life. In its place, a counterpublic sphere formed, in which jazz enthusiasts expressed views on socialism that were more open and contradictory to official norms. This counterpublic sphere foreshadowed aspects of post-Stalinist Soviet culture. To support my arguments, I employ archival documents such as fan mail and censorship records, periodicals, memoirs, and Stalin-era jazz recordings to determine the themes present in jazz music, how audiences reacted to them, and how these popular reactions overlapped with those of journalists, musicologists, bureaucrats, and composers. This project expands our understanding of when and where public spheres can form, challenges top-down interpretations of Soviet cultural policy, and illuminates the Soviet Union and Russia’s ambivalent relationship with the West and its culture. i In loving memory of John Christian Beresford Matthew 5:8 ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the generous help of numerous organizations and individuals. Firstly, I am deeply indebted to several organizations and institutions for their financial support. At Arizona State University, I received travel and preliminary research funding from the School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies, the Center for Jewish Studies, and the Graduate and Professional Students Association. Research for this dissertation was supported largely by a fellowship from IREX (International Research & Exchanges Board) with funds provided by the United States Department of State through the Title VIII Program. None of the above organizations are responsible for the views expressed herein. I am equally grateful to professors, colleagues, and administrators who provided guidance and advice as I researched and wrote this dissertation. I am particularly grateful to my advisor, Mark Von Hagen, who always reminded me to think broadly and to write with precision, and to Laurie Manchester who encouraged me to break from the tyranny of official archives and sources. While in Russia, I was greatly helped by luminaries in the jazz scene there: Kirill Moshkov in Moscow, Igor Gavrilov at the Yaroslavl’ Jazz Center, and Vladimir Feiertag in St. Petersburg all proved to be invaluable resources and I hope that this dissertation does justice to their passionate work on Russian and Soviet jazz history. I also benefited from professors and colleagues who read chapter drafts and provided targeted advice and feedback, including my other committee members Peter Schmelz and Aaron Moore, as well as Andrew Barnes, Serhy Yekelchyk, Ilia Gerasimov, Anne Gorsuch, Anna Fishzon, Brianna Theobald, Rio Hartwell, James Dupey, Paul Kuenker, Jessica Peyton Roberts, Yan Mann, Tyler Kirk, and Grahame Beresford. My iii research in Russia was made infinitely more enjoyable through the comradeship of Julia Leikin, Kristy Ironside, Octi Bellavance, Jacob Feygin and Elizabeth Kerley in Moscow; and Zachary Hoffman, Steven Riegg, Samuel Hirst, Anatoly Pinsky, and Jason Cieply in St. Petersburg. Finally, Lindsey Plait Jones deserves special mention for the herculean work she did (and continues to do) helping me navigate the tangled web of academic bureaucracy. I am eternally grateful to my family, particularly my parents, who provided constant encouragement and who acted as a receptive sounding board for my ideas from the very earliest stages of this dissertation and who championed my work throughout. My son and daughter, Quinn and Isla, who both came into my life quite late in this process, provided (and still provide) a welcome distraction and source of constant joy. Finally, this dissertation would not be what it is without my wife Melissa, who endured, encouraged, critiqued, advised, proofread, and most importantly, loved without ceasing throughout the seven years I worked on this project. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER Page INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 1: JAZZ, LEISURE, AND THE NEW SOVIET PERSON ...............................................24 Introduction ....................................................................................................................24 Jazz, Leisure, and Acculturation ....................................................................................29 Jazz as Impediment to Culturedness ..............................................................................40 Jazz Music and Dancing ................................................................................................47 Conclusion .....................................................................................................................53 2: LEONID UTESOV: SOCIALIST CELEBRITY FOR A SOVIET PUBLIC ...............56 Introduction ....................................................................................................................56 Utesov: A Brief Biography ............................................................................................60 Utesov, “Thea-jazz,” and Cultural Revolution ..............................................................66 Utesov and Soviet Hero-Celebrities ...............................................................................74 Utesov: The People’s Choice .........................................................................................82 Conclusion .....................................................................................................................90 3: INTERNATIONALISM, COSMOPOLITANISM, MULTINATIONALISM, AND THE SEARCH FOR “AUTHENTIC” SOVIET JAZZ .....................................................92 Introduction ....................................................................................................................92 Internationalism and Jazz: “Negro” and Exotic .............................................................98 Jazz and Cosmopolitanism ...........................................................................................110 Jazz and (Multi-)Nationalism ......................................................................................118 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................124 v CHAPTER Page 4: PROPAGANDA AS DIALOGUE: “PATRIOTIC” JAZZ IN A PATRIOTIC WAR ..........................................................................................................................................128 Introduction ..................................................................................................................128 “Patriotic” Music in the Pre-War Years .......................................................................136 The Nation as Homeland: Russocentrism in Soviet Jazz .............................................141 Hometown as Homeland: The Case of Odessa ............................................................146 Home Front as Homeland: Loved Ones .......................................................................151 Homeland in the Trenches: Comrades-in-Arms ..........................................................158 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................162 5: FROM PUBLIC TO COUNTERPUBLIC: JAZZ UNDER LATE STALINISM .......164 Introduction ..................................................................................................................164 Why the 1940s?: Jazz and the Great Terror .................................................................169 Closing a Public Sphere: Jazz Repressed .....................................................................175 Jazz as Counterpublic Sphere and Proto-vnye .............................................................189 Jazz in the Gulag ..........................................................................................................198 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................203 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................207