Form and line in the music and musical thought of Leningrad: 1917-1932.

Abstract

The dissertation is a study of two aspects of musical creativity in the city of Leningrad during the years 1917-1932: the composition of instrumental music and theories of musical form and line relating to composition. Four musicians representing two generations figure prominently in the discussion: Boris Asafyev (1884-1949) and Vladimir Shcherbachev (1887-1952), Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) and Gavriil Popov (1904-1972). Chapter One is an introduction to musical life in Leningrad during the period, with emphasis given to the disruptions resulting from revolution and civil war, the rebuilding of concert and educational institutions, the activities of competing modern music factions, reforms at the Conservatory, and the proletarization of musical culture at the close of the decade. Chapter Two reviews Soviet and western views on musical composition in the 1920's as a general introduction to musical issues and a demonstration of the need for a more focused investigation. The next two chapters deal with musical theories developed and disseminated during the 1920's. Boris Asafyev is the focus of Chapter Three. His ideas of musical form as a process, melos and polyphony, and symphonic thought are discussed based on selections from his published and unpublished writings. Chapter Four is a study of the innovations introduced into the Conservatory's composition department by Shcherbachev and three younger colleagues, based on course programs and memoirs. In the final chapter, I introduce five works for large instrumental ensembles that were composed and performed during the period, all of which raise interesting questions of musical form: Shcherbachev's Nonet and Second Symphony, Shostakovich's First and Second Symphonies, and Popov's Septet. In the analysis of each work, traditional sectionalized or schematic approaches to form will be combined with a process approach suggested by the theories of Asafyev and Shcherbachev.