Nationally Informed The Politics of National Minority Music during Late Stalinism

The Stalinist state's nationalities policy had a major impact on the production of culture. When applied to music, it opened up significant new opportunities for minority composers. However, in its rigid focus on cultivating works "national in form, socialist in content," it also imposed limits on the range of their creative expression. This article argues that for national minority composers in the late Stalinist era, the official promotion of minority music served in equal measure as an empowering and imprisoning force, opening the door to all-Union fame and fortune while limiting access to those who faithfully performed their national musical identity. To emphasize its difference from its imperialist predecessor, the Soviet state sought to raise the perceived cultural level of its newly defined minority nations by fostering the development of Western-style classical music repertoires tailored to each national group. Such music would incorporate indigenous melodies and harmonies into complex European forms. This work was initially undertaken by ethnic Russians, as representatives of the "most advanced" nation, but Soviet nationalities policy would not truly be fulfilled until minorities themselves took over the task of composition. To this end, the state established conservatories in each republic, from which the first fully Soviet generation graduated in the late Stalinist period. This article traces the experiences of young minority composers who came to Moscow to complete their training and audition their work at the Composers' Union. As it demonstrates, these composers found that pieces written in a recognizably "national" style received high praise, while those that adopted a more complex, supranational approach were criticized. Ultimately, while Soviet nationalities policy created a host of opportunities for minority composers, it foreclosed on the possibility of their transcending national identity and becoming Soviet composers in a broader sense.