661.4038/1–549: Airgram
The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Kohler) to the Secretary of State
A–10. Soviet press recently featured the meeting of the second plenum of the Union of Soviet Composers, held in Moscow from December 21–29 [1948]. Soviet Art, December 25, stated that the meeting [Page 949] was devoted to a review of the work of Soviet composers and music teachers since the publication of the Central Committee’s decree “On the Opera, ‘The Great Friendship’ of Muradeli” (February, 1948). The session was opened by a speech of T. Khrennikov,1 the General Secretary of the Union who, after paying tribute to the memory of Zhdanov, recapitulated the criteria imposed on Soviet music by the Central Committee’s decree. This was followed by an audition of recent musical works.
According to Pravda, December 28, Khrennikov reported on the first results of the work of Soviet composers since the decree, stating that it had had effect not only by exposing the “antipopular formalistic” trend in Soviet music, but by outlining “a militant programme of constructive work for many years to come.” Although he indicated that the overwhelming majority of composers had “embarked on the path of realism”, formalistic relapses still existed in the more creative work of certain composers, notably in Prokofiev’s opera “Tale of a Real Man”. He deplored the lack of vital realistic works, but noted that many young composers had freed themselves from “the alien influences; of formalism”. In reviewing the work of composers criticized in the decree, the speaker praised Shostakovitch for his music for the film, “Young Guard”, but warned him and Khachaturyan that realism was; expected in their music and stated that the process of readaptation was slow in Myaskovski, Shebalin, Muradeli and Popov. He added that so far nothing had been created in the spheres of the opera and the ballet, called for the embodiment of “positive contemporary heroes” in operatic art, and for more active musical criticism. Izvestiya, December 30, reported the concluding debates of the plenum, in which attention was drawn to the unfavorable condition of music in the Central Asiatic Republics. A letter from Prokofiev was read admitting the justness of the plenum’s criticism of his work. After Khrennikov had urged a fight “for a party line in the creative art” of music, the plenum sent a message of greeting to Stalin.
In a Pravda January 4 article, entitled “A New State in Soviet Music” Khrennikov repeated the main conclusions of his report, emphasized the failure of Soviet light music to abandon “Western standards[”] and draw on the rich traditions of Soviet folk melody, and attacked the periodical, Soviet Art, for its weak standards of musical criticism.
- Tikhon Nikolayevich Khrennikov was a talented musical composer, whose work included scores for operas.↩