Vano Ilyich Muradeli

The grave of Vano Ilyich Muradeli in the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow

Wano Ilyich Muradeli , Georgian ვანო ილიას ძე მურადელი (* March 24th ^July / April 6th  1908 ^greg. In Gori ; † August 14th 1970 in Tomsk (Siberia)) was a Georgian-Soviet composer. Muradeli became known in the West mainly because his opera "Velikaya Druzhba" ("The Great Friendship", Stalino, today Donetsk , 1947) caused the CPSU Central Committee to decide on February 10, 1948 to take control of musical creativity in the Soviet Union to tighten again. This triggered the second Stalinist culture campaign. Muradeli was exiled to the Asian part of the Soviet Union. In 1958, five years after Josef Stalin's death , he was rehabilitated. In 1967 Muradeli received the Order of Lenin for his complete works .

“The great friendship” as an alibi of criticism

How could the artistically insignificant opera “The Great Friendship” by Wano Muradeli bring about the far-reaching resolution of February 10, 1948 of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union with regard to cultural creation? The music editor Annika Tüsselel describes this as follows:

“Composers like Shostakovich and Prokofiev were a thorn in the side of the Soviet rulers of the Stalin era . They were too unadjusted, too little usable for propaganda purposes. The opera “The Great Friendship” by Wano Muradeli ultimately served as an alibi for a momentous decree of the CPSU. ”[…]“ Of course, Muradeli's opera is not the core of the heated debate that has been simmering for months and the result of that totalitarian decree of 10. February 1948 is. It is more of the drop that brings the barrel to overflow. And the alibi work, which is used to set an example that is actually supposed to make others. The problem is bigger in the eyes of Stalin's culture watchers; They are fundamentally dissatisfied with the new compositions by Prokofiev, Shostakovich and others and criticize the fact that there is no change in Soviet music. Translated, that means: none of the greats composes music that is adapted to the masses and that can be used for political and propaganda purposes. Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Myaskovsky , Khachaturian - they are all independent, too extravagant, too good. Your music cannot be used ideologically. This annoys Stalin's henchmen: […]. Individualism, high culture, complex topics and differentiated means of expression - all of this is useless in the woodcut-like socialist realism, which instrumentalizes everyday music and urgently needs heroic sounds, triumph marches and victory hymns to support ideology. On February 10, 1948, Stalin and his executives finally broke the collar, the demand is clear and unmistakable. ”“ The Central Committee of the CPSU is of the opinion that such an attitude can no longer be tolerated. The Soviet people expect high-quality and ideologically high-quality sound creations of all genres from the composers. ”His exile was particularly tragic for Muradeli, because it was precisely he who had already delivered the heroic sounds, triumphant marches and hymns of victory that were required and continued to deliver them during his exile and after his rehabilitation.

Training and work

Muradeli attended the Tbilisi Conservatory until 1931 , where he studied with Sargis Barchudarjan and Mikhail Bagrinovsky. From 1934 to 1938 he studied composition with Nikolai Jakowlewitsch Mjaskowski and Boris Schechter at the Moscow Conservatory . From 1939 to 1948 he was a member of the Organizing Committee of the Soviet Composers' Union. From 1941 to 1945 he was artistic director of the central ensemble of the Soviet Navy. In 1948 he was exiled to the Asian part of the Soviet Union for 10 years. From 1959 until his death Muradeli was secretary of the Moscow Composers' Union. Muradeli was buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

Works

In addition to the opera “The Great Friendship”, Muradeli wrote two symphonies (1938, 1945), several orchestral and choral works, film and drama music, and many songs and choirs. In 1946 he received the Stalin Prize for his 2nd symphony “The War of Liberation” . The following works by Muradeli are particularly well known:

Songs and choirs

• "Gimn Moskwe" ("Hymn to Moscow", 1947)
• "Gimn Meschdunarodnowo sojusa studentow" ("Hymn of the international student union", 1949)
• "Partija - nasch rulewoj" ("The party is our leader", 1952)
• "Pesna o Lenine" ("Song of Lenin", 1954)

Symphonies

• Symphony No. 1 in B minor “In memory of Sergei Kirov ” (1938)
• Symphony No. 2 in D major "The War of Liberation" (1945)

Late work

• "Oktjabr" (Opera "October", Moscow 1962)
• "Devuska s golubymi glazami" (operetta "The girl with blue eyes", Moscow 1966)
• "Prisla voda v pustynju" (symphonic picture "The water came into the desert", Moscow 1970)

Honors

• 1946, 1951 Stalin Prize
• 1967 Order of Lenin
• 1960 Order of the Red Labor Banner
• 1957 People's Artist of the RSFSR
• 1968 People's Artist of the USSR

literature

• Willibald Gurlitt (editor): Riemann Musik Lexikon, personal section L – Z, 12th edition, Mainz 1961, page 287 f., Article "Muradeli, Wano Iljitsch"
• Carl Dahlhaus, Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht (editor): Brockhaus-Riemann Musiklexikon (electronic edition), digital library volume 38, Berlin 2004, Directmedia, p. 7070, article "Muradẹli, Wano Iljitsch"
• Julian Barnes , The Noise of Time, Vintage, London 2017, ISBN 978-1-784-70333-2

Web links

• Annika Tüsselel, BR-Klassik (editor): Composers during the Stalin rule, What Happened Today - February 10, 1948, 2016, x Internet copy accessed on May 8, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Date of death according to the article in the English language Wikipedia
2. ↑ Annika Tüsselel, BR-Klassik (editor): Composers during the Stalin rule, What happened today - February 10, 1948, 2016, x Internet document accessed on May 8, 2017
3. ^ Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Muradeli, Wano Iljitsch - biography. Retrieved April 8, 2018 (Russian).