Year Shostakovich: Life And Works Contemporary Soviet Music Contemporary Soviet Culture Contemporary Soviet Life
1946 39-40. January 26-August 2: Prokofiev: Ivan the Terrible; Pasternak begins Dr Zhivago. March: Churchill's 'Iron Curtain'
Quartet No. 3 in F, Op.73. Violin Sonata No. 1 Myaskovsky: June: Pasternak and Akhmatova speech at Fulton, Missouri. Cold
September 4: Simple Folk banned Symphony No. 25 A. Khachaturian: give recital in Moscow. War begins. Uprisings in Gulag.
as 'unSoviet and anti-People'. Cello Concerto Shebalin: Moscow Ovations. August: Zhdanov Autumn: beginning of campaign
September 25: Order of Lenin. (cantata) Glier: Cello Concerto attacks Akhmatova and against 'kowtowing to the West'.
December 16: Third Quartet Vainberg: Symphony No. 2 for Zoshchenko for 'reactionary November: Stalin excludes Jews
premiered in Moscow. strings Karayev: Symphony No. 2; individualism'. They are from Party and government
Quartet No. 2 Koval: Defenders of expelled from the Writers' apparat. December: Russia builds
Sevastopol (opera) Knipper: Union. September: Zhdanov its first nuclear reactor.
Symphony No. 10 (Scenes from the attacks Pudovkin and
Great Patriotic War) Peiko: Eisenstein. First public
Symphony No. 2 Popov: Symphony campaign against Jewish
No. 3 for strings Zhelobinsky: 'cultural nationalism'. Culture
Symphony No. 6 Ustvolskaya: and Life - new Party magazine
Concerto for piano, strings, and extolling Russian nationalist
timpani; Cello Sonata Tubin: virtues and maligning Soviet
Symphony No. 5 minorities, especially the
Jews. Eisenstein: Ivan the
Terrible Pt.2 (film, not
released till 1958)
1947 40-41. February: elected Prokofiev: Symphony No. 6; War Spate of publications claiming The post-war freeze intensifies.
chairman of Leningrad and Peace (Part 2); Thirty Years all inventions credited to Beginning of the Zhdanovschina.
Composers' Union. May: attends ('Festive Poem') Myaskovsky: Westerners actually made by Winter-Spring: severe famine in
Prague Festival. Summer: Quartet No. 12; Violin Sonata; obscure Russians. March: the Ukraine and southern USSR.
elected Leningrad deputy to The Kremlin at Night (cantata) A. Pasternak, Gladkov, and Olga September: founding of Cominform.
Supreme Soviet of RSFSR; Poem Khachaturian: Symphony No. 3 Berggolts publically November-December: drive against
of the Motherland (cantata), Kabalevsky: The Taras Family criticised. June: Zhdanov foreigners and those 'associated'
Op.74; film score Pirogov, (opera) Shebalin: Piano Trio B. attacks philosophers. December: with them. December: Beria's
Op.76 Autumn: begins The Young Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 1 Zhdanov begins witch-hunt of agents arrest several leading
Guard; 3 Pieces for orchestra Mosolov: Symphony No. 5 non-Lysenko biologists. members of the Jewish
(ms. only). October: begins Ustvolskaya: Piano Sonata No. 1 Ehrenburg: The Storm (novel) Anti-Fascist Committee.
First Violin Concerto. Yutkevich: Light Over Russia
(film, banned)
1948 41-42. January 13: Zhdanov Prokofiev: The Story of a Real Gladkov arrested. January 12: Mass-arrests for 'spying',
opens the First Congress of the Man (opera) Myaskovsky: Symphony leading Jewish actor Solomon 'revealing state secrets',
Composers' Union in Moscow. No. 26 Shcherbachov: Symphony No. Mikhoels murdered in Minsk by 'kowtowing to the West',
That evening, friends of the 5 (Russian) K. Khachaturian: Stalin's agents. September: 'praising American technology'
Solomon Mikhoels gather to Blossom and Prosper, Youth Anti-Fascist League dissolved. and so forth. Re-arrests of those
lament his death. S. attends. (cantata) Shebalin: Quartet No. 7 Jewish newspapers closed. given ten-year sentences in
Natalya Vovsi-Mikhoels recalls: Knipper: On Lake Baikal (opera) Yiddish writers arrested. 1937-8 (the 'repeaters'). Arrests
'Shostakovich spoke of how Kabalevsky: Violin Concerto Fedin: No Ordinary Summer also of children of those in the
"this" had started with the Levitin: Symphony No. 1 (Youth) (novel) Azhayev: Far From Gulag. August: Lysenko enforces
Jews but would end with the Moscow (novel) 'Michurinism' over genetics at
entire intelligentsia.' Soviet Congress of Agricultural
February 10: Resolution 'On the Sciences. August 31: Death of
Opera The Great Friendship by Zhdanov. October: 'The Great
V. Muradeli': Shostakovich, Stalinist Plan for Remaking
Prokofiev, Myaskovsky, Popov, Nature' - 15-year scheme to
Khachaturian, and Shebalin change climate in Central Asia by
condemned as 'formalists'. S. planting new forests. (Abandoned
demoted in Composers' Union. in 1953.)
March: finishes Violin Concerto
No. 1 in A minor, Op.77;
cantata Rayok; film score The
Young Guards, Op.75. Summer:
film score Michurin, Op.78;
From Jewish Folk Poetry, Op.79.
Autumn: film score Meeting on
the Elbe, Op.80. S. sacked from
his teaching posts. October:
People's Artist of the RSFSR.
1949 42-43. February: Khrennikov Prokofiev: The Stone Flower Akhmatova's son Lev Gumilov Anti-Semitism becomes open in the
leads attacks on 'formalist' (ballet); Cello Sonata arrested for the third time and USSR: the campaign against
critics and musicologists Myaskovsky: Symphony No. 27; sent to the camps. Pasternak's 'rootless cosmopolitanism'.
(especially those friendly to Viola Sonata; Piano Sonatas Nos. mistress Olga Ivinskaya January: Komsomol Pravda claims
S.). March: to New York with 7-9; Quartet No. 13 Vainberg: deported to Siberia. January: the aeroplane a Russian
Soviet Committee for the Symphony No. 3 Taktakishvili: Pravda attacks 'anti- invention. Spring: show-trial and
Defence of Peace. Plays scherzo Symphony No. 1 (Youth) Knipper: patriotic' (Jewish) theatre sensational 'confession' of
from Fifth Symphony at Madison Symphony No. 11; Source of Life critics. February: Ehrenburg Cardinal Mindszenty in Hungary.
Square Garden. Summer: Song of (opera) Glier: The Bronze banned from publication (as a (He had been tortured.)
the Forests (oratorio), Op.81; Horseman (ballet) Kabalevsky: Jew). September: first Soviet A-bomb
film score The Fall of Berlin, Cello Concerto No. 1 Popov: tested. Winter: the 'Leningrad
Op.82; Quartet No. 4 in D, Symphony No. 4 Ustvolskaya: Affair'. Beria and Malenkov
Op.83. Clarinet Trio: Piano Sonata No. 2 liquidate Zhdanov's clique in the
Ivanovs: Symphony No. 6 Svidirov: Party. Hundreds shot.
Symphony No. 2 (unfinished)
1950 43-44. Spring: to Warsaw for Prokofiev: On Guard for Peace Akhmatova writes conformist Camp revolts provoke
Second World Peace Congress. (oratorio) Mosolov: Symphony No. cycle Glory To Peace, praising mass-executions in the Gulag.
July: Bach bicentenary in 6; Kubanskaya Sviridov: Land of Stalin, in hope of getting her Many political show-trials in
Leipzig. August: 2 Lermontov My Fathers Karetnikov: Symphony son released from the Gulag. Eastern Europe.
Songs, Op.84; film score No. 1 Knipper: Symphony No. 12 She fails. Summer: repression
Belinsky, Op.85. Starts giving Ustvolskaya: Octet of 'perfidious Zionism' in
recitals to earn money. October Soviet biology.
10: begins 24 Preludes and
Fugues.
1951 44-45. February 25: finishes 24 Prokofiev: The Volga Meets the Ehrenburg: The Ninth Wave More show-trials in Eastern
Preludes and Fugues for pf, Don ('festive poem') Shebalin: (novel) Fadeyev: The Young Europe. Revolts in the Gulag
Op.87. Spring: tours Baltic Sinfonietta on Russian Themes Guard (novel, second version) continue.
states, giving recitals. Shchedrin: Collective Farm
Summer: 4 Dolmatovsky Songs, Holiday Lyatoshinsky: Symphony
Op.86; 10 Poems on No. 3
Revolutionary Texts for chorus,
Op.88; film score The
Unforgettable Year 1919, Op.89.
October 10: 10 Poems premiered
in Moscow.
1952 45-46. Spring: The Sun Shines Prokofiev: Symphony-Concerto; Climax of 'Lysenkoist' attack Execution of members of the
Over Our Motherland (cantata), Symphony No. 7 A. Khachaturian: on legitimate science: denial Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee
Op.90; 4 Pushkin Monologues, Battle for Stalingrad (suite) of Theory of Relativity (arrested in 1948). Stalin, now
Op.91. Tours Transcaucasus, Glier: Taras Bulba (ballet) ('reactionary Einsteinism'). paranoid, is increasingly
giving recitals. April: to East Knipper: Symphony No. 13 (In April: literary scene so dead obsessed with imaginary
Germany for Beethoven Festival. memoriam Myaskovsky); Cello that Pravda calls for new conspiracies. October: the 19th
September 7-November 1: Quartet Concerto Kabalevsky: Piano Soviet Gogols and Party Congress. Stalin
No. 5 in B flat, Op.92. Concerto No. 3 Karayev: Seven Saltykov-Shchedrins to revive re-organises the Party in
November: 7 Dances of the Beauties (ballet) Volkonsky: Dead social satire so as to preparation for a major purge.
Dolls. December: attends Vienna Souls; The Vision of the World illuminate shortcomings of
Peace Congress. December 23/28: (cantatas) Ustvolskaya: Piano Soviet society. Few writers
Tatiana Nikolayeva premieres 24 Sonata No. 3; Violin Sonata take the bait. Those who do are
Preludes and Fugues (1950-51) Salmanov: Symphony No. 1 attacked for 'anti-patriotic
in Leningrad. slander' and arrested.
1953 46-47. June 4: premiere of film Shaporin: The Decembrists (opera) Pasternak finishes Dr Zhivago. January. 'Vigilance' campaign.
Belinsky (1950). July-October A. Khachaturian: The Widow of November: Pravda advocates a The 'Doctors' Plot' (intended
25: Symphony No.10 in E minor, Valencia (suite) Volkonsky: 'broad-minded' view on beginning of new era of mass
Op.93. November 13: Fifth Concerto for Orchestra Socialist Realism. Beginning of terror). March 5: Stalin dies.
Quartet premiered in Moscow. Taktakishvili: Symphony No. 2 the first 'thaw'. December: Succeeded by a triumvirate of
December 3: Fourth Quartet Ivanovs: Symphony No. 7 Pomerantsev's 'On Sincerity in Malenkov, Beria, and Molotov.
premiered in Moscow. December: Ustvolskaya: 12 Preludes Literature' published in Novy Power-struggle begins. April:
Concertino for 2 pfs, Op. 94. Mir. (Seminal essay deploring 'Doctors' Plot' described as a
December 17: Tenth Symphony Socialist Realist 'prettifying' 'provocation' and discredited.
premiered in Leningrad. Initial of reality.) Leonov: The June: anti-Stalinist
response mixed. Discussions Russian Forest (novel) demonstrations in Czechoslovakia.
convened to 'determine' whether Yevtushenko: Winter Station Unrest in Hungary. Uprising in
it is failure or success. (poem) East Berlin put down by Soviet
tanks (500 killed). July:
Khrushchev replaces Beria.
August: first Soviet H-bomb
tested. December: Beria executed.
1954 47-48. January 20: Concertino A. Khachaturian: Spartacus Short Philosophic Dictionary Removal and execution of top
premiered in Moscow. March (ballet) Shchedrin: Piano condemns 'the reactionary Soviet security figures. Secret
29-30: angry debates about Concerto No. 1 Knipper: Symphony pseudo-science of cybernetics'. service (MGB/MVD) reformed as the
Tenth Symphony in Composers' No. 14 Volkonsky: Capriccio March: Ehrenburg's novel The KGB. April: major Gulag revolt in
Union. April: incidental music Kabalevsky: Symphony No. 4 Tubin: Thaw is published. December: Central Asia - the 'Forty Days of
for Kozintsev's Hamlet. Summer: Symphony No. 6 Tvardovsky sacked from Novy Mir Kengir'. Rebellion crushed by
film score Seven Rivers, Op. for publishing Pomerantsev (see tanks.
95. Autumn: Festive Overture, 1953). First 'thaw' ends.
Op.96 (for 37th anniversary of S.Vasiliev: The Heroes of
October). October: People's Shipka (film)
Artist of the USSR. December 5:
death of Nina. She is buried in
Moscow to music from the Eighth
Symphony.
1955 48-49. January 15: premiere of Kabalevsky: Nikita Vershinin Mayakovsky's The Bedbug is 'Virgin lands' scheme to open up
From Jewish Folk Poetry (1948) (opera) K. Khachaturian: Symphony produced for the first time Kazakhstan, Siberia, and the
in Moscow. Spring: film score No. 1 Volkonsky: Piano Quintet since 1929: a great success. Urals. Campaign for 'closer ties
The Gadfly, Op. 97; 5 Sviridov: Burns Songs Denisov: Yutkevich: Othello (film) with real life': everyone (except
Dolmatovsky Romances (Songs Of Symphony in C Karetnikov: senior politicians) to do some
Our Days), Op.98. March: begins Symphony No. 2 Ustvolskaya: menial work. February: Malenkov
revising Lady Macbeth (as Symphony No. 1 is manoeuvred into resignation
Katerina Ismailova). May: S. and replaced by Bulganin. May:
'auditions' his Preludes and formation of the Warsaw Pact.
Fugues at the Composers' Union.
The work is severely
criticised. Summer: S. looks
after his mother at Komarovo,
composing little. October 29:
premiere of First Violin
Concerto (1947-8) in Leningrad
(soloist: David Oistrakh).
November 9: S.'s mother dies.
December: begins The First
Echelon.