Vladimir Stasov
Vladimir Vasilievich
Early life and education
The son of a famous
Career
"The Mighty Five"
In 1847, Stasov published a monograph on Mikhail Glinka's use of folk motifs in his music; from that time, Stasov advocated Russianness over European influence in music. In the years which followed he served as an elder adviser to the group of Russian composers known as "The Mighty Five". He also warmed to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky after hearing the composer play the finale of his Little Russian Symphony at a Christmas 1872 gathering at Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's home. Shortly after this gathering, Stasov prompted Tchaikovsky to write a piece based on Shakespeare's The Tempest.[5] He also drafted a program, initially for Hector Berlioz, that Tchaikovsky eventually used for his Manfred Symphony.[6] In between those two works, Stasov suggested an opera based on Alfred de Vigny's historical romance Cinq-Mars. Tchaikovsky was then intent on writing Eugene Onegin, and Charles Gounod had already written an opera based on Cinq-Mars.[7]
Repin and the Peredvizhniki
Beginning in the 1870s, Stasov ardently supported the realistic painters known as Peredvizhniki as well as Ilya Repin.
Intolerant of difference
When artists did not follow his precepts, Stasov could become both intolerant and vocal. Stasov called the finale of Tchaikovsky's Little Russian symphony "one of the most important creations of the whole Russian school." Otherwise, his overall verdict on Tchaikovsky's work was negative: "The Conservatoire, academic training, eclecticism and overworking of musical materials laid its dread, destructive hand on him. Of his total output, a few works [Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, Francesca da Rimini, and the String Quartets 2 and 3] are first-rate and highly original; the remainder are mediocre or weak."[8]
Nor was he consoling about Modest Mussorgsky, a composer who, as a member of "The Five," he had helped nurture but about whom, for all the public praise of his musical gifts, there was always a note of intellectual condescension.[9] Founder Mily Balakirev confided to Stasov that he thought Mussorgsky "almost an idiot."[10] Stasov replied, "I think he is a total idiot."[11] But this exchange reportedly occurred before Mussorgsky wrote his greatest songs and any of his operas, starting in the 1860s.
He was harsher still with the modernist art magazine
Stasov's correspondence with leading personalities of Russian art life is invaluable. He is known also for his opposition to music critic and erstwhile friend Alexander Serov regarding the relative merits of Glinka's two operas.
He was so impressed by the literary talent of the Jewish schoolboy Samuil Marshak that he arranged an exception from the Pale of Settlement laws for him and his family.
Stasov's brother,
Footnotes
- ^ "Стасов В. В. — Музыкальная энциклопедия".
- ^ "House of Stasov".
- ^ Figes, 177.
- ^ Figes, 178.
- ^ Brown, David, Tchaikovsky: The Man and His Music (New York: Pegasus Books, 2007), 74-77
- ^ Holden, Anthony, Tchaikovsky: A Biography (New York:New York: Random House, 1995), 248
- ^ Holden, 140
- ^ "Our Music During the Last Twenty-Five Years," first published in Vestnik Europy, October 1883, reprinted in Selected Essays on Music (New York, 1968), 112. As quoted in Holden, 88.
- ^ Volkov, 87.
- ^ Quoted in Mussorgsky, Literaturnoe nasledie (Literary Heritage), 17. As quoted in Volkov, 87.
- ^ Quoted in Mussorgsky, Literaturnoe nasledie (Literary Heritage), 20. As quoted in Volkov, 87.
- ^ Volkov, 130-131.
- ^ Cathy Porter, Alexandra Kollontai: The Lonely Struggle of the Woman Who Defied Lenin. New York: The Dial Press, 1980; pg. 38.
Bibliography
- Brown, David, Tchaikovsky: The Man and His Music (New York: Pegasus Books, 2007).
- Figes, Orlando, Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia(New York: Metropolitan Books, 2002).
- Holden, Anthony, Tchaikovsky: A Biography (New York:New York: Random House, 1995).
- Volkov, Solomon, St. Petersburg: A Cultural History (New York: The Free Press, A division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1995).