Soviet Empire and Operatic Realm : Stalinist Search for the Model Soviet Opera
This paper analyzes the phenomenon of classical opera used (and abused) by the Soviet officials as an instrument to re-build imperial common consciousness on a new, Soviet ground, and, thus, create ...
The View from an Open Window: Soviet Censorship Policy from a Musician’s Perspective
Under the leadership of Joseph Stalin from 1924 to 1953, censorship notoriously became a central aspect of Soviet society. As citizens were rewarded for exposing any possible opposition to the government’s policies, no sector was left unmarked by what scholars now call the “Great Purge.” While music was not an obvious victim of this movement, the Soviet music scene nonetheless found itself at the forefront of government criticism and reform. In this thesis, I conduct case-studies of Shostakovich’s opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District and his Fifth Symphony, as well as Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky film soundtrack and his cantata Zdravitsa. Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District brought its composer, and Soviet music as a whole, to the disapproving eye of Soviet censorship policy, while Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony saved him from further consequences. Alexander Nevsky and Zdravitsa played instrumental roles in Prokofiev’s reintegration into Soviet society after spending years abroad. I examine the Zhdanov Affair of 1948, in which both prominent and upcoming composers were called into a government conference concerning the unsavory music production in the Soviet Union, as a central event in the history of censorship. Music magnifies the inherent futility of censorship, and as such, I use this investigation in conjunction with the case-studies to evaluate censorship practices within society: past, present, Soviet, and beyond.
An Examination of Some Forces Affecting English Educational Policies in India: 1780–1850
In England during the last thirty or forty years of the eighteenth century, a body of political theory was gradually developed in support of government action in the field of education. With the realization of the social consequences involved in the changes taking place in industrial life came a recognition of the obligations of the state to provide for the education of its citizens. Many political and religious leaders expressed themselves on the advantages of education, indicating that the improvement of the mind would bring men closer to the goals of perfection in which these leaders believed: continued progress, moral purity, stable government, and economy.