The musical scenery in the Soviet Union

December 31, 2011

To end the year 2011 in style, we added today to the website a completely new chapter on the musical scenery in the Soviet Union.

In The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov refers dozens of times to musical works, composers and performers. These references we already discussed in the section Themes, style and form of this website, on the pages about Musical themes of the novel.

Click here to read more about the musical themes of the novel

But also we wanted to know the context in which the author could enjoy his favorite music. We explored the musical landscape in the Soviet Union, and saw how the regime tried to encapsulate all forms of music, and how it tried to control the whole music world, from the creation of musical works to their distribution. We also saw how artists dealt with it, and we discovered a wealth of songs we wanted to share with you.

Click on the link below to read more about the VIA's, Melodia, the Union of Soviet composers, the Trololo Man, ribald songs, Crocodile Gena and many more goodies.

Neznayka

Click here to read all about the musical scenery in the Soviet Union