/ world today news/ The paradox with the history of the famous contest consists in the fact that its roots should be sought in the times of late Stalinism. Not only that the idea was born during Stalin’s time. There are reasons to believe that its author was Stalin himself.
In the summer of 1951, another Minister of Culture was dismissed because of an “incorrect” opera at the Bolshoi Theater. Life itself suggested to the new head of the department: in order not to become the hero of such a libretto, one should look for another musical arena. The alternative – the performance mastery of Soviet musicians – was at hand. But also his “parelo”: the memory of the recent “shoot” was still fresh here.
This is rarely remembered, and this was the case: at the end of 1950, in Moscow, through the special correspondence channels, a letter about Stalin was received from Queen Elizabeth of Belgium. It is written by hand, on stamp paper, in Russian. Elizabeth recalls the successes of Soviet musicians at the pre-war festivals in Brussels and announces that a violin competition named after her will also be held in May. In the letter, the queen expressed hope that “Soviet violinists will take part in this competition and that the USSR will send one of its best violinists as a member of the jury.”
As a special assignment, they began to form a violin landing party. Legend has it that they asked #1 violinist David Oistrakh: “Which of ours can win?” He replied that it was only Leonid Kogan.
Stalin sent the young genius and other musicians. The decision of the Politburo states: “To send 4-5 of the best musicians whose performance could secure first places at the competition.”
Kogan returned home with his first prize. The second was for Mikhail Weiman. But the third winner was Elise Cherfalvi – a “person without citizenship”, that is, an emigrant. The Dutchman Theo Olaf took the fourth place. And even the fifth was for Olga Kaverzneva, and for Alexey Gorokhov – it’s scary to mention – the seventh.
The Tchaikovsky Competition named after Stalin
But in 1951, the format itself turned out to be very suitable: the Kremlin liked the idea of creating its own international competition. The idea turned out to be fruitful from all sides: we will select it ourselves at the jury, and we will filter the participants.
Place? “The port of five seas” – Moscow. Time? From May 25 to June 15, 1952 Statute? International festival and competition. What will it be called? “Moscow Music Festival”. Chairman of the organizing committee? Shostakovich, of course. Who else? The best composer of the Soviet era.
Composition of the organizing committee? 25 people are offered personally. Among them are cultural figures: the composer Sergei Prokofiev, the violinist David Oistrakh, the pianist Lev Oborin, the conductor Yevgeny Mravinsky, the ballerina Olga Lepeshinska, the choreographer Igor Moiseev. Plus cultural functionaries.
The personal composition of the foreign guests – members of the jury and participants in the competition – had to be coordinated through the Soviet embassies abroad. An absolutely liberal approach was implied: the instance made it clear that there was no need to dwell on the behavior of the invitees during the occupation and the rule of Nazism. So what, you conducted the orchestra at Hitler’s birthday, you liked Mussolini or you sang Wagner to Goebbels at the Bayreuth Festival – it happens…
For the experienced cadres this was a surprise, but there were intentions from the GDR to invite conductors with a dubious past – the director of the education department of the Hitlerite Reichskulturkammer Hermann Abendroth and the member of the NSDPA from 1923 Franz Konwiczny, and furthermore, for the sake of balance, anti-fascist and Jewish émigré composer Hans Eisler. From the USA – two black singers Paul Robeson and Marian Anderson, anti-fascist émigré, conductor Arturo Toscanini. From Italy – the conductors Willy Ferrero and Victor de Sabata, the pianist Carlo Cecchi. All of them – from the musical elite of their time.
Shostakovich signs the “Festival Prospectus”. It is clear from it that the main event of the holiday is the competition. It turns out sophisticated, like a Russian matryoshka doll: the guests arrive at a festival, and find themselves on the jury of a competition for young pianists and conductors.
The preparations were already underway, but in 1952 they were not in the mood for music: escalation of the war in Korea, final work on the hydrogen bomb, preparations for the “Case Against the Doctors”… The musical festival was canceled, the materials were put in the archive. And in March 1953, Stalin died.
The musical surprise
At the 20th Congress in 1956, Khrushchev began a campaign against the cult of personality. And only after a month in the culture department of the Central Committee they edit the concept of the music festival/competition. It happens as always: without Stalin, but on the Stalinist path.
On July 30, 1956, the Politburo adopted a decree “On the holding of the International Tchaikovsky Competition of Pianists and Violinists in Moscow” in March-April 1958. Chairman of the organizing committee? Shostakovich. With personality cult, without personality cult – he is our only one.
In the organizing committee – directors of the Moscow and Leningrad Conservatories Sveshnikov and Bryushkov, pianists Emil Hilils and Svetoslav Richter, composers Kabalevsky and Khrennikov, violinists Oistrakh and Avram Yampolsky. The organizing committee formed a jury of prominent violinists and pianists. Gives the list to the Central Committee to confirm it. After that, it will always be like this – until the collapse of the USSR.
A file was compiled for each member of the jury. For example, the president of the Music Society “M. Long and J. Thibault’ Marquis Armand de Gonto Biron. During his visit to Moscow in 1955, he accompanied the 81-year-old great French pianist Margarita Long and made a favorable impression.
Unexpected corrections, as always, brought politics. In the fall of 1956, Soviet tanks entered Budapest. The West started a boycott. The old story: sector sanctions hit cultural exchange. The trip of the Soviet composers to the USA failed. Almost all tours were cancelled. True, Yves Montand visited Moscow, but then insidiously demonstrated in Paris the Soviet bras bought at GUM.
In general terms, before the first Tchaikovsky competition, the prospect of becoming an all-Union review of young performers was highlighted.
A move with the queen
The situation was saved by the good fairy – Queen Elizabeth of Belgium. She not only conducted the political behind-the-scenes work, but also agreed to personally visit Moscow for the contest. To become a symbol of the broken blockade.
She was not offended even when the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Marshal Kliment Voroshilov, sent her an angry protest on the occasion of his statement on the Hungarian question. A terribly confusing situation resulted: Elizabeth of Britain protested, and the telegram was delivered to Elizabeth of Belgium. Moscow sincerely apologized. And soon after that, Voroshilov retired.
In the end, 62 musicians from 22 countries arrived at the competition. For some reason, the nomenclature decided that our team must win. It was on this principle that the memos in the Kremlin were drawn up.
Informers worked, retelling all the gossip and rumors in the Central Committee. For example, about the fact that Richter gave many performers a zero out of 25 point system.
Richter really wanted Van Cliburn to be the winner. As is known, this is exactly what happened. Triumphant. Khrushchev liked very much how he played “Moscow Evenings” as an encore. No one suspected that Khrushchev had his own secret plans related to the competition.
The main winner – Khrushchev
During Cliburn’s performance, the orchestra was conducted by Kiril Kondrashin. And how he conducted!
Then the secret Khrushchev ping-pong began.
Telegram from New York. June 7, 1958 To Nikita Khrushchev:
“… Permit me to turn to you with a request that maestro Kondrashin visit London to conduct the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall, with a capacity of 8 thousand people, on June 15 of this year. Sincerely yours Cliburn.’
Today it is hard to imagine what it meant then on June 7th to ask the Soviet Prime Minister to allow one of his citizens to conduct an orchestra in London on the 15th.
It was necessary to draw up a five-page travel file, write an autobiography, take out reports on the state of health, form characteristics from the work, from the party and trade union organizations, find recommendations from members of the CPSU who knew the sentees , to take a picture. Then get an opinion from the Ministry of Culture, an assessment of foreign policy expediency from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a “yes” from the KGB, etc.
But all the committees agreed and approved it. The question remained: how to inform the pianist that the conductor Kondrashin will arrive?
Second series started. The Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrei Gromyko is preparing new “papers” for June 13. There are 4 days left until the concert.
But Khrushchev rejected all developments of the nomenclature and decided to write the answer himself. “Your telegram once again reminded me of the great pleasure that your performance in Moscow gave me. Your request regarding conductor K.P. Kondrashin is satisfied, and he has already flown to London… Sincerely, N. Khrushchev. 13 June 1958.’
Everyone else is happy. A triumph. But London was only an intermediate point to the main goal in the whole combination. Let Kondrashin go to America. This will be the main triumph. The political one. And so it happened: Van Cliburn and the Soviet conductor were welcomed to the White House by US President Eisenhower and his wife. They did not remember the Hungarian events and other “irritants” – they had to think about the future.
And the future did not make them wait long: after Kondrashin and Cliburn, the first deputy prime minister Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan will arrive at the White House. US Vice President Richard Nixon will then pay a return visit to Moscow and pour Pepsi-Cola into plastic cups at the American Expo in Sokolniki Park. After that, Frol Romanovich Kozlov will visit the counter-Soviet exhibition in New York. And in the fall, a year and a half after the Tchaikovsky competition, Nikita Sergeevich himself will leave for America. Propaganda will call this meeting “face to face with America”…
#Top #Secret #Political #History #Tchaikovsky #Competition
