Music on the Frontline: Nicolas Nabokov's Struggle Against Communism and Middlebrow Culture

ISBN-13: 9780754606352 / Angielski / Twarda / 2002 / 168 str.

Ian Wellens

Opis

In his position as Secretary General of the CIA-financed Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF), Nicholas Nabokov gave music a high profile in the work of this Cold War organization, producing four international musical festivals under its auspices. This book reveals that Nabokov's musical involvement with the CCF was a struggle on two fronts. Apparently a defence of Western modernism against backward, provincial Soviet music, Nabokov's writings show this to have meshed closely with the domestic concern - shared by many intellectuals - that high culture was being undermined by an increasingly culturally aware middle class.

Recenzje

'... highly perceptive exploration... the interdisciplinary connections [drawn] between theoretical philosophy, politics, and music [...] are deeply illuminating and thought provoking... Wellens skillfully raises a complex of issues that must be considered to understand the intricate and often hidden dynamics of music and politics in the early years of the Cold War.' American Music

Spis treści

Contents: Preface; Great books and wise men: Nabokov’s road to the 1950 Berlin Congress; Waking the twilight sleepers I: on Soviet music and Shostakovich; Waking the twilight sleepers II: on provincialism and Prokofiev; A very popular fiasco: the 1952 Festival in Paris; Filling the gap: the CCF as surrogate Ministry of Culture; Paris/New York: Congress divided; One end against the middle: intellectuals behind the high culture stockade; Authority and exclusion: the Cold War and ’difficult' music; Appendix: L’Oeuvre du XXème Siècle: list of works performed; Bibliography; Index.

O autorze

Ian Wellens