Concert "Library of Repressed Poets"

March 19, 2019 in the Pashkov House will host a unique concert "Library of repressed poets" performed by the State Academic Russian Choir named after A. V. Sveshnikov under the direction of the artistic director of the team Evgeny Volkov Piano part - Lyudmila Burova. The concert will feature works by young composers from all over Russia and older masters to poetry poets - victims of Stalinist terror.

The Gulag History Museum and the Memory Fund have invited composers across Russia to write music based on poems by little-known repressed poets, whose books are presented in the vast library of bibliophile Vladimir Petritsky at the Gulag History Museum.

Composers were interested in the works of Pavel Vasiliev (1909-1927), Olga Berggolz (1910-1975), David Hofshtein (1889-1952), Nikolai Zarudin (1899-1937) and others. The purpose of the project is to highlight texts that, in connection with the difficult fate of poets, did not sound widely, therefore, verses by famous authors were not used.

According to the director of the Gulag History Museum, Roman Romanov, it is important that the names of the repressed poets are returned through a new reading and sounding in the building of the Pashkov House, where the library of the Rumyantsev Museum was located, the curator of which was philosopher Nikolai Fedorovich Fedorov. He set the goal of the universal return of life, the universal resurrection of all our ancestors, all people who have ever lived. It is his philosophy that underlies this project. “The Concert of Memory is one of the formats for working with the theme of repression. The Gulag History Museum goes beyond the exposition and talks about the history of repression through musical works, books and theatrical productions, ”said Romanov.

The composers who took part in the project represent different cities of Russia: Olga Shaydullina - Moscow, Mikhail Krutik - St. Petersburg, Alexander Zhemchuzhnikov - Yekaterinburg, Eldar Nizamov - Kazan, Sergey Zyatkov - Surgut.

“Music written for the Museum” - it sounds very exclusive, both for the composer and for the listener. For me personally, in the work on this choral cycle, somehow unexpectedly there was a desire to use the classic 4-part contrast-composite form. Perhaps this was dictated by the texts that were selected, but most likely, this very “volume” of the topic, which the Gulag History Museum concerns, “deduced” such a “classic pattern”. In the final part, which is written on the lines of David Hoffshtein, the words are heard: "… he will shake my star finger, and it will be enough with me." This is said by a child sitting in the arms of his mother, and holding out his hands to the heavenly luminary, and it threatened the baby with its finger-ray. Gofshtein wrote this poem in 1917, when it seemed that everything could still be different, ”says Olga Shaydullina, curator of the project.

“Given the tasks, I discovered a whole layer of hitherto unknown poetry. And it was an honor for me to get in touch with her, ”said Elmir Nizamov.

In addition to professional interest, Sergei Zyatkov had personal motives to take part in the project. “The theme of the project is close to me, I will address it again - my father gave eight young years to Karlag, then worked for several years in Dzhezkazgan, leaving photos about this city, and I want to write music for them. I was impressed with the work of the poet David Hofshtein. Subtle, life-filled texts written before the world wars. I used only a few lines - they are more likely to be present, not sound. Music (“Chants in the dark”, “Mass without words”) - I will put it this way - voices from the abyss that do not fall silent, want to be heard, ”adds Sergey Zyatkov.

“The concert program includes refraction of repressed poetry both in the works of musicians - contemporaries of the Stalin era (vocal works by Nikolai Myaskovsky to verses by Lev Kvitko and Dmitry Shostakovich to the words of Boris Kornilov), and in the compositions of the sixties generation creators - Roman Ledenev (verses by Nikolai Klyuyev) and Kirill Volkov (poems by Alexander Chizhevsky).

It is impossible to imagine the “Library of Repressed Poets” without the weaving of the voices of composers, whose fate was crippled by the ruthless “era of great achievements”. The listener will get in touch with the work of the holy holy martyr George Izvekov (shot in 1937 at the Butovo training ground), Alexander Mosolov (1937-1938, Volgolag), Alexander Abramsky (1930-1932, deportation to Saratov), ”says the artistic director of the choir named after Sveshnikova Evgeny Volkov.

Concert Date: March 19
Start: 19.00
Location: Pashkov House, st. Vozdvizhenka, 3/5
Collective: State Academic Russian Choir named after A.V. Sveshnikov
Conductor: Evgeny Volkov, artistic director of the Choir

For reference:

The State Museum of the History of the Gulag was founded in 2001 by the famous historian, publicist and public figure A. V. Antonov-Ovseenko, who passed through the camps as the son of an "enemy of the people." In 2015, the Museum moved to a new building, increasing its area by 4 times. The collection of the Museum includes an archive of photographs and documents, letters and memoirs of former prisoners of the Gulag; a collection of personal items belonging to them and related to the history of imprisonment; a collection of household items, tools, as well as household items of the XX century; a collection of works of art created by artists who have passed the Gulag, and contemporary authors, offering their understanding of this topic. In 2018, the Museum opened a new permanent exhibition "The history of the Gulag in the fate of people and the history of the country." The Museum has a Social and Volunteer Center providing support to the repressed, educational programs and mass events are held - lectures, film screenings, meetings and presentations, offering visitors a figurative understanding of the topic of repression. Guided tours in Russian and English.

The Memory Fund was created in 2016 as part of the implementation of the Concept of state policy to perpetuate the memory of victims of political repression, approved by the Government of the Russian Federation on August 15, 2015. The fund accumulates private and corporate donations to support educational and educational programs, research projects and events aimed at perpetuating the memory of victims of repression. The first project of the Memory Fund was the erection of the first nationwide monument to the victims of mass repression "The Wall of Sorrow." The monument was unveiled in Moscow at the intersection of Akademik Sakharov Avenue and the Garden Ring on October 30, 2017 in accordance with the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of 30. 09. 2015. No. 487 "On the construction of a memorial to victims of political repression."