The Battle of Stalingrad in Russian and Foreign Music

Abstract

In this article the authors analyze the artistic elaboration by various composers of the Battle of Stalingrad as a decisive episode of history. Examination is made of the aspects of conceptual solutions, genre-related and stylistic features, the peculiarities of thematicism (included the derived variety), as well as dramaturgy. These questions are posed in connection with the material of music by Russian composers (in the first section) and those from other countries (in the second section). In the present issue of the journal (where the first section is presented) a broad panorama of works by composers pertaining to several generations from Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich to Sergei Slonimsky, Tikhon Khrennikov-junior and the composers from the city on the Volga. Along with well-known works, oeuvres which have not received scholarly elaboration have ended up being within the sphere of research attention. Characterization is given to images of interpretation of the theme in the various spheres of genre: the cantata-oratorio, theatrical, symphonic, etc. It is noted that despite all the differences of the artistic merits of the compositions, the semantics of the Stalingrad victory inherits the traditions and highest spiritual intentions of Russian culture — assertions of peacefulness as a philosophical-ethical conception of existence.