secret archive d shostakovich
The heir and custodian of the unknown “Secret archive of D. Shostakovich, R. Matsov and M. Yudina” and international press speak about the importance of the archive for the history of the world culture and the tasks of its preservation and publication.
Dear lovers of music, movie makers, TV, radio and print reporters, publishers, music labels managers, keepers of cultural and music funds, servants of culture and politicians, patrons of art!
The world continues to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Dmitry Shostakovich, the misunderstood and misread liberator of music, misrepresented by the ignorant as an extoller of an authoritarian regime.
His archive, of which I am the keeper, will help repair this.
On 27 April, 2007, Shostakovich’s faithful comrade-in-arms in his fight for liberty of music again joined the most hushed up musical personality in history. R. V. Matsov, emeritus-professor and conductor - would have turned 90 on that day. He was born in 1917 and passed away in 2001. Their archive, which was entrusted to me, remains endangered, just as it was 50 years ago in the then communist empire.
However, I am determined to fulfill what was assigned to me personally by D. Shostakovich, R. Matsov and M. Yudina (1899-1970) - to save and immortalize the archive and to tell the world the unknown story of these people’s fight and their victory in the war to save music from totalitarian terror.
Since this war of three artists was waged from the deepest underground and their whole lives were shrouded in secrecy, and also because of my father’s exceptional modesty it happened so that I became the only and the last custodian of this strictly secret archive. I am also the keeper of the story of a life-long unequal battle between these few people and the rulers of the most terrible state on Earth and its secret services. The people who, seemingly free, were in fact “half-jailed” musicians deprived of basic human rights. They lived under the heel of this state but did not bend.
Unfortunately, few of those who knew of these three people’s 30-year-long desperate fight for freedom are still alive. Few could tell you about the public performance by conductor Matsov, Yudina (the piano) conducted by Shostakovich with the participation of I. Stravinsky of over 500 masterpieces of religious music and avant-garde 20th century music - Bach,
H?ndel, Beethoven, Haydn, Wagner, Orff, R. Strauss, Shostakovich, Mahler, Stravinsky (secretly smuggled scores of banned music and music by outlawed composers to Yudina and Matsov through reliable people chosen by Yudina), Hindemith, Sch?nberg, Berg, Webern and P?rt, music that was forever banned by the communist regime.
Few know that it was those performances that forced the USSR to officially drop the censorship of classical music in 1974.
It was the only case of this totalitarian regime admitting its defeat and weakness. Its three captives, one of them a woman, accomplished the inconceivable - they overcame the barriers and their own fear - the corner-stones of an autocracy.
As he was telling my father about the end of censorship of music, Shostakovich, demonstrating his modesty by not mentioning any names and speaking in his brand grotesque-cum-ironic fashion, said: “Soviet musicians have beaten Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, the KGB, the Army and the Navy of the most glorious and free state in the world.” (He meant: “…the most powerful and cruel state.”).
Up to this day both this historic event and the reasons for it were neglected by historians and musicologists, even although certain facts surfaced in print media and some encyclopedias.
What’s more, even celebration of Shostakovich’s centenary was rich with implications of conformism.
But there is about a hundred statements which I managed to obtain to counter those and prove that Shostakovich, Matsov and Yudina fought and defeated the communist regime and censorship. They come, among others, from The International Musicians’ Union, The Moscow Musicians’ Union; the collective letter from the professors of all Moscow’s musical academies - the Moscow Conservatory, the Gnessin Musical Academy and the Shnitke Musical Institute regarding the archive; The Yudina Contemporary Music Foundation, as well as several world-famous musicians, writers and scientists, the winners of international contests and such awards as Grammy, and academicians including writer E. Pasternak, pianist and conductor M. Pletnyov, composers T. Khrennikov and A. P?rt, singer and academician I. Arkhipova, violinist V. Rostropovich, cellist N. Gutman, conductors Yu. Simonov, P. Kogan, T. Sanderling, S. Sondetskis, E. Kolobov, V. Dudarova, E. Klas, cellist and conductor A. Rudin, singer Z. Sotkilava, academician N. Baybakov, pianist N. Lugansky and many, many others.
They are convinced that the “Secret archive of D. Shostakovich, R. Matsov and M. Yudina” and the memory of their selfless service to Music and Freedom should be preserved and immortalized. They believe that one of the countries with a rich music heritage must house a research center and the unique Museum of Forbidden XX Century Music (the Museum of Musical Genocide) which will be built in remembrance of the three fearless musicians. They are considering producing TV series and novels based on this incredible story about the three conquerors of the global “Evil Empire” which shot the length of a century, full of unfathomable adventures and mysterious twists.
These three people lived for a century, from 1899 till 2001, they lived through the most terrible century the world ever saw. They conquered all, there is only one thing left to overcome - the oblivion of their immortal struggle for Music and Freedom.
Dear comrades in the fight for freedom and human rights!
A large group of world-famous musicians and scientists from Russia and the EU is on a mission of saving and open to the public the as yet unknown “Secret Archive of D. Shostakovich, R. Matsova and M. Yudina” and of a posthumous rehabilitation as citizens and artists of these great people, who were victimized until their last day. This year we celebrate the 100th and the 90th anniversary of Shostakovich and Matsov as well of their the great pianist and comrade M. Yudina.
It is lamentable that the exceptional contribution of D. Shostakovich to the fight for the freedom of music is still unknown while the work of conductor R. Matsov is even also confined to secrecy just as it was in the horrible communist era.
By saving and publishing their historic archive we could restore the historical truth about their resistance to totalitarian rule and their victory over it.
We are asking for our help in this important cause. We here in Russia do not have enough means and funding to create the necessary data base of organizations and persons whose task is to preserve the cultural and historical legacy - culture and musical foundations, audio and music labels, state and international cultural institutions, sponsors, music publishers, major movie, television and radio studios as well as newspapers, magazines, etc.
We would be extremely grateful to you for this information as well as to any other help and advice.
On behalf of a group of musicians and scientists from Russia and the European Union, with kind regards,
Mark. R. Matsov and Yevgeny B. Pasternak
For any information on saving and publicizing the archive and to share your ideas please contact Andrei Podderegin at 3.14R communication agency, office 9, entrance 2, 3 Furkasovsky pereulok, 101000 Moscow, Russia. Tel/fax +7 (495) 788-44-07, e-mail: podderegin@314r.com www.314r.com