History of Music in Russia from Antiquity to 1800. Volume 1: From Antiquity to the Beginning of the Eighteenth Century; Volume 2: The Eighteenth Century. Russian Music Studies by Nikolai Findeizen , Miloš Velimirovic , Claudia R. Jensen , Samuel William Pring (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 727 Findeizen, Nikolai. History ofMusicinRussia from Antiquity to1800. Volume 1: From Antiquity to theBeginning of theEighteenth Century; Volume 2: The Eighteenth Century. Edited and annotatedby Milos Velimirovicand Claudia R. Jensen.Translatedby Samuel WilliamPring.Russian Music Studies. IndianaUniversity Press, Bloomington andIndianapolis, 2008.xxii+ 467 pp.;xv+ 616pp. Illustrations. Tables.Musicalextracts. Musicappendix. Table ofworks. Glossary. Notes.Bibliography. Index.$60.00; $60.00. The originalRussiantitleof thismonumental and indispensable workOcherki pò istorii muzyki vRossii - is at once moremodestand morerevealing thanthisEnglishtranslation suggests. So manyof the topicsthatNikolai Findeizencoveredwere so littleknown,studiedand understoodat the timethattheprimary taskconsisted ofestablishing a firm documentary and archivalrecordofsources,ratherthanengaging in anykindofoverarching narrative (letalone ideologicalor ideological)history. Despitetheenormous rangeofmaterial discussed (testament totheauthor's ownvasterudition), the useofthewordocherki suggests instead a series ofindividual studies. Moreover, not onlydoes the ocherk attestto Findeizen' s scholarly modesty, but it also constitutes a responseto thefragmented natureofthedocumentary record and theattendant difficulties ininterpreting it(as wellas according withwhat can be recuperated ofthelivedexperience ofour predecessors). Findeizen's scholarly rigourand even-handedness is all themoreremarkable whenone considers thattheOcherki werecompleted during someofthemosttraumatic yearsoftheearlytwentieth century. The completedbook was finally publishedin 1928,thehighpointnotonlyofFindeizen'scareer,butalso ofwhat Findeizendubbed 'the new disciplineof musicology' in Russia (1, p. xxi). Ironically, theauthor diedinSeptember ofthatsameyear,on theeveofthose eventsand processes - cultural revolution, industrialization, collectivization - thatwouldbothcreatea verydifferent climateformusicologists to work in,and transform therelationship betweenpeople,environment and culture thatis described throughout theocherki. In 1928,Findeizencouldstill claimto discern echoesofmedievalpoetry and music,'scattered through theold byliny whicharestill preserved, attimesamazingly so,inthememory ofpeoplewho livein remoteareasuntouched bymoderncultural developments' (1,p. 59). The work'soriginaltranslator, Samuel WilliamPring,was commissioned to producea versionof the Ocherki by the AmericanCouncil of Learned SocietiesbeforeWorldWar Two, althoughthiswas neverpublished.Now, basingthemselves on Pring'sinitialidiomaticrendering, Milos Velimorovic and Claudia R.Jensen,assisted byMalcolmHamrickBrownand Daniel C. Waugh(and manyothers, as theacknowledgements and notesamplyattest) haveproduceda fully annotatededitionofthe Ocherki thatis farmorethan just a straightforward and reliabletranslation (welcomethoughthatwould havebeen).As theeditors ofthiseditionrightly pointout,Findiezen's History ofMusicinRussia from Antiquity to1800is 'a pathbreaking workwhich,in its scope and commandofprimary sources,and in itscuriosity and generosity ofscholarly inquiry, has remaineda cornerstone ofall subsequent studiesof Russianmusic'(1,p. xi).As theyalso note,'Although laterstudies[.. .] have 728 SEER, 88, 4, OCTOBER 2OIO offered manycorrections toFindeizen's compilation, one isstill amazedat the breadthofFindeizen'sresearchand thecare withwhichhe approachedhis sources. Corrections aside,thisisstill thebasisfrom whichalllaterscholarship mustproceed' (2, p. 507). Accordingly, Findeizen'soriginaltexthas been retainedin itsentirety, completewitha largenumberofbeautifully reproducedillustrations and examples.At thesame time,errors have been noted and corrected, unacknowledged sourcesidentified, and up-to-date bibliographiesprovided .In some cases,Findeizen'saccountstillstandsas definitive: the editorscall his studyof the skomorokhi 'trulya masterpiece of research involving a greatwealthofarchivaldata' (1,p. 340). Elsewhere, theeditors pointouthowhisinitial investigations havebeen augmented bymorerecent scholarship, as in thecase of'theearlystagesofRussianchurchmusic'and issuesofmusicalnotation (1,p. 319,n. 86E). Veryoccasionally, Findeizenfelt - forwhatever reasons- thatcertainsubjects did notfallwithin thescope ofhisbook,suchas thesacredmusicbyRussiancomposers thatforms such an important featureof Marina Ritzarev'srecentEighteenthCentury Russian Music(Aldershot, 2006). The new editorial notesat theend ofeach volume are of such lengthand detail thattheycould not reasonablyhave been treated as footnotes; theyoften constitute valuableintroductory essaysintheir own rightto the currentstateof researchon individualtopics.There is also a welcomeglossary, crucialbecause so manyambiguousor difficult to translate Russianterms havebeen retained in themaintext. Although History ofMusicinRussia from Antiquity to1800was first published someeighty yearsago, Findeizen'semphasison 'theconnection betweenthe pastevents ofRussianmusicallifeand thedevelopment ofsocialphenomena' (1,p. xxi)seemsto anticipate our current interest in cultural history, just as hiscommandofan arrayofcritical and scholarly approachessetsthehighest ofstandards forourowninterdisciplinarity. Findeizen's'scopeand command ofprimary sources'and 'curiosity and generosity of scholarly inquiry'have been matchedby thoseofhismoderneditors.Giventheenormouslabours (intellectual, linguistic and technical)that have gone into producingthis translation, nottomention thehighstandards ofitstechnical presentation, its priceis extremely reasonable(theprojectwas supported financially byJoseph Bloch)and oughttoputitwithin thereachofas manylibraries, scholars and students as possible.Findeizenhoped thathisworkwouldinspireothersin 'finding, organizing, and investigating theseresources'(1,p. xxii),and this aspiration is echoedin theeditors'call for'others to becomeinvolved in the studyof thisextremely richRussianmusicalheritage'(1,p. xv). Certainly, thereis stillmuch to be learntabout Russian musicbeforeGlinka,and evenforthoseworking on themusicofthenineteenth, twentieth and now twenty-first centuries, Findeizenand hiseditors aremodelsforus all (notleast as we reflect on theculture oftheResearchAssessment Exercise- and the forthcoming ResearchExcellenceFramework - and howthesehaveshaped scholarly priorities in theUK). WadhamCollege, Oxford PhilipRoss Bullock ...