The International Festival and Congress “Musica Antiqua Europae Orientalis” evaluated by the Soviet musical press

Abstract

Relevance of the study. The revival of early music has become one of the leading cultural trends of the 20th century. The musicians from the Soviet Union, including Ukraine have joined to this music branch after the Second World War. One of the artistic events that brought them together was the International Early Music Festival and Congress of the Central and Eastern Europe “Musica Antiqua Europae Orientalis” (MAEO), which had been taking place every three years since 1966 in the Polish city Bydgoszcz.The main objective of our study is to collect and analyze the materials of the Soviet press devoted to the forum in Bydgoszcz. There are the articles written by Yu. Keldysh, E. Alekseeva, N. Gerasymova-Persydska in the musical journals “Soviet music”, “Musical life”, “Music”. The discussion on the topics proposed by the forum participants has been continued.The methods of analysis and synthesis are applied.Results and their significance. The Polish International Early Music Festival and Congress MAEO did not find the systematic critical coverage in the Soviet press, with the exception of the first forum in 1966. Based on the official position of the Soviet authorities, expressed in the Keldysh’s article, it was shown that the joining the European processes in the domain of early music was not welcomed in the USSR. The achievements of Western European musicians in this field were condemned as a manifestation of bourgeois art. Soviet musicians thanks to their own initiative have mastered the European achievements; they have not achieved the institutional consolidation in the republics of the Soviet Union. The Soviet performers who mastered the early repertoire were mostly amateur and acted informally. The Soviet delegation at the festivals and congresses in Bydgoszcz showed the early musical culture of the peoples of the USSR in its perfect examples in the interpretation of the best musicians who did not specialize in the pre-classical music performing. As a rule, there were choral ensembles of high artistic level, mobile in the working with different repertoire.