DOI: 10.47026/1810-1909-2025-1-66-84
УДК 930.1
ББК 63.3(2)6
Andrei V. MANKOV
Key words
the Soviet culture, the Great Patriotic War, Leningrad, cultural institution, performing artists, evacuation, the State Academic Chapel, Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army (Red Army), cultural services for Red Army soldiers, political workers and commanders, Kirov region, Choral school, tours.
Abstract
The article analyzes the activities of Leningrad State Academic Chapel on the eve and during the Great Patriotic War. The relevance of the study is due to the approaching 80th anniversary of the Victory of the Soviet Union and its people in the confrontation with Germany. The Nazi invasion caught the band of the chapel on a tour by the cities of the European part of the country. And what is known about its work during the war? What was the specific nature of the repertoire?
The purpose of the work is to study the changes associated with the beginning and the course of the war (1941–1944) in the organizational and artistic activities of Leningrad State Academic Chapel.
Materials and methods. The publication is based on the materials of St. Petersburg Central State Archive of Literature and Art. The author uses problem-analytical and chronological methods.
Research results. The outbreak of the war brought about serious changes in the life of organizations. In 1941–1942, many large cultural institutions of Leningrad were relocated from the city on the Neva River by decision of the authorities. Among them were Leningrad State Academic Chapel and the Choral School closely associated with it, which moved to Kirov region (Vyatka Krai). In August 1941, the country’s oldest musical institution was transported by train from Leningrad, where it functioned after its foundation in St. Petersburg in 1713, to Kirov, and the college to the village of Arbazh. In addition, many employees and performing artists of the chapel went to the front: to the the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army and the militia, and some workers died in besieged Leningrad. Leningrad performing artists stayed in Kirov Region from August 1941 to autumn 1943, giving concerts at the Regional Drama Theater and the library named after A.I. Herzen, the House of the Red Army, hospitals and military units. Thus, the first concert for the Red Army soldiers was given “from the wheels” already on August 30, 1941. In the autumn of 1942, the artists began to travel from Kirov to various regions of the country on tour (Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Siberia). At the same time, facts having signs of scientific novelty have been established that the location of the chapel’s core changed during the war, while most of the chapel’s staff remained in Leningrad and continued their concert activities there, each of the parts had its own directors and artistic directors. So, at the beginning of 1944, the base of the Chapel core moved to Moscow, and then to Gorky, while continuing long tours, for example, in the cities of the Volga region. In October 1944 Leningrad State Academic Chapel returned to Leningrad in the order of re-evacuation, where it began to work at the old base. In 1941–1944, the repertoire of the chapel was expanded with a number of new works, mainly by Soviet composers S. Prokofiev, Yu. Shaporin and A. Khachaturian.
Conclusions. The changes in the activities of Leningrad State Academic Chapel were the result of the fact that during the period under study a new phenomenon appeared in the cultural life of the country, which the author defines as “mobilization of the Soviet culture.” Similarly to the political administration bodies of the Soviet Union, the Red Army and Navy, the economy and the country’s rear in summer and autumn of 1941, the largest cultural institutions switched to work in wartime conditions. Thus, evacuation of not only industrial enterprises and a huge number of residents, but also relocation of theaters, music and concert organizations to the east of the country became an integral part of the Battle for Leningrad (1941-1944). Relocation of their teams led to organizational changes and a restructuring of artistic activities. In particular, the composition of the chapel was divided into several almost independent parts. At this, from August 1941 to July 1943, the artists’ main attention was paid to the cultural service of the Red Army soldiers, political workers and commanders of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army located in Kirov region. With this purpose, the “First Russian Choir” prepared more than 500 concerts, which were held not only on the stages of cultural institutions, but in military units of the Red Army and hospitals as well. At that time, its repertoire began to be based on works created by Russian composers on patriotic and Soviet themes. For example, Prokofiev’s cantata “Alexander Nevsky” became a musical symbol of heroism and patriotism, embodying the spirit of the nation, as well as admiration for the Russian history and culture. In winter 1942, the artists who remained in Leningrad performed concerts in the besieged city. In autumn 1942, the chapel resumed touring the cities of the country, primarily the Asian part of the USSR. Tours in 1943-1944 became the main form of activity; in particular, one of the longest was a trip to the cities of the Volga region, lasting more than 90 days, from July 12 to October 18, 1944. From the Volga, the chapel returned to the city on the Neva.
References
Information about the author
Andrei V. Mankov – Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Department of Humanities and Socio-Economic Disciplines, Military Academy of Communications named after Marshal of the Soviet Union S.M. Budenny, Russia, St. Petersburg (63donetsk@mail.ru).
For citations
Mankov A.V. Mobilization of the soviet culture during the Great Patriotic War: on evacuation of Leningrad artists to the Kirov region and their work in wartime conditions (1941–1944). Vestnik Chuvashskogo universiteta, 2025, no. 1, pp. 66–84. DOI: 10.47026/1810-1909-2025-1-66-84 (in Russian).
