European "landing" of Russian music in the early twentieth century

Abstract

Diaghilev's «Russian seasons» opened for Europeans «Russian Gesamtkunstwerk» — a wordless, but picturesque, musical and plastic version of synesthesia. At the same time, the Russian ballet has declared itself as a project that claims to be «world-wide responsiveness». The choreographic musical theater did not need to be translated into other national languages, and the music appeared as untranslatable to the language of literature or philosophy. Russian avant-garde music in the «Russian seasons» was presented by the works of Igor Stravinsky and Serge Prokofiev. They introduced in the European culture «vaccination» of non-European «novelty» and proved their exceptional identity — meaningful and formal. In an effort to complement Russian music with Europeanism, they resorted to the stylization of classical music, to polystylism, to the grotesque and ironic deconstruction of the musical past, then to its carnivalization. Russian composers used the atmosphere of European freedom to demonstrate their creativity and musical innovation without simplifying their language. They were never able to fully integrate into the context of musical Europe, but, thanks to their search, theartistic horizon of Europe has moved to a global scale.