The Presidential Library to digitize “Muzykalnye Kadry” newspaper of the St. Petersburg Conservatory

The St. Petersburg Conservatory handed over to the Presidential Library for digitization the filing of post-war issues of the conservatory's large-circulation newspaper Muzykalnye Kadry for the period from 1951 to 1963 (179 issues).

At present the Presidential Library’s scanning department has converted into electronic form filings starting from 1939 to 1950; 122 issues of the newspaper are now available in the electronic reading room of the library. Some of them will eventually be presented on the Presidential Library’s portal. Today they are available on the official website of the conservatory.  

Opened on September 20, 1862 the first Russian conservatory in different years has educated Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Dmitry Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev, Yevgeny Mravinsky, Georgy Sviridov, Yuri Temirkanov and other world-renowned musicians. Its modest at first glance small circulation significantly differed from similar publications of the city universities in terms of the quality of its content and has become a bibliographic rarity these days.

The Muzykalnye Kadry newspaper was the organ of the directorate, the party bureau, the trade union committee, the local committee and the Komsomol committee of the Leningrad Order of Lenin of the State Conservatory. It was published from 1939 to 1990, irregularly (as materials accumulated). After that, for 10 years it has been published under different names. Since 2000 it has been the modern organ of the Conservatory - the Conservatory newspaper. There is an archive of electronic copies of the newspaper, and representatives of the conservatory are ready to provide them to the Presidential Library.

A lot of interesting things can be discovered when familiarizing with the filing of Muzykalnye Kadry for the period from November 1961 to January 1963. For example, the editorial of the issue of January 8, 1963 provides typical for universities problems of strengthening educational and industrial discipline, austerity in spending public funds, raising the level of educational and ideological work are discussed, “since the tasks of aesthetic education of the people are becoming more and more responsible".

Besides, the conservatory of that time, in addition to teaching and upbringing, did a great job of musical education of residents in Leningrad and Leningrad Region: the national conservatory, music universities, lecture for adults and children, lectures, concerts, student propaganda teams - which just was not in its arsenal purely public, voluntary work, which was covered in detail on the pages of the Muzykalnye Kadry newspaper.

In addition, the institution patronized the specialized secondary school and college at the conservatory. The regular column “At a ten-year music school” talked about joint concerts with young musicians, wrote about the growth of the performing skills of the school's symphony orchestra, its string group ... No less attention was paid to the educational process at the school at the conservatory.

Under the heading "Foreign Relations" we find a photocopy with a letter from Rockwell Kent, American artist, writer, public figure, chairman of the American-Soviet Friendship Committee. During the celebration of the anniversary of the conservatory in 1962, its rector Pavel Serebryakov sent Rockwell Kent as a gift an excellent gift edition "100 years of the Leningrad Conservatory" - and in response a warm reply came from across the ocean ...

The entire issue of March 5, 1963 is dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the death of Sergei Prokofiev, whose name is associated with the musical life of almost the entire first half of the century, because his work covered all genres of musical art. On the front page of the newspaper is a portrait of the young Prokofiev and a dedicated editorial by Boris Asafiev and an article by Dmitry Shostakovich. Right there in the frame is a quote from the memoirs of Sergei Sergeevich: “In the fifth symphony, I wanted to praise a free and happy man, his mighty powers, his nobility, his spiritual purity. I can't say that I chose this topic - it was born in me and demanded a release. I wrote the kind of music that matured and finally filled my soul".  

Alongside there is an extremely emotional statement by Svyatoslav Richter, listening to Prokofiev's Sixth Sonata performed by the author: “Prokofiev has not finished yet, but I decided: I will play it! The extraordinary clarity of style and the constructive excellence of the music impressed me. With barbaric courage, the composer breaks with the ideals of romance and includes in his music the crushing pulse of the 20th century".  

The column “Thoughts, Covenants” was especially popular among students and teaching staff. Here is the most relevant opinion of Rimsky-Korsakov: "... The tasks of the conservatory are the essence: to create within the walls of the conservatory a practical musical life as close as possible to real life".  

The Presidential Library and the Conservatory are actively developing creative interaction. Back in October 2018, the organizations entered into a cooperation agreement, within the framework of which joint cultural and educational events are also held. For example, in February 2020, for the first time, an open examination of graduates of the vocal and directing faculty of the Conservatory in the Presidential Library, which took place in the format of a large gala concert, was held.