The role of Vasilii Vasil'evich Andreev in changing attitudes towards Russian folk musical instruments in Russian culture and society from 1886 to 1918

Latchford-Knowles, Richard (2024). The role of Vasilii Vasil'evich Andreev in changing attitudes towards Russian folk musical instruments in Russian culture and society from 1886 to 1918. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

This thesis discusses the role of Vasilii Vasil’evich Andreev in changing attitudes towards Russian folk musical instruments over four decades from 1886. He aimed through his activities to elevate Russian folk instruments and music to a higher level of understanding and appreciation among his detractors. He also strove to encourage collective participation in playing Russian folk instruments by establishing means of disseminating them and Russian folk music widely throughout Russian society, from the peasant to educated and cultured levels of Russian society.

Chapter One outlines, with some examples, the general picture in Russian art and culture in relation to the Russian narod from the rise of the raznochintsy through to the period of K.P. Pobedonostsev’s tenure as Education Minister. This is followed by an outline of the situation regarding Russian music prior to Andreev’s emergence in the mid-1880s. This includes both Russian folk instruments and music, and Russian folk elements in Russian symphonic music.

Chapter Two discusses a range of Andreev’s main aims in key areas of his activities, the balalaika, balalaika collective, the domra, gusli and other Russian folk instruments, as well as his aims for the dissemination (rasprostranenie) of Russian folk instruments and music.

Chapter Three focuses on Andreev’s activities as an organiser. It discusses how he utilised and developed his talents in this area from his early work on improving the Russian balalaika through to his successful organisation of the first Russian folk instruments orchestra.

Chapter Four focuses attention on Andreev’s work as a publicist in the practical sense of propagating Russian folk instruments and music via public performance in Russia.

Chapter Five discusses Andreev in his role as an educator of the people, otherwise referred to as his prosvetitel’skaia deiatel’nost’. It focuses on his use of the written word, in articles, interviews, essays and sketches, to elucidate examples of how this media helped to give expression of his aims and successes for the public’s understanding of his work.

Chapter Six discusses the importance of the contributions to Andreev’s work by his collaborators. It directs attention towards key players among his soratniki, explaining the ranges and nature of their collaborative roles. It also illustrates their various social, occupational, academic and professional backgrounds to demonstrate the inclusive nature of Andreev’s activities.

Chapter Seven turns attention towards Andreev’s connections, associations and dealings with individuals outside of his immediate orbit. This spans Andreev’s work in the army, with workers’ collectives, and his early and later Imperial Court connections. This shows that Andreev’s work necessarily involved dealing with individuals from established social backgrounds and status in positions of institutional and administrative influence to help to maintain his work and to realise his aims.

Chapter Eight includes discussion of certain questions arising from Andreev’s work –whether he belonged ideologically to any one intellectual movement within Russian culture, or whether he was a composite of varying ideological thought regarding the Russianness of Russian folk instrumental music and his work; had Andreev’s orchestra inherited aspects of the narodnost’ exemplified by R. Taruskin in relation to Russian classical composers? It also suggests potential areas of future research, e.g., more focused investigation and assessment of Andreev’s relationship with the Russian Imperial Court, his ideas for a Dom narodnoi muzyki and the impact of his concert tours of England, including his orchestra’s invitation to Windsor Castle.

This thesis is a valid contribution to the understanding of Russian folk music culture, introducing to Western scholars Vasilii Vasil’evich Andreev as a major figure in the history and development of Russian folk culture. It identifies him as the personality, hitherto largely unknown in the UK, who with indomitable energy and patriotism was responsible for firmly establishing Russian folk instrumental music as a serious genre, the man whose legacy is still visible and active in Russia to the present day.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):