The Transnational Lyric Community of Soviet Unofficial Music under Late Socialism

Abstract

Despite the seeming liberalism of Khrushchev’s ‘Thaw’, limitations were still placed on the Soviet arts, and the era witnessed the emergence of a parallel form of underground or unofficial culture. This essay considers a number of vocal works by composers, including Gubaidulina and Schnittke, who experimented with a cosmopolitan range of literary texts, as well as with a more radical musical language. In doing so, these composers not only established a lyric community at home but also engaged with their counterparts in avant-garde circles in Western Europe.