Union of Russian Composers

Russian organization of professional composers (founded 1932)
The Union of Russian Composers (formerly the Union of Soviet Composers, Order of Lenin Union of Composers of USSR (1932 ), and Union of Soviet Composers of the USSR) is a state created organization for musicians and musicologists created in 1932 by Joseph Stalin in the last year of the Cultural Revolution and first Five Year Plan. It became the official replacement for the various artistic associations which were present before like the Association for Contemporary Music and the Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians, two of the independently directed, music committees. According to Richard Taruskin, the Union had fully materialized into its full form well before 1948 and in time for the delivery of Zhdanov's Doctrine. During the First Constituent Congress of post Stalin Union of Soviet Composers, held in Moscow, in April 1960, the composer Dmitri Shostakovich was unanimously elected General Secretary.

The Union of Soviet Composers was originally founded in 1932 at the behest of the Central Committee of the All Union Communist Party of the Soviet Union in the final year of the Cultural Revolution, known as the Josef Stalin's first Five Year Plan. The official memorandum entitled "On the Restructuring of Literary and Artistic Organizations," published on April 23 of 1932 notes that while there has been significant progress towards in the fields of literature and art to develop and further Socialist ideals, there was still more work that had to be done in order to fully render these two disciplines Socialist oriented. The reasoning for dissolving the disparate Associations and organizations that had existed prior to 1932 such as the Association for Contemporary Music, the Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians, the [[All Union Org. of Associations of Proletarian Writers], and the Russian Association of Proletarian Writers] was that these groups, with their distinct goals and aspirations, were stifling collective progress. This was dangerous, as the development of a socialist nation could only be facilitated if the arts and literature were focused on furthering party messaging. Such splinter groups were charged with "group insulation" and "isolation from political tasks," meaning that their focus was not enough of political education of the Proletariat. Thus, in effort to reign in their influence and centralize control over the arts and literature, they were disbanded and replaced with swift measure. What emerged was the Union of Soviet Composers. In 1939, the Union created its first leadership council called the Organizing Committee of the Union of Soviet Composers. This newly instated administrative body, originally created by two composers, the Soviet Ukrainian R. M. Glier and Armenian A. I. Khachaturian, was created as a way to consolidate management of all the separate branches of the Union of Soviet Composers. The original Board included musical luminaries from various musical distinctions, both literarily and performance based, like M. Arkadiev, composer A. Goldenweiser, V. Gorodinsky, Boyarsky, composer N. Myaskovsky, S. Vasilenko, A. Alexandrov, A. Kerin, composer M. Ippolitov Ivanov, composer V. Shebalin, B. Shekhter, V. Bely, B. Pshibyshevsky, composer A. F. Gedike, and pianist K. Igumnov. From April 19 to 25, 1948, the first Constituent Congress was held where, during the proceedings, the governing bodies such as Secretariats and Chairmen were decided and the Charter was officially christened. Elected during the proceedings was the Inaugural Chairman of the Union, that being the Soviet Musicologist Boris Asafiev (1948 1949), along with the first General Secretary, a title belonging to the composer T. N. Khrennikov. During the year, the Board would hold 1 2 plenary sessions, where a Secretariat would be elected who would collectively guide the Union in between sessions and act as the leading force of the Union's affairs. in honor of S. Prokofiev, the A. Petrov "All Russia Prize for Young Composers" otherwise known as "Crystal Tuning Fork" Competition, the "International Competition for Young Composers" in honor of P. I. Yurgenson ”, and "The Governor's International Youth Competition" or "The Youth Gavrilin Contest" in honor of V. Gavrilin. In 2015, the Eleventh Constituent Congress was held where contemporary composer Rashid Kalimullin was elected as Chairman of the Union. IN 2017, the Twelfth Constituent Congress was held and it was attended by some of Russia's contemporary composers. Attendees included A. Kroll, Vladimir Matetsky, Alexander Klevitsky, Vsevolod Zaderatsky, Alexey Rybnikov, Alexander Tchaikovsky, film composer Yuri Poteenko, and sculptor Alexander Sokolov.

Starting in/around the early 1970s, music festivals began to be held by the Union in various regional territories of the USSR including Omsk, Saratov Oblast, Ufa, Sverdlovsk Oblast, the Tyumen Oblast, Vilnius, Suzdal, Vladimir Oblast, Gorky Oblast (currently Nizhny Novgorod), and cities within the North Caucasus. Early festivals started a long lasting tradition of annual gatherings of musical professionals and enthusiasts, some of the events being "Panorama of the Music of Siberia" (Novosibirsk), "Don Spring" (Rostov on Don), and "Festival in the Kuban." Once the Soviet Union began to collapse, the music festivals around the early 1990s took on their own traditions and unique features. More and more were foreign composers being featured on concert programming and several festivals are seminal to note during this time. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, much emphasis has been placed on children's repertoire. In the late 2000s, several festivals in Smolensk Oblast, Tver Oblast, Kirov Oblast and Saratov were dedicated to promulgating its public appeal. In recent years, new contemporary music festivals have emerged across Russia, including places such as Astrakhan Oblast, Krasnoyarsk, the "International Festival of New Music" in Kazan, "Musical Summer in Tuva" in Kyzyl and other events in the cities of Tuva. In 2015, after 48 years of absence The Red Carnation International Festival Competition of Patriotic Songs was reinstated as an annual tribute to the popularizing and legacy of Russian Patriotic repertoire.