Stalin follies. An example of a Soviet musical

  • Fausto Malcovati University of Milan
DOI: https://doi.org/10.6093/sigma.v0i5.8774
Keywords: Grigorij Aleksandrov, Russian cinema, totalitarian cinema, musical cinema, Veselye rebjata

Abstract

Russian musical comedies between 1936 and the early 1950s are characterised by a strong emphasis on the propagandistic and ideological content. The definition of totalitarian cinema (and in this sense of totalitarian musical comedy) seems to be appropriate to describe them. Today, those musical comedies, with the exception of Veselye rebjata (1934), are all unbearable if one analyses their content as a product of the Stalinist myth of the Soviet Union. One important element must be stressed, however: Aleksandrov’s great professionalism. A pupil of Ejzenštejn, he worked with professionals in music (Lebedev-Kumač-Dunaevskij) and dance and with well-known performers such as Ljubov’ Orlova.

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Author Biography

Fausto Malcovati, University of Milan

Fausto Malcovati (University of Milan) has worked on Russian symbolism, especially on Vjačeslav Ivanov and Valerij Bryusov, on fiction from the second half of the nineteenth century, publishing monographs and essays on Gogol’, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. He is also an early twentieth century theatre specialist, working above all on the theoretical writings of Stanislavsky, Mejerchol’d and Vachtangov.

Published
2021-12-20
How to Cite
MalcovatiF. (2021). Stalin follies. An example of a Soviet musical. SigMa - Rivista Di Letterature Comparate, Teatro E Arti Dello Spettacolo, (5), 469-489. https://doi.org/10.6093/sigma.v0i5.8774
Issue
No 5 (2021): Historical event, collective trauma and spatiality in contemporary literature and arts
Section
Dalla Biblioteca Malatesta

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