Decades of national art in the period 1939–1941: some historical context

- · 13.01.2026

Original article
DOI: 10.56620/2227-9997-2025-4-22-36

Tatiana I. Naumenko

Gnesin Russian Academy of Music, Moscow, Russia,
t.naumenko@gnesin-academy.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0286-2339
Abstract: The article examines significant events in the field of musical culture in the 1930s, considered in the context of state regulation of art. Against the background of numerous reviews and competitions that gained momentum during the period under study, the largest events were the decades of national art — ceremonial festive reviews of operas, ballets, theater and concert groups of the union and autonomous republics. The decades were held in Moscow over a long period of time, covering the period from 1936 to 1960 — a total of 25 of them were held — and became the most indicative creative events in the context of the large-scale Soviet project of Friendship of Peoples.

The decades of national art are considered in the context of the activities of the All-Union Committee for Arts (VKDI) — an agency whose role in the management of Soviet art has not yet received systematic coverage. In a monograph devoted to the VKDI during the Great Patriotic War [1], the pre-war period is considered only in a general overview of the trends of the 1930s. Meanwhile, it was in the last pre-war years that the most striking projects began, the result of which was the opening of opera and drama theaters, concert halls and philharmonic societies, music schools and conservatories in a number of Soviet republics.

Keywords: Decades of national art, music of the peoples of the USSR, All-Union Committee for Arts, Mikhail Borisovich Khrapchenko, state policy in the field of art

For citation: Naumenko T. I. Decades of national art in the period 1939–1941: some historical context. Scholarly papers of Gnesin Russian Academy of Music. 2025;(4):22-36. (In Russ.). DOI: DOI: 10.56620/2227-9997-2025-4-22-36
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