Underrepresented Twice: Spotlighting Unknown Soviet Viola Repertoire by Female Composers and Ethnic Minorities

Abstract

music by past and present composers of underrepresented backgrounds, aiming to bring historical justice and advocate for equity. In this paper—based on my recent pioneering research of unknown original viola works from the Soviet Era—I will introduce three solo works by Soviet composers, which fell under obscurity both in the West and in the (ex-)USSR territories, mainly due to the composers’ background. First will be introduces the 1985/87 Sonata by the Ukrainian Alexander Shchetynsky (b. 1960), who currently blossoms in Ukraine and Poland but receives a much lesser degree of international recognition. The Sonata is progressive in style, expressionistic, questions traditional hierarchies, and as such falls under the category of ‘unofficial music’ as defined by Peter Schmelz. Following is the 1967 Suite op. 2 by Elena Firsova (b.1950) who currently resides in the UK and was one of the few acclaimed young female composers in the USSR. Her early Suite consists of four short movements, exploring different instrumental and compositional techniques, atonal yet expressive, celebrating the human-voice-like qualities associated with the viola in Soviet scholarship. Concluding the paper is the 1985 Genesis Sonata by Azerbaijani composer Khayyam Mirzazade (1935-2018), who was hailed in his Republic, but never broke through the cultural glass-ceiling elsewhere. Genesis is a monumental piece, powerful in its simplicity, perfectly tailored for the instrument, and reflects the late Soviet peripheral tendency to compose in the style known in the West as ‘world- music.’ The paper calls for the exploration of underrepresented repertoire from times of great repression, under the light of the biblical message that humans were equally created “in His own image” (Genesis 1:27).