Ru
EnV. Yunusova
“Music of the peoples of the USSR” as a prototype of the “Global Music History”
The article highlights issues related to creating a new universal history of music that are actively discussed in Western musicology. It also considers the earlier, lesser-known experience of forming such studies in the former USSR. The main material is the studies of modern Western and Soviet scholars, such as R. Gruber (1895–1962), V. Belyaev (1888–1968), and the collective multi-volume work “History of Music of the Peoples of the USSR”. These scholars trace such problems back to the first half of the last century. The studies of Soviet researchers represent two fields of music science: ethnomusicology and music history. These fields gradually unified in the 20th century, including in our time within the concept of “Global Music History”. Music history itself is acquiring an interdisciplinary character. One of the main features of creating a new universal history of music is departing from the Eurocentric model, according to which most academic historical studies were created. This model also emphasizes an attentive attitude toward the peculiarities and internal laws of different cultures. Many of the trends manifested in the creation of “Global Music History” were realized during the period of the 1930–1970s within the framework of the emerging musicological direction of the “History of music of the USSR peoples” (and the appropriate educational discipline). The article presented different types of dialogue and cultural interactions, and established unified principles for the regionalization, periodization, and systematization of the country's musical cultures, which differ significantly in terms of their traditions, languages, and general histories.
Key words
new universal music history, “Global Music History”, dialog of cultures, “History of Music of the Peoples of the USSR”, R. Gruber, V. Belyaev, Europocentric model, ethnomusicology.
For citation
Yunusova V. “Music of the peoples of the USSR” as a prototype of the “Global Music History”. In: South-Russian Musical Anthology. 2025. No. 2. Pp. 75–81.
