In the late 1920s and early 1930s a cultural-historical paradox happened, when Sergej Prokofiew, dissatisfied with his avant-garde past, embarked for a search of a new spiritual ground and a new artistic voice. It was a process in which whereby he found certain resonances both in Christian spirituality (specifically, Christian science) and in contemporary developments in the Soviet Union — the trends that, from a retrospective perspective, appeared to be a prelude to Stalinism. The case of Prokofiev gives some insight into how artists of various ideological persuasion found certain charismatic appeal in what just began to emerge in the Soviet Union about ten years after the revolution.
Boris Gasparov (*1940 in Rostov-on-Don, Russia) is Professor for Russian and East Europaen Studies at Columbia University, New York. His research interests are, among others, Slavic and general linguistics, Russian and European Romanticism and Russian literature and culture of the 20th century. Music is deeply embedded in his teaching, scholarship, and personal life. His book, Five Operas and a Symphony: Word and Music in Russian Culture (Yale University Press, 2005), has received the ASCAP Deems Taylor award. At present Professor Gasparov is a Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin.
Moderation: Professor Dr. Alexander Wöll