Exposition

The Chanting Flute: Uncovering Russian Orthodox and Shamanic Sounds in Sofia Gubaidulina's ...The Deceitful Face of Hope and of Despair (2005) (2025)

Phoebe Grace Robertson
open exposition

About this exposition

In the early years of the Soviet era, the music of two Russian faith traditions was forced into the shadows. Siberian shamans preserved chants and folk knowledge despite intense persecution, and Russian Orthodox monks preserved early forms of plainchant in remote monasteries away from the watchful eye of the government. Sofia Gubaidulina (b. 1931), herself a member of the richly-historied and often-marginalized Tatar people, became a practicing Russian Orthodox Christian in the 1960s. During the 1970s, she began performing improvisations with her ensemble Astraea, familiarizing herself with many instruments used by Siberian shamans. Her references to shamanism continued to increase among her concert-hall compositions over the following decades. As a new generation began to embrace the freedom to part from state-sponsored atheism during the 1990s and 2000s, shamanic chanting and Russian Orthodox Znamenny chant experienced a renaissance of practice and scholarly interest. Gubaidulina responded with her music: in her 2005 flute concerto …The Deceitful Face of Hope and of Despair, Gubaidulina’s flute soloist takes on the role of chanter. Drawing on Tia DeNora’s research in the sociology of concerto forms, Kofi Agawu’s framework of musical “topics,” and the composer’s own reflections on the concerto metaphor, this article analyzes how Gubaidulina frames the solo flutist as Siberian shaman and Russian Orthodox cantor within subsequent episodes of this concerto. In this way, the soloist “speaks” through the music of these faith traditions that remained underground for much of Gubaidulina’s adult life. …The Deceitful Face of Hope and of Despair is a flute concerto deserving of its title, demonstrating the dynamic potential of works by post-Soviet composers to contend with the sociological tensions that affect any individual whose cultural, ethnic, or spiritual identity has been the target of discriminatory policies.
typeresearch exposition
keywordsmusic, soviet studies, russian music, gubaidulina, Shamanism
date19/09/2024
published03/04/2025
last modified03/04/2025
statuspublished
affiliationArkansas Tech University
copyrightPhoebe Robertson
licenseCC BY-NC-ND
languageEnglish
urlhttps://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/1680815/1680816
doihttps://doi.org/10.22501/JSS.1680815
published inJournal of Sonic Studies
portal issue27. Issue 27


Copyrights

nameSofia Gubaidulina
copyrightDmitri Smirnov
licenseCC BY-NC-SA
usagespicture
nameJSS Banner
copyrightJSS
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
nameBezbozhnik, 1920s Soviet magazine
copyrightBezbozhnik, 1920s Soviet magazine (Public Domain)
licensePublic domain
usagespicture
nameSoviet propaganda poster 1920s - Bednyi, Demian
copyrightDuke University
licenseCC BY-SA
usagespicture
nameBuryat Shaman
copyrightNational Library of Russia (Public Domain)
licensePublic domain
usagespicture
nameForm of ...The Deceitful Face of Hope and of Despair
copyrightPhoebe Robertson
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
nameOpening motif of the Russian Orthodox episode (bass flute)
copyrightSofia Gubaidulina (composer), transcribed by the author
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
nameShamanic section polyrhythm reduction (transcribed by the author)
copyrightSofia Gubaidulina (composer), transcribed by the author
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
nameTranscription of Znamenny chant (Господи, воззвах) by the author
copyrightTranscribed by the author
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture

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