Socialist Realism in Music
3. Prokofiev
Prokofiev addressed the demands of Socialist Realism in music somewhat more directly, especially with the Zdravitsa (Hail to Stalin) (op. 85), written for Stalin's 60th birthday in 1939:
Here are the Russian lyrics. Here are the lyrics rendered in English:
Zdravitsa (Hail to Stalin)
There never was
a field so green,
there never was such joy -
the entire village is full of it.
Our lives were
never so joyous,
our rye has never before
flourished so well.
The sun shines on the earth
for us in a different way:
it seems to have visited
Stalin in the Kremlin.
I sing as I cradle my son
in my arms: 'You grow up
like a little ear of corn among the blue cornflowers.
Stalin will be the first words
on your lips.
You will understand from whence
this brilliant light streams.
In your exercise-book
you will draw Stalin's portrait.
Ah, all white ar the cherry orchards,
all white like mist.
My life has blossomed now
like the cherry-tree in spring!
Ah, the sunlight blazes and plays on
the shining dew-drops of the roses.
It is Stalin who has brought us
this light, this warmth and this sunshine.
You will understand, my darling,
that its warmth
has reached you
across hills and mountains.
Ah, all white are the cherry orchards,
all white like mist.
My life has blossomed now
like the cherry-tree in spring!'
If only my youth were to return,
if only the Kiksha river were flowing north,
in only my eyes sparkled like they did at seventeen,
if only my cheeks were rosy like a ripe apple,
I would go to Moscow, the great city, and I would say
a big thank you to Joseph Stalin.
He sees and hears everything, how the people live,
how the people live and work.
And he rewards everyone for their fine endeavors,
for their fine endeavors.
He invites everyone to see him in Moscow,
he greets them with kindness,
he speaks cheerfullly and kindly to everyone!
He sees and hears everything, how the people live,
how the people live and work.
And he rewards everyone for their fine endeavors,
for their fine endeavors.
He conducts his guests,
and shows them into a gleaming room.
He seats them at tables of oak
and questions them about everything,
he questions them and inquires:
how is their work, what do they need?
And he gives them wise advice.
He sees and hears everything, how the people live,
how the people live and work.
And he rewards everyone for their fine endeavors,
for their fine endeavors.
He invites everyone to see him in Moscow.
He greets them most cheerfully.
He greets them with great kindness
and gives them wise advice.
Ah, yesterday we were singing songs and revelling,
but it was not a toast for the auburn plait,
we weren't marrying off Aksinya -
we were seeing off Aksinya on her visit to Stalin.
We saw her off on her journey to the capital Moscow,
and we decked her up like a young bride.
The lovely Aksinya went through the gates:
good looking and pretty she was in new boots.
We took her to the edge of our village
and with her we sent our greetings to Stalin.
He sees and hears everthing, how the people live,
how the people live and work.
And he rewards everyone for their fine endeavors,
for their fine endeavors.
He invites everyone to see him in Moscow,
he greets them with kindness,
he speaks wisely and cheerfully to everyone!
O Stalin, you have borne many misfortunes.
Many misfortune you have borne and accepted
much suffering for the people's sake.
For protesting the tsar destroyed us,
he destroyed us for protesting.
He left women without men folk,
he left them without men folk.
You have opened up new roads for us,
you have open up new roads.
We are happy to follow you, happy to follow.
You vista is our vista, dear leader!
Your thoughts are the thoughts of each of us!
You are the banner of our high fortress,
you are the flame of our thoughts and blood.
Stalin, Stalin!
In a similar vein Prokofiev wrote a piece for the thirtieth anniversary of the October Revolution in 1947 entitled Flourish, Mighty Land.:Folksong adopted by A. Mashistov
Translation: Philip Taylor © 2003
Prokofiev was among those accused of "formalism" in 1948, with his entire opus characterized as "alien to the Soviet people," a censure that was not lifted until 1958. Yet he remained prolific up to the end of his life, and the third movement from the Sonata for Cello and Piano (1949) once again makes a virtue of irony within the narrower professional strictures of the day, incorporating bits and piece of Russian romance to achieve a result that is anything but stale or derivative, but retains a reassuringly familiar tonal structure: