Gatekeeper of Soviet music for 43 years
He told the BBC: "I was Stalin's Commissar. When I said No! — it meant No."
Composer who controlled Soviet music for 43 years as Secretary of the Union of Soviet Composers (1948–1991). He rose by denouncing Prokofiev and Shostakovich in Zhdanov's 1948 anti-formalism campaign and earning Stalin's trust. Under Khrushchev he helped revoke the 1948 resolution while also supporting young musicians, a figure of lasting contradiction. He wrote eight operas, three symphonies, thirty film scores, and the hit song 'Moscow Windows,' winning the Hero of Socialist Labour, Lenin Prize, and three Stalin Prizes. In old age he denounced perestroika as 'betrayal.'
Career Timeline
- 1929–1932Gnessin State Musical College, composition and piano
- 1932–1936Moscow Conservatory under Shebalin (composition) and Neuhaus (piano)
- 1935Symphony No. 1 premiered; conducted abroad by Stokowski and Toscanini
- 1941–1967Music director, Central Theatre of the Red Army
- 1948–1991Secretary, Union of Soviet Composers (General Sec. until 1957, then First Sec.)
- 1961–2007Professor, Moscow Conservatory (full professor from 1966)
- 1962–1989Deputy, Supreme Soviet of the USSR
- 1976–1990Candidate member, CPSU Central Committee
Related historical events
- 1941–1945The Great Patriotic Warmusic director
- 1985–1991Perestroika and GlasnostCultural conservative titan who denounced perestroika as 'betrayal'As Secretary of the Union of Soviet Composers he controlled Soviet music for 43 years, and during perestroika publicly condemned Gorbachev and the reformers as 'traitors to the party and the people.' He held his post until the union was dissolved in 1991.
The 1948 Zhdanov Conference and Sudden Rise
From January 10 to 13, 1948, more than 70 composers, performers, and music educators were summoned to the Kremlin for a three-day conference chaired by Andrei Zhdanov. The Party's chief ideologist declared Soviet music infected by 'formalism' and 'anti-people tendencies,' and proceeded to lecture the assembled musicians on how music ought to be written.
As one of the main speakers, Khrennikov backed the Party line in full, publicly attacking Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and Khachaturian, the three giants of Soviet music. His speech was a classic Stalin-era rite of passage: proving loyalty to the Party by sacrificing talented colleagues. Decades later he defended himself to the BBC: 'They told me, they forced me, to read out that speech attacking Shostakovich and Prokofiev. What else could I have done? If I had refused, it would have been curtains for me.'
Immediately after the conference, Stalin personally appointed Khrennikov General Secretary of the Union of Soviet Composers. At 35, just one year after joining the Party, he now controlled the entirety of Soviet musical life. The conference resulted in the Central Committee resolution of 10 February 1948 'On Muradeli's Opera The Great Friendship,' which launched a sweeping purge of Soviet music. Khrennikov would hold the post for 43 years, through Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Andropov, and Gorbachev, until the collapse of the USSR.