The (Theoretical) Sound of Russian Music

In my pursuit of understanding what lies at the heart of Russian music, specifically noting its theoretical structures which elicit our perceptions of its potency as "alluring" and "exotic" (although that term is hardly a successful description), I have been studying various texts and compiling information on the musical attributes of "Russianness." If one is going to make the case that Russian Hip-Hop is ontologically Russian, disregarding the brazen sociocultural parameters which make the genre "Russian" by a glaring default, then one must know what the conventions are of the Russian composer during the most transformative time in Russian music's development, that being the 19th century and early 20th century. I am referencing the Balakirev Circle, colloquially known as "The Mighty Handful" and the Belyayev Circle, whose influence on the development of Russian music can arguably still be felt today, through the contemporary (post-neoclassical) composers of the Russian 21st century like Auerbach, Raskatov, and Kasparov, among many others.

I have gathered and rummaged through 11 authoritative sources on the history and legacy of Russian music ranging all the way from the late 1910s to 2018. Thus, in this blog post I will think out loud and tie them all-together in my quest to delineate how Russian Hip-Hop could be understood the most recent iteration of Russian music's development as an art form stuck in between having an unremovable indebtedness to the West and yet being a very real expression of something entirely unique. My ongoing quest is to decipher how best to deduce what makes Russian Hip-Hop musically Russian, as it would be far too easy to appeal to socioculturality or lyrical "analysis," although that implies a undiscovered awareness of something deeper than what the surface presents. I am not under any false assumption that Russian rap fans are very much aware of the "musical Russianness" of Russian rap. However, it is now up to those in the West (like me) to figure out what that is. I will go only a few sources and look at three of the most prevalent themes I have discovered.

Emphasis on Melody

Described by Boris Asafiev (Viljanen, 2016) as one of the core tenants of the Russian romance, and lying at the core of both Russian folk music [via napevnost] and Russian music itself, was an internalized fire of passion which is expressed through "uninterrupted musical fluidity." Some of the most captivating pieces of 19th century, Russian classical literature like Mussorgsky's "Pictures at The Exhibition" (1874), Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade" (1888), Borodin's Symphony No. 2 (1869-1872), and one of my personal favorites Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" (1875-76) share this pathos-laden characteristic of strongly accentuated melodicism. Seaman (1967) affirms the observation of this Russian quality, while Abraham (1935) noted that melody and color were pinnacle to the Russian musical ethos, seconded by harmony whose role it was to support the melody and serve but as a musical compliment.

"Snaking" Chromaticism

While rather particular, and should not be seen as a catch-all for the entire gamut of Russian composers, it does stand to note that one of the more popular identifiers of Russianness happens to be tension-producing chromaticism. If extrapolated a bit, this could include dissonant intervals and other more experimental means of composition which prioritizes the creation of musical stress and pressure in order to aid in pleasure of the release into diatonicity. Several sources mention chromaticism as one of the most observable elements of the Russian musical style, Tarushkin (1997) noting a chief aspect of "nega" (uber-sensuality resulting in an orgasmic-like quality and an essential element of Orientalism, itself an essential element of Russianness) being downward and winding chromatic movement. Frolova-Walker (2008) affirms this position, the "Kuchka calling-card" being the name of the meandering progression[5—#5—6—b6—5]. You can hear it in the opening melodic material of movement two from Rachmaninoff's Fourth Piano Concerto (1926, Op. 40).

Usage of Modalism

Another glaringly obvious trait seems to be the endemic usage of modalism, noted as being in favor of certain proclivities over other. The "Russian minor scale," the ascribed name of Dorian mode (the second of the seven ecclesiastical church modes) appears to be one of the most popular modes which denotes the quintessential Russian ethos. Both Tarushkin, Frolova-Walker, and Rondarev (2018) all note that the 'Russian minor scale' bespeaks the Russian mindset, however Tarushkin adding that the natural minor scale (that being Aeolian mode) is also conducive to the pronouncement of musical Russianness. One only has to look towards the Grecian symbology of Dorian mode to perhaps understand its supremacy in the Russian music circuit, the mode evoking confidence and readiness, capturing within its tonality the "ethos of courage," and being regarded by Aristotle as "the universal criterion of excellence" (Monroe, 1894). Whether this is echoed in the musical life of Russia and holds any substantive credence as a metric for the perception of the "Russian" in Hip-Hop, whose to say. It's fascinating to think about though, no?

Although I've only delineated three of the many other factors that contribute to the "Russian" in Russian classical music, safe to say that with only three one can start to feel their way through the field of Russian popular music with a bit more authority of what makes it "Russian." These types of deductions are what I argue are endemically missing from scholarship on Russian Hip-Hop, so much so that it's actually quite appalling that no one has ventured to do this type of work yet. Therefore, it's vital that Russian Hip-Hop be valorized not just in its sociocultural proximity to mainstream consciousness and youth endorsement but musically as well through the realization that it's just as much of a player in the continuum that is Russian music than its classical companion. At the end of the day, I am not sure many Russian rappers think about their connection to the broader lineage of classical music in Russia much less conceive of their formative place within it. Regardless, it is up to us who are interested in making such deductions to do the heavy, aesthetic lifting.

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Please enjoy of my favorite piano etudes by Mily Balakirev: In the Garden (1884, Db Major)