«Театр — незавидное учреждение»: музыкальная культурная политика на региональном уровне в 1936–1937 годах
“The Theater is an Unenviable Institution”: Musical Cultural Policy at the Regional Level in 1936–1937

Summary/Abstract: The article examines the regional aspect of the 1936 campaign “Muddle instead of music”. According to the author’s plan, the campaign was aimed at the creators of opera productions. With the help of criticism, composers, librettists, directors and artists were explained how Soviet opera should look like. Theater was supposed to become a means of educating intellectuals and introducing them to Soviet culture. However, the campaign took place only in the central cities. On the basis of archival documents, the author managed to restore that the regional aspect of the campaign was not realized in 1936. Thus, in the city of Perm, the fight against formalism took place, but almost two years after the full-scale launch of the campaign. The productions of the opera house were criticized for formalism during a tour in Omsk in the local press. However, neither discussions at party meetings nor relevant publications in the Perm press followed. In 1937, the local administrative bodies were given other tasks — to search for and expose enemies of the people. As part of the persecution of the theater director M.A.Kuznetsov and his deputy M.P.Kharakhulakh, remembered the failure of the theater tour. The director G.V.Yevreinov was fired for formalism in productions, but the case of formalism was also interpreted as the fault of the management. Thus, the campaign at the regional level was not realized. The concept of “culture” was understood differently by the capital and provincial nomenclature. While in Moscow the intelligentsia was being educated, in Perm “culture” was understood as the elimination of illiteracy.

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