Beyond Ideology – Aspects of the Musical Thaw in Bulgaria
Beyond Ideology – Aspects of the Musical Thaw in Bulgaria

Summary/Abstract: Musicological Cold War Studies have reached a point where the limits of its premises become evident. The sole focus on the relationship between composers or musicians and state or party power has worn itself out. What is needed now are new perspectives: Therefore, this paper offers a new reading of the period of cultural liberalization during the so-called Thaw, beginning after Stalin’s death in 1953 and lasting well into the 1970s. Although scholars outside the country have previously neglected the case of Bulgaria, it is illuminating concerning the issues surrounding the links between composers, music, institutions, and power. Before entirely abandoning all attempts to highlight these connections, musicological Cold War Studies need a better understanding of the fundamental categories of freedom and citizenship that became so important to artists during socialism. As a complex and multi-faceted phenomenon, the Thaw needs a revision based on a higher awareness of musicological and historiographical analytic tools.

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