A Music History with Love? The Hits, the Cults, and the Snobs
Keywords:
the “tenor cult”, Sergei Lemeshev, Ivan Kozlovsky, the middlebrow, music listenersAbstract
In this article I refer to a number of examples of powerful manifestations of love for music that routinely fall under the radar of music historians. One of these is the present case study: the 'tenor cult' as a prominent feature of Soviet culture in the 40s and 50s. Discouraged by the authorities and scorned by critics, it led to extravagant behaviour that may seem anomalous for such a regimented society. This potent love for both music and performer was largely female-driven, and it delivered formative, life-defining experiences for many of the participants. I test the suitability of the concept of “the middlebrow” for analysing this phenomenon and investigate how such studies can contribute to the project of a listeneroriented music history.
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