# On the Political Interpretation of Classical Music in Current Russian Propaganda. The Case of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Elena Rovenko

Translator: Maggie Jones

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URL: https://journals.openedition.org/transposition/9819

DOI: 10.4000/15b0a

ISSN: 2110-6134

**This article is a translation of:**

Sur l'interprétation politique de la musique classique dans la propagande russe actuelle. Le cas de Piotr Ilitch Tchaikovski - URL : https://journals.openedition.org/transposition/9747 [fr]

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Elena Rovenko, "On the Political Interpretation of Classical Music in Current Russian Propaganda. The Case of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky", *Transposition* [Online], 13 | 2025, Online since 12 January 2026, connection on 12 January 2026. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/transposition/9819 ; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/15b0a

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# On the Political Interpretation of Classical Music in Current Russian Propaganda. The Case of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Elena Rovenko

Translation : Maggie Jones

## Introduction

<footnote n="1">1. Since 2014, the year of the beginning of the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the Kremlin has been actively developing an ideological framework tied to the concept of the “Russian world,” conceived in opposition to the “collective West.”¹ The most crucial element of this framework is the defense of “traditional values,” whose importance has been enshrined in legislation.² Under this notion, the authorities group together a set of axiological norms relating to daily life and the proper attitude toward the world in order to preserve what is referred to as “Russian identity,” both political and sociocultural.³ If, five years ago, Putin⁴ could still be seen as the “guardian of traditional values,” he now appears as the creator of those values – defined to suit his needs and infused with a semantic content aligned with his own vision of history. Whereas the 2014 legislative text referred only to traditional family values, Decree N° 17, promulgated by the President in 2022, clearly extends these values to all areas of life.⁵</footnote>

<footnote n="2">2. The idea of historical continuity and support for national culture, as expressed by the adjective “traditional,” invites people to delve into the past, recreate it, and revive a supposedly buried collective memory. Political games with memory then extend to all manifestations of the past which, according to the Russian authorities, can create a specifically Russian “tradition”:⁶ first and foremost, Orthodox religion and popular</footnote>
culture, but also principles governing the state (centralization and concentration of power), as well as various types of art, both scholarly and popular.

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The authorities have therefore developed a wide range of control instruments, including bans on contemporary artistic creation (such as conceptual art) and decrees regulating the content and form of works.⁷ Proper content includes patriotic themes, military propaganda, the glorification of authoritarianism and power from a long-term historical perspective, construction of the image of a “bright future” (which echoes the Soviet concept of a “better future”),⁸ “Holy Rus’,” the Orthodox line, and updating folkloric subjects and representations (in literature and painting). Requirements for means of expression include the introduction of elements of folklore, 19th-century urban romance or melodies typical of Soviet songs (music); neo-realism and neo-impressionism (painting); the rejection of foreign words and the use of linguistic archaisms (literature), and the reintroduction of the Soviet style in cinema (frame construction, lighting and color principles).⁹ All of these recommendations are in line with the maxim “orthodoxy, autocracy, and national principle (narodnost’)” formulated in 1833 by Count Sergey Uvarov in opposition to the slogan of the French Revolution.¹⁰

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These measures implemented by the authorities aim to place art at the service of traditional values, excluding from the public sphere any manifestations deemed contrary to the principle of “orthodoxy, autocracy, and national principle,” whether artistic productions or publicly expressed positions. However, government strategies and their consequences for the arts have not yet been the subject of a dedicated study. While the causes of this phenomenon are complex and multifaceted, the primary reason lies in the current formation and development of the doctrine of traditional values. This process is accompanied by an incessant production of decrees and draft laws, which gradually load these values with new semantic nuances. Yet these transformations have no immediate repercussions in the cultural sphere (including artistic creation), making their impact difficult to assess. Moreover, the lack of historical perspective hinders scientific analysis, as the temporal proximity of these events makes critical distance difficult to achieve.

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The authorities seek to use both contemporary art and Russian art from the past, although the strategies adopted in these two areas are very different: in the first case, the aim is to create a product that the artist is obliged to place within an ideological system; in the second, it is more a question of reinterpreting an existing cultural work that has an inherent artistic meaning and whose history of reception is well known. While strategies for this type of reinterpretation were already developed during the Soviet era, their relationship with the renewed content of the ideological field and with the new target audience (covering all sectors of society, from the populace to the elites) requires special attention. It must be borne in mind that the authorities adapt their prescriptions to different types of art, whose distinctive characteristics can be used to serve ideology in specific ways, particularly depending on their content (plot, theme, artistic image) and means of expression. Finally, while it is clear that the visual arts (painting, cinema, theater) contribute to propaganda through images, built concomitantly on the patriotic nature of the narratives and the rhetorical form adopted in them, music involves another form of propaganda, which unfolds in radically different fields: contemporary art music, popular music, and classical music from the repertoire.
6 Contemporary art music seems to have remained relatively untouched by political prescriptions due to its orientation, since the 1960s, toward the techniques and aesthetics of Western European composers, as well as its distancing itself from non-specialist audiences. Many composers chose to emigrate (Vladimir Tarnopolsky, Nikolay Khrust, Andrey Smirnov), while some of those who remained in Russia (e. g., Evgeniy Shcherbakov, Grigoriy Rymko) attempted to continue composing in the styles of Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev, Georgy Sviridov, Nikolai Myaskovsky, and Boris Tishchenko.¹¹ Based on recognizable models (founded on tonal language), the means of expression employed by these composers can be perceived as a repetition of already well-known material – in other words, as an attempt to revive the styles of the great Russian classics of the 20th century.

7 At the same time, professional artists, architects, and sculptors whose work continues certain traditions of Soviet art enjoy significant recognition in contemporary Russia. Vivid realism in the spirit of Alexandr Deyneka or Yuri Pimenov (Nikolai Blokhin), Russian expressionism in the style of Filipp Malyavin (Konstantin Lupanov), the genres of impressionist landscape (Ivan Glazunov) and still life in the manner of hyperrealism (Dmitri Annenkov), and brilliant, luminous portraiture (Alexander Shilov, Aleksey Chernigin) are still in vogue in Russian society today. This may suggest a tendency toward nostalgia for a past that the authorities' restorative agenda seeks to recreate in the future. At the same time, a number of artworks seem marked by another patriotic intent, one directed not toward the personal past of individuals but toward the historical past of the country. Patriotism implies constant heroization and monumentalization, which opens the field to sculptors and architects, as well as to filmmakers specializing in the historical genre.¹²

8 In Russian pop culture, there are no phenomena analogous to the Soviet genres that the government seeks to celebrate,¹³ neither in mass song (since this genre itself disappeared with the socialist program) nor in popular song (whether in the so-called lyrical, heroic, or invigorating styles). The singer Yaroslav Dronov (better known by his stage name Shaman) is one of the few artists to enjoy major popular success, despite his complete adherence to the values promoted by the Kremlin – success, the roots of which music critics ironically sum up in the formula: “Orthodoxy, plagiarism, and nationality.”¹⁴ In addition to typical intonations, each of Shaman’s songs contains quotes and allusions favorable to the regime and criticism of the opposition.¹⁵ The activity of this singer, known mainly for his pro-military and pro-government videos, is nonetheless of interest to political scientists as evidence of a radical ideological construction and as an example of the implementation of propaganda (his fan base spans all social groups and age categories¹⁶), and could, for that reason, warrant a separate study.

9 While Soviet strategies for creating agitprop¹⁷ met with varying degrees of success on stage, the same is true of their application to musical classics, across a wide range of genres, from symphonic scores to musical theater. This rewriting of artistic thought from the 1920s until the collapse of the USSR can be described as a process of political and ideological mythologization, the mechanisms of which have been elucidated by Ekaterina Vlasova and Marina Raku.¹⁸ While it appears that Putin’s regime has continued this process of mythologization, as historian Sergey Medvedev and music critic Artemy Troitsky point out, unlike in the Soviet era, when “many talented people
[...] still believed in the communist idea, [...] Putin has no ideas,"¹⁹ that is, no fresh positive output that can replace the original meaning of classical works.

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In this context, it seems relevant to seek to identify the principles and results of the politicization of classical music culture in the past by the current regime – a subject to which we will devote the first part of this article. This process is particularly visible in the example of the music of Pyotr Tchaikovsky, whose image, during the Soviet era, changed from that of a depressed intellectual to that of a fighter for the happiness of ordinary people.²⁰ Thus, in contemporary Russia, Tchaikovsky's music is interpreted as the emblem of a warm welcoming "Russian world," representing Good and ennobling the soul, regardless of its musical material, the semantics of its expressive means, and the documented intentions of its composer. We will therefore devote the second part of this article to an analysis of several striking examples of the imposition of an ideological message on Tchaikovsky's music, which could in the future, from a historical perspective, serve as the subject of a more detailed and comprehensive study of other examples from classical music reinterpreted by Russian propaganda. Since we are studying an example of the "reprogramming" of the artistic meaning of a pre-existing work, this study will be based in particular on the semantic analysis of an excerpt that is particularly representative of the ideologization of Tchaikovsky, the main theme of *Swan Lake* (1877), which allows us to highlight the specificity of the expressive means that can become the musical correlates of a new ideology. It is then, of course, essential to make a comparative analysis of this interpretation with the reference interpretations made at different periods of the Soviet era, as it is during this time that Tchaikovsky, like other Russian artists, became the subject of ideological mythology.

## Russian Musical Culture in Pro-Government Discourse: Resistance to Politicization

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The Putin government's stated interest in conservative values and in essentializing Russian history should logically lead to a revival of interest in the music of the past and in classical Russian composers. However, this politicization dynamic encounters resistance on several fronts. First and foremost, there is the deep connection between the Russian professional musical tradition and European culture. Indeed, while Russian professional art since the era of Peter the Great has been deeply tied to Europe,²¹ Russian classical music – from Yevstigney Fomin (1761-1800) and Dmitry Bortniansky (1751-1825) to Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953), Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975), and Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) – is fundamentally based on the European system of genres, forms, styles, and principles of musical development.²² Even the five composers known as the Mighty Handful and their disciples (Alexander Glazunov and the young Igor Stravinsky) – who are recognized as the main representatives of Russian national art, and who were perceived as such by the French public at the time of Serge Diaghilev's "Historic Russian Concerts" and later during the era of his "Ballets Russes" – were unable and unwilling to dissociate themselves completely from European art. According to Rimsky-Korsakov,²³ Hector Berlioz's *Treatise on Instrumentation and Orchestration* was the "bedside book" of Balakirev and his students. Balakirev tried his hand at the symphony and symphonic poem, a genre created by Franz Liszt, to whom he dedicated a work (*Tamara*, based on a poem by Lermontov). The symphonies of
Borodin and Glazunov are based on the principles of theme development proposed by Beethoven and Schumann. Mussorgsky's *Boris Godunov*, an opera admired by Debussy,²⁴ and his unfinished *Marriage*, which served as a model for Ravel,²⁵ are based on the principles of the relationship between speech and voice, developed by the representatives of La Camerata Fiorentina and Christoph Willibald Gluck. Thus, despite the specificity of the themes, sometimes even borrowed from folklore ("In the field stood a birch tree..." [Vo pole beriozka stojala] from the final movement of Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony), the working methods come from the European tradition. Because of this, Russian classical music cannot serve as a "marker" of an "us" opposed to the foreign "other."

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The second reason Russian national classics resist politicization lies in the rapid disappearance of the rural folk tradition. To evaluate the musical expressiveness and extra-musical connotations of a folk melody incorporated into an art music work, it is necessary to know its original context, its social function, its relationship to other similar melodies, the meaning of its verbal component, and, above all, its performance technique (the timbre of the instrument; the manner of singing, e.g., throat singing). All of this proves impossible in the contemporary context, since the village as a form of territorial and social organization has disappeared along with the bearers of Russian singing traditions. Moreover, Soviet-era tape recordings, not to mention phonograph records or mere paper transcriptions, cannot provide a faithful or holistic representation of all of these components. Thus, not only to understand why Tchaikovsky chose to include the "Birch..." song in the finale of his Fourth Symphony,²⁶ but also to try to find new extra-musical connotations for this song, it is necessary to gather a great deal of information about it. Furthermore, by using folk elements, composers themselves have given popular melodies an extra-musical meaning that they did not originally have and which forms a counterpoint to their original meaning. For example, the song "Glory" [Slava] in Rimsky-Korsakov's *The Maid of Pskov* becomes a symbol of Tsar Ivan's strength; in Mussorgsky's *Khovanshchina*, the megalynic song "She swims, she swims, the little swan" [Plyv'ot, plyv'ot lebedushka] is used in the scene of Khovansky's murder as if to mock him. It is unlikely that government officials would be able to untangle these semantic overlaps without time-consuming investigative work and an investment that is unprofitable from a propaganda strategy point of view.²⁷ It is much simpler for the authorities to attempt to imitate professional art based on authentic folklore, that is, to create an appearance of it by using means of expression that evoke popular culture in the listener: modal systems (Aeolian and Dorian in particular), the timbres of the gusli and the pastoral horn, and melodies based on the pentatonic scale. A recent example is the ethno-opera *Prince Vladimir* (2025) by the composer Igor Matvienko, in which the above-mentioned means of expression are combined with rap and rock.²⁸

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The third reason for the resistance of classical works to politicization lies in the aesthetic preferences of the Russian public, which generally tends to take only limited interest in contemporary art music. The reasons stem not only from the fact that concert halls predominantly offer classical programs inherited from the Soviet era, but also from the decisive role that Soviet aesthetics played in shaping the tastes of a large part of the public – especially those not part of the so-called intelligentsia.²⁹ Raised on classical and romantic works based on melodies constructed according to understandable intonation patterns and the paradigm that music is the language of
feelings,³⁰ audiences continue to listen to the same repertoire (Mozart, Glinka, Chopin, Wagner).³¹ However, this repertoire is so familiar that it is impossible to give it new meaning, let alone a political or extra-artistic function. The musical taste of a large part of the Russian population seems to be primarily shaped by the school system, institutional music education,³² and by the dissemination of the canonical repertoire in the leading concert halls.

## The Case of Tchaikovsky: Political Essentialization

Under these circumstances, the authorities developed strategies to dissociate Russian classics from the European musical world. One of these strategies consisted of masking European influences in the work of a particular composer, so that only the Russian tradition was perceptible. While the phrase “Pushkin is our everything” prevails in literature,³³ Pyotr Tchaikovsky is frequently accorded a similar distinction.³⁴ This fact is historically and contextually motivated: Tchaikovsky’s numerous tours as a conductor and composer from the late 1880s in Europe and then in America (1891), as well as his exchanges with European musicians (Hans von Bülow, Edvard Grieg, Antonín Dvořák, Gustav Mahler, Arthur Nikisch, Camille Saint-Saëns, Ignacy Paderewski, Charles Gounod, Léo Delibes, and Jules Massenet, to name but a few) contributed to the spread of his music in an international context. The composer himself observed: “The Russian public must know that Russian musicians, whoever they may be, have upheld the banner of domestic art with honor and dignity in the great centers of Europe.”³⁵ Even in the current context, Tchaikovsky remains the most popular national composer in Russia today.³⁶

For these reasons, a complex mythology began to develop around this composer as early as the 1920s³⁷ and was reinforced throughout the 20th century. The authorities cannot deny the cosmopolitan status that Tchaikovsky had already acquired during his lifetime, thanks to his recognition in Europe and America. However, they turn this status to their advantage: the composer's popularity allows him to be presented as a vehicle for disseminating the art of the “Russian world”³⁸ abroad.³⁹ The question of the “Russianness” [russkost']⁴⁰ of Tchaikovsky's music, raised in the 1940s by Asafyev, remained relevant up until the creation of the international competition named after the composer in 1958.⁴¹ Asafyev primarily questioned the European subjects of Tchaikovsky's ballets, as well as his affinity with the work of Léo Delibes.⁴² According to the Soviet critic, the problem of identity does not lie in the realms of musical language and technique as such – these serve only as indicators of the composer's national belonging – while other parameters such as form, harmony, and orchestration adhere to European classical and romantic principles.⁴³ According to Soviet theorists, the markers of “Russianness” in Tchaikovsky's work are found above all in the melodic style and in the nature of the intonations organized into themes. This identity is particularly evident in the numerous folk quotations: like the members of the Mighty Handful, Tchaikovsky incorporated traditional Russian melodies into his works. In addition to the aforementioned “Birch Tree” song, one finds, for example, the tune “As on a Bridge, on a Little Bridge” [Uzh kak po mostu, mostochku] in Eugene Onegin, “Vanya Was Sitting on the Sofa” [Sidel Vanya na divane] in the second movement of the String Quartet № 1, “I Shall Sow, O My Maiden [Ya poseyu li mlada-mladen'ka] in the finale of the First Symphony, “Kamarinskaya” arranged for piano in the Album for the Young, and the
"Russian Song" from the same collection based on the theme "Oh My Head, My Head" [Golova l'moya, golovushka].⁴⁴ The composer himself stated that during his childhood he had been "steeped in the inexplicable beauty of the characteristic features of Russian folk music,"⁴⁵ and he published a collection of his own harmonic interpretations of popular songs. Many of his melodies are linked to the Russian lyrical extended folk song [russkaya protyazhnaya pesnya],⁴⁶ such as the principal theme of the first movement of Symphony Nº. 1, "Winter Daydreams." "I am Russian in the fullest sense of the word,"⁴⁷ he once declared.

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However, the use of folk melodies does not in itself guarantee the Russianness of the style, but rather often refers to a vaguer idea of a Russian theme: one can recall the example of Beethoven, who quotes Russian songs in his Russian quartets (Op. 59), notably the dance "Ah, Talan, my Talan" [Akh talan moy, talan] in the finale of the first and "Glory" [Slava] in the Allegretto trio of the second. In Tchaikovsky's works, the integration of Russian themes from popular culture into the European musical context can be seen, for example, in the development of the Russian folk theme mentioned above, "Vanya Was Sitting on the Sofa," which includes a gruppetto in the Baroque style (bars 19-20, 25-29). Such cases appear to reflect more a Europeanization of Russian musical material, which does not fit the current ideological line of "Russification" of Tchaikovsky's style. Even in Soviet times, ideologists focused not on the manner in which Tchaikovsky included folk themes in his works, but simply on their presence⁴⁸ and arbitrary correlation with the figures of leaders (Stalin, as we know, loved Tchaikovsky's music⁴⁹). In 1942, the variety artist Nikolai Smirnov-Sokolsky presented to the public the lyrical serial *In the Birch Field There Stood*, in which, accompanied by music from Tchaikovsky's *Fourth Symphony*, Lenin appears repeatedly writing the word "birch" in his notebook during the congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, interspersing it with notes on social and political matters.⁵⁰ Such a model of Soviet-style synthesis of the arts was intended by the organizers of this performance to convey to the audience an idea of patriotism, love for the native land, for its songs, and for the ordinary man who created them – embodied in life by Lenin and in art by Tchaikovsky. As observed by Albert Baïbourine:

> Folklore in Russia has therefore had a complex fate. From the start of the 19th century up to the era of perestroika, it was ascribed a particular significance not so much for its extraordinary qualities as for the role it was meant to play in ideological constructions.⁵¹

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In the context of present-day Russia, such propaganda is no longer effective. The public no longer recognizes most traditional songs, due, as already mentioned, to the disappearance of the folkloric tradition. The qualities that the public and artists continue to appreciate in Tchaikovsky's music are its emotionality and "excessive sensitivity,"⁵² the same qualities that were perceived negatively in the 1920s before becoming, in the 1940s, the traits of his myth, crystallized in the terms "accessibility, mass appeal, sincerity."⁵³ In 2020, in honor of the 180th anniversary of Tchaikovsky's birth, a number of articles were published in the press, in which we find similar ideas: "The main secret of his work is confession, which can only but move us and never leave one indifferent, for music is perhaps the only thing in which Tchaikovsky is absolutely sincere."⁵⁴ It is also in this light that we should understand the numerous concerts and patriotic events dedicated to him since.⁵⁵ For example, the lessons in the "Conversations About What Matters" cycle, introduced in Russian schools in September 2022 and centered on patriotism as a "traditional value,"⁵⁶ are devoted to
Tchaikovsky in recognition of his service to his country through art.⁵⁷ Grounded in notions such as “civic education,” “duty to the homeland and responsibility for its destiny,” and “constructive and useful work” as traditional values, this valorized service manifests itself through the elaboration of a musical discourse that is emotional, accessible, and intelligible to all – strongly echoing the notion of “the music of a fervent human heart” evoked by Asafyev.⁵⁸

The paradox is nonetheless striking: the effects of Tchaikovsky's music, celebrated today by the Russian authorities, stem from the use of pan-European melodic intonations in his melodies, such as the ascending minor sixths on the fifth degree in minor mode, and the numerous suspensions, sometimes embellished with chromaticism, forming the intonations of the *lamento* in the Andante cantabile of the *Fifth Symphony*. One can also discern the influence of Russian urban romance, which effectively reworks the same European material in a more ordinary form.⁵⁹ Yet despite this, these melodies came to be characterized as “Russian” and are considered foundational to Tchaikovsky’s oeuvre.⁶⁰ This distinctiveness has been explained by the so-called “crisis of intonation in Russian musical culture”⁶¹ during Tchaikovsky’s time: the recognition afforded to him relies on his ability to invest these melodies with “all the emotional and ideological content that was innate to him”⁶² and which leads to the “fixation of a qualitatively different, emotionally enriched state of mind.”⁶³

It is this aspect of “Russianness” – understood as heightened emotionality that orchestrates emotional shocks, tragic experiences, lovesick sorrows, wistful nostalgia, and other romantically inspired feelings – that becomes a central component of the contemporary myth of Tchaikovsky. Here, Russianness appears not as a characteristic of the musical material itself but as a philosophical category. The composer’s reputed mood swings and excessive emotional reactions⁶⁴ are emphasized, while other traits of his personality remain in the shadows – such as his homosexuality, which in contemporary Russia is either openly denied or strongly questioned, given its conflict with the doctrine of “traditional values.”⁶⁵

“The type of subtle spiritual organization of his personality, emotionally unstable and internally contradictory”⁶⁶: over the course of a century, these characteristics of Tchaikovsky have shifted from being seen as negative to positive, defining his image and encouraging listeners to “feel how ingeniously his score sounds.”⁶⁷ In the contemporary myth of Tchaikovsky, this kind of psycho-emotional mythology frequently associated with the composer is deeply linked to the notion of a “Russian soul.” This expression first appeared in the press in 1842, in Vissarion Belinsky’s review of Nikolai Gogol’s *Dead Souls*,⁶⁸ but the meaning of this mythologeme has since evolved considerably.⁶⁹ It has been used to evoke an emotionality reaching into passion (Belinsky describes the “Russian soul” as “broad and bold”), prompting a marked tendency in the Russian people toward “a subjectivity that prevents them from being detached from the world with apathetic indifference.”⁷⁰ This was how Tchaikovsky’s music was interpreted in the 1930s, with critics seeing in it characteristics similar to the idea of heroic resistance to *fatum*, protest against injustice, and even class struggle.⁷¹ Today, instead of heroizing Tchaikovsky, the public and press depict him as a composer who sings of what ordinary people hold most dear: love of nature, the comfort of home, nostalgia for the past, with his music expressing all of their hopes and aspirations.⁷² Tchaikovsky’s work, interpreted as a correlate of the Russian inner world, is metaphorically described as “music of the Russian soul.”⁷³
21 To support their reinterpretation of the Tchaikovsky myth, Russian exegetes often rely on a letter in which the composer describes his creative process as the “musical confession of a soul on which many things have accumulated and which, by its essential nature, pours out through sounds, in the same way that a lyric poet expresses himself in verse.”⁷⁴ Yet several aspects of this citation diverge from the way it is interpreted by the authorities. In the letter quoted, Tchaikovsky refers solely to instrumental music without programmatic intent. Moreover, he does not extend the notion of “confession” to potential listeners of his music, to society at large, or to the collective image of the Russian person. He speaks only of his own personality and personal experiences: “in my writings, all my Russian soul is expressed.”⁷⁵ Consequently, the attempt to appropriate these experiences and disseminate them as widely as possible must be understood as an aesthetic program whose objective foundations remain debatable. Moreover, to present Tchaikovsky’s work as the quintessence of the Russian mentality, certain politically engaged figures in the artistic world even resort to wordplay. For instance, Hans-Joachim Frey – decorated with the Order of Friendship by Vladimir Putin, artistic director of the educational foundation “Talent and Success” (Sochi), and advisor to the general director of the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia – operates a form of semantic shift based on metonymy: he no longer describes Tchaikovsky’s work as the music of the Russian soul, but rather identifies the composer himself as the “Russian soul.”⁷⁶ In this way, the strategy of mythologizing Tchaikovsky and his music consists of blending the composer’s individual qualities, the properties of his music, the characteristics of his presumed perception, and the specifics of a “Russian mentality,” and combining all of these elements into the mythologeme of the “Russian soul” – whose content, like any mythologeme, can be adjusted to align with the values and events that the authorities wish to promote.

## Swan Lake: A Show for the Masses

22 Another type of political manipulation of Tchaikovsky's music, adopted by the organizers of various events close to the authorities, consists of turning it into music for mass performances. Here, Tchaikovsky's ideas, identifiable in his letters and the librettos of his operas and ballets, are no longer adapted in the heroic, realist manner characteristic of the Soviet era, but rather in a purely entertaining mode.⁷⁷

23 This conversion of Tchaikovsky's music takes place in three stages. First, introducing listeners to the great classics aims to instill in them a patriotic feeling of belonging to the country that gave Tchaikovsky to the world (“historical memory” as a traditional value).⁷⁸ Second, official cultural outlets present stagings of Tchaikovsky's ballets as a “festive ritual”⁷⁹ in which participation is essential. This approach helps transform the composer's legacy into music for the masses. The listener becomes a consumer, and Tchaikovsky's works a product of mass culture. Thirdly, the “optimistic” aspect of Tchaikovsky – developed in the 1930s by Andrey Budyakovsky – is accentuated: “the nostalgia of Tchaikovsky is the result of his cheerfulness,” fighting against *fatum*, “that fatal force which prevents the fulfillment of the impulse toward happiness.”⁸⁰ This image of the composer conflicts with the melancholy and tragedy of the “Russian soul” and, consequently, with the version of the composer's mythologization described above. This is one of the contradictions of the cultural situation of classical music in Russia: the two images of Tchaikovsky coexist and develop in parallel.
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Those involved in the cultural sector tend to emphasize primarily the entertaining dimension of Tchaikovsky's work, in order to capture the public's attention. Tchaikovsky thus becomes hostage to the melodic nature of his works: the abundance of melodies with typical romantic intonations makes them easy to recognize and remember ("If you hear just one of the symphonies, you can immediately sing a melody"⁸¹). In this respect, it is interesting to note Vladimir Putin's own point of view, expressed during a meeting with students at the Yakutsk Higher School of Music. When asked about his musical preferences, he replied: "Russian classics – Tchaikovsky, of course; among foreign composers – Mozart. Composers as complex as Wagner are obviously difficult for the ear of an unprepared listener to grasp."⁸² The question of the accessibility of Tchaikovsky's music, and the reasons for it, has been extensively studied. ⁸³And it is perhaps precisely this simplicity that the authorities and their cultural intermediaries are counting on: music that is easily accessible and long beloved by the public can be mobilized in a wide variety of semantic contexts – while continuing to capture listeners' attention thanks to its popularity, thus serving as an attraction for attending particular events.

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However, because of the long history of the reception of Tchaikovsky's works in Russia, their resonance can evoke diametrically opposed extra-musical connotations, shaped by the public's cultural memory.⁸⁴ Let us consider a particularly revealing example. The most distinctive hermeneutic situation occurs in the case of Tchaikovsky's most popular melody – a sort of metonymy for his music in the USSR and contemporary Russia: the theme of Odette in the ballet *Swan Lake*. The image of the enchanted girl and her tragic fate becomes an extra-musical factor shaping the public's perception of the theme.⁸⁵ In conjunction with the *"fatum chord"*⁸⁶ (third measure of the swan theme) – a harmonic leitmotif in Tchaikovsky's œuvre – these connotations can bring out the theme's dark "aura."⁸⁷ The formation of these thematic semantics is observed by André Lischke:

> It is, on the oboe, the poignant and most famous of all Tchaikovsky's melodies, this leitmotif of the swans – or more precisely of Odette – of which the introduction had given us a first sketch, now supported by harp arpeggios and string tremolos. We know Tchaikovsky's ability to completely transform the semantics of a melody through orchestration alone; when the leitmotif is taken up *fortissimo* by a wind ensemble dominated by horns, it resounds with the full weight of fate and occult malediction.⁸⁸

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Yet the simplicity of the melody – together with the clearly felt accents on *F-sharp*, underscoring the severity of the piece – calls for a more popular treatment (accentuation with percussion instruments).

27

This is likely where the root of the music's dual interpretation lies. On the one hand, it may well be associated with the idea of death, destruction, and catastrophe, along with other minor-key passages in the ballet. This interpretation was reinforced during the Soviet era: *Swan Lake* was broadcast on television on the days of the funerals of the General Secretaries of the Central Committee of the CPSU (Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko⁸⁹), and this "mourning" tradition was revived during the COVID-19 pandemic.⁹⁰ More recently, these politically tinged associations have helped correlate the notion of the death of the leader with the desired removal of the current president, especially as the ballet became a symbol of the August 1991 coup – and, consequently, of a change in the political climate of the country (it was aired on all television channels for three consecutive days⁹¹). Oleksiy Honcharenko, a Ukrainian Member of
Parliament, thus wrote in 2014, at the outset of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict: "Since Vladimir Putin made his fatal error in launching an aggression against Ukraine, Odessa, as a cultural capital, has decided to perform this fateful work for him."⁹² In 2018, graffiti depicting a ballet scene appeared in Saint Petersburg on the occasion of Putin's inauguration.⁹³ During rumors of Putin's death in October 2023, a cartoon circulating online depicted the "little swans," one of them holding a phone and saying, "Until we have solid proof, there will be no ballet."⁹⁴ All this has led some critics and musicians to interpret the music of this ballet as a symbol of protest sentiment in contemporary Russia.⁹⁵ The most recent example (November 2023) is Pussy Riot's video clip "Swan Lake," in which the swan theme is presented both as a symbol of protest ("we will not forgive you and will burn the remains, the Ostankino tower will burn beautifully") and a symbol of a dying contemporary Russia ("traditional values," "brain substitution – Russia today," "winter departs – hell arrives").⁹⁶

28

On the other hand, however, the swan theme – the ballet's main theme – can also be interpreted as the emblem of the work: it is the ballet's only true leitmotif.⁹⁷ Despite its difficult stage history and a lukewarm reception at its premiere, the ballet began to gain in popularity after the composer's death, and it enjoyed a rich posthumous career in the Soviet era (especially the "Dance of the Little Swans"⁹⁸). Thus, it appears that the ballet was broadcast during the August 1991 coup because the authorities were counting on its appeal for ordinary citizens – in other words, it may have been used as a form of distraction.⁹⁹ "For three decades now, *Swan Lake* has borne the label of the 'most politicized ballet,'"¹⁰⁰ observes Olga Svistunova.

29

Nevertheless, in the current context, this “politicization” of the ballet *Swan Lake* carries other connotations. Rather than reinforcing its funerary associations – whose implications those in power might fear – it seems logical that they would seek to replace them with ideas of entertainment and festive enchantment. According to Tatiana Navka, wife of Putin’s spokesperson, the president has a fondness for this ballet.¹⁰¹ An Olympic figure-skating champion, Navka staged in 2021 her own ice show version of *Swan Lake* in Moscow, set to Tchaikovsky’s music – a production that has continued to tour successfully in other cities (Sochi in 2022 and Saint Petersburg in 2024-2025).¹⁰² The event presentation describes *Swan Lake* as “a wonderful ‘medieval’ fairy tale for the whole family, about an enchanted young woman, an enamored prince, and an evil sorcerer.”¹⁰³ The show features special effects, cartoon-like sets, laser lighting, and fireworks. It promotes values such as “good triumphs over evil” and “love rules the world.”¹⁰⁴ The producers say they want “the *finale* of the show to be special. A fairy tale should always remind us that miracles are possible. Our show is built upon the great power of Love, which can overcome all difficulties and obstacles.”¹⁰⁵ One can detect a Soviet imprint in this interpretation of the ballet, whose ending has been rewritten as a happy one.¹⁰⁶ Yet, unlike the Soviet-era ballet masters, who justified such a resolution, Navka offers no such rationale. Instead, the emphasis falls squarely on spectacle, and the prince’s duel with the sorcerer seems straight from a video game (sparks flying from swords, blood-red glints, etc.)¹⁰⁷ In Navka’s view, the aim as to “infuse a bit of modernity into the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky! I am certain this performance will captivate everyone, young and old alike, and the classic Russian ballet on ice will reveal new facets, becoming even more intriguing, enchanting, and beautiful.”¹⁰⁸ Apparently, “a bit of modernity” refers to the computer processing applied to Tchaikovsky’s score. This approach that fits logically within the ideology of the creative economy,¹⁰⁹ even though the artistic product here is developed not from
scratch but from an existing work in the repertoire – which is integrated as one element in a synthetic whole and must, as such, harmonize with the other components. Instead of interpreting Tchaikovsky’s work with new technological and visual means (the body language of athletes and movements of figure-skaters, which would differ from the movements of the original ballet), Navka chooses to “modernize” it. This modernization differs from interpretation in three aspects: 1) alternation of the original music with fragments of modern pop compositions; 2) treatment of Tchaikovsky’s themes with accentuated *forte* in the percussion, and the use of electronic sounds; 3) emphasis on the visual component, unrelated to the music itself (acrobatics and stunts).¹¹⁰

This trend – the transformation of classical art into low-cost spectacle (in line with the strategy of the creative economy) – reflects a governmental intent to manipulate public consciousness. Such a strategy does not pursue an aesthetic goal, such as experimentation between classical art and popular culture styles, but rather a social goal: to divert the population’s attention from current economic and political problems. To this end, the authorities offer a wide range of entertainment, suited to all tastes and budgets, as if to enact a kind of “reverse projection” of the fairy tale onto reality (recalling the Soviet song lyric: “We are born to make fairy tales come true” [*My rozhdeny, chtob skazku sdelat’ byl’yu*]). This projection, realized through the medium of classical music, creates the illusion of access to a lofty ideal. And if the genre of the show necessarily entails some simplification¹¹¹ of the plot and its staging, the transformation of authentic ballet productions into such spectacles reveals the ongoing process of politicizing the classics. It is worth noting that, for the president, the spectacle and classical ballet appear to hold aesthetic equivalence: after fulfilling a schoolgirl’s dream of seeing *Swan Lake* at the Mariinsky Theatre, Putin immediately suggested she also attend the ice show version in Moscow.¹¹²

It is not surprising that other Tchaikovsky ballets at the Bolshoi Theatre, such as *The Nutcracker* (each year for the New Year holidays) and *Sleeping Beauty* (September-November 2024), serve primarily as an elegant backdrop for high-society outings:¹¹³ everyone wants to be seen partaking in “high art,” crowding into lines and buying tickets at exorbitant prices.¹¹⁴ It amounts to a parodic implementation of the old Soviet slogan “Art to the masses,”¹¹⁵ now transformed into a program of “Spectacle for the masses” that ostensibly upholds a “traditional value” such as “collectivism.”¹¹⁶

This “collectivism” is meant to form part of the “Russian world” and to define it: its other side – no longer festive but aggressive – must be the drive to defend the homeland and reinforce its greatness, in accordance with “traditional values” such as “patriotism, citizenship, service to the homeland, and responsibility for its destiny.”¹¹⁷ These values must be brought up to date by activating “historical memory,” which, in the sphere of musical art, is implemented through references to classical works with an appropriate thematic orientation. For example, for the opening of the 2024-2025 season in Moscow, Valery Gergiev chose Alexander Borodin’s *Prince Igor* in the 1954 production.¹¹⁸ Nor are the regional stages lagging behind: in September 2023, the Astrakhan Opera and Ballet Theater staged Mikhail Glinka’s *Ivan Susanin* “with the support of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives” (as indicated on the poster¹¹⁹).

Both productions follow the spirit of the historical “costume concert.” At the core of this concept is the idea of serving the homeland and authorities, with nobility and strength of spirit. In themselves, such productions need not be overtly politically: when
the subject glorifies authority and the hero sacrifices his life for the sovereign (against the composer's wishes, the title of *Ivan Susanin* was changed during rehearsals to *A Life for the Tsar*¹²⁰), one must always keep in mind the sociocultural and political context in which the work was created. Yet these productions take shape in an environment where any artistic expression struggles to escape an ideological charge. They are therefore imbued with a political coloring specific to the discursive framework of today's Russia. Thus, critics have characterized *Susanin* not as a historical revival but as a “patriotic” staging.¹²¹ As for *Prince Igor* under Gergiev, the emphasis is on the continuity of “Soviet epic spectacle traditions” and on its “powerful patriotism.”¹²² Such is the fate of classical music in the Russian sociocultural sphere: to be subjected to ideological violence – and to the dissemination of extra-musical meanings that are superimposed upon it and serve to deconstruct it.

Conclusion

34

When it comes to classical music, the strategies employed by the government and its affiliates are clearly visible in the example of Tchaikovsky. In a matter of years, the composer has become a symbol of Russian culture as a whole and the very embodiment of the “Russian soul.” Several strategies have been employed to place him in this role: 1) using quotes from his writings or statements out of context, and generalizing them, as well as projecting characteristics of his personality and work onto his representation of society and his inner world; 2) in the press, relying on myth-makers evoking the “Russian world” in connection with the composer’s public image; 3) evaluating the typical psycho-emotional response to his music as a basis for generalizing the content of his work (within this paradigm, music is the language of feelings). Here, the image of Tchaikovsky aligns with traditional values and ideas such as citizenship, patriotism, love of country, and the primacy of the spiritual over the material. At the same time, as under the Soviet regime, Tchaikovsky is cast as a “mass” and “popular”, though not “realist,” composer.¹²³ On the contrary, he is seen as an artist crafting naive tales about the triumph of Good and Light over Evil – values that resonate with the regime’s exaltation of “high moral ideals.”

35

Although these two sides of the composer do not really go together, they persist in constant coexistence. In the Soviet era, it was essential that the development of the composer's myth remain coherent – a requirement that explains why such divergent interpretations were not observed at the time. By contrast, the contemporary myth of Tchaikovsky fragments into contradictory elements, leading inevitably to the deconstruction of the myth itself. Under the USSR, the denial of certain aspects of the composer's work (for example, his pessimism and tragic sense) and, conversely, the oversimplification of traits of his personality (such as resolving the question of his attitude toward religion unconditionally in favor of atheism) were carried out in accordance with clearly defined objectives.¹²⁴ Today, however, the ideological framework meant to serve the notion of the “Russian world” is much more vague, such that no consistent correlation is maintained between the government's agenda and the artistic meaning of Tchaikovsky's creativity.

36

Other Russian music classics have not escaped Tchaikovsky's fate. It is telling that these are composers whose work belonged stylistically to his school, such as Sergei Taneyev, one of his students, and Sergei Rachmaninoff. In Taneyev's case, we observe an attempt
to recast him as an Orthodox composer – at odds with his well-known beliefs – who allegedly ignored European tradition and composed solely on folkloric and religious models (a claim refuted by analysis of thematic structure, harmony, and form in his symphony and string quartets).¹²⁵ As for Rachmaninoff, patriotic researchers and critics draw attention to the final years of his life: relying on dubious recollections by Gromyko,¹²⁶ they assert that he dreamed of returning to his homeland, settling in the USSR, and forgetting America¹²⁷ (a claim contradicted by his obtainment of U.S. citizenship). However, the question of the ideologization of these two composers would require a separate study in itself.

37

The fate of classical music's legacy in modern Russia is unenviable, particularly given the difficulties of creating new professional works capable of attaining the status of future classics, as professional ties with the Western tradition have once again been severed – just as they were during the revolution. This view of the situation rests on objective grounds. First, the European orientation of professional music training in Russia – from the founding of the Saint Petersburg (1862) and Moscow (1866) conservatories to the present – is reflected in the curricula and the theoretical and aesthetic foundations of the music pedagogy.¹²⁸ The constant updating of these foundations in line with developments in contemporary musical thought and practice is only possible through the direct participation of Russian musicians in scientific and artistic events in the European music world. Secondly, the progressive development of Russian compositional practices, consolidated by the creation of the new Association for Contemporary Music in 1990¹²⁹ and by the intensification of cultural exchanges with the West from the late 1980s onward,¹³⁰ has now been disrupted due to the current political context.

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## Press articles

"A vacation home in the 'Stalinist Empire' style will appear in the Dmitrov Municipal District" [ДОМ ОТДЫХА В СТИЛЕ "СТАЛИНСКИЙ АМПИР" ПОЯВИТСЯ В ДМИТРОВСКОМ ГОРОДСКОМ ОКРУГЕ], RIAMO [РИАМО], April 11, 2024, URL: https://riamo.ru/news/nedvizhimost/dom-otdyha-v-stile-stalinskij-ampir-pojavitsja-v-dmitrovskom-gorodskom-okruge/, accessed September 10, 2024.

ALEKSANDROVA Olga [АЛЕКСАНДРОВА ОЛЬГА], ""On stupidity and idiocy": Russia invents standards for writers" ["ДУРЬ И ИДИОТИЗМ": В РОССИИ ПРИДУМАЛИ СТАНДАРТЫ ДЛЯ ПИСАТЕЛЕЙ], Radio Svoboda [РАДИО СВОБОДА], September 20, 2024, URL: https://www.svoboda.org/a/durj-i-idiotizm-v-rossii-pridumali-standarty-dlya-pisateley/33127602.html, accessed September 28, 2024.

ARONSON Vika, MIELKE Brad, and DELISO Meredith, "How 'Swan Lake' became a symbol of protest in Russia," ABC News, April 29, 2022, URL: https://abcnews.go.com/International/swan-lake-symbol-protest-russia/story?id=84401801, accessed September 10, 2024.

AYNBINDER Ada [АЙНБИНДЕР АДА], "Is Tchaikovsky our everything?" [ЧАЙКОВСКИЙ – НАШЕ ВСЕ?], Muzykalnaya zhizn [МУЗЫКАЛЬНАЯ ЖИЗНЬ], 29/05/2020, URL: https://muzlifemagazine.ru/chaykovskiy-nashe-vse/, accessed 10 March 2025.

BARABASH Ekaterina [БАРАБАШ ЕКАТЕРИНА], "Interview with Medinsky: 'There is no evidence of Tchaikovsky's homosexuality'" [ИНТЕРВЬЮ С МЕДИНСКИМ: "НЕТ НИКАКИХ ДОКАЗАТЕЛЬСТВ ГОМОСЕКСУАЛЬНОСТИ ЧАЙКОВСКОГО], Interfax, September 17, 2013, URL: https://www.interfax.ru/interview/329409, accessed June 21, 2025.
BAUNOV Aleksandr [БАУНОВ АЛЕКСАНДР], “The aesthetic ideal of the people in the service of the state” [ЭСТЕТИЧЕСКИЙ ИДЕАЛ НАРОДА НА СЛУЖБЕ У ГОСУДАРСТВА], *Carnegie Endowment for International Peace*, September 22, 2015, URL: https://carnegieendowment.org/posts/2015/09/esteticheskij-ideal-naroda-na-sluzhbe-u-gosudarstva?lang=ru, accessed March 10, 2025.

BELOVA Daria [БЕЛОВА ДАРЬЯ], “The Nutcracker: how did a fairy tale become a favorite ballet?” [ЩЕЛКУНЧИК: КАК СКАЗКА СТАЛА ЛЮБИМЫМ ВАЛЕТОМ?], *Saint Petersburg Culture Portal* [ПОРТАЛ “КУЛЬТУРА ПЕТЕРБУРГА], December 3, 2024, URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20250421201009/https://www.spbcult.ru/articles/iskusstvo/shchelkunchik-kak-skazka-stala-lyubimym-baletom/, accessed June 23, 2025.

BONDARENKO N.F. [БОНДАРЕНКО Н. Ф.], “Tchaikovsky as a Patriot” [ЧАЙКОВСКИЙ КАК ПАТРИОТ], *Communist Party of the Russian Federation* - Stavropol [КРПФ-СТАВРОПОЛЬЕ], official website, August 8, 2019, URL: https://kprf26.ru/17787, accessed June 22, 2025.

ВИККЕР Igor [БУККЕР ИГОРЬ], “‘Swan Lake’ – A Long-Playing Commemorative Melody?” [“ЛЕБЕДИНОЕ ОЗЕРО” – ДОЛГОИГРАЮЩАЯ ПОМИНАЛЬНАЯ МЕЛОДИЯ?], *Pravda* [ПРАВДА], 01/03/2007, URL: https://www.pravda.ru/culture/214937-swanolake/, accessed September 10, 2024.

DOLGACHEVA Larisa [ДОЛГАЧЕВА ЛАРИСА], “The entrance of Prince Igor on a white horse” [“ВЪЕЗД “КНЯЗЯ ИГОРЯ” НА БЕЛОМ КОНЕ”], *Da capo al fine*, September 20, 2024, URL: https://gazetaigraem.ru/article/44073, accessed June 20, 2025.

GAVRILOVA Lyudmila, KARLOVA Olga, and MOSKALYUK Marina [ГАВРИЛОВА ЛЮДМИЛА, КАРЛОВА ОЛЬГА, МОСКАЛЮК МАРИНА], “The Constant of the Russian Soul: Tchaikovsky, Levitan, Bunin” [КОНСТАНТА РУССКОЙ ДУШИ: ЧАЙКОВСКИЙ, ЛЕВИТАН, БУНИН], *Den i noch* [ДЕНЬ И НОЧЬ], n°. 6, 2010, URL: https://magazines.gorky.media/din/2010/6/konstanta-russkoj-dushi-chajkovskij-levitan-bunin.html, accessed June 13, 2025.

GENOVA Anna [ГЕНОВА АННА], “Tchaikovsky. A Russian Genius” [ЧАЙКОВСКИЙ. РУССКИЙ ГЕНИЙ]. *Russkiy mir* [РУССКИЙ МИР], 07/05/2015, URL: https://russkiymir.ru/publications/189740/, accessed 13 March 2025.

HONCHARENKO Oleksiy [ГОНЧАРЕНКО ОЛЕКСІЙ], “‘Swan Lake’ for Putin” [“ЛЕБЕДИНОЕ ОЗЕРО” ДЛЯ ПУТИНА], *Ukrainska Pravda* [УКРАЇНСЬКА ПРАВДА], April 30, 2014, URL: https://blogs.pravda.com.ua/authors/goncharenko/5360db40b189c/page_4/, accessed September 10, 2024.

“In Volgograd, a restored Stalinist Empire-style complex is being saved in Gagarin Park” [В ВОЛГОГРАДЕ СПАСАЮТ ВОЗРОЖДЕННЫЙ СТАЛИНСКИЙ АМПИР В ПАРКЕ ГАГАРИНА], *Vysota* 102 [ВЫСОТА 102], 30/08/2024, URL: https://v102.ru/news/133837.html, accessed September 10, 2024.

KHARPALEVA Natalia [ХАРПАЛЕВА НАТАЛЬЯ], “Serge Rachmaninoff: Gone But Not Betrayed” [СЕРГЕЙ РАХМАНИНОВ: УЕХАВШИЙ, НО НЕ ПРЕДАВШИЙ], *Foma* [ФОМА], 01/04/2023, URL: https://foma.ru/rahmaninov-chto-jetot-znamenityj-jemigrant-dumal-o-rossii-gde-ego-objavili-materymvragom.html, accessed 10 March 2025.

KOSHEHKINA Varvara [КОШЕЧКИНА, ВАРВАРА], “Putin spoke to a 13-year-old girl after her wish was granted” [“ПУТИН ПОГОВОРИЛ С 13-ЛЕТНЕЙ ДЕВОЧКОЙ ПОСЛЕ ИСПОЛНЕНИЯ ЕЕ ЖЕЛАНИЯ”], *Lenta.ru*, December 15, 2012, URL: https://lenta.ru/news/2021/12/15/pogovoril/, accessed September 8, 2024.

KUDRYACHOV Konstantin [КУДРЯШОВ КОНСТАНТИН], “The Other Tchaikovsky. Every six minutes, one of the composer’s works is performed somewhere in the world,” [ДРУГОЙ ЧАЙКОВСКИЙ.
КАЖДЫЕ 6 МИНУТ В МИРЕ ИСПОЛНЯЮТ ПРОИЗВЕДЕНИЕ КОМПОЗИТОРА]. Argoumenty i Fakty
[АРГУМЕНТЫ И ФАКТЫ], nº. 19, 07/05/2020, URL: https://aif.ru/culture/person/
drugoy_chaykovskiy_kazhdye_6_minut_v_mire_ispolnyayut_proizvedenie_kompozitora,
accessed March 10, 2025.

LACHENDRO Zuzanna, "How 'Swan Lake' Became a Cultural Phenomenon," *The New Statesman*, March 26, 2024, URL: https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/theatre/2024/03/how-swan-lake-became-cultural-phenomenon, accessed September 10, 2024.

ЛОВОВА Svetlana [ЛОБОВА СВЕТЛАНА], “185 years since the birth of Pyotr Tchaikovsky: what will be discussed in the ‘Conversations About What Matters’ on March 31” [185 ЛЕТ СО ДНЯ РОЖДЕНИЯ ПЕТРА ЧАЙКОВСКОГО: О ЧЕМ ПОЙДЕТ РЕЧЬ НА «РАЗГОВОРАХ О ВАЖНОМ» 31 МАРТА], *Uchitelskaya Gazeta* [УЧИТЕЛЬСКАЯ ГАЗЕТА], March 28, 2025, URL: https://ug.ru/185-let-so-dnya-rozhdeniya-petra-chajkovskogo-o-chem-pojdet-rech-na-razgovorah-o-vazhnom-31-marta/, accessed March 28, 2025.

LOTSIK Polina [ЛОЦИК ПОЛИНА], “Tatiana Navka’s show Swan Lake will take place in Saint Petersburg from December 26 to January 7” [ШОУ ТАТЬЯНЫ НАВКИ “ЛЕБЕДИНОЕ ОЗЕРО” ПРОЙДЕТ В САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГЕ С 26 ДЕКАБРЯ ПО 7 ЯНВАРЯ], *Sports.ru*, October 1, 2024, URL: https://www.sports.ru/figure-skating/1116428396-shou-tatyany-navki-lebedinoe-ozero-projdet-v-sanktpeterburge-s-26-dek.html, accessed September 12, 2024.

MATUSEVICH Aleksandr [МАТУСЕВИЧ АЛЕКСАНДР], “Patriotic Premiere: *Ivan Soussanine* at the Gates of the Astrakhan Kremlin” [ПАТРИОТИЧЕСКАЯ ПРЕМЬЕРА: “ИВАН СУСАНИН” У СТЕН АСТРАХАНСКОГО КРЕМЛЯ], *Astrakhan State Opera and Ballet Theater* [АСТРАХАНСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ ТЕАТР ОПЕРЫ И БАЛЕТА], official website, “News” section, 09/08/2023, URL: https://www.astoperahouse.ru/news/7155-patrioticheskaya-premera-ivan-susanin-u-sten-astrakhanskogo-kremlya, accessed June 20, 2025.

MEDVEDEV Sergey [МЕДВЕДЕВ СЕРГЕЙ], “Artemy Troitsky: ‘There will be no culture in Russia’” [АРТЕМИЙ ТРОИЦКИЙ: “КУЛЬТУРЫ В РОССИИ НЕ БУДЕТ”], *Radio Svoboda* [РАДИО СВОБОДА], February 18, 2024, URL: https://www.svoboda.org/a/artemiy-troitskiy-kuljtury-v-rossii-nye-budet-/32823097.html, accessed March 7, 2025.

MELNIK Yan [МЕЛЬНИК ЯН], “Tatiana Navka: Putin likes *Swan Lake*, and my husband doesn’t like it at all. But I always go against the grain: ‘No, I’ll prove to you that it will be a cool performance.’” [ТАТЬЯНА НАВКА: ПУТИНУ НРАВИТСЯ “ЛЕБЕДИНОЕ ОЗЕРО,” А МОЕМУ СУПРУГУ – КАТЕГОРИЧЕСКИ НЕТ. НО Я ВСЕГДА ИДУ ВРАЗРЕЗ: “НЕТ, Я ТЕБЕ ДОКАЖУ, ЧТО ЭТО БУДЕТ КРУТОЙ СПЕКТАКЛЬ”], *Sports.ru*, December 22, 2021, URL: https://www.sports.ru/figure-skating/1104609204-tatyana-navka-putinu-nravitsya-lebedinoe-ozero-a-moemu-suprugu-kategor.html, accessed September 10, 2024.

“Muscovites queue for days for tickets to *The Nutcracker* ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre” [МОСКВИЧИ СУТКАМИ СТОЯТ В ОЧЕРЕДИ ЗА БИЛЕТАМИ НА БАЛЕТ «ЩЕЛКУНЧИК» В БОЛЬШОМ ТЕАТРЕ], *Meduza*, November 9, 2023, URL: https://meduza.io/feature/2023/11/09/moskvichisutkami-stoyat-v-ocheredyah-za-biletami-na-balet-schelkunchik-v-bolshom-teatre, accessed September 10, 2024.

“‘Muzykalnoe obozrenie’ and Tchaikovsky [“МУЗЫКАЛЬНОЕ ОБОЗРЕНИЕ” и ЧАЙКОВСКИЙ], *Muzykalnoe obozrenie* [МУЗЫКАЛЬНОЕ ОБОЗРЕНИЕ], vol. 465, nº. 8, 2000, URL: https://muzobozrenie.ru/nash-chajkovskij/, accessed March 10, 2025.
"Navka asked the state for 29.5 million rubles for her ice show" [НАВКА ЗАПРОСИЛА У ГОСУДАРСТВА ₡29,5 МЛН НА СВОЕ ЛЕДОВОЕ ШОУ], RBK [РБК], September 12, 2024, URL: https://www.rbc.ru/sport/12/09/2024/66e2f6ee9a7947b58e5e079f, accessed March 11, 2025.

PILYASOV Anton [ПИЛИЯСОВ АНТОН], "Navka on the new show: 'Swan Lake' is my lifelong dream, which could not be realized in sports" [НАВКА О НОВОМ ШОУ: "ЛЕБЕДИНОЕ ОЗЕРО – МЕЧТА ВСЕЙ МОЕЙ ЖИЗНИ, КОТОРУЮ НЕ УДАЛОСЬ ВОПЛОТИТЬ В СПОРТЕ"], Sports.ru, April 12, 2020, URL: https://www.sports.ru/figure-skating/1084864092.html, accessed September 10, 2024.

"Premiere 2024: Swan Lake: Premiere in Petersburg" [ПРЕМЬЕРА 2024: "ЛЕБЕДИНОЕ ОЗЕРО": ПРЕМЬЕРА В ПЕТЕРБУРГЕ], Navka.show, poster [АФИША], URL: https://navka.show/shows/lebedinoe-ozero-petersburg, accessed March 30, 2025.

"Putin named Tchaikovsky and Mozart his favorite classical composers" [ПУТИН НАЗВАЛ ЧАЙКОВСКОГО И МОЦАРТА ЛЮБИМЫМИ КЛАССИЧЕСКИМИ КОМПОЗИТОРАМИ], Krasnaya Vesna [КРАСНАЯ ВЕСНА], June 18, 2024, URL: https://rossaprimavera.ru/news/fd03feb7, accessed March 10, 2025.

"Putin signed the law on the inadmissibility of foreign words" [ПУТИН ПОДПИСАЛ ЗАКОН О НЕДОПУСТИМОСТИ ИНОСТРАННЫХ СЛОВ], RBK [РБК], February 28, 2023, URL: https://www.rbc.ru/rbcfreenews/63fe4c789a7947188c29e726, accessed March 10, 2025.

"Rumors about Putin's death: Swan Lake will not (yet) be performed" [СЛУХИ О СМЕРТИ ПУТИНА: "ЛЕБЕДИНОГО ОЗЕРА" (ПОКА) НЕ БУДЕТ], DW, October 27, 2023, URL: https://www.dw.com/ru/sluhi-o-smerti-putina-lebedinogo-ozera-poka-ne-budet/a-67232567, accessed September 10, 2024.

"Russian schools introduce 'Family Studies': Will students save them from the demographic crisis?" [В РОССИЙСКИХ ШКОЛАХ ВВОДЯТ "СЕМЬЕВЕДЕНИЕ": ОТ ДЕМОГРАФИЧЕСКОГО КРИЗИСА СПАСУТ УЧЕНИКИ?], Radio Svoboda [РАДИО СВОБОДА], April 2, 2025, URL: https://www.svoboda.org/a/v-rossiyskih-shkolah-vvodyat-semevedenie-ot-demograficheskogo-krizisaspasut-ucheniki-/33368586.html, accessed April 2, 2025.

SAYKINA Ekaterina [САЙКИНА ЕКАТЕРИНА], "Who listens to classical music and why it is not losing popularity" [КТО СЛУШАЕТ КЛАССИКУ И ПОЧЕМУ ОНА НЕ ТЕРЯЕТ ПОПУЛЯРНОСТИ], Sirius, December 14, 2024, URL: https://siriusmag.ru/articles/2850-kto-slusaet-klassiku-i-pocemu-onane-teraet-popularnost/, accessed June 21, 2025.

"Scene from Swan Lake at Putin's inauguration, the art collective 'Yav' paints new graffiti in Saint Petersburg" [СЦЕНА ИЗ "ЛЕБЕДИНОГО ОЗЕРА" К ИНАУГУРАЦИИ ПУТИНА АРТ-ГРУППА "ЯВЬ" НАРИСОВАЛА НОВОЕ ГРАФФИТИ В САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГЕ], The Village, May 7, 2018 URL: https://www.the-village.ru/city/news/311389-black-black-swan, accessed September 10, 2024.

SEDOVA Galina [СЕДОВА ГАЛИНА], "Why Pushkin is 'our everything'" [ПОЧЕМУ "ПУШКИН – НАШЕ ВСЕ"], Culture.rf [КУЛЬТУРА.РФ], n.d., URL: https://www.culture.ru/s/vopros/pushkin-nashe-vse/, accessed September 7, 2024.

SHARIKOV Aleksandr [ШАРИКОВ АЛЕКСАНДР], "The audience of the classical music radio station 'Orfey': results of empirical research (2005-2015)" ["АУДИТОРИЯ РАДИОСТАНЦИИ КЛАССИЧЕСКОЙ МУЗЫКИ "ОРФЕЙ": РЕЗУЛЬТАТЫ ЭМПИРИЧЕСКИХ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ (2005-2015)"]], Science of Television [НАУКА ТЕЛЕВИДЕНИЯ], vol. 13, nº 2, 2017, p. 124-160, URL: https://tv-science.online/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/NT13.2.pdf, accessed July 25, 2025.
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SIROTA Anna [СИРОТА АННА], “Hans-Joachim Frye: ‘Tchaikovsky is a Russian soul’” [ХАНС-ЙОАХИМ ФРАЙ: “ЧАЙКОВСКИЙ – ЭТО РУССКАЯ ДУША”], *Metro - Saint Petersburg* [МЕТРО – САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГ], October 10, 2024, URL: https://www.metronews.ru/novosti/peterbourg/reviews/hans-yoahim-fray-chaykovskiy-eto-russkaya-dusha-2173305/, accessed October 12, 2024.

STUDNEVA Elena [СТУДНЕВА ЕЛЕНА], “Tchaikovsky, the most popular Russian composer abroad” [ЧАЙКОВСКИЙ – САМЫЙ ПОПУЛЯРНЫЙ РОССИЙСКИЙ КОМПОЗИТОР ЗА РУБЕЖОМ], *International Life* [МЕЖДУНАРОДНАЯ ЖИЗНЬ], February 6, 2021, URL: https://interaffairs.ru/news/show/28986, accessed September 8, 2024.

SVISTUNOVA Olga [СВИСТУНОВА ОЛЬГА], “For some reason, *Swan Lake*. had to be shown.” Ballet outside politics” [“ЗАЧЕМ-ТО ПОТРЕБОВАЛОСЬ КРУТИТЬ НИ НИ ЧЕМ НЕ ПОВИННОЕ ЛЕБЕДИНОЕ ОЗЕРО.” БАЛЕТ ВНЕ ПОЛИТИКИ], TASS [ТАСС], August 19, 2021, URL: https://tass.ru/obschestvo/12158521, accessed September 10, 2024.

"The Bolshoi Theatre launched its 'coronavirus project' with a broadcast of *Swan Lake*. Social media users weighed in on the symbolism (video, photo)" [ТРАНСЛЯЦИЕЙ "ЛЕБЕДИНОГО ОЗЕРА" БОЛЬШОЙ ТЕАТР НАЧАЛ СВОЙ "КОРОНАВИРУСНЫЙ ПРОЕКТ." В СОЦСЕТЯХ ОЦЕНИЛИ СИМВОЛИЗМ (ВИДЕО, ФОТО),] *Fontanka.ru* [ФОНТАНКА.РУ], March 27, 2020, URL: https://www fontanka.ru/2020/03/27/69056371/, accessed July 31, 2025.

"The Führer and his Shaman. How the Kremlin is recreating Nazi aesthetics in music for war propaganda” [ФЮРЕР И ЕГО Shaman. КАК КРЕМЛЬ ВОССОЗДАЕТ НАЦИСТСКУЮ ЭСТЕТИКУ В МУЗЫКЕ ДЛЯ ПРОПАГАНДЫ ВОЙНЫ], *The Insider*, July 21, 2023, URL: https://theins.ru/obshestvo/263308, accessed March 1, 2025.

"The Music of the Russian Soul: P. I. Tchaikovsky, 'The Seasons.' Creative meeting with Svetlana Tolstenok (Moscow)" [МУЗЫКА РУССКОЙ ДУШИ: П. И. ЧАЙКОВСКИЙ, ВРЕМЕНА ГОДА. ТВОРЧЕСКАЯ ВСТРЕЧА СО СВЕТЛАНОЙ ТОЛТЕНОК (Г. МОСКВА)], Bryansk Regional Scientific Universal Library named after F. I. Tyutchev [БРЯНСКАЯ ОБЛАСТНАЯ НАУЧНАЯ УНИВЕРСАЛЬНАЯ БИБЛИОТЕКА ИМ. Ф. И. ТЮТЧЕВА], 09/18/2024, https://libryansk.ru/library-news/view/31808/, accessed March 10, 2025.

"The Plushenko Academy has requested a grant of 19.5 million rubles for the ice show” [АКАДЕМИЯ ПЛЮЩЕНКО ЗАПРОСИЛА ГРАНТ В РАЗМЕРЕ 19,5 МЛН РУБЛЕЙ ДЛЯ ЛЕДОВОГО ШОУ], Forbes Sport, February 6, 2025; URL: https://www.forbes.ru/sport/530378-akademia-plusenko-zaprosila-grant-v-razmere-19-5-mln-rublej-dla-ledovogo-sou, accessed March 11, 2025.

TROITSKY Artemy [ТРОИЦКИЙ АРТЕМИЙ], “Kringe Rock. Artemy Troitsky on the failure of Putin’s musical agitprop” [КРИНЖ-РОК. АРТЕМИЙ ТРОИЦКИЙ О ПРОВАЛЕ ПУТИНСКОГО МУЗЫКАЛЬНОГО АГИТПРОПА], *The Insider*, November 11, 2022, URL: https://theins.ru/opinions/troitskiy/256860, accessed March 8, 2025.

VINOGRADOV Sergei [ВИНОГАДОВ СЕРГЕЙ], “Savouring Russianness.” *The Return of Chekhov and Tchaikovsky to Europe*” [“НАСЛАДИТЬСЯ РУССКОСТЬЮ.” ЧЕХОВ И ЧАЙКОВСКИЙ ВОЗВРАЩАЮТСЯ В ЕВРОПУ], *Russkiy Mir-Publications*, 04/17/2025, URL: https://russkiymir.ru/publications/335156/, accessed June 16, 2025.

"Vladimir Putin Awards Hans-Joachim Frey the Order of Friendship” [ВЛАДИМИР ПУТИН НАГРАДИЛ ХАНС-ЙОАХИМА ФРАЯ ОРДЕНОМ ДРУЖБЫ], Federal Territory "Sirius" [ФЕДЕРАЛЬНАЯ
ТЕРРИТОРИЯ "СИРИУС"], May 23, 2023, URL: https://sirius-ft.ru/tpost/fg6hyrk2k1-vladimir-putin-nagradil-hansa-ioahima-fr, accessed June 21, 2025.

"With the support of United Russia, schools in Udmurtia are organizing classes dedicated to the 185th anniversary of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky" [ПРИ ПОДДЕРЖКЕ ЕДИНОЙ РОССИИ В ШКОЛАХ УДМУРТИИ ПРОХОДЯТ УРОКИ, ПОСВЯЩЁННЫЕ 185-ЛЕТИЮ ПЕТРА ИЛЬИЧА ЧАЙКОВСКОГО], *United Russia* [ЕДИНАЯ РОССИЯ], April 1, 2025, URL: https://er.ru/activity/news/pri-podderzhke-edinoj-rossii-v-shkolah-udmurtii-prohodyat-uroki-posvyashyonnye-185-letiyu-petra-ilichachajkovskogo, accessed April 1, 2025.

NOTES

1. HORWART Robert, *Putin's Fascists. Russkii Obraz and the Politics of Managed Nationalism in Russia*, London and New York, Routledge, 2021, p. 76-81.

2. "Government Decree of the Russian Federation of August 15, 2014 no. 1618-r 'On the Approval of the Concept of the National Policy on the Family in the Russian Federation for the Period up to 2025,'" *Legislative Assembly of the Russian Federation*, September 1, 2014, n°. 35, article 4811, p. 13241-13255.

3. In order to "protect and strengthen Russia's sovereignty," "traditional values" include "the moral benchmarks that shape the worldview of Russian citizens, passed down from generation to generation, which underpin Russian civic identity and the country's unified cultural space, strengthen civic unity, and have found their unique and original expression in the spiritual, historical, and cultural development of the multi-ethnic people of Russia" ("Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of November 9, 2022, n°. 809 'On the Approval of the Foundations of State Policy for the Preservation and Strengthening of Traditional Russian Spiritual and Moral Values,'" *The President of Russia*, November 9, 2022, art. 4 and 7, URL: http://www.kremlin.ru/acts/bank/48502, accessed October 1 2024).

4. LOFTUS SUZANNE, *Insecurity & the Rise of Nationalism in Putin's Russia. Keeper of Traditional Values*, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, p. 168.

5. "The state policy for the preservation and strengthening of traditional values is implemented in the areas of education and training, youth work, culture, science, interethnic and interreligious relations, media and mass communications, and international cooperation" ("Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of November 9, 2022," Art. 10, para. 5). Recent initiatives also include the introduction of "Conversations About What Matters" (a patriotic subject) and a course on "Family Science" (introduced in September 2024) into school curricula, as well as fertility testing for women.

6. LOFTUS Suzanne, *Insecurity & the Rise of Nationalism in Putin's Russia*, op. cit., p. 22, 48-49, 112, 140-142; MANDRAUD Isabelle and JULIEN Théron, *Poutine, la stratégie du désordre jusqu'à la guerre*, Paris, Tallandier, 2022, p. 36.

7. "Draft Decree of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation 'On the Approval of the Professional Standard for "Writers"'" (prepared by the Ministry of Labor of Russia on September 17, 2024), *Garant.ru*, September 25, 2024, https://www.garant.ru/products/ipo/prime/doc/56901937/, accessed March 31, 2025.

ALEKSANDROVA Olga, "'On stupidity and idiocy': Russia invents standards for writers,"
*Radio Free Europe*, September 20, 2024, URL: https://www.svoboda.org/a/durj-idiotizm-v-rossii-pridumali-standarty-dlya-pisateley/33127602.html, accessed September 28, 2024.

8. LESNYAK Marina, "The tactic of 'creating a better future' in political communication," *Politicheskaya lingvistika*, 2013, vol. 46, no. 4, p. 111-113.

9. See, for example: BAUNOV Aleksandr, "The aesthetic ideal of the people in the service of the state," *Carnegie Endowment for International Peace*, September 22, 2015, URL: https://carnegieendowment.org/posts/2015/09/esteticheskij-ideal-naroda-na-sluzhbe-u-gosudarstva?lang=ru, accessed March 10, 2025; "Putin signs law banning foreign words," RBK, February 28, 2023, URL: https://www.rbc.ru/rbcfreenews/63fe4c789a7947188c29e726, accessed March 10, 2025; TROITSKY Artemy, "Kringe Rock. Artemy Troitsky on the failure of Putin's musical agitprop," *The Insider*, November 11, 2022, URL: https://theins.ru/opinions/troitskiy/256860, accessed March 8, 2025.

10. MEAUX Lorraine de, *La Russie et la tentation de l'Orient*, Paris, Fayard, 2010, p. 95.

11. https://vk.com/evgeny_composer?from=search; https://rutube.ru/video/8aae05753720d1de28a21a3bb1e9078b/?r=wd; https://vk.com/id87077331?from=search (accessed May 15, 2025).

12. For information on painting, see, for example, the official websites containing press reviews, articles, and exhibition announcements: https://www.blokhinart.ru; https://www.lupanov.info/index.php?str=Exhibitions; https://ivan-glazunov.ru/news.html; http://artrussia.ru/dmitri_annenkov/works; https://alex-chernigin.ru/gallery/portret/ (accessed May 15, 2025). For sculpture, see, for example, the inauguration of the statue of Stalin in the city of Velikiye Luki: "The first full-length monument to Stalin in Russia," YouTube, URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RBngmQbrdU, accessed September 12, 2024. As for architecture, see these two examples: "A vacation home in the 'Stalinist Empire' style will appear in the Dmitrov Municipal District," April 11, 2024, RIAMO, URL: https://riamo.ru/news/nedvizhimost/dom-otdyha-v-stile-stalinskij-ampir-pojavitsja-v-dmitrovskom-gorodskom-okruge/, accessed September 10, 2024; "In Volgograd, a restored Stalinist Empire-style complex is being saved in Gagarin Park," Vysota 102, August 30, 2024, URL: https://v102.ru/news/133837.html, accessed September 10, 2024. Cinemas show all kinds of historical and patriotic films (examples include the television series *Catherine*, launched in 2014, the films *Catherine the Great*, 2024, *Ivan the Terrible*, 2023, and military dramas such as *Blindage*, 2024).

13. TROITSKY Artemy, "Kringe Rock. Artemy Troitsky on the failure of Putin's musical agitprop," op. cit.

14. The similarity between Shaman's song "Stand Up" and Oleg Gazmanov's "Officers," and between Shaman's "I Am Russian" and Bon Jovi's "It's My Life" is particularly striking. See: "The Führer and his Shaman. How the Kremlin is recreating the aesthetics of Nazism in music for war propaganda," *The Insider*, July 21, 2023, URL: https://theins.ru/obshestvo/263308, accessed March 1, 2025.

15. Shaman is nicknamed "the voice of the special operation" (SHENKMAN Yan, "Instead of 'Yes, Death!' – 'Yes, Laughter!'," *Novaya Gazeta. Evropa*, September 12, 2022, URL: https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2022/09/12/vmesto-da-smert-da-smekh, accessed March 10, 2025).
16. According to statistics compiled by the author based on data from the social network VKontakte, of the 909,642 subscribers to the singer's official page, approximately 27% of the audience is aged 50 and over, and approximately 10% is in the 30-50 age group, while the rest is made up of young people. See: https://vk.com/shaman_me (accessed June 16, 2025). Given that the singer's official YouTube channel is currently blocked in the European Union (at the request of the Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission) and that on Rutube, only statistics on the number of views of the videos are available, so it is difficult at this stage to supplement these data with statistics from this platform.

17. KENEZ Peter, *The Birth of the Propaganda State: Soviet Methods of Mass Mobilization, 1917-1929*, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1985, p. 5-7, 29-32, 51-53, 74-48, 342; RUSNOCK Andrea K., "Agitprop," in James MILLAR (ed.), *Encyclopedia of Russian History*, New York, Macmillan Reference USA, 2004, p. 15-16.

18. VLASOVA Ekaterina, 1948 in Soviet Music, Moscow, Klassika-XXI, 2010; RAKU Marina, *Music Classics in Soviet Mythology*, Moscow, Novoye Literaturnoye obozreniye, 2014.

19. MEDVEDEV Sergey, "Artemy Troitsky: 'There will be no culture in Russia,'" *Radio Svoboda*, February 18, 2024, URL: https://www.svoboda.org/a/artemiy-troitskiy-kuljtury-v-rossii-ne-budet-/32823097.html, accessed March 7, 2025. Critic Artemy Troitsky, comparing Putin's environment to that of Hitler, asserts that "Putin's aesthetic has absolutely no one to build on," citing a wealth of evidence, both sociocultural and intrinsically artistic.

20. RAKU Marina, "The Myth of Tchaikovsky and Power, Part 1," *Muzykalnaya akademiya*, 2001, vol. 674, nº 1, p. 79-80.

21. Peter invited the French and Italians to draw up plans for the northern capital, and this tradition was continued by his daughter Elizabeth I (Empress of Russia in 1762) and then by Catherine the Great (Empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796). Russian painters, starting with Anton Losenko (1737-1773) and Vasily Bazhenov (1737 or 1738-1799) – the first residents of the Academy of Fine Arts – went to study in France and Italy, while Vasily Trediakovsky (1703-1768) developed his poetic style based on Nicolas Boileau.

22. LEMAIRE C. Frans, La Musique du XXe siècle en Russie et dans les anciennes Républiques soviétiques, Paris, Fayard, coll. "Les chemins de la musique," 1994.

23. RIMSKY-KORSAKOV, Nikolai, *Chronique de ma vie musicale*, trans. André Lischké, Paris, Fayard, 2008, p. 39, 50-51, 81.

24. LOCKSPEISER, Edward, *Debussy: Volume 1, 1862-1902: His Life and Mind*, Cambridge, London, New York, Melbourne, Cambridge University Press, 1979, p. 48-49.

25. KILPATRICK Emily, *The Operas of Maurice Ravel*, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2015, p. 95.

26. FROLOV S. V., "On the concept of the finale of Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony," in E. G. SOROKINA et al. (eds) *Pyotr Tchaikovsky. On the 100th anniversary of his death. Proceedings of the scientific conference*, Moscow, Moskovskaya gosudarstvennaya konservatoriya, 1995, p. 68-71.

27. VILJANEN Elina, "Educating the New Listener: Classical Music and Russian Modernisation," in Katja LEHTISAARI and Arto MUSTAJOKI (eds), *Philosophical and Cultural Interpretations of Russian Modernisation*, New York, Routledge, 2017, p. 119-120.
28. The video recording of the opera can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDUTlfv1zwY (accessed June 15, 2025). The main role is played by Shaman. According to ethnomusicologist Ekaterina Romanova, the singer also constantly uses “many signs of musical narodnost’ and romances that are part of national identity” (“The Führer and his Shaman. How the Kremlin recreates the aesthetics of Nazism in music for war propaganda,” op. cit.).

29. This issue is addressed, for example, in the study: SCHWARZ Boris, *Music and Musical Life in Soviet Russia, 1917-1981*, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1983, expanded edition, particularly in chapters 15, 19, and 20. See also: BAUNOV Aleksandr, “The aesthetic ideal of the people in the service of the state”; see also: VILJANEN Elina, “Educating the New Listener: Classical Music and Russian Modernisation,” p. 126-130.

30. BONDS Evan, *Absolute Music. The History of an Idea*, New York, Oxford University Press, 2014, p. 7-9, 14, 58-69.

31. See posters and announcements published on the official websites of philharmonic halls, concert halls, and theaters, both in the capital and in the regions, for example: https://www.philharmonia.spb.ru/afisha/grand/; https://meloman.ru/calendar/. Opinion polls and statistics are presented here: SAYKINA Ekaterina, “Who listens to classical music and why it is not losing popularity,” *Sirius*, December 14, 2024, URL: https://siriusmag.ru/articles/2850-kto-slusaet-klassiku-i-pocemu-ona-ne-teraet-popularnost/ (accessed June 21, 2025); SHARIKOV Aleksandr, “The audience of the classical music radio station ‘Orfey’: Results of empirical research (2005-2015),” *Television Science*, vol. 13, n. 2, 2017, p. 139-142, URL: https://tv-science.online/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/NT13.2.pdf, (accessed July 25, 2025).

32. Examples: **MIKHEEVA V. Operational Curriculum for the MF.03 “Musical Heritage” Subject of the Supplementary Pre-Vocational General Education Program in the Field of Musical Art: Piano, String Instruments, Wind and Percussion Instruments, Folk Instruments, Saratov, 2019**, URL: http://www.xn--14-jlc6ayd.xn--p1ai/teoriya?layout=edit&id=125, accessed March 10, 2025; VLASENKO Irina, **KANAEVA Anastasia, KOROL Alyona** and **MELNIK Olga**, *Supplementary General Education Program with an Artistic Focus in the Subject of Musical Heritage*, Tomsk, 2022, URL: https://artschool4.tomsk.ru/upload/muzykalnaya_literatura(2).pdf, accessed March 8, 2025.

33. On the origin of this sentence, see: **SEDOVA Galina**, “Why Pushkin is ‘our everything,’” *Culture.rf*, n.d., URL: https://www.culture.ru/s/vopros/pushkin-nashe-vse/, accessed September 7, 2024.

34. **AYNBINDER Ada**, “Is Tchaikovsky our everything?,” *Muzykalnaya zhizn*, 29/05/2020, URL: https://muzlifemagazine.ru/chaykovskiy-nashe-vse/, accessed March 10, 2024; “‘Muzykalnoe obozrenie’ and Tchaikovsky,” *Muzykalnoe obozrenie*, vol. 465, n. 8, 2000, URL: https://muzobozrenie.ru/nash-chajkovskij/, accessed March 10, 2025.

35. Letter to Aleksey Suvorin, April 15/27, 1889 (two dates are given according to the Julian and Gregorian calendars), **TCHAIKOVSKY Pyotr**, “Letter 3838 [Addressed to Aleksey Suvorin, April 15/27, 1889].” *Tchaikovsky Research*, URL: https://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/Letter_3838, accessed March 10, 2025. See also: **ALSCHWANG Arnold**, *P. I. Tchaikovsky*, Moscow, Muzgiz, 1959, p. 515.

36. **STUDNEVA Elena**, “Tchaikovsky, the most popular Russian composer abroad,” *International Life*, February 6, 2021, URL: https://interaffairs.ru/news/show/28986, accessed September 8, 2024. See also: **KUDRYASHOV Konstantin**, “The Other Tchaikovsky.”
Every six minutes, one of the composer's works is performed somewhere in the world," Argumenty i Fakty, n° 19, May 7, 2020, URL: https://aif.ru/culture/person/drugoy_chaykovskiy_kazhdye_6_minut_v_mire_ispolnyayut_proizvedenie_kompozitora, accessed March 10, 2025.

37. RAKU Marina, "The Myth of Tchaikovsky and Power, Part 1," p. 79-80, and Part 2, Muzykalnaya akademiya, 2001, vol. 675, n° 3, p. 128.

38. On this concept, see: SUSLOV MIKHAIL, *Putinism – Post-Soviet Russian Regime Ideology*, Abington, New York, Routledge, 2024, p. 4-5, 87, 157.

39. Among the most recent sources, see an article published on the website of the Russkiy Mir Foundation (*The Russian World*) information portal: VINOGRADOV Sergey, "Savoring Russianness. The Return of Chekhov and Tchaikovsky to Europe," Russkiy Mir-Publications, April 17, 2025, URL: https://russkiymir.ru/publications/335156/, accessed June 16, 2025. Tchaikovsky was presented as a "musical cosmopolitan" in the special issue of the magazine *The Sun of Russia* (October 1913), dedicated to the 20th anniversary of his death (*The Sun of Russia*, 1913, n° 44, October. Special issue – in memory of P. I. Tchaikovsky, 1893-1913, Saint Petersburg, 2nd ed., 1913, 24 p.).

40. MENDRAS Marie, "Le mythe du nationalisme russe," in Pierre BIRNBAUM (ed.), *Sociologie des nationalismes*, Paris, PUF, 1998, p. 85-102.

41. RAKU Marina, "The Myth of Tchaikovsky and Power, Part 2," p. 134-135.

42. ASAFYEV Boris, *On Ballet*, Leningrad, Muzyka, 1974, p. 78.

43. LISCHKE André, *Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovski*, Paris, Fayard, 1993, p. 350.

44. *Ibid.*, p. 350-351.

45. Quoted by: KUNIN Iosif, *Tchaikovsky*, Moscow, Yurayt, 2019, p. 21.

46. This is a particular type of monodic singing or singing accompanied by counterpoint, in which the main means of expression lies in a constantly developing melody. This usually consists of small cells of a few notes forming a motif, which is then repeated with melodic and rhythmic variations. Another form of "extended" singing is based on the varied repetition of long phrases comprising several dissimilar motifs. These songs are most often imbued with an elegiac atmosphere, due to their Aeolian or Dorian mode.

47. Letter to Nadezhda von Meck, March 5/17, 1878. TCHAIKOVSKY Pyotr, "Letter 778 [Addressed to Nadezhda von Meck, March 5/17, 1878]." Tchaikovsky Research, URL: https://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/Letter_778, accessed March 10, 2025. See also: TUMANINA Nadezhda, *Tchaikovsky: The Path to Mastery, 1840-1877*, Moscow, USSR Academy of Sciences Publishing House, 1962, p. 40.

48. For example: TUMANINA Nadezhda, *Tchaikovsky: The Path to Mastery, 1840-1877*, p. 23, 135-136, 200-201, 211, 219, 258, 277, 326, 330, 371, 416, and 554.

49. RAKU Marina, "The Myth of Tchaikovsky and Power, Part 2," p. 128.

50. *Ibid.*, p. 134. In the finale of the symphony, the theme "In the Field stood a birch tree" is developed in counterpoint, taking into account Beethoven's principles of motif fragmentation, i.e., once again, in the European style.

51. BAÏBOURINE Albert, "Folklore et mémoire populaire," in Georges NIVAT (ed.), *Les sites de la mémoire russe*, Volume II, Histoire et mythes de la mémoire russe, Paris, Fayard, 2019, p. 259 (quoted material translated here from the original French).
52. See, for example, the survey entitled “Why is Tchaikovsky’s music so popular?,” conducted by the Union of Russian Composers: URL: https://vk.com/wall-200443728_24021, accessed June 20, 2025.

53. RAKU Marina, “The Myth of Tchaikovsky and Power, Part 2,” p. 128-129.

54. AYNBINDER Ada, “Is Tchaikovsky our everything?”

55. “With the support of United Russia, schools in Udmurtia are organizing classes dedicated to the 185th anniversary of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky,” Yedinaya Rossiya, April 1, 2025, URL: https://er.ru/activity/news/pri-podderzhke-edinoj-rossii-v-shkolah-udmurtii-prohodyat-uroki-posvyashyonnye-185-letiyu-petra-ilichachajkovskogo, accessed April 1, 2025.

56. LOBOVA Svetlana, “185 years since the birth of Pyotr Tchaikovsky: What will be discussed during the ‘Conversations on What Matters’ on March 31,” Uchitelskaya Gazeta, March 28, 2025, URL: https://ug.ru/185-let-so-dnya-rozhdeniya-petra-chajkovskogo-o-chem-pojdet-rech-na-razgovorah-o-vazhnom-31-marta/, accessed March 28, 2025.

57. AYNBINDER Ada, “Is Tchaikovsky our everything?”

58. ASAFYEV Boris, On Tchaikovsky's Music. Selected Articles, Leningrad, Muzyka, 1972, p. 19.

59. RAKU Marina, Music Classics in Soviet Mythology, p. 566-574.

60. TCHAIKOVSKY Pyotr, On the Folk and National Elements in Music: Selected Excerpts from Letters and Articles, Moscow, Muzgiz, 1952, p. 3.

61. ASAFYEV Boris, On Tchaikovsky's Music. Selected Articles, p. 20.

62. Ibid., p. 22.

63. Ibid., p. 20.

64. Letter to von Meck, January 23/February 4, 1888: TCHAIKOVSKY Pyotr, “Letter 3482 [Addressed to Nadezhda von Meck, January 23/February 4, 1888],” Tchaikovsky Research, URL: https://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/Letter_3482, accessed September 10, 2024.

65. In 2013, Russian Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky publicly stated that there was no conclusive evidence to confirm Tchaikovsky's homosexuality. See: BARABASH Ekaterina, “Interview with Medinsky: ‘There is no evidence of Tchaikovsky’s homosexuality,’” Interfax, September 17, 2013, URL: https://www.interfax.ru/interview/329409, accessed June 21, 2025.

66. GAVRILOVA Lyudmila, KARLOVA Olga, and MOSKALYUK Marina, “The Constant of the Russian Soul: Tchaikovsky, Levitan, Bunin,” Den i noch, 2010, n°. 6, URL: https://magazines.gorky.media/din/2010/6/konstanta-russkoj-dushi-chajkovskij-levitan-bunin.html, accessed March 13, 2025.

67. GENOVA Anna, “Tchaikovsky. A Russian Genius,” Russkiy mir, May 7, 2015, URL: https://russkiymir.ru/publications/189740/, accessed March 13, 2025.

68. BELINSKI Vissarion, “The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls: Poem by N. Gogol,” Otechestvennyye zapiski, 1842, vol. 23, n°. 7, pt. VI, p. 1-12.

69. “... torture knows no satiation”: this reflection by Nikolai Berdyaev, attributed to the “prophetic” and “mystical” essence of the Russian mentality and formulated as early as 1915, has carried over to the modern era within the sphere of emotions (quoted by: AKSYUCHITS Viktor, Russian Thought, Moscow, Direkt-Media, 2024, p. 191). However,
both Berdyaev's line and Lev Gumilev's doctrine of "passionarity" are highly influential in contemporary society, as they articulate the special status of the Russian people, resonating with pro-government discourse.

70. **BELINSKY Vissarion**, “The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls: A Poem by N. Gogol,” p. 7-8.

71. **RAKU Marina**, “The Myth of Tchaikovsky and Power, Part 2,” p. 128-130.

72. See, for example, one of the public opinion polls: https://www.reddit.com/r/classicalmusic/comments/r8w74q/what_is_your_favorite_tchaikovsky_work_and_why/?tl=ru (accessed June 20, 2025) and GAVRILOVA Lyudmila, KARLOVA Olga, and MOSKALYUK Marina, “The Constant of the Russian Soul: Tchaikovsky, Levitan, Bunin.”

73. “The Music of the Russian Soul: P. I. Tchaikovsky’s ‘The Seasons.’ Creative meeting with Svetlana Tolstenok (Moscow), Bryansk Regional Universal Scientific Library named after F. I. Tyutchev, 18/09/2024, https://libryansk.ru/library-news/view/31808/, accessed March 10, 2025.

74. Letter to von Meck, February 17/March 1, 1878. **TCHAIKOVSKY Pyotr**, “Letter 763 [Addressed to Nadezhda von Meck, February 17/March 1, 1878],” *Tchaikovsky Research*, URL: https://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/Letter_763, accessed March 10, 2025.

75. Quoted by: **AGEEVA Zinaida**, *Tchaikovsky. Genius and Suffering*, Moscow, Litres, 2022, p. 125.

76. **SIROTA Anna**, “Hans-Joachim Frye ‘Tchaikovsky is a Russian soul,’” *Metro – Saint Petersburg*, October 10, 2024, URL: https://www.metronews.ru/novosti/peterbourg/reviews/hans-yoahim-fray-chaykovskiy-eto-russkaya-dusha-2173305/, accessed October 12, 2024.

77. See: **RAKU Marina**, “The Myth of Tchaikovsky and Power, Part 1,” p. 77-79, and part 2, p. 130-132, 136.

78. For example, this position is promoted by representatives of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF): **BONDARENKO N. F.**, “Tchaikovsky as a patriot,” *Communist Party of the Russian Federation – Stavropol*, official website, August 8, 2019, URL: https://kprf26.ru/17787 (accessed June 22, 2025).

79. **BELOVA Daria**, “The Nutcracker: How a Fairy Tale Became a Favorite Ballet,” *‘Petersburg Culture’ Portal*, December 3, 2024, URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20250421201009/https://www.spbcult.ru/articles/iskusstvo/shchelkunchik-kak-skazka-stala-lyubimym-baletom/ (accessed June 23, 2025).

80. **RAKU Marina**, “The Myth of Tchaikovsky and Power, Part 1,” p. 77-79, and Part 2, p. 129.

81. **SIROTA Anna**, “Hans-Joachim Frye: ‘Tchaikovsky is a Russian soul.’”

82. “Putin named Tchaikovsky and Mozart as his favorite classical composers,” *Krasnaya Vesna*, June 18, 2024, URL: https://rossaprimavera.ru/news/fd03feb7, accessed March 10, 2025.

83. For example, **BOTSTEIN Leon**, “Music as the Language of Psychological Realism: Tchaikovsky and Russian Art,” in Leslie **KEARNEY** (ed.), *Tchaikovsky and His Word*, New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 1998, p. 100-102, 104-109.
84. On the formation of cultural memory, see: BENNETT Andy, and JANSSEN Susanne (eds), "Popular Music, Cultural Memory, and Heritage," *Popular Music, Cultural Memory, and Heritage*, Abingdon, New York, Routledge, 2019, p. 5-8.

85. A brief history of the productions and interpretations of the plot can be found here: LACHENDRO Zuzanna, "How *Swan Lake* Became a Cultural Phenomenon," *The New Statesman*, March 26, 2024, URL: https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/theatre/2024/03/how-swan-lake-became-cultural-phenomenon, accessed September 10, 2024. See the score: TCHAIKOVSKY, Pyotr, *Swan Lake*, Moscow: P. Jurgenson, n.d. [1895], reprinted, New York, Broude Brothers, 1951, p. 211-222.

86. See on this subject: GANSBURG G., "The Fate Chord in the Music of Tchaikovsky and His Predecessors," in Marina KOSMOVSKAYA (ed.), *The Music of a Changing Russia*, Kursk, Kursk State University, 2007, p. 106-107.

87. This apparently led to the use of this music in horror films. See more: SMOLKIN Kirill, "Swan Lake Horror," *19th Century Music*, vol. 48, no. 1-2, p. 69.

88. LISCHKE André, *Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovski, op. cit.*, p. 645.

89. BUKKER Igor, "*Swan Lake* – A Long-Playing Commemorative Melody?," *Pravda*, 01/03/2007, URL: https://www.pravda.ru/culture/214937-swanlake/, accessed September 10, 2024.

90. "The Bolshoi Theatre launched its 'coronavirus project' with a broadcast of *Swan Lake*. Social media users weighed in on the symbolism (video, photo)," *Fontanka.ru*, March 27, 2020, URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20200328175137/https://www fontanka.ru/2020/03/27/69056371/, accessed July 31, 2025.

91. However, "the appearance on television of the play starring Natalia Bessmertnova and Aleksandr Bogatyryov in the leading roles was scheduled for August 19, two weeks before the coup, and the coincidence of the broadcast with its first day turned out to be accidental"; the ballet became a "paradoxical hostage" of the political situation (SVISTUNOVA Olga, "For some reason, *Swan Lake* had to be shown.' Ballet outside politics," TASS, August 19, 2021, URL: https://tass.ru/obschestvo/12158521, accessed September 10, 2024). On the concept of historical memory in relation to Tchaikovsky's music and the coup, see: RAKU Marina, "The Myth of Tchaikovsky and Power, Part 1," p. 76.

92. HONCHARENKO Oleksiy, "*Swan Lake* for Putin," *Ukrainska Pravda*, April 30, 2014, URL: https://blogs.pravda.com.ua/authors/goncharenko/5360db40b189c/page_4/, accessed September 10, 2024.

93. "Scene from *Swan Lake* at Putin's inauguration, the Yav art collective paints new graffiti in Saint Petersburg," *The Village*, May 7, 2018, URL: https://www.the-village.ru/city/news/311389-black-black-swan, accessed September 10, 2024.

94. "Rumors about Putin's death: *Swan Lake* will not (yet) be performed," DW, October 27, 2023, URL: https://www.dw.com/ru/sluhi-o-smerti-putina-lebedinogo-ozera-poka-ne-budet/a-67232567, accessed September 10, 2024.

95. ARONSON Vika, MIELKE Brad, and DELISO Meredith, "How 'Swan Lake' became a symbol of protest in Russia," ABC News, April 29, 2022, URL: https://abcnews.go.com/International/swan-lake-symbol-protest-russia/story?id=84401801, accessed September 10, 2024.
96. Pussy Riot – SWAN LAKE (by Masha, Diana, Olga, Lucy), URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfPyPB5rBiA, accessed September 5, 2024. In the finale, the performers imitate the ritual of burning the effigy of Maslenitsa, and this reference to popular culture in the light of traditional values seems particularly sinister.

97. See: TUMANINA Nadezhda, *Tchaikovsky: The Path to Mastery, 1840-1877, op. cit.*, p. 413-415.

98. "During the Great Patriotic War, *Swan Lake* was performed more often at the Bolshoi Theatre than in the 70 years since its premiere" (BUKKER Igor, "*Swan Lake*: A Long-Playing Commemorative Melody?"). In 1958, Marius Petipa's canonical production at the Mikhailovsky Theater was revived and a stamp dedicated to the ballet was issued (another stamp was published in 1962). The ballet was so popular that it became the subject of a parody: in the 15th episode (1985) of a children's cartoon ("Wait and See!"), dedicated to the Wolf's pursuit of the Hare, the Wolf enters the House of Culture and performs the "Dance of the Little Swans" in the role of the prima ballerina with the Hens, followed by the "Introduction and Pas de Deux" with the Hare (music by Tchaikovsky in an arrangement by Viktor Babushkin).

99. Judging by the testimony of the ballet troupe itself, the authorities achieved the opposite effect (SVISTUNOVA Olga, "'For some reason, *Swan Lake* had to be shown.' Ballet outside politics").

100. Ibid.

101. MELNIK Yan, "Tatiana Navka: Putin likes *Swan Lake*, and my wife doesn't like it at all. But I always go against the grain: 'No, I'll prove to you that it will be a cool performance,'" *Sports.ru*, December 22, 2021, URL: https://www.sports.ru/figure-skating/1104609204-tatyana-navka-putinu-nravitsya-lebedinoe-ozero-a-moemu-suprugu-kategor.html, accessed September 10, 2024.

102. See the presentation on the official website: https://navka.show/shows/lebedinoe-ozero-peterburg, accessed October 6, 2024.

103. LOTSIK Polina, "Tatiana Navka's show *Swan Lake* will take place in Saint Petersburg from December 26 to January 7," *Sports.ru*, October 1, 2024, URL: https://www.sports.ru/figure-skating/1116428396-shou-tatyany-navki-lebedinoe-ozero-projdet-v-sankt-peterburge-s-26-dek.html, accessed September 12, 2024.

104. See: "Swan Lake," *Navka.show*, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqC2YOL6HqU, accessed September 6, 2024.

105. "Premiere 2024: *Swan Lake*: Premiere in Petersburg", *Navka.show*: poster, URL: https://navka.show/shows/lebedinoe-ozero-peterburg, accessed March 30, 2025.

106. See: KELDYSH Yu., DEGENE A. and STUPNIKOV I., "Tchaikovsky. Ballet *Swan Lake*," *Belcanto.ru*, URL: https://www.belcanto.ru/ballet_swanlake.html, accessed September 10, 2024. This is the finale of the Navka show. In 1953, Vladimir Burmeister completed the ballet by transforming the swans into young girls.

107. For example, Lopukhov interpreted the image of the ball as an act of witchcraft: the dancers and guests appeared at the behest of Rothbart (KELDYSH I., DEGENE A., and STUPNIKOV I., "Tchaikovsky. Ballet *Swan Lake*.").

108. PILYASOV Anton, "Navka on the new show *Swan Lake* – it is my lifelong dream, which could not be realized in sports," *Sports.ru*, April 12, 2020, URL: https://www.sports.ru/figure-skating/1084864092.html, accessed September 10, 2024.
109. On the strategies of this economy, see, for example: AGGESTAM Maria, “Art-entrepreneurship in the Scandinavian Music Industry,” in Colette HENRY (ed.), *Entrepreneurship in the Creative Industries: An International Perspective*, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2007, p. 30-35.

110. “Premiere 2024: Swan Lake: Premiere in Petersburg”, Navka.show, poster, URL: https://navka.show/shows/lebedinoe-ozero-peterburg, accessed March 30, 2025.

111. See: BAGDASARYAN N., “From Classic to Show,” in E. V. DUKOV (ed.), *Entertainment and Art: Collection of Articles*, Saint Petersburg, Aletheia, 2008, p. 178-185.

112. KOSHECHKINA Varvara, “Putin spoke to a 13-year-old girl after her wish was granted,” *Lenta.ru*, December 15, 2012, URL: https://lenta.ru/news/2021/12/15/pogovoril/, accessed September 8, 2024.

113. Swan Lake will be performed during the same months in 2024. As for shows, Tatiana Navka has already successfully presented *Sleeping Beauty* in 2023 and is currently working on *The Nutcracker*. See the official website: https://navka.show/shows, accessed July 23, 2025. See also: ZHURKOVA Darya, *Classical Music in Contemporary Mass Culture in Russia*, doctoral thesis in culturology, specialty 24.00.01 – Theory and History of Culture, Moscow, State Research Institute of Art, 2012, in particular chapters 3 and 4.

114. “Muscovites queue for days for tickets to ‘The Nutcracker’ ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre,” *Meduza*, November 9, 2023, URL: https://meduza.io/feature/2023/11/09/moskvichi-sutkami-stoyat-v-ocheredyah-za-biletami-na-balet-schelkunchik-v-bolshom-teatre, accessed September 10, 2024. On the public subsidies received by such shows, see: “Navka asked the state for 29.5 million rubles for her ice show,” RBK, September 12, 2024, URL: https://www.rbc.ru/sport/12/09/2024/66e2f6ee9a7947b58e5e079f, accessed March 11, 2025; “The Plushenko Academy has requested a subsidy of 19.5 million rubles for the ice show,” *Forbes Sport*, February 6, 2025; URL: https://www.forbes.ru/sport/530378-akademia-plusenko-zaprosila-grant-v-razmere-19-5-mln-rublej-dla-ledovogo-sou, accessed March 11, 2025.

115. According to the title of the newspaper of the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia, 1929-1930.

116. “Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of November 9, 2022,” art. 5.

117. *Ibid*. These are two sides of the same coin, whose unity is best expressed in the aforementioned clip by Pussy Riot: “War is a celebration and everything is fine.”

118. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=av7qJYO1zI4, accessed October 2, 2024.

119. The opera *Ivan Susanin*, URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VIgEnIm7ow, accessed October 2, 2024.

120. OSBORNE Charles, *The Opera Lover's Companion*, Yale, Yale University Press, 2007, p. 143.

121. MATUSEVICH Aleksandr, “Patriotic premiere: *Ivan Susanin* near the Kremlin in Astrakhan,” *Astrakhan State Opera and Ballet Theater*, official website, “News” section, September 8, 2023. URL: https://www.astoperahouse.ru/news/7155-patrioticheskay-premera-ivan-susanin-u-sten-astrakhanskogo-kremlya, accessed June 20, 2025.
122. DOLGACHEVA Larisa, "The entrance of 'Prince Igor' on a white horse," *Da capo al fine*, September 20, 2024, URL: https://gazetaigraem.ru/article/44073, accessed June 20, 2025.

123. As in Soviet times: RAKU Marina, *Music Classics in Soviet Mythology*, p. 594-595.

124. YARUSTOVSKIY Boris, *Tchaikovsky's Opera Dramaturgy*, Moscow, Leningrad, Muzgiz, 1947, p. 6.

125. AMINOVA Galima, *The National Origins of S. I. Taneyev's Creativity*, Krasnoyarsk, Krasnoyarsk University [Krasgu], 2006.

126. GROMYKO Andrei, *Memorable*, vol. 1, Moscow, Politizdat, 1990, URL: http://publ.lib.ru/ARCHIVES/G/GROMYKO Andrey Andreevich/_Gromyko A.A..html, accessed October 12, 2024.

127. KHARPALEVA Natalia, "Serge Rachmaninoff: Gone But Not Betrayed," *Foma*, 01/04/2023, URL: https://foma.ru/rahmaninov-chto-jetot-znamenityj-jemigrant-dumal-o-rossii-gde-ego-objavili-materym-vragom.html, accessed September 10, 2024.

128. Even today, the foundations of classical and romantic musical form are taught according to Bernhard Marx and Ludwig Bussler; French musical form theory is the subject of specific study, and approaches such as neo-Schenkerianism and neo-Riemannianism are commonly used in the study of harmony. For example: KHOLOPOV Yuri, *Theoretical Systems of Music. Manual for History, Theory, and Composition Departments in Higher Education Institutions*, Moscow, Kompozitor, 2006.

129. See: VLASOVA Ekaterina S., "From the history of ASM-I: 'Contemporaneity,'" *La Revue de la Société russe de théorie musicale*, vol. 45, n° 1, 2024, p. 17-25. However, following the emigration of Vladimir Tarnopolsky, the Association's main inspiration, in March 2022, its objectives have become unclear and now mainly consist of studying and applying existing compositional techniques.

130. For a more in-depth analysis, see: MATTOS CAITANO Joevan de, "Russian Music in Darmstadt (Based on Archival Materials)," *Muzykalnaya akademiya [музыкальная академия]*, vol. 778, n° 2, 2022, URL: https://mus.academy/en/articles/russian-music-in-darmstadt-based-on-archival-materials (accessed June 20, 2025).

ABSTRACTS

This article analyzes the role of classical music heritage in contemporary Russia. In the current context, art – and more specifically classical music – is called upon to fit into the paradigm of “traditional values” and to serve the objectives of those in power: on the one hand, to divert society from a critical understanding of sociopolitical issues; on the other, to foster a sense of national unity and patriotism. The instrumentalization of classical music for propaganda purposes, however, is not without contradictions, which are one of the main focuses of this study. The case of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – a symbolic composer extensively mobilized in official discourse – offers a particularly revealing example, especially through the semantic reinterpretations of his ballet *Swan Lake*, to which particular attention is devoted.
# INDEX

**Keywords:** Putinism, Russian propaganda, nationalism, traditional values, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake

## AUTHORS

### ELENA ROVENKO

<figure><img src="image_3.png" /></figure>

**IDREF** : https://idref.fr/282514635

Elena Rovenko holds a Ph.D. in Art History (2013). She is the author of *A New Way of Thinking at the Turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries in French Philosophy (Henri Bergson) and Art (Claude Debussy, Odilon Redon)*, Moscow, Progress-Tradition, 2016, and her research focuses on French music, philosophy, aesthetics, and painting. Until spring 2022, she was a lecturer in the interfaculty departments of humanities and Western music history and a research fellow at the Center for Research in Historical Musicology Methodology at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. As a beneficiary of the PAUSE Program (2022-2024), she is currently an archivist-researcher at the Rachmaninoff Conservatory in Paris and a lecturer at the University of Strasbourg.

## TRANSLATORS

### MAGGIE JONES