“Man and Eternity” vs. “Man and History”: Maria Yudina in Dialogue with Boleslav Yavorsky

Abstract

The article presents a comparative analysis of the pedagogical principles of two prominent 20th-century musicians — musicologist Boleslav Yavorsky and pianist Maria Yudina. The research is largely based on Yudina’s article Memoirs of Boleslav Leopoldovich Yavorsky (1929–1941. Leningrad — Moscow) (1969), as well as recollections of Yavorsky recounted by fellow musicians and the scholar’s epistolary heritage. Particular attention is paid to the distinct approaches of Yavorsky and Yudina to the study of vocal works. The similarity of their creative positions lies in the fact that both musicians assigned a significant role to working on poetic texts when considering musical works in a broad historical and cultural context. The pedagogical approaches of Yavorsky and Yudina are shown to have been influenced by their professional positions, i.e., that of a researching scholar and a performing artist, respectively. Differences in the views of the two influential figures on the essence of art and in the choice of approach to the analysis of musical works were due to fundamental differences in terms of their respective worldviews: in particular, the materialistic views of Yavorsky contrasted with the confirmed Christian position of Yudina. Based on the presented analysis of their pedagogical activities, it is concluded that for Yavorsky the leading method involved analogies between different types of arts of the same style (direction), while Yudina’s fundamental approach consisted in the method of artistic synthesis based on a comparison of “related spiritual atmospheres” of works of art.

Keywords: Maria Yudina, Boleslav Yavorsky, pedagogical principles, approaches to the comprehension of the arts, method of artistic synthesis