ACM - Association for Contemporary Music
Encyclopedia
Association for Contemporary Music (ACM) was an alternative organization of Russia
n composer
s interested in avant-garde
music. It was founded by Nikolai Roslavets
in 1923. ACM ran concert series and published magazines promoting the modernist music of Mahler
, Schoenberg
, Berg
, Webern
, Krenek
, and Hindemith
, as well as the work of its members. Its leading members were Dmitri Shostakovich
, Nikolai Myaskovsky
, Vissarion Shebalin
, Alexander Mosolov
, Gavriil Popov, and Vladimir Shcherbachev. The organization's enthusiasm for avant-garde Western music and for experimentation met with opposition from the Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians
(RAPM), which by the late 1920s had eclipsed the ACM in terms of cultural influence. Both organizations existed until 23 April 1932, when they were abolished by the Decree on the Reformation of Literary and Artistic Organizations.
Russia's New ACM (or ACM-2), the revival of the previous organization, was established in Moscow
in 1990. Its chairman was composer Edison Denisov
. The co-founders of the new ACM were Elena Firsova
, Dmitri Smirnov, and Nikolai Korndorf
. Its members included Leonid Hrabovsky, Alexander Knaifel, Sergei Pavlenko
, Alexander Voustin, Vladislav Shoot
, Viktor Yekimovsky, Faraj Karayev, Vyacheslav Artyomov
, Vladimir Tarnopolsky
, Alexander Raskatov
, Ivan Sokolov
, and Yuri Kasparov. Eminent composers like Sofia Gubaidulina
, Alfred Schnittke
, Valentin Silvestrov
, and Tigran Mansuryan were invited to join the ACM. ACM became affiliated with the International Society for Contemporary Music
(ISCM).
After the collapse of the Soviet Union
in 1991, many members of the ACM emigrated to the West, and Denisov died in 1996. The ACM was split into two parts. One, based in the Union of Composers and led by Victor Yekimovsky, adopted the title "Russian National Section, the International Society for Contemporary Music" (RNS-ISCM); it supported the "Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble". The other, based in the Moscow Conservatory
and led by Vladimir Tarnopolsky
, took the name "Centre for Contemporary Music, Moscow" (CCMM). CCMM was the ISCM Associate Member, and supported the "Studio of New Music".
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
s interested in avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
music. It was founded by Nikolai Roslavets
Nikolai Roslavets
Nikolai Andreevich Roslavets was a significant Soviet modernist composer. Roslavets was a convinced modernist and cosmopolitan thinker; his music was officially suppressed from 1930 onwards....
in 1923. ACM ran concert series and published magazines promoting the modernist music of Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
, Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
, Berg
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...
, Webern
Anton Webern
Anton Webern was an Austrian composer and conductor. He was a member of the Second Viennese School. As a student and significant follower of Arnold Schoenberg, he became one of the best-known exponents of the twelve-tone technique; in addition, his innovations regarding schematic organization of...
, Krenek
Ernst Krenek
Ernst Krenek was an Austrian of Czech origin and, from 1945, American composer. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including Music Here and Now , a study of Johannes Ockeghem , and Horizons Circled: Reflections on my Music...
, and Hindemith
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...
, as well as the work of its members. Its leading members were Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
, Nikolai Myaskovsky
Nikolai Myaskovsky
Nikolai Yakovlevich Myaskovsky was a Russian and Soviet composer. He is sometimes referred to as the "father of the Soviet symphony".-Early years and first important works:...
, Vissarion Shebalin
Vissarion Shebalin
Vissarion Yakovlevich Shebalin was a Soviet composer.-Biography:Shebalin was born in Omsk, where his parents were school teachers. He studied in the musical college in Omsk. He was 20 years old when, following the advice of his professor, he went to Moscow to show his first compositions to...
, Alexander Mosolov
Alexander Mosolov
Alexander Vasilyevich MosolovMosolov's name is transliterated variously and inconsistently between sources. Alternative spellings of Alexander include Alexandr, Aleksandr, Aleksander, and Alexandre; variations on Mosolov include Mossolov and Mossolow...
, Gavriil Popov, and Vladimir Shcherbachev. The organization's enthusiasm for avant-garde Western music and for experimentation met with opposition from the Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians
Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians
The Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians or RAPM was a musicians' creative union of the early Soviet period.In 1932 it was disbanded, together with other unions, such as RAPP, by The Decree on the Reformation of Literary and Artistic Organizations on April 23, 1932....
(RAPM), which by the late 1920s had eclipsed the ACM in terms of cultural influence. Both organizations existed until 23 April 1932, when they were abolished by the Decree on the Reformation of Literary and Artistic Organizations.
Russia's New ACM (or ACM-2), the revival of the previous organization, was established in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
in 1990. Its chairman was composer Edison Denisov
Edison Denisov
Edison Vasilievich Denisov was a Russian composer of so called "Underground" — "Anti-Collectivist", "alternative" or "nonconformist" division in the Soviet music.-Biography:...
. The co-founders of the new ACM were Elena Firsova
Elena Firsova
Elena Olegovna Firsova is a Russian composer.-Life:She was born in Leningrad into the family of physicists Oleg Firsov and Viktoria Lichko. She studied music in Moscow with Alexander Pirumov, Yuri Kholopov, Edison Denisov and Philip Herschkowitz...
, Dmitri Smirnov, and Nikolai Korndorf
Nikolai Korndorf
Nikolai Sergeevich Korndorf was a Russian and Canadian composer and conductor. He was prolific both in Moscow, Russia and in Vancouver, Canada.-Biography:...
. Its members included Leonid Hrabovsky, Alexander Knaifel, Sergei Pavlenko
Sergei Pavlenko
Sergei Pavlenko is a portrait painter of Russian origin and now based in Britain.-Biography:Pavlenko graduated in Painting from St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts in 1988...
, Alexander Voustin, Vladislav Shoot
Vladislav Shoot
Vladislav Shoot is a Russian-British composer of contemporary classical music...
, Viktor Yekimovsky, Faraj Karayev, Vyacheslav Artyomov
Vyacheslav Artyomov
Vyacheslav Petrovich Artyomov also Artemov is a Russian and Soviet composer.-Biography:Artyomov first studied physics at the Moscow University, then later studied music. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1968 where studied composition with Nikolai Sidelnikov. He became a member of the...
, Vladimir Tarnopolsky
Vladimir Tarnopolsky
Vladimir Grigoryevich Tarnopolsky is a Russian composer.-Biography:Tarnopolsky studied composition at the Moscow Conservatory with Nikolai Sidelnikov and Edison Denisov and music theory with Yuri Kholopov. He graduated from the conservatory in 1978, and completed post-graduate studies in 1980...
, Alexander Raskatov
Alexander Raskatov
Alexander Mikhailovich Raskatov is a Russian composer.-Life:Alexander Raskatov, a son of a leading journalist of the magazine Krokodil, studied composition under Albert Leman at the Moscow Conservatory. In 1990 he was composer in residence at Stetson University and 1998 in Lockenhaus...
, Ivan Sokolov
Ivan Glebovich Sokolov
Ivan Glebovich Sokolov is a Russian-born composer and pianist, currently living in Germany.After graduating from Moscow Conservatory in the early 80s, he taught composition and orchestral score reading there, while also promoting new music in concerts in and around Moscow...
, and Yuri Kasparov. Eminent composers like Sofia Gubaidulina
Sofia Gubaidulina
Sofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina, is a Russian composer of half Russian, half Tatar ethnicity.Gubaidulina's music is marked by the use of unusual instrumental combinations...
, Alfred Schnittke
Alfred Schnittke
Alfred Schnittke ; November 24, 1934 – August 3, 1998) was a Russian and Soviet composer. Schnittke's early music shows the strong influence of Dmitri Shostakovich. He developed a polystylistic technique in works such as the epic First Symphony and First Concerto Grosso...
, Valentin Silvestrov
Valentin Silvestrov
Valentyn Vasylyovych Sylvestrov is a Ukrainian pianist and composer of contemporary classical music.-Education:Sylvestrov began private music lessons at age 15...
, and Tigran Mansuryan were invited to join the ACM. ACM became affiliated with the International Society for Contemporary Music
International Society for Contemporary Music
The International Society for Contemporary Music is a music organization that promotes contemporary classical music.ISCM was established in 1922, in Salzburg. Its core activity is the World Music Days Festival, held every year at a different location. The festival includes cutting edge productions...
(ISCM).
After the collapse of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in 1991, many members of the ACM emigrated to the West, and Denisov died in 1996. The ACM was split into two parts. One, based in the Union of Composers and led by Victor Yekimovsky, adopted the title "Russian National Section, the International Society for Contemporary Music" (RNS-ISCM); it supported the "Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble". The other, based in the Moscow Conservatory
Moscow Conservatory
The Moscow Conservatory is a higher musical education institution in Moscow, and the second oldest conservatory in Russia after St. Petersburg Conservatory. Along with the St...
and led by Vladimir Tarnopolsky
Vladimir Tarnopolsky
Vladimir Grigoryevich Tarnopolsky is a Russian composer.-Biography:Tarnopolsky studied composition at the Moscow Conservatory with Nikolai Sidelnikov and Edison Denisov and music theory with Yuri Kholopov. He graduated from the conservatory in 1978, and completed post-graduate studies in 1980...
, took the name "Centre for Contemporary Music, Moscow" (CCMM). CCMM was the ISCM Associate Member, and supported the "Studio of New Music".