The Musical Life of Vladivostok and the Regional Section of the Imperial Russian Musical Society (1909–1920)

Abstract

The article examines the ten-year-long activities of the Vladivostok Section of the Imperial Russian Musical Society (IRMS) in the context of the cultural life of the city. The administrative and economic status of the main outpost of the Russian Far East made it possible to accumulate towards the early 20th century a cultural potential necessary for the formation of a cultural milieu. In 1909 upon the initiative of the local intelligentsia a new musical infrastructure with governmental subsidy was created – a section of the IRMS. The local section immediately took the leading position in the musical life of Vladivostok and the Primorsky Region, while the coordinating and material assistance of the center were conducive to a purposeful preparation of musical personnel for teaching and concertizing activities. Emphasis is made that among the cities of the Russian Far East Vladivostok possessed the most developed and diverse organizational structure in the sphere of musical enlightenment and performance. A substantial influence on the effective work of the local section of the IRMS was exerted by the directorship of the musical Society, which in many ways determined the sociocultural field of the capital of the Primorsky Region of those years. The activities of the Vladivostok Section were carried out as the result of the synthesis of the sociocultural processes of the Russian Empire and the regional characteristic features and served as a foundation for musical-educational and cultural-enlightening system within the country up to the present day. Keywords: the musical culture of Russia, the Imperial Russian Musical Society (IRMS), professional musical education, the musical life of Vladivostok.